November 20, 2000 | Volume 93, Issue 21

After having had a taste of success last March, the young Illini hunger for more

Can the Flint connection again provide the spark that ignites a championship run?

A pair of comeback stories could help produce a happy ending for the Jayhawks

After an unexpected trip to the Sweet 16, the Pirates have that old swagger back

How far the Vols go will again depend on whether their go-to guy goes south

Forte is again a strong point for the Heels, who also hope height means might

Despite key losses, the Gators have the experience to return to the title hunt

The Cardinal wants to make up for recent tournament failures—and look good doing it

The senior-laden Badgers again hope that experience can trump raw athletic talent

A discouraged NBA aspirant has raised hopes for a return to glory in Westwood

With 11 players back, last year's surprise SEC champs are primed for an encore

Southern Cal's starting five can play with anyone; its bench is another story

The Wildcats' frontcourt is fortified by the late acquisition of a blue-chip recruit

For complete men's and women's Division I schedules, stats and scores, go to cnnsi.com/basketball/college. Plus swap hoops talk with SI's Tim Crothers every Monday at 1 p.m. EST.

Mike Brey's tranquility and Troy Murphy's talent have the Irish thinking NCAAs

Two freshmen will be counted on to make this a balanced—and dangerous—team

The Hoyas now know that in the end their season had better be spelled NCAA, not NIT

A trio of promising newcomers could turn a rebuilding year into a season to remember

Here are the 45 other schools that SI projects will fill out the NCAA tournament field of 64. If our math seems fuzzy, bear in mind that there's a play-in game on Tuesday, March 13, between the...

No matter how she wears her hair, UConn's two-time All-America forward, Svetlana Abrosimova, has the look of a winner

Can UConn win a second straight title? Huskies coach Geno Auriemma guarantees it

1 Connecticut2 Tennessee3 Georgia4 Purdue5 Notre Dame6 Duke8 LSU9 Rutgers10 Iowa State11 Louisiana Tech

For women's college basketball news, scores, schedules, stats and rosters, plus Trisha Blackmar's analysis, go to cnnsi.com/basketball/college/women.

Whether you're looking for a nice knish, perfect pastrami or a peerless playmaking guard, the best place to look is New York City. And the tradition continues with three new Big East point men

A midsummer gathering of Big Apple playmakers past and present on a Manhattan rooftop court produced a human timeline that stretched from the 1950s to this season.

For more on New York City's best point guards, including interviews and video from SI's photo shoot, go to cnnsi.com/basketball/college.

SI assembled a blue-ribbon panel of New York City hoopheads to come up with a ranking of the alltime Top 40 Gotham playmakers. When all the arguing over which player belonged where came to a stop,...

Hand in GloverPanthers quarterback Steve Beuerlein has his shirt wrinkled by Saints defensive tackle La'Roi Glover as he's sacked for the seventh time during New Orleans's 20-10 victory (page 44).

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Working OvertimeThe abundance of OT games has brought thrills and an element of luck

North Carolina State junior linebacker Levar Fisher has flourished under first-year coach Chuck Amato, who has given Fisher the opportunity to make more plays by shifting him from the strong side...

Entering this season there had been 99 overtime games—and never more than 26 in a year—since the NCAA instituted overtime in 1996. With three weeks left in the season, 32 OT games have already...

Air Force senior quarterback Mike Thiessen has a strong arm, but over the last three years he showed it on the baseball field—where he has started at shortstop and centerfield for the Falcons—more...

•Oregon (9-1) at Oregon State (9-1)The Ducks have won one nail-biter after another, while the Beavers have steadily gotten stronger. A win won't put Oregon State in the Rose Bowl unless Washington...

Rocky Calmus may be mild-mannered, but he'll knock your block off

Special TeamA Trent Green-Bud Carson parlay put the Rams back on track

Last week the Patriots gave their leading receiver, wideout Terry Glenn, a six-year, $50 million contract extension, but the deal is deceiving because only the $3.9 million signing bonus is...

My Two Cents

Just how good are the Rams anyway? Two Sundays ago they were heavy favorites over Carolina and lost. It seemed that they couldn't find any focus without Marshall Faulk in the lineup. So last...

Taking His Best ShotsNew Knick Glen Rice is still steamed about how he was treated by the Lakers last season

Tim Hardaway made weight on Nov. 6 in the first of 24 weekly regular-season weigh-ins. "He was at 195 pounds today, 7½ percent body fat, so he's really committed to conditioning," Miami president...

Look at the Player of the Year, scrubbing his hands like a surgeon—50,100 times a day. How can the best athlete in school, the most handsome, with a 4.15 GPA, have such filthy hands?

The problem isn't the length of baseball games, It's that Rick Reilly has the attention span of a five-year-old.—JOHN OSTER, New Haven, Conn.

Letters to SPORTS ILLUSTRATED should include the name, address and home telephone number of the writer. They may be mailed to The Editor, Sports Illustrated, 135 West 50th Street, New York, N.Y....

JULY 2, 1984

The all-knowing Carnac again has the questions to sports' most pressing answers-even the one about Anna Kournikova's love life

Highlights

Phil Mickelson's rocketlike drive cuts through the hazy sky in a majestic arc before falling to earth. As Mickelson stands in the tee box admiring his moon shot, the real rocket science has just...

Go-Cam was underused during NBC's innovative NASCAR coverage

Nothing follows a hearty meal like a long nap, so there's no excuse for not being well-rested for Thursday night's opening-round Great Alaska Shootout game between DePaul and Syracuse (ESPN,...

Tiger does, and despite his reservations, he realizes it

Greg Norman, 1994. Tour squelched his idea of global events for elite players and then came up with the World Golf Championships, which are global events for elite players.

Democrats and Republicans obsessing over a few hundred votes in the Florida recount have nothing on Red Sox fans: In 1999 Pedro Martinez lost the American League MVP award to Ivan Rodriguez by 13...

Here's a quick look at some of the sports-related voting results from Nov. 7.

4Age of Toni Stadler, who, while strapped to an adult jumpmaster's chest, sky jumped from 10,000 feet above Melkbosstrand, South Africa.

There won't be a bonfire this year at Texas A&M, but there will be a flame. At 2:42 a.m. on Saturday, the university will hold a candlelight ceremony to remember the 11 A&M students and...

Would you favor or oppose a ban on the music played before each player's at bat during a baseball game?

Killed•In a cable car fire in the Austrian Alps, Sandra Schmitt, 19, of Germany. She won the dual moguls title at the 1999 freestyle skiing world championships and finished second in the event in...

Howard Cosell is returning to television. Last week brought news that comedian Fred Willard would play the sportscaster in ABC's upcoming telepic about the Billie Jean King-Bobby Riggs tennis...

How many fights do you work a year?

A Celtics charter flight was delayed for two hours in Toronto because of smoke emanating from steaks sizzling in the galley.

ANDY MACPHAILCubs general manager, on his negotiations with agent Adam Katz over a contract extension for Sammy Sosa: "I've talked to Adam almost as often as my wife, and I'm not making any more...

Margaret Beadle, BATON ROUGESwimmingMargaret, a senior at the University Lab School, got two golds at the city championships, winning the 200-yard freestyle in 1:54.10 and breaking a 12-year-old...

Guidance for those lost in sports

The Saints—minus Ricky Williams—will have to lean hard on their ferocious defense

David Tua's 'do and his power were undone by the withering jabs of Lennox Lewis, who retained his heavyweight titles by decision. So why doesn't the champ get more respect?

Four years after waking up to his failings in baseball, 28-year-old Florida State quarterback Chris Weinke is chasing a second national title and the Heisman

Chris Weinke isn't the only starting college quarterback with pro baseball experience. Five others have taken their turns on the diamond, with only Drew Henson of Michigan (below) still pursuing a...

Florida's sack-happy Alex Brown hopes to short-circuit Weinke

In an exclusive interview Marty McSorley discusses his on-ice assault of Donald Brashear and the resulting suspension, the longest in NHL history

In this election year, SI had panels of players cast their votes and speak their minds about the best and worst in the college game

A poll of his peers found that Duke's Shane Battier, who's almost too good to be true, is their favorite for player of the year

Look carefully: Many of the most promising pro prospects in college hoops play at schools where few can see them

ACC and Big Ten powers pack SI's top 5, but can those teams, or any other contenders, hang with mighty Arizona?

For college basketball team pages, schedules, stats and rosters, plus the latest news and analysis from Grant Wahl and Seth Davis, go to cnnsi.com/basketball/college.

How confident are these Wildcats? They're already staking out their place in history

The Blue Devils figure the quickest path to another title is defined by their two points

With all five starters back, the Terrapins had better finally make the Final Four

•Weir'dIf Tiger never hits it in the water at the 17th at Valderrama, he wins number 10 by two strokes.

Money talked as the tour closed the season at the American Express Championship, Mike Weir got in the last word

In a new book about life on Tour, a bagman breaks a caddie commandment

He holds the record for the longest drive ever in competition, and he hit it when he was 64

Tour CasualtiesIdentity Crisis

The world Golf Championships are in big trouble. The season-ending American Express event at Valderrama was a depressing exercise in excess, and the next two world championships, the Dec. 7-10...

What do these players have in common?

Should the USGA have different rules for professional and amateur golfers?

The real business of golf concludes for the year at this week's LPGA Arch Wireless Championship in Daytona Beach, Fla. Now it's time for the Silly Season, a dozen exhibitions for fun and funny...

Alan Schulte, Fishers, Ind.Schulte, 38, an assistant at Hillcrest Country Club in Indianapolis, took the PGA's Assistant Professional title by holing a five-foot par putt on the 72nd hole. He beat...

Last week George W. Bush and Al Gore weren't the only ones wondering about their futures