Tournament Teams

THE NEW YEAR CAN BE a time for making resolutions for self-improvements or starting fresh with things you enjoy.As I've written in this column in past years, I'm generally not one for resolutions, but the host of fit and fun programs being offered by area recreation councils might inspire me to charge into 1999 with a flurry of activity.Baseball timeGet out the bats, gloves and balls -- baseball is just around the corner. Registration for Sykesville Baseball will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday and Jan. 16, 23 and 30 in Center Court at Carrolltown Center.

What to expect for the NCAA Division I tournament bracket heading into today's final regular-season games. Pairings will be announced tomorrow:Eight seeded teams: Loyola, Johns Hopkins, Virginia, Duke, Princeton, Syracuse, Georgetown, Delaware.Locks for at-large bids: Hofstra, Maryland.Automatic Midwest bid front-runner: Notre Dame.Bubble teams for final spot: UMBC, Penn State and Navy.Teams that could make noise today:Syracuse (9-3): At Georgetown. A win over the Hoyas probably would move the Orangemen to the No. 5 seed or as high as No. 4 for a first-round bye. A loss could drop them to as low as No. 7.Georgetown (10-2)

A December stretch that includes three nonconference games against NCAA tournament teams -- one of them a date at the Baltimore Arena against Princeton -- highlights the Maryland basketball schedule, which was announced yesterday.On Dec. 6, the Terps face Stanford in the BB&T Classic at the MCI Center in Washington, then travel to Kentucky on Dec. 12. Maryland plays at the Arena against Princeton on Dec. 19.The Kentucky game is part of a home-and-home series with the Wildcats, with Kentucky playing at Cole Field House during the 1999-2000 season.

Staff writer Don Markus continues the March Madness Tour that will take him to eight conference tournaments in eight days.GREEN BAY, Wis. -- There is the tradition, one started by a legendary coach who later moved to a bigger college basketball program and two players who graduated to the NBA. There is the love affair between this team and this town.The Packers are not the only team in a place called "Titletown."The Phoenix of Wisconsin-Green Bay has its own niche here. Or is that Nitschke?

The no-seeding for state tournaments is like a toothache. It just won't go away.Most coaches like the open tournament concept, save for that. ** But I can't find a soccer or basketball coach -- boys or girls -- who likes the fact that tournament teams are not seeded.It galls most coaches that Ned Sparks and the Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association remain so stubborn in not seeding teams and, thus, not rewarding stronger teams for their regular-season records."I don't like it. The teams should be seeded.

Shannon Saltzmann and her teammates might not have walked away with the trophy from the NIKE Volleyball Festival in California this month, but her Virginia-based Capitals did bring back a lot of memories and plenty of knowledge about the game.The Capitals and two teams from Columbia -- the 16-and-under Lightnings and the 14-and-under Condors -- said they were more than happy with their performance, despite not winning."It was a huge tournament, and our team played really well together," said Saltzmann, who will be a senior at Centennial High School this fall.

At Cole Field HouseOklahoma State vs. New Mexico* WHEN: Tomorrow, 12:20 p.m.* RECORDS: Third-seeded Oklahoma State is 22-7 out of the Big Eight, and 6-1 against tournament teams. New Mexico, the 14th seed out of the Western Athletic Conference, is 20-9, but only 2-5 against tournament teams.* COACHES: Oklahoma State's Eddie Sutton is the first coach to take four teams to the NCAA tournament, having done it previously at Creighton, Arkansas and Kentucky. In his third season, Dave Bliss earned New Mexico's first NCAA bid since 1978.

Tamitcha Evans liked the idea of winning the Baltimore County girls' softball championship.But victory was bittersweet yesterday for Tamitcha and her Turners Station teammates as they received their trophies on the Bedford Elementary School athletic field in Sudbrook Park without playing the Catonsville Comets -- their final opponent in what has turned out to be a gameless tournament.Three all-girl teams refused to play Tamitcha's club in the tournament because the Turners Station roster includes four boys.

The state's collegiate soccer season will begin this week, and among the Division I teams, Loyola and Towson State appear to be in command once again. The others are in unsettled situations, with too little experience or too much schedule, at least for the early games.One of the factors for NCAA tournament selection is strength of schedule, and September could be critical for Loyola and Towson State. This fall will mark the first time the two have not met in more than 35 years.Despite going 16-2-5 (1-1-1 against eventual NCAA tournament teams)

Towson State lacrosse coach Carl Runk was tickled when h heard the news, even though his team drew Virginia in the first round."We're ecstatic, totally pleased. Last year at this time, we were totally despondent," said Runk, whose team did not receive a bid in 1990 after an 11-2 season.Towson State (9-3) was one of 12 teams, including four from the Baltimore area, that were chosen yesterday to play in the ZTC National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I men's tournament. The tournament will begin Wednesday and end with the championship game in Syracuse, N.Y., May 27.As expected, North Carolina and Brown, with 13-0 records, were the two top-seeded teams.

Favorites 7, underdogs 1. For all of the talk about parity in college lacrosse, seven of the top eight seeds in the NCAA tournament advanced to the quarterfinals, and Maryland's 7-3 decision against No. 7 seed Notre Dame was not considered a shocker in some circles. (More on that later.) Of the seven programs that have won national championships in the 38-year tournament history, all seven - Syracuse, Johns Hopkins, Princeton, Virginia, North Carolina, Cornell and Maryland - are still alive.

The Loyola men's lacrosse team has picked up a supporter in its displeasure with being left out of the 16-team NCAA tournament: Johns Hopkins coach Dave Pietramala. While praising the quality of the bracket, Pietramala questioned the selection committee's decision to emphasize significant wins over strength of schedule. "It's obvious that the criteria that this committee used is different than the committee that had been together for the previous two or three years, and it's something that our sport needs to address in terms of consistency," he said.

The prospect of an NCAA tournament final has taken a back seat to another type of final for the Colgate and Canisius men's lacrosse teams. Players of both programs have been wrapping up a week of exams, and after hours of studying, memorizing and writing, the idea of ridding their angst and stress in an NCAA tournament first-round game sounds awfully appetizing. "It's exam week here at Colgate, so everyone's nerves are already high," said Raiders junior defenseman Andrew Watkins, a Timonium native and Gilman graduate.

WASHINGTON - The question, of course, is how many teams the Atlantic Coast Conference will get into the NCAA tournament. But that can't be answered without an answer to a bigger underlying question: How much is the selection committee willing to believe the hype? If it's swallowed whole, pits and all, then the whole conference might get in, from the Big Three (or Big Two and a Half, after Wake Forest's showing last night) down to Virginia. With what it did on back-to-back days at MCI Center, Clemson might get a No. 2 seed.

Last year, there was an incorrect tournament bracket on the NCAA Web site, causing mass confusion among Division I men's lacrosse coaches. Two years ago, there was more talk about who was out of the NCAA tournament than who was in it. Yesterday's tournament selections marked a return to normality. There were few surprises regarding the 16 teams chosen for the tournament, which starts this weekend at campus sites and will culminate Memorial Day at M&T Bank Stadium with the national championship game.

Last year, there was an incorrect tournament bracket on the NCAA web site, causing mass confusion among Division I men's lacrosse coaches. Two years ago, there was more talk about who was out of the NCAA tournament than who was in it. Monday's tournament selections marked a return to normalcy. There were few surprises regarding the 16 teams chosen for the tournament, which starts this weekend at campus sites and will culminate Memorial Day at M&T Bank Stadium with the national championship game.

East Regional at MCI Center No. 7 North Carolina State (22-10) vs. No. 10 Michigan State (19-11) Time: 12:15 p.m. Conferences: North Carolina State, Atlantic Coast; Michigan State, Big Ten. Outlook: Of these teams, Michigan State has the greater momentum after winning five of its past six games, a run that has made the difference between playing today and playing in the National Invitation Tournament. N.C. State shot better than 60 percent in ACC tournament wins over Virginia and Maryland before getting blasted by Duke in the final.

What to expect for the NCAA Division I tournament bracket heading into today's final regular-season games. Pairings will be announced tomorrow:Eight seeded teams: Loyola, Johns Hopkins, Virginia, Duke, Princeton, Syracuse, Georgetown, Delaware.Locks for at-large bids: Hofstra, Maryland.Automatic Midwest bid front-runner: Notre Dame.Bubble teams for final spot: UMBC, Penn State and Navy.Teams that could make noise today:Syracuse (9-3): At Georgetown. A win over the Hoyas probably would move the Orangemen to the No. 5 seed or as high as No. 4 for a first-round bye. A loss could drop them to as low as No. 7.Georgetown (10-2)

THE NEW YEAR CAN BE a time for making resolutions for self-improvements or starting fresh with things you enjoy.As I've written in this column in past years, I'm generally not one for resolutions, but the host of fit and fun programs being offered by area recreation councils might inspire me to charge into 1999 with a flurry of activity.Baseball timeGet out the bats, gloves and balls -- baseball is just around the corner. Registration for Sykesville Baseball will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday and Jan. 16, 23 and 30 in Center Court at Carrolltown Center.

A December stretch that includes three nonconference games against NCAA tournament teams -- one of them a date at the Baltimore Arena against Princeton -- highlights the Maryland basketball schedule, which was announced yesterday.On Dec. 6, the Terps face Stanford in the BB&T Classic at the MCI Center in Washington, then travel to Kentucky on Dec. 12. Maryland plays at the Arena against Princeton on Dec. 19.The Kentucky game is part of a home-and-home series with the Wildcats, with Kentucky playing at Cole Field House during the 1999-2000 season.