Moore played collegiate ball for two seasons at Georgia Southern, where he helped lead the 1991-92 GSU squad to the NCAA Tournament with a school-record 25 wins. His senior campaign also included school records for three-point percentage and steals in a season.

His first college exposure as a player came at Hutchinson (Kansas) Community College, where he started on the nation’s preseason no. 1 team as a sophomore in 1989-90. Moore’s success as a player began at Wichita South High School, where he earned all-state honors after helping his team to an undefeated season while winning the 1988 6A state championship.

“Wendell will have a lot of creditability with the players, especially with his experience and success as a player in college and in high school,” added Walters. “Our players will learn a lot from him because he has been in their shoes before and will be able to bring a lot of that experience to his work with the players.”

A native of Wichita, Moore completed his associate’s degree in Business Administration at Hutchinson in 1990 and then graduated from Georgia Southern in 1993 with a bachelor’s in Communications.

Moore joins Mike Balado, who stayed on as an assistant when Walters was promoted in April, and Jeff Guin, who was named to the staff on May 25. Walters will fill out his staff with a director of basketball operations.

"We are thrilled to announce that Sean Alarcon has signed a letter of intent to be part of our FAU basketball family," stated Walters. "Sean exemplifies all that I expect in our student-athletes. His ability to be successful on the court and in the classroom, as well as his character and leadership skills, makes him a perfect fit for our program."

Alarcon, a 6-3, 185-pound guard from Indian River Community College, averaged 16.1 points and shot 42% from three-point range to earn Second Team All-Southern Conference honors. IRCC went 24-7 in 2005-06 and reached the state semifinals.

Alarcon, the first signee since Walters became head coach, is a Boca Raton native and 2004 graduate of Olympic Heights High School, where he was named to the 6-A Second Team All-State and First Team All-County. He averaged 20 points, five rebounds and five assists and set the Palm Beach County record for three-pointers made with 133.

Alarcon is the fifth prospect from South Florida and sixth overall to sign for the fall. He joins Xavier Perkins, a 6-5, 220-pound forward from Saint Andrew's School in Boca Raton; Tavarus Harris, a 5-10, 170-pound guard from Palm Beach Community College; Jeff Parmer, a 6-8, 220-pound forward from Palm Beach Community College; Sanchez Hughley, a 6-4 200-point guard from Lyman High School in Orlando; and Seydou Kone, a 6-8, 230-pound forward from Broward Community College.

Spokeswoman Katrina McCormick would not divulge the name of the coach, anonymous sources, reported Thursday that assistant coach Rex Walters would be promoted to replace Matt Doherty.

Doherty left Florida Atlantic after one season Monday to accept the head job at Southern Methodist. Florida Atlantic was 15-13 last season.

Walters, who played in the NBA for seven years, spent two seasons as an assistant coach at Valparaiso before joining Doherty's staff.

Walters played at Kansas and was the 16th pick of the 1993 NBA Draft by New Jersey. He also played for Philadelphia and Miami.

Doherty was offered the job Thursday and is expected to inform SMU officials of his decision early next week, the source said.

FAU Athletic Director Craig Angelos said he spoke to Doherty on Friday morning, but was not told of any offer made by SMU to Doherty.

"I think that he's keeping me updated and he's still deliberating on which direction he wants to go," Angelos said.

FOXsports.com, citing unnamed sources, reported Doherty had accepted the position.

A phone message left on Doherty's cell phone wasn't returned and his administrative assistant at the FAU basketball office said Doherty was out of town.

Doherty flew to Dallas to meet with SMU and retuned to Boca Raton late Thursday night — pushing the start of the team's annual dinner to 10 p.m. — with an offer in hand, but didn't inform the team he had an offer.

The salary range for the Mustangs' new coach is listed as "commensurate with experience" on the official job posting on SMU's Web site. However, it's believed SMU is offering Doherty close to three times his $177,000 annual salary at FAU.

"I'm not sure of the numbers they are dealing with, but I also know they are out of our league," Angelos said.

Doherty, 44, has a $200,000 buyout clause in his contract.

He coached Notre Dame for a season, then was at his alma mater, North Carolina, from 2000-03. Doherty was hired last year to take over the Owls and went 15-13.

Former Arizona State coach Rob Evans also is believed to have interviewed at SMU.

Mustangs coach Jimmy Tubbs was fired this month after an internal report uncovered several NCAA violations.

Incoming SMU Athletic Director Steve Orsini, who could not be reached, is still the athletic director at Central Florida and doesn't take over at SMU until June 1, after the Mustangs' current AD, Jim Copeland, retires. Orsini is using vacation time at UCF to conduct the search.

It's believed Doherty met with Orsini on Monday in Orlando before visiting the SMU campus Wednesday.

Orsini received praise for his hiring two years ago of football coach George O'Leary, who left Notre Dame after an infamous resume scandal. It appears he may be taking another chance on Doherty, who was forced to resign as the Tar Heels' coach amid reports of unhappy players.

This season, Doherty signed the Owls' best recruiting class in school history.

"I haven't talked to him about the job, but I have talked to the coaching staff and they told me he wasn't going anywhere," said St. Andrew's guard Xavier Perkins, who signed with the Owls in the early period. "Right now I'm just trying to stay updated. I'm praying he stays, but until he tells me he's leaving, I'm not worried about it."

SMU was 13-16 last season in its first season in Conference USA. Conference USA features Memphis, coached by John Calipari, which landed a top seed in this year's NCAA Tournament. Alabama-Birmingham, which received an at-large berth, also competes in the league along with Central Florida, Texas-El Paso, Houston, Rice, Tulane, Tulsa, Marshall, Southern Mississippi and East Carolina.

SMU plays in Moody Coliseum, which seats 8,998. The facility opened in 1956.

The Owls just completed their final season in the Atlantic Sun Conference and will move into the Sun Belt Conference for 2006-2007. The Sun Belt is considered a much tougher league than the Atlantic Sun and features more schools with traditionally stronger basketball programs such as Western Kentucky, New Orleans, Louisiana-Lafayette and South Alabama, which made the NCAA Tournament this season under coach John Pelphrey.

The prototypical big guard is a hot commodity in college basketball these days, and George Washington University might have landed one of Florida's best.

Taravella 6-8 swingman Damian Hollis is expected to make his commitment to George Washington official when he signs a letter-of-intent next week, according to his father, Essie Hollis.

Hollis, a left-handed guard/forward, was selected to the All-State Class 6A first team after averaging 22.3 points, 10.1 rebounds and 3.4 assists this past season.

In nabbing Hollis, Colonials, whose surprising run in the NCAA tournament was halted by top-seeded Duke, reportedly beat out Florida Atlantic, West Virginia, Seton Hall, Nebraska and UAB, among others.

Hollis, who has a wide shooting range, showcased his versatility playing all five positions during his high school career, but he is projected to get most of his minutes in college at the guard and wing positions.

LSU’s women’s basketball team finished the 2005-06 season ranked fourth in the USA Today/ESPN/WBCA poll.

The Lady Tigers (31-4) advanced to the program’s third NCAA Final Four and the third in as many season. LSU fell to Duke, 64-45, in the national semifinal Sunday in Boston’s TD Banknorth Garden.

Maryland, winners of the program’s first national title, received all 31 first-place votes and 775 points, while Duke, the national runner-up, placed second with 744 points and North Carolina was third with 689.

LSU received 679 points to place ahead of No. 5 Tennessee and No. 6 UConn. Stanford, Oklahoma, Rutgers and Ohio State completed the top 10.

The Lady Tigers enjoyed one of the program’s finest seasons. LSU won its second straight Southeastern Conference regular season championship with a 13-1 record.

The team was also award a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament for the second straight year and the third time overall.

LSU defeated Florida Atlantic, Washington, DePaul and Stanford to earn a trip to the Final Four in Boston.

With its No. 4 ranking in women’s basketball, LSU joined North Carolina as the only schools in NCAA history to have its football team and men’s and women’s basketball teams finish their seasons ranked in the top 5 in the nation during the same athletic year.

The scene from Saturday’s Atlantic Sun Conference championship game — watching Florida Atlantic University players and coaches embrace and later cut down victory nets — was actually four years in the making.

That’s how long it took the Florida Atlantic women’s basketball program to get back in position to challenge for the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA tournament after falling just short in 2002 — when Georgia State rebounded a missed shot and scored at the buzzer for a shocking one-point victory.

Even more devastating to Florida Atlantic’s program the next two seasons were the unexpected departures of two of its top players — both All-Conference performers — who opted not to return after becoming pregnant.

“It was tough,’’ FAU coach Chancellor Dugan said. “We had to replace them with freshmen and that’s tough. It’s been kind of one thing after another, but this group has held together. These seniors said we were going to do it this year. No more excuses.’’

That’s what made FAU’s postgame celebration of its 74-63 victory over Gardner-Webb for the A-Sun championship — locking up the school’s first NCAA tournament berth — particularly poignant, given the struggles that resulted since the last time the Owls were in the same spot.

The team convened Monday evening at a campus sports bar, amongst family and friends, to continue enjoying the spoils, watching their name pop up on the giant screen in front them as a 16th seed in the San Antonio Regional.

“When our name came up, everybody just went crazy,’’ Dugan said. “To see your name in that bracket was something I’ll never forget.”

FAU (20-10) meets top-seeded and fifth-ranked LSU (27-3) in an opening-round game at about 1 p.m. Saturday at Vanderbilt’s Memorial Gymnasium.

“Everybody remembers the first and this is something we’ve been talking about it all year long,’’ said Dugan, 99-103 in seven seasons at the Boca Raton-based school. “It’s a privilege to be there since there’s only 64 teams playing. Then to get a No. 16 seed and draw LSU, it’s going to be a very tough task.”

Dugan vividly recalls the last time FAU nearly punched its ticket for a NCAA bid four years earlier.

The depth-thin Owls team built a 14-point first-half lead despite losing their best player for the game with a broken ankle.

Then momentum swung to Georgia State in the second half, who led by as many as 10 points, before FAU battled back to lead by six. The Owls then lost two starters to fouls, leaving them with a pair of walk-ons to help get through the final three minutes.

The lead exchanged hands three times down the stretch but FAU held a one-point lead in the final seconds.

“One of their guards shot a three and the ball went halfway down,’’ Dugan said. “Instead of thinking about blocking out, the ball popped out and we missed a block out and the girl put it back in at the buzzer to win the game.’’

FAU went 14-14 the next year before back-to-back losing seasons.

That set the stage for this season — the school’s winningest — with three mature senior leaders in Shontavia Williams, Amanda Bulin and Sharia Young leading the way, coupled with the infusion of three freshmen and a pair of junior college signees for a team that returned four starters and eight letterwinners from a 12-16 team.

They’ve melded into a team that overcame a 0-4 start and 3-7 record to reel off 17 wins in their last 20 games, capped by a sweep through the A-Sun tournament by nearly double digits.

“The seniors on this team have just been incredible,’’ Dugan said. “They’ve had an amazing will and spirit. The kids we added have definitely helped with our depth and size in inside. It’s been a good mix.”

FAU’s slow start was attributed to having been displaced by Hurricane Wilma, which struck Oct. 24 and caused structural damage to the gym’s roof and coaches offices, forcing the team to practice and play several of its games off campus.

The Owls did have a couple of near misses on the court, losing to Florida State (76-63) and Georgetown (59-53) before embarking on conference play, the same league that produced Stetson, the first NCAA tournament opponent of LSU last season.

Dugan said the team’s first crossroads in the season occurred in defeat instead of victory when FAU, trailing by 19 points at halftime, was hammered in a Jan. 19 home game by Belmont, 71-50.

“I came in the next day and said this was enough and this is what we’re going to do,’’ she said. “We got out on the practice floor and worked their tails off. We did a bunch of defensive stuff and ran a bunch and got their attention and focus. We went on a couple of rolls after that.”

FAU, which regularly plays 10 players a minimum of 10 minutes a game, went on to win five straight game after that, a prelude to what was about to transpire.

The Owls won 14 of their next 16 games, half of which were by double-figures, including the A-Sun tournament championship over Gardner-Webb where Williams scored 26 points and hit four of her team’s season-high 10 3-pointers.

Williams, who played against LSU’s Sylvia Fowles at Miami’s Jackson High, was named the tournament MVP after averaging 23.5 points and nine rebounds. The 5-foot-7 guard averaged 16.2 during the regular season, while Bulin averaged 10.6 during her team’s last 15 games.

“I think our kids know what a special occasion this is,’’ Dugan said. “They want to enjoy every moment of it.’’

On Saturday the Lady Tigers (27-3, 14-1) will square off against the Florida Atlantic Owls (20-10, 16-4) in the opening round of the 2006 women’s NCAA Tournament.

The Lady Tigers will enter the game after a 63-62 loss to Tennessee in the Southeastern Conference tournament title game. But Athletics Director Skip Bertman tried not to let the loss linger into the tournament when he “flushed” it away with a miniature toilet at the team’s Selection Monday gathering.

“The flushing was quite appropriate,” LSU coach Pokey Chatman said. “It’s just that it sounds so much better coming from your [Athletics Director]”

The Lady Tigers’ main defensive task will be to slow down Owl senior and Atlantic Sun Conference tournament MVP Shontavia Williams, who has averaged 16.2 points and 7.1 rebounds per game.

Williams will be a familiar face to Miami-area Lady Tigers and Edison High school alumnae Scholanda Hoston, Florence Williams and Sylvia Fowles, as she faced all three in high school while playing at Miami-Jackson High.

LSU last faced FAU on Nov. 11, 2002, as LSU recorded a 88-55 victory.

While the Lady Tigers will be focused on getting back to the Final Four and winning the national title, the Owls and coach Chancellor Dugan have a different outlook.

“We’re just happy we are playing in Nashville,” Dugan said in a news release. “We have a lot of friends and family that will be able to make it there to support our team.”

The chances of FAU winning against the No. 1-seed Lady Tigers are slim, but both Williams and Seimone Augustus have tips that would help stop them.

The defensive plan starts with Augustus. The guard leads the nation in scoring at 23 points per game

“I’ll just try to limit my touches as much as possible,” Augustus said. “Once you get the ball in my hands, it’s going to be difficult. So I would just make sure I didn’t touch the ball at all.”

Augustus said a team could try to get Fowles to switch defensive positions and have her pick up fouls. But if a team does this, Augustus said, it takes its chances that guard Erica White cannot beat them shooting the ball. Augustus admitted neither option is very likely.

Williams said she believes that as well as playing the best game they can, opponents should try to do something different defensively.

“I would play some type of zone against us,” Williams said after a long pause to gather her thoughts. “There are times when we struggle against zone defenses, so I’d start with that.”

Forcing turnovers is another good idea for LSU’s opponents. In the Lady Tigers’ three losses this season, the opposing team has forced a combined 48 turnovers, limiting the offensive touches the Lady Tigers received.