| OCR Text |
Show Cougars Rip DAB, Kentuckys Next John By Dick Rosetta Tribune Sports Writer Mooney Dale Brown, the former Utah State assistant who has brought Louisiana State to six straight ntourna-ment- ational s, with David and the Division I basketball committee in givGa-vi- tt ing bonus consid- i rt'l - The mystique deserted University of Alabama Birmingham Thursday night and Brigham Young University can thank University of Kentuckys Wildcats just a little. Sure, the Cougars dismantled in the first round of the UAB, NCAA Mid-EaRegional here, blunting a furious Blazer rally in the second half, but just a little kudo, if you will, for the Wildcats, who sauntered into the Birmingham Civic Center to parade before the practicing Blazers 20 minutes before tinoff You see, thats what everyone a around here was expecting matchup Saturday at 12 15 p.m. (MST) CBS national to see who gets to move television to the Mid-EaRegion semifinals at Lexington. 84-6- agrees jufe-- jf Ala. BIRMINGHAM, Tribune Sport' Editor eration to teams I playing tougher schedules. I Brwn ex- - In the Southeast Confer-1- 8 league games, which gives each school several games. We have great crowd support so we can afford to give good guarantees for clubs to play us in Baton Rouge and we dont have to play home and home to get good opponents to play us. We could schedule a Montana State, as an example, because we could give the team a bigger guarantee than it could make playing in Bozeman. In effect, we could buy our way into the NCAA tournament field if victories were the only yardstick. We didnt have to play Houston or North Carolina, teams which beat us this season. Since we will net approximately $1.5 million from our basketball program, we could, if we desired, play patsies to pad our record. plaind, y fbc jialt Section C The Wildcats, the Southeast Conference champions, ranked No. 4 in he nation and the No. 1 seed here (BYU is No. 8, drew a bye into Saturdays game and may have arrived just in time for the party Thursday night. But the Cougars, those upstart second-plac- e finishers from the Western Athletic Conference who looked so bad just six nights ago in a dismal tournament semifinal loss to New Mexico at El Paso, spoiled the hometown party before a arena gathering of only 7,105. Yep, it was Cougar seniors Devin half-fille- d Durrant and Brett Applegate and sophomore center Jim Usevitch who put on the party caps and tooted their horns here Thursday night. It was spunky guards Scott Sinek and Marty Perry committing at least second-degre- e larceny in the last 15 minutes of the second half ake Friday, March And down the stretch, it was a d 65-4- pre-gam- Sports tribune 16, 1984 Page formed their specialties well. "In looking at it before the game, 1 saw a 50 percent field goal shooting team, a 75 percent free throw shooting team, and a little better rebounding club," he said. "And now, as I look at the statistics, 1 see we outshot them 58 percent to 38 percent from the field, 80 percent to 62 percent from the free throw line and we won the rebound battle, And. as for the homecourt stuff, Andersen didnt mince words. This is the NCAA and I don't think where you play has a great bearing on it. I knew we were a better team if we played our game and we did. UAB Coach Gene Bartow, who brought a team into the NCAA tournament for the seventh time, showered BYU with adoration ... an understandable approach since his Blazers had just finished off winning its third Sun Belt Conference tour seven-p- performance from rejuventated freshman Mike Smith that finally unraveled the shaky Blazers. Matter of fact, if it hadn I been for Blazer sharpshooter McKinley Singleton's downtown missile firing (34 points, 22 in the second half), this one would have been as much of a rout as that homecourt thumping handed UAB a month ago f 23 field After Singleton's goal shooting, the rest of his mates went and as was pointed out that paltry field goal shooting has been the Blazers' Achilles heel all season. BYU put its 20th win ot the season (against 10 hisses) m the books because the Cougai s were able to forced overcome 22 turnovers mainly by a fullcourt Blazer defense - and because the fiesty Cougs per oint. 1 Using some different personnel looks, the Jazz ran past the Golden State Warriors, and recaptured first place in the Midwest Division by a over the Dallas Mavericks, who invade the Salt Palace Saturday night. y And so the Jazzs seven-gamroad trip comes to an end with two straight victories over friendly Pacific Division teams (the Jazz are 17-against the Pacific, 0 against the Warriors). When the Jazz left Utah on the morning of March 3, e lead over the they had a Mavs. They come home Friday with a half game lead, meaning their net loss was a mere game and a half. Meanwhile, the Warriors, who shot only 42 percent and left Coach John Bach shaking his head that his best shooters just couldnt put the ball down, suffered their second straight home defeat, and, with 10 of their last 16 games on the road, they now lead Denver by only a halfgame for the f'nal Western playoff spot. s For the Jazz, Coach Frank personnel shuffles included: trying a different guard rotation that included giving Darrell Griffith considerable time at the point and leaving Jerry Eaves on the bench all night; starting Thurl Bailey instead of Rich Kelley in an effort to shut down Purvis Short; and giving Jeff Wilkins, more adaptable to this type of running game, most of the time at center in place of Mark Eaton, who had early trouble with Joe Barry Carroll. How did they all work? Well, they helped to produce the one road victory Layden wanted on this trip. But, of course, the players had more to do with it than the moves. 115-11- half-gam- leading the conference in re-- J bounding and finishing last in the league in oppo- - nents reboun- ding. e Lay-den- 28 games, the Tigers pulled idown 1,050 re- bounds, and LSU two-poi- 45-2- best. Observation Ward Maybe our political taces wouldn't drag so much if the parties look a page from the basketball tournament committee and considered the strength of the opiments fco foie signing them. Score or oral 2:i7-20- 2. Todays TV, Radio The following is a listing of Fridays live sports events to be broadcast by the local radio, TV and cable stations: 5:35 p.m. NBA basketball, Atlanta at Philadelphia, WTBS (cable). Adrian Dantley had another big night with 37 points, 11 rebounds, and the defensive play of the night a steal off Don Collins in what was then a three-poigame in the final Bailey, although he didnt stop Short (18 of his Warrio22 points in the first half), r-high wound up with his best offensive game as a pro with 22 points. John Drew played solidly and finished with 21 points; Rickey Green had 12 points and 10 assists; Griffith had 13 points, eight rebounds, and six assists, and Wilkins had nine points and nine rebounds and held Carroll half-minut- T i UNLVs John Flowers goes over Prince- tons Howard Levy for a stuff Thursday in the Rebels C-- 2 mure So'4 H . 1 ifi v ( , NCAA win. See page for all the NCAA tournament details. 68-5- 6 NCAA 6 p.m. first-roun- d game, ESPN (cable). NCAA first round 7:30 p.m. game, ESPN (cable). 7:30 p.m. CHL hockey, Oilers vs. Golden Eagles, KRGO-A(1550) 7 Louisiana State Coach Brown concluded, You try everything possible to cover all the angles. We were scheduled to play the late game Thursday night, so we arrived Tuesday and held a practice at East High starting at 9 40. at the same time the tournament game was scheduled. I even called a halftime rest period to get us ready for playing a couple hours later than we usually play. You try to give your players everything you feel will help them succeed, and then hope for the C-- I The Jazz's long road odyssey came to a happy ending here Thursday night. A check of the final statistics from the Southeast Conference reveals an enigma in rebounding, with idea" 9-- 3 Call OAKLAND Misleading Stax & 47-4- 3 1 two-gam- Dale Brown opponents got 1,040 boards. LSU averaged 37.5 rebounds and opponents averaged 37.1. Rebounds dont tell the true story every time, Dale explained. We had a dynamite game against Auburn, a victory, and we were What didnt show was Auburn was guilty of 27 turnovers and that made the difference. We caused an average of 18 turnovers a game this year, and that kept us in most of our ball games. Dale is quite a philosopher and he never misses an opportunity to pass on a bit of poetry or prose which carries the message he believes. Nothing is give.i you in lifer he reminds. You get out of life in proportion to what you put into life. Its like nobody guaranteed you a happy life or a rose garden. The people who have a satisfacory life have contributed to this feeling. All of us may have been created equal, but the differences appear very quickly after birth. What happens to your life and career is in direct relationship to what you have given of yourself to your life and associations." This thinking reminded me of a conversation with John Wooden, when he coached at UCLA and I had opened with the question involving the fun" in coaching. The Bruin coach answered, I had a dream once about my dad, and I was complaining that coaching wasn't as much fun anymore. Ill never forget his answer in my dream, What gave you the idea coaching or life was supposed to be fun? Theres food for thought in that The last UAB "hump was with the score with 15.24 to play in the game. The Blazers had made their fullcourt press rattle the Cougars and the ran to a point spurt to pare what was once a See Page Column 5 By Lex Hemphill Tribune Sports Writer 1 .Jf "BYU is obviously a very fine team. They are are terrific shooters and have that great in Durrant. We fell behind and had to play catchup all night and even though we made a couple of runs, we couldnt sustain the effort and get over the hump, the coach of former Final Four teams Memphis State and UCLA remarked. Ends Happily night and was amazed at the job Rods done with his manpower. We have an interesting team at LSU this year. We dont have a true center, although we have a freshman who is a year away from being a good one. I call this the most useful team I have coached, because we never have hit a peak or a valley all year. We have 10 freshmen and sophomores on the club and eight on the squad didnt play at all last year. But the club has been consistent and steady. In sity. Jazzs Odyssey "And speaking of tough schedules, Brown continued, I think Rod Tueller of Utah State should be coach of the year with the schedule hes played with the materia) he has. I went up to the game Wednesday & nament in a row here two weeks ago with three impressive wins, including one over regular season champion Virginia Commonwealth Univer- KLO-A- (1430). NIT basketball, ber State vs. Fordham, KJQ-A8 p.m. (1490) and KCGL-A- 8:30 p.m. We- (105.5). NBA, Chicago at Portland, WGN (cable) 11:10 p.m. NCAA first round game, Channel 5. shooting in the second to half. Each of these six players went more than 30 minutes, as the Jazz again showed their flexibility by going with different looks. The things I decided, after looking at the scouting report and the stats of the last games, is that wed have to play big people against them, said Layden. We can get away with playing Rickey. But Collins posts us up, like he did when he was with Washington. So I made up my mind to use Drew a lot of minutes and to use Griffith at the point. I dont think he (Griffith) can do it all the time, but he can against a (Lester) Conner. As for starting Bailey, that plan didnt work according to form. As Layden admitted, Drew did a better job defensing Short than Bailey did. But, hey, look at the bonus Layden a gem of a game from Bailey, got who made 10 of 11 shots, including two spectacular dunks on the fast break, and grabbed seven rebounds. A lot of times on the break, I stop sometimes and take the jump shot, said Bailey, whose previous career But Rickey high was 21 points. talked to me about it, and he said, Think dunk when you have the break. It was there tonight. As for Griffiths handling of the point, which hes done often this year but not so much down the stretch of a close game, Darrell observed, I had to be Column 1 5ee Page extra-protectiC-- Jazzs Experiment in Vegas Over After Ruling By Lex Hemphill Tribune Sports Writer Jazz games will be on the boards in Las Vegas next season the sports bock boards, not the hardwood boards. After hearing an hour and a half of pleas from both sides of what had become a debate that swept up the Las Vegas community, the Nevada Gaming Commission Thursday afto allow legalized ternoon vo'ed betting on all Jazz games, including any that might be played in Las Vegas Because of the National Basketball Association's intractable stand against legalized betting on its games, a stand that was by NBA Commissioner David Stern ieb. 23 in Salt Lake City, Thursdays vote had the effect of throwing the Jazz out of Las Vegas and ending Owner Sam Battistones Veg:i experiment after only one yeai The State of Nevada has firmly stated that it shall allow legalized icam gambling on major-leagu- e sports, and the NBA has said it shall not .jI'.ow betting on its games, so tlu i wain shall not meet there anymore. In a statement issued by the 2 Jazz's Las Vegas otfice, team vice who president David Checketts attended the Gaming Commission hearing on the Jazzs behalf along with Battistone, Jazz Vegas veep Dave Fredman, and local attorney Peter Bernhart commented after the decision was announced in late afternoon, Were extremely disappointed in the decision by the Gam ing Commission, and it is our opinion the decision was not made in the best interests of the people of Las Vegas. Battistone, who caught a plane to California shortly after the hearing, described the ruling as "a tremendous disappointment. When the NBA owners met last spring and allowed the Jazz to switch 11 of their games to Las Vegas, they did so under the stipulation that there be no legalized betting in Nevada on all 82 Jazz games. the Nevada Gaming Commission met in October and, by a vote, struck a compromise, taking just the 11 Vegas games off the boards. The Nevada bookmakers were unhappy with that compromise and extracted promises from a couple of the commissioners that the matter would be reconsidered in the spring How-eve- So Jerry Lockhart, tiie one commissioner who sided with the bookies last October, was joined Thurs- by Skip A v l n s i n o and Commission Chairman Paul Bible, who cast the deciding vote Commissioners Ken Grigson and Jack V, alsh day remained in the Jazz corner. and Bible) had "They (Avin-anmade a commitment last October that they would vote this wav." said Fredman. in analyzing the result as not being a total surprise. "But we thought they might vote that way on a blanket resolution on all professional sports " That isn't the case Thursday's resolution pertains specifically to the Jazz in l.as Vegas o "We still will not allow betting on sports, which will still allow, under Baseball Commissionminor-leagu- e er Kuhns edict, our Trtple-team to play ." sa'd Jim Avarice, the chairman of the Nevada Gaming Control Board the 310 employee agency that enforces the regulations passed But it by the Gaming Commission does impai t professional-leveteam sports, reverting back to the posture that gambling is legal in Nevada and. it teams want to play here, they have to rec ogntze that this is a legal " belting sta'e l Indeed, the message the commissioners sent out Thursday was that other major leagues, including the L'SFL, need not bring their teams to town if they're going to be offended by Nevada laws. But. on this matter, Battistone was quoted as saying, "This really sets back professional sports in Las Vegas in the future. Battistone, who announced two and a half weeks ago that he would play some games in Las Vegas again next year if he were to get a favorable verdict Thursday, really wanted to return and tap the potential of the Las Vegas market, contrary to theories that he secretly wished the commissioners would vote the way they did so that he would have a graceful exit from Nevada. But, of course, the players, who record in Las have recorded a Vegas while going 20-- in Salt Lake City, were never terribly enamored of the Vegas experiment, and can now look at the prospect ot playing their 41 home games in Salt Lake (Tty in 1984-8think we all welcome it with open arms," said Rich Kelley of the return of the games to Utah. 1 Kelley, who was in Oakland with his teammates when the decision was made, did notice a home feel ing" in the support of the Las Vegas crowd in Tuesday night's victory over Portland. But he joked, If they want to really emphasize for us that it's a home game, they should send us East to get pummeied for five games and then send us anywhere in the West. Its funny it would happen today," observed Jazz Captain Adrian Dantley. When we just played Portland, it was the first time the fans were really cheering for us. We were behind by 17 points and I didnt hear any boos. Now. were not going to have any games there. "I think were at a disadvantage playing there, but I don't think its as great a disadvantage as everyone made it out to be, said Jazz Manager Frank Layden. The potential greatly outweighed the disadvantages. It still had great potential. I don't think it was a bad Coach-Gener- idea " Asked if he agreed with the NBAs stand against legalized stand that Stern to Checketts on the telephone Thursday morning, Layden said, I dont think legalized gambling or any gambling has any place in professional yports." adamant betting, a u |
