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BRIEFS
FSU HOPING FOR A
DIFFERENT UCONN GAME
Women’s Final Four
Stanford and Tennessee,
which have six national champi­
onships between them, put on
impressive displays to move into
the Final Four of the NCAA
women’s basketball tournament
Monday night, joining Old Do­
minion and Notre Dame. Both
teams advanced to their third
straight Final Four. The Cardi­
nal avenged a IO-point loss to
Georgia at the 1996 Final Four.
Stanford (34-1) has won its four
games in the tournament by an
average of 33 points. Tennessee
(27-10) ended Connecticut’s per­
fect season Monday night with a
91-81 victory.
Page enters
NBA Draft
Georgetown sophomore guard
V ictor Page, the Big East
Conference’s leading scorer, an­
nounced Monday he will forgo
the final two years of his college
eligibility and enter the NBA
draft. Page, a 6-3 shooting guard,
averaged 22.7 points per game
and was named first-team all-
Big East.
Next LSU men’s
basketball coach
Samford coach John Brady
Monday accepted an offer to be
come the next coach of Louisi­
ana State University. Although
terms of the contract have yet to
be finalized, Brady was intro­
duced at a press conference Tues-
day. He will replace Dale Brown,
who announced during the sea­
son he would step down at the
end of the year after 25 years at
Baton Rouge.
A TIP FROM TIGER
Tiger Woods conducted the first in a national
series of youth clinics launched by the Tiger
Woods Foundation, an organization he has
formed to improve minority participation and
opportunities in golf, March 16, at Disney's
Wide World of Sports in Lake Buena Vista,
Florida.
photo from The Walt Disney Company
NCAA MENS
FINAL FOUR
Packers’ six-time
Pro Bowl TE retires
Six-time Pro Bowler Keith
Jackson of the Green Bay Pack­
ers, one of the NFL’s most pro­
ductive tight ends over the past
decade, has retired. Jackson, who
turns 32 on April 19th, was the
active leader among tight ends
with 441 receptions. He had more
touchdowns (49) since 1988 than
any other tight end and closed
his career with 5,283 receiving
yards.
Clemson extends
Barnes’ contract
After guiding Clemson to a
23-10 record and school-best
number two ranking in the polls
earlier in the year, head coach
Rick Barnes agreed Monday to a
contract extension through the
2003-2004 campaign. Barnes,
who owns a 54-35 record in three
seasons at Clemson, led the Ti­
gers into the top-10 for 14 straight
weeks and in the top-20 the whole
season.
Dolphins sign free
agent Dawsey
The Miami Dolphins Monday
signed unrestricted free agent
wide receiver Lawrence Dawsey
to a two-year contract. The 29-
year-old Dawsey, who spent the
first five years of his NFL career
with Tampa Bay and played last
season for the New York Giants,
will likely serve as a backup to
starters O.J McDuffie and Fred
Barnett in Miami.
¡ m i.
Reds C Joe Oliver
sidelined 4-6 weeks
Cincinnati Reds catcher Joe
Oliver is expected to undergo
surgery later this week to repair
a torn ligament in his left thumb
and will be sidelined from four to
six weeks. A team spokesman
said the surgery would take place
on Wednesday or Thursday.
The rumors fly.
Providence coach Pete Gillen got
the job done in the Tournament with
Xavier, and now with the Friars. Is
he looking for greener pastures?
(“No comment,” the coach said when
asked about the subject. “I’m very
happy at Providence right now and
that's all I’ll say right now").
Providence point guard God
Shammgod — he o f the nifty
ballhandling tricks and unstoppable
drives — scored 22 points Sunday in
the biggest game of his career.
With the Friars' top scorers, Aus­
tin Croshere and Derrick Brown,
lost to graduation, look for
Shammgod to significantly increase
his 1996 scoring average (10.5 ppg)
next season, to complement his al­
ready prodigious assist numbers (6.6
apg in ’96).
Who’s hot? Mile Simon, Arizona:
30 points vs. Providence Shammond
Williams, UNC: 22 points vs. Lou­
isville God Shammgod, Providence:
23 points vs. Arizona Ruben Garces,
Providence: 16 points and 19 re­
bounds
Who’s not? Alvin Sims. Louis­
ville: 4 of 10 from the floor, II
points vs. UNC Jason Murdock,
Providence: 0 for 2 from the floor,
untimely technical foul vs. Arizona.
Pat Kennedy couldn’t review the
game filmsofthe last time his Florida
State team played Connecticut. And
that’s just the way he planned it.
“I think we burned every copy of
that we could get our hands on,"
Kennedy said.
The Seminóles will play the Hus­
kies tonight in the NIT’s first semi­
final game (7 p.m. EST) at Madison
Square Garden Last season. Con­
necticut took a 20-point lead in the
opening minutes and embarrassed
Florida State 79-61 on national tele­
vision.
Kennedy was so embarrassed with
his team’s performance that night,
he wrote a letter of apology to FSU
tans and sent it to a local newspaper.
"I thought it was as bad a game as
we've ever played," he said.
Now. three straight wins have
given Florida State an opportunity
to reverse the loss and earn a first-
ever trip into the NIT championship
game.
"Our guys were plenty excited
when they found out who we were
i going to play," Kennedy said.
The Connecticut-Florida State
winner will meet the winner of
tonight’s second semifinal between
Arkansas! 18 -12 )and Michigan(22-
II). The winners will meet in
Thursday’s championship game fol­
lowing a third-place matchup.
The Seminóles went 6-10 in the
Atlantic Coast Conference this sea­
son before losing to Wake Forest by
one point in the ACC tournament.
J hat loss probably cost Florida State
a trip to the NCAAs.
But FSU has reeled off three vic­
tories in the NIT, including road
wins at Syracuse and West Virginia
to get to New York
"Our kids are fired up." Kennedy
said.
The same could be said for the
NIT. This year’s semifinalists give
the tournament a final four compa­
rable to this week's Final Four in
Indianapolis. All are strong basket­
ball programs from big-name con­
ferences with big-name coaches and
players.
“The four of us could be in there
also," A rkansas coach Nolan
Richardson said of this year 's Final
Four. "I don’t think the winner here
is the No. 65 team in the country, far
from it. ... The NCAA is a great
tournament, but when you look at all
64 teams there, there are probably
25 or 30 of them who couldn’t win
the NIT.”
Richardson isn't talking trash.
He’s led the Razorbacks to three
Final Four appearances in 12 years,
including 1994 when Arkansas de­
feated Duke for the school’s first
NCAA title.
His inexperienced team — there
is just one senior on the roster — was
inconsistent during the regular sea­
son, but has jelled in the postseason
by w inningallthreeofitsN n games
at home.
Like all Richardson teams, this
one applies defensive pressure the
full 94 feet ofthe floor, and loves 3-
pointers — 690 attempts this sea­
son
"W e re a perim eter team ,"
Richardson said. "W e’re not as
physical as some of my teams in the
past. Sometimes, I don’t know which
team is going to show up, but when
the right one does, then we re pretty
good.”
So is Michigan. After starting the
year ranked No. 9 in the nation, the
Wolverines, who start three juniors
and two sophomores, missed the
NCAAs by losing six of seven games
during a late stretch in February.
The W olverines’ first two NIT
wins came at home before a thrill­
ing 67-66 victory at Notre Dame
las, week to earn their trip to New
York In th at g am e, R obert
Traylor. M ichigan's6-foot-8. 300-
pound sophomore center, scored a
career-high 26 points, grabbed 13
rebounds and blocked the final
Irish shot.
Notre Dame’s student section
taunted Traylor by waving keys and
chanting "Suburban" when he at­
tempted shots. Questions have been
raised concerning a $47,000 Subur­
ban he’s been driving lately.
Traylor says a relative paid for the
car. But Michigan officials said last
week a booster with close ties to
Traylor was involved in violations
ofNCAA rules.
But it’s Traylor’s on-the-court
driving that worries.
"The Tractor Traylor, I hope he
don’t run over my little I90-pound
guy that's going to be guarding him,"
Richardson said.
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