"We're very pleased to announce that Stan's contract is being extended for another three years," O'Brien said. "During Stan's tenure he has brought success to our basketball program as evidenced by having one of the best records in the MAC over the last decade. That combined with this past year's success both on and off the court shows that our men's basketball program is headed for a very successful future."

A 1979 UT graduate, Joplin has served as Toledo's head coach for the last 10 seasons and owns a 173-123 (.584) overall win-loss mark. Joplin ranks second in wins in UT's 91-year history and his winning percentage ranks eighth all-time in Mid-American Conference history among coaches who have coached five or more seasons. During his decade at the Rocket helm, UT has the second-best overall record in the conference with its 173-123 (.584) win-loss mark.

"I'm very happy with this contract extension and my focus will continue to be on making this program one of the best in the MAC, " Joplin said. "We're coming off a very good season last year both on the court and in the classroom and it's our goal to keep that momentum going."

In the 2005-06 campaign, Joplin guided the Rockets to a 20-11 mark for the program's third 20-win season under his direction. UT finished the season with a flourish thanks to a 10-game winning streak vs. MAC opponents before dropping a 71-66 decision to Kent State in the MAC Championship Game. The Rockets' off-court performance also was strong this past season. UT posted a 2.957 team grade-point average in the Fall 2005 semester, and its APR rating of 990 ranked first in the MAC.

The NCAA is trimming the gray area from eligibility rules for underclassmen entering the NBA draft.

However, player-agent Bill Neff said that's a futile exercise, with many in his profession cutting under-the-table deals with players.

The NCAA recently distributed a four-page memo, reminding schools what underclassmen can and cannot do to test their NBA marketability. The memo warns underclassmen not to accept travel expenses from NBA basketball teams, though that's been common practice in the past.

One of the authors of that memo said its purpose is heading off trouble and, potentially, holding rule-breakers accountable.

"It's fair to say we've had multiple student-athletes facing possible violations of NCAA rules," said Rachel Newman Baker, the NCAA's director of agent, gambling and amateurism activities. "We're trying to avoid (those problems), so we're not dealing with it next semester."

The NCAA now requires underclassmen in the draft to sign forms, stating they know the rules and understand the risk to their eligibility.

"We want it very clear up front," Newman Baker said, "if we do get into investigating a case, the `I-didn't-know' answer will not work."

The NCAA dealt with messy situations the past few years, involving former Connecticut forward Charlie Villanueva and current Kentucky center Randolph Morris. Each turned pro and had contact with an agent, only to pull out of the draft and seek to play college basketball.

Redshirt freshman Diana Reindl (Mansfield, OH - St. Peter's) received the "Rocket Pride Award," given to the individual who exemplifies the three qualities that make up a Toledo women's basketball player: Plays Hard, Plays Smart and Plays Together. Reindl appeared in 28 of the 29 games, making 18 starts, and averaged 7.3 points, 5.3 rebounds, 1.0 assists and 0.9 steals in 23.1 minutes per contest. A 2005-06 MAC All-Freshman Team selection, she scored in scored in double figures nine times and tallied three double-doubles. The Mansfield, OH native finished ninth in the league in offensive rebounding (2.10 rpg) and 19th in overall rebounding. She led the Rockets in rebounding a team-best 10 times, blocked shots eight times, steals three times and scoring on two occasions.

Senior Amanda Davis (Cincinnati, OH - Madeira) earned the team's "Coaches Award," given for outstanding leadership, team spirit and inspiration. A tri-captain, Davis averaged 3.0 points, 1.9 rebounds and 0.6 blocks per game and finished 13th in the MAC in blocked shots. She appeared in all 29 games, making six starts at center, and led the team in blocked shots a team-best nine times and scoring twice.

Senior Crystal Young (Detroit, MI - Benedictine) was named the Rockets' "Best Defensive Player" for a second-consecutive season. Young led the Midnight Blue and Gold with 63 steals and averaged 2.2 thefts per game. The tri-captain finished first in the MAC in assist/turnover ratio (1.84) and fourth in assists (4.45 apg) and steals. She led the Rockets in helpers a team-best 24 times, steals 15 times and scoring on two occasions.

The University of Toledo men's basketball program will celebrate their third 20-win campaign in its last six seasons with its annual post-season banquet on Wednesday, April 19, at Stone Oak Country Club in Holland, OH. The event win to be sponsored by The Downtown Coaches Association.

Social hour begins at 6:00 p.m., with the dinner at 7:00 p.m. The banquet is open to the public. The cost is $ 30.00 per person.  

The Toledo Rockets are going to Cleveland Thursday to play Northern Illinois in the second round of the MAC Basketball Tournament, and they owe it all to another spirited defensive effort, this time against their arch rival, Bowling Green. Those Rockets came up big at home again, drubbing the Falcons 77-52, to end the visitor’s season at 9-21.

The plan for this game was to put continuous pressure on Bowling Green’s leading scorer, junior Martin Samarco and force him to work for every shot he took. “He’s such a great shooter, we wanted him to work for everything. If he was going to score 20 points, we wanted him to take 20 shots” said Toledo mentor Stan Joplin. “ We tried to keep a fresh guy on him. Sammy (Villegas) started out guarding him, then Justin Ingram was on him, then Ridley Johnson, and then Jonathan Amos.”

The plan worked well for Toledo, because Samarco, averaging 19.4 points in conference play, was held to 13 points in the contest, making good on just four-of-12 shooting attempts.

For Toledo, it was Justin Ingram who became the trigger-man in the UT offense, tallying a career-tying 23 points. Scoring in bunches, he recorded Toledo’s final eight points of the first half of the game, and hit two consecutive three-pointers to take the air out of Bowling Green’s basketball about five minutes in the second period, when it appeared that the Falcons might be gearing up for a run.

Ingram didn’t hurt his conference leading .867 free-throw percentage either, going 7-7 from the charity stripe.

Erik Marschall started things out right for Bowling Green when he got behind the Toledo defense for a pair of dunks, but a short jumper from Tino Valencia, immediately getting odds to be follow a Keonta Howell trey, soon had Toledo up by three, 8-5. 

In a game that wasn’t nearly as close as the 81-58 blowout score, the Toledo Rockets overwhelmed the visiting Western Michigan Broncos on Wednesday evening at Savage Hall.

With a strong dose of desire, intensity, relentless defensive pressure, and offensive teamwork, UT punished a Bronco team that is good enough to be playing Northern Illinois for the MAC West Tornament title come this Sunday.

There are several statistics that stand out for the game, but two categories in particular tell the tale of this most impressive win, assists and turnovers.

Toledo had 22 assists and 10 turnovers while Western Michigan had just 11 assists and a whopping 28 turnovers: Those turnovers score directly to 27 Rocket points. In fact, the Broncos had eight more assists then they had baskets (20). Those Western turnovers also limited them to just 38 shots at the basket, while Toledo was winning for 63 attempts.

The scoring began when senior player Sammy Villegas, playing his final regular-season game on the home floor, drained a long three-pointer, and ended when Jonathan Amos stole the basketball from WMU’s Andre Ricks and fed fellow freshman Tyrone Kent who performed an impressive single handed dunk. Why this one even had the geriatric set up and cheering at the end.

“I thought Toledo, without question, was the hungrier team tonight. They just played inspired basketball with a lot of energy. Things just kept getting worse for us,” said Western Michigan Coach Steve Hawkins

There were a number of heroes for Toledo, but if one were to look for a player who was the catalyst in the win, it was point guard Kashif Payne. The diminutive sophomore scored just four points, but he dished out a career-tying 11 assists, recorded five steals, and did not commit a turnover in 30 minutes of playing time.

The Rockets also had four basketball players reaching the double-figure mark. Junior Tino Valencia, the MAC’s field goal percentage leader topped the Toledo scoring with 18 points, going eight-for eight from the field. Villegas, playing like Sammy of old, scored 16 points, and was four-of nine from beyond the arc. Justin Ingram had 14 points, and Kent, for the second consecutive game, came off the bench to reach double-digits (10).

Maybe it was the eight o’clock start time. Maybe it was the presence of Toledo’s all time rushing leader in football, Chester Taylor, at the game. Maybe it was the realization that the basketball season is rushing toward its eleventh hour, and the team needs to pick up some wins in bunches to earn a tournament first-round home game.

For whatever reason, the Toledo Rockets came out Tuesday evening and laid some big-time smack on Kent State at Savage Hall as they powered past the East Division leaders, 60-44.

Both teams came out playing some jacked-up defense against each other, and for a good part of the first-half the scoring was all but shut down. At the first media timeout the score was just 4-4, and four minutes later it had improved only a whisper, to 6-6. Some fans even became confused and began looking to see if football’s Defensive Coordinator Tim Rose might not be on the bench, working on some new sets.

By the third media timeout at 7:19, Kent had struggled out to heady 14-12 lead.

But right about then, the Rockets must have located their scoring mojo because they began to assert themselves on the scoreboard. First, Jerrah Young, spelling Tini Valencia, connected on a jumper and a layup to make the score, 16-15. Then Kashif Payne stole the ball from Kent’s Nate Gerwig and went the distance for another two points. Those six points were the front end of a 24-9 run that had Toledo up, 32-23 at the half.

UT went into the locker room shooting 56% from the floor, hitting on 14-of-25 attempts while Kent could connect on just 7-of-19, for 36.8% Both teams were a combined 0-of-11 tries from beyond the arc.

Valencia had nine points to lead the Rocket scorers, while his backup, Young had eight markers. “It was very important for me to come in and give Tino a break, to pick up where he left off, because he’s been doing a great job all season.” Young remarked.

The second half was all Toledo. Justin Ingram hit a three-pointer, the first for either team, to open the Rocket’s scoring and UT then began to methodically build on its lead. A 14-6 run with some serious inside play soon had the Rockets up, 46-29, and Kent was reeling from the fouls that the Flashes began to accumulate while trying to counter Toledo’s drives to the basket. The visitors had 14 fouls in the second half, just about all of them sending a Rocket to the foul line.

 Tonight from the John F. Savage Hall, the Toledo Rockets will host the Bowling Green Falcons in a Mid-American Conference tornamet. After losing two straight games, the Rockets have won back-to-back games over Central Michigan (78-62) and most recently Kent State (60-44). Toledo has been tremendous on its home floor, accumulating an impressive 10-2 ledger at the John F. Savage Hall. As for the Falcons, they snapped a three-game losing streak with a thrilling 73-71 victory over the Eastern Michigan Eagles this past Tuesday. Away from home this season, Bowling Green has had some trouble and is currently just 4-8 on the road. In regard to the all-time series between the two schools, the Rockets hold a slim 79-74 lead over Bowling Green, but it was the Falcons who got the better of Toledo last month with a 59-52 wins.

The Falcons have been inconsistent throughout the season at the offensive end of the court, scoring just 68.6 ppg while shooting 43.8 percent from the field. Martin Samarco has been the only real threat offensively for the Falcons, as the forward is posting 19.7 ppg to go along with 4.6 rpg. Steven Wright is the only other player for BGSU that is producing double-digits, as the guard is averaging 11.9 ppg. In the team's recent victory, the Falcons shot 50.0 percent from the field and connected on 22-of-33 shots from the foul line en route to the win. Samarco paced the team with 20 points, while Wright tallied 17 points to go along with six rebounds. John Floyd was able to contribute 12 points in the win.

As for the Rockets,team they have also struggled offensively, scoring just 67.6 ppg, but fortunately the team has done an excellent job defensively, surrendering just 64.1 ppg. In the team's recent victory, the Rockets held Kent State to a putrid 38.1 percent shooting effort, which included a 3-of-17 clip from long range, as the Golden Flashes finished the game with just 44 points. Offensively, the Rockets shot a solid 52.5 percent from the field while start to have bigger odds to win by Florentino Valencia and his 11 points. Jonathan Amos added 10 points, while Keonta Howell and Justin Ingram both tallied nine points. On the season, Ingram is leading the team with 13.4 ppg, while Howell is scoring 12.0 ppg to go along with a team-best 4.2 rpg. Valencia rounds out the double- figure scorers with 11.5 ppg on the year.

Neither team has performed impressively at the offensive end this season, but the Rockets have done well at home and should be able to avenge the loss they suffered to the Falcons earlier in the season.

AKRON, Ohio - As the regular season comes to a close, the University of Akron swimming and diving team (5-6-1, 1-4-1 MAC) takes to the road looking for a winning record for the season when it faces off with the Toledo Rockets (5-4-1, 2-3-1 MAC) on February 4 at the UT Student Recreation Center in Toledo, Ohio.

The meet is set to begin at 1 p.m. EST and is the final meet for both teams heading into the 2006 Mid-American Conference Swimming and Diving Championships. This year's league title will be decided at Akron's Ocasek Natatorium on February 23-25.

"This is the most important time of the year," Akron head coach Brian Vereb said. "This is the final dress rehearsal for the big show and we want to make sure that we are ready. We want a very good showing in this meet and we want to make sure our competition habits and race plans are in place before going into the conference meet."

With a victory on Saturday, the Zips would secure their third-consecutive winning season and their fourth winning season in the last five years. Akron finished last season 8-6-1 (.567) while posting records of 16-6 (.727) in 2003-04, 8-8 (.500) in 2002-03 and 7-6 (.538) in 2001-02.

Both squads are in the middle of winless streaks, with the Zips going 0-3-1 over their last four competitions and the Rockets dropping their last two games.

"Toledo is a very talented squad and we are very excited about how the swimmers are going to react with the season on the line," Vereb said. "There are a lot of good match-ups in this meet and I think it should prove to be a good test going into the MAC meet."

Last season, Akron fell 130-113 to Toledo on January 28 at Ocasek Natatorium. The loss snapped a then 10-meet home undefeated streak that saw the Zips go 9-0-1. The meet went down to the final events, with the Rockets sealing the victory in the 800 freestyle relay.