Auburn

MINNEAPOLIS -- A lady approached Iowa State's Marcus Fizer before yesterday's game after recognizing him from last week's Sports Illustrated cover. "So you're what all the fuss is about," she said. Fizer grinned and answered, "Just watch the game later." Iowa State's supporting cast backed Fizer's claim by assuming the lead roles yesterday during a slow start by its first-team All-American as the Cyclones stormed past seventh-seeded Auburn, 79-60, at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome. No. 2 Iowa State (31-4)

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- When last season ended, neither Auburn nor Ohio State would have given much thought to being a Sweet 16 team in this year's NCAA tournament. Neither, in fact, seemed assured of making the tournament at all.The Tigers were coming off a 16-14 season that ended with a second-round loss in the National Invitation Tournament. The Buckeyes were coming off an 8-22 season that included one win in 16 Big Ten games.Two transfers changed everything.For Auburn (29-3), which won the Southeastern Conference regular season and is the top seed in the NCAA South Regional, it was junior forward Chris Porter, a junior college All-American last season.

TAMPA, Fla. -- Classic it was not, but the Auburn Tigers still have their dancin' shoes on, advancing to the revered Sweet 16 for only the third time in school history. "It's a wonderful experience that they're fixing to go to," coach Cliff Ellis said in a distinctive Southern twang, putting the proper accent on his team's 68-62 victory against No. 2 seed Wake Forest in an East Regional matchup at the St. Petersburg Times Forum yesterday afternoon. The Tigers (22-11) advance to Albany, N.Y., to play Syracuse on Friday.

When the latest Bowl Championship Series standings are released today, Auburn will find out how big a statement it made in its latest victory. The Tigers jumped into a tie at No. 2 in the Associated Press media poll with Oklahoma after their impressive 24-6 dismantling of Georgia on Saturday and are just behind the Sooners in the ESPN/USA Today poll. Southern California remained No. 1 in both polls. Auburn's victory over the previously eighth-ranked Bulldogs was perhaps the strongest case the Tigers - or anyone else - has made this year for inclusion in this season's BCS championship game at the Orange Bowl.

What's more remarkable, that Melanie Denischuk is one of the nation's most productive college softball players or the path she took to UMBC? Denischuk, a junior first baseman who leads the NCAA in RBIs and is tied for second in home runs and is third in slugging percentage, is among 25 finalists for the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year Award. After stops on three continents and four college campuses, Denischuk is touching all the bases with her power. She lists her hometown as Poway, a suburb of San Diego, but her parents relocated there just last August.

A three-year drought during which no running back was among the NFL draft's top 10 picks will end quickly and emphatically Saturday. Expectations are that three running backs will go in the first eight picks, two from the same team. The Class of 2005 features the tag-team duo of Ronnie Brown and Carnell "Cadillac" Williams of Auburn and Cedric Benson of Texas. Brown, a versatile, straight-ahead runner, should be the first back taken, no later than the fourth pick. Among the teams looking for a running back early are the Miami Dolphins (second pick)

ALBANY, N.Y. - Silent in the first half, Carmelo Anthony scored 18 second-half points to steer Syracuse past Auburn, 79-78, last night in an East Regional semifinal of the NCAA tournament. Anthony's dazzling array of dunks and three-pointers sends the Orangemen into tomorrow's East final against Oklahoma, a 65-54 winner over Butler in the other semifinal. The Orangemen (27-5) played in a home-court atmosphere at Pepsi Arena, which is 145 miles from the Syracuse campus. The orange-clad crowd rooted for Butler in the opener, then turned the 15,000-seat arena into a cauldron for Auburn.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Ralph Spry was a wistful witness to the men's long jump at the U.S. track and field trials for the Olympic Games last night. Spry is the head coach at Auburn University, which he guided to third place at the NCAA championships last month, the program's best outdoor finish ever. A generation ago, he was the most accomplished horizontal jumper the Baltimore area has ever produced. Old Mill High had a powerhouse team in 1978, when Spry set a state record and reached 49 feet, 6 1/2 inches in the triple jump.

NEW ORLEANS - The Auburn Tigers are undefeated and unsatisfied. The "We're No. 1," chant from fans rang a bit hollow when it started almost perfunctorily in the minutes after the Tigers' somewhat muted celebration of a 13-0 season. Their 16-13 Sugar Bowl victory last night over No. 9 Virginia Tech at the Louisiana Superdome ended with Auburn falling on the ball to preserve the victory by running out the clock after giving up an 80-yard touchdown play with 2:01 left in a game that was a shutout until the fourth quarter.

When Scott Pohlman showed up one afternoon for a pickup game with Auburn basketball players for the first time as a freshman, Bryant Smith figured that the scrawny kid who looked like he was about 12 was "a manager or something."Pohlman wasn't a manager.But he is something.Now a sophomore, the 6-foot-2, 160-pound shooting guard saved the top-seeded Tigers from elimination last weekend in the NCAA tournament's South Regional in Indianapolis.Against ninth-seeded Oklahoma State, Pohlman scored a career-high 28 points in an 81-74 victory that put Auburn (29-3)