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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 19, 1996)
March 19,1996 me, butt AP Photo trick Ewing, jor- in for a while. i him because of ■eputation. He le to play again when the Bulls uspend me'W ale out of Dennis t care,” Rodman lew Jersey game, n, I butted him. e, David Stern, rtod Thorn. You suspend me.” ;eking his fifth ading title, is as or his troubled rocious work on >er 1992, he has d at least seven ague or his team, en fined at least ng that period, i, while playing atonio Spurs, he uring Game 4 of onference semifi- g with coach Bob ing to join team ipurs traded him center Will Per- 1995. nothing had gone ctually handled I thought — that ced in a restroom [y thereafter and ent piece of mucus ry nostrils, anaged to avoid an- aead wound during /C tournament ex vhole affair, was as i the first. Highway ncial loss, and em- caused by an un extremity — I’ve rs. Combine all this case of food poison- all-you-can-eat en- buffet, and you can ot the least bit sad s the final year of lament. A/ Tuesday • March 19, 1996 Page 9 • The Battalion SEC putting seal on NCAA Tournament All four of the Southeastern Conference teams that qualified for the NCAAs are in the Sweet 16 Connecticut} Miss. St. Ga. Tech : Cincinnati Georgia Syracuse Arizona Kansas SWEET 16 Z Mass. Arkansas Texas Tech [ Georgetown Kentucky Utah Louisville Wake Forest I AP—If this keeps up, the Fi nal Four might look like anoth er Southeastern Conference tournament. While more publicized basket ball leagues like the Big Ten have been major flops in the NCAA tournament, the SEC — a group more known for football — has placed all four of its teams in the round of 16. No other conference has done as well. Not the Big East, gener ally conceded to be the best bas- r.aball league in the country. Not the Atlantic Coast Con ference, where the sport is a sec ond religion along Tobacco Road. And certainly not the Big Ten, which saw all five of its teams lose in the first two rounds. Arkansas coach Nolan Richard son, whose I2th-seeded team ad vanced to the East Regional semifi nals with a pair of upsets, said tele vision plays a big role in how con ferences are perceived. “The Big East is just the great est conference, that’s all you hear,” he said. “They hardly ever say any thing about the Southeastern Conference. Why? Because ... Florida is playing football, Alaba ma is playing football.” SEC coaches, after complain ing all year there’s more to their league than Kentucky, are loving every minute of the post season prosperity. “I guess we just had some lucky bounces in this tourna ment,” said Mississippi State coach Richard Williams, sarcasm dripping from every word after his Bulldogs advanced to the Southeast Regional semifinals. “Our league is so weak with Kentucky and the 11 dwarfs.” Arkansas and Mississippi State are joined in the round of 16 by Kentucky, top seed in the Midwest, and Georgia, eighth seed in the West. No other con ference has more than three teams still vying for a national champi onship. Kentucky was expected to make it this far after becoming the first SEC team in 40 years to go perfect in league play (16-0). The Wildcats were so dominating, in fact, that people assumed the oth er conference teams were pushovers. “We’ve said all along we’ve got an outstanding basketball league,” Williams said, “but I think when you have a team like Kentucky in your league that’s just so dominant, it makes the rest of us look bad.” Still, there was evidence heading into the NCAA tourna ment that the SEC was more than a one-team phenomenon. Mississippi State (24-7) was probably the best No. 5 seed in the field. The Bulldogs won the SEC tournament with an upset of Kentucky and have three star- quality players in Erick Dampier, Darryl Wilson and Dontae’ Jones. Georgia (21-9) was the most experienced team in the NCAA tournament with five senior starters. And its coach, Tubby Smith, has a knack of pushing teams to unexpected heights. He guided Tulsa to the regional semifinals the past two years. No one, though, could have expected Arkansas (20-12) to get this far. The Razorbacks lost all five starters from last year’s na tional runner-up team and were a borderline pick even to receive a tournament bid. Once they got in, though, it seemed like old times for Richardson and his lineup, which includes four freshmen. Arkansas upset fifth-seeded Penn State — one of two SEC victories in head-to-head match-ups with the Big Ten — and No. 4 Marquette to make the regional semifinals for the fourth year in a row. Big Ten champion Purdue was eliminated in the second round by Georgia. The SEC’s brilliant run in the tournament likely will come to an end this week. Next up for Arkansas is top- ranked Massachusetts (33-1), while Mississippi State gets Big East champion Connecticut (32- 2). Georgia would probably have to get by Kansas (28-4) in the West finals to earn a trip to the Meadowlands. For now, though, they can still dream. “It would be great to see us all advance,” Richardson said. “Then maybe some of the East Coast writers, some of the East Coast announcers, would say, ‘Hey, basketball is pretty good in the Southeastern Conference.’” Sweet success How the Sweet 16 teams fared in last year's men's tournament and their Final Four appearances: Final Four School Finish appearance; Arizona First round, lost to Miami (Ohio) Arkansas National Championship, lost to UCLA Cincinnati Second round, lost to Connecticut Connecticut Regional finals, lost to UCLA Georgetown Regional semifinals, lost to N.C. Georgia Not selected Georgia Tech Not selected Kansas Regional semifinals, lost to Virginia Kentucky Regional finals, lost to N.C. Louisville Firsl round, lost to Memphis Massachusetts Region finals, lost to Okla St Mississippi St. Regional semifinals, lost to UCLA Syracuse Second round, lost to Arkansas Texas Tech Not selected Utah Second round, lost to Miss. St. Wake Forest Region semifinals, lost to Okia. St. Spurs cruise to 10th straight win, 104-98 [big MEAL SWEDEN'S IDEAL I | IT'S ALMOST MORE THAN YOG CAN EAT! GOOD FOR UP TO 4 PER COUPON Culpepper Plaza College Station, Texas 1/3 LB. HAMBURGER WITH FRIES + LARGE SOFT DRINK + SUPER SUNDAE ONLY $4.99 WITH COUPON r- ^ oi QC EXTRA CHARGE tzxp. Uo-o 1 -yo FOR BACOM & CHEESE AGGIE RING ORDERS THE ASSOCIATION OF FORMER STUDENTS CLAYTON W. WILLIAMS, JR. ALUMNI CENTER DEADLINE: March 20, 1996 Undergraduate Student Requirements: 1. You must be a degree seeking student and have a total of 95 credit hours reflected on the Texas A&M University Student Information Management System. (A passed course, which is repeated and passed, cannot count as additional credit hours.) 2. 3Q credit hours must have been completed in residence at Texas A&M University, providing that prior to January 1,1994, you were registered at Texas A&M University and successfully completed a fall/spring semester or summer term (I and II or 10 weeks) as a full-time student in good standing (as defined in the University catalog). 60 credit hours must have been completed in residence at Texas A&M University if your first semester at Texas A&M University was January 1994 or thereafter, or if you do not qualify under the successful semester requirement. Should your degree be conferred with less than 60 resident credits, this requirement will be waived after your degree is posted on the Student Information Management System. 3. You must have a 2J) cumulative GPR at Texas A&M University. 4. You must be in good standing with the University, including no registration or transcript blocks for past due fees, loans, parking tickets, returned checks, etc. Graduate Student Requirements If you are a May 1996 degree candidate and you do not have an Aggie ring from a prior degree, you may place an order after you meet the following requirements: 1. Your degree is conferred and posted on the Texas A&M University Student Information Management System; and 2. You are in good standing with the University, including no registration or transcript blocks for past due fees, loans, parking tickets, returned checks, etc. If you have completed all of your degree requirements and can obtain a “Letter of Completion” from the Office of Graduate Studies, the original letter of completion, with the seal, may be presented to the Ring Office in lieu of your degree being posted. Procedure T.o Order A Rjng: 1. If you meet all of the above requirements, you must visit the Ring Office no later than Wednesday, March 20,1996, to complete the application for eligibility verification. 2. If your application is approved and you wish to receive your ring on May 3, 1996, you must return and pay in full by cash, check, money order, or your personal Visa or Mastercard (with your name imprinted) no later than March 22, 1996. Men’s 10K-$317.00 14K - $433.00 Women’s 10K -$177.00 14K - $206.00 Add $8.00 for Class of '95 or before. The ring delivery date is May 3, 1996. Avery Johnson had a season-high 17 assists M ANTONIO (AP) Oavid'Robinson scored 32 points and added 14 rebounds Monday night as the San Antonio Spurs won their 10th straight game, 104-98 over the Golden State Warriors. San Antonio, which leads Utah by 1 1/2 games in the Mid west Division, has won 15 of its last 17 games. Avery Johnson had a season-high 17 assists for the Spurs, who had five players score in double figures. Rony Seiklay had 18 points, Latrell Sprewell 17 and Joe Smith 16 for the Warriors, who went scoreless for a 6:18 stretch of the fourth quarter. Johnson’s jumper with 10:45 to play put the Spurs ahead 96- 82, but San Antonio went score less on its next 11 possessions as Golden State scored eight straight points to pull within 96- 90 with 7:47 left. But then it was the Warriors turn to go cold. Chuck Person made consecutive 3-pointers to give San Antonio a 102-90 lead with 3:20 remaining as Golden State couldn’t find the range. Smith’s dunk with 1:29 to play finally ended the Warriors scoring drought. Vinny Del Negro scored 10 points in the third quarter as the Spurs built a 92-79 lead. Lady Homs dropped from NCAAs, 77-70 The Kansas women knocked off UT Monday Because all-nighters ar erf t spent in the library. LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas women are tired of letting the men hog all the NCAA glory. With Angie Halbleib and Charisse Sampson hitting pres sure free throws in the final minute, Kansas stopped Texas 77-70 Monday night in the second round of the NCAA East Region al, joining their male counterparts in the NCAA’s round of 16. The men’s team is in the round of 16 for the fourth straight year. But it’s the first time for the Lady Jay- hawks (22-10), who will face Ten nessee in Charlottesville, Va., on Saturday. ‘This is great,” said Sampson. "It is something that none of us have experienced. We wanted to &0, and now we’re there. So we want to keep it going.” Playing on their home court, the Lady Jayhawks led all the way and appeared to be in good shape after Jennifer Trapp scored five straight points to give them a 66-52 lead with 5:10 left. But after Kansas missed the front end of three straight one- and-one free throws, the Long horns (21-9) got it to 72-64 on three free throws by Erica Routt and Kim Lummus’ 3-pointer. “There’s really only one word that de scribes the way we played, and that is bizarre,” said coach Jody Conradt of Texas (21-9). “This was one of the more interest ing games I have coached. “For some reason, I could not make contact with our players. And more importantly, they could not make contact with each other. “I wanted to say, ‘ET, phone home.’ They had that look in their eye, ‘Where are we? What’s going on?’” a Stayed'! Choral music for Easter, All Saints Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas! We’re a new campus singing group! Come sing with us! Academic Building Music Room 402: Wednesday March 20, at 5:30 - 7 P;^ v ,, vv ,, v I'-Irw «iYi¥ Y Wif y v v v - ^‘ v v v ^ Y Y © Visa U.S.A. Inc. 1995 It's every v ^ erC -you want to be:
