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The Louisville Cardinals, who were already very thin on their front line, have suspended starting forward Derrick Caracter for a curfew violation.

This isn’t the first time Caracter has been in trouble for violating Cardinals team rules. Head coach Rick Pitino actually sent Caracter home last season after a couple of disagreements with the player.

To continue playing with the team, Caracter agreed to sign a contract with some prescribed rules he must follow, including a curfew. Pitino indicated that Caracter broke curfew that same night.

What is sad is that Caracter has betrayed the trust of his teammates, who came to bat for him and persuaded Pitino to let him play against Dayton. Now, that trust is gone, and I believe Caracter should be gone from Louisville as well. it is clear he doesn’t respect Pitino nor his team rules, and now he has betrayed his teammates.

Losing Caracter’s 13.4 points and 7.4 rebounds a game will definitely hurt the Cardinals, but keeping him on the team would hurt them even more.

Louisville suspends starting forward Caracter

What we’re hearing from sources across the league with only days to go before the 2010 NFL Draft:

• UCLA tight end Logan Paulsen has received a lot of interest in recent weeks from NFL teams, but more as a potential offensive tackle prospect. Sources I’ve talked to have said there are a number of teams interested in Paulsen and believe he’s a viable late-round option because of the weak tackle class.

• Sources close to the USC program still can’t believe that defensive end Everson Griffen left school early, citing his overall lack of a work ethic. They said he has all the talent you could want in a defensive end prospect, but they don’t see him living up to his potential in the NFL.

• Those same sources speak highly of USC safety Taylor Mays, saying he’s very coachable, isn’t a guy who will ever be out of shape coming into the season and should end up being a much better pro than college player.

• New Hampshire tight end Scott Sicko is getting a lot of buzz as a mid/late-round pick and is said to have caught the eye of the New England Patriots.

• there are mixed feelings about Missouri linebacker Sean Weatherspoon and his gift of gab, which might cost him in the draft. some sources I’ve talked to love Weatherspoon and think he’s a potential first-round pick. However, another team source said a lot of people don’t care for the linebacker’s chatty attitude, even going so far as to say that he’s been removed from some teams’ draft boards because of it.

• We always talk about the Raiders and their love for speed, but one dark horse I keep hearing is getting a lot of love from the Oakland coaching staff is offensive guard Mike Iupati. Iupati played at Idaho, where head coach Tom Cable once coached, and is said to be under consideration for the eighth overall pick.

• I’m hearing that, despite the Ravens’ need for a tight end, they seem content to target a defender in the first round. And two defenders who have caught their eye are cornerbacks Kyle Wilson and Devin McCourty.

• also very interested in McCourty are the Philadelphia Eagles, who pick one spot ahead of the Ravens in the first round.

• From sources close to the Texans, I’m hearing they would love to land cornerback Kyle Wilson in the first round but are content to take Fresno State running back Ryan Mathews if Wilson is already off the board.

• Finally, sources have told me that Penn State defensive lineman Jared Odrick isn’t a legitimate option for the Browns in the first round. However, the same source said he can’t see Odrick falling past Pittsburgh, New England or Baltimore.

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More draft rumors and rumblings

By Martin Cooper
mcooper@pottsmerc.com

Click to enlarge

Mercury File PhotosDefending champion Pottsgrove, and leading scorer Stephanie Schultz, will face Boyertown in Tuesday night’s PAC-10 semifinals at Pottstown. Above right, Lauren Ruhl leads Methacton into Tuesday night’s other semifinal as the Warriors will face Frontier Division champion St. Pius X.

During his four seasons as the head girls basketball coach at Tulpehocken High School, Jason Bieber was unable to guide his Trojans into the Berks Conference playoffs.

It took Bieber only one season as head coach at Boyertown to get his team into the Pioneer Athletic Conference playoffs.

This is also the first time since Boyertown joined the PAC-10 eight years ago that the girls have qualified for the Final Four.

As a reward, Boyertown (17-5 overall), which finished in first place in the Liberty Division with an 11-2 record, will meet defending league champion and Frontier Division runner-up Pottsgrove (7-6, 9-11) in a semifinal game 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Pottstown High School.

The 6 p.m. semifinal will feature Frontier champion

St. Pius X (8-5, 11-11) and Liberty runner-up Methacton (11-2, 16-6). The championship game is set for 7 p.m. Thursday at Pottstown.

“One of the things we stressed all year was family,” said Bieber, whose team ran off a 14-game winning streak during the season. “We wanted to stay a tight-knit group. it was important that we did that. We knew if we stayed healthy and played well, we’d have an opportunity to do things. That’s exactly what we did.

“They’ve been a great group to coach. They never questioned anything we told them. They’ve been great since the day I was hired in June.”

Although Bieber was confident from the start of the season, he realized the Bears had a chance to be special when they traveled to Spring-Ford Jan. 7 and beat the Rams, 42-40.

“We thought at home we could beat anybody,” said Bieber. “Going to Spring-Ford and beating them on their home court was a huge win. As soon as we did that, we thought we could control our destiny the rest of the way. everything had to come through us.”

Boyertown, which has used mostly a seven-player rotation, has a balanced offense. Jess Schlesman averages 12.9 points per game and is followed by Lauren Walker (8.1 ppg, 26 three-pointers), Kaitlyn Eisenhard (6.5), Brooke Fisher (5.5), Kelly Furman (4.7), Brooke Mullen (3.7) and Emily Moatz (2.5).

Pottsgrove is led by 6-foot-1 senior Stephanie Schultz (16.8 ppg, 959 career points), Stephanie Coleman (9.6), Sydney Coleman (5.3), Marisa Kinneer (4.1), Jessica Neel (4.0) and Jaclyn Bealer (3.3).

When the Bears and Falcons met during the season, Boyertown rolled to a 43-25 victory, shutting out Pottsgrove in the second quarter.

“One of the Colemans (Steph) didn’t play that game,” said Bieber. “For whatever reason, she was out the whole week. even though we jumped on them the first half, they took it to us the second half. Mike (Brendlinger) is a great coach. They have a solid program. I think it will be a great game.”

The Bears want to try to limit the damage done by Schultz while imposing their up-tempo pace on the Falcons by pressing and generating points from their defense.

“We had a very, very bad first half,” Brendlinger said of the 43-25 loss. “It was not a very pretty game on our part. hopefully, we’ve learned some things from it and we’ll play a little smarter and better.

“We just have to be a lot more patient on offense. They put a lot of pressure on you. We rushed. They made us do things quicker than we wanted to. We made bad decisions. We just have to make sure we get good shots every time down the court.”

The first semifinal will feature a rematch between Methacton and St. Pius. The Winged Lions beat the Warriors by three points in last year’s semifinals, Methacton’s first year as a member of the PAC-10.

Earlier this season, the Warriors routed the Lions, 55-33.

“It doesn’t matter if we beat them during the season by whatever,” said Methacton coach Craig Kaminski. “It’s the playoffs. They’re going to come prepared. Joe (Masleh) does a great job with them. They’re playing the last season in school history. They have everything on their side. They’re going to try and knock somebody down, just like Pottsgrove last year.

“They have a lot of weapons. They have five quick people who can shoot from outside. That will create some matchup problems for us. I expect a great ballgame. last year, we wanted to win it. We said we wanted to win. We didn’t. this year, we want to say it and do it.”

The Warriors, who have won 11 of their last 13 games, are led by senior point guard Lauren Ruhl (15.7 ppg, 54 three-pointers, 1,263 career points), senior Carley Parker (9.5), junior Alivia Reiche (7.8), senior Mel Ordway (6.1) and junior Mel Leszcynski (1.8).

St. Pius features senior Emily Pufnock (9.6), senior Lauren Proud (8.6), senior Leila Weiss (7.2), sophomore Devin Rauh (5.0) and freshman Taylor Bearden (4.3).

Masleh, who has had his share of terrific teams at St. Pius, thinks the manner of selecting teams for the PAC-10 playoffs needs to be changed in the interest of fairness.

“It’s a shame Spring-Ford (10-3 PAC-10) is left out of the Final Four,” said Masleh. “We and Pottsgrove are in because of the (divisional) format. but I feel the format has to be changed. hopefully, the administrators and ADs can make that change. That being said, Pottsgrove proved last year that it (upsets) can be done.

“We will have our hands full with Methacton and Ruhl. she proved (Saturday) the quality player she is in every aspect of the game (25 points, six steals, four assists, two rebounds against Owen J. Roberts). It’s going to be a tough game for us.”

Bears become team to beat in Bieber's 1st year

LOS ANGELES — USC women’s basketball coach Michael Cooper apologized Tuesday for saying “[expletive] UCLA” during his postgame news conference Sunday after the Trojans beat the Bruins.

Cooper, the former Los Angeles Lakers star and coach of the Los Angeles Sparks of the WNBA, is in his first season as the head coach at USC. it was his first meeting with the Bruins.

“My opening statement is [expletive] UCLA,” Cooper said to the assembled media after USC’s 70-63 win.

He sent his letter of apology to UCLA head coach Nikki Caldwell, according to the Los Angeles Daily News.

“I want to offer my sincerest apology to you, your players and your university for the inappropriate comment I made after our game on Sunday,” Cooper wrote. “There is no excuse for it, and I realize it is outside the bounds of good sportsmanship.

“As a coach, I know I am a role model to student-athletes and my comment was certainly not a proper example for them. I will work hard to correct that.

“I realize how poorly my remarks reflect on me, my university as well as our conference. For that, I am truly sorry. I have great respect for all our opponents and especially UCLA as our crosstown rival. I wish you and your UCLA team the best of luck this season and look forward to our next game.”

USC is 10-6 overall, 4-1 in the Pac-10. UCLA is also 10-6, but 3-2 in conference play. The two teams meet against on Feb. 13 at UCLA.

Cooper: 'No excuse' for comment

Former college basketball coach George Raveling has the original typewritten “I Have a Dream” speech read off by Martin Luther King in 1963. Raveling was a volunteer security guard on that day, and to get the speech, all he did was walk up to Dr. King and ask, “Can I have that copy?“

Raveling went on to be a head coach at Washington State, Iowa and USC, and he’ll be featured on outside the Lines today.

Long before George Raveling was a successful college basketball coach, he had a front row seat to one of the greatest civil rights moments in American history. on August 28, 1963, Raveling was a volunteer security guard at the podium when Martin Luther King delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech. Raveling left his post with a piece of history, and today on outside the Lines, he shares his personal account of that unforgettable day.

MLK's 'I Have a Dream' speech and hoops