NOVEMBER 1,1996 — THE DECREE — PAGE 7
Sports
Midnight Madness unveils hoop teams
By CiUANT LON(J
Why is that everything that is
exciting happens during the night?
It’s true, your favorite television
show comes on at night, you have
most of your fun during the night
time hours, nighttime is when ev
erything usually happens.
So why does it not surprise us
By JAMES BELL
The Atlantic Coast Conference
has long been known as a basket
ball powerhouse. With Duke,
North Carolina, Wake Forest,
North Carolina State, Maryland,
and Virginia all competing for the
NCAA National Championship at
some point or another the ACC is
earning some respect for its foot
ball teams as well.
Every year Florida State wins
the conference title and competes
for the national title, even win
ning it just a few years ago. It is
the other teams that are surpris
ing and exciting ACC football
fans around the country.
Currently the ACC has three
teams ranked in the top 25 of the
nation: Florida State, North Caro
lina, and Virginia. And a fourth
team, Georgia Tech, was recently
that the college basketball season
begins at night, or during Mid
night Madness as most people like
to call it. In the early morning
hours of Oct. 26, North Carolina
Wesleyan College, tipped off its
basketball season.
But before the players ever
took the court, the crowd was first
entertained by Welseyan’s cheer-
ranked but has now dropped out
of the top 25.
Horida State is ranked second
in the country and can take the
number one slot with an upset
over number one Florida. The
Seminoles have a record of 5-0
and they do not appear to have
any weaknesses that an opponent
could take advantage of. At this
pace Florida State will win the
ACC for sure and may win an
other national title in the process.
North Carolina is another team
in the ACC that is finally getting
respect. They are currently ranked
ninth in the country and have al
ready played the teams that were
supposed to hand the “Heels”
losses. Poised to win the ACC if
the “Noles” slip, the Tar Heels
are heading for a major bowl
game.
Virginia is the third team
loaders. Wesleyan ciiccrlcadcrs
Keysha Lancaster, Courtney
Rubes, Stephanie Pelham, Aquia
Grayton, Kim Johnson, Tashonda
McDonalds, Candice Rowe,
Molly McCluskey, Talisha Tillis,
and mascot Jason White got up
and energized the crowd in the
nearly full gymnasium by putting
on a show of school spirit that
ranked in the top 25 in the ACC.
The Cavaliers are ranked 14th and
had a big game last week against
the ACC leaders, Florida State.
The ACC has other teams that
are not in the top 25, but have
also gained a national respect.
These teams have tough sched
ules, (they have to play in the
ACC) and they play very well
even though their loss column
may have more digits than the
national debt. Georgia Tech is one
of those teams. They suffer de
feats at the hands of better con
ference teams but they always
show up to play.
The ACC is still better known
for basketball than they are for
football. But if the football teams
keep winning and keep going to
the post season, then soon ACC
may be synonymous with big time
football.
ended in a gold and blue i^yrainid
and a frenzied crowd of basket
ball fans waiting to sec this year’s
Battling Bishop basketball team.
As the lights dimmed and
cheers got louder and louder, the
crowd got anxious and the gym
was at a fever pitch as the player
introductions began. This year’s
hopefuls for the Lady Bishops
were Sara Szejda, Laura Boggs,
Caroline May, Angelina Collie,
Artina Trader, Anika Taylor,
Shawnie Henderson, with team
manager Rae McClary bringing
up the rear.
The hopefuls for the guy’s
team included As-Simi Brown,
Jamar Jcnes, Rick Hargis, Jeff
Commo, Cortez Smith, Marcus
Ray, Anthony Ervin, Bryan Earl,
Thomas Snelling, Marquis
McDougald, Chris Moody, Jeff
Keys, Elias Zarkadoulas, Cornell
Davis, and E.J. Parior. After
player introductions the Wesleyan
crowd got prepared to see its bas
ketball teams’ workout.
The ladies’ game was basically
a battle of alumni versus this
year’s team, with Terri Cash,
Darcina Cherry, Chris Webb, and
Emily Sisson, suiting up for the
gold and blue one last time. The
ladies’ game was a pretty even
game throughout with no team
taking more than a five-point lead,
and it is not ironic that the ladies
game came down to the waning
moments.
The alumni held a slim lead.
17-16 wiili .sccDiuls rcin;uniii!i,
but it vs'as Anika Taylor who liit
the game-winning lay-up and
clinched victory for the basket
ball team.
Before the guy’s games started
there was a three-poini shutout
and slam-dunk contest to be won.
Jeff Commo blew away the field
in the three-point contest, con
necting on ten of his shots. An
thony Ervin just edged out Tho
mas Snelling in the slam-dunk
contest with a last-minute power
jam that amazed the crowd.
The men’s game also turned
out to be as exciting as the slam-
dunk contest, as both teams scored
early and often. In a total display
of run and gun basketball, both
teams went on a scoring frenzy
and the game ended in a 62-62
tie. It was an impressive offen
sive output by both teams.
Both the men’s and women’s
team looked impressive in their
Midnight Madness performances,
and it makes one look ahead at
the current basketball with grow
ing optimism. Even though the
women lost six players from last
year’s team look for them to be
competitive in their conference.
As for the men, as athletic and
physical as they are I look for
them to put numbers on the board
and have one of the best offen
sive seasons in school history.
My prediction for both teams
is that this will be a very interest
ing year.
ACC starting to gain growing
recognition as football power
Houston, Seattle should prevail
(Continued from Previous Page)
one headache, but could have
picked up a migraine. Rider,
Wallace, and Anderson have lots
of potential, but they are also three
headcases. It will be an exciting
season in rip city, but P.J. better
keep a case of Excedrin around
just in case things start to go
wrong.
4. Sacramento — The Kings
have the second longest streak of
consecutive sellout games at
home and this could be the year
they pay their fans back for all
their loyalty.
5. Phoenix — Even though
they lost Barkley the Suns can
still make a run for the playoffs.
They are a good rebounding team
and could have possibly the best
back court in the NBA with Kevin
Johnson (if healthy), Sam Cassel,
and rookie sharpshooter Steve
Nash.
6. Golden State — The only
thing Golden about their season
will be that it will be over in April.
7. L.A. Clippers — I wanted
to pick Golden State in the cellar
of the division, but the Clippers
are so good at bringing up the
rear that I might as well leave
them there. The only reason
people go to Clippers games is
because their tickets are cheaper
than Lakers’ tickets. The Clip
pers are like the New York Jets
of basketball and if there was any
justice in the world the NBA
would let the Clippers trade them
selves to the CBA.
Even though the Eastern Con
ference is improving and the
Knicks have built themselves into
contenders, nobody has a
snowball’s chance in hell of beat
ing the Chicago Bulls. The West
looks like it will come down to
the Rockets and the Sonics and
that series will definitely go the
distance, but once again the
Sonics will be in the NBA finals.
This year, even though the
Bulls are back, don’t look for
Gary Payton to go sleepless in
Seattle. The Sonics will win the
whole thing is six. Look to Tinsel
town (Lakers) to go all the way
in 1998!
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