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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 27, 1997)
tober2" ■ Monday • October 27, 1997 S The Battalion ports n’s Rugb): m 6to8p, lonfiresite, ome andr ;ary. Force '64-0493, Metcalfbelongs In Hall of Fame \z ■Ldi nother year has passed and the Texas A&M Lettermen’s Association has in- iy: Practio- Aducted six new members into it’s hall of n. at the mu'' yet for the third consecutive year one Bonfire, 1 ,faring name remains absent from that list, ary to p A man who served this University for 32 Travis V. Dabney Is taff writer years and won more Southwest Conference Basketball games as the coach here than Guy Lewis at the University of Houston, Eddie Sutton at the University of Arkansas or Abe Lem mons at The University of Texas. Yet his accom plishments for some rea son go unrecognized. It seems puzzling that anyone could justify keeping former Texas formatio! 9221. t meeting, 5 Project 1133 Kolc. rs: Practic; front of tii! experientf welcome, flub (TABl ;ive a I s of beer: ; Crookec’&M basketball coach Shelby Metcalf out of the igate. For exas A&M Sports Hall of Fame but, for some 5 I a t 84j:eason that is just what is being done. me.com For starters, let’s look at what Metcalf accom- lished while he was the coach here, r: A serr Metcalf coached his teams to six Southwest legotiati ' on * erence Championships, five NCAA tour- 2g msc ^aments, four NIT tournaments and two outhwest Conference tournament champi- Assoc .,nships. Sounds like a good start, right? Well jdy will !* at s not a h- H e has also been elected to the last Texas State University Hall of Fame (his Ima mater) as well as the Texas Sports Hall of Associa ,arri11 h just me or does it seem strange that s . du could be considered one of the best bas- 1a Cq. etball coaches in the history of the state of exas, yet that is not good enough to get you i the Texas A&M sports hall of fame. Metcalf AssociJ 80 took his teams to two Sweet Sixteen’s as . A r e , dell as beating the likes of North Carolina and ' at g. Kentucky in his coaching career. Room 1 ^ iat cou lri the reason be for this continual nub the hall of fame delivers to the best bas- etball coach A&M ever had? hatever the reason, it seems that not Fellow' . veryone in Aggie sports thinks that he 693-298: hould be excluded. That list includes Athletic Hrector Wally Groff. , w I “I certainly think that he (Metcalf) is de- -ommrt ‘ erv j n g 0 f being in the Hall of Fame. He had a S | USS ^hining career here at A&M except for the e bmpt end, but that would certainly have ^ a r lOthing to do with him not being in the Hall of 1 D b ame today,” Groff said. That abrupt end that Groff is referring to s when Metcalf was fired in the middle of p tie 1990 season after coaching at A&M for 26 ir is a dasons. it lists HI Former A&M basketball player and academ- nd facif advisor to the basketball team, A1 Pulliam also ties, |te* eIieves that Metcalf deserves consideration. ted noli “He was the dean of Southwest Confer- jnce coaches and that should speak for it- in aflva e j f - p u ib am said. “He is definitely a credi- I date, applicant.” 08 and Just like anyone, Metcalf may have some its andfihik 68 against him. He complied quite a few lp U 5 Crosses in his tenure at A&M but as any coach rill tell you, you don’t coach for 26 years and ■’ ^ lot rack up a few losses, the 1161 ma y be time for the Letterman’s Associa- )as lav sqi y-levei )uire3 of the ion to review their voting procedures as it is uite obvious that the Hall of Fame is not a asketball friendly place. There are 153 mem- s of the hall of fame of which seven are e basketball players. Another 14 members ve a basketball letter or were coaches but it quite obvious that most of these members rere inducted on their other achievements. A time example is E. King Gill who was an all onference selection in basketball twice yet was most assuredly elected to the hall due to le fact that he was the original 12th man. Henty of former A&M basketball players have »een two-time all conference yet very few are elected to the hall. ( There is likely a whole array of reasons for Metcalf’s exclusion but when you get right down to the real question of whether he belongs there or not, there is only logical answer: YES. Travis V. Dabney is a senior journalism major m Volleyball falls to KSU r ,0 ' in three straight sets ntact I Staff and Wire I The Texas A&M Volleyball Team suffered its worst defeat since 1990 Friday, as they lost to Kansas State in three sets, 15-6, 15-2, 15-2 5306 in Manhatten, Kan. I Kristie Smedsrud and Stacy Sykora, pre- '713) riously ranked 9th and 1 Oth respectively in the Big 12 in kills per game, were limited to a .000, combined attach percentage and had just 12 kills. Setter Farah Men- sik, who entered the match ranked 4th in the Big 12 with an average of 13.43 assists per game fin ished with just 13 assists for the entire match. The loss is A&M’s sec ond in a row to Kansas State, the last coming in 1996 when the 14th- ranked Aggies lost 3-1, and the first time A&M has been swept by an unranked op ponent since 3-0 loss to Texas Tech in 1994. | The Aggies fall to 14-5 overall and 6-3 in the Big 12. A&M will continue play against libwa State this Friday at 7 p.m. in G. Rollie l h ite Coliseum. Sykora Aggies clinch Big 12 title 5-0 victory over Colorado gives soccer team league championship By Stephen Boudreau Staff writer The Texas A&M Soccer Team (15-2,9-1) put five goals in the back of the net in the process of stam peding the Colorado Buffaloes (5- 11,5-5) and running away with the Big 12 Championship. “I think the girls did it today in a really convincing fashion. We still need to fine tune ourselves before post season play, but I thought that our midfield and our defense did a great job today in creating a lot of chances and keeping the pace within our style of play. The girls really won this with style,” coach G. Guerrieri said. The 5-0 victory marked the last conference and home game of the regular season. Prior to the game, seniors Bryn Blalack, Sonia Ibanez and Diana Rowe were honored for their four years of dedication and outstanding play for the Aggies. “This is really special for us. This is one of those things we’ll really appreciate down the road. It hasn’t really sunk in for us yet,” Blalack said. “This is so incredible and I personally wouldn’t have wanted to do it with anyone else but these guys. Our whole team has been incredible and hopeful ly we can keep it going.” It only took five minutes for the Aggies to get on the board. Sharon Pickering received a pass in the penalty box from Rowe and easily placed it in the right corner of the net. A&M dominated in every sense of the word, outshooting Colorado 34-7 and making text book passes to the feet of teammates. In the 42nd minute, Amber Reynolds blasted one past the Colorado keeper off a Mandy Davidson pass. Reynolds’ first goal of the season put the Aggies up 2-0 going into the half. “We came out well offensive ly and there were so many op portunities created for the whole team. It’s exciting when you can win a game this big and have players step up and play exceptionally well,” Blalack said. “Everybody on our team has the ability to carry the weight and it showed today.” With a 20 mph wind at their backs, the Aggies came out firing in the second half. Gillian Gandy added A&M’s third goal on a corner kick. Becky Peterson scored her second goal of the season 15 minutes later. Sophomore Nicole Shook delivered a pass to Peter son at Midfield. Peterson drib bled through a series of defend ers all the way through to the keeper and placed the ball in the corner of the net, sending the crowd of 1,138 into an uproar. Alison Peters finished off the scoring for the Aggies with her 9th goal of the season in the 88th minute. “Playing on the road for four weeks was very tiring. Being back home was just awesome,” Ibanez said. “This is what we really need ed to pick up the intensity for the rest of the season.” With the Big 12 title in their pockets, the Aggies are now looking toward the Big 12 and NCAA tournaments, while set ting ultimate goals for the con clusion of the 1997 season. “ (Our goal now is) the national championship. There are no other goals. If you look at the long term, that’s always going to be the goal of anyone who truly wants to be the best. I think this team has the tal ent to do it. But we have to contin ue to move forward,” Guerrieri said. “We’re on a pretty good run here. This weekend I thought that the team played as well as we’ve played in a long time. We want to stay on that roll going into the Big 12 Tournament.” The Aggies conclude the regu lar season next Friday in Dallas against TCU. DAVE HOUSE/The Battalion Junior forward Nicole Shook drives up the field in the Aggies’ Big 12 clinching victory over Colorado. Red Raiders hand A&M last-second loss DAVE HOUSE/The Battalion Sophomore defensive back Jason Webster blocks Texas Tech kicker Tony Roger’s field goal attempt, however Rogers got his revenge with a game winning field goal. By Chris Ferrell Sports editor LUBBOCK—Somewhere in Lubbock there sits a voodoo doll with a 12th man towel. He uses his powers once a year at a key moment in late October to dramati cally alter the outcome of the Texas A&M- Texas Tech football game. He first struck two years ago when Zack Thomas intercepted a pass and returned it for a touchdown with 39 seconds left to give the Red Raiders a 14-7 victory over A&M. Then last season his late-quarter mag ic came in the form of a Zebbie Lethridge to Sammy Morris screen pass which cov ered 81 yards for the game winning touch down in the fourth quarter of Tech’s 13-10 victory at Kyle Field. Saturday, the Red Raider voodoo struck again as Texas Tech kicker Tony Roger’s 47-yard field goal hit the left up right and bounced in with 19 seconds left to give the Red Raiders a 16-13 victory over the Texas A&M Football Team at Jones Stadium in Lubbock. “The last two years have been games we’ve just given to them, thrown away,” se nior guard Steve McKinney said. “Even this game we had so many chances. We could n’t put them away. “Last week, we were getting our butts kicked and we knew it. This week, we’re kick ing their butts and we lose. That’s just not right. I don’t know how that happens. That’s the kind of thing that happened last year. I didn’t think that was going to be a problem this year and it hadn’t been up to this point.” Despite a sluggish first half offensive performance, the Aggies still ended with more total yards, 284 to 215, and a slight edge in time of possession. Sophomore quarterback Randy Mc- Cown made his first career start for A&M, but struggled, completing two of eight pass es for seven yards. He also fumbled twice. Junior quarterback Branndon Stewart replaced McCown in the second half and turned in one of his top performances of the season. He went 12-for-17 for 126 yards and led the Aggies to their only touchdown, a 24 yard pass to sophomore receiver Leroy Hodge. Junior running back D’Andre Harde man picked up the slack for injured run ning back Dante Hall, who only returned punts. Hardeman finished the game with 103 yards on 12 carries. The Wrecking Crew was able to limit Tech’s offense for most of the day despite beginning several drives deep in their own territory. Tech senior quarterback Zebbie Lethridge was held in check most of the afternoon. However Lethridge and the Red Raiders were able to come up big when it counted, driving 51 yards on 15 plays to set up the game-winning score. “Everything they ran, we knew they were going to run, we practiced it in prac tice,” junior linebacker Dat Nguyen said. “It was execution. They came out ready, they came out and wanted to win more than we did today.” The Aggies will now return home to play Oklahoma State and try to turn around a season which started off so promising. Stewart said the team is ready to end this road trip which saw them lose to Kansas State last week. “I heard about three times today, T’m sick of hotel beds,”’ Stewart said. “We’re ready to get home. We’re ready to get back to Kyle Field and get a victory.” McKinney said the team is going to have to pull together to get back on the right track. “I don’t want to lose anymore games,” he said. “This is the time when this team has just got to pull together and not get into a slump. The real players are going to step forward and show what their true character is.” Sophomore McCown struggles in starting debut Quarterback change fails to RYAN ROGERS/The Battalion Sophomore quarterback Randy McCown was two-for-eight for seven yards in his first career start against Texas Tech. jump-start offense during 16-13 loss to Texas Tech By Jeff Schmidt Staff writer LUBBOCK—Statistics can some times tell a thousand words. Quar terback Randy McCown, making his first career start, completed only two of eight passes for seven yards and had two fumbles in the 16-13 loss to Texas Tech. Despite McCown’s slow start, coach R.C. Slocum elected to leave him in the game for the entire first half. That move may have been disastrous for the Aggies as the Red Raiders held their lead Stewart throughout the first two quar ters. However, the Aggies became a different team in the second half under the leadership of erstwhile starter Branndon Stewart. Stewart finished the game 12 of 17 with the Ags lone touchdown, a pass to wide receiver Leroy Hodge. This raises two important questions: Why change a two-quarterback sys tem that seemed to be working, and why leave McCown in the game for an entire half, when a change of pace was needed? Despite saying earlier in the week that there would be no change, Coach Slocum ap parently felt that McCown had shown enough moxie to get the start. “I thought the competition be tween the two quarterbacks had been very close. Randy McCown had some good practices this week, and we hadn’t seen him in a starting role. I thought a different combina tion to start the game might get us off to a good start,” Slocum said. “We started slowly last week and we thought that had a lot to do with the outcome of the game, so we decided to try a different combination.” Entering Saturday’s game, Mc Cown had a higher completion percentage and more yardage. Even when McCown was strug gling, Slocum had no plans to bench him. “At some point I decided to just go ahead and let Randy finish the half,” Slocum said. Whether it was first start jitters for McCown or Stewart’s return home to West Texas, Stewart was more effective. The offense jelled in the fourth quarter on a nine play, 89 yard drive that Stewart helped spearhead. Ironically, Hodge could have scored earlier in the drive, but he couldn’t hold on to a Stewart pass. Hodge redeemed himself by catching a 24-yard strike that would bring the Ags to an eventual tie with the Raiders. Stewart seemed on the cusp of recapturing the Aggie faithful with his Elway- esque comeback but unfortunate ly he couldn’t help out the defense. Stewart is quick to downplay this latest quarterback controversy. “There wasn’t much difference as far as our rotation went today. I’m used to coming in and going back and sitting on the bench be cause that’s the way we’ve done it up to this point,” Stewart said. “It’s the coaches call. There have been times when I’ve gone out and struggled and they left me in. I was expecting them to do what they feel is best for the team.” Stewart could easily deflect crit icism of the team to others but he acknowledges the problems. m ^ m mi ummmmmmmmmmmmm “I thought the different combination to start the game might give us a good start.” R.C. SLOCUM A&M FOOTBALL COACH “You put yourself in those situa tions. You’ve got to get ahead or get yourself in a better situation to win and we didn’t do that today,” Stew art said. It’s easy for a player to give up af ter two straight road losses, but Stewart remains optimistic. “We can still salvage the season and I feel like we’re in pretty good shape,” he said. “A lot of teams would be happy to be where we are now.”