The Tennessean from Nashville, Tennessee • Page 19

Mil' JgVKJ110 UT FOOTBALL Spring practice gets started Page 8C Jeff Legwold 2C NHL 6C Scoreboard 7C TUESDAY, MARCH 17, 1998 ft 't i Larry Woody 'IS fi' By JIMMY DAVY Senior Writer WINSTON-SALEM, N.C The first three rounds of the NIT always have a hometown flavor. Only the NIT Final Four is conducted on a neutral court, Madison Garden in New York. As as might be expected, the home team most always wins the earlier games. So a shorthanded Vanderbilt team (19-12) has a fight on its hands to extend the season when it and a 4-8 run this year through the SEC Tournament's first round. In retrospect much of Vandy's late troubles could be traced to sophomore point guard Atiba Prater's painful pulled groin muscle injury, which occurred Feb.

7. He played some games, but was never as effective in the stretch and finally was declared out indefinitely after reaggravating the injury in the Turn to PAGE 4C, Column 1 survivor of the State game in Raleigh, also tonight The third round will be Friday at a site to be named. Crowd size at these second-round games will be pivotal in deciding where to play. The Wake Forest-Vanderbilt game has all the makings of an NCAA collision, with these teams owning the best two power ratings of any teams that didnt make the NCAA tournament and a far better RPI than many that did. "Second-round NIT games, for sure, are as tough as any in the NCAA," Wake Forest Coach Dave Odom said.

"I look at it as being two teams that had the capability to play in the NCAA, but didnt get there because others were playing better at more opportune times." This certainly is the case for Vanderbilt, which has the identical record it took to the NCAA Midwest Regional last year. The difference was a 7-9 finish the previous season VANDERBILT TONIGHT I The Commodores travel to Wake Forest for a second round NIT game at 6:30 p.m. TV: ESPN. Radio: 650-AM. Lineups, 4C.

plays Wake Forest (16-13) tonight at Lawrence Joel Coliseum, where the Deacons are 60-3 against non-ACC teams. Tonight's winner will play the This Knight is falling on his sword Ota uwo Stars set to shine for cause Event on April 27 to aid food bank By JIMMY DAVY Senior Writer There is a new prc-celebrity golf tournament in the area, and event organizers say it has growth potential. Eighteen PGA and LPGA regulars including Paul Azinger, Betsy King, Scott Simpson and Larry 1 1 i mite win juui iff 4i ii.afa.'. ceieDnues ana paying corporate amateur partners in the 18-hole Harvest Classic on April 27 at The Legends North Course in Franklin. The tourna- ment Win benefit Second Harvest Food Bank.

Other pros confirmed to play are Bobby Clampett, Brad Fabel, David Ogrin, Loren Roberts, Paul Stan-kowski, Patty Jordan, Barb Mucha, Alison Nicholas and Wendy Ward. 5 i i lnriniwm i ine iisi oi ceieDnues is sun Deing compiled, organizers said. "Mainly it is a tournament that involves pros and celebrities that i. Basketball's enduring saga of Dr. Jekyll and Coach Hyde is mercifully over for another season.

Now the question that hangs in the hush after the storm is not so much will Bobby Knight return for another season at Indiana, but should he? For years, turmoil has followed Knight like a mongrel puppy. He has survived a lifetime of "last straws" acts and antics that would've gotten the plug pulled on any other coach at any other school. The only reason Knight kept his job was because he won. That tells us a lot about the state of college athletics. Knight got to coach last week's NCAA tournament opener only after he paid a $10,000 fine for verbal ref bashing.

The Hoosiers' second-round loss to Connecticut ended Knight's tournament run. Maybe it should end his career as well. Knight has been out of control for years, a human powder keg with a short fuse. Yet it is impossible to dismiss Knight as merely a rogue coach waiting for a Woody Hayes-type final act of self-destruction. There's another side to Knight and that complicates the equation.

Two of Knight's closest friends, in and out of the profession, are former MTSU coach Jimmy Earle and ex-Vanderbilt coach CM. Newton. Earle and Newton were Knight's opposites during their coaching days, yet both were among his staunch defenders. "Bobby is one of the most misunderstood people I've ever known," said Earle, who once had Knight as a houseguest. Knight was trying to unwind from the season with a fishing trip to Center Hill Lake.

"IVe known Bobby for a lot of years, and there's nobody I respect more. Sometimes he lets his emotions get out of control. But he runs a clean program and the guy bleeds integrity. The game would be better off with more coaches like him." Newton agreed. "I admire almost everything about Bobby," said Newton, who got Vanderbilt home-and-away games with the Hoosiers through his Knight friendship.

"He stands for a lot of good things in our game. Granted, sometimes he can be his own worst enemy, but he also does a lot of good things that tend to get overshadowed." IVe seen both Knights, the good and the bad. During his Murfreesboro stay, Knight granted an interview even though he had ordered Earle to keep the media away. He was gracious and witty, talking about everything from Wyoming trout fishing to the then-new 3-point rule. When I left, I was a confirmed Bobby Knight fan.

Not too long afterward, Knight came to Nashville to speak to a Newton coaching clinic. I asked Knight what he thought about paying athletes a stipend and he unleashed one of his patented profane tirades. I walked out convinced that Bobby Knight was a jerk. So what do I think of Knight now? Like a lot of folks, I'm not sure. I have conflicting emotions.

But it's clear he is a coach on the edge, pressing his luck. If Knight cant master his emotions, he should get out for his sake as well as for the sake of the game and the school he professes to love so much. The only person who can save Bobby Knight is Bobby Knight Larry Woody Is a Tennessean sports writer and columnist. He can be reached at 259-8019. IP A are iamny-orientea, ior a great cause," said Stan Moser, one of the organizers.

Moser said the idea for the tournament came from Steve Camp, a Christian music recording artist, and Clampett. Chuck Tilly is the tournament director. The tournament will be an 8 a.m. shotgun start with celebrities and DELORES DELVINSTAFF Tennessee's Chamique Holdsclaw puts up a shot between Western Kentucky's Leslie Johnson, left and Shea Lunsford, right, during the second round of the Women's NCAA Tournament. Holdsclaw finished with 34 points.

Lady Vols pull away from Western Ky. By CHRIS LOW son-Boling Arena. Already, two No. 1 seeds have been ousted, and No. 2 seed Alabama survived Sunday night thanks only to a botched call by the officials and a slow-starting clock.

Tennessee, though, remains alive and well. The second-round victory means the Lady Vols (35-0) will venture just three hours from home for the Mideast Regional semifinals and finals in Tennessee, vying for an unprec tucky had pulled within 52-46 with 11:45 remaining. Over the next minute, Holdsclaw drilled a baseline jumper, swooped in for a breakaway layup after a steal and scored underneath thanks to a sleek pass from Tami-ka Catchings. Suddenly, Tennessee was back up by 12 points. The lead never shrunk under double digits the rest of the way.

The Lady Toppers (26-9) were Turn to PAGE 5C, Column 6 edented third straight national championship, will face Rutgers on Saturday night in Memorial Gym in one semifinal game. North Carolina will meet Illinois, which beat Cal Santa Barbara 69-65 last night in the other semifinal. The times have been set for 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m., but the order of games has yet to be determined. Holdsclaw finished with a game-high 34 points, including 22 in the second half.

But her most crucial contribution came midway through the second half after Western Ken mat Pros will play their own shots. Only 5,000 tickets ($10 each) will be sold due to limited parking at Legends. More details will be announced at a news conference this morning. "The Harvest Classic joins several other high-profile golf tournaments in the area, including the LPGA's Sara Lee Classic (May 8-10 at Hermitage), the Senior PGA's BellSouth Senior Classic (June 12-14 at Spring-house) and The Vinny, Vince Gill's prc-celebrity tournament (Aug. 3-4 at the Golf Club of Tennessee).

Sports Writer KNOXVILLE The top-ranked Tennessee Lady Vols didnt want to be next. Chamique Holdsclaw wouldn't let them be next. The lunacy that has gripped this NCAA women's tournament didnt catch hold of Tennessee last night, largely because Holdsclaw took matters into her own hands when things got tight and shot UT to an 82-62 victory over Western Kentucky before 10,838 fans in Thomp- Track developer confident of 2000 launch By LARRY WOODY Sports Writer Races will be run on Nashville's new superspeedway in the 2000 season, developer Denis McGlynn promises, although a Winston Cup race remains a long shot McGlynn, in town for Sunday's NASCAR Busch Series race at Nashville Speedway, remains confident of meeting his goal of having the new track operating in two years. "We can build the facility in a year," said McGlynn, president and CEO of Dover (Del.) Downs Speedway, which is building the new track in partnership with Gaylord he said, adding that there is currently no indication from NASCAR that Nashville will get one of the premier events. If not, McGlynn said he is confident the track can support crowds of 50,000 with other NASCAR races, such as Busch Series events, as well as Indy-car races.

He said he has "already been in contact" with Indy-car officials about potential dates. McGlynn, noting Sunday's crowd of 19,500 that packed Nashville Speedway for the Busch race, said he remains sold on the area racing market next few weeks, "and would like to be turning dirt by the end of the summer." McGlynn would not disclose the location of any of the potential sites. He said some are inside Davidson County, some outside. Initial plans call for spending $30 million to $35 million to build a l'i-mile to 1-mile track with initial seating capacity of 50,000. McGlynn said it will be designed so that 100,000 more seats can be added, in case Nashville should get a Winston Cup race sometime in the future.

"We want to be prepared for a Cup date if one should come along," Entertainment The project was announced in November and since that time a search has been under way for a suitable site on which to construct the track. "We have several parcels under contract" McGlynn said. He said the next step is to have engineers check each parcel for underlying rock formations, drainage and other potential problems or obstructions, and determine which site is most suitable for racetrack construction. McGlynn said he expected to have the final site selected in the New feature debuts today Today marks the debut of The Tennessean's Racing Report, which will focus on NASCAR and local auto racing and will be written by Larry Woody and Charles Searcy. Look for it each Tuesday through the summer.

See page 3C. Nkklaus gets exemption for U.S. Open When Jack Nicklaus was not among those given exemptions to the U.S. Open by the USGA in January it appeared his streak of consecutive major -x) i La Vergne star commits to Georgetown La Vergne basketball star Willie Taylor, a 6-foot-5 senior, committed to play at Georgetown for Coach John Thompson after making an official visit to the Big East school last week. Taylor averaged 27.8 points and 10.7 rebounds per game this past season.

Story on 8C. Sounds on 560-AM The Nashville Sounds will have a new radio home this year as WYOR-AM (560) will broadcast all 143 games, the Triple-A team announced yesterday. Steve Selby will be the play-by-play announcer. Chuck Valenches will give commentary. He joins the Sounds after two years with Detroit's Double-Ateam in Jacksonville, Fla.

The Sounds' season opener is April 7 at Des Monies. WYOR also broadcasts Ice Flyers, Kats, Belmont basketball and Vanderbilt baseball games. Sports Editor John Gibson, 259-8022 Assistant Sports Editors: Laurie E. Holloway, 259-8299 Michael Jones, 259-8013 Kevin Procter, 259-8014 Senior Writers: Jimmy Davy, 259-8298 David Climer, 259-8020 To report sports news: 259-8010 Sports fax: 259-8826 E-mail tips: trsportstennessean.com Ewing eyes playoff return First said to be out for the season, the New York Knicks Patrick Ewing is recovering from reconstructive wrist surgery quicker than expected. He is expected to announce today he will try to be back by the NBA playoffs.

NBA on 6C. championship would end at 145 after this year's Masters. But yesterday the USGA gave Nicklaus special exemptions for the next three tournaments through the year 2000. On 2C. 'A i p.

Detroit Pistons' Grant Hill tries to cover a loose ball In their ga ie with the Miami Heat.