caps Page 22 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Boston College Eagles
1. Our coach scared "the crap" out of Pitino. Forget the sophomoric jabs against coach Al Skinner. Sure Skinner and 1987 Kentucky Derby winner Alysheba have never been seen in the same place at the same time, and, all right, Skinner has an inexplicable mock turtleneck fetish, but so what? Skinner's ...

Texas Tech Red Raiders
1. Nic Cage Likes Them Out of the East. The "Masked Rider" mascot of Texas Tech began unofficially in 1936 as "The Ghost Rider," as unknown groups of students would circle the field on horses at home football games, then depart the stadium. At the 1954 Gator Bowl, The Masked Rider became the officia...

Pittsburgh Panthers
1. The Name Game. Pitt's starting lineup includes a lanky Canadian forward with stupid lines shaved in his head and a compact cornrowed point guard formerly of the famed New York Gauchos AAU team. One is named Levance and another is named Levon, but can you tell which is which?...

Xavier Musketeers
1. Can't touch this! Junior guard Stanley Burrell is the second leading scorer for the Musketeers. No, not that Stanley Burrell!. The Xavier student section had nicknamed him "The Hammer" before he even set foot on campus....

Indiana Hoosiers
1. Larry Bird and What Might Have Been. The 1976 Indiana Hoosiers—the last undefeated team in men's college basketball history—are generally considered to be the second-best team of all time behind 1968 UCLA. But remember that West Baden/French Lick native Larry Bird was successfully recruited by Bo...

Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
1. You Might Be A Yellow Jacket ... Sure, the most famous Georgia Tech — because we're talking about the university here, I will refer to them by their official name, "The Georgia Institute of Technology" — alumnus is Jimmy Carter, who was (reportedly) President of the United States and also won the...

Tennessee Volunteers
1. The machines ... they're getting smarter. UT's freshman class has overcome being labeled "The Fab Five" by Knoxville media outlets to become a legitimate driving force on the court. Top-50 recruits Duke Crews, Wayne Chism and Ramar Smith have been particularly effective, finishing the regular sea...

Purdue Boilermakers
1. Turnaround. The Boilermakers reached the 20-win mark for the first time since the 2000 season. Their 11-game turnaround from last season's nine-win campaign is one of the five best in the nation. Furthermore, their RPI at the end of last season was 175; this year it's 47. (For a point of comparis...

Michigan State Spartans
1. Drew Me Baby One More Time. Use both hands, please If you can overlook the disturbing visual similarities between Drew Neitzel and Britney Spears (she just wanted to look like him). There's a lot to appreciate about the Spartans leader. When he was 12, Drew won the national 2-ball championshipm w...

Wither The Bearcats? (And The Wolverines ... And The Seminoles ... And The ...)
We're not quite sure how this whole RPI thing works — foolishly, we did not major in bracketology in college — but we know a pissed-off coach when we see one. Cincinnati's Andy Kennedy is none to pleased with his Bearcats being left out of the NCAA Tournament, and unless we miss our guess, right a...

Florida State Seminoles
1. Jennifer Sterger And Her Friends Are Not The Hottest Girls On Campus. And it's really not even close. The FSU Cowgirls are certainly the most famous pretty faces on the Internet from FSU, but a stroll through campus reveals that girls as attractive as Jen and her pals — or moreso — are pretty com...

Michigan Wolverines
1. Head Coach Tommy Amaker Is Squeaky Clean. That's what you would expected for a four-year starter under Mike Krzyzewski. But as good as Amaker played at Duke, he and the other five former Duke assistant coaches under Mike Krzyzewski have 13 NCAA appearances in the equivalent of 53 seasons to their...

Missouri State Bears
1. This Is The Best Missouri State Team In History. This is sort of like saying that my pet snake is my best friend even though he's my only friend, but still. The school changed its name from Southwest Missouri State following last year s centennial celebration. So technically this is the best team...

Creighton Bluejays
1. Trust The Frosh With The Rock. Creighton was 17-5 for the season before losing true freshman point guard Josh Dotzler to a knee injury, and went 2-4 without Dotzler, who will be back for the NCAA tournament. Dotzler isn't the first true freshman to start at the point for Creighton: Dotzler succee...

Cincinnati Bearcats
1. Bob Huggins Won Lots Of Games And Has Lots Of Baggage. In 16 seasons at Cincinnati, Huggins won 399 games and took the Bearcats to 14 consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances. Of course he is just as well known for not graduating his players - 20 percent during his tenure, losing regularly in the ...

Hofstra Pride
1. What's in A Name? The team nickname was The Flying Dutchmen forever, and then it was changed to Pride in 2001. There was actually a bit of an uproar over this change, with many "well-educated" Hofstra alumni worried that the athletic teams would now be "gay" ... because, you know, Flying Dutchmen...

St. Joseph's Hawks
1. They Were Nearly "The Bomb." The famed Hawk mascot turned 50 this year, but the team nickname has been around since 1929, when a student yearbook editor started a contest for naming the athletic teams. "Hawks" just barely beat out "Grenadiers," the name of World War I soldiers who specialized in ...

Oral Roberts Golden Eagles
1. Bill Self Was There Back When He Had Real Hair. Kansas' toupeed head coach started his coaching career at Oral Roberts in the mid '90s, a mere 10 years ago. He turned the team around, raising their record from 6-21 in 1995 to 21-6 in 1997, after which he went to Tulsa, Illinois and finally Kansas...

North Carolina State Wolfpack
1. State's Backup Big Man Can Strike Your Ass Out. Reserve forward Andrew Brackman is a decent college basketball player, but he's an outstanding pitching prospect. At 6'10", Brackman is a mullet-less Randy Johnson. 2. Mascot Love. State has both male and female mascots, creatively named Mr. and Mr...

West Virginia Mountaineers
1. They Have Horny Wives. Heather Pittsnogle, wife of handsome Kevin, has been spotted at games and on campus wearing a t-shirt that says, "I Got Pittsnogled" and features an arrow pointing downwards at her girl genitals. Beat that, Jackie Christie....