Friday, March 31, 1995
SPORTS
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Rams, NFL set talks for April 12
The Associated Press
ST. LOUIS — The NFL said yesterday that league owners will meet again next month to discuss the Los Angeles Rams' proposed move to St. Louis.
League spokesman Greg Aiello said the meeting would be held April 12 in Dallas.
The decision followed two days of talks in Southern California this week between Rams president John Shaw and NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue. Aiello said not much was resolved in the California discussions but the two sides would continue to negotiate.
Earlier this month in Phoenix, the NFL owners voted down the Rams' proposed relocation to St. Louis largely over financial concerns.
But this week, Shaw and Tagliabue agreed to extend the litigation deadline agreement to April 17 from March 31. The agreement gives the Rams the right to file a lawsuit first, as long as they do so by April 17.
Shaw said he and Taglabia had reached some understanding on the sharing of the $74 million in personal seat license money, but he added that there was no resolution on other financial issues.
Thomas Eagleton, president of the St. Louis group FANS Inc., was optimistic.
"It isn't a question of league rules and subtleties," Eagleton said. "The league views the deal with the Rams as being a rich deal, and they want a piece of it. It's a question of how big a piece the Rams are willing to give to the league. I think it's doable."
"The only way a team can get to St. Louis in 1995 is to have a negotiated, agreed-to settlement. There's no kind of litigation, lawsuits, injunctions, antitrust that will bring a team here in 1995. Might not bring one here in 1996."
League vice president Joe Browne said club owners could vote on Stan Kroenke's minority purchase of the Rams at the April 12 meeting.
The Kroenke piece only fits if the move is approved," Browne said. "But approving Kroenke, that's not really been a big piece of this puzzle because Kroenke was before us back in 1993."
Kroenke, a Columbia, Mo., businessman, was approved by the league in 1993 as a proposed controlling owner of St. Louis' proposed expansion team.
Tar Heels ready for Final Four
Underclassmen, not seniors,lead the team against Razorbacks
The Associated Press
SEATTLE — For years, North Carolina has relied on senior leadership as a factor in its success.
However, in reaching this year's Final Four, the underclassmen have taken charge.
Despite predictions that North Carolina would again be an early casualty, the Tar Heels have returned to the Final Four, where they will meet Arkansas in the second semifinal game tomorrow in Seattle's Kingdome.
Senior Donald Williams has assumed his role as scorer to help North Carolina earn another shot at a national championship. But it's sophomore Jerry Stackhouse who has taken the Tar Heels to the next level, taking classmates Rasheed Wallace and Jeff McInnis with him.
The Tar Heels are scheduled to arrive in
Seattle this afternoon. That would mark Pat Sullivan's third trip to a Final Four, including the 1991 team, which had an impressive freshman class but lost to Kansas in the semifinals in Indianapolis.
"The difference, I guess, is the mixture of the young talent that we've had," he said.
When I was a younger player, it seemed like the older players were the more talented ones and the more heralded ones.
In 1991, the upper-classmen ruled. Hubert Davis was the acknowledged outside threat for the Tar Heels.
King Rice directed the team from the point guard post. Rick Fox was the team
When Lynch left, some felt that a vital component in the previous season's title march was missing.
There was a sense of division between the seniors and newcomers Wallace, Stackhouse and McInnis, and the Tar Heels took an early exit from the 1994
leader, and Pete Chilcutt worked the inside.
At New Orleans, while those freshmen had grown to take on increased responsibilities as juniors, it was still a team led by senior George Lynch.
tournament.
Pat Sullivan North Carolina center
Sullivan said the roles had changed for this year's team in that the leaders weren't based on class but on talent. That's helped coach Dean Smith reach his 10th Final Four, two short of the record held by UCLA's John Wooden.
"On this year's team, the older guys are role players, and yet, the younger guys are the more heralded guys."
Jeff and most of the attention goes to those younger guys," he said. "In the past, it was the seniors.
"On this year's team, it seems, and deservedly so, that there's Rasheed Jerry and Jerry
SPORTS WATCH
Live, same-day and delayed national TV sports coverage for today. All times Central FRIDAY, MARCH 31
10 a.m.
noon
ESPN — Women's tennis, Family Circle Magazine Cup, quarterfinal match, at Hilton Head, S.C.
ESPN — Tennis, Davis Cup,
quarterfinal round, countries
and site TBA
■ ESPN — Senior PGA Golf, The Tradition, second round, at Scottsdale, Ariz.
6:05 p.m.
TBS一Preseason Major
Cowboys will need great three-point shooting
1BS Preseason Major League Baseball, Detroit at Atlanta
TNT — NBA Basketball, Orlando at Utah
7 p.m.
Oklahoma State guard leads Big Eight in treys
The Associated Press
Oh, and one other thing.
"The biggest thing you hope is that Randy has that great shooting afternoon," Sutton said. "He can light it up."
Rutherford played the game early in high school but grew tired of the contact and turned to basketball.
That's Randy Rutherford, the Cowboys' All-Big Eight guard. Rutherford has torched opponents with his three-point shooting all season, providing the perfect complement to Bryant Reeves' inside game.
Like Reeves, Rutherford is the product of small-town Oklahoma. He's from Broken Bow, a town of almost 4,000 in the far southeastern corner of the state. Football is king in Broken Bow, and
Good move.
As a sophomore in 1992-93, Rutherford started most of the year and averaged 14 points while shooting a league-best 43.7 percent from three-point range.
He averaged 28.5 points and 14.6 rebounds in his senior year of high school, then spent one year at a junior college before joining Oklahoma State and redshirting during the 1991-92 season.
"Randy has developed into a complete
Last season, he continued to progress. He averaged 13 points a game, made 78 three-pointers and was named to the Big Eight's all-defense team.
This season, Rutherford has improved all parts of his game. He is scoring 19.7 points a game, and his 142 three-pointers are the most in conference history. He is averaging 6.3 rebounds a game — 7.3 in the four NCAA tournament games — and his 69 steals are second-most on the team
basketball player," Sutton said. "He's always been able to score and shoot the ball well. In the last year-and-a-half, we've seen tremendous improvement in his ball-handling, his dribbling, his passing, but probably more than anyplace else his rebounding and his defensive play."
But there's nothing like watching Rutherford get on a roll from three-point range. He had the game of his life against Kansas in the final game of the regular season.
While Reeves was being held scoreless for the first time in his career, Rutherford was scoring a career-high 45 points, including 11 three-pointers.
"I don't think anybody's seen how he can really shoot the ball," said forward Scott Pierce, remembering some remarkable games of horse between Rutherford and former Oklahoma State guard Brooks Thompson.
"He takes the shots that are open, and sometimes he just gets on rolls. He can make 'em with people on him or falling out of bounds, it doesn't matter."
One of those rolls came against Alabama in the second round of the East Regional. Rutherford made four consecutive three-pointers in the second half, helping the Cowboys null away and win.
He had another big day against top-seeded Wake Forest in the regional semifinals, scoring 23 points and grabbing 11 rebounds.
In the game that got the Cowboys to the Final Four, a victory over Massachusetts, Rutherford hit a couple of dazzling second-half three-pointers to help seal things.
Rutherford seldom forces shots. Even if he has hit three or four shots in a row, he won't often put up a forced shot on the next trip down the floor.
He is averaging only 14 shots a game. Last year, he took less than 10 a game-fine with him.
"If you're playing in a system and you learn the system and you're winning with the system, you're going to stick with it," he said. "We've got a great system here for me."