Wednesday, March 10, 2010
News 1,2 Arts & Life 3,4 Sports 5 Views 7 Classifieds 8 Games 8
Volume 95 | Issue 30
Stormy 71° / 44°
ntdaily.com
The Student Newspaper of the University of North Texas
Excitement, joy fill new Sun Belt champions Men’s team earns ticket to Big Dance BY SEAN GORMAN Senior Staff Writer
Emotion poured out of the Mean Green players as they celebrated their 11th-straight victory, defeating the Troy Trojans 66-63 in the Sun Belt Conference tournament final and officially punching their ticket to the NCAA tournament. The Mean Green (24-8, 13-5) set the single-season school record with 24 wins and will play in its third NCAA tournament, last advancing in 2007. “We are excited about it and very blessed and fortunate to be in this position,” head coach Johnny Jones said. “We executed in the second half and made some plays down the stretch and are just so excited to be able to represent the Sun Belt in the NCAA Tournament.” UNT will learn of its firstround opponent this weekend during Selection Sunday, when the seeding and matchups of the 65 teams in the tournament are announced. “I feel like with this program the sky is the limit.,” junior forward George Odufuwa said. “At the end of the day, there is only one champion.” Senior forward Eric Tramiel was named the Tournament’s Most Outstanding Player after his second double-double of the tournament, finishing with 20 points and 10 rebounds. “As a team, we remained poised, and in a big game like this teams are going to make a big run like they did,” Tramiel said. The
PHOTO BY RYAN BIBB/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Excitement flows out of guards Shannon Shorter and Antwone Matlock as they celebrate with their teammates. UNT grinded out a 66-63 victory against Troy that earned the Mean Green a trip to the NCAA tournament. offenses were on display early, with each team trading baskets for a total of 12 lead changes in the first half. “They made some big shots in the first half, but I thought we played better defense in the second half once we got used to their style,” Odufuwa said. While the offense gave the
Mean Green a small lead, the defense held the Trojans scoreless for nine minutes . Junior guard Tristan Thompson gave the Mean Green a spark to open the second half, scoring UNT’s first three baskets. After Troy cut the deficit to four, junior guards Collin Mangrum and Josh White helped UNT pull
ahead with two-straight threepointers. The Trojans answered with a three-pointer of their own, and aided by a full court press defense, Troy went on a 7-0 run to even the score with three minutes left. Following a crucial jumper by White that gave UNT the lead with less than a minute left, Odufuwa
blocked a lay-up attempt that would have tied the game, and White sealed the win with three free throws. “I was going to the hoop the entire way. I just drove in and pulled up, and it was fortunate that it went in,” said White. “My teammates just told me to keep shooting, and I knew a couple
would fall in eventually,.” The Mean Green controlled the game down low, as Odufuwa helped Tramiel on the block with 11 points and 17 rebounds. Mea n Green fa ns ca n congratulate the players at a welcome-back ceremony when they arrive at 3 p.m. today at the Super Pit.
UNT still strives for Tier One BY LISA GARZA
Senior Staff Writer
PHOTO BY MELISSA BOUGHTON/ASSIGNING EDITOR
Kyle Putman, social work freshman, protests on March 2 outside the Chase Tower in Oklahoma City.
Senator gives in to activists BY SHEA YARBOROUGH Senior Staff Writer
After 46 days of waiting, Republican Sen. Tom Coburn said ‘yes’ to pass the Lord’s Resistance Army Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act at 3 p.m. Tuesday. Students and activists in Oklahoma Cit y were dancing in t he streets, crying, clapping and cheering. “Dr. No said yes,” they chanted. “Dr. No said yes.” Activists from across the country have camped at the Chase Tower, which holds one of Coburn’s offices, for 11 days. They were waiting for word from Coburn’s camp that he will negotiate money for the Uganda Bill, said Liz Gurney, an activist and international studies freshman. “My phone has been blowing up with text messages saying ‘We reached a compromise,’” Gurney said. W it h i n 30 m i nutes of receiving those texts, Gurney had packed her bags and was on her way back to Oklahoma City to celebrate. She had returned
to Denton from her previous trip to Oklahoma on Monday for mid-terms. “Tomorrow, we’ll be holding signs up that say, ‘Dr. Coburn said ‘yes,’” Gurney said. For 23 years, Joseph Kony and the Lord’s Resistance Army have been wageding Africa’s longest running war, said Mark Nehrenz, an activist and Oklahoma University alumnus. This bill calls for $40 million to stop Kony and to rehabilitate the child soldiers who have been kidnapped and forced to kill. Coburn was the one senator holding up the bill, Nehrenz said. The protesters wouldn’t budge until a compromise was met. “The fact that Coburn is talking to us, the people on the street, means what we’re doing is working,” Nehrenz said. Africa’s longest running war has affected the countries of the Congo, the Central African Republic, Uganda and Southern Sudan, Nehrenz said. Ugandan children from 8 to 12 years old
are kidnapped, brainwashed through hard narcotics and forced to kill. “What happens if you force someone to kill their own family?” Nehrenz asked. Point of contact In their attempts to make contact with Coburn, Michael Poffenberger, executive director of Resolve Uganda, said he was told the senator didn’t have time, even though Coburn’s former press secretary, Don Tatro, said last week that “the senator is happy to meet with any of his constituents.” “I think they didn’t expect us to last this long or to gain the momentum we have,” Poffenberger said. They are requesting $10 million dollars for immediate relief aid in Uganda, and $30 million for the rehabilitation of the child soldiers. However, the goal is not to add money to the budget or to the deficit, Poffenberger said. To see the full story visit ntdaily.com
School officials insist that UNT is still on track to achieve Tier One status despite the recent resignation of university president Gretchen Bataille. UNT was deemed one of seven “emerging” public institutions of higher learning by the Texas Higher Education Coord i nat i ng Boa rd. T he university is close to meeting the criteria for being recognized as a national research institution. “We are focusing very hard on developing the academic research programs that will allow us to attract what are ca lled ‘restricted research f u nd s ,’” P r ov o s t We nd y Wilkins said. To qualify as a “restricted” research expenditure by the
Coord i nat ion Boa rd, t he project must be properly classified as research and the source of money must be from a restricted funds group. Moving forward, moving on Bataille told the NT Daily in February that she is disappointed because all the things that were done to put UNT on the map would now “sort of stop for a while,” until there is another permanent president. During Bataille’s presidency, she committed to build the $33.2 million, 87,000-squarefoot Life Sciences Complex, which will open in June, and a $70 million 180,000-squarefoot Busi ness L eadersh ip Building, scheduled to open in July 2011. I nter i m P resident Ph i l
Diebel sa id he does “not see any of those initiatives changing.” Diebel said three significant items will be completed while he is in office. He will present a strategic plan and research pla n to t he Coord inat ing Board in April. During the May Board of Regents meeting, Diebel will propose the operating budget. “Every one of those not only affects these three months that I am going to be here, but they are going to affect the future of this institution,” he said. “I am not aware of any material changes in any of those documents that would change the direction that this institution has been moving forward in.”
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Pals With Pens
PHOTOS BY MARTIÑA TREVINO/PHOTOGRAPHER
Johanna Padron (left), Arisve Luna and Joshua Dorantes write their responses to their UNT pen pals after completing their reading and comprehension practice. To view more photos and read the Daily’s article see Page 4