| Show SPORTS Sports Editor: 625-426- ' 1 www standardnet r Standard-Examine- NBA NHL D Scoreboard Wednesday March 6 2002 flMIIWIIWillWIlHimillMMB Lakers take on Jazz Stagnant Then again they don’t have much hope of earning home-couadvantage either After their dismal start the Jazz clawed their way back to lay claim to one of the eight playoff spots in the NBA’s Western Conference By TOM McEACHIN Once they got there howstaff ever they’ve played well SALT LAKE CITY - Head- enough to hold onto what ing into the homestretch of they’ve got but without really the season the Jazz don’t ap- challenging themselves to see pear to have much risk of how much better they can be W1 at galls coach Jerry missing the playoffs Sloan perplexed by players rt 1 Standard-Examin- Aggies add sport least can compete with those teams on the court Tonight’s Utah is just against the top five teams in the game West including an record LA Lakers at opponent tonight’s against Utah 6 pm the Los Angeles Lakers Delta Center A victory tonight probably (KJZZ TNT) wouldn’t have much impact on the standings but it could Sloan is that his players don’t be a huge confidence-booste- r seem to have much desire to against a possible find out playoff opponent “That’s what concerns Monday’s game against me” Sloan said “Are we sat- ings Sloan would like to see See JAZZ3D isfied? Are we just going to his players prove they at try to make the playoffs or try to move forward?” At Utah currently stands in seventh place in the West 8 12 games behind e Sacramento 2 12 e games behind Portland and 3 12 games ahead of the Clippers With 23 games to go even if the Jazz don’t have a realistic chance of catching one of the elite teams in the stand- LOS ANGELES 33-2- 6 0-- 2 first-plac- sixth-plac- USU will play women's basketball 2003-200- 4 2D Red Sox moves New Boston ownei Kerrigan as manage Season ends ninth-plac- e first-roun- in Joseph loses state 4D basketball playoff St 1 -- A d Cleveland 103 Atlanta 96 Wash 1 1 5 Chicago 90 NY 102 Milwaukee 89 Miami 93 Detroit 91 n Big Sky rewards Boyette ready to lead ’Cats all-leag- ue By JIM BURTON staff Standard-Examin- Standard Examiner staff OGDEN - Weber State point guard Jermaine Boyette on Tuesday was named to his second consecug tive Sky Conference team Teammates Chris Woods a senior and John Hamilton a sophomore made their first appearances on the team Boyette a junior and Woods name is Jermaine main As in Main Man all-Bi- Which he is How ever you look at it Jermaine Boyette Weber State point guard is the straw that stirs the Wildcats On Tuesday Boyette and senior teammate Chris Woods were named to the Big Sky Conference’s were both selections first-tea- Hamilton was placed on the honorable mention list Montana State sophomore Jason Erickson was named the Big Sky’s Most Valuable Player team Sophomore John Hamilton was named on the honorable mention list L For Woods and Hamilton the honor might be considered unexpected though well Joining Erickson Boyette and Woods on the team were: Montana’s David Bell Northern Arizona’s Matt Gebhardt and Ryan McDade Portland State’s Anthony Lackey Idaho State’s D’Marr Suggs Alvin Snow and Chris Hester of Eastern Washington and Damir Latovic of Montana State Hester and Latovic were named of the Year Snow re- deserved For Boyette however simply being named to the team might actually be considered something of a disappointment The junior from Hammond Ind was also named team last to the year his first with the Wildcats He also was named to last year’s Sky tournament team and before this season began he was named the preseason player of the year ' “Obviously he’s a unanimous selection (for the team)” said WSU coach Joe Cravens “He was one of four players to be considered for MVP He’s a tremendous talent” On Tuesday the Big Sky MVP award went to Montana State sophomore Jason See BOYETTE2D all-Bi- wmiMira Boyette Woods earn first team honors Sky Big West Mountain West tournament schedules 2D -- Dallas 81 Phoenix 77 Lakers 101 New Jersey 92 Seattle 97 Minnesota 83 WSU pair INSIDE: Big His Jer Indiana 111 Orlando 98 San Antonio 109 G S Houston 1 12 Toronto 10Q r ceived the conference’s Defensive Player of the Year award and EWU’s Mark Axton was named Freshman of the Year Selections were made by the conference’s eight head coaches Boyette and Latovic were the onfirst-eve- g ly unanimous choices WSU coach Joe Cravens was especially pleased that Woods and Hamilton were honored Hamilton finished the season as scorer avthe ’Cats’ second-leadin- g eraging 14 points a game in conference play The guard from Greenfield Ind shot a conference-leadin- g Weber State University guard Jermaine Boyette guards Idaho State’s Danny Boticki during the Wildcats’ final home game of the season on March 2 at the Dee Events Center Boyette leads WSU into the Big Sky Conference tournament on Thursday See BIG SKY2D Big Sky honors Hislop Blaisdell - The OGDEN Big Sky Conference has named Chick Hislop and Jim Blaisdell league indoor track and field coaches of the year for men and women respectively Hislop earned the award for the second straight year and the fourth time in his career at Weber State guiding the Wildcats to their second straight team title The Wildcats scored a meet record 1 70 5 points and captured eight first ' place titles Blaisdell was honored for the first time in 10 years and the fourth time during his 21 year career at Weber State The Wildcats scored 1 59 points to claim the title WSU captured three individual event titles 33-ye- UmiAKE A TICKETS NBA basketball: Los Angeles Lakers vs Utah 6 p m Delta Center College tennis: Weber State women vs Utah State 1pm USU campus Local sports: See complete schedule on Scoreboard 4D 2 am - NCAA women’s basketball: Big 12 Conference Tournament quarterfinal FSN 10 am- - NCAA basketball: Big East Conference Tournament first round ESPN Noon - NCAA basketball: Big East Conference Tournament first round ESPN 5 Majerus’ tourney harangue Majerus has always been a of the three “P’s”: Rick fanpasta and practice But there’s one particular “P” 7-- -- long time The University of Utah men’s basketball coach has never been fond of the league tournament format and he certainly didn’t try to hide his feelings this week as he prepared his ballclub for the Mountain West Conference men’s championship event which gets under way Thursday at Las Vegas “I’m tournament for two reasons” he said “No 1 even if my team would win it this year I feel like Wyoming would deserve to win the championship and go to the NCAA Tournament by virtue of being the best team over the course of a conference season “And No 2 looking at the academic aspect of this I’ve never understood the merit or the benefit of these conference tournaments “In our conference the financial remunerations are minimal” Majerus said “Heck 1 could talk to a couple of boosters and raise that kind of money myself I just hate to see those players miss so much class' time” ever-popul- v one of the rarest of feats the Young University men’s team went a perfect 0 at home and a winless 7 on the road in Mountain West Conference action this season The mysterious Cougars proved they had the talent to beat some of the nation’s best teams And yet their inexperience and youth could suddenly uproot them against some of the country’s worst squads Which team will show up this week in Las Vegas for the MWC postseason tournament at the Thomas & Mack Center is anyone’s guess “The parity (in the MWC) has been quite obvious” BYU coach Steve Cleveland said “It’s a tournament that is up for grabs It would not surprise me to see the No 1 seed not win the tournament” BYU (17-1- 0 enters as the No 4 seed and will face No S San Diego 7-at 3:30 pm (MST) in State (18-1- 1 the opening round on Thursday The question is whether the Cougar team that steps on the floor is the one that convincingly knocked off Stanford earlier this season in Las Vegas or will it be the one that was humiliated by perennial conference doormats Air Force in Colorado Springs Colo? Will it be the Cougars that In - the postseason conference tournament that’s been a pet peeve of his for a Cougars a real wild card Majerus whose team takes a 20-- 7 overall record into Thursday night’s first-roun- d matchup (7 pm MST) against Colorado State also feels like UNLV is given an unfair advantage by having the opportunity tq host the annual tournament on its home court at the Thomas & Mack Center Should the Utes win tonight and UNLV prevails in its own with New Mexico then Utah would meet UNLV in Friday’s semifinal matchup at 10 pm MST “It’s always most difficult to play someone on their home court” Majerus said “For UNLV this is not a tournament these are home games And it’s been that way I don’t know how long Obviously the tournament favorite would have to be UNLV in any case because they’re playing on their home court It certainly is a tremendous advantage to have it on your home floor” first-round- er SeeUTAH2D h 7) - NCAA KJZZ 7pm- - NCAA basketball: Big East Conference Tournament first round ESPN 0-- 7-- pm basketball: Big East Conference Tournament first round ESPN 6 pm - NBA basketball: LA Lakers at Utah TNT second half overcame a deficit to defeat No 2 seeded Utah or the team that squandered a second half lead before losing to No 7 seeded Colorado nt nt State? “I’m going down there with the attitude that we can win it” admitted sophomore center Dan Howard who made his second start of the season against CSU on Saturday “We’ve played well in the tournament down there That’s a great floor for us We had’a great win over Stanford on that floor and we had a chance against UNLV” The Thomas & Mack Center has been kind to BYU The Cougars won the MWC Tournament there last season They’ve been to two consecutive tournament finals in La? Vegas and carry a 2 record on UNLV’s home floor vs neutral opponents 7:30 pm - NCAA basketball: Conference USA Tournament first round ESPN2 MB SPORTS QUOTE The demise of Dennis Mike Biancht in the Orlando Sentinel: “Dennis Miller has been booted out of the ‘Monday Night Football’ booth Poor Dennis He must feel as if he’s been thrown off Hadrian’s Wall had his head cut off by the Sword of Damocles then been sent to a 17th century Benedictine monastery” - Standard-Examine- r staff and wire services 7-- See BYU2D i i I |
