Show SUNDAYMarch 15 1998 3hf Salt fckrSriimne Section C HOCKEY : Pages C-2- PREP BASKETBALL 3 Page C-- 4 r 1993 NCAA BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT GORDON MONSON Jazz Improved Over Last Year? Answer Is Yes The question floated thick like a cumulus cloud stacked way up high and wide and a robed Greg Foster his foot dipped in a tub of ice in the Jazz locker room pondered the possibilities and ramifications of the correct answer: Are the Utah Jazz better now than they were a year ago? He paused leaned back in his chair then stroked his goatee like some basketball bhagwan as though he were hatching great ideas pertaining to a vast mystery of the ages His response started in one place and evolved to another: We still havent reached our potential Were still not playing our game except for Karl And Shan-don- s been solid And Bryon hes been solid And Keefes been real good And Howards better And John And Jeff So many guys are better this year Weve had so many ups and downs maybe strength comes from that The core of this team is so solid When the other components play well its another pause another stroke of the beard well its scary Well take that as a Yes Looking Up: Like all wise men Foster neglected to praise himself although 20 minutes earlier he had polished off a career-hig- h performance in which he scored 18 points in yet anoth- er Jazz win still can do better he said We all can In those cautious words lies a whole jeserve of optimism More optimism than the Jazz have ever had Look at them They have won nine straight games and 16 of 17 Their reis one game better than it cord was at this point last season which supposedly was their dream season record in They have the second-bes- t the league just one game behind Seattle Some observers are skeptical healthily so about the Jazzs run of recent success They say the Midwest Division leaders have rolled through lousy teams and good teams depleted by injury All true The Jazz are lucky fools And winning fools too Nobody should be struck by triumphs over Sacramento or Vancouver or Houston without Hakeem Olajuwon and Kevin Willis But the current streak is only part of the measure Consider as Foster did the progress of the players S Cranking It Up: As improbable as it Karl Malone is turning in a bet-e- r performance than last seasons averaging 27 points and 11 rebounds Its tnore than just numbers though In I 46-1- 6 the fourth quarter Friday night against Vancouver with the game tied he came off the bench to drop 14 points on the Grizzlies over a three-minut- e span Karls playing the best basketball hes played since Ive been here Jerry Sloan said afterward And John is John - So much for the core As for the components Adam Keefes game has improved Hes averaging eight points and six rebounds Howard Eisley is better (eight points four assists) Shandon Anderson is better (nine points) Bryon Russell is coming on Hornacek at 14 points a game is the scorer The rest Jazzs second-leadin- g are what theyve always been with the temporarily gimpy and always goofy Greg Ostertag and his valuable shotblocking soon to return After watching his team win again Friday night Sloan never one to heap praises answered the question thusly: Im happy with the team at this point Ill say this weve got a heckuva chance of competing against anyone we play against Mark that down as another Yes It seems the coach quite rightfully agrees with the bhagwan Ecstasy Md Agony for U Hoops Men Trample Women Fall A From Grace Hogs Head to r Sweet Sixteen ' t U BY STEVE LUHM BOISE Admittedly Britton mostly unproductive freshman season at the University of Utah has been injury-plague- Seasons End " - A THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE Johnsens at BY WENDY DURHAM NC For the five seniors on the University of Utah womens basketball team this was supposed to be their year They started the season 16-- 0 and cracked the Top 10 for the first time in school and WAC history before faltering going 5 in their last 10 games But now it was NCAA Tournament time and the quintet of Julie Krommenhoek Alii Bills Angie Thill Amy Alcorn and Laura Ross Allen was one win away from becoming the winningest class in school history They will have to settle for tying the record as the No Utes fell to No 10 Louisville 1 in the first round on Saturday night in Cameron Indoor Stadium Utah finishes the year 21-- 6 while the Cardinals improve to and meet Duke in the second round on Monday This is not exactly how the year was supposed to end We should have won it said Krommenhoek who had a game-hig28 points I feel if we played them again right now we could beat them There were just little things that we didnt do We made turnovers at critical times when we needed a basket The team played hard and people came in and made plavs and kept us in it But it is tough to go especially being a senior because we wont get this chance again Krommenhoek who made three pointers became the e schools leading scorer with 2086 career points She eclipsed the old record by 11 But Thill was the only other Ute to scored in double digits (11) Louisville made 19 points off of Utahs 17 turnovers and shot from the line The Utes only made free throws d k frustrating On Saturday at the Boise Pavilion Johnsens start against Arkansas in the second round of the NCAA Tournament was worse Jr 5-- Horrible Thats how he put it Oh geez I Johnsen said thought I it was going to be the longest night of my life Instead Utahs 9 win over the quick pressing Razorbacks will be one of the most memorable of Johnsens life He scored a career-hig- h eight one shy of pomts in 17 minutes his career-hig- h in helping the Utes advance to the West Regional semifinals Thursday against West Virginia I don't know anything about them said Utah Coach Rick Im just so pleased to be going back to the Sweet Sixteen Its an honor and a privilege d In their victory over Arkansas (24-9- ) the Utes (27-3- ) got huge performances from a couple of spotlight regulars Andre Miller scored 14 of his 28 points in the final seven minutes when the Utes were busy holding off the swarming Razor-back- s 75-6- 1 69-6- lly o i V Ma-jer- OuL 18$ hard-earne- In addition center Michael d ArDoleac punished kansas for 16 points including 12 in the first 13 minutes The subtle star however was the rail-thi- n Johnsen After committing a turnover and having a sure layup blocked from behind during his first stint on the floor he was a huge component in Utahs win Coach is always telling us to keep our head in it Johnsen said Today I did that After that horrible start I sat on the bench stayed focused and paid attention to everything I was being told the game Upon See U MEN Page C-1- 20-1- 1 - h s a 1 pint-size- CARPENTER THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE fit 4 r all-tim- See 2 U WOMEN Page C-1- 2 Steve GnffinThe Salt Lake Tribune Washington Tips Richmond Arizona Tops Illinois State C-- 9 C-- 9 the press Utah point guard Andre Miller slices between Arkansas defenders Sunday Adebayo and Ali Thompson in NCAA play Saturday in Boise Utah von 75-6- To avoid 9 Jazz Ready to Roll Down Stretch Red-Ho- the glides of march t The Jazz have turned the second-hal- f of the NBA's regular season (that s after the break) into their own personal playpen the past few years and March has been particularly kind in spite of its traditional long road trip B Todays B THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE BIRMINGHAM Bryon Russell credits veteran leadership Karl Malone agrees but says other teams sometimes slow down Whatever the reason the Jazz are one of the best in the NBA at sprinting to the finish of the regular seaMich Jazz-Pisto- Coach C-- 3 Starting Lineups CamT Helps the Kings C-- 1 0 won 69 percent of their games in the first half then turned it on and won 77 percent in the second Much of those surges was made in March when the Jazz won 81 percent of their games And so far this season the Jazz are staying in son I guess its the time of the season when you have to step up says Shandon Anderson landThe Jazz must be about to the third-floo- r when they ing then In the past three seasons have compiled the three best records in franchise history the Jazz have played consideraGame than bly stronger after the NBA All-Stbefore it and not because they have slunk in the first half Over that three-seaso- n span the Jazz character Going into todays game against the Detroit e Pistons that kicks off a road trip the 46-1- 6 Jazz are 0 in March and have won 16 of their last 17 games Even so they're going to need their finishing kick if they hope to catch the five-gam- 8-- ar See JAZZ Page C-- 3 ShocKS Vandeibilt B Colorado State Stuns Drake C11 C-- 1 BY LYA WODRASKA Like Missy Marlowe Kristen Kenoyer and Suzanne Metz Traci Sommer is a gymnast Utah fans will remember and talk about for many years Sommer earned a 100 on the balance beam her freshman year and earned status on the event twice The senior closed out her career as she started scoring a 100 on the beam Saturday to led the fourth-ranke- d Utes past No 11 Oregon State 195875-1901- 0 Sommer known for her clean feather-ligh- t moves brought the crowd of 9015 to its feet with a the perfect performance on beam She got another standing ovation for a 9925 on floor and also scored a team-hig- h 98 on vault I didnt have any expectations coming into the meet but it wasn't too hard to get motivated either Sommer said I wanted to finish with a beam routine like that It was the second 100 for Sommer and also only the second of the season for Utah with the other going to Shannon Bowles on the same event While it would have taken a couple of replays to find any mistakes in Sommers beam routine it was Bowles who set her up with a 995 that left the judges little room It was one of those situations where you couldnt have written a better script Utah Coach Greg Marsden said Shannon got a great score and then Traci went out and rocked it It made it a great night Sommer competed in the all- See SOMMER Page C-- 2 THE BOTTOM LINE wmsemmsmggmas&mmm NBA Seattle 114 Minnesota 80 Washington 83 Charlotte 80 Cleveland 83 New York 85 (OT) New Jersey 108 Dallas 93 Houston 89 Sacramento 86 Chicago 96 San Antonio 86 Philadelphia 93 Milwaukee 89 Denver 92 Portland 82 Mens ' NCAA Tourney WEST REGIONAL Utah 75 Arkansas 69 West Virginia 78 Cincinnati 74 Maryland 67 Illinois 61 Arizona 82 Illinois State 49 EAST REGIONAL 83 (OT) NC 93 Michigan State 63 Princeton 56 Washington 81 Richmond 66 Connecticut 78 Indiana 68 Womens NCAA Tourney WEST REGIONAL Arkansas 76 Hawaii 70 Duke 92 Middle Tenn St 67 Virginia Tech 75 Wisconsin 64 Florida 85 Montana 64 Louisville 69 Utah 61 Harvard 71 Stanford 67 MIDWEST REGIONAL Colorado State 81 Drake 75 Purdue 88 Washington 71 Clemson 60 Miami 49 Louisiana Tech 86 Holy Cross 58 MIDEAST REGIONAL Western Kentucky JiSrS F Austin 76 Tennessee 102 Liberty 58 Rutgers 79 Oregon 76 Iowa State 79 Kent 76 Barbara 76 Vandy 71 (OT) Illinois 82 Wis Green Bay 58 Pittsburgh 2 Buffalo 1 Philadelphia 6 Detioit 1 Tampa Bay 1 Chicago 0 Phoenix 2 St Louis 0 Los Angeles 5 Colorado 2 San Jose 2 Carolina 1 Vancouver 6 NY Islanders 2 Ottawa 4 Washington 0 Montreal 4 New Jersey 2 Toronto 2 Calgary 1 IHL San Antonio 5 Utah 3 NHL Boston 5 NY Rangers 1 4 ' 1 Sommers Perfect Home Finale Boosts Utah Past Oregon State THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE BY MICHAEL C LEWIS 8 UCSB In Action Today NBA Basketball: Jazz at Detroit 10 a m Ch 5 IHL Hockey: Grizzlies at Long Beaob 4pm TV Highlights NBA Basketball GU 10 am Jazz at Pistons Mens BasketC2) 10:10 am ball NCAA Tournament: Oklaho-m- a vs Duke (3) 11:30 am Motor Sports CART Grand Prix of Miami ( ESPN ) 12:30 p m Men s Ten nis Newsweek Champions Cup final: Rusedski vs Rios (D 12:40 pm Mens Basketball NCAA Tournament: Syracuse vs New Mexico 1 PGA Golf Honda Classic P-- CD 2 MLS Soccer pm DC United at Miami 3 pm Men's Basketball NCAA Tournament: UCLA vs Michigan ( ESPN) 3:30 pm Senior Golf Toshiba Classic CEBD CISD 6 pm NHL Hockey Avalanche at Mighty Ducks j |