Show SUNDAYMarch : 15 1998 Bit Sait akr riimnr Section C HOCKEY Pages C-2- PREP BASKETBALL 3 Page oiwwmniiTmiiniinr I GORDON MONSON TB? liaBH Jazz Improved Over Last Year? Answer Is Yes The question floated thick hke 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 hke 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 We're 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 Howard's 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 well its beard 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-higperformance in which he scored 18 points in yet another Jazz win I still can do better he said We all can In those cautious words lies a whole reserve 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 46-1- 6 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 Cranking It Up: As improbable as it seems Karl Malone is turning in a better performance than last seasons 27 points and 11 rebounds Its fiiore than just numbers though In h the fourth quarter Friday night against Vancouver with the game tied he came off the bench to drop 14 e points on the Grizzlies over a span Karls playing the best basketball hes played since Ive been here Jerry Sloan said afterward And John is John h 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 Homacek 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 pomt Ill say this weve got a heckuva chance cf competing against anyone we play against Mark that down as another Yes It seems the coach quite rightfully agrees with the bhagwan three-minut- 1998 NCAA BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT' Men Trample Hogs Head to Sweet Sixteen 2 Women Fall From Grace at Seasons End BY STEVE LUHM BY WENDY CARPENTER THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE BOISE THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE Britton Johnsens injury-plague- d mostly unproductive freshman season at the University of Utah has been frustrating On Saturday at the Boise Pavilion Johnsens start against Arkansas in the second round of the NCAA Tournament was worse Horrible Thats how he put it Oh geez Johnsen said I thought I it was going to be the longest night of my life 9 Instead Utahs 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 points in 17 minutes his career-hig- h in helping the Utes advance to the West Regional semifinals Thursday against West Virginia I dont 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 Admittedly 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 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 in the first round on Saturday night m Cameron Indoor Stadium Utah finishes the year 21-while the Cardinals improve to 20-1- 1 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-hig- h 28 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 plays 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 became the e school's 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 Utah Coach Elaine Elliott began the teams press conference reby saying that the teams cord at the end of the season is not what she will remember The most important thing for 5-- 5 75-6- 69-6- 1 6 Ma-jer- harJ-eame- In addition 1 center Michael Doleac punished pint-size-d Arkansas for 16 points includmg 12 three-pointe- in the first 13 minutes The subtle star however was the rail-thiJohnsen 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 siart I sat on the bench stayed focused and paid attention to everything I was being told all-tim- n the Upon See U MEN Page C-- 4 5-- 6 game C-1- See 2 U WOMEN Steve GriffmThe Suit Lake Tribune Washington Tips Richmond H Arizona Tops Illinois State 0-- 9 C-- 9 To avoid the press Utah point guard Andre Miller slices between Arkansas defenders Sunday Adebayo and Ali Thompson in NCAA play Saturday in Boise Utah won 75-6- 9 Jazz Ready to Roll Down Stretch Red-H- ot the glides of march The Jazz have turned the second-hal- f of the NBA's regular season (that Is 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 Todays THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE BIRMINGHAM Jazz-Pisto- H Bryon Russell credits veteran leadership Karl Malone agrees but says other teams sometimes slow down WhatevMich Coach Starting Lineups Carril Helps the Kings C-C-- 3 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 er the reason the Jazz are one of the best in the NBA at sprinting to the finish of the regular sea- son I guess its the time of the season when you have to step up says Shandon Anderson The Jazz must be about to the third-floo- r landing then In the past three seasons when they 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 stunk in the first half Over that three-seaso- n span the Jazz character Going into todays game against the Detroit e Pistons that kicks olf a road trip the 46-1- 6 Jazz are 8 0 in March and have won 16 of their last 17 games Even so theyre going to need their finishing kick if they hope to catch the five-gam- C-1- 2 UCSB Shocks Vanderbilt B Colorado state 1 i Stuns Dral(e Sommers Perfect Home Finale Boosts Utah Past Oregon State BY LYA WODRASKA THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE BY MICHAEL C LEWIS Page " 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 10 Oregon State 195875-19- 0 Sommer known for her clean feather-ligh- t moves brought the crowd of 9 015 to its feet with a the perfect performance on beam She got another standing ovation for a 9 925 on floor and also scored a team-hig98 on vault I didnt have any expectations coming into the meet but it wasnt too hard to get motivated either Sommer said I wanted to finish with a beam routine like that It was the second 10 0 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- - h See JAZZ Page C-- 3 See SOMMER Page C-- 2 THE BOTTOM LliiE NBA Seattle 114 Minnesota 80 Washington 83 Charlotte 80 Cleveland 88 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 It Mens NCAA Tourney WEST REGIONAL Utah 75 Arkansas 69 West Virginia 78 Cincinnati 74 1 Maryland 67 Illinois 61 Arizona 82 Illinois State 49 EAST REGIONAL N C 93 83 (OT) Michigan State 63 Pnnceton 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 Harvffid 71 Stanford 67 MIDWEST REGIONAL Colorado State 81 Drake 75 Purdue 88 Washington 71 Clemson 60 Miami 49 Louisiana Tech 86 Holy Cross 58 M1DEASTREGIONAL Western Kentucky 88 S F Austin 76 Tennessee 102 Liberty 58 Rutgers 79 Oregon 76 Iowa State 79 Kent 76 UC Santa Barbara 76 Vandy 71 (OT) Illinois 82 Wis Green Bay 58 -- NHL Bostifii 5 NY Rangers 1 2 Buffalo 1 Philadelphia 6 Detroit 1 Tampa Bay 1 Chicago 0 Phoenix 2 St Louis 0 Los Angeles 5 Colorado 2 San Jose 2 Carolina 1 Vancouver 6 N Y Islanders 2 Ottawa 4 Washington 0 Montreal 4 New Jersey 2 Toronto 2 Calgary 1 Pittsburgh IHL San Antonio 5 Utah 3 In Action Today NBA Basketball: Jazz at Detroit 10 a m Ch 5 IHL Hockey: Grizzlies at Long Beach 4 pm TV Highlights (TTl 10 am NBA Basketball Jazz at Pistons 1 21 10:10 am Mens Basket- ball NCAA Tournament: Oklaho-m- a vs Duke 11:30 am Motor Sports CART Grand Prix of Miami ( ESPN") 12:30 Mens Ten pm nis Newsweek Champions Cup final- Rusedski vs Rios GD 12:40 pm Men's Basketball NCAA Tournament Syracuse vs New Mexico PGA Golf Honda (3D 1 pm Classic MLS Soccer DC (3D 2 pm United at Miami OD 3 pm Mens Basketball NCAA Tournament: UCLA vs Michigf n Senior Golf CBM) 3:30 pm Toshiba Classic CISBJCEMD - 6 pm NHL Hockey Avalanche at Mighty Ducks v j |