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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 2, 1994)
Sports Wednesday, March 2,1994 The Battalion Page 5 Big Eight move good for A&M f«»*v ,jfUfr> | ■n r / Willie Corrington Sportswriter T he im- p e n d - i n g merger of Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech and Baylor into the Big Eight has been dis cussed from an economic, athletic and academic sta n d po i n t for weeks now. A TV contract is being negoti ated as we speak. For posterity's sake, let's take a closer look at how Texas A&M will benefit ath letically, since that is the most ob vious reason for the alliance. In all likelihood, the new con ference will be split into north and south divisions, with the four Texas schools, Oklahoma and Ok lahoma State forming the south ern half. Colorado, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri and Nebraska would make up the north division. For football, each team would play eight conference games in a 5-2-1 rotation pattern (the five games in each division, two per manent games against teams in the other division and one rotat ing opponent from the other divi sion.) The division winners would meet in a championship game (neutral site to be deter mined) one week after the regular season ends, with the winner go ing to the Orange Bowl and the loser to the (?) Cotton Bowl. With that in mind, here is a fic tional A&M football schedule: DIVISION: Texas, Baylor, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Okla homa State NORTH: Colorado, Nebraska (permanent) Karjsas St. (rotate with other three) NON-CONFERENCE: LSU, Louisville, Southern Mississippi Adding Colorado (8-3-1), Ne braska (11-1) and K-State (9-2-1) is a major improvement over SMU (2-7-2), TCU (4-7) and Houston (1- 9-1). The above schedule would rival many in overall difficulty. The major question mark with A&M the last three years has been the lack of competition within the SWC. This should no longer be an issue and the Aggies will bene fit from the strengthened sched ule. As good as this move will be for improving football, the most enduring benefits will be reaped in basketball. The Big Eight has been a powerful basketball con ference for years. Six of the eight were invited to the NCAA tour nament last year. Midwesterners support their See Move / Page 8 Aggies fall to Bears in double overtime A&M now second in SWC, half game behind UT By Drew Diener The Battalion Texas A&M virtually played their way out of a share of the Southwest Conference champi onship by falling to Baylor 95-92 in double overtime Tuesday night at G. Rollie White Coliseum. The loss, A&M's second straight, gives the University of Texas sole possession of first place in the SWC while the Aggies fall into second with a record of 17-8 overall and 10-3 in conference. A&M head coach Tony Barone said Baylor (15-10 overall, 6-7 in the SWC), hit the shots they need ed to make in order to win the game. "We didn't take advantage of the lead when he had it," Barone said. "Credit them (Baylor) for staying in it and hanging in on the road." After exchanging buckets for the first ten minutes of the game, the Aggies opened it up on the Bears by launching a 15-3 run to take a 35-22 lead with 6:26 re maining in the first half. The 13-point lead was the Ag gies largest of the game as the Bears began to mount a come back. Down 42-30 with 3:16 left in the half, the Bears converted six of seven free throws and a layup by forward Jerome Lambert to cut the Aggie lead to 44-38 at half time. On the Bears' first trip down the court in the second half, Bay lor forward Willie Sublett canned Texas A&M 92, Baylor 95 Texas A&M ... 44 31 5 12 - 92 Baylor 38 37 5 15 95 A&M min fg-fga ft-fta pts reb Murry 25 4-8 2-3 11 5 McGinnis 40 6-7 7-8 19 5 Johnson 23 2-7 3-4 7 5 Edwards 50 4-22 8-9 18 8 Hndrsn, Ch. 45 5-10 2-2 17 3 Barone 5 0-0 0-0 0 2 Wilbert 24 0-6 3-8 3 6 Hndrsn, Co. 14 2-6 2-2 6 2 Broderson 24 4-8 3-4 11 6 Totals 250 27-74 30-40 92 42 Team Rebounds: 6 Turnovers: 1A Steals: 10 Assists: 21 Percentages: FG .365, FT .750 Technicals: None Baylor min fg-fga ft-fta pts reb Banks 45 3-5 7-8 14 7 Lambert 40 9-16 2-7 20 15 Brandt 33 4-1.3 8-11 16 7 Haggerty 50 3-9 4-4 13 5 Branch 50 5-12 4-5 17 3 Lewis 8 0-0 2-4 2 0 Sublett 14 3-6 0-1 8 2 Hamilton 10 1-3 3-3 5 3 Totals 250 28-64 30-43 95 42 Team Rebounds: 8 Turnovers: 18 Steals: 7 Assists: 20 Percentages: FG 438, FT .698 Technicals: None a three-pointer to close the gap to 44-41. A&M senior center Brett Murry answered with a trey of his own to push the Aggie advantage back to six. With 16:40 left in regulation, Baylor was down by five points, 52-47, before A&M went on a 9-2 run, expanding their lead to 12 at Stru' Milnc/THE Battalion A&M head coach Tony Barone shows his frustration at the poor shooting of the Aggies Tuesday night against Baylor. A&M shot 36.5 percent from the field and lost to the Bears 95-92 in the second over time period. See Aggies / Page 6 Big Eight basketball coaches mixed over merger plans The Associated Press KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Big Eight basketball coaches, who once voted 8-0 against merging with the full Southwest Confer ence, can hardly agree on any thing now. Bringing half the SWC into the fold last week has everyone scratching their heads over a question-filled future for confer ence basketball teams. For instance, Kansas' Roy Williams believes adding Texas, Texas Tech, Texas A&M and Bay lor will make recruiting in Texas much tougher, while Oklahoma's Billy Tubbs figures just the oppo site. Johnny Orr of Iowa State does not believe the four Texas teams will enhance Big Eight basketball. But Oklahoma State coach Eddie Sutton hails the last weeks ap proval, as "a tremendous day for the Big Eight." "With the addition of those four total athletic programs, I think this league will be the best conference in America," said Sut ton, who coached in the SWC for 11 years while at Arkansas. "I can't see it's going to do anything but help our league." Since discussions with the SWC began, Orr has urged the Big Eight to move with caution. "I hope they do something that's good for basketball," Orr said Monday during the coaches' weekly briefing. "I know they're going to do things for football. I'm not sure it's a great thing for bas ketball. I see no reason to go with those schools. That doesn't turn me on going to Baylor or Texas Tech. Or even Texas A&M. That doesn't get me excited." Kansas coach Williams also re mains lukewarm to the idea. "I'm definitely not one who thinks bigger is better," he said. "But I think it's inevitable because of the nature of what's happening See Coaches / Page 6 Aggie men's outdoor track looks for SWC title By Stewart Doreen The Battauon The Texas A&M men's track and field team is looking to take their second place finish in the 1993 Southwest Conference Outdoor Championships and go one step farther to the confer ence title. Head Coach Ted Nelson said he expects this year's team to be one of his most-balanced teams he has seen at Texas A&M. Nel son says the team will focus on capturing the Southwest Con ference Outdoor Championship on April 23-24. Nelson hopes that this depth and the experience from last year's close finish can elevate the team to the top. "I feel this team has the qual ity to score in all 19 events," Nelson said. "This group got a taste of what it takes to win a championship and knows how to do it. Now, it is just a matter of things happening our way." A&M has the most quality depth at the hurdles. Richard Murphy, Curt Young and fresh man Larry Wade lead the group that will defend their Penn Re lays and Texas Relays Shuttle Hurdle Relay titles. The team will expect big-time point potential from the group at the Southwest Conference outdoors. The hurdle crew is filled out by Richard Harrison, another member of the relay team, George Vindiola and Daniel Traylor. The long and triple jumpers are expecting to charge into the outdoor season with high-scor ing performances. Tim Bryant, this year's second-place finisher in the indoor championships and last year's outdoor champi onships, leads a young squad See Track / Page 6 Super Bowl champs honored at White House The Associated Press WASHINGTON - This year, the White House didn't roll out the AstroTurf for the repeating Super Bowl champion Dallas Cowboys. But then again, the world champi ons didn't come out in full force ei ther. It was a small — albeit stellar — squad of Dallas players that showed up Tuesday at President Clinton's invitation for the traditional ceremony honor ing the Super Bowl champion. Quarterback Troy Aikman, running back Emmitt Smith, re ceiver Michael Irvin and defen sive tackle Russell Maryland rep resented the team, joined by own er Jerry Jones and coach Jimmy Johnson. Jimmy Johnson "I think that it is just the be ginning of what will doubtless be years and years and years of stunning achievement if they can just keep their goals high and keep working for them," the president said during a brief cere mony in the Roosevelt Room. "Coach Johnson, your team has a knack for coming to the White House." It's a knack the Cowboys will repeat if Jones has any say in the matter. As he handed Clinton a copy of the Lombardi Trophy given to the Super Bowl winner, Jones said: "We'd like to put on this trophy 1993 Super Bowl champi ons, 1994 Super Bowl champions, and we're going to leave a little space open." Jones also presented the presi dent a, fist-sized replica of the Cowboys' diamond-studded Su per Bowl ring. "If you can find someone that it fits, send him to the Dallas Cowboys," Jones told his fellow Arkansan. Clinton admitted to "a bit of parochial pride" that the team is owned by a native of Arkansas. The Arkansas ties don't end there. Texas native Johnson, like Jones, played on the 1964 nation al champion Arkansas Razor- backs team. During a visit to the Oval Of fice prior to the ceremony, Mary land said he had to set Clinton straight on who was responsible for the Cowboys' 30-13 victory over the Buffalo Bills on Jan. 30. "He was recapping the Super Bowl game, talking about how Troy and Emmitt moving down the field on the Bills made the difference in the game," Mary land told reporters. "I'm the only guy here from Dallas on the de fense. I had to say something, you know ... I said it was the de fense." 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