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Show I Seorebenl B4 EesSaess BS Weather B . EDITOR; STEVE CAMERON 1 THE DAILY HERALD 344-255-3 THURSDAY, APRJL 2. 1998 l it 1 A.' 1 Ndiaye's lie draws UNC investigation sr. U 4 f-- Y .'U Li A CHAPEL Dick Harmon Maybe the coach needs an angel to help this time In in ' i n n mi Smwuiaiiiii ii Mtrnwi " DOL'GLAS C. PIZACThe Associated Press SALT LAKE CITY Utah coach Rick Majerus, the top candidate for interview. Arizona State, returned to Salt Lake City Wednesday, but too late for a parade held for the Utes. Majerus was scheduled to meet with ASU athletic director Kevin White at 7 a.m. (San Antonio time) on Wednesday at the site of the Final Four. team lost to Kentucky, Majerus' in ' Monday night's national championship game. At the meeting, White was to give Majerus ASLFs top offer, which is expected to include a package worth about $1 million. Majerus flew to Salt Lake City later in the day, where a local reporter tried to speak with him out Show with Jay Leno. He then is expected to travel to Milwaukee on Friday and participate in a clinic Majerus will travel to Los Angeles the vacant head coaching job at today to be a guest on NBC's Tonight 78-6- "Keep swimming, boys." FORMER NEVADA State Supreme Court justice Tom Steffan agrees. In a letter to Cleveland, Steffan said he'd understand if the coach cuts the players for cause, but... "If not, I would simply like to emphasize the great good that could come into the lives of Michael and Ron if (they are) allowed ta..play at BYU, associate with your staffteammates, and enjoy the benefit of an they would likely find no there Saturday. The Sun Devils have asked Majerus for an answer by the end of the week. If he turns the job down, they will turn to a second tier of candidates, 9, which include Xavier Coach Skip Prosser and Mississippi Coach Rob Evans. Another possibility is George Washington Coach Mike Jarvis, who recently was linked to the opening at Michigan. pdD Utah athletic director Chris Hill that Majerus didn't return with the team Tuesday to Salt Lake City. Hill said Majerus stayed behind "to take care of himself." This is the second time Majerus confirmed has been offered ASLPs job since coach Bill Frieder resigned under pressure in September. Majerus turned down the offer in the fall, saving, it was too close to the start of the regular season. But White confirmed that Majerus' shoe contract with Reebok posed a problem because ASU was negotiating a deal with Nike. If Majerus takes the ASU position, he will bring assistants Donny Daniels and Brock Brunkhorst with him from his Utah staff, according to Utah sources. N.C. (AP) On Tuesday, Chancellor Michael Hooker suggested the Student Judicial Board might handle the case. "We take pride in building charac- ter," Hooker said, "it's the greatest educajustification for athletics tion, building character. In this case, I guess you would say we failed." "It's a sad way to end what should have been a great season. It cast a negative on the season." 'Ossie' adds flair to spikes env-iomme- nt where else." Hans Hortin, in a letter to the media, emphasizes the importance of impartiality at BYU, especially when others have tripped and been helped d. side the hotel where he lives. The coach refused requests for an Combined wire services , From Ken McCarty to Cleveland and an Internet audience: "Sometimes it appears in our culturethat when a person is struggling in the ocean waves, trying to make it to shore (like Mike Garrett and Ron Selleaze) some of us take our row boats out to them, and instead of helping them to shore, we take out our oars and hit them over trie head to make sure they don't make it. H 0s SALT LAKE CITY At least now we know there's no team in the West the Jazz can't beat. Portland entered Wednesday night's contest at the Delta Center as the only Western Conference team with a perfect record against the Jazz. The operative word there PROVO When playing the nation's elite, a among now then and spark every never hurts. Ranked fourth in the nation and third in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation's Mountain Division, BYUs men's volleyball team is in the hunt for the MPSF title and a NCAA spot in the four-teatournament in late April. So when the Cougars need a spark, they call on Ossie. Oswald "Ossie" Antonetti is more than the team's leading attacker. He's also the team's leading cheerleader. "He's very dynamic and very emotional when he plays," BYU coach Carl McGown said. "He's for sure a crowd favorite and a spark plug for us. Sure, Antonetti's 5.35 average is impressive. Especially when those attacks result in a momentum-turning big play. But to call Ossie a player would be I: to m , I THE MERCY movement took root within hours of Cleveland's announcement he'd suspended his players. Since then, it's raged to an overwhelming theme on campus and in 1 . . wrong. "I love volleyball," Ossie said. "I really get into it." Ossie is alsso one of the team's top defensive players, leading the team in digs per game. His nine service aces rank second on the team. More important, however, is the emotional presence. Ossie, a native of Puerto Rico, is one of several players in collegiate men's volleyball from the Carribbean island. Players from those countries add an emotional flair to town. . "Coach Cleveland," the cry goes, 'extend a hand, not your back." And of course, Cleveland won't , turn his back on these guys. Anyone who knows Cleveland's commitment to them personally will understand the difficulty of his posi- tion. New if the decision is set in stone, as some solid information has indicated,, the mercy mail is moot. i But if Cleveland holds back the knife, as Abraham did with Isaac, it could prove to be one of his toughest coaching acts. ' Indeed, one requiring the intervention of an angel, matches especially when competing called Often the dialogue "net talk" in volleyball takes place in Spanish, and such chatter can become head-to-hea- i Dick Harmon is a Daily Herald writer and regular columnist. sports " t I d. 1 98-8- after a trio of Portland blowouts. The Jazz (54-1bounced back from a tough loss at Seattle on Tuesday night to move into a tie with the idle Sonics for best record in the Western Conference. Seattle currently hold3 the tiebreaker in that series. "I was pleased with our guys after playing a hard game last night," Utah coach Jerry Sloan said. "I know there was a time or two when our energy didn't look as good as I thought it should, but this team is not 19 or 20 years old. "We have some older guys who have to play a lot of minutes, but they came out and played well." The old guys would be Karl Malone, Jeff Hornacek and John Stockton. Not surprisingly, the three old men put a whuppin' on the young-pu- p Blazers, combining for 74 of Utah's 98 points. Hornacek led the way with 31 points, a season-hig- h while Malone added 29 and Stockton, rebounding from a 8) two-pci- kill-per-ga- ! 0 was entered. After battling a physical Blazer team for three and a half quarters, the Jazz pulled away in the final six minutes for a 9 victory. It was Utah's lone win against the Blazers this season, coming . i JJQGDX The Daily Herald The Daily Herald If 33 By DOUG FOX By RON SEIBEL the basketball team requires a stringent criteria, it seems reasonable that the same criteria should apply to the perphysics scholar, the theater-art- s former, and the law student. 'Perhaps when BYU sends the ballplayers packing, they should also send home the hundreds and hundreds of children and grandchildren who, if treated the same, would also be disgraced, expelled, and left to figure out where to go next ".Horton asserts there are hundreds of people in the community who've served as church leaders and could cite numerous cases where ecclesiastical endorsements have been given kudents who have violated the B YU honor code. And that plenty of those stumbles have involved acta far worse than the ones committed by Selleaze and Garrett. DR COPY I i on this man. double-standar- mrt mi ifti Where's Rick? Utah coaches and players, sans head coach Rick Majerus, wave to tens of thousands of fans lining the streets of Sait Lake City Wednesday in honor of the Utes' trip to the Final Four championship game. The mercy mail is piling up. Steve Cleveland's indefinite suspension of Ron SeUeaze may have met the demands of justice. But on the other side of the scale, feedback seems to be screaming for the coach, school and church to show mercy. Something to do with ancient beliefs involving love and forgiveness. The message is clear: Put an arm around Ron Selleaze, because we love up: "Nobody likes a 'iiimiiiii HILL, North Carolina's student attorney general will investigate the case of Makhtar Ndiaye, the Tar Heel player who falsely accused an opponent of making a racial slur. Athletic director Dick Baddour said Wednesday the case was turned over to the attorney general by the Division of Student Affairs "to investigate possible misconduct." In addition, the athletic department will assist Ndiaye in getting anger management counseling. "As upset as he was after the loss to Utah, he is even more disconsolate about the controversy that has been a result of his postgame comments," Baddour said. " ... He is sorry if this incident has embarrassed the university and the basketball program." Ndiaye (pronounced Jeye) accused Utah player Britton Johnsen of making a slur during the semifinals of the NCAA tournament. He has since retracted his accusations and he sent a letter of apology to Johnsen. IT 1 i 1 B J V , i a ii iii a I x ii KEVLX LEEThe Daily Herald Leapin' Puerto Rican: Oswald Antonetti's jumping ability is one reason he is a crowd favorite for the BYU volleyball team. quite heated and charismatic at times. "We have fun, that's for sure," Ossie said. "We like to get excited and play hard. That's what it's all about." And when the big kill flies, emotions fly as well. That contributes to volleyball's small, yet enthusiastic following. Yet off the court, players maintain a close kinship. "Anytime we get together, we hang out," Ossie said. "We're good friends." BYU, 14-- 3 overall and 12-- 3 in the MPSF, is in the midst road of a key three-matc- h trip against Pacific Division foes. After downing Pacific in three games (15-1- 2, 15-- 7, 15-.-8) on Tuesday, the Cougars will play at second-plac- e Stanford Friday and first-plac- e Hawaii Saturday. Antonetti was an integral part of the Pacific victory, nailing down 22 kills. nt CIM MUM M HtWllBIBlMWlli'WI,l MARC LESTERThe Duly Herald Hotly contested: Portland's Bnan Grant (44) beats Utah's Howard Eisley to a loose ball at the Delta Center Wednesday. shooting night in Seattle, totaled 14. "When Karl, John and Jeff play as well as they did tonight, we're not going to lose a whole lot of games," Utah's Adam Keefe said. "All three of them played great and that's probably the key" Hornacek had his whole arsenal working Wednesday popping 3s, curling around screens and throwing in loopy layups with about 18 feet of poor arch. "That one where he throws it up high and over the defensive player?" Sloan questioned. "That's a tough shot. I don't know how many guys can make that. "Jeff has always been one of those guys you have to Sec JAZZ, B2 |