Teams readying for Super Bowl
HOUSTON -- Eugene Wilson joined the New England Patriots with the wide-eyed excitement of any rookie. That lasted exactly one game.
HOUSTON -- Eugene Wilson joined the New England Patriots with the wide-eyed excitement of any rookie. That lasted exactly one game.
Still glowing from a hard-fought 4-3 upset over No. 10 Tennessee, the Hoosiers get a change of venue for their next test. This weekend, IU leaves the snowy confines of Bloomington for the sunny tennis courts of Arizona as they face underdog University of the Pacific and national powerhouse Arizona State. Admittedly, the IU coaching staff knows very little about their first opponent, Pacific. But IU coach Lin Loring sees the match as a good experience, nevertheless.
After winning three of four in a two-week home stand, the IU club hockey team takes its show on the road as they look to finish strong in a tight race for the National Tournament in February. Taking two games from Purdue and a game from Ohio State, the Hoosiers find themselves in a tight battle for third in the central division the last position to advance to nationals with Bowling Green.
Bring out the platform shoes, the bell-bottoms and K.C. and the Sunshine Band on the 8 Track because it's "Turn Back the Clock" night Saturday as the Hoosiers travel to Michigan State to take on the Spartans at 8 p.m in the schools' 100th meeting.
After duking it out with No. 8 Purdue and No. 16 Minnesota, the IU women's basketball team will get a break from nationally ranked opponents when the Hoosiers go up against the Ohio State Buckeyes Sunday.
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- Standing in his goaltender's crease during a morning skate, Martin Brodeur saw his New Jersey Devils teammates coming toward him, and he kicked out his leg. A dull thud echoed through the empty Continental Airlines Arena as the slapshot hit off his pad.
After what IU coach Randy Heisler called 'a flat performance' in the women's track and field teams' tri-meet last weekend in Columbus, Ohio, against Ohio State and Purdue, IU will travel to Colombia, Mo., to compete against Missouri, Nebraska and Wichita State tonight. The meet will not keep a team score.
INDIANAPOLIS -- Odell Bradley sometimes drives the long way from his apartment to campus so he can admire a 14-by-45-foot billboard of himself. That ego boost is just one of the benefits Bradley is starting to reap from playing Division I basketball with an emerging IU-Purdue University-Indianapolis program. Two years into an expansive advertising campaign, the Jaguars are using their success on the court to generate interest off of it. Their first NCAA tournament appearance last year, coupled with billboards and bus signs, is helping one of America's alphabet schools improve its image in a crowded marketplace.
SALT LAKE CITY -- Utah basketball coach Rick Majerus will resign at the end of the season after his latest health problem put him in the hospital with chest pains. Majerus, 55, was being treated in Santa Barbara, Calif., Wednesday. His condition was not released. Assistant Kerry Rupp will coach the Utes in the interim, though Majerus could return and finish out the season if his health allows. Rupp will guide the team when it plays Saturday against BYU.
Sophomore Sean Jefferson has always been fast. In middle school he fancied himself a sprinter. By his senior year of high school, he discovered there were few people he couldn't out run over longer distances. In distance running, coaches say speed kills, and Sean has speed. "If you have natural speed, all you have to do is get basic fitness under your belt," said IU coach Robert Chapman. "Then, in races you can relax and open a big can of whoop-ass." Speed is the deciding factor in indoor racing.
One ranked team in one rickety arena. This is what's in store for the IU women's basketball team tonight when the Hoosiers lock horns with the No. 14-ranked Minnesota Golden Gophers at the notorious 76 year-old Williams Arena. Williams Arena, nicknamed "The Barn," has risen into infamy since its original construction in 1928, featuring a raised floor, shaky rims and a notoriously raucous fan base. While they have heard about "The Barn," IU players will simply look at it as just another gym.
College athletics have been mired in controversy and scandal for years, but on campuses around the nation sport continues to thrive in one of its purest states in the form of intramurals. IU offers its students a multitude of opportunities to partake in intramural sports; from softball, football and the ever-popular basketball to kickball, dodgeball and euchre.
Senior guard A.J. Moye strutted off the court and held out his jersey so all the fans could see the INDIANA embroidered on it. The Hoosiers now hold sole possession of first place in the Big Ten. IU (11-6, 5-1 Big Ten) upset No. 21 Purdue (14-5, 4-2) in what was clearly a team effort with eight different Hoosiers contributing points to the 63-58 win. "When we take the court, we don't feel like we can lose," Moye said. Earlier this week, Purdue coach Gene Keady said sophomore guard Bracey Wright would be the player his team would have to contain. But little did the Purdue team know there would be so many others who would impact the IU win. Wright, this week's Big Ten co-Player of the Week, entered the game averaging 16.8 points per game, but only had three points in the first half and finished with a total of 10.
Roderick Wilmont had just messed up, and he knew it. He had just hit a three-pointer to put the Hoosiers up four points with less than a minute to play, but the freshman guard left Purdue guard David Teague wide open in the corner for a three to allow the Boilermakers to get back within one.
The wrestling legacy of the Big Ten conference speaks for itself. Multiple national championship teams and All-Americans are facts of its history. This season is no different. IU, being part of the wrestling-rich conference, knows this part of the schedule is what the season is geared towards.
As if the rivalry wasn't big enough between IU (10-6, 4-1 Big Ten) and Purdue (14-1, 4-1). Now the two teams will battle for the top of the Big Ten at 7 p.m. tonight in Assembly Hall. The last time the rivals played for first place in the Big Ten was in 1989 when the Hoosiers won 74-73. But the most recent match-up between the two was in West Lafayette, and IU took quite a beating and lost the game 69-47. Senior forward A.J. Moye remembers it clearly. "They whooped us last year," Moye said. "I've still got that taste in my mouth. I really want a win."
To compete as an athlete in today's sports world, athletes need to take advantage of the summer months. For junior sprinter Charlene Maddox, this theme held true this past summer. During the indoor track and field season, Maddox competes in the 200 and 400-meter runs. However, last indoor season, Maddox fought injuries which kept her from competing on a regular basis.
MINNEAPOLIS -- For most of Saturday's first half against the Minnesota Golden Gophers, the Hoosiers looked unstoppable. But then Minnesota coach Dan Monson inserted a zone press and defense that shook up the Hoosier offense, and the Gophers were able to close the half on a 10-0 run to cut the IU lead to eight. Minnesota (8-9, 0-5 Big Ten) continued the zone and the press in the second half as the Gophers battled back to take a four-point lead late in the game. "It really screwed us up at the end of the first half," sophomore forward Sean Kline said. "They got some turnovers off of it. It's a tough zone, and they're really big, lanky and quick. But I thought in the second half we did a great job of limiting our turnovers and looking to the middle and the gaps to make plays." Monson took off the press with the Gophers leading by four with less than four minutes to play. IU coach Mike Davis said removing the press was a good idea by Monson.
BREAUX BRIDGE, La. -- At the edge of a park where Jake Delhomme played peewee football, there's a cypress sculpture of a crawfish about the size of a refrigerator.
Facing 15 ranked opponents in one season, with eight coming against top-25 teams, seems like a daunting task to most.