1993_12 The Daily Collegian December 1993

              Collegian -ftporte
6—The Daily Collegian
Tuesday, Dec 7,1993
Fresno Statatries
to get back on
winning track
By David Donnelly
There will be a dogfight to¬
night at Selland Arena. ,
The Fresno State Bulldogs will
rjieet the Washington University/'
Huskies at 7:30 p.m. in a non-
conference contest.
Fresno State will enter the con¬
test with a 1-2 record after a close
69-67 loss to San Jose State Satur¬
day night. Washington is 0-2 after
losses to Montana at home and
23rd-ranked Cincinnati in Ohio.
Assistant coach Jim Saia said
Fresno State has to pick up its-
level of play to be successful
against the Huskies and to start
winning. , m   .
"Number one, we'll have to
play better defense," Saia said.
"We have to raise our intensity "
level. That's an area we regressed
in. We worked so hard and we
slipped a couple notches."
SaiaalsOsaidtheBulldogsneed
to start running plays better.
"We need wj execute better,"
he said. "Guysare going to have to
start doing what they're told and
not what they want."
In the Bulldogs' two losses,
they shot 50-percentmit were
outrebounded 78-57 by
Pepperdine and San Jose State.
Senior center Lee Mayberry,
who is averaging more man 10
rebounds a game, offered an ex¬
planation for the Bulldogs' re¬
bounding problems in the last twov
Victor Des Roches/Dally Collegian
Senior canter Lee Mayberry Is averaging 10 rebounds a game.
"I thtnk we have a lot of great
open-court players and they're try¬
ing to get out on the break a little
to early," Mayberry said. "It's
nobody's fault! With the teams
we've been playing, they've been
a lot more physical than we ex¬
pected and when that happens, liv¬
ery body has to crash the boards."
Saia said the Bulldogs are de¬
pending too much on Mayberry
and wiuwut him they'dbe nowhere.
"Lee needs a little help," Saia
said. 'Travis [Stel] is a Wockout
man and he needs to release off his
man and go to the boards. Our three
guards aren't putting a body on
anyone.
Besides poor rebounding, of¬
fensive flow and poor free throw
shooting has been a problem for
the Bulldogs during the last two
games, scoring '65 against
Pepperdine and 67 against the
Spartans Saturday night.
Mayberry said that the Bull-
See Bulldog*, page 7
Fresno Statp faces
stiff tesfkAloha
Bowl Christmas Day
By Brett Pape
Staff writer
When No. 25 Fresno State
travels to Hawaii to face No. 18
Colorado in the Aloha Bowl, the
Bulldogs will be playing a team
whcrwill be ready to play.
The days oT playing a team
who votes whether or not they
should play Fresno State in theFree-
dom Bowl and promptly loses 24-
7 are gone.
Also gone are the days of the
■opposing quarterback telling the
media that the team should never
play a team like Fresno State.
"USC would never schedule
Fresno State. We are only playing
them because it is a bowl game,"
USC quarterbackRob Johnson said
before last year's Freedom Bowl.
Nope, this year's Fresno State
team gets the University of Colo¬
rado. A team who hist three years
ago was the Associated Press Na¬
tional Champion alter beating Notre
Dame 10-9 uVthe Orange Bowl.
Colorado, 7-3-1, is coached
by Bill McCartney. McCartney has
no intentions of letting his team
overlook the Bulldogs.
"Fresno State will have our
full attention," McCartney said.
"JustpbinttotheirwinoverUSCin
the Freedom Bowl and to the 63
points they scoredjagainst San Di¬
ego State.
"Our guys want to finish the
season on a positive note, so to get
a bowl win would be ideal."
The Buffaloes started the sea¬
son with a top-10 ranking, but
dropped out after losing 41-37 to a
young Stanford-team; The other
two losses were to Miami and Ne¬
braska and their tie was 16-16 at
Kansas State.
Colorado and Fresno State's
only common opponent was
Baylor. Colorado had little troubles
beating the Bea*a*45-21, while the
Bulldogs lost 42-39 in the season-
opener at Baylor.   ■   *■
Bulldog coach Jim Sweeney
calls the game with Colorado an¬
other chance for Fresno State to
show the country how far the team
has come in a short time.
' While Colorado was playing
Alabama in the Blockbuster Bowl
in 1991, Fresno State was still in
the Big West and lost a close game
in the final seconds to Bowling
Green in the final California Raisin
Bowl.    *
ABC sports will carry the game
live Christmas day staningat 12:30
p.m.. The Aloha Bowl is the only
bowl played on Christmas day, thus
See Buffaloes, page 7
Wrightlooking
forward to 1994
Some Christmas gift requests
By Chris Cocotes
Staff writer '
Less than three weeks before Christ¬
mas, several sportt persor^iues were
sighted crossing the frozen Arctic tun¬
dra in search of Santa Ctaus" winter
residence: theNorthPole.
Mrs. Claus, with the help of several
elves and Prancer the' amazing rein¬
deer, provided us with special gift re¬
quests to Si Nicholas.
mlaaftanerPaDlTagDaboe- Solutions
to the lack of excitement in profes¬
sional football and ways to prevent
television viewers from either falling
asleep on couches or switching to Na-
rkml Geographic specials on the Dis-
covery Channel.
The Buffalo BBs- rt 1
loss before the Super Bowl so they can
give someone else in the AFC the
opportunity to embarrass themselves.
The Denver Broncos- See atiove.
Joe Montana- An opportunity to
restore AFC pride by delivering an
NFL championship to Kansas City.
Even Santa knows which NFC team
Montana wants to beat
Golden State Warriors coach
Don Nelson- Extra health insurance
for his team. Also,deveIopajumpshot
for Chris Webber. Those same re-,
quests are on my list too, Nellie.- Go
Warriors.
Sto»TiBradky-Aoout40pourKis
of muscle to thai fragile 7- foot-6 frame.
Or a year's supply of fattening Phila-
delphia cheese steak sandwiches.
Shaq, Hakeem, Patrick^ FranJt
BrickmratrJ- A chance to match up
with Bradley on a nightly basis to
Bulldogs' loss to
CSUN still looming
as Kim Maher returns
By Robbie Miner
Staff writer
AdvaiMgtotheNCAAregonals
would be considered an exceptional
afeat fix most teams, but for the Fresno
shatter NBA records in points, rebounds
and administering bloody noses to
opposing centers.
JamalMaslihtiin-OVliilecrymg) State Softball team last year, it wasn't
I don't like playing in Dallas. I'm not
having any tun. (Santa's reply). Quit
complaining Jama!. You make more
money titan I do. And You don't have
to ride a sleigh and feed reindeer. By
the way, I understand Kentucky isjn
the Top 5 without you. Do you miss
Rick Pitino and Bluegrass country?
Fresno State- A20-win basketball
season and an NCAA or NTT berth.
FSU is in dire need of a successful-
baskedJaBrxogranx .   "
Hie United States World Cup
soccer team- An opening-round
bracket of the USA, Saudi Arabia.
Bolivia and Bulgaria
See Cocoles, page 7
Under the helm of coach Margie
Wright, FSU has established itself as
one of (he premier soft bal I programs in
the nation, competing in six straight
Couege-.Worid Series nom 1987-
1992 But last season, me Bulldogs fidl
just short ofthe Series, when they lost
toNo.2Ca]StateNcTthridge2-0irtthe
final game of a three-game series. This
year, the Bulldogs don't plan oncom¬
ing up short again.
"That game (against Northridge)
left a really bad taste in our mouth,"
said Wright. "We had a good enough
team to beat them, but we just couldn't
doit"
In mat pivotal third game, a first
inning, two-run Matadors' home run
crffFSU ace MaraeGreen, was all that
was needed to knock off the Bulldogs
2-0.
' "We achieved many of our indi¬
vidual goals hist year,- but unfortu¬
nately, not our team goals," Wright
said.
Poised to redeem theirstanis among
the nation's elite, the 1993-94 softball
asm is loaded with talent Of the 12
starters from last season, including the
top three pitchers, eight return.
Topping the list of iWumees is
FSU's version of the Bambino, senior
Kim Maher. Theshortstop re wrote the
Fresno State record books last season,
breaking single-season school records
in home runs (14), batting average
(. 381) and she tied the record for RBIs
(49). In leading the (earn in almost
every offensive category last year,
Maher was selected to the first-team
Al l-WAC and second-team All-West
Region. Arte. only, three years, the
Ventura native has already smashed
the career FSU home run record (21)
and is only 33 RBIs short of former
M-Arr«icanGijiaLorjkx»kj'srecord
See Softball, page 7
H