Page 26 - Florida Sentinel 3-17-17

Sports
HBCU Hampton University Feels Disrespected By NCAA Basketball Committee
Hampton Lady Pirates women’s team beat Bethune Cook- man University to win the MEAC. However, they were seeded #16 and will face #1 seed Stanford on Saturday in the NCAA March Madness.
Buccaneers Still Have $33 Million In Cap Space
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers spent a large amount of money in free agency, signing DeSean Jackson, Chris Baker, J.J. Wilson, Chris Conte, Josh Robinson and Jacquizz Rodgers.
The Bucs still have approx- imately $33 million in cap space, ranked eighth in the NFL.
They’ve spent close to all of their cap space in each of Jason Licht’s previous three years as a general manager and they likely want to do the same now. But they do need players to give this money to.
One way to do so is to ex- tend players already on the roster. There aren’t a lot of candidates for those exten- sions, though. They’re not al- lowed to extend players until they’ve been in the league for
DeMarcus Ware, 8th All Time In Sacks, Announces Retirement
DEMARCUS WARE
Future Hall Of Famer line- backer DeMarcus Ware an- nounced Monday he is retiring at age 34 after 12 NFL seasons, saying in a tweet that "long- term health and quality of life outweigh the spark and pas- sion to play that I once had."
"After a lot of thought and prayer, I've decided to accept the unknown and retire from my NFL career," Ware said in the Twitter post.
Ware went to the Broncos from the Dallas Cowboys as part of Denver's free-agency binge in 2014, when corner- back Aqib Talib, receiver Emmanuel Sanders and safety T.J. Ward were also signed. All four players were selected to at least one Pro Bowl since then.
Ware was saluted in tweets by John Elway, the Broncos and the Cowboys. Ware is Dallas' all-time sacks leader, with 117.
Mike Evans #13 of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers makes a catch over Sterling Moore #24 of the New Orleans Saints at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome on December 24, 2016 in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Hampton is not taking the perceived slight of being seeded No. 16 in the women’s NCAA tournament lying down.
Rodney Smith, HU’s vice president for administrative services, sent a letter dated Tuesday to Greg Christo- pher, chair of the Division I women’s basketball commit- tee.
The letter said, in part: “In comparison with other teams that were seeded better than Hampton University, we feel that Hampton University as well as its Lady Pirates, coaches, faculty, staff, stu- dents, administration, alumni, and all friends and supporters of the University have been deeply disre- spected and insulted.”
The Lady Pirates, who won their third straight Mid-East- ern Athletic Conference tour- nament and compiled a
school Division I-record 26 wins, will face top seed Stan- ford on Saturday at the Con- stant Center in Norfolk.
Last season, HU went 25-7 and received a 13th seed, the highest for a women’s or a men’s team in MEAC history, and lost by four points to fourth seed Kentucky in over- time.
The letter mentions Hampton’s RPI of 63, better than some higher-seeded teams, and a comparably bet- ter road record (13-3) and strength of schedule (271).
The letter cites teams such as Navy, a 15th seed despite an RPI of 184 and strength of schedule of 278, and No. 12 seed San Diego State. The let- ter said HU’s 16th seed is “disgraceful” and “grossly un- fair” and “goes against every- thing, including fairness in competition that athletics is supposed to represent.”
three years, which excludes Jameis Winston, and most other players are already play- ing on recent and reasonably expensive contracts.
Mike Evans is really the only realistic big-money the players could extend, and that may not even be in their best
interest: he has one year re- maining on his contract, and the Bucs will almost certainly pick up his fifth-year option. That’s at least two years of rel- atively cheap play before they have to shell out for a $19 mil- lion per year deal.
New Buc DeSean Jackson
Talks About New Team
And Tupac Biopic
Martellus Bennett To
NFL superstar DeSean Jackson took some time out of his busy career after being traded to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, to discuss his thoughts on the upcom- ing Tupac biopic.
“All Eyez On Me” is slated to open on June 16. De- Sean, who has a small role in the film, also plays a greater role as one of the producers of the flick.
DeSean recently ap- peared on ESPN’s “Sports- Center” to explain his new $33 million deal.
When the subject of Tupac of his involvement into Pac’s flick came up, DeSean Jackson was very certain that the fans of Tupac would be more than happy with the movie.
“Me and [Producer] L.T. [Hutton] have been part- ners going on 8 plus years...,” DeSean Jackson said. “I mean I think it’s going to be one of the great- est movies to ever come out. I’m very excited about that
DeSean Jackson just signed a $33M deal with the Tampa Bay Buccaneera, but says movies and acting are things he is doing to set up his future. He also starred in his owned reality show a couple of years ago.
op-portunity. I’m really just setting myself up for busi- ness and things off the field, it’s something I’m into as well.”
A new trailer for the “All Eyez On Me” was also re- cently released.
The latest teaser focuses on Tupac’s mother Afeni Shakur, and her early days raising Tupac.
Wear 80 For Packers; Ty
Montgomery Stays With 88
Number 80 it is for Martellus Bennett.
The Green Bay Packers tight end let the fans decide what uniform number he would wear with his new team in a Twitter poll he posted on Saturday – one day after he signed a three- year, $21 million deal.
Bennett wore No. 88 last season with the New Eng- land Patriots, but apparently that’s not going to be avail- able in Green Bay.
Ty Montgomery wore it the past two seasons but was expected to change to a tra- ditional running back num-
MARTELLUS BENNETT
ber for this season after con- verting from receiver, but apparently that’s not hap- pening.
PAGE 16-A FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY FRIDAY, MARCH 17, 2017