Florida Guard Disenchanted

Florida guard Brett Nelson said this season has “left a very bad taste in my mouth” and he will consider going pro instead of staying for his senior year.

“I don’t know what I’m going to do yet,” Nelson said. “I’m going to take the next couple of months and see what happens.”

Nelson played with a broken cheekbone in Florida’s 83-82 double-overtime NCAA tournament loss to Creighton on Friday. He was hurt in practice Tuesday in a fight with teammate LaDarius Halton.

Nelson shot four for 19 and finished with 13 points. Expected to be one of Florida’s best shooters, he ended the season shooting 39% from the floor.

His draft stock dropped as the season went on. The deadline for declaring for the NBA draft is in mid-May.

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Shouting “Don’t stop, don’t shop, till the flag drops,” about 125 National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People protesters marched to the site of the NCAA tournament in a fight to remove the Confederate flag from South Carolina.

As the group headed to the steps of the Bi-Lo Center, about 20 flag supporters waved banners, shouted and yelled across the street.

“The first symbol of terrorism came to America years ago and it is behind you,” NAACP national field director Nelson Rivers said of the Confederate group as Duke played Notre Dame inside the arena.

Protesters fanned out around the building to hand out leaflets and fliers after a brief rally.

The NAACP has had a tourism boycott against South Carolina since Jan. 1, 2000, demanding the flag be removed from the Statehouse Dome.

The NAACP and others asked the NCAA two years ago to remove these games. But the NCAA’s executive committee chose to keep them and placed a two-year hold on awarding championships to South Carolina.

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CBS’ coverage of the 32 first-round NCAA tournament games drew ratings 7 percent higher than in 2001.

The broadcasts Thursday and Friday averaged a 4.9 overnight rating, up from last year’s 4.6 average for the first two days.

The last two NCAA tournaments finished with the lowest ratings in the 20 years that CBS has televised the event.