Baseball
The University of Miami baseball team will open its 12-day fall baseball schedule on Monday, Nov. 10 at 4 p.m. at Mark Light Field.
Head Coach Jim Morris’ Hurricane squad is coming off their eighth trip to the College World Series in the last 10 years with a fifth-place finish this past June in Omaha.
Miami returns all eight position starters, its top four starting pitchers and its entire bullpen from last year’s team that finished 45-17-1.
The fall slate begins on Monday with a six-inning intrasquad game. Fall practice continues through Nov. 22 when the Hurricanes will hold a nine-inning intrasquad game at 10:30 a.m. at ‘The Light’ on Scout Day.
Miami opens the 2004 regular season on Friday, Feb. 13, with a three-game series against the Florida Gators at Mark Light Field. Prior to that, the Hurricanes will welcome back former players for the annual Alumni Game on Saturday, Feb. 7, at 7 p.m.
Call 1-800-Go-Canes for season and individual game ticket information or check out UM’s official athletic website www.hurricanesports.com for updated information on the baseball team.
Men’s basketball
University of Miami senior forward Darius Rice has been named one of 30 preseason candidates for the 2003-04 Naismith College Basketball Player of the Year Award.
The Naismith Awards program, now in its 36th year, honors the outstanding college basketball players in the United States. The awards program was founded by the Atlanta Tipoff Club, an organization dedicated to recognizing the achievements of student-athletes in basketball.
The candidates were selected by a vote of the Board of Selectors comprised of leading basketball coaches, journalists and basketball analysts. Members of the board were asked to name top male and female players who are most likely to be in contention for the award.
A preseason 2003-04 All-Big East first-team selection, Rice averaged a team-high 18.7 points, 5.8 rebounds, 1.2 assists and 1.4 steals earning third-team All-Big East and first-team All-District honors last season.
Rice ranked among the Big East Conference leaders in scoring, rebounding, field goal percentage, free throw percentage, three-point field goal percentage and three-point field goals made last season. Four times during the 2002-03 season he hit a three-point basket at the end of regulation to either win the game or send it to overtime.
Rice, who was named to the preseason Wooden Award list in August, is one of six Big East players on the preseason Naismith list including Andre Barrett from Seton Hall, Ben Gordon and Emeka Okafor of UConn, Notre Dame’s Chris Thomas and Hakim Warrick of Syracuse.