RICE RUMORS & GOSSIP

MINNEAPOLIS The Minnesota Lynx confirmed Wednesday that veteran forward Taj McWilliams-Franklin was named an assistant women's basketball coach at Rice University. McWilliams-Franklin, who's playing in her 14th season in the WNBA, will join the Rice team when the Lynx's season ends. She has played overseas during the past 10 offseasons, but she has a home in San Antonio...

The Rice Owls will welcome Arkansas, Sam Houston State and Prairie View A&M to Reckling Park this weekend for regional action in the first round of the 2012 NCAA Baseball Championship. The Owls (40-17) will open NCAA play against Prairie View (28-23) at 6:00 on Friday at Reckling Park. Arkansas (39-19) and Sam Houston (38-2-00 will meet in the opener at 1 pm on Friday. The two...

2011 Record: (4-8, 3-5 in C-USA) Head Coach: David Bailiff (23-38 at Rice, 44-53 All-Time) Last Bowl Game: 2008 Texas Bowl: beat Western Michigan 38-14 Four Year Coaching Trend: 5 wins, 7.25 losses per year; avg of 3.75 wins and 4.25 losses in C-USA play   Schedule Glimpse: 2012 Schedule Link Must Win: 10/6 at Memphis, 10/13 vs UTSA Out of Conference: 8/30 vs UCLA, 9/8 at...

Today marks 100 days from the kickoff of the 2012 college football season. Accordingly, over the next 100 days Rant Sports will be previewing the top 100 teams in country. Today, the Rice Owls. — After enjoying one of the top finishes in school history in 2008 (10-3), things have been all downhill for the Owls. Coach David Bailiff is on the proverbial hot seat entering the...

With the 211th overall pick in the 2012 NFL Draft, the Titans select Scott Solomon, DE (Rice). Productive, hardworking defensive lineman with a variety of skills. Plays with good balance and leverage and is tough to knock off his feet. Quick off the snap, immediately changes direction and displays the ability to make plays down the line of scrimmage in pursuit of the action. Effectively...

HOUSTON Most every parent experiences that moment with their football-playing child, an uneasy discussion following the first cringe-worthy injury that leaves all involved questioning the sanity of it all. Scott Solomon was reared in an academic environment. His father Dale is an anesthesiologist. His mother Diane is a neurologist. His twin brother Stewart is a first-year medical...

Oregon Bracket: One of the most hated uniforms in 2011 looks to make strong run The top seed in the Oregon Bracket of 2012 Uniform Madness is expected to go deep in to the tournament and looks to hold off one of the uniforms that many overlook due to the level of the program. Georgia's Pro Combat received a one seed more for their helmet, than overall execution. The second...

HOUSTON - It was important to pay rapt attention to exactly what Rice senior guard Connor Frizzelle said in the moments before the Owls boarded a charter bus to catch their private plane to Memphis, the host city of the 2012 Conference USA Men's Basketball Championship. It is too easy to lose the details in the hysteria of this breakthrough season, to forget just how low the...

HOUSTON -- You can take your cynicism and your bitterness and your disgust at collegiate recruiting and the NCAA and wrap it in some foil and and put it in the freezer for later. It'll keep. This is a different kind of recruiting story. Five months ago, David Wilganowski's heart stopped beating in the middle of a football game he was playing for Rudder High School in Bryan...

HOUSTON The focus shifts from offseason to offseason, with roster evaluations influencing the intended targets on the recruiting trail. But in some years perspectives take on macro views, with an overriding program philosophy taking precedent over specific needs at tailback or tackle. The results of years of defensive futility suggested to Rice coach David Bailiff that the Owls...

The score could have been named at any point during the evening thus the final tally was largely irrelevant. Coming out of a 10-day break for final exams, what was of critical significance was how Rice performed. Would the Owls appear lethargic following their lengthy layoff, or were they chomping at the bit to take the court for the first time since Dec. 3? Would they pick up where...

And then there was one. With the announced dismissals of Chuck Driesbach and Rick LaFavers on Monday, Rice coach David Bailiff has just one remaining member from his original staff from 2007: linebackers coach Darrell Patterson. Driesbach, 59, and LaFavers, 38, joined Bailiff in the weeks following his Jan. 19 2007 hiring. Driesbach had served as assistant head coach, defensive...

Arsalan Kazemi scored 18 points and grabbed 14 rebounds as Rice rolled to an 81-67 victory over St. Thomas, Texas on Saturday. Kazemi was one of five players to score in double figures for Rice (6-2). Dylan Ennis scored 14 points, Lucas Kuipers and Tamir Jackson had 13 each and Ahmad Ibrahim had 10. A pair of free throws by Dylan Ennis with seven seconds left in the first half...

It was difficult to predict exactly how things would unfold on Wednesday evening for Rice giving the gaping hole in its rotation. Junior forward Arsalan Kazemi strained his back against Northern Iowa last Friday at the South Padre Island Invitational and played through the pain the following afternoon against Iowa State. He exhausted his resiliency this week during practice, forcing...

Jayson Carter was recently brought on to Rice University as a walk-on, and he's walking into the campus as a popular figure now. Now we've seen Darren Sproles and how short he is, at 5'6", but Carter excelled that range, as he is 4'9" and 130 pounds, playing running back for the Owls. He was recently named a legalized midget and qualified for dwarfism. But...