The Daily Advertiser from Lafayette, Louisiana • 15

Classified Connection Sports LET US KNOW If you have any questions about today sports stones or a story idea please call Sports Edrtor Kevin Foole at 289-6317 or e-mal ktoote theadverttser com Tuesday. February 8. 2105 SEE PAGE 4C www.lheadvertiser.coiR Page 1C Miles interviews OU's Pelini to run defense Gordon bolsters defense Glenn finllhnan Louisiana Gannett News Service BATON ROUGE LSU foot ball coach Ijes Miles may have saved his best defensive oxirdi nator candidate for last Miles said Monday he will nnounce all or most of his coaching staff, including defen i oordinator on Thursdav The long awaited defensive coordinator may be Oklahoma rodefensive coordinator Bo Pelini, who interviewed with Miles last week. Miles did not speak directly with reporters Monday, but LSI' officials confirmed Miles and by previous coaches Miles has interviewed for the defensive coordinator slot. Miles lost Cleveland Browns linebacker coach George Edwards to former LSU coach Nick Saban and the Miami Dolphins.

Fired Denver Broncos secondary coach David Gibbs. whose dad coached at Auburn, chose Auburn over LSU. And Ohio State defensive coordina tor Mark Snyder, who has no NFL experience, turned down LSU to stay at Ohio State. Pelini has the co-coordinator title, but he is second in command to co-coordinator Brent Venables at Oklahoma. In addition, Nebraska fin ished No.

2 to LSU in scoring defense that season with 14.5 points allowed to 11 by the Tigers and finished No. 11 in total defense (297.2 yards allowed a game) and in passing yards allowed a game (177.8). Pelini replaced fired Nebraska coach Frank Solich on an interim basis after the 2003 season before leaving for the codefen-sive coordinator position and secondary coach at Oklahoma for the 2004 season when Bill Callahan was hired. Pelim's numbers at Nebraska and his years in the NFL amid three stops are unmatched 1'elini have spoken. Reached on his cellular phone on Monday afternoon.

Pelini did not deny contact with Miles, but he would only say, "I don't really have any comment right now." Pelini fits precisely what Miles has said he is looking for in a defensive coordinator in that he has nine years of NFL experience as well as college experience and is a rising young coach Pelini. coached defensive backs with the San Francisco 49ers from 1994 96. coached line backers with the New England Patriots from 199799 and coached linebackers with the Green Bay Packers from 2000 02. The Packers' defense in 2002 fin l.shed fourth in the NFL in pass defense with 188.4 yards allowed a game. As defensive coordinator at Nebraska in 2003, Pelini took a group void of a lot of speed and talent and turned it into the No.

1 pass efficiency defense in the nation with an 88.66 rating. The Cornhuskers also led the nation in turnover margin and tied a 32-year-old school record with 47 takeaways. Patriots' dynasty Teurlings wraps up 6-3A crown Brady Aymond baymond a theadvertiser.com The top-ranked Teurlings Catholic Rebels locked up at the very least a share of the District 6-3A title here Monday night with an easy 85-61 win over Catholic High of New Iberia. The Rebels (26-4, 6-0) jumped out to a 25-5 lead in the first quarter before leading by 21 at the half. "We were everywhere in that first quarter," Teurlings coach Milton Rohm said.

"Troy (Young) hit those two 3-point-ers back to-back and before anyone knew what was happening, it was 6-0. And once our crowd gets into it in this place, it makes it difficult. "We just seemed to be in every passing lane. We picked off probably six or seven passes in that first quarter and covert-ed most of them into Page 2C: Updated state basketball polls. Michael Krieg mknrg trwadvvrt iwr urn ARKM RO In an attempt to solidify their blueline for the stretch ran.

the Innsiana IceGa ton acquired three defensemen Monday Coarh Todd Gordon announced the team has traded defenseman Randy Dagenais to Gwinnett in exchange for fellow defenseman Dave Mcf'ul loch Louisiana also acquired defensemen Paul Lynch and Dusttn from Charlotte for future considerations The trio are expected to join the club before it departs Wednesday night for a mad trip to Columbia and Greenville "It's no secret that we have needed a stay at home defenseman for a while." Gordon said "By addim; two players along with Dave McCul loch, 1 believe we have lidifted our blueline and are a better hockey team McCulloch, a rookie from Harvard, had six points 2. 4ai and was -3 in 40 games ith the Glad tatore. Met ulloch isn't expect ed to bring as much scor ing punch as Dagenais (32 points on 9g. 23a i. but Gor don is counting on him to a steady oMendtc i defensive defenseman." Gordon said "We're not having any problems scoring goals, but we re hav ing a real tough time keeping the puck out of our net good sue to Louisiana He has six assists and 44 penalty minutes during his rookie campaign Dustin had three points (lg.

2a) in 15 games for the Checkers "They re two stay at home defenders." Gordon said "We need obviously to be better in our zone These are guys that make the first pass Louisiana labored through Monday morn ing practice with 13 players (12 skaters, one goal tender) The IceGators were without forwards Dav id Bararak and Mark Rooneem and defenseman Chris Held All three are on recall to Houston of the AHL Bararuk was recalled late last week and Rooneem and Heid got the call Sunday. Louisiana also was without goal tender Kyle Kettles, who injured his leg during Sat urday's game in Beau mont SCOREBOARD College Basketball Men's Top 25 No 23 UConn 74 No 8 Syracuse 66 NalOOWa Sit 79. No. 14 OMa 67 No 24Vanova67.St Joseph 52 Jem $ww- ijK' Super Bowl MVP Dcion Branch says he staying put. JACKSONVILLE.

Fla AP) Deion Branch needed just fiv- little words to explain why the New England Patn haw won three of the last Asked Monday if he had am thoughts of leaving the when he becomef Mm restricted free agent, the Super Bowl MVP replied My home is in Foxboro Then, referring to team owner Robert Kraft. Branch added I'm proud of the fami ly that Mr Kraft has built An emphasis on winning over money is what drives the Patriots to success in an era when free agency and the salary cap force major turnover at most teams each MdJ irudftlTi in i jib N'l-xt Patriots cer tainlv will be different than this season The biggest losses are not players but coaches ifft-nsne coordinator Charlie We is is the new head coach at Notre Dame, and defensive coordinator Romeo Crennel accepted the Cleveland Browns' head coaching job immediately after Sunday night's game Crennel's move, which gives the NFL a record six black head coaches, was hard ly a secret As the Patriots' 24-M win over Philadelphia was ending, coach Bill Belichick put his arms around his two top aides in a gesture of affec tion and appreciation They will be hard to replace. "Romeo and Charlie have done a great job A lot of the success we've had should go to them. Belichick said Mon day 'I've been with them both a long time. I go back to 1981 with Romeo and I'll miss both of them a lot The Patriots might, too.

Next season, they will be seeking to become the first team to win three straight Super Bowls and the first to win four in five seasons. The San Francisco 49ers came closest to three NFL titles in a row. winning the points. We came out with 1 a lot of intensity and aggressiveness, ft was exactly the kind of start that we needed." The Rebels led by as many as 33 points in the second half before both teams started to go to their benches. Young pumped in a game-high 30 points to lead the Rebels.

Chad Songy helped out with 22 while Luke Aubrey-finished with 15 points. The Rebels have won their six district games by an average of 24 points. "It's tough to motivate them for each game," Rohm said. "It's a constant battle when you've won as much as we have and the teams that are playing against us haven't won a lot. Our kids aren't dumb, they read the papers, they know the records, they see the past scores.

"It's hard to not get complacent when you're the prohibitive favorites. But we have one Monday night that will get us out of that. We have one Monday night that will test us." Rohm is referring to next Monday's battle against the other top-ranked team from the north side of Lafayette the Northside Vikings. The Rebels and Vikings are scheduled to square off in a big playoff tuneup for both teams. "We had two byes in the district and we tried to make sure we had a tough opponent scheduled for those nights." Rohm said.

"Our first bye, we played Abbeville and they gave us a great game. And this bye, we'll have a bigger challenge ahead of us. But win or lose, we need that game. We need that experience Associated Press New England quarterback Tom Brady raises the Vince Lombardi Trophy for the third time in four years. nia for the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.

Most of the core players, however, should be back, although some are getting up there in age, notably linebacker Willie McGinest and safety Rodney Harrison, both of whom have played major roles in the team's success. Harrison, who had two interceptions in Sunday's game, will turn 33 next December, when McGinest will turn 34. the players on that team are also coaches and are reported ly on Crennel's wish list for his staff with the Browns: Pepper Johnson. New Eng land's defensive line coach, and Maurice Carthon. the offensive coordinator in Dal las under Parcells.

Belichick's first order of business, therefore, is rebuild ing his coaching staff, although he will take at least a week off. traveling to Califor 1989 and 1990 Super Bowls, then losing the next NFC championship game on a last second field goal by the New York Giants' Matt Bahr. That New York team, which went on to beat Buffalo in the 1991 Super Bowl, had a coaching staff headed by Bill Parcells and including Belichick. Crennel and Weis, along with future NFL head coaches Tom Coughlin, Al Groh and Rav Handley. Two of of playing a team like Northside." Cajun catching stable covers all the bases Cajun catchers at a glance No.

Name BT Ht. Wt. CI. Hometown 2 Adam Massiatte RR 6-1 190 Sr Houston. Texas 20 Justin Morgan RR 6-1 193 Sr Gonzales 21 Jonathan Lucroy RR 6-1 191 Fr.

Umatilla. Fla him go and not worry about him calling pitches. We want him there when we need to get big outs." Morgan, whose father Jamie caught for UL in the early '80s and was a teammate of Robichaux, and Massiatte will be called upon to educate Lucroy. one of the Cajuns' most heralded signees last year. The freshman from Umatilla, impressed onlookers right off the bat with his offensive ability "He's going to be very-good." Robichaux said, "and he's a true hitting catcher.

We'll get him working with our veterans and let him work his way into it. but he's going to play some because of what we know he can do." comfortable with what we want to do." Comfortable also comes up when talking about Morgan, who has carried the label of the team's top defensive catcher for four seasons. He's seen regular action as the late-inning defensive replacement all of that time, but only had nine at-bats in 2005 and got four hits for a .444 mark. "He may be the best I've ever had at handling pitchers, knowing how to get hitters out," Robichaux said. "He knows our pitchers so well, and with him in there we're not afraid to throw the splitter or the breaking ball late in the game "If we think people are stealing signs, we can let Editor's ote: This is the third of a series on the University of Louisiana's 2005 baseball squad.

The Ran in' Cajuns open their season Friday against La. Tech at Moore Field. Today: The Catchers. Dan McDonald dmcdonald theadvertisercom The University of Louisiana baseball squad has catchers for all purposes. If only Ragin' Cajun head coach Tony Robichaux could roll them all into one body, he'd have the prototype heading into the 2005 season.

As it is, he and the squad will have to be satisfied with one player that showed great offensive promise in a backup role last year and who has worked to improve defen sively one that Robichaux calls the best he's had in 17 years in managing a pitching staff but who has struggled offensively and an untested rookie who could be the best hitter of the bunch. It figures that seniors Adam Massiatte and Justin Morgan and fresh man Jonathan Lucroy will all see their share of playing time, and Robichaux says that's a good thing. And some people may not even notice, since they're all listed at 6foot-l on the roster and are all between 190 and 193 pounds. Women Top 25 No. 9 North Carolina 76.

Virginia 56 No 17 DePaul 67 Cincinnati 55 NBA Basketball Wizards 108. Pacers 104 Hawks 114 Lakers 108 Heat 105. Warriors 96 Nets 107. Sixers 97 (OT) ON THE AIR Tuesday. Feb.

8 MENS COLLEGE BASKETBALL 6 p.m Illinois at Michigan. ESPN 6 p.m. Boston Coll at Notre Dame. ESPN2 6 p.m St. John sat Pitt.

COX 8 p.m Florida at Kentucky. ESPN NBA BASKETBALL 9 p.m Hornets at Sonics COX Danny Massiatte now in the Tampa Bay system after helping lead the Cajuns to the 2000 College World Series threw out eight of 24 base stealers. "He sat out all of the previous fall," Robichaux said of Massiatte, a product of Houston and Blinn Junior College. "He had to step in for the spring and play right off the bat. and that's hard for a catcher.

"Now he's had a full summer and fall season under his belt, he's throwing better and he's more "We're going to try to get every one of them a number of starts." he said. "That's a position in which it's easy to wear down as the season goes along, and if we can get everybody some playing time they won't get beaten down by the end of the year." Both Massiatte and Morgan backed up former All-Sun Belt Conference selection Ryan Core last season, but Massiatte still got 13 starts and hit .265 with 10 RBI in 49 at-bats. The younger brother of.