Luke D'Alessio, head coach of CIAA and NCAA Div. II South Atlantic Region basketball champion Bowie State, has begun the process of replacing the ten seniors that led his Bulldogs to their first-ever conference and regional titles. D'Alessio has landed former Alcorn State center, Lee Cook, dismissed from last year's Braves squad by retiring head coach Dave Whitney. Before his dismissal after 17 games last season, the 6-10 center was leading the team in scoring (16.7 ppg.) and rebounding (6.9 rpg.). Cook will be a force in the CIAA.

TSU SELECTS ALLEN: Tennessee State University has named Sharon Allen as head women's basketball coach. Allen, 44, comes to TSU from Mississippi State where she had been an assistant coach for the past five years. Her stint at MSU was after compiling a 17-90 record as head coach at the University of Saint Louis from 1991-95. Before that, she served as an assistant at Kansas State, Drake, George Washington and East Tennessee State, where she also played. She was selected over two other finalists; former James Madison coach Bud Childers and Lady Tigers assistant Tracee Jones. Allen succeeds Valencia Jordan who was assigned to other duties in May and has already indicated that she intends to retain Jones, who served as interim coach following Jordan's reassignment. Allen gives the TSU Blue Tigers two new basketball coaches. Former S. C. State head coach Cy Alexander was earlier named TSU's men's coach.

ONE AWARD LEFT FOR WEEKS: Rickie Weeks, the offensive machine from Southern University who went from unheralded high schooler to the second player in the history of Division I baseball to lead the nation in hitting in consecutive seasons, was named the 16th winner of the Rotary Smith Award as the top college baseball player in America. The announcement was made at the conclusion of the gala Rotary Smith Award dinner on Thursday night, June 26 in Houston. Weeks was selected over New Mexico State slugger Billy Becher and Rice ace Jeff Niemann in a national vote of college baseball publicists. Candidates went through a four-stage process to determine the winner, and voting remained open through the conclusion of the College World Series. The Smith Award is the fourth national player of the year award for Weeks, who was the second overall selection in the Major League Draft at the start of June. He was National Collegiate Baseball's Player of the Year, was the 17th recipient of the Dick Howser Trophy, and was named player of the year on the American Baseball Coaches Association/Rawlings All-America team prior to winning this award. Weeks hit .479 during his junior season, good enough to top all Division I hitters for the second consecutive year. He topped the charts last season with a .495 average. Weeks joins Ira Smith of Maryland-Eastern Shore as the only players to lead Div. I in hitting in consecutive seasons. In three seasons at Southern, he never hit below .420 and finished with a career slugging average of .900. He was equally dominant on the base paths, having only been caught stealing once in the early stages of his freshman season. He was a two-time SWAC Player of the Year and played for Team USA in consecutive summers. Weeks' win allows Southern to become the 15th school to produce a winner of the Rotary Smith Award in its 16-year history. Clemson is the only school to produce dual winners of the award. Weeks is also one of five finalists for the 2003 Golden Spikes Award which will be announced July 15 on Fox Sports Net. The Golden Spikes Award represents a partnership between USA Baseball and the Major League Baseball Players Association and is considered amateur baseball's most esteemed honor.

© 2003 Azeez Communications, Inc.

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