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Show THE DAILY UTAH CHRONICLE SPORTS www.dailyutahchronicle.com Wednesday, March 1, 2006 Georgia on their minds In search of a cure Runnin' Utes hoping TCU is good for what ails them Gymnasts await No. 1 Bulldogs Matthew Piper Chronicle Writer Joe Beatty Chronicle Sports Editor With a week to go until the MWC tournament in Denver, the Runnin' Utes have two games left to rectify their recent slide. After their surprising win at conference leader San Diego State on Feb. n, the Utes proceeded to lose three hi a row and now sit at 12-13 o n t B e season. They get their first chance to turn things around tonight when they visit conference newcomer—and doormat—TCU in Fort Worth. The Horned Frogs (5-23, 1-13) have experienced a rude welcome in their first MWC season and have lost nine in a row coming into Wednesday's contest. The Utes blew out the Frogs 80-45 earlier in the season at the Huntsman Center. "We were fortunate enough to beat them here," Ute coach Ray Giacoletti said. "Now we have to go on the road and be successful. We want to be at our best once we get to Denver." To get to their best, the Utes hope they can find a cure to their ills by beating up on TCU and Wyoming, who will visit the Huntsman Center on Saturday evening. The Utes have had a full week off following a loss at UNLV to prepare for the final regular-season stretch and have used the time to address some late-season concerns. "We can't change a whole lot this time of year," Giacoletti said. "(But) against pressure we haven't been real good, so we've taken some time working on handling the basketball and not turning it over so much. TCU will get out and pressure us so we need to be efficient to have success." Turnovers are something that even a week off might not be able to fix for the Utes. Giving the ball up has been a serious bugaboo for the Utes this season, an issue that they have not been able to rectify consistently. Prior to the season opening, Giacoletti instilled in the team that six turnovers per half is the maximum allowed and anything beyond that is a problem. In the middle of the season it looked like the Utes had started to figure things out during a five game stretch that saw them win 4-of-5 games. But during the recent three-game slide, they are averaging nearly 18 turnovers per game, while their opponents are giving it away a little more than 10. The Utes and Horned Frogs will tip off at 8 p.m. MST tonight. The game will be teleUte head coach Ray Giacoletti consults freshman center Luke Nevill during the U's win over BYU in the Huntsman Center vised on ESPN2. j.beatty@chronicle.utah.edu on Feb. 8. Giacoletti is trying to get his team In ship-shape as the season hits the back stretch. The No. 3 Utes have been hearing the same question over and over again this year: Can they really beat the No. 1 Georgia Bulldogs? "I think we're ready for it," said junior Nicolle Ford of this Monday's dual meet at the Huntsman Center at 7 p.m. "We're the only two undefeated teams in the country, and one of us will still come out undefeated. Obviously we want to be that team." The 12-0 Bulldogs still have a meet against ,No. 19 Kentucky on Friday in which to tarnish their perfect record, but a win is a relative formality. Ute coach Greg Marsden hopes his squad can continue its habit of finishing fall-free at home and avoid the falls that have haunted its road journeys. "What I really would like to do is just put together a good solid meet against them," Marsden said'. "I think Georgia is No. 1 in the nation deservedly, and I just want to measure ourselves against them at our best. Basically, if we lose, I want it to be because they're a better team." The defending NCAA Champions are the only program with a pedigree to rival Marsden's Utes, with six national championships to the U's 10. The two programs are highly competitive for the nation's best recruits, and members of both teams considered attending the other program. "Nobody's gonna see better college gymnastics (in Salt Lake)," Marsden said. "Both of our rosters are stacked. We have a World Champion (Ashley Postell on the balance beam) and they have an Olympian (Courtney Kupets, a bronze medalist on the uneven bars and the top all-arounder in the nation). With both teams ,so talented, it should come down to who is the cfeanest in hitting their routines." The Utes would like to sell out one of the season's most elite dualmeets, but Marsden accepts that they might fall a little short. "It's really hard to sell a venue out these days," he said. "I think the Jazz are playing, and I don't know if a meet on Monday night will be a See GYMNASTICS PageS Upgrading the slate Football adds Boise State to 2006 schedule Ute men sweep Bengals The Utah men's tennis team earned its fourth sweep of the season, knocking off Idaho State 7-0 on Monday night. The U won every match in straight sets, including an 8-0 domination by Dan Mascall and Ryan • -Scott in No. 3 doubles. The Utes are \ - iback in action Mar. io, when Idaho '-visits the Eccles Tennis Center at 5 • p.m. ; Feigt among top of MWC ; -Following an impressive showing » -at- the Mountain West Conference championships, Ute track and field star Amanda Feigt was named to the MWC All-Conference team. At the recent meet, Feigt broke the school record in the pentathalon, third in the long jump and . 10th in the 60-meter hurdles. ':I Softball cleans up The Utes earned both MWC softplayer of the week and pitcher of the week after the Utes went 4-0 over the weekend. Meghan Dyer won the top pitcher award thanks to a perfect game and another start in which she didn't allow a run. It was the first perfect game by the U since 1997. Jackie Wong, a senior second baseman, hit .714 for the weekend and is now hitting .457 on the year. MEN'S HOOPS Chris Bellamy Chronicle Asst. Sports Editor The U football team is trading Bobcats for Broncos. The abrupt cancellation of the Utes' scheduled meeting with the Ohio University Bobcats left a gaping hole at the beginning of the team's 12-game 2006 schedule. Thankfully, Boise State had an opening. The Utes have announced the highly touted Broncos as their final opponent for their upcoming schedule, filling the void vacated by Ohio and, in the process, probably improving their strength of schedule. "We're excited about it," Whittingham said. "They've been on the national scene for a few years now; they've had a great run, and we're excited to have a quality opponent like them on our schedule." U athletics director Chris Hill and head coach Kyle Whittingham announced the game change Tuesday. The meeting, which will take place on Sept. 30,2006, at Rice-Eccles Stadium, is part of a four-game agreement between the two schools. With much of the next few years already tied up schedule-wise, the series will pick up in 2011 in Boise, with a home-and-away continuing in 2012-2013. "We are pleased to have Boise State on our schedule," Hill said. "Given where our programs are competitively, as well as geographically, this will be a great game for our fans." The two teams have met five times before, with Boise State leading the all-time series, 32. The Broncos have won each of the last two meetings, upending the Utes 31-28 in 1998 at Rice-Eccles and 26-20 the following season in Boise. The Utes were supposed to face the Bobcats WOMEN'S HOOPS UTAH AT (12-13) TCU (5-23) TCUAT MARCH 1,2006 9 P.M. @ FORT WORTH, TEXAS MARCH 2, 2006 7 P.M. ©HUNTSMAN CENTER UTAH (15-10) (20-5) Boise State's Qulnton Jones celebrates a big play during the Broncos' win over Hawaii last season. at home on Sept. 30, but Ohio pulled out on the grounds that the scheduled game "did not satisfy our stated scheduling philosophy," according to the school's athletics director, Kirby Hocutt. "With the situation we had with Ohio, it kind of caught us off-guard," Whittingham said. "We didn't find out about that until the nth hour. Fortunately, we were able to come up with a quality opponent." Boise State, with a pedigree that includes three-straight WAC championships from 20022004 and top-25 finishes in each of those sea- WOMEN'S TENNIS UTAH STATE AT UTAH MARCH 3, 2006 5 P.M. 0 ECCLES TENNIS CENTER sons, makes Utah's schedule more formidable than it likely would have been against the Bobcats, who finished 4-7 last season. The Broncos, on the other hand, finished 9-4 (including 7-1 in the WAC) in what many considered an off year. Still, over the past few years, the team has boasted one of the most potent offenses in Division-I football. It will be trotting out new head coach Chris Petersen, who replaced Colorado-bound Dan Hawkins. c.bellamy@ chronicle.utah.edu MEN'S HOOPS WYOMING AT UTAH (12-15) (12-13) MARCH 4, 2006 7 P.M. @ HUNTSMAN CENTER GYMNASTICS No.1 GEORGIA N0.3UTAH (12-0) (10-0) MARCH 6, 2006 7 P.M. @ HUNT5MAN CENTER |