Hobbled team hosts SEC opponent Vanderbilt
The IU men's tennis team (5-1) searches for its sixth win in its first seven matches as it hosts Vanderbilt (2-0) on Sunday at 12 p.m. at the Indiana Tennis Center.
The IU men's tennis team (5-1) searches for its sixth win in its first seven matches as it hosts Vanderbilt (2-0) on Sunday at 12 p.m. at the Indiana Tennis Center.
Last weekend might have changed the minds of those who doubted the IU women's tennis team. The Hoosiers are 6-0 on the season, fresh off an upset of 13th-ranked Notre Dame.
Loring a coaching constant for HoosiersAthletics has a few businesses. Just imagine having your best year with a company or leading your organization from near ruin to success only to be fired shortly thereafter.
Stare at the positions listed for the football team's 21 signees and it doesn't take long to realize that coach Gerry DiNardo wasn't lying when he said his staff recruited talent over need. Of the 21 recruits, 10 play offensive skill positions, including three who play the position requiring the fewest number of players.
SALT LAKE CITY -- Kirsten Clark is the polar opposite of teammate Picabo Street, the bubbly, media-savvy alpine superstar. But on the slopes at the 2002 Olympics, Clark might have a better chance of climbing the podium.
The women\'s basketball team threw the ball away 13 times in the first half last night against Penn State. The Hoosiers came back after halftime to turn the ball over only four times. But it was too little too late.
Rick Pitino isn't afraid to throw the word around that strikes fear in basketball fans, especially at a basketball school that expects excellence. Rebuilding. Pitino has kept that in mind as he has coached Louisville this season. After a 10-1 start, the Cardinals hit a wall after an 82-62 loss at Kentucky Dec. 29. A stretch of inconsistent play followed and Louisville will come into Assembly Hall tomorrow to take on the Hoosiers having lost five of their last seven games.
Mike Davis is blunt, candid and to-the-point. Simply put, he'd rather not play Louisville Saturday for a pair of reasons: Playing a non-conference opponent in the middle of a Big Ten title hunt might provide a distraction, and Louisville's style of play is something foreign to IU and the Big Ten.
This signing day had a different feel. In between vague comments about some of IU's 21 signees and more specific statements regarding IU's recruiting strategy, first-year coach Gerry DiNardo found an opportunity to display a sense of humor. Some of the highlights from Wednesday's signing-day news conference at Memorial Stadium:
The woman's field hockey and soccer teams announced their new recruits Wednesday. All recruits will join the team in the fall. The women's soccer team signed four players. The class contained one in-state recruit, midfielder Robin Barker, from Brownsburg, Ind., and three out-of-state athletes -- defender Ryan Hanley, from St. Louis, Mo.; midfielder Danielle Patton, from Cincinnati, Ohio; and forward Kristen Zmijewski, from Aurora, Ill.
Chad Whitlock has never been one to brag. Now in his fifth year, the Hoosier goaltender has faced just about every challenge that the American Collegiate Hockey Association has to offer, and he's done so with the kind of quiet modesty that commands respect from both teammates and coaches alike. Personal accolades mean little to Whitlock. Three weeks ago, Whitlock made 10 saves in a 17-1 victory over Purdue. It was the 38th win of his Hoosier career, surpassing Justin Wojtowicz and making him the winningest goaltender in school history. Whitlock didn't say a thing. "Nothing was really mentioned to him about it. He doesn't talk about it. He didn't brag," Assistant coach Chris Quimby said. "He just kept coming to practice and doing the kind of things he always did."
The wrestling team hasn't been getting the results that it would like as of late, but the wrestlers are not letting that get them down. After two strong performances against top-ranked teams last weekend, the Hoosiers look to build on some of that momentum as they face Illinois and rival Purdue this weekend.
After his victory over Southwest Missouri State, he joins the other players in watching another match. They congratulate him on his straight-set triumph. One player gives him a five. Then he flashes a smile as big as the Grand Canyon. Freshman Jakub Praibis is the one behind that smile. He just joined the IU men's tennis team (5-1) and has made an immediate impact. Praibis, a journalism major, is 5-1 since joining the team at the beginning of the spring season.
When a Big Ten team hits the road for an intra-conference game, the chances of it picking up a victory are about 22 percent. Get struck by lightning or win a Big Ten road game? Sometimes, the odds seem nearly even. Last season, Big Ten teams went 32-56 on the road during league play -- a winning percentage of .363. This season, things haven't been so simple. Four teams -- expected Big Ten frontrunners Iowa and Illinois and bottom-feeders Purdue and Penn State -- still haven't won a road game in the league. Wisconsin, Michigan and Northwestern all have just one road victory, and every Big Ten team has lost at least one road game.
Roderick Wilmont is a Hoosier. And Mike Davis has a few snow flakes and an arena full of rally towels to thank. Wilmont, a 6-foot-4, 190-pound guard from Miramar (Fla.) High School, visited IU for the Hoosiers' victory over Purdue last Thursday, saw snow flurries and a spirited Assembly Hall crowd and decided a day later to commit to play basketball for IU next season. In doing so, he turned down visits to a crop of schools including Kentucky, Boston College, Florida State, South Florida, Clemson and Georgia Tech.
Mike Davis was still looking for a consistent scorer to complement Jared Jeffries and Tom Coverdale when the Big Ten season started. Davis also needed a second frontcourt player to help Jeffries in the paint. "I challenged Jarrad Odle before the Big Ten season began," Davis said. But Odle could only do so much from his spot on the bench and not in the starting lineup. His chance would come, though, right as the Big Ten season began. Literally, right when the Big Ten season began for IU.
By the time the Hoosiers were wrapping up a 79-51 win against Iowa last night in Assembly Hall, the man of the hour couldn't be found on the floor. After a long and frustrating evening of being hounded by Dane Fife, Kyle Hornsby and most of the 17,456 fans, Luke Recker was buried in the middle of the Iowa bench. With just eight points to his credit, the former Hoosier standout watched as IU put the finishing touches on its 28-point victory.
Several IU track and field distance runners headed to Indianapolis to participate in the Smith and Barney Invitational during the last weekend of January. The field for the 5000-meter, and various other events, included professional and unattached collegiate athletes to challenge the college athletes. The Hoosiers met this challenge in a big way.
Conspiracy theorists may be dismayed to find out that Big Brother isn't watching over the Counsilman-Billingsley Aquatic Center. The wall-mounted cameras on the diving side of the facility and the extensive array of portable video equipment on the swimming side may suggest otherwise, but, rest assured, are only the markings of both squads' coaches' dedication to applying improved technology to improving athletic performance.
After wrapping up its dual-meet season with a sweep of Kentucky and Cincinnati last weekend, the IU women's swimming and diving team has two and a half weeks before its next competition. It is a needed break for the Hoosiers who have competed the last four weekends and will now get the time to refocus and make final preparations for their most important event to date -- the Big Ten Championships.