Team seeks recovery from slump
After Michigan handed the softball team a 15-3 pounding in Ann Arbor Sunday, the Hoosiers were thrust into a three-game tailspin that has left them trying to regroup.
After Michigan handed the softball team a 15-3 pounding in Ann Arbor Sunday, the Hoosiers were thrust into a three-game tailspin that has left them trying to regroup.
Ever since senior forward/center Kirk Haston announced his intentions to make himself eligible for June's NBA draft, but not hire an agent, speculation has been circling IU's leading scorer about whether or not he would return to school.
It was another weekend that began with a victory and ended in defeat for the women's volleyball team. The Hoosiers defeated Northwestern in five games (30-21,25-30,30-27,28-30,15-9) Friday and fell to Big Ten powerhouse Wisconsin in three games (30-26,30-12,30-21) Saturday.
The women's water polo team endured a long weekend, but had two victories on the final day of competition at the NoGrip Invitational in La Jolla, Calif. The No. 17 Hoosiers started off the weekend with a warm-up to the Invitational. They battled No. 9 San Diego State. Junior Kristin Stanford led the Hoosiers with two goals, but they lost 10-4.
The men's basketball team spent nearly as much time lining up on the baseline in preparation to run at Monday's practice as it did doing basketball-related drills. The reason for the running, according to sophomore George Leach? Himself. "I kind of caused that running," Leach said after practice and an individual free-throw shooting workout. "I let my emotions get to me in practice, and I shouldn't have said some things. But it was all about playing hard today and showing our coaches that we are in shape and we can go hard."
He's not much of a golfer. Even though he says you couldn't tell, he does jog every now and then. He went to high school with New York Yankees manager Joe Torre and had Torre's sister as a teacher in the seventh grade, but his interest in baseball has grown only with his son's involvement with the game.
With less than two weeks until Little 500, controversy has struck again. After weeks of speculation by the IU Student Foundation that third place qualifier, Team Major Taylor, was ineligible under Little 500 standards, new information surfaced suggesting claims by IUSF were valid.
Though men's basketball coach Mike Davis has said finding a former Hoosier to fill his staff would be ideal, Davis drew his latest assistant coach from California. New assistant coach Ben McDonald, an Nike basketball camp director, offers NBA experience Davis couldn't pass up. "He has NBA experience with us that I want because I want to recruit NBA-type players, so my whole staff has NBA experience, so that's one of the reasons," Davis said. "He's a good guy and a really good individual workout guy."
Adam Federman doesn't score very many goals. In fact, before this weekend, the senior defenseman was still looking for his first of the year. But on the rare occasion that he does dent the twine, the senior defenseman usually makes it one to remember.
The IU football team kicked off its spring football season Wednesday with its first official spring practice. The practice, the team's first of 15 this spring, was far from flawless, with dropped passes and fumbles. But, senior Antwaan Randle El said, practice wasn't all that bad, either. "The first day went OK," Randle El said. "I'm not just looking at offense and defense, I'm looking at the whole team. I think we got out, and we did some good things. We did some bad things, and of course, we've got to improve, but that will come in the next 14 (practices). I think one of the biggest things we did today was we came out and worked on basically technique -- new guys learning different things, changing positions and that kind of thing."
It's doubtful the IU-Purdue rivalry needs any more steam. The schools already battle annually for the Old Oaken Bucket in football, the Monon Spike in volleyball and bragging rights in all 18 sports in which they meet.
Defense plagued the football team last fall, keeping it from achieving a winning record. Sunday in Assembly Hall, it hurt them again as Players Inc. claimed the Recreational Sports Division I men's basketball championship with a 59-48 victory against the Football Playaz.
Not many basketball players who average 13 points per game in high school get the chance to play Division I college basketball. Even fewer get a shot in the Big Ten. Ryan Tapak's case is unusual, and he's the first to admit it. "There's not too many guys 6-foot, 160 who can come in and play," Tapak, a freshman walk-on, said. "Coach Davis gave me a shot, and I owe the world to him. Hopefully, I left a good reputation with him." The closest Tapak came to IU basketball last season was occasionally playing in front of coach Mike Davis. Tapak and Davis' son, Mike Davis Jr., teamed up for Perry Meridian High School in Indianapolis, and Davis often came to watch his son.
CHICAGO -- Mike Davis claims he isn't a fortune-teller. But IU's interim head coach winked at IU fans sitting two rows behind him with 90 seconds remaining as if he knew something good was about to happen. He was right.
Qualifications are finished and Little 500 weekend is 23 days away, but that doesn't mean the pre-race competition is on hold. Men's and women's individual time trials, one of the three spring series events, will be contested from 4 to 9:45 p.m. Wednesday at Bill Armstrong Stadium. "I think the series events are cool," Sigma Alpha Epsilon junior Dan Burns said. "They are something that gets people enthusiastic about the race and build spirit."
The IU women's track and field team opened the indoor season at home over the weekend. The Hoosiers treated the home fans to an exciting finish and victory by winning the final event: the 4x400-meter relay. The women's team used both experience and youth in an 81-80 victory over the visiting Michigan Wolverines.
The men's and women's swimming teams have their season openers this weekend with a scrimmage today and a meet with Evansville Saturday. Both events are at the Counsilman-Billingsley Aquatics Center, with the scrimmage starting at 3 p.m. today and the meet beginning at 1 p.m. Saturday. The men's team holds a 2-0 overall advantage against the Aces while the women defeated Evansville 186-108 in last year's opener. The women's squad is returning 15 letter winners while the men have 12 returning.
Alan Boston is one of the men that IU grad Chad Millman profiled for his book "The Odds," a story surrounding sports gambling during the college basketball season 1999-2000. Millman tracked a couple of professional bettors and a bookmaker -- all living in Las Vegas -- as their fortunes rose and fell with each game. Excerpts of Millman's book, which went on sale March 20, appear in today's IDS.
ATLANTA -- Juan Dixon wasn't needed nearly as badly by his Maryland team Monday night as he was on Saturday. With Dane Fife harassing Dixon all night, Dixon was held to 18 points, his lowest output in the tournament.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Edgar Prado isn't just responsible for riding Harlan's Holiday in the Kentucky Derby. The jockey also got to pick the colt's post position.