Langford Is Too Ill to Practice

Kansas swingman Keith Langford sat out practice Wednesday because of a recurrence of flu and remains questionable for the Jayhawks’ NCAA tournament opener against Bucknell.

Kansas will play Friday night at Oklahoma City as the third-seeded team in the Syracuse Regional.

Langford, a senior averaging 14.7 points, sat out the Big 12 Conference tournament after spraining his left ankle in the March 6 regular-season finale against Missouri. He spent last Thursday and Friday in the hospital with flu.

After working out with the team Monday, Langford was held out of Tuesday’s practice because he aggravated an ankle injury.

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Boston College guard Jermaine Watson practiced, but his coach wasn’t sure whether he would play in a first-round NCAA tournament game today against Pennsylvania because of cuts on his left hand suffered during an off-campus altercation.

Watson told police that he jumped from a window early Saturday after men with weapons burst into his second-story apartment. Police were called to the apartment after neighbors heard a fight, and Watson and a friend were found hiding in bushes nearby. No arrests were made.

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California women’s Coach Caren Horstmeyer was fired in the wake of her fifth losing season in a row.

She had a 52-91 record in five seasons at Cal, including 11-18 overall and 4-14 in the Pacific 10 Conference this season.

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East Carolina has hired South Carolina assistant Ricky Stokes as men’s coach.

Stokes is the former coach at Virginia Tech; he played under East Carolina Athletic Director Terry Holland at Virginia in the early 1980s. He takes over a program that didn’t have a winning season in six years under Bill Herrion.