Kenny Anderson

NEW YORK -- It was the hottest debate in the NBA draft, and the New Jersey Nets went with their hearts, not their heads. Billy Owens was the logical No. 2 selection, Kenny Anderson the magical one. The beauty of the NBA is that magic almost always wins.The moment Anderson was selected, his mother Joan burst into tears and 7,000 fans at Madison Square Garden leaped for the stars. Anderson does that to people in a way Billy Owens never will. That's why the Nets ignored their best instincts and dared to dream.

Rafer Alston can remember the play. It came in the middle of a three-on-one fast break at New York's famed Rucker Park, on a summer night nearly 14 years ago. Alston started skipping down the court, dribbling on his knees, rising quickly before wrapping the ball around the back of a defender and delivering it to one of his teammates. Alston was already well-known on the city's Amateur Athletic Union circuit. But now, his basketball persona was born. "Everyone started calling me `Skip To My Lou,' " Alston, now 28 and a point guard with the Toronto Raptors, recalled recently.

Opponent: New Jersey NetsSite: Meadowlands Arena, East Rutherford, N.J.Time: 2 p.m.Radio: WTEM (570 AM), WWLG (1360 AM)Outlook: F Derrick Coleman (20.3 ppg, 11.0 rpg) and G Kenny Anderson (17.7 ppg, 10.3 apg) lead the Nets, but also have contributed to the team's internal problems. The Bullets are looking for back-to-back wins for the first time since Nov. 11-12. G Scott Skiles scored a season-high 28 points in Friday's win over Philadelphia. Since a disagreement with coach Jim Lynam led to his playing a season-low eight minutes Jan. 6, Skiles has averaged 38.5 minutes, including four games in which he has played more than 40 minutes.

Baseball Angels: Agreed to one-year contract with P Mark Lukasiewicz. Brewers: Signed P Jose Mieses, former Orioles minor-league P Everett Stull, P Allen Levrault, P John Snyder and C Kevin Brown. Reds: Signed 3B Aaron Boone to one-year contract. Basketball Celtics: Placed G Kenny Anderson (sprained right ankle) and F Jerome Moiso (right infrapatella tendinitis) on injured list. Activated G Randy Brown and G-F Adrian Griffin. College ACC: Named Maryland G MarchM-i Strickland women's basketball Player of the Week.

Baseball Angels: Agreed to one-year contract with P Mark Lukasiewicz. Brewers: Signed P Jose Mieses, former Orioles minor-league P Everett Stull, P Allen Levrault, P John Snyder and C Kevin Brown. Reds: Signed 3B Aaron Boone to one-year contract. Basketball Celtics: Placed G Kenny Anderson (sprained right ankle) and F Jerome Moiso (right infrapatella tendinitis) on injured list. Activated G Randy Brown and G-F Adrian Griffin. College ACC: Named Maryland G MarchM-i Strickland women's basketball Player of the Week.

Maurice Cheeks and Bernard King both have celebrated their 36th birthdays, played in four All-Star games, and are considered potential Hall of Famers. But nearing the end of their professional basketball careers, they have different agendas.Earlier this month, Cheeks, a free agent, was signed by the New Jersey Nets, who play the Washington Bullets at the Baltimore Arena tonight.After getting a $600,000 contract buyout from the Atlanta Hawks, he signed with New Jersey for the $140,000 minimum.

ATLANTA -- Duke senior Greg Koubek hasn't taken hi demotion this season personally.He knows that his coach, Mike Krzyzewski, has to use his best players at the right time. All Koubek can hope is that he'll be sharp and ready when the seventh-ranked Blue Devils need him."There's a lot of talent on this team," said Koubek, a 6-foot-6 senior forward. "I just have to keep going out there and knowing my role."Last night, Koubek, who scored just three points in Duke's 77-75 win over No. 23 Georgia Tech, did what is commonly known as "the little things that don't show up in the box score."

BaseballRangers: Gave OF Rusty Greer (.271, 13 HRs, 61 RBIs) three-year extension through 1998.Yankees: Sent P Brien Taylor to Double-A Norwich.BasketballHornets: Placed G Kenny Anderson (sprained ankle) on injured list.Nets: Activated C Robert Werdann. Placed F Tim Perry on injured list.Nuggets: Placed C Rastko Cvetkovic (plantar fasciatis in left foot) on injured list. Signed C Matt Fish to 10-day contract.CollegeNCAA Committee on Infractions: Placed Mississippi State football on one year's probation after determining that employee and two boosters made improper inducements to potential recruits.

Throughout the first two months of this NBA season, in which persistent rumors have placed him among the growing ranks of the unemployed, New Jersey Nets coach Bill Fitch has made only two requests of his team."

ATLANTA -- An early-season basketball game is just finished, and Georgia Tech's Kenny Anderson is under siege.Not by the fans. Not by the media. But by his mother, who wants to make sure he will get a home-cooked meal that night.He is headed for the locker room, where his teammates are already gathered with coach Bobby Cremins."Yes, Ma," says Anderson, intent on his destination, as his mother follows him down the hall. "OK, Ma. Ma, I've got a meeting."Anderson heads through the locker room door, his mother hot on his heels.

BaseballRangers: Gave OF Rusty Greer (.271, 13 HRs, 61 RBIs) three-year extension through 1998.Yankees: Sent P Brien Taylor to Double-A Norwich.BasketballHornets: Placed G Kenny Anderson (sprained ankle) on injured list.Nets: Activated C Robert Werdann. Placed F Tim Perry on injured list.Nuggets: Placed C Rastko Cvetkovic (plantar fasciatis in left foot) on injured list. Signed C Matt Fish to 10-day contract.CollegeNCAA Committee on Infractions: Placed Mississippi State football on one year's probation after determining that employee and two boosters made improper inducements to potential recruits.

Opponent: New Jersey NetsSite: Meadowlands Arena, East Rutherford, N.J.Time: 2 p.m.Radio: WTEM (570 AM), WWLG (1360 AM)Outlook: F Derrick Coleman (20.3 ppg, 11.0 rpg) and G Kenny Anderson (17.7 ppg, 10.3 apg) lead the Nets, but also have contributed to the team's internal problems. The Bullets are looking for back-to-back wins for the first time since Nov. 11-12. G Scott Skiles scored a season-high 28 points in Friday's win over Philadelphia. Since a disagreement with coach Jim Lynam led to his playing a season-low eight minutes Jan. 6, Skiles has averaged 38.5 minutes, including four games in which he has played more than 40 minutes.

Maurice Cheeks and Bernard King both have celebrated their 36th birthdays, played in four All-Star games, and are considered potential Hall of Famers. But nearing the end of their professional basketball careers, they have different agendas.Earlier this month, Cheeks, a free agent, was signed by the New Jersey Nets, who play the Washington Bullets at the Baltimore Arena tonight.After getting a $600,000 contract buyout from the Atlanta Hawks, he signed with New Jersey for the $140,000 minimum.

Throughout the first two months of this NBA season, in which persistent rumors have placed him among the growing ranks of the unemployed, New Jersey Nets coach Bill Fitch has made only two requests of his team."

Opinion: If I'm spending the Orioles' free-agent money, I go after Tom Candiotti now. (Innings, innings, innings!)Fact: Mike Devereaux hit more home runs than Bobby Bonilla in 1991.Opinion: If I'm a general manager and Bobby Bonilla costs $25 million, I say no thanks.Fact: The New York Giants haven't beaten a team with a winning record this season.Opinion: When healthy, Jim McMahon has been as good as any NFL quarterback this season.Fact: Only five of the 14 NFL teams that started 10-0 went on to win the title.

NEW YORK -- It was the hottest debate in the NBA draft, and the New Jersey Nets went with their hearts, not their heads. Billy Owens was the logical No. 2 selection, Kenny Anderson the magical one. The beauty of the NBA is that magic almost always wins.The moment Anderson was selected, his mother Joan burst into tears and 7,000 fans at Madison Square Garden leaped for the stars. Anderson does that to people in a way Billy Owens never will. That's why the Nets ignored their best instincts and dared to dream.

Forget the seniors, juniors and even the diaper-dandy freshmen. The three impact players in college basketball this season are sophomores.Everyone has heard of two of them -- Louisiana State's 7-foot-2 center Shaquille O'Neal and Georgia Tech point guard Kenny Anderson -- but the third, 6-6 swingman Jim Jackson from Ohio State, may have the best overall game of the three. Yet he has received the least attention.Jackson, who contributed 20 points to fourth-ranked Ohio State's 93-85 victory over third-ranked Indiana Monday in Bloomington, has been the catalyst behind the Buckeyes' surprising 16-0 start, scoring 19.5 points per game, fifth best in the Big Ten. He's shooting 60 percent from the floor, good for third in the league.

COLLEGE PARK -- He started having the dreams last summer, shortly after UNLV embarrassed Duke in the championship game of the NCAA tournament. He would be swimming in a pool of water, and suddenly he would realize he was not alone. A shark was in the water with him.Bobby Hurley never waited around long enough to see if it was a hammerhead or great white, or if, by some coincidence, it happened to be chewing a white towel. Even asleep, he knew the right move to make. "I'd get out of that water as fast as I could," he said yesterday in the Duke locker room at Cole Field House.

ATLANTA -- Duke senior Greg Koubek hasn't taken hi demotion this season personally.He knows that his coach, Mike Krzyzewski, has to use his best players at the right time. All Koubek can hope is that he'll be sharp and ready when the seventh-ranked Blue Devils need him."There's a lot of talent on this team," said Koubek, a 6-foot-6 senior forward. "I just have to keep going out there and knowing my role."Last night, Koubek, who scored just three points in Duke's 77-75 win over No. 23 Georgia Tech, did what is commonly known as "the little things that don't show up in the box score."

Forget the seniors, juniors and even the diaper-dandy freshmen. The three impact players in college basketball this season are sophomores.Everyone has heard of two of them -- Louisiana State's 7-foot-2 center Shaquille O'Neal and Georgia Tech point guard Kenny Anderson -- but the third, 6-6 swingman Jim Jackson from Ohio State, may have the best overall game of the three. Yet he has received the least attention.Jackson, who contributed 20 points to fourth-ranked Ohio State's 93-85 victory over third-ranked Indiana Monday in Bloomington, has been the catalyst behind the Buckeyes' surprising 16-0 start, scoring 19.5 points per game, fifth best in the Big Ten. He's shooting 60 percent from the floor, good for third in the league.