THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
TUESDAY MARCH 20
SPORTS
TUESDAY, MAY 8, 2007
7B
CRICKET
Still no conclusion in death of coach
BY ZARAR KHAN ASSOCIATED PRESS
KARACHI, Pakistan — The probe into the death of Pakistani's cricket coach, who was found dead in his room in a hotel in Jamaica, is "inconclusive", a Pakistani investigator said Monday.
The comments by Mir Zubair Mahmood, a senior Karachi detective who was sent to Jamaica to help the investigation into Bob Woolmer's death, casts doubt over earlier assertions by police there that the coach was murdered.
Jamaican police have said that Woolmer was found strangled in his room in an upscale hotel in Kingston on March 18, a day after his Pakistan squad was eliminated from the World Cup by Ireland in an upset defeat.
But Mahmood said that the cause of the coach's death has yet to be determined.
"No one can say that it was a murder or a natural death," Mahmood told The Associated Press. "Several tests have been sent to Scotland Yard and the results are awaited and the most I can say (is) that the investigation in Bob Woolmer's case is inconclusive."
Mahmood was involved in the probe into the killing of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, who was kidnapped and beheaded in Karachi in 2002.
A senior Jamaican investigator said last week that police there are trying to identify dozens of people captured by security cameras at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel, where Woolmer was found dead.
About 80 unidentified people were filmed on Woolmer's floor during the days he and his team stayed at the hotel, Deputy Police Commissioner Mark Shields told AP last week.
The Sunday Times newspaper in Britain cited a source close to Jamaican police as saying Woolmer had ingested enough herbicide to kill him. That followed a report from the British Broadcasting Corp. that a toxicology test on Woolmer's body showed the presence of a drug that would have incapacitated him.
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CONCORD, N.C. — Dale Earnhardt Jr. couldn't defend Talladega from the Hendrick Motorsports domination.
Then Richmond fell like Las Vegas, Atlanta. Bristol, Martinsville and Phoenix before it With a whisper from Kasey Kahne a weak charge from Carl Edwards and a tantrum or two from Tony Stewart.
Hendrick team 'pounding' competition
》NASCAR
Greg Biffle, you're NASCAR's last hope. Please keep your hold on Darlington Raceway, where you'll try to win your third straight race this weekend.
Somebody has to do something to end this Hendrick onslaught, because seven wins in the last eight Nextel Cup赛 is hardly the party NASCAR was looking for this season. Although Hendrick has suddenly taken on the look of the 1927 New York Yankees, the competition isn't conceding just yet.
"I'm real confident that I can go back to Darlington and have a chance at winning again," Bittle said Monday. "Now, theymayfinish first, second, third again... but I feel like we have a good opportunity there."
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Recent statistics show otherwise.
jimmie Johnson led a Hendrick parade at Richmond International Raceway, where he scored his fourth win of the season on Sunday while leading teammate Kyle Busch across the finish line. Hendrick cars actually ran 1-2-3 for the final 100 miles, but Jeff Gordon slipped to fourth right at the end.
Johnson's win was the third consecutive Hendrick victory, and the fourth time this season Hendrick cars finished 1-2.
It also kept Hendrick undefeated in the four Car of Tomorrow races this season, with no sign that Saturday in Darlington will be any different.
"I know Rick, I know his passion for winning and I know he's going to do whatever it takes," said rival car owner Ray Evenham, who won three championships as a Hendrick crew chief.
"Right now they are just pounding everybody. More power to him. He's worked for it and I don't see it letting up anytime soon."
The Car of Tomorrow was supposed to be NASCAR's great equalizer, the one variable that would close the gap between the elite teams
and those struggling to survive. It hasn't worked out that way, as even the usual contenders have struggled to keep pace with Hendrick.
Even Roush Fenway Racing,which paced NASCAR in 2005 by placing all five of its cars in the Chase for the
championship is lagging. Biffle, winless this season and 15th in the points, said Hendrick has lapped the competition in COT preparation.
had a twinge of jealousy in his voice while explaining that Hendrick has used several different test drivers this season to gather data. Max Papis, David Green and 17-year-old development driver Landon Cassill have all logged considerable hours with
"They say that Hendrick's have almost 100 days of testing in the COT car ... we've
"Right now they are just pounding everybody. He's worked for it and I don't see it letting up anytime soon."
spent nine days testing", Biffle said.
RAY EVERNHAM
Car owner
for nine days testing, brief said. Hendrick officials scoffed at that estimation, and say they've actually only tested the car between 25 and 30 days.
But there's no denying that Hendrick has the most resources and is able to devote the most amount of time and energy toward developing its COT program.
Earnhardt, mired in contract talks with struggling Dale Earnhardt Inc.,
"I hear rumors they got Max Papis and road race guys at Sonoma testing and testing and testing and testing."
the Chevrolet Impala for Hendrick.
Asked if DEI could keep up,
Earnhardt didn't pause.
"We've got a lot of resources. They've got a great company, two, three really good cars every week, great crew chiefs. They've really got the package right now." Earnhardt
that," he said. "There are a few that can do that, but not many. They put a lot back into their race teams, you know what I mean?"
said. "Their cars, they handle pretty good. They're getting through the center of the corner better with the COT, and that's just because they test the hell out of it.
Tony Stewart should have won at Bristol but had a mechanical failure. Denny Hamlin seemed to have Phoenix in the bag until he was caught speeding on pit road. And Kevin Harvick was the class of Richmond, only to wreck on pit road.
"No. Not many teams can do
"Hendrick's is not only at the top of the game performance-wise, but they haven't made any mistakes and haven't had any mechanical failures." Nextel Cup director John Darby said. "Everything is going right for them, and to some degree, the rest of the garage has helped them."
Hendrick cars, meanwhile, have had nary a thing go wrong.
Jeff Burton, who had an early engine failure on Sunday, agreed and was buoyed by the fact that teammate Harvick could have won at Richmond. If the competition can put together a complete package, Burton said he was confident the Hendrick cars can be beat.
"When I go to the racetrack, I don't think they're that much further ahead," Burton said.
BASKETBALL
BYSAM ALLEN DAILYBRUIN
NCAA moves back three-point line one foot
LOS ANGELES - NCAA football is known as the sport that doggedly utilizes a playoff system that drives its fans nuts Last week the NCAA employed this odd rulemaking philosophy in its basketball governance, deciding to move the 3-point archback a foot for the 2008-2009 season.
It was yet another strange choice from an institution that tends to nip-pick its rule book without recognizing its obsessed fanbase.
Last season the NCAA changed the way its football games were timed, by speeding up the clock but sacrificing the games' trademark dramatic finishes. The move was shortsighted at best, and it caused predictable rage from some top coaches. After just one year the new rule was erased from the books; the NCAA admitted its mistake.
Lengthening the 3-point arc from 19 feet 9 inches to 20.9 may not be as significant a change as the football timing, but it demonstrates a similar tendency from the NCAA brass.
The change is supposed to clear some space around the basket, creating a less physical game. It shows that the NCAA is leaning toward a pace like that of the flashy NBA.
The 3-point line change really reminds me of the football clock decision. Instead of going all the way to the 23-9 NBA arc, the NCAA chose an awkward middle ground. On the football side they chose to speed up the clock at crucial change of possession intervals, not after a first down, as the NFL does. The NCAA can recognize that adopting the pro rules would be a huge blunder, yet it still makes the smallest amendments just for the sake of making a change.
Perhaps these administrators just don't understand that college basketball fans love college basketball because it's not the NBA. Talk to any die-hard college hoops fan and they will surely tell you they would rather see a fundamentally sound 65-62 battle than a 120-118 NBA shootout.
Luckily for college hoops fans, one foot won't make much of a difference — it's just a bizarre choice. Some preseason tournaments have experimented with the 20-9 line in the past without a major statistical disparity. But because the women's arc won't be moved back, fans will have to get used to a confusing double arc on the floor at most games.
It does beg the question, however: Will coaches continue to encourage most players to take so many threes?
This half circle under the hoop (4 feet in radius) allows for easier officiating on the block-charge call, the toughest call for refs. More than that, it would limit one of the college game's most dangerous plays when a defender tries to sweo under the hoop to draw a charge as the offender flies toward the basket.
In the past two years, the institution has shown an odd tendency of blending its desire to remain different with changes that make it more like the pro game.
not draw a charge.
Of course the NCAA needs to continue to consider rule changes and address potential issues. But it
must remain cognizant of preserving the game and selecting only those elements of the pro model that will enhance its game without significant alterations.
Instead it should stay firm in its stance and keep the college games as they are and as the fans demand.
While the NCAA may have made a weird choice in moving back the arc, it made a serious mistake in not adopting the restricted area used in the NBA. In the NBA if a defender stands in the restricted area he can-
I think the answer is yes, simply because the line is still closer than the NBAs.
For example, would a player like Luc Richard Mbah a Moute focus on improving his 3-point shot even after the line is moved back?
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