Flint's finest
Stacey Thomas won the Rick Leach
award, given to the best graduate from
Flint. Go online to see past winners.
MONDAY
michigandaily.com /sports S PR r ULY 24, 2000
65 less ta magicalSummer
number fo-r NCA'%EEEE1h ih

1 ast week the NCAA announced
that it might add a 65th team to
the NCAA basketball
Tournament field, so that it may offer
automatic bids to both the Western
Athletic Conference and the Mountain
West Conference.
The worst two
teams in the field
would then
engage in a
"play-in" game.
the Tuesday '
befot the tour- °
nament starts,
whereupon the CHRISa
winner would
serve as fodder DPE
Car one of thedNo.D upc's
I seeds. Scoop
The reason for
the addition is because the NCAA has a
policy of always selecting 34 at-large
teams, so the only way to make room for
additional automatic bids is to increase
the number of teams in the field.
In this case, it's divide-and-conquer
strategy by the WAC. Two years ago,
eight members of the WAC decided they
wanted to pull a Fort Sumter in search of
the proverbial "identity and respect."
But rather than treating small, second-
tier conferences the way we should - by
ignoring them and hoping they go away

- the NCAA is rewarding their seces-
sion by giving each an automatic bid.
And why, might you ask, is the NCAA
pavirg any heed to the Waste of an
Athletic Conference and its offspring?
Ask CraigThompson.. tHe's the commis-
sioner of the Mountain West, and just
happens to serve as the NCAA
Tournament selection committee chair-
man.
Well, well, well.
This isn't the first time that the selec-
tion committee chairman has failed to
keep his nose out of the mud. C.M.
Newton, the former Kentucky athletic
director and previous chairman, thought
he had tis all fooled year after year when
he used to antounc with a straight face
thtat Kentucky 'descryv'd' a No. I seed
and 'deserved' to be placed at home in
the South Region.
Thank goodness Newton finally got
out of the bracketing business. Now we
have to deal with Thompson.
Thompson's official canned quote
used by the Associated Press: "We want
to do everything we can to ensure that
the student-athletes who compete in the
opening-round game get the full flavor
of participation in this great champi-
onship."
I wanted him to say: "My confer-
ence will graciously appreciate the
See DUPREY, Page 15

After surviving lymphoma, stadium usher Tim Scarbrough (second from left)
became rejuvenated enough to participate in marathons from Alaska to Hawaii.
Stadium usher finds life

What's the big deal about a Bigger Dance?
Will a 65th teamadd anythig to the BiDanceowil it just mt
provide CBS another opprtunity to pIug Falcone?
A No. 16 seed has never won an NCAA Toumanent game
since the T rnment field was expanded to 64 team, is realis-
tc to think a No. 17 seed could advance to the second round?
It wil probably never hipren, hut it wilt imake everyne fe I
better about their chances it 10 free pi s in The Michiran
S wiily s roo,
INSIDE: More coverage of a potential 65-team AP PHOTO
NCAA Tournament, page 1&. Lucky for Southwest Missoud,
it didn't get Duke.
RECEIVE INSTRUCTION IN:
TAEKWONDG CARHI-KICKBXING'
Our Cardio-Fit Kickboxing program
takes the music, excitement and
energy of aerobics but adds impor-
tant self-defense techniques like
jabbing, kicking, punching and
blocking. You learn-while you burn
at 800 calories per hour!
(SAME STYLE AS TA E-BO)
Rleady torS
CHUN-MA TAEKWONDO I KIC OXING
(734)994-0400

By Albert Kim
Daily Sports Writer
It was the end of August, 1999 when
48-year old Tim Scarbrough would hear
the news that would change his life for-
ever. The prognosis was lymphoma, a
form of cancer which is the leading
killer of men and women under the age
of 35.
It might as well have been the end of
the world for him. But in the next sen-
tence there was hope, as the doctors told
him that it was very treatable, and very
curable. Luckily the cancer had been
discovered early.
"It was devastating when they first
told me I had cancer, but there was
good news early on, they told me it was
very treatable and curable," he said.
A resident of Ann Arbor since the age
of 10, and a Michigan Stadium usher
(section seven), Scarbrough received
treatment at St. Joseph's Hospital. The
cancer was around the throat area, and
he had it removed by surgery.
Scarbrough then underwent one
month of radiation and three rounds of
chemotherapy to make sure that the
lymphoma was gone. Chemotherapy is
painful, and Tim's hair fell out. But
despite everything, he didn't miss a sin-
gle game of ushering.
After finishing treatment in January,
Scarbrough's life took another turn, as
he heard about the Leukemia and
Lymphoma Society on the radio, so he
went to one of the meetings.
"I was feeling pretty good about
coining out well, and I wanted to give
back. I started from sitting in the back
of the room to standing in the front and
giving a motivational talk,'le said.
The Leukemia and Lymphoma
Society is an organization that raises
money to further the research on cures
for leukemia and lymphoma. Leukemia

is as lethal as lymphoma - as a disease
it's the number one killer of children
under 15.
It was like a switch had been turned
on in Tim's life after that day.
He gave two more motivational talks,
and joined Team in Training, which is
run by the Society.
Team in Training is a branch of the
Society which focuses on raising
money for research through sports. It is
based on endurance type events, such as
marathons, road skates (inline skating),
and even triathlons. This year over
30,000 people have participated.
"It (the Society) has given me an
opportunity to meet extraordinary peo-
ple, provided me with a lot of positive
energy, and given me a feeling of pur-
pose," Scarbrough said.
Once a dollar figure is posted as a
personal goal, the organization will
train you for whatever event you want to
do. Participants wear a hospital wrist-
band of someone who has had cancer
during training, and it adds a personal
note to the training.
"You meet someone who currently is
or has recently been a cancer patient,
and it realty creates a bond to see some-
one who is benefiting from what you're
doing," Scarbrough said. "Whenever I
got tired, or down, I'd just glance at my
wristband."
Only five months after finishing
treatment for lymphoma, Scarbrough
participated in his first marathon ever,
traveling to Anchorage, Alaska, and
speed walking to a time of 5 hours and
51 minutes.
The distance of a marathon is like
walking to Michigan Stadium from the
engineering complex and back 4.5
times, traveling by major roads. Throw
in lymphoma five months before, and
it's an extraordinary achievement.
See SCARBROUGH, Page 14