UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Friday, March 7.1997
3B
The following are comments received by the sports desk. Comments and suggestions can be e-mailed to sports@kansan.com Selected comments may be printed.
In response to Spencer Duncan's column that the bottom four teams in the Big 12 conference tournament get byes:
I hope you were kidding or trying to evoke some response from your readers. I understand that it would be nice to have had the Big 12 conference stronger this year, but is this ANY solution?
The object is NOT to force underserving teams into the NCAA tournament. The object is NOT to trivialize the Big 12 tournament. To give these teams a bye week is a ridiculous and ill-conceived notion. By the same argument, we should have the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds play each other during the first round and progressively
TALKING BACK
attempt to eliminate the higher seeds in order to better the chances of a low-seed team winning the championship.
Real college basketball fans would object to such an idea. The NCAA tournament is supposed to be the tournament to determine the national champions, not merely an opportunity for leagues to make money. I would rather see a better at-large team that has had a good season but didn't get an automatic bid in the tournament. The lesser teams will get beat and they are a waste of seed.
Your article about rewarding the last four teams in the Big 12 is hilarious. Did you just fall off of the watermelon truck today or was
it yesterday? Better have the doc check your head out.
Spencer, in my opinion you have it wrong if you're giving the bottom of the Big 1.2 a chance to be Included in the Big Dance.
Are you crazy? This hurts the teams that you claim are on the bus. OU, Texas Tech and Nebraska would not get byes in this system. They are the ones that you are purporting to help, but you are only hurting them. These teams need wins. Allowing them to play the lower four teams should do this a heck of a lot better than making them play the top four teams in the first round.
Miscellaneous comment:
■ I think that for the success of the team, every player needs to stay out of early foul trouble (especially Paul). Billy Thomas can make some critical shots, but he is always ignored in critical moments. Just an opinion; I'm not a coach.
Bulls ponder the Rodman factor
By Mike Nadel
The Associated Press
DEERFELT, Ill. — Michael Jordan says the Chicago Bulls don't need Dennis Rodman to repeat as NBA champions. Coach Phil Jackson doesn't know who would do the dirty work in Rodman's absence.
in Rodman's absence.
Scottie Pippen wonders if the Rodman is worth all the trouble he causes. Luc Longley says Rodman is too valuable to dismiss so casually.
Rodman will return tonight to play against the Indiana Pacers from yet another suspension — his fourth in less than a year. And even the Bulls can't decide if that's good or bad.
Dennis Rodman
"Dennis isn't a distraction for me.
'I've gotten used to his act,' Pippen said. 'But there are some nights that you just don't feel like dealing with him.'
"I differ with Scotte on that point," Longley, Rodman's biggest supporter on the team. "It's easy to wonder if Dennis is worth having after we beat a team by 40. Wait until we play tough, physical teams like New York, and then tell me if you think he's worth having or not."
The Bulls defeated injury-ravaged San Antonio 111-69 Wednesday without Rodman, who was serving a one-game suspension for hitting Milwaukee's Joe Wolf below the belt.
Chicago's two-season record without Rodman is 27.5—an. 844 winning percentage that would mean 69 victories over an 82-game NBA campaign. With Rodman, the Bulls are 112.15, including last season's 15-3 playoff showing. That's an. 882 percentage, a 72-win pace.
"We're better with Dennis, but I'm prepared to go with whatever we have," Jordan said. "Can we win the title without Dennis? I think we can. It would be easier if we had him, but we could do it without him if we have to."
Jackson, however, wants Rodman to behave for the rest of the season and to stay in the lineup.
Jackson said he didn't know if the Bulls could win a championship without Rodman.
"The physical nature that Dennis brings us against teams that scrum inside that's important to us," he said. "To this point, I haven't seen anyone who could replace that."
Second-year forward Jason Caffey started in Rodman's place yesterday.
Caffey has had some good games this season, but he's no Rodman, who is on pace for an unprecedented sixth consecutive NBA rebounding title.
Of course, Caffey also isn't a foul-mouthed, cross-dressing, hair-dyeing, cameraman-kicking referee baiter who thinks the NBA is out to get him.
"When you accept the rebounds Dennis brings you, you have to accept his whole package," Longley said. "I can speak only for myself, but I know that I'm willing to accept Dennis for what he is. I like Dennis."
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