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Basketball Bruins have Ben howland at the Moon! |
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November 27, 2006 |
 Guillotine |
 S. Cohen |
 S. Cohen |
Los Angeles, November 27, 2006 – For the first time since the national championship year of 1995, UCLA’s basketball Bruins are ranked no. 1 in the country. The Bruins beat two probable NCAA Tournament teams in Kentucky and Georgia Tech at the EA Sports Maui Invitational while Florida and North Carolina both lost, so the Bruins vaulted from fifth to first in the Associated Press poll, giving coach Ben Howland his first top-ranked team. His old team, Pittsburgh, rose to no. 2. In the meantime, the Bruin women, ranked 23rd to start the season, fell to 3-4 and out of the top 25, leading to some grumbling about coach Kathy Olivier, now in her 14th season, with only three 20-win seasons and five NCAA Tournament appearances on her resume.
>> More Bruins: UCLA leads the nation in national championships with 99 and has two shots this weekend to earn no. 100. Both the men’s and women’s soccer teams made it to the NCAA “final four” and will be in action on Friday with a shot to make the finals. If the two soccer teams fail, the women’s volleyball team is 29-3 and ranked fourth in the nation; it will start NCAA Tournament play this weekend.
>> Bruins and Trojans: USC opened a 13 1/2-point favorite over the Bruins with an over-and-under line of 48; translation: oddsmakers expect the Trojans to win, 31-17. The sharpies will point out, however, that USC has covered the spread in each of their last four games and since the loss at Oregon State has beaten Stanford, Oregon, California and Notre Dame by a combined score of 144-43.
>> More college football, BCS preview: Ohio State will probably open about a touchdown favorite over USC assuming the Trojans win Saturday. The Buckeyes are 4-0 in BCS games, but USC has an 11-9-1 edge in the all-time series.
>> More Ohio State, true or false: when Buckeye quarterback Troy Smith is handed the Heisman Trophy in December, he’ll be the third Big Ten quarterback to win the honor . . . did you say false? You’re right, that’s wrong! Believe it or not, he’ll be the first quarterback from a Big Ten school to win the Heisman!
>> More Big Ten: did you see that Cincinnati head coach Mark Dantonio was named as the head coach at Michigan State? Dantonio was only 18-17 at Cincinnati, but was the defensive coordinator under Jim Tressel at Ohio State for three years and the Michigan State secondary coach before that. His contract calls for about $1.1 million in base salary, pretty good for a .500 coach coming out of the Big East.
>> Dateline Paris, France, Reign of Terror report: just as in the late stages of the French Revolution, the guillotine is falling hard and fast on college coaches around the country. Mike Shula at Alabama, fired . . . Larry Coker at Miami, fired . . . Dirk Koetter at Arizona State, fired . . . Chuck Amato at North Carolina State, fired. Now what about replacing these guys? It will be up to athletic directors whose own job depends on finding the right person to coach a team that brings in 40-50% of a school’s annual (athletic) revenue. Wildest rumor we’ve heard is Cal’s Jeff Tedford going to Alabama to get out of the way of Pete Carroll’s USC steamroller and continuing problems with the long-promised renovation of Memorial Stadium.
>> Dateline Miami, whiner’s convention: amazing article today in the Miami Herald, asking former Hurricane players and coaches about what needs to be done to bring the football program back to national championship form. Former assistant coach Don Soldinger said the academic standards should be relaxed for football players! Soldinger, who coached under Coker and was fired by Coker, told the Herald: “There has to be leeway to get the right kids in. You’re not playing on a level field. If LSU can get a guy in and Miami can’t, what’s wrong with that picture? I didn’t like playing against people who should be playing for us.”
And there’s plenty of whining about how bad the facilities are, most recently from former Miami running back Alonzo Highsmith: “The upgrades have been meager. So we’ve expanded the weight room – it’s still not up to North Texas. Some players’ lounges around the nation look like a Marriott. Ours looks like a Motel 6. If it rains, we can’t practice. [Even] Central Arkansas has an indoor facility.”
>> Last add, coaches: Iowa State hired highly-respected Texas defensive coordinator Gene Chizik as its new head coach today, replacing Dan McCarney. He’ll be expected to put more toughness into the Cyclones; in fact, he’ll urge them to be more “Chiz-ical.”
>> Pro football preview, dateline Seattle, Washington: the 6-4 Seahawks are a 10-point favorite over Brett Favre and the Green Bay Packers on Monday Night Football, with the over-and-under line at 42. The smart set says the ‘Hawks will cruise, 26-16.
>> Pro football review, dateline San Diego: Raiders free safety Stuart Schweigert had it right when he told reporters, “When you’re the Raiders, it always seems to come down to a play that no one’s ever called before.” In case you missed it, the key play in yesterday’s comeback win by the Chargers was a 4th-and-2 pass from Philip Rivers to Vincent Jackson for a first down in the fourth quarter, but Jackson fell down, got up and spun the ball forward in celebration, but he hadn’t been touched by a Raider player. So the play should have continued and the spin be called a fumble. The Raiders pounced on it, and the officials signaled possession for the Raiders, then discussed the call and call the spin an incomplete second forward pass, resulting in a penalty but giving the Chargers a first down while the Raiders’ offense was standing on the field. On the Raiders’ radio broadcast, former coach and now analyst Tom Flores said of the referees, “They’re making stuff up now.”
>> Dateline Washington, D.C., college basketball family reunion: Georgetown will host Ball State tonight in a Thompson family reunion with Ronny Thompson coaching the Cardinals and John Thompson III in charge of the Hoyas. There shouldn’t be that much to argue about: the Hoyas are a 16-point favorite with the over-and-under line at 124, so oddsmakers say John will outscore Ron, 70-54.
>> Baseball quickie, dateline San Francisco: local papers are talking up a Giants trade with the Red Sox for left fielder Manny Ramirez, which would mean bye-bye Barry. Ramirez could veto the deal and the Giants might not have enough to give, but both teams would lose one headache.
>> Dateline Los Angeles, wondering out loud: Citizen watches is running a heavy slate of advertising this holiday season for its Eco-Drive watches featuring Olympic figure skater and 2006 silver medalist Sasha Cohen. She is a lovely lady, but if you’re not watching the screen and just hear her name, aren’t you thinking of “Borat”? Sacha Cohen is the name of the actor who plays him!
>> Inflation report, dateline London, England: latest news out of the Olympic finance office is that the Olympic stadium, expected to cost about $543 million U.S. will now cost about $968 million, including the conversion from 80,000 seats for the Olympic ceremonies and track & field down to a 25,000-seat track & field facility for post-Games use. Seems the cost of the post-Games conversion was not included in the original budget.
>> Football follies, dateline Johannesburg, South Africa: despite plenty of support from FIFA, the wolves keep circling the 2010 World Cup, scheduled for South Africa. Now the Prime Minister of New South Wales, one of the six states in Australia, is saying that the Aussies could be ready to take over hosting duties on short notice and wouldn’t have to build much to host the Cup. The South Africans aren’t amused and the Foreign Ministry has filed a formal protest with the Australian Government.
>> Dateline Tehran, Iran: FIFA has suspended the Iranian Football Federation for governmental interference. Apparently, elections for leadership of the governing body of Iran’s most popular sport were not free of governmental interference! Hard to believe.
~ Rich Perelman
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