By Chris Gibson staff reporter The Western Athletic Conference Championships may have been the last regular season indoor meet for the Horned Frog track team, but five of TCU's fastest will have a chance to run with the best this weekend at the NCAA Indoor National Championships in Fayetteville, Ark. TCU has five individual runners and a 4x400 relay team competing in the meet. Runners and coaches say that they have a good chance to finish higher than any other team in TCU history. TCU's 1985 team owns that honor, finishing 15th in Syracuse, N.Y. "I'm really optimistic going into the meet," head coach Monte Stratton said. "We haven't had a bad meet this year, so I don't see any reason why we can't finish in the top 14 or 15. Our guys have as good as chance as any at winning their events." TCU's field contains juniors Kim Collins and Lindel Frater in the 60-meter dash, Collins and junior Darvis Patton in the 200-meter dash, senior Johnny L. Collins II and junior Roy Williams in the 400-meter dash. The 4x400-meter relay team consists of Johnny Collins, Williams, junior Anthony Amantine and junior Kendrick Campbell. All runners posted provisional qualifying times throughout the season. Kim Collins is undefeated in the 60-meter this season and has taken the victory in all three meets he has competed in. Patton owns one of the nations' fastest times (21.06) by a collegiate in the 200-meter this season. Kim Collins has also posted times that have ranked him among the top three in the nation in the 60-meter. His victory at the Tyson Invitational on Feb. 12 earned him WAC Male Athlete of the Week honors. Patton is the 2000 WAC champion in the long jump and said he is looking forward to performing well in Fayetteville. "I've been doing well all season so I don't have any reason to think I shouldn't do well there," Patton said. "It is going to be tough though. It should be one of the most exciting (200-meter) races in recent years, so I'm ready to go." The 400-meter and 4x400-meter relay are two events that Stratton said TCU could gain some much-needed points. Johnny Collins and Williams have traded the TCU school record in the 400-meter this season. Williams initially broke the 14-year-old school record on Feb. 11 at the Tyson Invitational, running a 46.63. He also garnered the top spot in that event at the WAC championships, but Johnny Collins was able to up the record by .37 March 3 at the Iowa State Qualifier. Competition begins today with the finals of the long jump and 200-meter. The 60-meter, 400-meter and 4x400-meter relay will be on Saturday.
Chris Gibson
For my money (and there's not a lot of it), nothing beats the drama of the NCAA men's basketball tournament or "March Madness" for those whose stock in the office pool rises when some 19-year-old from the Bronx hits a buzzer-beater to beat Central Connecticut. Unlike major college football, the championship is actually determined on the field, instead of by assorted media types and coaches who've never seen three-quarters of the teams they're voting for. But do you know what I really like about March Madness? Teddy Pendergrass' rendition of "One Shining Moment," which is run only at the conclusion of the championship game. You know, I almost cried the last time I heard that song. Or was that because I put my money on Duke? Other things to like about March Madness: n You never hear the term "bubble" team at any other time of the year. And what exactly is a "bubble" team? I heard some television commentator say the other night that if Butler University doesn't win its conference tournament (they did), then they should "absolutely" be invited as an at-large team. Who? I dare that guy to identify anybody off of Butler's team. Do you think anyone could distinguish Butler's leading scorer from the guy who sacks your groceries at Albertson's? Didn't think so. n Until Cincinnati's on-court terror, center Kenyon Martin, went down with a broken leg on Thursday, there was supposedly a deal in the works by which the NCAA champion would alternate every other year with the Los Angeles Clippers. In a preliminary poll, the Clips (also known in the NBA as an "off-day") were picked to finish fourth in the PAC-10. n It's funny how the best players in the country this season are generally players who stayed in school for all four seasons ... er, years. Cincy's aforementioned Martin, Duke's Chris Carrawell, Stanford's Mark Madsen, Michigan State's Mateen Cleaves and Morris Peterson, Ohio State's Scoonie Penn, Indiana's A.J. Guyton, North Carolina's Ed Cota, among others, you have my praise. You know, there's nothing like a "Where is Scotty Thurman?" search party to scare you back into school. n Instead of taking the conference champion from the Mountain West Conference, or the fifth-place finisher in the Southeastern Conference, how about the NCAA invite an AAU team from Brooklyn? They would at least be good for an appearance in the Sweet Sixteen. Memo to the Dallas Mavericks: This is regarding their recent decision to release power forward/power freak Dennis Rodman, or as he's known to local bartenders, "Hey you, stop groping that cocktail hostess!" Thirty-four points, 41 personal fouls, six technical fouls and $21,533 in fines and suspensions later, all I want to know is was it worth it? Memo to Rodman: The lesson learned for Dennis - Never bite the hand that supplies your cross-dressing habit. Memo to NBA scouts, talent evaluators and other assorted management types: If the Mavericks went 3-9 with Rodman, which is bad by even their pothole standards, what could he possibly add to your team? Ejections and rebukes from NBA officials, not included? Memo to the world: Rodman earned $452,941 in just 34 days of employment with the Mavericks. He was fined a total of $13,500 and lost more than $8,000 in suspensions during the same period. That adds up to a nice total of $21,533. Never mind the argument that professional athletes' salaries are way out of line with their intrinsic value to society, but let's focus on the money he lost. Do you realize Rodman lost more money in 34 days than some of TCU's staff members make in one year? If that's not a reality check about what we value in society, I don't know what is.
Joel Anderson is a senior news-editorial journalism major from Missouri City, Texas. He can be reached at (jdanderson-@delta.is.tcu.edu).
Six days ago the Lady Frogs basketball team beat Rice in what first-year head coach Jeff Mittie called one of the team's best performances of the season. And so, TCU opened the Western Athletic Conference Tournament with no thought of making an early exit. But the Lady Frogs played one of their worst overall games and now find themselves at home early for Spring Break. The fourth-seeded Tulsa Golden Hurricane beat the fifth-seeded Lady Frogs 64-56 in the first round on Wednesday. Before TCU left for the tournament in Fresno, Calif., this week, junior guard Jill Sutton voiced the team's desire to be the proverbial Cinderella team. While she was right in saying that Cinderella would be making an appearance at the WAC tournament, she was wrong about which team's airplane Cinderella would fly in on. The Golden Hurricane had been Cinderella all season. The Hurricane's 9-5 record in WAC play surprised everyone. They were 7-20 last year including 5-9 in the WAC. First-year coach Kathy McConnell-Miller was awarded with Coach of the Year honors for her efforts this season. With Cinderella playing for Tulsa, TCU was never able to gain momentum. The Lady Frogs led 5-2 early, but Tulsa followed with a 20-6 run from which TCU would never regain the lead. The Lady Frogs trailed at halftime 39-27. In the second half, the Lady Frogs chipped away at the Hurricane lead and got within four at 58-54 with less than a minute remaining. But Tulsa outscored TCU 6-2 over the final 45 seconds to secure a berth in the second round. The Lady Frogs came in with the best scoring offense in the WAC, but they did not resemble the team that averaged 72 points a game this season. Tulsa played their game throughout and finished just one point above their season average of 63. One aspect of the TCU offense missing was their free-throw shooting attempts. In arguably their best performance of the season against Rice, TCU was 22 of 34 from the free-throw line. Against Tulsa, they were just eight of 11 from the line while the Hurricane hit 18 of 27 attempts. Mittie has said this season that the Frogs have not gotten to the line consistently enough this year. That was never more evident than against Tulsa when the Hurricane attempted 16 more shots from the charity stripe. While senior guard Diamond Jackson scored 15 points and Sutton added 12, the Lady Frogs had no other players step up offensively. Sophomore guard Tricia Payne, who averaged 11 points a game, was just one for eight from the field and scored just five points. Tulsa second-team All-WAC senior Lila Osceola and sophomore forward Carla Morrow each had 16 points. Morrow came into the game averaging just eight points a game. The Lady Frogs will spend their first off-season with coach Mittie and reflect on what might have been this season. Before the tournament, there were talks of a Women's National Invitation Tournament bid. With those hopes dashed with the first-round loss, the Lady Frogs can do nothing but look toward next year.
Danny Horne is a senior broadcast journalism major from Carrollton. He can be reached at (bravestcu3116@mindspring.com). |
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