Latest Cheerleader Commentary

LITTLE ROCK, Ar., — So I know you all enjoyed that post about Texas' cheerleaders, so here's one on Miami's.
The Hurricane squad here at the opening rounds of the NCAA Tournament has seven guys and five girls. Now, it's not as bad as Texas A&M and their "Yell Leaders" and their lack of cheerleaders, but seriously, how can you justify this?
Male cheerleaders are for lifting. It doesn't take seven guys to lift five girls. So, two of them end up spotting. At this level, you don't need spotters (though one Miami girl did take a tumble...) so they just stand their tapping on their megaphones.
Points for the classic Miami attire, points deducted for the guys that stand around.

Texas women fall in quarters

KANSAS CITY, MO -- Well I'm in Kansas City, but I was on the road when the Longhorns' impressive run ended at the hands of Oklahoma State. The Cowgirls won 75-72, and the Longhorn women are on the bubble for the NCAA tournament. Their chances of making the field of 64 look pretty good though as they finished the season by winning five of their last six games.
The team learns its fate Monday, March 17 during the NCAA Women's Basketball Selection Special.

On a personal note, Kansas City is still unimpressive. Exits are in short supply, so if you wind up on a freeway, you'd better be headed in the right direction. Otherwise, a five-minute drive might turn into a 45-minute drive. (Don't blame me, I wasn't driving.)
Another thing, restaurants are either rare in these parts or hidden. If you're looking for Church's Chicken, McDonalds or Denny's you'll do fine, but everything else — even that world-famous barbecue — seems fairly evasive. Tomorrow we plan to hunt it down though.

By the way, I recorded a Texas preview for U-Wire and CSTV for the NCAA Tournament. It'll air between the conference tourney and the Big Dance, check it out if you want to be unimpressed.

Commendations and Condemnations

Looking back: commendations, condemnations

By: Ryan Killian

Posted: 5/3/07

As the semester draws to a close, it seems a good idea to hand out what I like to call Killian's Commendations and Condemnations. Ok, I just made that up on the spot, but it will work splendidly.

First, a commendation to Kevin Durant. Bet you didn't see that coming.

Texas has grown to be respectable as a basketball school, but with Durant around you couldn't talk college basketball without bringing up the Longhorns. The 6-foot-9-inch kid wonder averaged a double-double during his too-short stay, and now he's headed toward stardom and riches in the NBA.

Staying in-house, my first condemnation goes to the University of Texas Board of Regents. "Sawing 'em off" may be low, but taking Aggieland Outfitters to court over it was even lower. Rivalries should be bitter and a little dirty.

They shouldn't be fought in a courtroom though.

Texas outfielder Kyle Russell is to be commended for his impressive play this season. He just made the list of finalists for the USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award.

And with good reason.

The kid's leading the nation in home runs with 24, and his slugging percentage of .884 is tops too. He's already broken Jeff Ontiveros' team record of 20 home runs. Considering that home runs are baseball's sexiest stat, and that the sport's most glamorous element, power, is reflected in slugging percentage, it's safe to compare them with, say, touchdowns in football or average points in basketball. Neither Vince Young or Durant ever led their respective leads in those stats.

Just sayin', it's something to think about.

Billy and Bob get to share a dose of condemnation. Billy Gillespie, formerly of Texas A&M, took his "aw, shucks" approach to Kentucky. Bob Huggins took off for West Virginia, leaving Kansas State, resuscitators of his coaching career, in the lurch. Both coaches had it made in the Big 12. Gillespie commanded a huge contract with the Aggies, while Huggins had the run of Aggieville after almost getting the Wildcats into the NCAA tourney.

Both gave their thanks by saying goodbye, Gillespie via text message.

Conference winners always deserve their fair share of commendations, and Texas has three programs currently in possession of a Big 12 title. The soccer team won theirs last semester, but overlooking them wouldn't be right. After beating Colorado in penalty kicks to take the title, Texas earned a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament, and it took a meeting with that perennial powerhouse Portland to end their season in the third round. When all was said and done, the No. 8 ranking the team was left with marked its highest final ranking in team history.

Men's swimming and diving won their conference championship in February - for the 11th straight time. These guys are good. Their domination was rewarded in early April when, between veteran Garrett Weber-Gale and freshman Ricky Berens, they swept Swimmer of the Year and Newcomer of the Year respectively. They finished in fifth place at the NCAA championships - and were disappointed.

The men's indoor track and field program also got a taste of the title, splitting it with Nebraska. After dominating in the heptathlon, Texas also won the high jump, distance medley, mile run and 800-meter run on their way to 93 points and the tie atop the leader board.

Now the quick hits, the harsh, judgmental stuff first.

Jevan Snead. Sometimes competitors sit the bench. Snead transferred to Ole Miss after he couldn't wrestle away the starting job from Colt McCoy. Women's golf team, you started the season with a 16th-place finish in New Mexico. You ended it with a 10th-place finish in the Big 12 championship. A little improvement, or competitiveness, would have been nice.

To end on a positive note, here's a few more things that caught my eye.

NCAA, good call on separating text messaging and recruiting. WTG. You seven NFL draftees, and you two that signed free-agent deals, you know who you are, congratulations. Lastly, check 2B of next Wednesday's Daily Texan. I'm counting 32 female athletes who pulled off 4.0 GPAs in the last calendar year. That's impressive. I've never done it for a single semester.

Oklahoma City Miracle?

Oklahoma City, Okla. -- Ok, so it's never a miracle when a team with the best player in the country beats a team that lost to Oral Roberts at home, but no one here is giving Texas much of a chance against Kansas. They're playing for the Big 12 tournament title at the Ford Center in about an hour, and I'm among the many expecting KU to win.

Texas hasn't looked especially good in either of their first two games, and Kevin Durant has yet to put together two good halves. D.J. Augustine seems to be taking about 30 minutes of floor time before warming up and finding his groove, and Connor Atchley is, well, he's Connor Atchley. A.J. Abrams is Texas' most consistent performer here in OKC, and his specialty is the fickle-by-nature three-pointer.

Meanwhile, Kansas is looking fine, and that's enough to beat the Longhorns if they keep underperforming. To be fair, Durant's had two incredible halves to go with his to ho-hum halves, and Augustine made a huge shot against Baylor, then several shots down the stretch versus Oklahoma State. If they can get hot together and stay that way, Texas' chances increase exponentially.

***

After much soul searching and serious debate, Cody Hale and I have decided we'd rather live in Oklahoma City than Texas' panhandle. This has more to do with how awful the panhandle is than how great OKC is, but this town's not that bad if you stay in a select few areas.

When I say a 'select few', I'm giving OKC the benefit of the doubt. The only nice place we've found is Bricktown, but we haven't explored much. There are plenty of restaurants on and around downtown's knockoff Riverwalk, and the bars look nice from the outside. Circumstances beyond our control prevented us from checking out Skyy Bar or any of the others, but given the chance, we would have. We ate at Toby Keith's I Love this Bar and Grill, and a 1-hour 10-minute break not withstanding, it was pretty good. The cover band was too loud for conversation, but at least they sounded alright. The ribs were delicious, and the fried okra, "freedom fries," and caesar salad were all good. The corn bread was nothing special, but the cheap beer to wash it down with made up for it.

***

Alright, 30 minutes till tipoff, time to get my game face on.
Quick, meaningless predictions:
Texas loses, 65-75
Durant scores 28
Craig Winder has three steals, three fouls and two points
Texas gets into the NCAA tourney as a 4 seed

Goldthwaite girl makes good, Texas town takes note

Jody Conradt, her team and a little town 2 hours northwest of Austin can finally breathe a long sigh of relief.

Conradt won her 900th game Tuesday night after losing six of her last seven, making her one of two coaches in the entire NCAA basketball landscape to reach that mark. Pat Summitt at Tennessee is the other. Conradt's left such legends as John Wooden, Dean Smith and Phog Allen in her wake.

While winning those hundreds of games - and a national title to boot - Conradt's earned attention and respect, receiving spots in multiple halls of fame. But no one's taken more notice of her than the people of Goldthwaite.

Goldthwaite boasts about 2,000 residents. It's the town where Conradt grew up, where she averaged more than 40 points a game during her four years in high school. And, according to Mayor Mike McMahan, it's the town she put on the map.

"We just feel fortunate she's from here, and we've known her all our life," McMahan said.

The 55-year-old McMahan has kept a close eye on Conradt's career, as has most of Goldthwaite's population. A sign near the city limits declares you're approaching her hometown.

Conradt's squad has struggled this season and will need a large dose of benevolence from the NCAA selection committee to compete in this season's tourney, but Conradt's accomplishment should not be overlooked.

Nor should the team. While the Longhorns have notched a modest 18 wins, they've beaten No. 11 Oklahoma and No. 13 Texas A&M. They've shown that when they put their minds to it, they can beat some of the top teams in the nation. With 64 bids to hand out, the selection committee just might be able to find a spot for the Texas team. ESPN's Bracketology currently projects the team as a 12 seed.

That was before they lost 67-58 Wednesday night against the Sooners. The ground these women stand on couldn't be any shakier.

"We're hopeful," Conradt said. "I think our team did everything they could do to try play themselves into the tournament."

But even if Conradt fails to put a team in the field of 64 for the second straight year, she knows she has loyal, albeit frustrated, fans in Goldthwaite.

"When we get beat, or when things are down, we all hurt," McMahan said.

"We all" is the 99.9 percent of town residents that he estimates know who she is. Their kids practice in the same gym that she started her basketball career in. Goldthwaite Eagles look up to her - their reminder that growing up in a pixel of a town doesn't mean they can't affect the world.

"Jody continues to be a role model," McMahan said. "Not only for girls, but for young men around here."