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Sports
Briefs
UNC-Old Dominion
Rained Out Wednesday
North Carolina’s baseball game
against Old Dominion on Wednesday
was rained out. UNC was leading 1-0 in
the bottom of the second when the
game was cancelled.
The game might be rescheduled for
later in the season, but no date has been
set. The Tar Heels (11-0) host Coastal
Carolina today at 3 p.m.
Varsity Eight Ranked
14th in Preseason Poll
Entering just its second season, North
Carolina’s varsity eight is ranked 14th in
the country in US Rowing’s preseason
poll.
“Our goal is to be one of the top 10
teams in the country,” UNC coach Joel
Furtek said. “This ranking validates our
belief that we’re moving closer to that
goal.”
UNC’s team finished 11th at the
prestigious Head of Charles Regatta in
Boston last October. The rowers on the
varsity eight are Meredith Acly, Lauren
Agrella, Heather Higgins, Rachel
Koblinsky, Erin Nepel, Lucienne
Papon, Dana Peirce, Danae
Ringelmann and coxswain Sam
Hermitte.
Since only the top 10 teams are num
bered in the poll, UNC was in the oth
ers feceiving votes category.
-From Staff Reports
Watered Down by Brad Christensen
Dilbert©
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THE Daily Crossword
58 Skeleton piece
59 “Aida," e g.
60 Alphabet start
61 North Carolina
college
62 New Testament
book
63 Minute circus
star
64 Mr. T's last
name
65 British PM
(1970-74)
66 Williams and
Turner
DOWN
1 Tape-recorder
spindle
2 Walkway of the
Southwest
ACROSS
1 Beanies
5 Infield fly
10 Smooch
14 Infer
(among others)
15 Muse of poetry
16 Give off
17 Cloy
18 Islamic text
19 111 temper
20 Deep Purple hit
of 1973
23 Vietnamese
holiday
24 Modern: pref.
25 Humiliate
26 Skilled ones
28 Mimicked
31 Spanish uncle
32 Consumer
advocate Ralph
33 Stop up
34 Meadows
35 Honeydrippers
hit of 1985
38 American suf
fragist
41 Spike or brad
42 Tessie or Milo
46 Bruin Bobby
47 First of the pot
48 On the way up
49 N.E. school
51 Part of a min.
52 Hwy. sign abbr.
53 Cascades hit of
1963
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UNC Seeks Redemption in Tourney
By Dave Alexander
Senior Writer
This is not the time for North
Carolina to be scrambling for solutions.
Yet the past month has raised more
questions than it has answered about
die No. 15 Tar Heels.
“I thought we were better than we
played,” said UNC point guard Ed Cota
following the Tar Heels’ 81-61 loss
against Duke on Saturday. “Obviously
we need a lot of improvement.”
There’s little time for improvement
for the Tar Heels, who begin their quest
for a third consecutive ACC
Tournament championship Friday with
a 7 p.m. contest against Georgia Tech at
the Charlotte Coliseum.
Action begins tonight when top-seed
Duke takes on No. 9 Virginia and No.
7 Florida State battles No. 7 Clemson.
The Tar Heels could avenge five of
their six league defeats this season en
route to the title in Charlotte by down
ing Tech in the opener, Maryland, who
swept UNC, in die second round and
Duke, which also has two wins against
North Carolina to its credit, in the final.
But most of all, the Tar Heels would
like to shake the slump that has plagued
them since a 98-64 win against Florida
State on Feb. 7. Since that win, UNC
has lost decidedly to the Terps and
Devils, and managed to win despite
subpar performances against N.C. State,
Virginia and Wake Forest
“I don’t really care who we’ve got to
play,” Cota said. “We’ve just got to go
out there ready to play.”
It seems someone got the formula
backwards for UNC this season. With a
roster loaded with inexperience, the Tar
Heels were supposed to struggle early.
Second-year head coach Bill
By David Macleod
27 Irritating indi
vidual
28 Michael Caine
film
29 Survey
30 Conceit
33 Outer covering
34 Not as much as
36 _ Arbor, Ml
37 Utterance
38 French realist
39 Sleeve opening
3 Held the helm
4 Polio vaccine
developer
5 Tea types
6 University of
Maine town
7 Element
8 Zion National
Park state
9 Com concoc
tion
10 Skewered
entree
11 Replicate
12 Region of
Poland on the
Oder
13 Music systems
21 nous (just
between us)
22 Roll of bills
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Men's ACC Basketball Tournament
first Round Quarterfinals Semifinis final
Thursday, March 4 Friday March 5 Saturday, March 6 Sunday March 7
No, 1 Duke
9 pm.
No 9 Virginia 1:30 p.m.
No. 4 Wake forest
noon
No. 5 Restate
No 7 Ctemson 1
6 p.m. —:
No 8 Florida State 2 pm.
.NftJLUUC
7 pm.
No 6 Georgia Tech Chariotte Cotisetan in Charlotte
Guthridge figured to have his hands full
with only two returning regulars - Cota
and senior forward Ademola Okulaja.
“Last year we hit the floor running
because we were a better team,”
Guthridge said. “This year we had to
start at step one- here’s the basket,
here’s the ball.
“In a lot of ways it’s fun to do that. I
think most coaches really enjoy the
teaching part of it. I thought this team
really came along fast.”
Much faster than most expected.
UNC won its first eight, most notably a
sweep through the Preseason NIT
Tournament that including a win against
then-No. 2 Stanford. The team rose to
No. 3 in the polls after that win and had
many thinking if a third-consecutive
Final Four was a possibility.
In December, UNC had fewer ups
than downs, suffering its first loss of the
year against College of Charleston on
Dec. 5. Before the new year, UNC had
(C)1999 Tribune Media Services, Inc.
All rights reserved
40 Pie in
Cooperstown
43 Fit to be
employed
44 Tempted
45 Meetings' plans
47 Cigar dropping
48 Go over again
50 Off. skill
51 Proud step
54 Fluttery flyer
55 Ron in
Mayberry
56 Greek cheese
57 Floating plat
form
Sports
lost to the Yellow Jackets and California.
But the future promised only brighter
things. With Ronald Curry being
weaned into the rotation after a season
of football and Vasco Evtimov set to
return from an NCAA-imposed suspen
sion, North Carolina figured to be a
much-improved team by February.
For the most part, that hasn’t hap
pened. UNC have seemingly been
walking in place for the past four weeks.
There are several legitimate explana
tions - fatigue from a grueling schedule,
and injuries and illnesses, most notably
to guards Max Owens and Jason Capel.
But whatever the reasoning, it’s been
frustrating for some, especially Cota,
who helped UNC win 62 games while
losing only 11 in his first two seasons.
“I always feel we’re gonna win, but
that’s not always the case,” he said. “We
get in these funks sometimes. We’re not
that great of a team that we can fall
behind and come back anytime we
Wrestlers
Ready for
ACC Battle
UNC wrestlers wiH be niiSt ,
gunning for their seventh
ACC Tournament title Hi! d, ° oll
eight years this weekend.
By Hugh Pressley
Assistant Sports Editor
North Carolina wrestling coach Bill
Lam had one major wish for the Tar
Heels coming into 1999: that they stay
healthy for the entire year.
And when UNC went into its last reg
ular season meet against N.C. State on
Feb. 18, it looked as if Lam would get his
wish heading into the postseason.
So you can imagine what was going
through Lam’s and'the rest of the Tar
Heels’ minds when, just 1:21 into sopho
more John Mark Bentley’s match against
State’s John Carreon, toe nation’s fifth
ranked 149-pounder went down with a
sprained ankle and was forced to default
his match, giving toe ’Pack six points
and an eventual 18-17 win.
“That was something we didn’t need
to happen,” Lam said. “It took the life
out of all of our guys.”
Of all toe wrestlers on Lam’s squad,
Bendey - who is 29-5 overall and 12-2
in dual meets this season - was one the
coach surely needed to stay healthy.
And with Bendey still nursing his
bum ankle just a few days before the Tar
Heels travel to Charlottesville, Va., on
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DTH/SEAN BUSHER
UNC point guard Ed Cota (left) and coach Bill Guthridge have had to
adjust from last year's veteran squad to this season's young team.
want, turn it up any time we want.”
The Tar Heels would do well to turn
it up soon, or they could find themselves
home prematurely with no reason to
search for any solutions.
Lang Earns Freshman Honor
UNC forward Kris Lang was named
to toe ACC All-Freshman team
Tuesday, becoming toe first North
Carolina player since Fid Cota in 1996-
97 to gamer that honor.
Lang has averaged 10.5 points per
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. 11 m ■- • f r
North Carolina's Corey Bell (left) won the ACC title at 177 pounds last
year. He will try to duplicate the feat at 184 pounds this weekend.
Saturday for toe ACC Tournament, his
status -and UNC’s chance to win its
seventh conference tide in eight years -
is questionable.
But that doesn’t mean toe rest of the
Tar Heels are weary. While they know
Bentley’s presence could undoubtedly
increase UNC’s odds of taking home the
conference tide, toe team still believes in
toe ability of its remaining grapplers.
“We know what we can do,” said
UNC junior Chuckie Connor, who
leads toe Tar Heels with a 33-3 overall
record and nine pins for the season.
“We’d be pretty strong with John Mark
in the lineup, but we also know that we
can still win without him.”
For that to happen, UNC (11-5,4-1 in
the ACC) needs to get flawless perfor
mances from its younger wresders -
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varsity of North Carolina Hospitals
Thursday, March 4, 1999
game and 4.5 rebounds per game while
starting every contest for the Tar Heels.
He was joined on toe team by UVa.
forward Chris Williams, the league’s
freshman of toe year, Duke’s Corey
Maggette, Wake’s Darius Songaila and
guard Adam Harrington of N.C State.
UNC guard Jason Capel barely
missed making the team and finished
sixth in toe voting.
The Sports Editor can be reached at
sports@unc.edu.
something the Tar Heels aren’t neces
sarily used to.
In years past, UNC has been blessed
with potent upperclassmen, including
last year’s squad that featured four
senior starters. This year’s team has just
three seniors total with a combined
dual-meet record of 12-19.
But with toe resurgeance of freshmen
Matt Kenny (21-8) and Brad Byers (28-
11), the Tar Heels should have enough
depth to sweep through the ACC tour
ney once again, with or without Bendey.
“I’ve been impressed with all of our
freshmen this year,” Bendey said. “I think
they’ve worked really hard, and they’ll
be pretty successful this weekend.”
The Sports Editor can be reached at
sports@unc.edu.
9