NEW YORK -- NCAA president Mark Emmert praised Penn States success in football this season and said the universitys response to historic NCAA sanctions five years ago expedited the programs recovery.Speaking Wednesday at the Learfield Sports Intercollegiate Athletics Forum, Emmert called Penn States season spectacular and said the teams run to a Big Ten championship is great for those young men and that fan base.Penn State went 11-2 and won its first conference title since 1994. The Nittany Lions finished No. 5 in the final selection committee rankings and will play USC in the Rose Bowl Game presented by Northwestern Mutual.In July 2011, Emmert imposed unprecedented penalties on Penn State after the schools child sex abuse scandal involving former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky. Penn State received a four-year bowl ban, massive scholarship losses, five years probation and a $60 million fine, in addition to the loss of bowl revenue. The NCAA later reduced the postseason and scholarship penalties after Penn State complied with reforms outlined by an independent athletics integrity monitor.Because the campus addressed all of their issues so aggressively, that allowed the [NCAA] board of governors to back down from the scholarship sanctions and the postseason sanctions, Emmert said. They, as a university, had their annual reviews come in. The board looked at it and said, Wow, thats great progress. Thats way ahead of schedule. So that was terrific.It was very, very helpful in allowing the team to get back on track, and thats great.Some considered the NCAAs penalties on Penn State to be worse than the so-called death penalty, and initial forecasts pegged Penn State to experience a prolonged decline on the football field.People occasionally will say, Well, those sanctions were meant to cripple the university, Emmert said. Thats not true at all. Never was. Ive always said and always believed Penn State is, first and foremost, a great university, because it is. Secondly, its got wonderful sports traditions. How can you not be pleased theyre playing very good football?Penn State trustee Anthony Lubrano, a staunch supporter of former coach Joe Paterno, wasnt happy with Emmerts comments, calling the NCAA president a joke.Mark Emmert is a sanctimonious hypocrite, Lubrano said. Joe Paterno had more integrity in his little finger than Emmert has in his entire body. The NCAA got what they wanted from Louie Freeh. We shouldnt be surprised that Freeh sighted institutional control issues in his fact-free report. The NCAA sent [former enforcement director] Julie Roe and others to train Freehs investigators with respect to institutional control violations.Emmert addressed a variety of topics Wednesday:? Emmert called the College Football Playoff fabulously successful but said his preference is to increase the field to eight teams so every Power 5 conference champion can participate.Im kind of old-school about that, I guess, he said. It would be really fun to have a model where those five champions all got a crack at moving forward. I dont know what that looks like.Asked of this years selections, Emmert, the former president at the University of Washington, joked: Well, they got one right.??Emmert didnt address current NCAA investigations like the ones at Ole Miss and North Carolina, but he did recognize the drawn-out process of such probes.Everybody gets frustrated when they go on so long, he said. At the same time, you have to recognize the system is designed to provide lots of opportunities for the universities and any individuals involved to prepare information and conduct investigations collaboratively. We go in and sit down with the university and say, Lets together explore this and determine what the facts are. The investigatory process isnt what a lot of people think, that my staff showing up saying, OK, now were going to sneak around and get you. Its quite the opposite.??As the NCAAs Division I Council plans major recruiting forms to college football, Emmert said he wants high school athletes to have increased information about schools before making their college decisions. He doesnt have a preference on changing the recruiting calendar but advocates any changes [that] can reduce the intensity of that process, which is really extreme sometimes for the high school students and for the coaches and their families.??Emmert praised the Big 12 decision not to expand its membership. Its a good thing for college sports, he said. The last round [of realignment] was very disruptive, and it had a negative impact on so many schools and lots of personal relationships. It was hard, and Im glad we didnt have to go through that again.??Emmert said Mondays ruling by the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that college athletes are not employees of their colleges or the NCAA provides greater clarity on the amateurism debate. The ruling came in response to a lawsuit filed by two University of Pennsylvania track athletes against the school and the NCAA, arguing that student-athletes are employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act and are entitled to minimum wage.??Emmert didnt comment about the sex-assault scandal involving Baylor, but said of the universitys decisions to separate with football coach Art Briles, athletic director Ian McCaw and president Ken Starr was a demonstration that the board obviously took this matter very seriously. Air Jordan 11 Wholesale . Fellow centre Pavel Datsyuk remains out because of a concussion. Zetterberg has 11 goals and 19 assists for a team-high 30 points, and Datsyuk has a team-high 12 goals and 11 assists. 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SAINT BONAVENTURE, N.Y. -- Denzel Ingram scored on a step-back jumper at the buzzer and North Carolina-Wilmington defeated St. Bonaventure 81-80 on Saturday night.The Bonnies had taken an 80-79 lead when Jaylen Adams converted an acrobatic shot into a 3-point play with 14.2 seconds left.Ingram hit five 3-pointers and scored 19 points for the Seahawks (8-1), who won their fifth straight. C.J. Bryce added 17 points and Chris Flemmings 15, hitting three 3s as Wilmington went 13 of 29 behind the arc.Adams had 18 points and Matt Mobbley 17, nine points behind their combined average that makes the two Bonnies the highest scoring duo in the country.ddddddddddddDavid Andoh had 16 points off the bench for St. Bonaventure (6-3), which had its five-game winning streak snapped.Ingram hit a buzzer-beating 3 at the half as Wilmington took a 40-35 lead, hitting 8 of 16 from long distance.It was the first-ever meeting between the schools. ' ' '