8B - The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - March 11, 2002
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michigandaily.com/Pizza House Challenge
NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL
TOURNAMENT
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First Round
March 14-15
Second Round
March 1WIT
Regiona2s
March 21, 23
MaRcg2nal
Second Round
March 16-17
First Round
March 14-15
1 Duke
16 Winthrop
8 NotrwUame
9 Charlotte
Pick the most winners and receive a
party with 10 pizzas from Pizza House
Maryland 1
5 Indiana
I
Alcorn St./Siena 16
Wisconsin 8
St. John's 9
Marquette 5
Tulsa 12
Kentucky 4
Valparaiso 13
6
12 Utah
4 Southem Cal
13 UNC Wilmington
6 Califomia
South
East
Texas Tech 6
11 Pennsylvania
3 Pittsburgh
14 CeN. Conn. State
7 Oklahoma State
10 Kept State
2 Alabama
15 Florida Atlantic
O _
I
Southern Illinois 11
Georgia 3
Murray State 14
0
North Carolina St. 7
1 Cincinnati
-1r
Michigan State 10
Connecticut 2
Hampton 15
Kansas 1
Holy Cross 16
Stanford 8
Western Kentucky 9
16 Boston Univesiry
8 UCLA
9 Mississippi
5 Miami (Fla.)
12 Missouri
4 Ohio State
13 Davidson
6 Gonzaga
11 Wyoming
3 Ouke
14 Cal-Santa Barbara
West
Florida 5
I
I-4
Creighton 12
Illinois 4
k Au..
San Diego State 13
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Hoau Se
Midwest
L-
Texas 6
A
7 Xavier
10 Hawaii
2 Oklahoma
15 I inois- Chicago
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I
Mississippi State 3
McNeese State 14
Wake Forest 7
Pepperdine 10
Oregon 2
Montana 15
Boston College 11
To be eligible for the Pizza House prize, you
must bring in your completed bracket to The
Michigan Daily (420 Maynard Street) before
the tournament begins Thursday morning.
x~ri ~ s $.. n s a :. r' 4< . '. a ba- M. -1 ,a M.V +w
4~c t
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Your Name
Total Points in
Champlongilp g e
E-mail
Phone
The first roUndames are worth one point, two in the second round, then three, four, five and six for the other rounds
-- . _.-----A__. _.----------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ohio State turns
back Iowa, leads
Bi Ten's five ids
Daly Spwts Editor
Ohio State guard Hoban Savovic was the last Buckeye to vol-
untarily siave his head for a team bonding ritual prior to the Big
Ten Tournament, saying that he *as afraid of what his father
would think.
But after Savovic scored a caer high 27-
points to help No. 17 Ohio State clinch' its BASKETBALL
first ever Big Ten Tourwnment title with a 8I- Notebook
64 win over upstart Iowa, none of the hairless
Buckeyes had any complaints.
"We knew if we shaved our heads it was saying a lot," Ohio
State senior captaiti Brian Brown said. "So we knew that if we
shaved our heads and went out and lose the first game, people
would say 'Oh, maybe they should have kept their hair.'
"So we had to coMe out and play like shaved-head, bald
guys.
Ohio State (23-7) played like the Big Ten co-champ it was,
scored the first nine points against the Hawkoyes and never
turned back. Not even 21 porits'from tturiameht hero Luke
Recker could help Iowa (19-15) reclaim the magic it had last
season when it ran the table in the tournament to clinch an
NCAA berth.
While the Hawkeyes are heading for the NIT, Ohio State has
earned a No. 4 seed in "March Madness" aid will play David-
son in the first round.
REcKINa su.: At halftime of Iowa's quarterfinal victory over
Wisconsin, coach Ste* Alford wrote an inspirational message
on the board in the Hawkeyes' lockerroom:'NIT or NCAA, you
decide."
Recker took the message to heart, and nearly carried the
Hawkeyes to their second straight Big Ten Tournament title and
a once-improbable NCAA Tournament berth.
The Indiana native and former Hoosier dazzled the hometown
crowd by nailing two straight game winning shots in the final
seconds to defeat Wisconsin and his fornwe team, Indiana.
While the barrage of bps resonating through Conseco Field-
house was nothing new to Recker, it imade the game-winning
shots that much more emotional for the formne Indiana Mr. Bas-
ketball.
'The hate mail I teceived, the e-rn ils - nothing.life-threat-
ening, but just the letter saying how bad ybu stink - is pretty
tough," Recker said. "That's where the emotion came in and the
tears came out. I can't describe to you what this feels like."
Gonzaga gets snub
from the committee
The West Region is straight up
stacked. While Kansas, Duke
and Maryland got No. 1 seeds
and relatively easy roads to the Final
Four, almost every other good bas-
ketball team in the country is play-
ing out West.
That regional boasts four champi-
ons from the "Big Six" conferences
Connecticut on Saturday night.
Regardless, the selection commit-
tee rewarded the seventh-ranked
Panthers with two games in, you
guessed it - PITTSBURGH.
There really ought to be a rule that
if your team is named after a city,
you shouldn't play first round games
there.
- plus Gonzaga.
The Bulldogs f
were the only team
to actually boo
CBS' selection
show cameras.
Not only did No.
6 Gonzaga .get
hosed with a No. 6
seed, it also could A A
face PAC-10 Cham- p
pion Arizona in & ' 9 r
round two.
After reaching the Elite Eight and start in Dallas.
two Sweet Sixteen in the last three No team wa
seasons, many people thought that ing in Boise,I
the "'Zags" would finally get some N.M. But no te
love from the NCAA, with a three or than 85 perce
four seed. ing its color
They were all wrong. either.
"We discussed them a lot. They But as bada
were a different team to seed," said tion and the ge
North Carolina State Athletic Direc- handled, CBSd
tor Lee Fowler, who served as chair- The netwo
man on the selection committee, to everyone hosts
CBS. "But I think this was their best big money ad
fit into the 'S' curve." revealing thep
That seed shouldn't sit well with they had to e:
anyone outside of the committee. graphic policy.
Gonzaga, at 29-3, certainly This nonse
shouldn't be given the No. 2 seed yelling and scr
that its ranking would dictate, but to cious bracket.
say that it is in the same category as "I was goi
other No. 6 seeds like Texas or Texas Kansas coach
Tech is ridiculous. CBS after t
Gonzaga and Arizona are joined announced th
out west by Conference USA power- asked for his th
house Cincinnati, Big 12 tourney Despite all t
The NCAA is try-
ing to minimize trav-
el costs for the
teams, but these
games are supposed
to be played on neu-
tral courts.
Pennsylvania is
the same bracket as
Pittsburgh, Illinois
and Southern Illinois
are playing in Chica-
go, and Texas will
nts to get stuck play-
daho or Albuquerque
eam should have more
nt of the crowd wear-
s in the tournament
as the Gonzaga situa-
eographic issues were
did even worse.
rk executives held
age, airing a series of
ds instead of simply
pairings. In addition,
xplain the new geo-
nse had every fan
eaming to see his pre-
ng to take a nap,"
Roy Williams told
he station finally
e pairings and then
houghts.
he whining and com-
Ohio State players, Brian Brown, bottom left, Boban Savovic, right, and Terence Dials, top right,
celebrate with the championship trophy after defeating Iowa to win the Big Ten Tournament.
Bottom-feeders no more
As always, the first round of the NCAA Tournament provides the biggest excitement and upsets of
the season. So we take a look at what Thursday and Friday matchups may put teams like last
year's Hampton squad - which upset Iowa State last year as a No. 15 seed - on the map.
No. 5 indiana vs. No. 12 Utah, South Region: Keeping true with a tradition that former Indiana
coach Bobby Knight started, the Hoosiers have been notorious for their early-round exits the past
few seasons, including last year's loss to Kent State.
No. 6 California vs. No.11 Pennsylvania, South Region: The marketers are already drooling over a
possible second-round game between No. 3 Pittsburgh and Pennsylvania, and California is forced
to travel to Pennsylvania for the closest thing to a home game for the Quakers.
No. 4 Kentucky vs. No. 13 Valparlso, East Region: After missing last season's tournament due to
an upset loss to Southern Utah, the Crusaders are looking to make another impact in their sev-
enth trip to the dance in eight years.
Ah 1