Alabama softball: No. 3 Crimson Tide remains unbeaten at 24-0. 3C
Sports
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M O N D A Y , M A R C H 12, 2007
SECTION C
WWW.TUSCALOOSANEWS.COM
Florida wins third straight SEC title By Paul Newberr y The Associated Press
Let’s Dance NCAA Tournament field set By Eddie Pells The Associated Press
S
o much for the little guy. Big boys like defending champion Florida and No. 1-ranked Ohio State are among the top-seeded favorites, while the darling midmajor teams get surprisingly few chances to turn the NCAA tournament into a free-for-all for underdogs. March Madness officially began Sunday when the pairings were announced, kicking off office and online pools and triggering debate about seedings, who went where and who didn’t make it at all. Florida will try to become the first team since 1992 to repeat as champion — and the first ever with the
same five starters — and the Gators will do it with their first overall top seed in the tournament, leapfrogging Ohio State courtesy of three straight routs in the Southeastern Conference tournament. North Carolina and Kansas were the other No. 1 seeds, rounding out a group that all won both their regular-season and conference tournament championships. “It’s a compliment to our season as a body of work,” said Florida coach Billy Donovan, whose team rebounded to finish 295 after losing three games at the end of the regular season. SEE NCAA | 5C
ATLANTA | The Florida Gators happily ascended the ladder, a pair of scissors in hand, to snip away at the nylon. They’re not about to pass up the chance to celebrate, even though they would much rather be cutting down the nets at the Georgia Dome three weeks from now. Sending an emphatic message to those who thought they looked vulnerable at the end of the regular season, the No. 6 Gators finished off three routs in three days with a 77-56 blowout of Arkansas in the SEC championship game Sunday. Florida (29-5) is certainly on the sort of roll that could bring them back to Atlanta for the Final Four. “Six more wins!” a Florida fan yelled at Joakim Noah as he strolled off the court, orange-and-blue beads dangling from his neck. SEE FLORIDA | 5C
Alabama settles for NIT By Cecil Hurt Sports Editor
TUSCALOOSA | University of Alabama basketball coach Mark Gottfried said Sunday night that his team didn’t earn any favors from the NIT Selection Committee. And it certainly didn’t get any. The Crimson Tide was one of four Southeastern Conference teams chosen to participate in the NIT, but faces an arduous road to New York. Alabama, a No. 5 seed under the new NIT system, will begin play on the road against Massachusetts in Amherst, Mass., on Tuesday night (8:30 p.m. on ESPN) If Alabama were to win that game, it would likely face a second road game Thursday night at West Virginia, the top seed in the NIT East Regional. The other SEC teams selected to the 32-team field — Ole Miss, Mississippi State and Georgia — will all begin NIT play with home games. “I noticed that, but we are just happy to be playing,” Gottfried said. SEE NIT | 5C
Billy Donovan and the defending national champion Florida Gators earned a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
Tide wakes up too late against Huskers By Christopher Walsh Sports Writer
PHOTO | JASON HARLESS
Nebraska’s Andrew Brown slides safely into home as Alabama catcher Ryan Rhoden is late to apply the tag in the fourth inning Sunday at Sewell-Thomas Stadium.
TUSCALOOSA | Playing its fifth game in six days, a stretch including both a road loss and ninth-inning defeat the night before, the University of Alabama baseball team was lagging like many college students do on Sunday mornings. By the time it woke up, there simply was not enough time pull off the needed late-inning rally at Sewell-Thomas Stadium. With Nebraska’s Andrew Brown scoring the first run of the game with a solo home run to left, and reaching base in all
four plate appearances, the Cornhuskers were able to score in five of the first seven innings and then hold on for a 6-5 victory. “We had no offense,” coach Jim Wells said of the first five innings. “That will drain a team more than anything else.” One key exception was senior center fielder Emeel Salem, who went 3-for-5 with an RBI double, and also stole two bases to tie David Fowke (1980-81) for the Crimson Tide career stolen-base record with 68 — the oldest existing Alabama offensive record on the books. His double, which scored Greg Paiml from first, helped spark a two-run rally in
the ninth, and was followed by sophomore designated hitter Alex Avila’s second double of the game, and third hit. But with one out and with the potential winning run at the plate, junior right-hander Steve Edlefsen secured his second save with two strikeouts. “There’s a lot that you can say, one thing that sticks out to me is we’re making two, three errors a game that have something to do with the outcome” Wells said. “We’ve got to stop that first. “It’s a work in progress, but it’s not as bad as it seems. Certainly we have to get better in two key areas.” SEE TIDE | 3C