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Show S4 THURSDAY, THE SUN SWAC MARCH 7, 2001 Tournament Teams to watdht By Stephen Vincent March Madness is comprised of three types of teams: favorites, competitors and Cinderellas. Here are the teams (not including Dixie) in those categories to watch in the SWAC Tournament: mens side On the womens side ... On the The favorite: Snow College The The favorite: Southern Idaho Badgers have clearly been the team in SWAC, opening conference play with 15 consecutive victories. Snow boasts the best defense, and the Badgers are tenacious on the boards, where they lead the SWAC in offensive rebounds. The Badgers are also easily the SWACs team leader in blocked shots. Snow is led by SWAC MVP candidates Casey Cooke (15.1 ppg), who led the SWAC in scoring during conference play, and Kamie Jo Massey (12.3 ppg, 6.3 rpg). But they also have other viable weapons in Lacey Yates (9.2 ppg, 5.4 rpg) and Anna Bateman (10.5 ppg). The competitor: Ricks College The entire SWAC season the rest of the league has been trying to catch up to Snow and Ricks. Ricks, however, could never catch Snow, losing to the Badgers both times in relatively close ballgames. The Vikings hope their fortunes against the Badgers will change, should the two teams meet, as is expected, in the conference title game. Ricks Mandie Little (15.5 ppg, 8.3 rpg) can make a valid case for being SWAC MVE She gets help from Ricks other two standouts Lindsey Johnsen (11.2 ppg, 5.6 rpg) and Sheila Hutchison (11.5 ppg). ... The No. 4 Eagles went through the SWAC season undefeated except for their road trip to Southern Utah. CSI also boasted g team statistics in scoring margin (14.8 pg), assists, steals, and scoring. CSI, like Dixie, achieves their victories by utilizing an assortment of talent. Blandon Ferguson (15.3 ppg) leads the squad in scoring, but the Eagles also boast Bradley Jack-sowho has the leagues best ratio, and Uche Okafor (7.7 rpg), one of the leagues best rebounders. The Eagles can also bum opponents by utilizing Tony Babbitt (10.5 ppg) and Cardell Butler league-leadin- (10.0 ppg). The competitor: Snow College The Badgers have been jostling with Dixie and CSI for top position in the SWAC all year long, but a loss at home to North Idaho relegated the Badgers to a third place seed. But Snow has never been far from ascending to the top of the SWAC. The Badgers lead the league in free throw percentage (73.8 percent) and field goal percentage (50.5 percent), while limiting their opponents to just 40 percent shooting from the field. The Cinderellas: Utah Valley State The Cinderellas: North Idaho College and Utah Valley State College College and Salt Lake CC The Wolverines may not exactly be a Cinderella team, given where they finished in the conference standings, but in a league that has been dominated by Ricks and Snow all year long, a Wolverine championship would seem to require a fairy godmother. However, UVSC probably wont need one. As they proved against Snow in Ephraim, the Wolverines are a dangerous squad at times. Ashleigh Chamberlain (12.2 ppg, 7.5 rpg) and Bekka Carlson (11.2 ppg) anchor a balanced Wolverine squad. The Bruins have also been a stellar team this season and have shown moments of brilliance in conference play. Salt Lake is led by Mata Tukuafu (14.6 ppg, 7.0 rpg), Brooke Hanson (11.7 ppg) and Candace Dow (11.0 ppg). Hansons game has improved dramatically since the beginning of conference play. However, the Bruins also have several more players who make strong contributions Perhaps the most intriguing matchup of the first round will be between North Idaho and Utah Valley. Both schools have struggled to escape from .500 basketball and climb up in the standings. However, neither team has been able to do so. But that does not mean that neither school is incapable of it. In fact, if anything, the Cardinals and Wolverines have both proven themselves to as candidates to pull off an amazing upset. Particularly against the likely second-roun- d opponent of the winner of their first round matchup: Dixie. The Rebels struggled to finish off both the Cardinals and Wolverines in their recent matchups. North Idaho is anchored by the SWACs leading scorer, Steven Bonner (21.6 ppg). Three other Cardinals are averaging double figures in scoring. Jordan Mulford and Donnie Jackson are the Wolverines team leaders. - An Statistics are for games through feb. 24, 2001 . |
