"Collison we recruited, and I love that kid. I think he's the best player in the country."
Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski
2B • THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Inside Sports
SPORTS COMMENTARY
Jonah Ballow
jballow@kansan.com
Sports give a welcome distraction
As the United States continues its efforts in Iraq to disarm the regime, questions have arisen about the role of sports in times of war.
With the men's and women's NCAA basketball tournaments and the war almost occurring simultaneously, decisions about how to televise both events became crucial to stations like CBS.
The conflict is that CBS traditionally covers the men's tournament, but the station is responsible for news as well.
Thankfully, CBS, besides switching some early games to ESPN, decided to keep its hold of the coveted tournament that produces extremely high ratings for the station.
Possible solutions included delaying the tournament or switching basketball coverage from CBS to ESPN or even MTV.
The modern media provides 24 hour coverage on stations like CNN, FOX, MSNBC and other outlets. CBS also provides updates during the games, which informs and keeps tabs on any important new events occurring in Iraq.
The war is the most crucial and important issue in America.
However, the role of sports is important in giving Americans a diversion to escape the daily thoughts of war.
John Allen, chief operating officer of the Cincinnati Reds, has an interesting viewpoint to the debate. Allen was quoted in a March 23 article by Patrick Crowley in The Cincinnati Enquirer.
"Sports does not overshadow the drama or importance of anything going on in Iraq," Allen said. "Fans take refuge from war in sports."
Sports is a large part of the American culture. After the Sept. 11 attacks, people joined together at stadiums across the country and watched police officers and firefighters display the American flag.
Historically, during times of war, sports have been urged to continue. Obviously, the war with Iraq and World War II are completely different, but President Franklin D. Roosevelt provided an example of the importance of sports. He wanted football and baseball to continue so that the nation would have a distraction from World War II.
In 1991, George H. Bush pushed for the Super Bowl to continue as an act of defiance to Saddam Hussein.
The war with Iraq is no different today sports must continue and Americans should watch and enjoy the events including the men's and women's NCAA tournaments.
Ballow is a Littleton, Colo., junior in journalism.
Sweet16teamsfeelconfident
By Maxx Wolfson
Arizona Daily Wildcat via U-wire
University of Arizona
The third-year Notre Dame coach is taking his Fighting Irish team into unfamiliar territory, making its first appearance in the Sweet 16 since 1987.
TUCSON, Ariz. — Mike Brey must feel a little out of place.
Meeting him there are three coaches
moving him there are three coaches — Duke's Mike Krzyzewski, Kansas' Roy Williams and Arizona's Lute Olson — whose seasons are considered disappointments if they don't make it past the first weekend of tournament play.
But does the 44-year-old feel out of place against the coaching legends' teams? Absolutely not
Absolutely not.
"I think that we do belong," said Brey, who reached a gaudy six Final Fours in eight years, while winning two titles, as a Duke assistant under Krzyzewski. "We are thought of in that mix now with these three years and the step that we took in Indianapolis."
Even after all the talk came out about how tough the West bracket was, Brey wasn't concerned. He actually was hoping it would turn out like it did, considering the physical nature of the
"When the bracket came out, everybody went off about the West bracket; 'Oh, my God, it's loaded,' or whatever," Brey said. "Before we even played a game, I looked at it and said, 'I do like the builds on the teams. It was a lot of basketball players. There was not the Pittsburgh/Kentucky bulk in our bracket.'"
teams Notre Dame would ultimately be up against.
"I don't see many soft touches anywhere," Olson said. "It's obvious to begin with that there were a lot of big name schools in the West, but then you look at the other regions and you're seeing outstanding teams at each of those sites as well."
Olson, on the other hand, has said from the start that the West's bracket was the toughest, but his stance shifted slightly Monday when he looked around at the other regions and said there weren't any cakewalks.
But Olson was still surprised at who the two teams are that are scheduled to play after the Wildcats and Irish face off on Thursday.
"To have Roy and 'Coach K' meeting in a Sweet Sixteen game, that's one that you could look at as a national championship game in any other year," Olson said.
Arizona senior Rick Anderson agreed
"That would be a good Final Four right there," he said about the four teams playing in Anaheim, Calif. "But it's going to be a big challenge for us."
Brey's Notre Dame team seems to be ready for the challenge ahead, or at least prepared for it. The Irish have five wins over top-10 opponents (Texas, Maryland, Marquette, Pittsburgh and Illinois).
"Playing those teams helped us," Notre Dame senior Matt Carroll said. "We had a very tough schedule, and we realized we can beat any team in the country any given day.And I think that's why we are playing with so much confidence now."
Notre Dame is not the only team with confidence. The 15 other teams still left standing after a wild opening weekend have all won at least two games in a row, and all believe they have a chance to push that streak toward the magic number of six.
So if Arizona's streak gets pushed to three, which team does Arizona senior and floor-leader Jason Gardner want to see?
He said he didn't care, but did say,
"I'm sure a lot of people in Tucson want
to see Duke."
'Cinderella' Butler faces Oklahoma
Only time will tell.
The Associated Press
ALBANY, N.Y. — Oklahoma coach Kelvin Sampson has seen enough to know Butler is no underdog.
Although the Bulldogs are the lowest-seeded team remaining in the NCAA tournament — No. 12 in the East — and are in the round of 16 for the first time in 41 years, Sampson only had to glance at the brackets Thursday to make his point.
"I can see where Cinderella would beat Mississippi State, but Cinderella doesn't come back 24 hours later and beat Louisville," Sampson said, pointing to Butler's victories over fifth- and fourth-seeded teams in the first two rounds.
"They beat Mississippi State in Birmingham, and that's in the SEC's back yard. And they beat Louisville in Birmingham, which is a next-door neighbor.
Cinderella doesn't do those things."
The Bulldogs, a bunch of kids from an Indianapolis school with an enrollment of 4.200, know that, too.
"I like that we're here," Butler coach Todd Lickliter said. "If people want to label us, that's fine. You won't get very far unless you think you can. I would never want the players to sell themselves short."
Nobody does that anymore. Butler has become one of the nation's model midmajor programs, winning at least 20 games in each of the last seven seasons. Its 27 victories this season, against just five losses, broke last year's school record of 25.
came from 15 points behind to beat Louisville 79-71, making 14 of 22 3-pointers. And in the first round, they defeated Mississippi State 47-46 on Brandon Miller's runner in the lane with 6.2 seconds left.
Snubbed last year by the tournament selection committee, the Bulldogs have more than left their mark this year. They
Top-seeded Oklahoma (26-6) is two steps from its second straight Final Four appearance. The winner meets either Syracuse or Auburn on Sunday at Pepsi Arena for a berth in New Orleans.
If the Sooners have a worry for this game, it's Price, who is recovering from a tear in his left groin he sustained in the Big 12 Conference championship game. They made it through the first two rounds without much production from him.
Price had a wide smile yesterday and said he was 99.9 percent healthy. That's what Butler was expecting.
FRIDAY,MARCH 28,2003
POLI
kansan.com What are you more concerned with?
The war in Iraq The NCAA basketball tournament
Kansas Athletics Calendar
Log on to www.kansan.com to cast your vote
TODAY
TOMORROW
Tennis at Texas Tech, 1 p.m., Lubbock, Texas.
Baseball vs. Oklahoma State, 2 p.m.
Hoglund Ballpark
Softball at Iowa State, 2 p.m., Ames, Iowa
Tennis at Baylor, noon, Waco, Texas
Rowing at Texas, all day, Austin, Texas
SATURDAY
Baseball vs. Oklahoma State, 2 p.m.
Hoglund Ballpark
Softball at Iowa State, 1 p.m., Ames, Iowa
SUNDAY
Baseball vs. Oklahoma State, 1 p.m.
Hoglund Ballpark
Softball at Iowa State, 1 p.m., Ames, Iowa
Free forAll
national championship in basketball.
I'm having KU basketball withdrawal. Is it Thursday yet? Is it?
national championship in basketball.
If Collison and Hinrich flunk all their classes, does that mean we get them again next year?
It's too bad Nick Collison wasn't the third-best player in the Big 12, because maybe then he could have been National Player of the Year.
Coaching caliber challenges Texas Longhorns
By Patrick Daniel Daily Texan via U-wire University of Texas
AUSTIN, Texas — In Texas' opening-round game against the University of North Carolina-Asheville a sign in the stands read, "There's a first time for everything."
Of course, Bulldog fans were referring to the fact that a No. 16 seed had never beaten a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament, but the same sentiment can be applied to Texas coach Rick Barnes who has yet to add a national championship title to his resume.
But this could be the year that Barnes breaks through to win his first national title. With T.J. Ford dazzling at the point, James Thomas crashing the boards and the team's all-around depth, Texas has a legitimate shot at winning its first
"I hope I'm going to have a lot of chances," Barnes said when asked if this was his chance to win it all. "I'm not that old. I might look it, but, right now, I'm not that old. This time of year does make you feel a little bit older."
"I've said this all along. I will never ever take for granted getting to the NCAA tournament. Once you're in it, then you are really and truly one of 65 teams that can lay claim that you got a chance to play for the big trophy. I hope every year that we have a chance."
Of course, the Longhorns will have to win two games against teams that boast coaches who have each won a national championship. The other three teams that will play in tomorrow's South region semi-final games have garnered at least one championship with their coaches.
"I have a great respect for all of them," Barnes said of the three other coaches remaining in the South region.
Connecticut, Texas' first opponent in San Antonio, is coached by Jim Calhoun, who cut down the nets in 1999's national title game. The Huskies defeated the Duke Blue Devils, 77-74, in St. Petersburg, Fla., in that year's title game.
"Jim Calhoun's been around a long time," Barnes said. "I remember when Jim was at Northeastern. People knew then that he could coach. He knew what he had to do and what he needed to do, and he did it."
This season, Calhoun's squad finished with a 23-9 record and finished first in the Big East's East Conference, and the team lost two of those nine games when Calhoun missed five games because of prostate cancer surgery.
"Well-coached," James Thomas said when asked to comment on this year's Huskie squad. "They are a good team. They went through a lot of adversity with their coach, and they were able to maintain."
If the Longhorns survive Connecticut, they will go on to face either Michigan State or Maryland, both of whom square off in Friday's late game. Spartan coach Tom Izzo led his team to the championship in 2000, while Gary Williams led the Terrapins to a title last year against the Indiana Hoosiers in Atlanta.
Before Williams and the Terrapins brought the trophy back to College Park, Md., there was a lot of talk about how Williams would need a title win before becoming a great coach. Barnes disagreed, however.
"Gary Williams has been a great coach for a long time," he said.
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