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Show UVU REVIEW B1 COLUMNIST It pays to play By Alyssa Synakowski Assistant Sports Editor @syna kowsk GABI CAMBELU/LIVLI REVIEW A season-high 4,954 fans attended the Wolverines' win over the Aggies and none were louder than the members of the MAWL. Pride in Wolverine green MAWL continues to help students cultivate support of UVU athletics By Brianna Bailey Staff Writer @BriannaBaileyl4 While UVU's student body hasn't always held the best reputation for pride in athletics, school spirit is on the rise. Walking through the halls on a day-to-day basis, students can easily recognize other classmates wearing BYU or University of Utah apparel, specifically sports tees or sweatshirts. That's where the problem of pride issues resides, instead of wearing green on Wolverine Wednesday, there's red and navy throughout campus. "BYU has been a university for a lot longer. Students need to give UVU the chance it deserves instead of being a transfer school," said Zach Trujillo, president of The Mighty Athletic Wolverine League. "If people support our athletics, they would see the joy it brings being involved." Though BYU and the U have built academic and sports reputations, UVU is establishing its own identity, so students can take pride in the school's growing reputation through athletics programs. As the MAWL president during the 2014 spring semester, Trujillo is taking it upon himself to inspire students to increase involvement on campus, specifically through sports support. "Attendance could be better," Trujillo said. "Students don't know about the games and getting information to students and selling our Wolverine product is important." A recent change to MAWL made all athletic events free of charge for students, where before they had to pay to attend. This decision was agreed on to increase participation from students at events. As a school, undergraduates and graduates can take full advantage and come decked out in their green. "My mission and objective as the MAWL president is to get school support going," Trujillo said. "Getting everyone supporting each other. We can do this by students sup- porting the athletes and the athletes supporting the students. We all need to listen to each other." Trujillo shared that he only missed two athletic events this semester and notices immense benefits from becoming involved, such as becoming friends with more people on campus. The MAWL wants everyone on campus to recognize the benefits students don't realize they are missing. As students, everyone can get more involved and support the athletes, who are already doing a their part by bringing outside acknowledgement to campus through their hard work and dedication. "As I was involved in a lot of sports in high school, I always performed and played better the more fans and friends I had watching," Trujillo said. "This same concept applies to our athletes." UVU athletes play and practice hard, and their hard work is paying off. The Wolverine men's basketball team currently holds the top spot in the Western Athletic Conference, and the men's cross country team won the conference championship last fall. "People who are proud of their university when they graduate, donate to their university after they graduate," Trujillo said. Students and athletes supporting each other on campus could help grow our relationships in and outside of the classroom, as well as unite the school so green is the prominent color worn every day of the week. Pepperdine unfriendly to visiting Wolverines UVU looks to bounce back from four-game sweep at Pepperdine By Warren McDade Staff Writer @warrenmcdadel7 Utah Valley University continued its tough early season schedule, playing its eighth road game in 10 days, and losing all three games at Pepperdine. The Wolverines' bats were non-existent the first two games but came alive in the third game. In the first game, Pepperdine (6-1) shut out UVU (2-6), 5-0, in a great pitching performance from the Waves' Corey Miller. Miller pitched a complete game, two-hit shutout, striking out 11 and walking only one. Zach Slesk and Zac Fuller had the two hits apiece for the Wolverines, while Patrick Wolfe made his first collegiate appearance and pitched a scoreless eighth inning. In the second game, Pepperdine used a five-run eighth inning to pull away from the Wolverines, 9-2. Already trailing 2-0 in the third, Jackson Kunz and Kade Andrus led off the inning with consecutive singles. After a sacrifice bunt from Riley White, Slesk doubled to the corner, tying the game 2-2. UVU threatened in the seventh with runners at the corners, but was not able to trim the lead before Pepperdine pulled away with the five-run eighth inning. Andrus led the way for the Wolverines with two hits while Danny Beddes (0-1) took the loss for Utah Valley. The third game proved to be the best of the series for UVU, though the Wolverines lost, 11-8, in 11 innings on a walk-off three-run home run from Pepperdine preseason All-American Aaron Brown. It was the third extra-inning game of the week as the Wolverines also went extras twice with Arizona. "This was a long and tough road trip, and I'm proud of the way we fought today," head coach Eric Madsen said. "Playing the number of games we have with the travel built in, and adding the extra inning games to that, and it does become taxing. We need to do a lot of things better; we're better than our record shows, but we can't expect things to just happen for us. We have to play better baseball all the way around." The Wolverines struck first as they scored three runs in the top of the first, with two coming from a throwing error, and the third a sac fly from Beau Kallas. Pepperdine would answer with one in the bottom half of the first and another in the third, before a UVU error helped add two more in the fourth. Craig Brinkerhoff would add a big hit in the fifth as he blasted a two-out, three-run home run to right that scored Sean Moysh and Slesk. The Wolverines would add two more in the sixth on an RBI single from Greyson Bogden and an infield hit from Moysh. But Pepperdine would chip away, scoring once in the bottom of the sixth before a Brad Anderson two-run home run in the seventh, which cut the lead to one. The Waves then tied the game in the eighth on a RBI groundout. UVU went scoreless in the ninth, 10th and 11th innings. Pepperdine got a double from Austin Davidson, and then an intentional walk to Bryan Langlois set up the game-winning home run from Brown. Seth Rhineer had three hits to lead Utah Valley while Bogden and Slesk each had two hits. The Wolverines look to rebound after leaving Southern California and head to Northern California to play the University of Pacific in a four-game series starting Feb. 28. Pacific (4-5) had its last series against San Jose State rained out. I PHOTO COURTESY OF DARREN WALLENTINE Head coach Eric Madsen and Devin Nelson congratulate Zac Fuller on scoring a run against Arizona. The most wonderful time of the year is upon us again: no, not Christmas but March Madness. For nearly two and a half weeks of the nation's attention is dedicated to college basketball each year, whether we like sports or not. We get competitive at work, school or with friends filling out brackets as we try to predict which teams will make it to the Final Four. Fans live for the Cinderella teams and wonder who will be the next Butler or the next Virginia Commonwealth. This is the first year UVU has a good chance for at an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament. The men's basketball team has tied for or in first place the entire season as the Wolverines have played well against competition in the Western Athletic Conference. UVU will need to win the WAC tournament in Las Vegas, Nev. over spring break in order to hear its name called on March 16, selection Sunday. The Wolverines don't have great odds of making their way past the second round of the NCAA Tournament, but a trip into March Madness pays big. As of 2012, playing, not even winning, one game in the tournament will earn a conference nearly $1.5 million The NCAA's Revenue Distribution Plan explains that the payout is "to be distributed to Division I conferences based on their performance in the Division I Men's Basketball Championship over a six-year rolling period." UVU would earn the WAC $245,500 each year, for six years, even if it does not make the NCAA tournament the following five years. The goal of each season is to win the NCAA tournament, but in order to continue looking at the numbers, making it to the Final Four is the best-case scenario for every conference. In this scenario, UVU would play five games in the tournament starting in the second round from an automatic bid continuing until they play their last game in the Final Four. Each of the four teams in the Final Four will generate $7.7 million for their respective conferences. Where does this money go? Each conference operates differently, but standard practice allows the money to go directly back into the athletic departments with no direction for its use. Conferences are encouraged to split the money equally to all schools, but some will provide stipends to the schools that actually participated in the NCAA Tournament game. The huge monetary value tied to deep tournament runs begins to explain why a university will pour so much money into their basketball programs. In 2010, the Big East payout was more than $23 million, the ACC received $18 million, and the Big 12 made $17 million. ACC powerhouse Duke University has won four national championships since the 1991 season with the most recent title coming in 2010. Of that $18 million payout to the ACC, Duke contributes nearly one-third. From 2010 to 2012, Duke basketball spent $3.3 million on their program. According to Forbes magazine, the Blue Devils have a higher probability to make it to the Final Four because of money expended. If UVU wins the automatic bid, it could be the next big earner for the WAC. Teams that play more get paid more and teams that pay more, play more. Either way you look at it, making it into the big dance this season will be the determining factor of the future success of UVU's basketball program. |