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(05/01/03 5:30am)
Around sunrise Saturday, an IU student with more than three years climbing experience prepared for an unconventional ascension -- up a 150-ft. crane in downtown Bloomington.\nJunior Liam Mulholland's climb was partially successful. He made it safely to the top but was apprehended by police and removed from the crane before he and his partner, Bloomington resident Collette Eno, could display a massive two-sided protest sign that read, "I-69: Trading Families, Farms and Forests for Pavement," and "I-69 Benefits Who? -- Them, Not You!"\nThe stunt was part of a peaceful protest held Saturday at the Monroe County Courthouse, called the "Day of Action to Stop I-69." Mulholland wore a safety harness and repelling gear. He said he felt under control throughout the climb with only height and high wind causing uneasiness. \nHe and Eno had been planning to climb the structure between Sixth and Seventh streets for about a month.\n"We knew the crane was located right in downtown Bloomington and towers over everything and would make a great locale to drop a banner." Mulholland said. "We weren't going after the workers or anything like that."\nCharged with disorderly conduct and trespassing, Mulholland said the duo's actions are aimed at the public, Indiana Gov. Frank O'Bannon and any other person or group "making the decisions that affect our lives."\nMulholland, 20, is part of Buffalo Trace Earth First, a local group he called a "broad umbrella movement." He said this will not be the last protest against I-69, but stressed the importance of remaining peaceful.\n"This is only the beginning of a long struggle," he said. "I don't know that it is going to manifest itself in the form of arrest."\nBloomington Police Department Capt. Mike Diekhoff said I-69 has prompted protests in the past and will do so for many years in the future. He said BPD recognizes protesting as a constitutional right but is forced to step in when safety is at risk.\n"If you would have fallen from that (crane) you would certainly have died," he said. "I am not sure it is the smartest or safest thing to do."\nIU communication and culture professor Robert Terrill will teach a graduate seminar this fall entitled "Problems of Protest in America." He said there are several reasons protesters such as Mulholland take drastic measures or risk harm.\n"Primarily these people were interested in getting their opinion heard in a highly visible way," he said. "In the case of this particular issue, there is a lot of feeling among those who oppose the route the governor selected. They feel their opinions did not receive a fair hearing during the process."\nMulholland said he does not consider his actions on the same level as lying on a field to block a bulldozer, but said actions could potentially reach the point where people physically block their house from highway construction.\nBloomington and IU have a well-documented past filled with protest and political action. Terrill said recent protests over I-69 and the war in Iraq is not a problem in the city, but a "healthy resurgence."\n"The actions and public interaction offered that is spurred by protests are essential in keeping our democratic culture healthy and lively," Terrill said. "The most dangerous thing is for there to be no protest."\nBPD has vast experience handling protests, and Diekhoff said he realizes I-69 is a volatile issue and hopes protesters continue to remain peaceful.\n"I don't think that it has caused us any problems in the past and hopefully it won't in the future," he said. "Do I anticipate that it will have an impact on the police department? Probably, yes."\nMulholland said he has strong feelings about the I-69 issue. He said he worries about the thousands of families he said construction will affect, economic impact and the ecological effects.\nBorn in Ann Arbor, Mich., Mulholland now lives in what he calls a residential community on the Bloomington's west side. He said he doesn't know whether he will stay in the city or move when he graduates. He said his eventual decision is irrelevant to him.\n"When you are part of a community, you do what you can while you are here," he said.\nHe said after climbing a crane, and being jailed and charged with two crimes, he isn't sure whether his efforts now and in the future will make an impact on I-69's final outcome. He can only hope.\n"You can do what you can do," he said. "And every effort -- no matter what everyone says -- every effort is not in vain. You can't sit back and let things happen"
(02/27/03 5:30am)
A distinguished IU professor is one of 19 Internet security and privacy researchers from around the world chosen for an academic advisory board created by technology giant Microsoft Corp.\nFred Cate, expert on Internet law, copyright law and communication law at the IU School of Law, has been named to the company's Trustworthy Computing Academic Advisory Board. The board advises Microsoft on security, privacy and reliability issues associated with the company's products and technology.\nCate said the board's role will be to use its members' expertise to make an early read into product and technology pitfalls. The group is part of Microsoft's Trustworthy Computing initiative, which Cate said is an effort to make products more sensitive to consumer issues. \nThe board will not give seals of approval for products, he said, but compared his job to a taste-tester for a new food product. He said the board's impact will depend on how much the company heeds its advice.\n"Microsoft makes a lot of products that affect security," Cate said. "What we're hoping to do is help Microsoft avoid some of the public mishaps of the past."\nMicrosoft settled with the federal government in Aug. 2002, concerning their Passport Internet program. A Federal Trade Commission investigation concluded that false promises were made by the company regarding consumer information. Cate said the board's creation was both a reactionary and preventive measure.\n"There certainly have been well publicized incidents where Microsoft has unveiled products and bright young students say, 'we can hack into this'," Cate said, adding that he believes the move will put the company ahead of the curve.\nThe board's first meeting took place Feb. 20, but Cate was unable to attend. The board holds three meetings each year, which Cate said will not interfere with his teaching and research. He said appointment to this position will give him a chance to meet with leading academics in his field.\n"You want to know what other people are teaching, and you want to know what other people are researching," Cate said.\nFrom the Big Ten, Purdue University professor Eugene Spafford and Ohio State University's Peter Swire were also selected to the board. Cate said there are many topics the board will discuss in future meetings.\n"A very hot topic is terrorism," Cate said. "We are so computer dependent, but we are so vulnerable to attacks in the form of breaking into systems or using viruses."\nCate said he did not apply for the position and still is unsure if he was nominated. He said there are not many academics specializing in his field and his research made him familiar with all the board members even prior to their selection.\nMark Bruhn, information technology policy officer for University Information Technology Services, collaborates with Cate on cyber-crime and copyright issues. He said Cate's experience makes him more than qualified for the position.\n"He is very engaged, very interested, very professionally capable and well respected not just in law but certainly elsewhere," Bruhn said. "He is one of those guys that people look to for expertise in these areas."\nJournalism professor Jon Dilts, who teaches media law and has studied First Amendment law extensively, said Cate is an excellent choice for the Microsoft board.\n"He is very experienced and has written a great deal about privacy rights," Dilts said. "He is a great teacher and a remarkable scholar."\nCate said the board members will be paid a small sum not based on whether they agree or disagree. He said the board members are not participating for the money.\n"This is an unusual thing to try, everyone is thinking, 'Let's give this a try and see if Microsoft is serious,'" Cate said. "One things academics do is criticize really well, and Microsoft is giving us the chance to do that with their products"
(02/21/03 6:28am)
Americans have lost control of their government. Al Gore is a loser. Rev. Al Sharpton's needs a haircut, and the Republicans killed Paul Wellstone.\nThese topics and a laundry list of others were discussed Thursday by renowned comic strip writer and social activist Aaron McGruder, the keynote speaker for IU's celebration of Black History Month. \nMcGruder, 28, is the creator of "The Boondocks," a comic strip featured in more than 200 newspapers nationwide. The often controversial comic, the story of a group of African-American city kids adjusting to life in white suburbia, is used by McGruder to convey his openly leftist political views and take on American pop culture.\nMcGruder, a Green Party supporter, spoke for over an hour to a diverse crowd of about 150 people. He devoted the majority of that time to addressing questions and candidly discussing his political outlook.\n"The focus of Americans should be, how do we get our government back?" McGruder said. "The illusion of freedom is far more dangerous than the realization that we live under a dictatorship."\nIn the lecture's opening, McGruder said he is not a motivational speaker and in no way interested in being a black leader, but was interrupted by applause several times and received a standing ovation at the lecture's conclusion.\nHe said while no Americans are sold on a war in Iraq, it is going to happen anyway. He called the Republican Party "dirty, underhanded, messy and violent," and said the party was responsible for the death of former Senator Wellstone, a vocal opponent of the Bush administration. He said the Democrats are overly concerned with money and that Gore is a "loser," who "won the election, and still lost."\nFollowing the Sept. 11 attacks, McGruder's comic was pulled from the New York Daily News due to its controversial content. IU staff member Kathryn Propst, who attended the lecture, said McGruder's contentious views made him a good speaker choice.\n"I think the controversy is good because it sparks debate and gets people talking," Propst said. "I don't know if people are here because they agree or disagree with him."\nMcGruder addressed political leadership as a major problem in the United States. Although he voted for Ralph Nader in the 2000 election, McGruder said Nader's poor television presence made him the wrong candidate. He said the 2004 Green Party candidate search came to him about two months ago.\n"The list is short, and I know this because the Green Party asked me to run for president," he said. "This is exactly how bad the leadership is on the political left."\nMcGruder spent several minutes discussing the potential Democratic Party presidential nominee Rev. Al Sharpton and his hair.\n"I think he really does have the right stance on the issues," he said, adding that Sharpton is a great speaker. "But he has that perm."\nIn addition to politics, McGruder discussed the creation of his comic strip, "The Boondocks." The strip began in 1999 out of McGruder's necessity for a job. He said his intent was to write things in newspapers that had never been written before. He contemplated leaving the strip prior to Sept. 11, but the reaction that followed gave him material.\nAllen Burnett, the husband of an IU student and avid fan of McGruder, flipped through one of the author's three books containing his work. Burnett said he has read every "Boondocks" comic.\n"He is funny, you know, his comics kind of go back and forth between cutting edge and hilarious," Burnett said. "Nobody is safe in his comics."\nMcGruder advised the crowd on how to make change in society. He said if a person has the power to make change they should do so, but must persuade the right people, as he said his comic strip has done.\n"I have never tried to convince people who don't get it," McGruder said. "That is just a waste of time"
(02/20/03 6:24am)
IU has taken an official stance supporting the University of Michigan in its affirmative action admissions policy case, in which a white student is challenging the university policy of recognizing race and ethnicity during admissions decisions.\nThe University filed an amicus brief with the United States Supreme Court Wednesday in the case of Grutter v. Bollinger, supporting the consideration of race as a factor in admissions. Wednesday was the final day to file the briefs, which are submitted by non-party members to advise the court. \nIU interim president Gerald Bepko said the University believes diversity is important to the student's learning experience.\n"If use of race in pursuit of diversity is determined unconstitutional, our ability to admit a student body that best meets our academic mission would be compromised," Bepko said in a statement.\nGloria Gibson, associate vce chancellor for Multicultural Affairs, said she is pleased that the trustees have remained clear with their stance on this issue.\n"I am happy that the University is publicly supporting the University of Michigan," she said. "It deserved a statement, and the trustees have made their stance clear in the past and been consistent with their statements."\nAbout 40 universities Tuesday said they planned to file briefs, including the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Miami, despite the state of Florida coming forth against Michigan's case.\nOhio State also released a statement supporting Michigan and the use of ethnicity in admissions.\n"The Council on Diversity wants to affirm that diversity is not a deficit, but a dividend, not a burden but a blessing, not a fad but our future," Ohio State officials said in the statement. \nOther nationally prominent groups including the United Auto Workers and the AFL-CIO also announced they would file a brief on Michigan's behalf.\nThe IU School of Law admissions committee uses race and ethnicity as well as grade point average and law school test scores to make their decisions.\nIn IU's brief, the University said it relied on the 1978 Bakke decision in using ethnicity in its law school admission policy.\n"Faculty at the IU School of Law have determined that a diverse student body in the school is an important part of the school's effort to provide the highest quality education to all of its students possible," the brief said. "In furthering diversity through its admissions program, IU School of Law both confers substantial benefits upon its students and responds to expectations of the state, the legal community and employers who recruit the school's graduates."\nPresident Bush spoke out against the Michigan policy in January. Opponents will have a chance to respond to supporters' briefs.\nThe case will be argued before the Supreme Court on April 1, 2003.\nThe Associated Press contributed to this report.
(02/05/03 4:56am)
In May 1999, former IU President Myles Brand announced the University would completely overhaul its computer information systems and purchase software licensing from technology giant PeopleSoft. The massive implementation process, scheduled to last six years, began in the spring of 2000, and in the midst of the overhaul, IU administrators, academic advisers, faculty and staff are coping with or preparing for enormous change within the school's computing system.\nUniversity officials at the project's forefront said their goal is to make the transition from the old system to the new as seamless for students as possible.\nBut the projected final cost, estimated at more than $40 million over six years, might not go unnoticed by students. And beyond that, concern and optimism surround the software.\nBut whether an avid proponent or dire critic, those learning about the new software offer the same sentiment -- they just have to deal with it.\nWhat is PeopleSoft? Why is it needed?\nIn 1999, IU purchased two systems from PeopleSoft. The first, the Human Resource Management System, deals with university financial and employee information. The other, the Student Information System, will manage data for more than 95,000 students on eight campuses and will control such operations as scheduling, admissions, enrollment and advising.\nWhen Brand made the decision to switch to PeopleSoft almost three years ago, IU was operating on systems designed in the late 1970s and early 1980s, said Don Hossler, co-chairman of the SIS Steering Committee and vice chancellor for enrollment services at IU. He said the current system has been updated over the years to fit the University's needs, but the dated software left no option other than wide-scale change.\n"Some people talk like we have choices," Hossler said. "When I wrote my first book in 1982, I wrote it on an Apple Two writer computer. No one at this University would be satisfied if they were doing their processing and database work on an Apple II."\nSeven Big Ten schools have switched to PeopleSoft, and the University of Minnesota is currently upgrading from an earlier version to PeopleSoft 8, the same version IU is installing.\nWhen the decision was made to replace the old system, several options, including building a new "in-house" system, were presented to IU officials. Norma Holland, associate vice president of University Information Systems, said IU could implement PeopleSoft faster than it could build a new system. \nHossler said most institutions are choosing to purchase commercial software rather than build their own systems. But he said a university designing an "in house" system could more easily rationalize cutting and trimming programs for financial reasons because the school would not be committed to a major corporation. No perfect solution exists for such a large project, he said.\n"There are no panaceas in any steps that you take," Hossler said. "If you buy off the shelf, it doesn't always do exactly what you want it to do, but if you do it yourself, you have to completely customize it."\nPolicy concerns\nMary Kay Rothert, undergraduate academic adviser for the English department, deals with about 500 students. Her day is filled with student appointments, meetings and paperwork. But recently her days have had an added element -- PeopleSoft.\nRothert now spends time simultaneously working with the old system and learning the new software. She said replacing IU's old system is not the big issue, but how the new system affects her work and her students is.\n"Training is something that we all go through in life, so that is not a great concern," Rothert said. "We're all going to be struggling with the new software, but the question will be: What will we be losing?"\nRothert said she is worried that lack of knowledge about the new system and time spent learning how to use it will prevent her and perhaps others from providing students with the best service.\n"I think the advisers know that in the future they will be working 50 or 60 hours a week, and they will be willing to do that because they are working for the students," Rothert said.\nShe said she is apprehensive about losing important policies that have been designed for the old computer system. Although she had concerns about GradPact, which was eliminated because it won't work with the new system, Rothert said she was worried losing GradPact might be the start of a trend.\n"Will we lose the ability to make educational policy?" she asked. "And will that come at the cost of the student?"\n"GradPact is one of thousands of problems, and the question will be: Which programs are we going to use?"\nThose involved with PeopleSoft understood that when it was purchased it would not accept all the programs implemented in IU's old system. PeopleSoft is a generic program not customized for an individual university, meaning not all of IU's current programs will fit into PeopleSoft and instead must be customized, which is costly. In this case, the Bloomington Faculty Council members assess the situation and decide if a particular program is financially worth saving.\nLast December, the BFC announced GradPact, which guaranteed IU would cover the cost of extra classes if a student was unable to graduate within four years, would be too expensive to maintain under the PeopleSoft system. Salvaging the program would initially cost an estimated $200,000 and $60,000 annually. \nThe BFC also is discussing how the grade replacement (FX), pass/fail, "raincheck" and waitlist policies will interact with the new software. PeopleSoft will only allow a student to waitlist a section rather than an entire course.\nSteven Wietstock, undergraduate academic adviser for the chemistry department, oversees the Local Implementation Team, which advises those implementing the SIS program. Because of the project's scale, he said he expected the implementation to be difficult and understands that PeopleSoft meetings will take advisers' time, but affirmed everything is being done in the students' best interest.\n"Right now this team is very concerned with what the students are doing," Wietstock said. "We are acting as the eyes and ears of the students and advisers. We are looking at it from both perspectives and saying, 'You know, here is what Insite does. Is there something comparable the software can do for us?' In some cases it gives us much better service. In other ways it will be much more difficult for us."\nConcerns about the switch to PeopleSoft have been voiced at BFC meetings, where attendees discuss policy issues. Philosophy professor Michael Morgan, a BFC member on the Budget Affairs Committee, has attended voting and informational meetings about policies affected by PeopleSoft.\n"There is this big concern that all of these things we made decisions for at the University for the educational system that we think are valuable are going to be set aside," Morgan said. "One of our big concerns is: Are we going to be run by the technology?"\nHe said he had no doubt the system will have its advantages. But he said he had not been given adequate information and time to make policy decisions, which was the case with the GradPact discussion.\n"They brought it (GradPact) to us with no information about what it originally cost, how much adviser time was involved, the money it took to carry it out, or the precise data about how many students were affected," Morgan said. "We were given a little mumbo-jumbo and basically told it was not worth doing."\nBudget dilemma\nBesides not incorporating current IU programs, PeopleSoft could cause headaches over finances. The software has already done so at other schools.\nFive years after California State University committed to PeopleSoft to integrate its 23 campuses, 407,000 students and 44,000 faculty, the project cost about $400 million, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education. \nHossler said IU is dedicated to completing the project with as little economic strain as possible. But Morgan said the University's ambition to conserve money could cause a problem with administration.\n"We are cutting corners to make it look like we are not spending as much money," Morgan said.\nHolland, associate vice president of University Information Systems, said $27 million dollars will be spent for technical resources, including staff, consultants and training.\nThe University used personnel from IU offices to implement the software. Replacement staff known as "backfill" filled some vacancies. Hossler said about $9 million was spent on backfill. \nMorgan said many people pulled to work on the implementation were key to their positions, and a less qualified replacement or no replacement at all could cause a problem.\n"Admissions has exploded in the past few years, and you can't tell me that the meticulous care they took of admissions prior to PeopleSoft is now able to be handled the way it needs to be handled," Morgan said.\nThe Big picture\nPeopleSoft's Human Resource Management System was implemented last December, and the system handled the first bi-weekly and hourly payroll in early January. Prototyping continues with the Student Information System, and those involved are learning which programs will work, won't work and which programs to keep. \nAmid concerns, the project progresses on with those optimistic about its future.\nIU Student Association Vice President Judd Arnold, a BFC member, said IUSA is backing the PeopleSoft project. He said the old system was too expensive to maintain and a change had to be made in the students' interest.\n"The students shouldn't see a lot of change, but as with any new system, there is going to be an adjustment period," said Arnold, a senior. "Where they should see an impact is that this is another thing the University is doing to cut cost, and as an end result of that, it will keep tuition down."\nLibrary and information science professor Howard Rosenbaum, who is studying the project, said the choice to move to a new system was not a matter of whether the current system is good or bad, but that it was just old. He compared the PeopleSoft purchase to someone buying a new laptop because it's trendy rather than because the old laptop no longer worked.\nWietstock said when it is completed, the new system won't affect students as much as they might think. He said students might expect a different appearance on their computer screens, but the actual use will be practically the same as the old system. Faculty will favor the new system when it is completely implemented, he said.\n"From a faculty perspective, there is going to be a learning curve," Wietstock said. "But looking at what is available, it is going to be easier to use than the current system, so you may see them using it even more. It will be a Web-based system, which is the kind of thing people are used to now. It is much more user friendly than the current system."\nWietstock said communication and organization are key to the software implementation, something he learned from other universities. \nHe said he was not involved in the final decision to choose PeopleSoft, but he and others involved must do their best to make it work.\n"Well, I think at this point we're all resigned to the fact that we are going to deal with PeopleSoft," Wietstock said. "We know it's coming. We know there are going to be problems. Our concern is making sure we get good information, know how to deal with the problems and know who to get in contact with if there are issues"
(10/29/02 4:49am)
Congratulations to newfound rock star Christopher Bissey, singer in the metal group Dark Mischief. He has been given the spotlight in a VH-1 reality television show. He's made it.\nHe's given new meaning to becoming famous at any cost. In his case, the cost were the lives of 15-year-old Mary Orlando, and 17-year-old Jennifer Grider.\nBissey, a drug dealer, shot and killed those two innocent girls in 1995. Never mind "American Idol," a rap sheet and a stint in prison is now the key to superstardom courtesy of the new VH-1 series "Music Behind Bars."\nA three-week search for a serial sniper in Maryland recently concluded with the arrest of two men found in a car with a rifle and a scope in the trunk. If you thought their reign of terror garnered them national exposure, wait until VH-1 gets its turn. Next on Music Behind Bars; a long look at the prison Jazz band "Sniper and the Hitmen."\nWhat VH-1 president Christina Norman and show producer Arnold Shapiro have created is more degrading and deplorable than any raunchy cartoon or violent mini series could dream to be. The bodies of two young girls rest in peace. Family and friends are left devastated while VH-1 disengages viewer's minds with a show that poses as a positive series about men and women who claim music has transformed their lives despite unfortunate circumstances. VH-1 is pimping criminals.\nVH-1 has emphatically missed its mark with Music Behind Bars. In an attempt to prove music as a life-altering factor in an inmate's life, it instead demonstrates the absurdity of our prison system's security enforcement. One juror saved Bissey from death row. He was sentenced to life without parole and a microphone. That's American justice.\nDamian Behanan is serving a ten-year burglary and robbery sentence at the Kentucky State Reformatory for a night he said just "got out of hand." VH-1 gave him the limelight throughout his quest to compose and sing his visiting wife a song. How cute, a love story.\nWhat the viewer saw was Behanan relaxing on prison playground, composing lyrics with fellow prisoners and begging to have available his keyboard during the visit. A keyboard during a visit is forbidden at the prison. Behanan was granted an exception -- shocker.\n"Writing lyrics has been a very therapeutic method for me doing time," Behanan said. Is that what this series wants to prove, that music is therapeutic for criminals? Reading a book, meeting with prison advisors and dead silence in an eight square foot cellblock with a mattress is therapeutic. At one point he was smoothing license plate corners. Hard labor, now that's therapy. \nThere is no logical defense for this show. Inmates don't have a right to express themselves on television; their rights were forfeited the day they were convicted. Music is not a beneficial means for expression but a privilege inmates sacrificed. \nGive them a Bible, a notepad, a ballpoint pen and some exercise but it's unfair, immoral and offensive to give convicted criminals the national stage.\nIgnoring the show isn't an alternative. If it were, "Faces of Death" would have a prime time Thursday slot.\nImagine your brother, sister or child brutally beaten, raped or murdered and the person responsible being pimped on national television. I suspect you would be outraged.
(10/17/02 7:06am)
In terms of job searching, IU President Myles Brand isn't much different than the students he has presided over for eight years.\nLike those who feel a job isn't even worth the application -- at least initially, Myles could identify. \nHe never thought he had a chance.\nBecoming NCAA president wasn't something he desperately wanted or thought was possible 10 months ago, said his wife, Peg Brand.\nLast January at their home in the center of campus The Indianapolis Star arrived at their front steps as it does every morning alongside the Indiana Daily Student. Peg opened the sports section as she said she often does and inside was the announcement that the NCAA was looking for a new president.\nPeg showed the article to Myles.\n"I said 'look at this'," Peg remembers. "He said, 'Oh isn't that interesting, they would never hire a person like me, but it sounds really interesting to work on changes at the national level'." \nPeg said they put the topic aside after that conversation. The two would find out later that Myles was nominated by an outside source for the position, which Peg said was not uncommon for Myles when high profile positions had an opening. He agreed to accept the nomination.\nPeg said that for her husband, being put in the position for another job was strange because he was so happy at IU. Peg said he had accomplished many of his goals such as the formation of the School of Informatics and the $105 million Lily Foundation Grant. He had established a network that included a new chancellor.\n"So he knew if anything it would have to be something really major and different," Peg said.\nShe said her and Myles would never approach an opportunity as big as the NCAA without working together. She said several times they would talk about it and then put it on the shelf only to discuss it later.\nShe said before the opportunity arose, they would spend time talking about the topics Myles is destined to encounter with his future employee.\n"I don't think some people realize how much we have talked about these issues," Peg said. "I mean there was a time I was going to class with a police escort, so I have very serious thoughts about the impact of athletics on academics."\nEventually the NCAA eliminated all but four people for the position. A week ago at about 5:00 p.m. Peg and her husband were in their house. She was reading the IDS, and he was writing e-mail. They knew a press conference would be held in 30-minutes which would make the decision public. At 5:15 p.m. Myles received a phone call. Peg said she looked at him and waited for a sign as he talked \nHe gave her a thumbs up.\nFifteen minutes later the announcement was made at a press conference.\n"There wasn't even enough time to make phone calls, basically," she said.\nThroughout the process, Peg said Myles was always considerate of the impact leaving IU would have on his wife's career at IU, and she returned the favor.\n"I prepped him for everything," she said jokingly.\nPeg said she has no doubt her husband will do well at the NCAA, and that both she and him are looking forward to being able to take their philosophy on college athletics to the grandest stage.\n"We have always always thought that what it is always about is the student athlete -- student coming before the athlete," Peg said. "The NCAA is national college athletics, and we are happy to be -- especially him in the official role -- devoted to working on what will affect students nationally"
(10/17/02 7:05am)
She is an author, teacher, mentor, speaker and a leading researcher in her field. She has spearheaded the development of major women's involvement events across IU campuses and with the IU Foundation.\nBut for the past eight years, Peg Brand has been first and foremost, the wife of Myles Brand, IU's president.\nThat's changing. \nMyles is moving north to Indianapolis to lead the NCAA. And though Peg Brand will take eight years worth of IU memories with her husband, she'll continue teaching in Bloomington -- much to the surprise of even her closest friends.\nSome of which even wished her good luck in the future. \nHer influence on IU and its students will remain on campus.\n"If anything I hope to be more focused and have more time," Brand said.\nBrand said she will continue her research and teaching in upcoming semesters, though her work at IU will change in some respects. \nBrand is in her ninth academic year at IU. She serves as an assistant professor of Philosophy and Gender Studies, has delivered lectures on all eight IU campuses and serves as the head of Inter-Campus Women's Studies Council.\nBrand will no longer carry on her work with the IU Foundation where for eight years she has contributed to the development of alumni and donor relations. This month marked her eighth year overseeing the annual Colloquium for Women of Indiana University, which brings 100 alumni and women leaders to IU's campus for two days of speakers, performances and student interaction. Through this colloquium, Brand has raised money for IUF and other causes such as scholarships for the riders of the Women's Little 500 bike race of which she is an active supporter.\nThis fall Brand helped form the Sarah Parke Morrison Society Fund, an IUF initiative that sponsors women's activities on all IU campuses. \n"I think it is important to say how much we at the foundation have appreciated her energy at the foundation," IUF President Curtis Simic said. "From the first year here our mutual objective was to involve women of achievement who are alumni here and recognize their contributions."\nAlthough the move north will end her involvement with IUF, Brand said she is confident the events and organizations she has been instrumental in developing will continue to be left in good hands. Brand said the transition will increase her availability for student lunch meetings and office hours.\n"I am really proud that what I set up will keep going at the foundation," Brand said. "First and foremost I am an educator, and so what I really enjoy most and am most proud of are the courses I teach, the courses I designed and the fact that gender studies is about to become a department."\nBrand aided in the creation of a Ph.D. minor in Gender Studies and is working on the creation of the nation's first Ph.D. for Gender Studies.\nBrand co-edited an award winning collection of essays in 1995 and is currently writing a book on women's art and humor. She said the upcoming change in her life will open the door for a focus on academic work.\n"Teaching has always been made to fit in with the other things I do," Brand said. "Now that I will be giving up my work with the foundation and alumni and donors, teaching and research will take center stage. I hope to be as accessible, if not more so."\nWhile the move will leave a gap in the foundation, Simic said he hopes it can be filled in part by IU's next first lady. But he doesn't want to lose all of Brand's support.\n"I think the participation of the University's first lady is important to the University and the foundation. When that changes, we'll try to get the incoming first lady similarly involved," Simic said. "We hope (Brand) will continue to be an outstanding participant in University programs."\nBrand said she is confident the change will allow her to continue her mission as a teacher and researcher. She said not much scares her. In January, Brand and her husband will celebrate 25-years of marriage, and -- almost -- 25-years working together.\n"For the first time ever, we will not be working at the same place -- we have always worked together," she said. "That is the only thing that makes me slightly anxious"
(09/12/02 3:51pm)
One year ago yesterday, Julie Doi sat on one of three couches facing the television in a main room of the Delta Delta Delta sorority house. \nShe was surrounded by what she said were nearly all of her sorority sisters.\n"The whole house was just dead silent watching the TV, wide-eyed," Doi said.\nLast night, many of the same sisters, in the same room, gathered in preparation for a candlelight vigil the sorority held on the front lawn of their house in memory of what they watched a year earlier. The event raised money for those personally affected. Meanwhile, the IU Interfaith Association was preparing a similar event at Dunn Meadow.\nDoi, the vice president for public relations at Tri-Delt, said planning for the event began in July. Philanthropy Chairperson Stephanie Harper decided to use the event as a fundraiser. Members of the house carried buckets asking for donations. The money benefited the Twin Towers Orphan Fund in honor of the three IU students whose fathers died in the attacks. \nThe yard was lined with American flags, candle-lit paper bags and a crowd that nearly reached Third St. The ceremony was open to all of campus but was attended mostly by greeks. Senior Nate Johnson, a Fiji member, attended the ceremony with his fraternity brothers.\n"I feel like there is a lot of us within a close community," Johnson said. "Especially the seniors who have been together for three or four years now."\nAmerican flags hung from every front window at the house. Prior to the event, patriotic music from Bruce Springsteen, John Mellencamp and Lee Greenwood blasted through the loud speaker. During the event, a cappella groups Straight No Chaser and Ladies First performed "God Bless America" and "The Star Spangled Banner."\n"We want to help out as much as we can and obviously with an amazing tribute we want to be involved as much as we can," said Katie Stark, director and singer for Ladies First. "It feels like I am almost giving back and that makes it all worthwhile."\nJunior Cristina Cutchin said she went with her friends because taking the time out of her life shows respect for the victims of an attack she admits is difficult to grasp even a year later.\n"I don't even think it has dawned on me yet," Cutchin said. "I think a lot of us know what happened but don't even realize the impact it's had."\nJust a short walk north at Dunn Meadow, a candlelight vigil with a more religious tone took place. Eleven campus groups led marches from their respective centers into Dunn Meadow where they met students and community members for a vigil filled with songs and prayers from various faiths. Hundreds attended the ceremony. Some sat on the grass in groups holding hands while others were alone with eyes closed and heads bowed. Bob Dylan's song "Blowing in the Wind" opened the ceremony.\nRev. Rebecca Jimenez, an organizer of the event, said remembering Sept. 11 is important because terrible events happen not just in America, but to people around the world. She said bringing together the various student groups was important and needs to happen often, not just in times of tragedy. Following the attacks last year, she organized a similar vigil, which she admitted was extremely somber.\n"There are still people suffering. This was an incredible loss to the world," Jimenez said. "Think of all the gifts that were lost that day that people could have used to better the world, and all the families that are still suffering. They will never get completely over that loss."\nFreshman Mike Wells was sleeping at his home in Elkhart, Ind. when the first plane hit the tower. He woke up in time to see the second plane follow. For him, attending the vigil meant more than just commemoration. It meant inspiration.\n"It was the first time I felt like I saw this entire country as one nation," Wells said. "I saw tremendous good in everyone for the first time, and it just really opened my eyes to what everyone can do if they just try"
(07/25/02 8:23pm)
The sixth row of the men's Little 500 race features what might be the three most diverse teams on the track. Lambda Chi Alpha boasts a balanced team, Achtung will have three riders on race day and Sigma Alpha Epsilon's hopes ride on one of this year's top riders and three rookies.\nLambda Chi Alpha (2:43.90)\nSteady balance is a key for any Little 500 rider, and for Lambda Chi Alpha, team balance is no less important for a run at the lead pack.\n"We really don't have a guy with just one strength or weakness," said captain and third-year rider Josh Caves, a senior. "We all have a little of both the ability to sprint and ride distance."\nLambda Chi will have a lineup consisting of two returning riders and two rookies rather than four experienced riders, which could have been possible this year. Two riders did not return this year from last year's 19th place team.\n"Now we have to bring two new guys along and pass on what we know -- it has affected us a lot," Caves said.\nSenior Adam McLane is the other second-year rider, while sophomores Dan Wagner and T.J. Collins enter the race as rookies. Caves said he is satisfied with the progress of the rookies who have worked hard and remained inquisitive. \nThis team would have made a run at qualifying in the Top 10 had they not been forced into a third attempt, Caves said. But he said the starting position would not directly determine the outcome of the race. The team said it is planning to move up early to avoid any opening-lap catastrophes. \n"Realistically, I would like to finish in the Top 10," Caves said. "A lot of things could happen."\nAchtung (2:44.28)\nWinning the Little 500 with four experienced riders is difficult, but Achtung has the daunting task of running the race with only three riders, all of whom are rookies.\nTeam captain Rustin Dyer, a senior, trained with Forest last year but did not race, while sophomore Scott Dowdell began riding last summer. Freshman Evan Miller rode as a hobby in high school. Senior Nick Key, the team's fourth rider, left the team because of illness before qualifications, Dyer said. \nAchtung had no experienced riders to guide them into rookie week and answer common questions associated with new riders. Despite initial uneasiness, the team said it was encouraged by their showing at rookie week. \n"We realized after rookie week we were pretty much going to be at the lead of the pack throughout the week," Dyer said. "But we were a little scared when the veterans got there."\nRace veterans have been helpful to the team throughout training, he said. Achtung seeks to finish the race among the Top 15. With Miller being the team's best sprinter, he and Dyer will ride most of the race laps. Dyer said he is pleased with their starting position after being forced to a third attempt at qualifications.\n"We came around the first two times, and our split was faster than Dodds was," Dyer said. "If we would have nailed our exchanges, we would have been a lot farther up than we are."\nDyer said he recognizes the challenge presented to a team with three riders.\n"It will be rough not having four solid guys up there," he said. "We know with three guys we can't climb to the top too early because we just won't be able to hang."\nSigma Alpha Epsilon (2:44.70)\nIn the Little 500, one outstanding rider can place a team in contention for the checkered flag. Sigma Alpha Epsilon junior Dan Burns has solidified himself as a top-notch rider this season, but surrounded by three rookie teammates, questions remain as to whether this team can make a run at victory.\nBurns, a second-year rider, finished fourth at the Individual Time Trials and sixth at Miss-N-Out. He also brings the experience of riding on last year's third-place squad. \nComplementing Burns will be junior rookies Chris Irk, Ryan McBee and senior rookie Will Fife. Although they are technically rookies, the three upperclassmen said they understand how the race operates. Fife said their lack of race experience will not affect their performance come race day.\n"I don't feel it will hurt us much because of our tradition and the involvement from past riders and other alumni," Fife said. "We know a lot about the race, how to train and we feel comfortable out there."\nThe team was forced to qualify on its third attempt after faltering in the first two attempts. In past years, the team has qualified near the top and has not pulled off a victory. Fife said he is looking at the positive side of being at the middle of the pack. \n"I don't see it as much of a problem," Fife said. "Actually, it may be an advantage … we now have the chance to pass some teams early and move up in the pole."\nThe question will still persist as to whether the rookies will be able to hold their ground throughout all 200 laps.\n"I think everyone has their own positive attributes, everyone brings something to the table," Fife said. "Chris Irk is really going to surprise some people"
(07/25/02 8:23pm)
The IU basketball tradition is proven and powerful. When recruits slip on the red and white (soon to cream and crimson, again) warmups, they throw themselves into the fans' eyes and the athletes are doomed to comparisons with their predecessors.\nThis year is no different. \nThe Hoosiers have opened the Big Ten season with four consecutive wins, landing them at the top of the conference standings. Sunday, IU cruised to an 11-point victory over then 13th ranked Iowa at a hostile Carver-Hawkeye Arena. That victory was more than a point below the 12.75 point margin of victory the team has recorded in those four wins.\nLike clockwork, the quick start has fans, journalists and struggling sports columnists reminiscing of a team of almost 10 years ago. The last time an IU team began the Big Ten season with four consecutive wins was the 1992-1993 season. \nIt might be unfair to compare this year's 10-5 squad with a team that finished the season 31-4 and took a No. 1 seed into the March classic (though they were defeated in the regional final), but I'll do it anyway.\nOh yeah, that 1993 team finished 17-1 in the conference, claiming a Big Ten title.\nLike this year's team, the 1993 Hoosiers fell to rival Kentucky and defeated Notre Dame prior to conference play. But the 1993 team defeated Butler.\nAdvantage: 1993\nThe 1993 team's average margin of victory in the first four conference games was a bloated 15.25 eclipsing this year's 12.75.\nAdvantage: Wash -- IU defeated Penn State 105-57 in 1993. The Nitany Lions went on to win seven games that year -- as many as the football team that same school year.\nThough basketball is certainly a team sport, analyzing the play of individuals can be a telling sign in the quality of the whole team. \nIn 35 games, some senior named Calbert Cheaney averaged 22.4 points per game in 1993. This year's leading scorer is less-flashy sophomore Jared Jeffries who averages 17.1 points through 15 games. Cheaney was named an All-American that year and was taken sixth in the NBA draft. Jeffries was named this week's Big Ten Player of the Week and could be drafted sixth as well if he stays all four years -- hint, hint.\nAdvantage: 1993. However Jeffries continues to improve as the season progresses.\nAlan Henderson averaged 8.1 rebounds in the 1993 season while Jeffries has averaged 7.1. But Jeffries' average of 1.9 steals per-game and junior Tom Coverdale's 4.6 assists per-game are each more than their 1993 counterparts, Greg Graham and Damon Bailey, respectively.\nAdvantage: 2002 \nIn 1993 Greg Graham shot 51.4 percent from three-point range over a 35 game span. That's absurd. In a breakout senior season Dane Fife has shot 32-63 for 50.8 percent.\nAdvantage: 1993. Let's be honest, Fife had trouble making 50 percent of his shots inside eight feet in his first three years. He'll wake up sometime.\nIn the end, the 1993 team is superior to this season's squad. Shocker. The fact is the team of nearly a decade ago was outstanding and arguably better than the Final Four team the previous year. Regardless, this year's team is on a roll that has not lately been experienced. \nWhat about the coaches? The 1993 team was coached by an experienced and flamboyant Bob Knight while this year's team boasts the young and innovative Mike Davis.\nAdvantage: Save your e-mails, I'm not touching that one.
(07/25/02 8:23pm)
Why do we spend our hard-earned cash, neglect our classes and ignore our nightly responsibilities to become a secondhand participant of IU basketball and have our frame of mind determined by a shooter's touch?\nWe believe our cheering, ref-bashing, clapping, singing and criticizing somehow does influence the game's outcome, and therefore we are in a small way part of the team. But do we really matter?\nDid you watch the game at Penn State Wednesday night? \nIn the Hoosiers' 85-51 humiliation of an awful Nittany Lions squad, IU only took part in the physical aspect of its opponent's beating. Emotionally, the Lions "fans" were equally brutal. In 1996, the Penn State basketball team played its first game in Bryce Jordan Center -- a facility that, according to the PSU athletic Web site, has everything but a "patented Chris Berman nickname."\nI have a nickname: "Empty."\nIn fact, this mother of a basketball arena seats 15,261 people. That leaves plenty of room for every guy to have a buffer zone and still relax his feet on the seat in front. I didn't actually attend this spectacle, but I didn't have to -- the television was my witness. You know it's bad when the first three rows behind the bench are empty. Those spots are usually designated to season ticket holders. \nThe official count at the game was 8,674 screaming -- OK, sleeping -- fans. Were they counting the cheerleaders and snack bar employees? I could hear the television announcers crack their knuckles. I think I heard an IU fan scream, "Let's go A.J." Or maybe he was just talking to the person next to him, or to himself.\nIt's a typical athletics program problem. A bad team leads to poor attendance, and poor attendance leads to weak play. That combination creates a dismal 5-12 Penn State team.\nIn Bloomington, this formula might sound familiar. Perhaps not, since most of you have never been to an IU football game.\nBut in basketball, our pride and joy, this horrific turn of events has not set its course. Assembly Hall is not the toughest place to play basketball. It is not a fancy commercial arena. It's dark, it's simple and it's old. The students have limited seats near the court, and Dick Vitale hasn't given the student section a crafty "Vitalism." \nHowever, IU fans are present and covered in red, and that is most important.\nThe coaches and players are thankful. In the press conference following Wednesday night's game, IU Coach Mike Davis previewed tomorrow's clash with eighth-ranked Illinois.\n"The game Saturday afternoon should be a packed house," Davis said. "Our fans should be all excited about the opportunity to play the best team in the Big Ten."\nSo maybe Hoosier fans do make a difference in the elevation of their players' jump, the quickness of the team defense and the outcome of the game. There will be more than 8,674 paying supporters at Assembly Hall tomorrow. They will be loud, full of energy and wouldn't have it any other way. \nSorry guys, no buffer zone.
(07/25/02 8:23pm)
I must have climbed 50 stairs Tuesday evening during the ascension to my seat in the east balcony of Assembly Hall -- and it was worth every step.\nI may never again witness what I did in the Hoosiers 79-51 bashing of the Iowa Hawkeyes. With under five seconds left on the IU shot clock, 6-foot-9 junior forward Jeff Newton found himself with his back to the basket 23 feet away, being hounded by two defenders. Instinctively, he spun and heaved the ball that had it not rattled in, would have shattered the glass backboard.\nA sell-out crowd at Assembly Hall saw the soft spoken Atlanta native become this season's only 100 percent three-point shooter.\nIt was that kind of a night. From my seat, the game went a little like this:\nFan 1: "Take Donald Perry out, he's terrible." \nResponse: Perry makes a cross over dribble, pulls up and drills a 17 footer in his first shot of the game.\nFan 2: "I think Kyle Hornsby might be feeling it."\nResponse: Hornsby scores a game-high 15 points including 5 of 6 the three-point land.\nFan 3: "Don't ever let Dane Fife shoot the ball; he's worthless."\nResponse: Fife catches the ball in the corner, buries a three, draws a foul and completes a four-point play.\nA.J. Moye sent the Hoosiers to the locker room with a Crouching Tiger-like, airborne, rebound/layup before the buzzer. All five of the Hoosier starters scored in double figures for the game, while Iowa had two players with a team-high eight. In the second half, a sense of urgency struck Hoosier fans when IU's lead was cut -- to 14 points. \nYou know IU plays well when senior Jarred Odle drops in a double-double -- and that's not minutes and shot attempts.\nRecker deserved reaction\nWith good reason, the IU crowd was exceptionally wired. Their opponent, coached by former IU standout Steve Alford, was forecasted early in the season to be in the Hoosiers' current position, making a run at the Big Ten championship. Added to that was ESPN and Dick Vitale's traveling circus broadcasting the game nationally.\nBut it was the return of Luke Recker that for the first time this year provoked students to shouting, in unison, an expletive prior to a players last name. Students wore shirts with "LUKE WHO?" spelled out and each time the Hawkeye guard touched the ball, boos echoed from the rafters.\nThe former IU golden boy deserved all he received and fans deserved everything he gave them in return -- 3-10 shooting and eight points in 25 minutes. Recker absolutely has the right to take his skills out of Bloomington to a rival school. But upon his return, IU supporters have an equal right to voice their resentment of a guard they spent two years heralding. \nThe hostile crowd mocked him after every missed shot and taunted him when he sat calmly on the bench. Moye received applause when he unintentionally stepped on Recker's leg, causing him to come up limping.\nIU might want guard Tom Coverdale to try out for the football team this summer, his hit on Recker in the first half caused a louder response any tackle made this past season at Memorial Stadium.
(07/25/02 8:23pm)
So did anyone see this one coming? I didn't, the media didn't, the coaches didn't and my guess is you didn't either.\nFour months ago, the Big Ten made like Miss Cleo and announced their predictions for the conference season. Unlike the popular prognosticator, the Big Ten's predictions were free and not for entertainment purposes only. \nIt is entertaining to see IU rise to the top of the conference while the preseason favorites drift into obscurity. With six conference games remaining, the Hoosiers find themselves right where they had hoped to be.\nIt was unanimous among coaches and the media that Illinois would be the team to beat in the 2001-02 conference season. Ironically, maybe they were correct. \nThe Illini have been the team to beat, and have been beat often. IU did it, as did four other Big Ten teams so far. Illinois was ranked second and received one first-place vote in week one of the season but has since lost seven times with a visit to Michigan State looming ahead tonight.\nIowa head coach Steve Alford undoubtedly masterminded the biggest flop in the conference and arguably the nation. Picked as the team to give Illinois a run for the conference title, the Hawkeyes are in danger of missing the NCAA tournament after losing six of their last eight. Alford might like the chance to pound Ohio University in the NIT.\nAnd then there are the Hoosiers. They were an optimistic group in October. They talked about the relief of knowing they were no longer playing for their coach's salvation. They were picked by the coaches and media to hang around, win their share of games and get the 8-10 seed by the time the NCAA tournament rolled around.\nPrior to the conference season, those predictions appeared imminent. IU dropped a two-point heartbreaker to Butler Dec. 29, pushing its record to 7-5 as it headed into Big Ten action. What would happen from Jan. 2 through the present would be more incredible than a low-speed highway chase led by a white Bronco -- certainly more entertaining.\n The Hoosiers have won all eight of their home games this season, including dominating five conference opponents by an average of 19.6 points. IU stands alone at the top of the conference after Ohio State sputtered on the road to the Spartans. The Hoosiers' 8-2 conference record has them poised to win their first Big Ten title since 1993.\nIU coach Mike Davis has this team believing that this is no fluke. With stifling defense, Davis has opponents frustrated in the backcourt and intimidated in the frontcourt. But good IU defense is like a bad "Full House" joke -- you just expect it.\nWhat wasn't expected was the emergence of different leaders on a game-by-game basis. Tom Coverdale has been consistent offensively throughout the year, and Jared Jeffries, though struggling lately, has been the driving force inside.\nBut it has been the play of Jarrad Odle that has been awe-inspiring. I nearly vomit from exhaustion just watching him. The Hoosiers need players like Odle to step up, especially on the road, where winning for any Big Ten team has been difficult.\nIU is far from a lock for the title with trips to Illinois and Michigan State ahead and Ohio State still to invade Bloomington. But this team wasn't predicted to be where it is, and Odle wasn't predicted to be dropping in two consecutive double-doubles.\nI predict IU will ignore any more predictions.
(07/25/02 8:23pm)
The following are letters from IU fans (not really) addressed to the Hoosier players and coach prior to their Big Ten battle with No. 19 Ohio State which will determine first place in the conference. These fans know what needs to get done tomorrow for IU to avoid a second straight home flop.\nDear Tom Coverdale:\nWhat up Cove? It's me dude, your boy from Noblesville High School. Go Millers! We weren't real close back in the day but remember when we hung out at the bar the other night? That was the coolest night of my whole semester. I know you didn't really talk to me, but I am sure you remember. Hey man, I'll be the guy in the balcony with the "Coverdale is God" sign. Remember Joe, he'll be behind the north basket with the "O" as in "C-O-V-E" painted on his chest. I remember that time in high school when…well nevermind. Hey Cove, you're obviously the best player on the team and in the Big Ten, but you only scored six points against Michigan man. What's gives? You have to control the court tomorrow if we want to have any chance against Ohio State's three guard lineup. I bet all my friends that you would go for 25 points and your three-point shooting woes against Wisconsin were a fluke. You need to match OSU's Brian Brown point-for-point -- that shouldn't be a problem right? You're so cool -- and I think Donald Perry is terrible.\nDear Donald Perry:\nI'm just a freshman here at IU, but I think you're really good. Why don't you take more shots? I don't really know anything about IU basketball, but I know a good point guard when I see one --I don't care what everyone else says about you. Hey man, next time you have an open 12-footer to win a Big Ten game in the final seconds, take it! You didn't even take a shot last time you played the Buckeyes -- you know what the rim looks like right? Hey you're from Louisiana, have you ever been to Mardi Gras?\nDear Dane Fife:\nDane you are the cutest player on the team. Every time I go to the game I wear your number. I like a guy that plays defense, and that is your specialty. But why did Brian Brown score 26 points last time you played Ohio State? You know this game is important right? Do you have a girlfriend? You need to score more because Jared is hurt, and if you don't shoot well, we are going to get killed. You do remember only scoring four points against this team last time right? Can I have your number?\nDear Jared Jeffries:\nI am a 1993 alumni, and I don't think you understand the magnitude of tomorrow night's game. My family has passed down season tickets since before you were kicking in the womb. I was at IU when we last won the Big Ten. The parties, the excitement, the short shorts…the good old days. Jared, I don't care if your ankle hurts -- walk it off. Don't you get it? If we lose tomorrow night, Ohio State will cruise to the championship. I love this school, and you can't let this opportunity slip away, it's too important to me.\nDear Jarrad Odle:\nI live in South Bend, and I have never been a fan of IU basketball. But what you have done this year has been inspiring. I am naming my next boy -- or girl -- "Jarrad," after you. Your effort has been unrelenting and chapters are constantly added to your season's great story. But now everyone expects you to do well. No more "wow, Odle scored." Good luck!\nDear Mike Davis:\nI watched the Wisconsin game and maybe our team does get "hosed down" everywhere we play. Do the team a favor tonight -- don't let the team get in position to get hosed. And take care of those Noblesville fans, they're out of control.
(07/25/02 8:23pm)
I didn't picture the Hoosiers' hopes for the Big Ten championship vanishing in one shot.\nIf I had, that shot wouldn't have been a free throw taken by the team's best free throw shooter.\nIU lost more than a basketball game Sunday at Michigan State. The team might have surrendered the top seed in the conference tournament. Most devastating was how IU might have let their shot at the coveted Big Ten Championship slip away.\nIt hurt to watch and it hurt to listen to. But the clank of the rim from Coverdale's second free throw with 6.8 seconds remaining was deafening.\nTo blame Coverdale for the loss is unfair, in fact, it's criminal. I guarantee that in the locker room after the disheartening three point loss, he had a towel over his head, his face to the floor and he could still hear the celebration continue on the floor of the Breslin Center. He blamed himself.\nI didn't talk to Coverdale after the game. I didn't have to. I don't even know him. I don't have to. \nAfter the missed free throw, his look of disbelief and frozen body 12 feet from the basket told me everything. Never mind the missed three pointer to end the game; he probably doesn't even remember taking the shot. \nCoverdale played his heart out Sunday afternoon, as he does every time he takes the floor. His defense throughout the game was superior and his offense solid. He wanted to be the man at the line Sunday, and he'll want to be there next time. Of course he felt responsible, but of course he wasn't.\nOhio State will probably coast through the rest of their season meaning that at best, IU could only claim a share of the conference title. OSU is left with Michigan State at home, where the Buckeyes are 8-0 in conference play and Michigan away to end their season. \nConversely, IU has a more daunting task ahead. The Hoosiers travel to Champaign tonight to face Illinois. As if that is not bad enough, tonight's game has added flavor. Illinois has won six consecutive games and holds a top 20 ranking. The Illini will have added enthusiasm as they celebrate "senior night" at Assembly Hall. But worst of all for the Hoosiers, the 31 point pounding they handed Illinois exactly one month ago in Bloomington, is still fresh in their opponents minds.\nCoverdale knows his team may have let the conference title slip away Sunday, but still head coach Mike Davis said after the game that his team still controls its own destiny. Only now it appears IU is destined for second place.\nThe Hoosiers' season was wrapped up into 40 minutes Sunday afternoon. IU showed their ability to dominate opponents as they did early in the first half. Their defense kept them in the game when they went cold. The team struggled without Jared Jeffries at full strength, due to foul trouble. There was drama, a sense of urgency, bad calls, good calls and in the end the game came down to one shot. \nCoverdale missed it, but don't blame him. \nHe did enough of that himself, and that's criminal.
(07/25/02 8:23pm)
Congratulations IU!\nYou have claimed your first Big Ten Championship since 1993. You have defied the oddsmakers and become the conference dark horse. You're 6-3 against teams ranked in the top 25 at the time you played them. You're ranked in the top 25 in each of the major polls, and you have undoubtedly earned yourself a spot in the Big Dance.\nYour reward? The fifth-seeded, Michigan State.\nThat's right IU, you've won the coveted fourth seed in the Big Ten tournament and the right to play arguably the hottest team in the conference which has won five straight games including two on the road. \nBut that's not all IU, there is more!\nThat's right, the nation's hottest player, MSU's Marcus Taylor, just trashed you for a game high 16 points and eight assists Feb. 24, before dropping 32 at Ohio State two days later and 34 against Iowa Saturday.\nMeanwhile, Wisconsin, Ohio State and Illinois can sit back Thursday evening and wait for their opponent, which are a combined 34-62 in conference play this year. \nWhat IU faces in the Big Ten conference tournament is unfortunate, but not devastating. What they could have had with a home victory over Wisconsin, a win at Minnesota or a triumph at MSU would have been ideal, but at this point in the season, all the "could of's" and "should of's" are in the past. The disappointments and celebration's are irrelevant. \nKeep in mind that, as crazy as it sounds, finishing first in the conference and still receiving a fourth seed might be the best possible scenario. Since the inception of the Big Ten Tournament in 1998, the fourth seed is a perfect 4-0 in the quarterfinal round, hence the fifth seed is yet to win a game. \nIllinois should be most concerned -- the third-seeded team is 1-3 in the quarterfinal round and has never won the tournament. The second seed (Ohio State) is 3-1 in the quarterfinal round and the top-seeded team (Wisconsin) is 2-2.\nShould IU beat Michigan State in Indianapolis Friday, they could find themselves in either the perfect or possibly the worst situation. A meeting with Wisconsin in the semifinal would be an ideal chance for the Hoosiers to take revenge on the team that upended them last month and stole their chance at an outright crown, in front of their own fans. \nBut a possible meeting with Iowa means the Hoosiers have to defeat the Hawkeyes for the third time this season -- this time at a neutral site after embarrassing, dominating and taunting Iowa in Bloomington.\nWhatever the case, Friday afternoon represents a rebirth for an IU team. A team that wants to forget their late season slide win their first conference tournament championship.\nTheir reward? \nA trophy -- all to themselves.
(07/25/02 8:23pm)
IU is in the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA Tournament, did anyone else notice? \nI did, maybe you did. But nationally it seems people have overlooked the upstart Hoosiers.\nIU is not an eleventh seeded sleeper and there was no breathtaking buzzer beater to propel the team into the next round. The game was played late on the west coast and the average middle age college basketball follower had the next day's suit on the hanger and was snoring before tip off of IU's first round game. \nMeanwhile, young and enthusiastic IU coach Mike Davis was leading the team he took over as an interim coach two years ago to the third round of the tournament. And he was doing it the way IU always has -- with good basketball.\nThe Hoosiers just took care of business. They beat inferior teams, which in the NCAA Tournament is not always an easy task (see Florida). \nIU dominated Utah in the first round by hitting shots early and setting the pace for the rest of the game. Three Hoosier players scored in double digits and IU never let the Utes closer than 12 points in the second half.\nAnd across the nation no one really said a word.\nIt was more interesting to talk about UNC Wilmington's thrilling victory against USC in the first round prior to the start of the Hoosiers' pounding of Utah. America loves a fairy tale. Saturday the Hoosiers put the mid-major UNCW team back on the plane for a long flight across the country. \nUNCW was utterly confused early by the Hoosiers' classic game plan -- tight half court defense, good screens and technical basketball. In the first round, UNCW quickly adapted to the high flyin', west coast ballin', outrun em' style of the Trojans. But they were bothered by the Hoosiers' fundamental basketball.\nIt was beautiful to watch.\nWhen the Seahawks star guard Brett Blizzard began to take over for his team and knock down shots, IU responded. When the Hoosier lead was reduced to three points Davis and his team did not panic. Davis decided to run offensive sets for superstar sophomore Jared Jeffries who scored 11 consecutive points late in the second half. The Hoosiers sealed the win with a 10-4 run.\n Most impressive was the play of A.J. Moye who frustrated Blizzard on defense after defensive specialist Dane Fife fouled out. Moye also added four crucial free throws in the final minute and finished with 12 points.\n But it seems the Hoosiers are being slighted in terms of exposure, since all anyone could talk about was Duke almost losing to Notre Dame. Maybe it's because the Hoosiers are powered by spot shooting and defense, not vertical leaps; or because they are supposed to win and that doesn't make for exciting commentary. Regardless, IU is still playing basketball, which only 15 other basketball teams can claim.\nNow Davis can take a deep breath and enjoy the feeling of taking his team to the Sweet Sixteen in vintage IU fashion.\nNational exposure aside, the Hoosiers are getting all the gratification they need from the students and fans who, for eight years, have waited for this run.
(07/25/02 8:23pm)
In my first two years as a student at IU, I watched the Hoosiers get battered by Pepperdine and outplayed by Kent State in the first round of the NCAA tournament. Early this season, the Hoosiers' record was a miserable 7-5 after a loss to Butler, and conference season had not begun. It had been 10 years since the team had reached the Final Four, and with the direction the program seemed to be heading, the team wouldn't go back until players such as Tom Coverdale were being pushed around in wheel chairs.\nSure enough, Saturday night, because of severely spraining his chronically weak left ankle, Coverdale was wheeled around Rupp arena wearing a 2002 South regional championship T-shirt. \nMeanwhile, head coach Mike Davis climbed a 10-foot high aluminum ladder and cut down the net in celebration of his first ever Final Four appearance as a head coach.\nIn a state full of hunting enthusiasts, I am pleading them now not to shoot down the tall, well-dressed basketball coach with a large, genuine grin on his face. This week he might be floating up near the clouds all throughout the state.\nTwo years ago I watched the IU soccer team win its fifth College Cup championship. I was in my dorm room alone, and the guy down the hallway asked me what the College Cup was and said he had no idea IU was any good at soccer. Thursday, I watched Yogi's Grill and Bar on 10th Street build a line 10-people long out the door nearly two hours prior to tip-off of IU's Sweet Sixteen battle with top-seeded Duke.\nSimply by winning basketball games, this Hoosier team has unified an entire city. Smiles are exchanged and conversations are started between strangers with the universal ice breaking line, "Can you believe those Hoosiers?"\nThrough the common bond of disbelief, students, alumni and fans throughout the country are bonding via e-mail, telephone calls and ESPN.com message boards. Hoosier basketball has once again captured the hearts, minds and conversations of every person in the state.\nIU basketball has been to the Final Four seven times before, but this trip is remarkably unique. IU will enter the Georgia Dome as the lowest seed of the four teams and with the lowest seed of any IU team ever to make the tournament semifinals. Face it, IU is a Cinderella story, and it's an exciting change.\nI can recall early March when a likely upset pick was Utah defeating the tournament-weary Hoosiers. Then many said the Hoosiers had a free pass to the Sweet Sixteen when North Carolina-Wilmington upset USC. Against Duke, the Hoosiers were given as much a chance of survival as a postal worker in a cage full of Dobermans. IU went on to beat Kent State, the hottest team in the nation, with a spectacular shooting spree.\nThe Hoosiers are undoubtedly the worst team left in the Big Dance. Isn't it great? I listened to several radio analysts describe in graphic detail how IU has nobody capable of guarding Oklahoma point guard Hollis Price and then proceed to break down every reason why the Sooner defense will make Saturday a blood bath as they roll to the finals. Isn't that interesting?\nHey Hoosiers! Your team has inferior athletes, Bob Knight's not here to lead the way, Davis is too young, you're lucky to get this far and this team is nowhere near as powerful as IU teams of the past. Did I mention your point guard is crippled?\nOklahoma is going to walk into the championship game, just like Duke was going to do less than a week ago.\nJust like Duke was going to…"Can you believe those Hoosiers"
(07/25/02 8:23pm)
I can't believe what I am witnessing.\nHoosier basketball fans flooded Kilroy's Sports Bar. Everyone was wearing so much red and white I thought Steve and Barry's had been looted. You couldn't hear yourself think let alone carry on a conversation. I've seen more walking space on a 50-passenger plane. And perhaps for those same reasons, there were nothing but smiles and laughs from the people having the greatest night of their college or post-college career.\nAnd that was still two hours before game time.\nWhen the Hoosiers advanced to the NCAA national championship game, the students, alumni, townspeople, visitors, dogs and everything else congregated on Kirkwood Avenue immediately following the victory. It was like clockwork. \nThe scene was surreal…again. \nThe same people, who two years ago protested the axing of Bob Knight, celebrated the glory of his successor Mike Davis.\nI might have hand imprints on my upper back left over from the relentless celebratory smacking after the victory. My hand is red from hundreds of slaps with IU fans, mostly strangers, throughout the night. And the main library was oddly empty Sunday afternoon.\nThough everyone has their theory about IU's post season magic, sometimes the wisest person following a game is not a member or fan of the winning team, but the coach of the loser. \nKelvin Sampson, who led Oklahoma to a Big 12 Tournament championship and an NCAA Final Four appearance before having the season ended by the lower-seeded Hoosiers, figured out why IU continues to defeat teams seemingly more talented.\n"Sometimes we get carried away with athleticism, but they're full of really good basketball players."\nHe means players such as junior Jeff Newton, who picked the biggest game of his life to have the biggest game of his life. He scored a career high 19 points and more importantly, with his aggressive interior play, forced Sooner forward Aaron McGhee into foul trouble.\nHe also means players such as Donald Perry, who, despite being a freshman, stayed within himself late in the second half. He understands his role and that his strengths are ball handling and slashing.\nAnd players such as junior Tom Coverdale, who with a sprained ankle, had a week of therapy that included more electricity pumped into it than a Texas death row victim. But he understands that his presence on the court, even if limited by injury, is psychologically essential to his team.\nThe Hoosiers are once again overwhelmingly not the favorite in tonight's national championship game with Maryland. And they should be. It's a little more fun that way and certainly more fitting. IU, after all, was picked to finish third in the conference before sharing the regular season title. \nAnd later were 13 point underdogs to Duke in the Sweet Sixteen. My guess is they would be again if the two teams did it all over.