Dein erstes Forum » big deal about his past, and he could just be him

BLACKSBURG, Va. -- BLACKSBURG, Va. -- When asked to give an assessment of his hot shooting Tuesday night, Ahmed Hill described a feeling that every basketball player desires.I didnt really have to aim, Hill said.Hill scored a career-high 20 points to lead Virginia Tech to a 99-73 victory over High Point.Hill missed last season with a knee injury, but in the second game of his return, he hit 7 of 12 from the floor and connected on a career-high six 3-pointers for the Hokies (2-0), who never trailed and hit 12 3-pointers. Seth Allen added 17 points.Andre Fox paced High Point (1-1) with a career-high 23 points.Virginia Tech blitzed the Panthers right from the opening tip. The Hokies made 14 of their first 15 shots, including six 3-pointers in racing to a 24-point lead less than nine minutes into the game. Hill hit half of his 3-pointers in that stretch.I dont know that I could have necessarily predicted his field-goal percentage and things of that nature, Virginia Tech coach Buzz Williams said of Hill, who is shooting 52.9 percent (9 of 17) from beyond the 3-point arc this season. He holds himself to an incredibly high standard, and his work ethic is superb.High Point had no answer for the Hokies on the perimeter, as Hill and Allen combined for 25 of the Hokies 60 first-half points. Virginia Tech shot 71.9 percent (23 of 32) in the first half and hit eight 3s. The Hokies shot 56.1 percent for the game (37 of 66).We had a game plan, but we didnt execute it very well, High Point coach Scott Cherry said. We had to help too much and gave them good looks. They had wide-open ones. Give them a lot of credit. They made them.BIG PICTUREHigh Point: The Panthers will need better games from Anthony Lindauer -- one of just three seniors on the roster. He scored just four points after scoring 16 in the season opener for a High Point team that features seven newcomers.Virginia Tech: With Kerry Blackshear Jr. sidelined with a lower leg injury, the Hokies are searching for help in the post, and freshman Khadim Sy may be the answer. Sy scored 14 points and grabbed six rebounds.MORE ON HILLS BIG NIGHTHill was a 3-pointer away from tying the single-game school record held by teammate Justin Bibbs. He also set career highs in field goals made and 3-pointers attempted.I was comfortable coming into the season, but Im still shocked that Im playing this way, he said.MOVING IN THE RIGHT DIRECTIONThe Hokies are preparing for a 10-day trip to the West Coast that has them playing three games in the Wooden Legacy tournament in California and then a game in Michigan as part of the ACC-Big Ten Challenge. After a somewhat lackluster performance in the opener, Virginia Tech took a step forward, according to Williams, whose team leaves Monday.I didnt think we were bad in game 1, but I thought we were trying to justify too much of our inadequacies and playing it on, `Well, it was game 1, he said. We need to hurry up . and take the next step. I thought, for sure, we did that.UP NEXTHigh Point returns home to play in the High Point University Classic. The Panthers play three games in three days, starting with UNC Greensboro on Friday.Virginia Tech will be looking to go 3-0 to open the season for the first time since 2012 when it takes on VMI at home on Saturday. Malcolm Subban Golden Knights Jersey .Y. -- Jayna Hefford scored the winning goal Friday as Canada survived a scare with a 4-3 win over Sweden at the Four Nations womens hockey tournament. Nick Holden Golden Knights Jersey .H. -- Matt Kenseth made it 2 for 2 in the Chase, holding off teammate Kyle Busch to win Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. http://www.goldenknightssale.com/authentic-mark-stone-golden-knights-jersey/ . "It doesnt get any better than that," Giambi said. "Im speechless." The Indians are roaring toward October. Giambi belted a two-run, pinch-hit homer with two outs in the ninth inning to give Cleveland a shocking 5-4 win over the Chicago White Sox on Tuesday night, keeping the Indians up with the lead pack in the AL wild-card race. Nate Schmidt Jersey . Aside from the trilogy main event title fight, there are a number of intriguing matchups in the heavyweight, welterweight and lightweight divisions. William Karlsson Golden Knights Jersey . It was hard for Luck to pull off another comeback, or even get into the end zone, while standing on the sideline. Rivers threw a 22-yard touchdown pass to rookie Keenan Allen and Nick Novak kicked four field goals to give the Chargers a 19-9 victory against the Colts on Monday night. Buddy Ryan took a back seat to no one. Neither did his fierce defenses that won two Super Bowls.The pugnacious coach and defensive mastermind whose twin sons have been successful NFL coaches, died Tuesday. He was 85.His death was confirmed by the Buffalo Bills, where Rex Ryan is the head coach and Rob Ryan an assistant. James Solano, Buddy Ryans agent, said he died in Kentucky but did not give a cause. Ryan lived on a ranch in Shelbyville.He was many things to many people -outstanding coach, mentor, fierce competitor, father figure, faithful friend and the list goes on, Rex Ryan said in a statement. But to me and my brothers Rob and Jim, he was so much more. He was everything you want in a dad -tough when he had to be, compassionate when you didnt necessarily expect it, and a loving teacher and confidant who cherished his family. He truly was our hero.Ryan was a defensive line and linebackers coach for the 1968 champion New York Jets and coordinated the ground-breaking 46 defense for the title-winning 1985 Chicago Bears, one of the NFLs greatest defenses. He was a head coach for the Philadelphia Eagles from 1986-90 and for the Arizona Cardinals in 1994-95, compiling a 55-55-1 overall record.Buddy Ryan was arguably one of the greatest defensive masterminds in NFL history and forever left his mark on the Eagles organization and the city of Philadelphia, Eagles chairman Jeffrey Lurie said.A few years ago, Ryan attended a Cowboys-Jets game, traveling to New Jersey despite cancer to see then-Jets head coach Rex go against then-Dallas defensive coordinator Rob.Buddy Ryan was the architect of the greatest defense our league has seen, Bears chairman George H. McCaskey said. He was brilliant when it came to the Xs and Os of the game, but what made him special was his ability to create an unwavering confidence in the players he coached.Rams coach Jeff Fisher played for and got his coaching start under Ryan.His knowledge, passion for football and the love he had for his players and coaches are traits that have shaped and influenced so many careers, including my own, Fisher saidJames David Ryan was a Korean War veteran who went to Oklahoma State, then earned a masters degree from Middle Tennessee State even while coaching. He got his first major job in the pros in New York, then of the AFL, in 1968. Ryan was the linebackers coach for the Joe Namath-led Jets, a boastful, confident team that fit his personality.Those Jets led the AFL in defense in his first season on staff, then shocked the Colts in the Super Bowl, 16-7.Thats something my dad was very proud of, Rex Ryan said. When (former Jets coach Weeb) Ewbank hired him, he had to make a difference. If he felt he wasnt making a difference, then his career as a professional coach would be short.Instead, it was very long.Ryans first job as a defensive coordinator came in 1976 with the Vikings under Bud Grant, like Ewbank a Hall of Fame coach. He spent two years there, with the 1976 team losing to Oakland in the Super Bowl. He then moved to the rival Bears, where he concocted the 46 defense that overwhelmed the league with its aggressiveness and unpredictability.Ryans defenders, featuring such Hall of Famers as linebacker Mike Singletary and ends Dan Hampton and Richard Dent, came from all angles and was nearly impossible to budge on the ground. Not that teams had more success in the air, either.Some say the 46 is just an eight-man front, said Ryan, who named the scheme after safety Doug Plank, who wore that number. Thats like saying Marilyn Monroe is just a girl.Ryan and head coach Mike Ditka often feuded during that 15-1 season and Supeer Bowl run.dddddddddddd They nearly slugged it out at halftime of Chicagos only defeat, at Miami on a Monday night in December. (Ryan would punch offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride on national TV on Jan. 2, 1994, when both were assistant coaches in Houston.)I have great respect for Buddy, Ditka said. I have great respect for what he got out of our players. He was the reason in 85 that we had the defense and we won the Super Bowl. Theres no question about that. I didnt coach one second of defense. My job was to coach the football team and get everybody to try to do the same thing -- that was to win a championship. Thats what we ended up doing. We did it together.I never had another one and he never had another one, so we did something pretty special together, Ditka said. And thats all that really matters.Ryans work in Chicago got him the Eagles job.At a meeting the night before the Bears beat New England in the 1986 Super Bowl, Dent said a teary Ryan informed his players that he was going to Philadelphia:You guys are going to be my champions. Lets kick some tail, Ryan said.Hampton then kicked a film projector out of defensive line coach Dale Haupts hands, and defensive tackle Steve McMichael flung a chair across the room, its legs impaling a chalkboard.Such was the devotion players felt for Ryan, who guided the Eagles to the playoffs in 1988, `89 and `90. But they lost all three playoff games, and he was fired after the 1990 season by Eagles owner Norman Braman despite a 43-35-1 record.Earlier that season, Ryan bragged that his Eagles would so badly beat up the Redskins in a Monday night game theyll have to be carted off in body bags. The Eagles defense scored three touchdowns in a 28-14 win and knocked nine Redskins out of the game, including two quarterbacks.A year earlier, Philadelphia routed the Cowboys 27-0 on Thanksgiving Day with hardly any holiday feelings in the air. Cowboys kicker Luis Zendejas claimed Ryan put a $200 bounty on him, something Ryan laughed off as ridiculous.After one season as an assistant at Houston, Arizona hired Ryan as head coach in 1994 and the Cardinals went 12-20 in his two years there. He never coached again, letting Rex and Rob carry on the family legacy.There is no way we can possibly begin to measure how much football we have learned from him over the years, Rex Ryan said. And we are forever thankful to him for instilling within us his unwavering love for the game of football.Ryans Shelbyville home was about 30 miles east of Louisville. Few seemed to know about Ryan at two small restaurants attached to convenience stores, just a mile away from his golf course development. Fire and police officials said the coach also had a horse farm about 20 miles west in Simpsonville.Alan Zaring, though, thought Ryan made a fine neighbor.He didnt make a big deal about his past, and he could just be himself, said Zaring, who lived next door to him for seven years. He was still Buddy Ryan and could be crusty with people who sometimes worked at the house, but it would be in good fun. He didnt take himself too seriously.He will be missed, Zaring said.---AP Pro Football Writer Rob Maaddi and Sports Writers Gary B. Graves and Andrew Seligman contributed to this report---This story has been corrected to show that Ryans age was 85. The change is made in keeping with public records. He has been listed over the years with a different birth date in numerous publications.---AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and www.twitter.com/AP-NFL ' ' '