Overnight State Sports Briefs: MU coach Williams still has problems sleeping

• Marquette University

Marquette University

Talk about it

NEWARK, N.J. - Marquette University men’s basketball coach Buzz Williams is still have trouble sleeping – and it’s not just because of the excitement of being in the NCAA Sweet-16.

On Monday night, Williams said he had not slept since his team’s third-round upset of Syracuse. But on Tuesday, Williams said he only had a 45-minute nap the previous night. As it turns out, he’s been working with a doctor from the Mayo Clinic since last year on his insomnia. Williams said he had bad problems with it last year – and it caused him to gain a lot of weight and get bloated. Eventually, doctors figured out the causes – and he was sleeping pretty well until this week. He said his doctors e-mailed him this week to say they were proud of him – and they know he’s fired up. But Williams said he’ll be fine, and he’s trying not to be the basketball version of former NFL coach Jon Gruden – who’s notorious for getting by on very little sleep. Williams says his lack of sleep shouldn’t be the story this week, as 11th-seeded Marquette gets ready to play Number-two North Carolina tomorrow night in the NCAA’s East Regional.

________________________________________________________________________

Milwaukee Bucks’ guard Michael Redd now expects to make his season debut on Saturday night at home against the Chicago Bulls. Redd said he had no pain or swelling in his left knee when he practiced last night, before the Bucks lost to Sacramento by seven points at the Bradley Center. Early reports indicated that Redd might have been available for that contest – or perhaps tomorrow night’s road game in New York. But coach Scott Skiles says he’s shooting for Saturday as the return date. Redd has been out since mid-January of last year, after he tore a pair of ligaments in his left knee for a second time. Also, Bucks’ forward Drew Gooden was active last night for the first time in six weeks. But he did not play against the Kings. Gooden has missed the last 28 games with plantar fasciitis in his left foot. The injury has caused him to miss 43 games altogether. Gooden said he’s in excellent shape, and he’s ready to get back on the floor and help the Bucks – who are three games out of playoff contention with 12 left.

__________________________________________________________

Celeste Hoewisch of UW-Green Bay and Angel Robinson of Marquette are among the 40 finalists for the Coaches’ All-America team. Hoewisch, a senior guard, is the Horizon League’s co-player of the year along with her teammate Kayla Tetschlag. Robinson, also a senior guard, led Marquette to 24 wins this season – the second most in the program’s history. Ten players will be named to the final All-American squad. They’ll be announced a week from Saturday. The Golden Eagles made the second round of the NCAA Tournament before falling to top-seeded Tennessee. Green Bay made the Sweet-16, and will play top-seeded Baylor on Sunday night in Dallas.

___________________________________________________________

The Milwaukee Brewers are still narrowing down their choices for a temporary fifth starter next month. Today, the Brewers sent reliever Tim Dillard back to Triple-“A” Nashville. The right-hander will be at the team’s minor league camp for the final week of spring training. Dillard had an ERA of almost seven-and-a-half in nine-and-two-thirds innings this spring. He made two starts and several relief appearances. Right-hander Marco Estrada appears to be in the driver’s set for the temporary Number-five spot. He had a solid outing on Tuesday. The Brewers will need a fifth-starter twice this month, and an opening was created after Zack Greinke cracked a rib at the start of spring training. Today, left-hander Randy Wolf is starting for the Brew Crew as they play the Angels of Anaheim in an exhibition in Tempe Arizona.

Tags: wisconsin sports, sports, proam