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Show . 1996 IwtaUj, March The Daily Utah Cfcraafele-- 9 mm TW CHRONICLE Bumbling Mavericks Humiliated by " GREG BEACHAM Chronicle Sports Writer The Dallas Mavericks' season in a nutshell? They're standing on the sideline, watching the girls dance. With 2:25 to play in Monday night's game against the Utah Jazz, the Mavericks called a time out. As the Delta Center faithful headed en masse for the exits, the Dallas players and coaches stood by and sat on the bench, watching the Jazz Dancers pcr-lorm on the court No substitutions, no strategy ses- sions, no discernible reason for the time out apparently the Mavs just wanted a little entertainment before getting back on the plane, Like a sadistic cat with a blind mouse, the Jazz toyed with, teased, tortured and finally devoured the - Mavericks 103-8It's a virtual certainty that no one in attendance will remember anything about this 6. vanilla-flavore- d game. The win was Utah's fourth straight and seventeenth straight at home, and the loss was Dallas's eleventh straight With San Antonio's win over New Jersey, the Jazz remained two games t behind the Spurs with 14 games left in the regular season. Despite Utah's blowout win, Coach Jerry Sloan was peeved It's frustrating when I can't get the team to play at the level of intensity that we need," Sloan said "We looked like we were just playing pickup basicy-ho- ketball." In the other locker room, Dallas Coach Dick Motta seemed unaware that a game had just taken place. Asked how he could improve his team's 34.8 percent shooting in the game (the sixth straight game in which the Mavs have shot below 40 percent), Motta replied, "We're going to scout the lottery for a couple of good shooters." r On the performance of whose guard Jason Kidd, shooting included some of the most erratic jump shooting seen in Salt Lake City since the heyday of John Drew: "We need someone to push Jason harder in practice." All-Sta- Vt r i j - v- Even the Kidd himself didn't want to talk about the funcralgamc: "We're the youngest team in the league. We just have to work hard and get prepared for summer." - Chronicle Photo Ted McKinley Ludous Harris tries to get down with Utah guard Jeff Hornacek during action Monday night at the Delta Center. Hornacek scored 17 points and dished out 8 assists to lead the Jazz to an easy 103-8- 6 win. Syracuse is There to Win, Not to Get Pushed Around Ah, the Final Four! 'verything that is right in America I will be on display this weekend at I the rinal Four in NewJersey. No, it's not the Mahmoud Abdul-Rau- f show, it's the best college basketball players showcasing their talents in an attempt to capture the national championship. Teams like Massachusetts, Kentucky and even Mississippi State have proven that they belong in the Meadowlands this weekend. Then there is Syracuse, the team that nobody is taking seriously. And why should any sane person consider the hoopsters from upstate New brk to be serious contenders? They finished fourth in their conference and needed overtime to beat Georgia. And the real , eighth-seede- d kicker: the Orangemen are only in the Final Four because they were placed in the Pee Wee que West Herman-e- s Regional " Everybody is expecting Syracuse to be a mere stepping stone in Mississippi State's path to die championship game. Anybody who thinks this way only needs to be reminded of one thing Danny Manning and the 1988 - Kansas Jayhawks. The Jayhawks were a perfect example of the little engine that could. Thanks to Karl Malonc led the Jizz once again, scoring 29 points, one of which was the 23,000th of his career, and collecting 12 rebounds. Backup journeyman poinfguard Scott Brooks led the Mavs with 16 points; even his 4 assists were two more than Kidd could manage. "They didn't put up too much of a fight tonight," Utah guard Jeff Hornacek said. "They looked like they were just trying to play out the season." Hornacek finished with 17 points and 8 assists. FINAL FOUR-CAS- T Chronku Photo Ted McKinley Utah's Greg Foster is all animal as he snatches a rebound from Mavericks Cherokee Parks, Tony Dumas and Loren Meyer (hidden). Dallas has never beaten the Jazz in the Delta Center and hasn't won in Salt Lake City since 1989. Throughout the night, the Mavs looked as confused as the Jumbotron operator, who kept providing updates of the 1996. Oscars (apparently this year's Academy Awards were given to films not yet released). The Mavericks are a franchise in serious need of medical attention. Utah scored the first 1 1 points of the game literally without breaking a sweat. If Popcyc Jones hadn't been in the game, the Jazz might have notched a shutout. James Edward U M , '.... . That was the question I asked heavily-favore- when they upset Kansas was able to knock off heavily-favore- d Oklahoma to win the tide. This year's Syracuse squad shows resemblances to the Jayhawk squad of '88. It doesn't matter that nobody is taking them seriously, because the Orangemen have John Wallace and he possesses the same leadership that Manning used to carry Kansas to the remarkable d similar. It posSyracuse is extremely NBA future star, and a bunch sesses one will one day rule the who of other guys game. let-se- "Orangemen" on page II . 1 Kentucky for an unfathomable SEC tournament win. .That was the question I asked myself last year, when they physically tormented our beloved (but badly outmuscled) Utes for 40 minutes. Michael Dolcac probably asked that question in short, stuttered, repeated babbling until his wore off. Apparently, 265-poun- k behemoths named d Erick Dampier can have that effect on a person's mental state. tide. This is a far cry from the other teams who each feature a couple of players e who will one day be writing apology then-No- shell-shoc- Syracuse MARCH 30, 1996 EAST RUTHERFORD, NEW JERSEY 49-3- 9 the Cincinnati Bearcats. That was the question I asked after they helped UConn choke for the umpteenth year in a row. That was the question I asked the senior leadership of Manning, 40-3- Mississippi state bulldogs:' of Bob Huggins's Chronicle Assistant Sports Editor street-bal- l the hell arc myself after Sunday's unlikely upset J"iJ jumpers that finally got the Mavs out of the blocks, but Dallas just kept crashing into the hurdles. It took a George McCloud Uty at die buzzer to bring die Jazz lead down to single digits to end the quarter. In die middle of the second quarter, Dallas made something vaguely resembling a run: Lucious Harris' slam widi 4:19 to play cut Utah's lead to The Jazz parried the thrust and took a lead to the break. Dampier, Dontae and the Dawgs to Destroy Orange FFJho Mississippi State Jones knocked down a pair of Cincinnati's Dan Fortson isn't asking that question. He's still trying to identify the blurry spectacle that raced past him time and time again on Sunday. That blur is known as Dontae Jones, a junior college transfer who has displayed Scottie Kppen-esqu- e out the tournament. skills through- Rick Vazquez Chronicle Sports Writer UConn 's Ray Allen only remembers some guy named Daryl Wilson, a flca-siz- c shooting guard that lit up the scoreboard for 27 points while holding Allen, a first-teato a dreadful shooting performance. Now if he could only remember what team Wilson plays for. Rick Pitino should know who Mississippi State is. After seeing his team get bumped, bruised and elbowed in a blowout loss, the image of Richard Williams rejoicing on the sidelines should be fresh in his memory. It had better be. Pitino might see the same image again after the national championship game. see "Bulldogs" on page II |