The Oakland Tribune's report did not specify what rules were broken or whether Amoke even made the trip to Jacksonville, host to a slew of games in the South and East regions over the first two rounds of the tournament.

The 6-foot-7 sophomore averaged 4.8 points and 4.6 rebounds in 33 games this season. He made 14 starts for Cal, including the last six games.

Theschool onWednesday issueda briefrelease fromdirector of intercollegiate athletics Tim Pernetti, saying that Hill will be back despite a 15-17 record this past season and a 14th-place finish in the Big East with a 5-13 conference mark.

"Fred Hill is under contract as our men's head basketball coach," Pernetti said.

Gonzalez was in his fourth season with the team, which ended its season Tuesday with an 87-69 loss to Texas Tech in the first round of the NIT. Seton Hall went 19-13 overall.

But Patrick Hobbs, the school's law school dean who has been overseeing the athleticsdepartment sinceJuly, indicatedGonzalez's firingwasn't necessarily due to on-court performance.

The Star-Ledger reported that on Wednesday, the school forced out Gonzalez, who was in his fourth season with the team. The paper cited two people with knowledge of the process, who told the paper he was forced out not because of results, but because of behavior on and off the court.

The news comes just a day after the Pirates had their season end in the first round of the NIT, in an 87-69 loss to Texas Tech. In that game, Seton Hall's Herb Pope was ejected after punching an opposing player below the belt. Gonzalez was also later issued a technical foul in the contest.

The win earned the Golden Lions (18-15) the No. 16 seed in the South Region and the right to play No. 1 seed and ACC champion Duke in Jacksonville on Friday in the first round of the Big Dance.

A victory over Texas Southern in the SWAC title game on Saturday, its 11th win in its previous 12 games, gave Arkansas-Pine Bluff its first ever berth in the NCAA Tournament.

The win earned the Golden Lions (18-15) the No. 16 seed in the South Region and the right to play No. 1 seed and ACC champion Duke in Jacksonville on Friday in the first round of the Big Dance.

A victory over Texas Southern in the SWAC title game on Saturday, its 11th win in its previous 12 games, gave Arkansas-Pine Bluff its first ever berth in the NCAA Tournament.

Kent had two years remaining on his contract but had been rumored to be out following a 15-15 regular season and 7-11 mark in the Pac-10. The Ducks went on to post an 82-80 overtime win against Washington State before falling in the quarterfinals of the conference tourney to California.

"This was not an easy decision for me, but unfortunately, when I looked at the past five to six years, I did not see the improvement and consistency that I had hoped for, and that we will need to move forward as we open our new arena and seek to re-energize and expand our season ticket base," said director of athletics Mike Bellotti.

The school announced the news Monday, and while Iowa athletic director Gary Barta said he still believes Lickliter is "a tremendous basketball coach," he cited lack of improvement as a reason for the coaching change.

"If you take a look at our competitive record the past three years, it has not been improving," Barta said. "It still continues to be below where we would expect; our attendance and our season ticket sales have continued to go down. This is not something that started three years ago, but in the past three years it has continued to go down dramatically." The Hawkeyes were just 10-22 in 2009-10, with a 4-14 record in the Big Ten. Their season ended with a loss to Michigan in the first round of the conference tournament.

"I want to thank coach Speraw for his tenure at the University of Central Florida, leading our men's basketball program," UCF director of athletics Keith Tribble said. "This was not an easy decision, but one we felt will serve in the best interest of our program's direction. Coach Speraw has always gone about his position with integrity and class and we appreciate all he and his staff have contributed to UCF basketball. This is the right time to make a change in direction." The Knights struggled to a 15-17 overall mark and 6-10 in Conference USA this season and were eliminated by UTEP in the quarterfinals of the C-USA Tournament.

Speraw, who took over at UCF in July of 1993, guided the school to a 279-233 record, including a 40-38 mark in C-USA since joining the conference back in 2005-

The Jayhawks (32-2), winners of the regular season title and tournament crown in the Big 12, received all 65 first-place votes and a total of 1,625 points from a nationwide media panel.

Kansas was No. 1 for all but four weeks and was never ranked lower than third. The only other teams to ascend to the top spot this season were Texas, Kentucky and Syracuse. The Longhorns spent two weeks at the top, but struggled from there and received just one vote in the final poll.

KCRG-TV has reported that Lickliter met with Iowa athletic director Gary Barta on Monday morning and that neither man would comment after the brief meeting.

Lickliter has compiled a record of 38-58 in three seasons with Iowa, including a dismal mark of 10-22 in 2009-10. The Hawkeyes were just 4-14 in the Big Ten and lost to Michigan in the first round of the conference tournament.

Charlotte collapsed at the end of the season, losing seven of its last eight games, including a 59-56 setback against Massachusetts in the opening round of the Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament. The 49ers finished with a 19-12 record.

"This was an extremely difficult decision and not one that was made lightly or in haste," said athletic director Judy Rose. "Bobby has been an important part of the 49ers family and represented our university in a most positive manner. Our expectations for our program are high and our goal is to strive to be in the upper echelon of the Atlantic 10 with an opportunity to compete in the NCAA Tournament on a regular basis." Lutz leaves his alma mater as the program's all-time winningest coach with a 218-158 record.

The Jayhawks (32-2) are the top-seeded team in the tourney's Midwest Region, which will play its final games at the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis. If Kansas is to win its second title in three years, though, it will have to motor through some heady competition to gain its 14th Final Four appearance and fourth NCAA crown.

Bill Self's club does have one major factor going for them going into the first round: experience. Several of his players have been there and done that, defeating Derrick Rose and Memphis in the 2008 title game. The two leaders this season, senior guard Sherron Collins and junior center Cole Aldrich, were both on that squad, and both figure to have a major say in who comes out of th

Duke (29-5), backed by the triumvirate of Jon Scheyer, Kyle Singler and Nolan Smith, is the top seed for an 11th time and will face the winner of the opening-round game between Big South champion Winthrop and SWAC winner Arkansas-Pine Bluff, which had started its season with 11 straight losses. Those two teams will tangle in Dayton on Tuesday for the right to advance to Jacksonville.

"For our senior class I am so happy," said Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski. "Not many teams in my 30 years in the ACC have won both the regular season and the [ACC] Tournament, and I think because they did it, and we played such a tough schedule, these kids were rewarded with a No. 1 seed." The Blue Devils, whose only loss in the past 13 games came at M

Kentucky (32-2), survived that scare from Mississippi State on Sunday and has been selected a No. 1 seed for the 10th time in school history. The Lexington- based school will be trying for its eighth national title and first since a 1998 triumph over Utah. It will also be making its 50th entry into the NCAA Tournament.

The Wildcats will take on 16th-seeded East Tennessee State (20-14), which emerged as the champion of the Atlantic Sun Conference for the second straight season, on Thursday in New Orleans.

The Orange (28-4) will take on the 16th-seeded Catamounts (25-9) Friday night in Buffalo and will hope to reverse course from a shocking defeat to Vermont five years ago.

The Catamounts were a No. 13 seed in 2005 when they shocked Syracuse, 60-57, in overtime in a first-round matchup.

Mitchell, a transfer from Duquesne, started in 15 of the 31 games this season and averaged 8.4 points and 3.8 rebounds a game.

The Pirates accepted a bid to play in the NIT with a first-round home game against Texas Tech on tap for Tuesday.

The Patriots, who reached the NCAA Final Four in 2006, will host Fairfield in the first round of the event on Tuesday. The two other games that night have Great West Conference tourney winner South Dakota visiting Creighton, and Western Carolina playing at Marshall.

Harvard, which is making its first postseason appearance since 1946, will play on the road against Appalachian State on Wednesday. The other games that night will have Middle Tennessee State at Missouri State, Pacific at Loyola Marymount and Portland playing at Northern Colorado.

Oregon State, with head coach Craig Robinson, the brother-in-law of U.S. President Barack Obama, will start the tournament with a home game against Boston University on Wednesday. The Beavers go into the event with a 14-17 record, including defeats in four of their last six games.

"We are very excited to have the opportunity to continue our season and play a first round game in front of our home crowd," Robinson said. "It's a great reward for our players to be selected to the tournament and I know Boston University will be a great challenge. We're looking forward to getting back to work on Monday and preparing for the first game." This is the third year for the tournament, which features a single-elimination format until the best-of-three championship series. The Beavers top

The field was revealed Sunday night, approximately three hours after the NCAA Tournament disclosed its participants. Some teams that were on the bubble to make the Big Dance will play in the NIT, hoping to make its final four, which slated for Madison Square Garden on March 30, with the championship game two nights later.

North Carolina (16-16), which won the NCAA Tournament last year, is seeded fourth in the Mississippi State region and will open against William & Mary. This is UNC's sixth NIT appearance and first since 2003. The winner of that game will play the victor of Tuesday's matchup between Mississippi State (23-11) and Jackson State.

Scheyer finished with 16 points as did Nolan Smith with the Blue Devils (29-5) overcoming a shoddy 35.3-percent shooting effort by making 24-of-28 at the free throw line to make it back-to-back ACC tourney titles.

"There aren't many teams that have won the regular season and the tournament," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "I bet there is not more than six or eight. When you do that it is an accomplishment." Duke had been tied with rival North Carolina at 17 tournament championships and later secured the South Region's No.1 seed in the NCAA Tournament with a first-round matchup with the winner of the play-in game between Arkansas- Pine Bluff and Winthrop.

Kansas (32-2), which was anointed the top overall seed for the tournament, will be in the Midwest Region. The Jayhawks are coming off their seventh Big 12 Tournament title. They beat Kansas State, 72-64, Saturday night for the crown.

The Jayhawks were the top seed in the Midwest in 2008, the year they won the national championship.

David Lighty was equally impressive with 20 points, eight boards and five assists, while Jon Diebler knocked down five three-pointers en route to 19 points.

The balanced attack also included 13 points from William Buford as the Buckeyes (27-7) won their third Big Ten title and made their case for a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

Eric Bledsoe led all Wildcats (32-2) in scoring with 18 points, while Wall, the tourney's most outstanding player, scored seven of his 17 points in overtime.

The sensational Freshman also handed out nine assists, grabbed six rebounds and recorded five steals.

Ryan Brooks and Ramone Moore each finished with 12 points for Temple (29-5), which defeated St. Bonaventure and Rhode Island to get to the A-10 final. Lavoy Allen chipped in with a game-best 11 rebounds to go along with four points for the Owls, who earned their ninth A-10 title.

Kevin Anderson had 14 points for Richmond (26-8), which defeated Massachusetts and Xavier on the way to the tourney final. Justin Harper ended with 10 points and seven rebounds, while Ryan Butler also donated 10 points for the Spiders.