8B = THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY
SPORTS
TUESDAY,FEBRUARY 18,2003
Pass it on
Scott Reynolds/Kansan
Dirk Liebert, Overland Park senior, recieves a pass and heads into a crowd of St. Louis University players. The KU men's rugby team lost 35-31 on Saturday at Westwick Park.
Michigan scandal nears its completion
By Seth Klempner Michigan Daily via U-wire University of Michigan
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — The Ed Martin scandal, which started seven years ago to the week, is inching toward its deathbed. But it will be at least six to eight weeks before it finally breathes its last.
An eight-member team representing Michigan headed down to the Hyatt Regency hotel in Coral Gables, Fla., to meet before the NCAA's Committee on Infractions Thursday. The group will be there to answer questions regarding $616,000 in "extra benefit" payments made to four former Michigan players by Martin, a former basketball booster for the Wolverines.
The meeting starts this morning and is expected to last most of the day. Similar meetings have been known to last more than 10 hours, with detailed questions being directed toward the Michigan team and NCAA investigators.
The wheels were set in motion to bring this meeting about on the morning of Nov. 7, when Michigan released its response to the NCAA's letter of inquiry and levied self-imposed sanctions on its basketball program. Michigan President Mary Sue Coleman called it "a day of great shame."
The sanctions included a one year postseason ban, two years of probation and the removal of championship banners from Crisler Arena. Michigan also returned approximately $450,000 that it received from postseason play during the time of the alleged payments.
Head coach Tommy Amaker said he hoped the NCAA won't deliver further penalties.
"We wouldn't have done them if we didn't think it was right," he said. "We feel we have done what is right, and that is what we are always going to do and that is what we are going to say."
Steve Fisher and Brian Ellerbe
both served terms as head coach during the time that the NCAA infractions occurred.
The NCAA's Committee on Infractions can choose to deliver further sanctions on the basketball program or simply accept the University's self-imposed penalties. The University expects to receive a response from the NCAA within six to eight weeks of Saturday's hearing.
I was expecting to deal with this issue the very first week I came on the job, and three years later we are finally just about on the goalline." Michigan Athletic Director Bill Martin said.
The NCAA Committee is composed of 10 people, and is chaired by Tom Yeager, commissioner of the Colonial Athletic Association. Seven of the members are from NCAA member institutions and three are from the general public.
Making the trip down to represent Michigan will be Coleman, Amaker, Bill Martin, University
General Counsel Marvin Kristlov, director of NCAA compliance Judie Van Horn, faculty representative Percy Bates, Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany and NCAA infractions expert, Mike Glazier of the Kansas City law firm of Bond, Schoeneck and King.
"I think it is important that President Coleman set the bar with respect to how important compliance with respect to NCAA rules are to Michigan." Martin said. "She will set the tone for our overall presentation. She is a very experienced, and an incredible leader at a major institution, so she adds tremendous credibility."
Glazier has been helping Michigan investigate the scandal from the very beginning. According to Michigan spokesman Bruce Madej, Glazier will be the primary respondent to questions directed at the University, but members of the committee can direct questions to any of the representatives.
Mouton's contribution overlooked
By Darren W. Dunnitt Daily Texan via U-wire University of Texas
AUSTIN, Texas — Unless you enjoy shouldering the blame for losses and don't mind being overlooked after wins, don't envy Brandon Mouton.
At 6-foot-4, Mouton is an undersized swingman asked to play inside and outside on both ends of the floor. He plays on a team with a shortage of pure scorers in a conference with an abundance of suffocating defenses.
Yet he seems to savor his role as the X-Factor on a team working towards a national championship.
After back-to-back losses to Notre Dame and Arizona -- games in which Mouton averaged five-and-a-half points on 4-of-17 shooting from the field -- much of the finger pointing was aimed at Texas' leading scorer from a year ago.
"Everybody on this team has a role, and my role is to score. For our team to do well, I've got to put points on the board," Mouton said.
"Brandon is really struggling right now with his confidence," Texas head coach Rick Barnes said in the Dec. 15 Arizona postgame press conference. "There's no doubt that we need more production out of him to win these types of games."
In the Longhorns' 13 games since that time, Mouton has led the team in scoring in over half of those occasions, and has scored in double digits all but twice.
"I don't know what it was, but I think I was second guessing myself when I had open looks," Mouton said. "I don't ever want to force up 15 shots per game, but I realize that I have to take the open shots when I get them. I'm lucky enough to have teammates who believe in me and set a lot of screens to get me open."
But offense is only half the story for the junior from Lafayette, La. Playing for a coach who puts a premium on unyielding man-to-man defense, the Texas swingman has shut down his main counterpart in each of the last three games against top 10 opponents.
Kansas' Keith Langford scored 10 points (six below his average) on 5-of-13 shooting, Oklahoma State's Melvin Sanders scored two points (11 below his average) on 0-of-5 shooting, and Oklahoma's Ebi Ere scored six points (nine below his average) on 2-of-7 shooting.
Mouton's response to these subpar performances: "That might have had something to do with my defense," he said with a grin.
Not only did Mouton shut down those prime time scorers offensively, he also outscored and outrebounded them in all three games; this despite giving up inches and pounds to both Sanders and Ere.
"Some people were questioning my defense last year, and I worked really hard to improve that part of my game." Mouton said. "But a lot of it hus to do with our team defense."
Going up against that defense every day in practice is one of the reasons Mouton was named to the 2002 Big 12 All-Improved team. Though playing time was at a premium in the shadow of Maurice Evans during his freshman campaign, Mouton scored a season-high 18 points in the third game of his college career against eventual national champion Duke.
With Evans out of the picture last season, Mouton's minutes per game went from 20 to 30 and his points per game went from 5.4 to 13.7 -- the ninth-best scoring increase in Texas basketball history. His free throw shooting went from 50 percent to 76 percent, and his accuracy from downtown nearly reached the impressive 40 percent mark.
Mouton recently went over some of the drills that were responsible for his dramatic improvement: "Our offense consists of screens and cuts, so a lot of my shots are catch-and-
shoot off of screens." To simulate this, Mouton runs baseline towards a screener. If the defender follows him around the pick, Mouton will curl around the screener towards the basket. If the defender goes over the pick, Mouton will flair out away from the screen for a baseline jump shot. Either way, T.J. Ford usually puts the ball right in his hands.
To simulate this, Mouton sets up his defender with a dribble toward the baseline and crosses over toward the middle of the court to gain half a step. If the defender stays on his rear, then Mouton will rub off the screen and take the ball to the basket. If the defender goes around the screen, Mouton will take a step back for a wide-open jumper.
"We have a play called 'control,' where one of our big men sets a screen for me on the wing when I have the ball," Mouton said.
"As a guard, I do a lot of ball handling drills, where I'll set my man up with a stutter step one time, and then hit him up for a crossover the next." These are just a couple of the simple moves Mouton must make whenever he is isolated against a defender on the perimeter. These moves must be made quickly, and the ball must remain close to the ground, or else defenders coming from the help side can knock it away.
Iowa State freshman guards Big 12's best
By Jeff Raesch
iowa State Daily via U-wire
iowa State University
AMES, Iowa — He's a 19-year-old with defensive assignments on NBA prospects.
It's been a rocky beginning to the Big 12 for Iowa State's Adam Haluska, at least on the defensive side of the ball.
But Haluska isn't going to settle for average.
He never has.
As a three-time, all-state selection at Carroll High, the 6-foot-5 guard dropped just over 30 points and grabbed 9.9 rebounds per game his senior year. He finished his prep career a year ago with 2,209 points—the eighth best total in Iowa high school history.
And he said he would be a Cyclone before his sophomore year.
So far, Haluska has started every game at Iowa State, but the Big 12 competition has led to inconsistent play on the defensive end from the freshman.
"There have been times when I've played well and there have been times when I haven't played well at all," Haluska said.
With Haluska hounding him, Oklahoma's Ebi Ere, who led the Sooners with 17 points per game at that time, was just 1-of-10 for five points.
"I really had a good game against Ere," Haluska said. "I was really motivated going into it. I really did a lot of background checking on him and I knew what he could do and his tendencies."
Oklahoma State's leading scorer Tony Allen had to take 16 shots to get 15 points when he was in Haluska's radar.
Even though he's still wet behind the ears as far as Big 12 basketball is concerned, Haluska even held future NBA pick Rickey Paulding of Missouri in check to some extent when the Cyclones and Tigers hooked up last month. Paulding scored 15 points in the Missouri win.
But Kenny Taylor from Baylor went 20 points on 6-of-8 shooting. Last weekend, when Haluska guarded both Blair Wilson and Michel Morandais depending on the situation, the two combined to carry Colorado.
Wilson was 4-of-6 with 14 points and Morandais went 4-of-8 for 18 points.
"I think the Baylor game was one of those games where
I really struggled, but there are going to be times like that."
Haluska said.
The athletic guard said it has all been a tough transition, because his high school didn't play Larry Eustachy-type defense -- not even close.
"There are some times when I'm standing straight up and not really working hard, but I've got to keep my active feet and keep low. I've always got to make sure I beat my guy to spots. There are some times where I just concede the ball to my guy and just let him take it. I can't allow that. I've got to be the type of person that runs through plays and always denies my man the ball."
"We played a lot of zone defense, so its been a real transition," Haluska said. "In high school you get to sag off guys. You could let a guy go by you and block him on the way. It's something about college that has been hard to adjust to."
Haluska said he'd give himself a five on a scale of 1-to-10 on his defensive play so far. He said he's got lots of room for improvement, but ISU assistant coach Steve Barnes, who has been in the business since 1978 and has seen his share of freshmen, said Haluska is ahead of schedule.
"He's ahead when you think about who he is having to guard in these games," Barnes said. "There was a stretch there with Ebi Ere, Rickey Paulding and [Brandon] Mouton, guys like that are upperclassmen and very, very good players. He's nowhere near where he's going to be, but at the same time he's working hard at it every day and it's very important to him that he gets better."
"Every practice, he makes strides," Barnes said.
It's a daily improvement. Barnes said.
It's all part of a plan, Haluska said.
"My goal, by the time I graduate, is to become the best defensive player in the league and it's not going to come without work," Haluska said.
Barnes said Haluska's progress will eventually be shown on the grand stage.
"Then it's just a matter of him getting more comfortable and getting used to doing it in games."
Sooner player released after complaint of marijuana possession
By Erin Boeckman
Oklahoma Daily via U-wire
University of Oklahoma
NORMAN, Okla. — An OU football player was released on bond after being arrested on a complaint of possession of marijuana.
Norman, Okla., police arrested Brandon K. Everage, 22, of 1006 Drake Drive on Tuesday in connection with felony charges of possessing marijuana within 1,000 feet of a city park, according to a Norman police report.
The Norman Police Department's Special Operations Division was executing a search warrant at the home of James Chassot Adkins, 21, at 2712 Cheyenne Way, according to the report. During the search of Adkins' residence, police found about 114 grams of marijuana, marijuana shake and stems and drug paraphernalia.
During the search of the house, Everage and Robert Carl White, 25, of 217 E. Ouk in
Granger, Texas, arrived at the house in what Everage said was his vehicle, said Norman police Lt. Glenn Dobry. When police searched Everage's car, Dobry said they found marijuana seeds and stems.
Everage, White and Adkins were arrested and taken to the Cleveland County Detention Center, Dobrysaid.
Everage was released on bond at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, according to the Cleveland County Detention Center.
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Everage, a native of Granger, Texas, is a two-year football starter at free safety for the OU defense.
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