Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 7, 1998)
The Battalion 'uesday • April 7, 1998 tender, Majerus head ’exas’ candidate list Dmmittee hopes to replace Penders on before spring signing period ends San Antonio heads NBA class Spurs rank as hottest team in West; Houston’s defense worrisome towards playoffs As the National Basketball Association cata pults towards the playoffs, many teams like the Rockets are experiencing untimely slumps. Other teams like the Spurs and Bulls are hitting their stride for the stretch championship run. Houston Doesn’t Get the Point The Rockets have been on a six-game slide, partly due to the fact that they have no perime ter defense, especially at the point. Forget the fact that Jordan scored 40, as he often does. The Mookie Blaylocks and Tim Hardaways of the league are the problem. Both Blaylock and Hardaway carried their teams to victory against Houston.Clyde will get a head start on his University of Houston job if the Rockets have to face Seattle’s Gary Payton or Utah’s John Stockton in the first round. San Antonio Heating Up The hottest team in the league (besides the Bulls, of course) is the San Antonio Spurs. The Spurs have won five in a row and eight of their last 10. No one has been able to match up with their front line except... the Suns? Smallish Phoenix which uses a three-guard lineup, has a 3-1 edge on San Antonio this season which makes a possible first-round matchup very exciting. Not in My House Dikembe Mutombo took his finger-waving trade to Stephen Marbuiy in the first quarter of the Hawks-Timberwolves game on Sunday and recorded his 2,000th career block.Deke is only the 11th player in NBA history to reach that plateau. That’s East, not Least The Western Conference playoff spots are not in doubt. Jockeying for position is all that remains. However, take a look at the parity laden East. Philadelphia is only better than Toronto in that conference, but the 76ers would be the ninth seed in the West above Sacramen to if they were to switch coasts. 58-feet Out, Swish! The fight is getting dirty at the bottom of the Eastern Conference. New Jersey currently holds the last spot, but you’ve got to figure the Wash ington Wizards have one last surge left with all of that talent. Washington made their state ment with a three-point victory over rival Or lando to push them into the ninth spot. Non- All-Star Rod Strickland recorded a triple-double in that game to help the Wizards. Who is the man that is fending off the hard- charging Wiz? New Jersey’s Sam Cassell, who scored 30 against the Knicks, who are in danger themselves of giving up their playoff spot with recent sloppy play. Bad Guy After All? Before Saturday’s contest with the Spurs, Golden State's Jim Jackson took about 15 min utes before going into the locker room to sign autographs for kids stationed around the court. For a guy who gets such a bad reputation and is the only visible star on a horrible team with problems other than basketball, he seemed happy to brighten some young faces. Perhaps no one realizes that even the guys with bad attitudes sacrifice hours of their days to sign their name for the fans. Texas Line of the Week David Robinson 43 minutes, 6-15 FG, 12-15 FT, 24 points, 18 rebounds and 7 blocks The undermanned Golden State front line used their fouls to play a “hack-an-Admiral” de fense, but unlike his friend to the West, Robinson can come through at the line. Eric Dampier and Jason Caffey both fouled out try ing to guard the better half of the Twin Towers. Bagwell notches three RBI in Astros victory AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Utah’s jk Majerus and Washington’s Bob nder are heading a short list of aches being considered by the liversity of Texas to replace Tom ndei s, according to a high-rank- 5 uni\ersity source. Majerus has said that he’s hap- atUtah after leading the Utes to 3 national championship game, it he has yet to take himself out the running for the Texas job as did last week with Arizona State, lich reportedly offered him just er$l million per year. Majerus, 50, was believed to be mewhat of a longshot for Texas cause school officials are unwill- po pay the Longhorns basketball ach more than the $750,000 that >tball coach Mack Brown makes. Bender’s stock is high among xas officials, and he would not considered a consolation prize he search committee could not ree to terms with Majerus, the urce said Monday. "Tiic committee is very excited out Bob Bender,” the source said. Bender, 40, who said that he ex- Cted to meet with the committee eai!\ ' as Tliesday, told The News bum ofTacoma that the Texas job ,soi i lething that I want to look into, ■hey’ve had success. Tom Pen- rrspas done a great job there, the nd of success that gets your at- ntibn,” Bender said. “I think it’s worth it when you okat what Texas can be and what tm made it. But that’s not to say s going to be better than where e’re at with our program.” Bender was an assistant coach at like under coach Mike Krzyzews- ifrom 1983 to 1989 before becom- ighead coach at Illinois State. Bender’s overall record in four ears at Illinois State and in five ears at Washington is 128-129, in- luding 68-72 as coach of the Huskies. But he turned both pro grams around. At Washington, his record has improved each year — 5-22 in 1994; 10-17 in 1995; 16-12 in 1996; 17-11 in 1997 and 20-10 this year. His Huskies have been to the postseason three straight years, in cluding two NIT berths in 1996 and 1997, and this year knocked off Xavier and Richmond in the NCAA tournament before losing on a buzzer beater to Connecticut in the round of 16. The earliest Texas can name a coach is late Tuesday afternoon be cause of job posting laws. UT officials hope to wrap up the search quickly because the national spring signing period begins Wednesday. Penders, the winningest coach in Long horns history, resigned last week after a month of con troversy in his program that began when four young players went to Texas athletic director DeLoss Dodds to complain about the coach. Two of those players, Luke Ax- tell and Gabe Muoneke, said earli er that they intended to transfer. But Muoneke told KVUE-TV Monday that he now plans to stay at Texas. “A lot of people sent e-mail and told me to leave, that I was a baby for wanting to go,” Muoneke said. ‘‘Well, I’m going to stay, just for all those people who wanted me to leave. I’m staying.” Axtell reportedly has been in contact wi tli Kansas and Texas Tech about a possible transfer. He did not return telephone messages left by The Associated Press Monday. HOUSTON (AP) — Jeff Bagwell drove in three runs with a grounder and two-run homer, and the Hous ton Astros overcame five hits by Dante Bichette to beat the Col orado Rockies 13-4 Monday. Houston, which outhit the Rockies 15-13, won three of four games against Colorado, outscor- ing the Rockies 37-13 and outhit- ting them 51-38. Colorado, 35-45 on the road last season and 47-34 at Coors Field, finished their first road trip 4-3 and play their home opener against St. Louis on Tues day night. Bichette was 5-for-5 with two RBI, matching his career high for hits and rais ing his average to .531. It was his first five-hit game since June 30,1996, against Los Angeles. Bagwell had an RBI grounder in the first and hit his third homer of the season in the sixth for a 9-2 lead. Jack Howell added a two-run, pinch single in a four-run seventh, and Derek Bell went 3-for-5. Mike Hampton (1-0) improved to 5-1 against Colorado, allowing two runs and nine hits in seven innings. Justin Thompson (1-1) was pounded for nine runs and 12 hits in six innings. Craig Biggio and Bell led off the game with singles, and Houston took a 2-0 lead on Bagwell’s high- bouncing grounder and Carl Everett’s single. After Vinny Castilla’s RBI single in the second, the Astros made it 3-1 in the third on Brad Ausmus’ tripled and Hampton’s single. Houston got three more runs in the third on a throwing error by Kirt Manwaring with a runner on third and Richard Hidalgo’s two- run homer. Ellis Burk’s third homer of the season made it 6-2 in the fourth. Bell’s RBI single and Bagwell’s homer increased the margin to 9-2 in the sixth. Muonecke Bagwell Take the nice, relaxed summer version from kindly profs at your nearby Dallas Community College. (Summer I classes begin June 1, Summer I! classes begin July 9 - and the credits are a snap to transfer.) DALLAS COUNTY COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT Brookhaven Cedar Valley Eastfield El Centro Mountain View Northtake Richland Call I -817-COLLEGE for more information. Web site: www.dcccd.edu F ° the EDUCATI °N and RESEARCH COMMUNITY \ r-ikr'* *o*»>*,' ,, loN VOH Vl,v\ l vwt N t tVSVRW** m , v v.V v ^w>T,\y kv y\hy.mvk\ xnny " . vr , PAIN KILLER. F \ or fast relief from the nagging ache of taxes, we recommend TIAA-CREF SRAs. SRAs are tax- deferred annuities that can help you build additional assets —money that can make the difference between living and living ii'el/ in retirement. Contributions to SRAs are conveniently deducted from your salary on a pretax basis. The result? More money invested. Fewer taxes now. And since investment earnings are tax deferred until you receive them as income, the money you don’t send to Washington can work even harder for you. SVhat else do SRAs offer? A lull range ot investment choices, a helpful loan feature, and the financial expertise ot I IAA-CREF, the world's largest retirement system. a Now More Ways to Meet Your Goafs Today TIAA-CREF can help you meet even more of your financial objectives, with IRAs, mutual funds, and more. Wefl help you select the solutions that suit your needs. Visit your benefits office or call us at I 800 842-2776 to learn more. Do it today —it couldn't hurt. Visit us on the Internet at www.tiaa-cref.org Ensuring the future for those who shape it. hx TIAA-CREF Individual and including charges c> Bascd on assets tint ributes CREE cet tilicates a I HOO fM2-27.t3. CXI. 650*1, lor the [ , in the T1AA Real K-sta *s. Read them carefully I *W/