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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 27, 1990)
Tuesday, March 27,1990 The Battalion Page 9 Arkansas, Texas bring national Penders denies ■ . , .. ^ ^ rumors about espect and excitement to SWC \nalysis 3y DENNE H. FREEMAN Df The Associated Press DALLAS (AP) — When Travis ays’ 26-foot prayer went un- nswered by the basketball gods and frustration foul followed with 16 icks remaining on the clock, the Texas Longhorns lost their chance or a rocky mountain high Final Four. The Arkansas Razorbacks, as they bad been all year long, were a little too good for Texas coach Tom Pen ders’ overachievers and earned the ticket to Denver. The 88-85 victory sent the Razor- Dacks to the finals against Duke and the ’Horns had to be content with a welcome home party in the “Super Drum.” But wasn’t the Southwest Confer- nce the big winner with an out- ouring of national publicity un- atched in the league’s somewhat potted basketball history? No less an authority than the New york Times had welcomed the SWC >ut of the basketball dark ages, say- wngbefore the game: I “Buckle your seatbelts for an exhi larating example of what everyone is falling the new wave of college bas- etball, a style that’s high on freew- iceling shots and low on patience, iffering pressure defense for 40 sec- >nds, ana a thrill a second.” Indeed, it did. • |i The Arkansas-Texas game, round 'lllS our P rov ided a thrill a minute for asketball fans every where. ^ was a trem endous game and uru ive knew Texas would make a run,’ 1 \rkansas coach Nolan Richardson lets pid. “I Texas had gone another Ebenhii } Tigers, re. VP) - 1-1 tie eighth to openi witn a tros. ed all sei aok the If inning i single erfeld. ; more re singles two-rai 'd of 5| bounty S e during ng. am bin mei route in the tournament I sincerely believe we would have played them for the national championship.” Penders and Richarson, who had traded barbs all season, made up and traded warm handshakes at game’s end, exchanging “good job” congratulations. Penders was the gracious loser al though it had to hurt as the ’Horns just missed their first Final Four ap pearance in 47 years. “They had too many great play ers,” Penders said. “We had to hit on all cylinders to beat them. We didn’t.” Texas shot below 40 per cent from the field and made a costly 22 turnovers which Arkansas cashed into 23 points. Texas and Arkansas had gone into their third meeting of the year with no respect from the NCAA se lection committee. Arkansas won the other games 109-100 and 103-96 in overtime. The ’Horns were a 10th seed and Arkansas only fourth, pretty shabby for the No. 7 ranked team in the na tion. This prime time matchup on CBS brought national attention to the SWC which has never won a Final Four. Baylor and Houston (twice) have lost in championship games. “I tried to tell everyone how good the conference was getting and they said I was blowing smoke, Richard son said. “I wasn’t.” Former Arkansas coach Eddie Sutton, who had some great teams in the late 1970s, said flatly “I’ve seen over 100 games this year and these two teams can play with any of them.” One of the big questions being asked immediately after 'the final buzzer was whether Penders would turn down an attractive offer from The University of Florida (reported at $500,000) and stay with the burnt orange. A big raise from Penders current Texas salary of $200,000 plus fringe benefits was expected to accomplish that. “I love being at Texas but I also have to see what’s best for my fam ily,” Penders said. “My policy is if someone wants to talk to me I’ll lis ten. We’re working on a new con tract at Texas and I plan to be here for a long, long time. Maybe I’ll have announcement before long.” Stay tuned but Penders should be offered big bucks to stay at Texas. The SWC might want to take up a collection to keep him out of the $2,630,000 the league cashed in tournament play. Texas got $589,000 for advancing to the excit ing eight while Arkansas took away $673,000. Loyola Marymount forced to face Gathers’ death after loss to UNLV s a ast (haii [off tea"! The hf ; eld of IS 107 fotV WilliaiK s Barton OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — The on-court mission is over for Loyola Marymount, but the emotional re covery from Hank Gathers’ death was just beginning Monday. Players on the nation’s sentimental favorites in the NCAA tournament became ordinary students again, returning to the reality of life without basketball as therapy. The team was greeted by a welcoming crowd of about 2,000 students at its Los Angeles campus at 11 p.m. Sunday. After a final flurry of national tele vision interviews. Coach Paul Westhead went back to grading papers from his sociology class and his play ers looked ahead to a final team meeting on Tues day. “We’ve been running scared,” said reserve guard Tom Peabody. “I dont want to have to deal with Hank’s death. We’ve run our emotions out. “It’s going to be a difficult next two weeks ... month ... year,” he said after Sunday’s 131-101 loss to UNLV m the West Regional final, burying his face in a towel as he started to cry. “With a basketball in our hands, it helped us,” said guard Terrell Lowery. “It made it easier to deal with.” Westhead said the defeat showed that Loyola’s three previous wins in the tournament may have been flukey, more a measure of his players’ heart than of their ability. All the emotion they put into basketball after their star center collapsed in a March 4 game and died from a defective heart will have to be invested elsewhere. “They have to sit down and ask themselves, ‘What’s happened to me the last three weeks?’ ” Westhead said. “They have to reassess what has hap pened. “We haven’t had a quiet moment, literally, since Hank’s death. That time is necessary and upon us.” Nearby, on the chalkboard in tne Loyola locker room, someone had written “Remember the dream.” “The last three weeks have been sort of a blur,” said ace outside shooter Jeff Fryer, one of four se niors on the team besides Gathers. coaching jobs DALLAS (AP) — Texas basketball coach Tom Penders on Monday denied published reports that he has talked to conference officials about jobs in Virginia and North Carolina State. “I would swear on a stack of Bi bles,” said Penders in a telephone in terview from his office at the Uni versity of Texas at Austin. He denied a report Sunday by the Dallas Times Herald that Atlantic Coast Conference Assistance Com missioner Fred Barakat called three weeks ago to tell Penders he had rec ommended him for thosejobs. “That’s totally false,” Penders said. “I don’t know anything about it. I’m not applying for jobs. If Vir ginia had contacted me, I would have said they did. They have not contacted me, and the N.C. State job is not even open.” The Times Herald reported that Virginia has joined the list of schools hoping to lure Penders away. I he Longhorns fell 88-85 to Arkansas Saturday in the NCAA Midwest re gional final. The newspaper said Penders will be asked this week to interview for the vacant head coaching position at Virginia. Penders was quoted as say ing no one from Virginia has con tacted him about possibly replacing Terry Holland as Cavaliers’ coach. “My policy is if someone wants to talk to me, I’ll listen,” Penders said. “Every coach has to do what is best for himself and his family. I love the University of Texas and plan to be here for a long, long time. We’re working on (a new contract). Maybe I’ll have an announcement before too long.” Holland resigned to become the athletic director at Davidson. Offi cials have met with Penn State coach Bruce Parkhill and Stanford coach Mike Montgomery, but have put off a decision in order to seek Penders and Xavier coach Pete Gillen, the source told the newspaper. Stanford Athletic Director Andy Geiger confirmed that Montgomery met with Virginia twice and also said Virginia would like to talk to Gillen and Penders this week. Xavier Athletic Director Jeff Fo- gelson said Virginia has not ap proached him for permission to talk to Gillen. Asked if he has an interview scheduled with any school, Penders said, “I have no plans, nor have I ever had plans. If someone really wants to talk to me. I’ll talk. It might be nice to see how other schools do things.” Texas Director of Athletics DeL- oss Dodds and Penders have said that Florida Athletic Director Bill Arnsparger called seeking an inter view with Penders about the vacant coaching position at Florida. Penders has taken the Longhorns to back-to-back NCAA tournament appearances. Ikeeter Continued from page 7) il well, 1. "I was ; players sistentl) )od fire corner- ,a State > placed fendin? amp®” power- n my heart stop. But let’s be fair. Offensive Coordinator Bob fToledo has said the startingjob is Pavlas’ going into spring drills. That’s the way it should be. He earned the job with his performance ast season under a new of fense. True, at times he was a bit nconsistent. Crucial mistakes by Pavlas cost the Aggies dearly at the nd of games against Arkansas and Pittsburgh. But he also saved a few games also. His clutch performance in the ast-minute, game-winning drive gainst Baylor and his game against douston gave A&M two important dctories. Former quarterback Gary Kubiak said it best. The Aggies have a pretty nice problem in having to choose between Pavlas and Richardson. Both can break a game open, and both have shown the leadership needed to take the Aggies to a higher level. The sad thing is that the competition may be nothing more than a token gesture on Coach R.C. nd MVl t J Slocum’s part. Richardson says he’s back, but he has yet to make it completely through spring drills. Then comes two-a-days next fall. If his knee can hold up through then, he has a shot. If not, Pavlas is our man. Just as 1, Skeeter Brown, seem to be The Battalion’s new man. I am thrilled to have taken Mr. Rasmussen’s place. But don’t call me a scab. I took two years of beginning journalism in high school, and am well versed in both editng and speling. What of Mr. Rasmussen, you ask? He can currently be found hovering outside Battalion Editor Scot Walker’s door, demanding a pay raise and a new desk with a bay- window. He already got the personalized Bob Uecker mug. It’s sad. One guy can get an idea for a strike like this just from watching professional athletes — supposed role models for today’s youth. I can remember a time when, “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” meant wanting peanuts and cracker jacks — not increases in pay to pad my average salary of $600,000 a year. Where have you gone, Emory Bellard? Hogs streak through NCAA on way to Denver DALLAS (AP) — After Arkansas beat Texas Tech on Feb. 7 for its 12th straight victory, a trip to the Fi nal Four looked possible. A week later there was reason to wonder. During the streak, the Razorbacks twice beat Houston and Texas — the other Southwest Conference powers — and moved to No. 3 in the poll. But Arkansas then lost to Baylor and Texas Christian and fell to 13th with a 20-4 record. “The one goal we have ever year,” Coach Nolan Richardson sab “is to go farther than we did the year before.” 7 d. So knowing they made it only as far as the second round in last year’s NCAA tournament, the Razorbacks attacked the rest of their schedule. They swept past Southern Meth odist, Texas A&M and Rice in the fi nal three regular season games to win the conference title and improve to 23-4. Then they beat SMU, Baylor and Houston to win the conference tournament. Arkansas entered the NCAA tournament ranked seventh but re ceived only a fourth seed in the Mid west Regional. Richardson called the seeding a “slap in the face to the conference. The Razorbacks have been slap ping back ever since. Against Dayton, Arkansas had the tempo much more to its liking and won, 86-84, on Todd Day’s follow shot with four seconds left. The Razorbacks have two out standing sophomores in Mayberry and Day, and another sophomore force in 270-pound Oliver Miller. Arkansas will take a 30-4 record to Denver, where the Razorbacks will play Duke in a national semifinal. Richardson says his team has an “ex- ceUent chance” to win it all, and is thanklul lor the opportunity. “Dayton, North Carolina it r ;s snt we‘r„fre is u R rs so a n s long as we gel a chance lo pla’y'it/’ * Hear Ye! Hear Ye! Every day is a sale in THE BATTAEIOIY CLASSIFIEDS Call 845-0569 NOW CHOXCE , .SNt'tt'ettc qol sumo TRI-STATE Sporting Goods 2CQC Old College 846-1947 Open 9-6 Mon.-Sat (across from Chicken Oil Co.) GStfCUffiS GbttpfWte ov V.auxVc\n Gnp It’s Time For Aggie Hostess Tryouts Applications due march 28 Pick up your application now on the 9th floor of Rudder Aggie Hostess is an organization that aids in recruiting players for the Texas AtvM football team. Be a part of recruiting a cotton-pickin team i The University Chamber Series TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY Concert Tonight! 8:00 p.m.. Rudder Forum The New Mexico Brass Quintet Progam will include works by Bach, Handel, Lamb, Colgrass, and the world premier of "Celestial Voices" by TAMU's Composer in Residence, Peter Lieuwen. 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