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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 5, 1998)
Mart rsday • March 5, 1998 |E^V'4The Battalion 9PORTS conference Tournament stacks p as Big 11 and favorite Kansas uston, the k M'g eve! ng hor nampic )f 7.08 hurdles bn can smell it in the air. It’s that time of year again. March Madness. Unfortunately, the closest the Texas A&M Men’s Basketball Team 3me to March Madness is the Big 12 Conference #L Jeff Schmidt assistant sports editor lament, which is not exact- [ u |s larquee basketball confer- ' u ' in! The Big 12 should put at 0,1 three teams, Kansas, Okla- l n 8 s i State and Oklahoma, in the 10 Tournament. Nebraska ■ )e able to sneak in, but prob- I s on lot anybody else. In order of lament seed: lest f i • I 10 B insas (31-3,15-1) ie No. 1 seed in the confer- tournament and the third- ;d tieam in America. Not only ie Jayhawks the deepest and talented team in the conference, they do the lit tle things to win. “They play as hard as any team in the conference,” A&M Coach Porter Moser said. “You don’t see them have any lapses.” Kansas has two All-Ameri cans, Paul Pierce and Raef LaFrentz, and sharpshooting guard Billy Thomas. Another ad- agejfor the Jayhawks is that they will be playing I in' -to home. They are the big favorites to win the con- rem ice tournament. First-round bye. >«h qui klahoma State (21-5,11-5) |Gi; he second-most explosive offense in the confer- brii • with three (Adrian Peterson, Brett Robisch and nond Mason) of the top 13 scorers in the Big 12. l-r espi te being the second seed, the Cowboys are jably the sleeper team in the tournament. ,tr c-round bye. >r$i 'klahoma (20-9,11-5) his team struggled at the beginning of the sea- but pulled it together down the stretch. The ners are solid defensively and are led on offense enior guard Corey Brewer, who is averaging 21.2 its per game. First-round bye. Nebraska (19-10,10-6) This team begins and ends with one player — Tyronn Lue. As Lue goes, so go the Cornhuskers. Lue could be the best guard in the con ference. He is second in the confer ence in scoring, and, if he struggles offensively, the Cornhuskers will be hard pressed to find someone else to score. First-round bye. Lue Baylor (13-13,8-8) Thank God the Aggies get to play the Bears in the first round. The lone conference win for the Aggies came against the Bears. Baylor could go as deep as the semifinal round if they can get by the Aggies. Believe it or not, the Aggies could be tougher to beat than Ne braska in the second round. Missouri (16-13,8-8) Being close to home, Missouri might be another sleeper. However, they are not at home, and Mis souri never seems to play well on the road. Still, nev er underestimate a Norm-Stew- art-coached team. Plays Iowa State. Texas Tech (13-13,7-9) An outstanding backcourt may lead the Red Raiders to a victory or two. Cory Carr, Stanley Bonewitz and Rayford Young can all stroke the three. Their big guys give them what they need. Plays Texas. Carr Kansas State (16-10,7-9) KSU is pretty mediocre across the board, and they bore me. Plays Colorado for the right to get spanked by Kansas in second round. Colorado (13-13,7-9) See Kansas State. Plays Kansas State for the right to get spanked by Kansas in the second round. Texas (12-16,6-10) Please see Big 12 on Page 10. l&M recruits blue-chip athletes p-25 team highlights future Women’s Tennis Team schedule d 1 »»* u - 1 / ■p X li B Ml Ihe Texas A&M Men’s Ten nis Team is at home this weekend for matches inst Pepperdine and Miami. The men’s Tennis Team will resume 12 play Friday at Oklahoma and iday at Nebraska. Back On The Recruiting Trail After signing a recruiting class last year called the nation’s best by College Tennis Weekly, Cass is at it again. Oklahoma’s top high- school player, Jarin Skube, has al ready signed with the Aggies. Kei th From and Andrew Vu, from Florida and Virginia, respectively, have also signed with A&M. Both hold high national rankings in their age groups. No Softies Here Unlike other A&M teams, you won’t hear the men’s and women’s tennis teams being crit icized for playing easy non-con ference schedules. The men’s team has already played LSU (No. 6), and will play Pepperdine (No. 12), Duke (No. 7) and Mississippi State (No. 4). The women’s team has played Houston (No. 31), BYU (No. 14) and South Alabama (No. 17) and will host Stanford (No. 5) on March 26. -Al Lazarus is a sophomore journalism major. Vew Rankings [" The latest Rolex Collegiate Ten- r Rankings for singles and dou- ' llll s have freshman Rafael de Mesa Jo. 31 in singles and sophomore hryn Scott and freshman Eva sjrcial at No. 33 in doubles. The r team rankings will be out next sk; right now the men’s team is 33, and the women are No. 38. Jo Moral Victories The men’s team has traveled this Ison to No. 6 LSU and No. 7 Uni- dty of Texas and has lost both latches by the score of 4-3. While ny coaches might be satisfied with Ipi dng a good showing against top- ecs teams on the road, A&M Coach Ln Cass said there are no moral vic- oitiesI— the Aggies want to win. . -'M- ^ J mm •^c RYAN ROGERS/The Battalion Senior Vanessa Rooks will lead the Aggies against No. 5 Stanford. IMPROVE YOUR WEALTH- BY SHARING YOUR HEALTH K15940576 B Here are 81 good reasons to become a plasma donor at Westgate Plasma Center: $80 dollars in your first two weeks, and you save lives. If you have any questions about donating Plasma or wish to set up an appointment please call us at 268-6050. ***VALUABLE COUPONS*** NEW & DONORS: off program for 6 months: | Receive an extra I $5 on your second donation. I CURRENT DONORS: Receive an extra $10 when you bring in a I friend and they donate I I four times in their first 2 weeks. OLD DONORS: Receive an extra $5 on your next donation if you haven’t donated in 2 or I more months. J ★★★★★★★★★★★ * * * SPRING * * * BREAK! M * * Cancun - * * * * Oasis Grand * * * spaces available! * * * March 15-19 * * * * (4 nights) * * * ALL INCLUSIVE * * (hotel, air fare, meals, * * * drinks, taxes, tips) * * * $761.00 * * * * JXhlrenture * * 260-1131 * Post Oak Mall * ★★★★★★★★★★★ AST CHANCE TO REPARE FOR THE prilGRE: r TesM Sun. Ma 7th 9am- 1pm Class 1 Sun.Mar.8lh 6-9pm Class 2 Thu. Ma. 12th 6-9pm Test 2 Sat.. Ma. 21st 9am- 1pm Class 3 Sun., Ma 22nd 6-9pm Class 4 lhu.,Ma.261h 6-9pm Test3 Sat.. IVbr. 28th 9am-lDm Class 5 Sui,Ma.29th 6-9pm Class 6 Thu, Apr. 2nd 6-9pm rse starts on March 7th. Designed for motivated students, it teaches our highest return TECHNIQUES in the SHORTEST TIME POSSIBLE, If you thought you didn't have time to prepare, think again. THE PRINCETON REVIEW (409) 696-9099 (800) 2REVIEW a* The Non-Toxic Band You can't help but $mile when, you join Sesame Street contributing ^on^writer Joe ’Romano, award-winning vocalist Susan ■filliott and Yhe Nbn-Yoxic Band for a concert of fun, light-hearted music/ March 7 at 3 PM and 7 PM Rudder Theatre All tickets are only $6.50! Call 845-1234 sc PAS Opera & Performing Arts Society o FOR THE YOUNG AT ARTI