Tulane

Visiting Tulane scored the last four points of the game and a desperation three 3-point shot at the buzzer by Jordan Brickman was off the mark as the Green Wave beat Navy, 57-55, on Tuesday. The loss dropped Navy to 2-3 overall, while Tulane, which had won its previous three games by an average of 25 points, improved to 4-0 overall. Navy led 55-53 with 4:24 to play on a jumper by Jordan Sugars in the lane, but the Mids failed to score the rest of the way, going 0-for-5 from the field with two turnovers.

Dave Dickerson has often looked for stability in his college coaching career, in part because his own playing career at Marylandwas marked by instability - and tragedy. Recruited to play for Lefty Driesell, Dickerson had finished his freshman year in College Park when the team's star, Len Bias, died from a cocaine overdose in June of 1986. That fall, Driesell was fired. Dickerson's career at Maryland - the last three spent during Bob Wade's tumultuous stint - left such a sour taste that Dickerson didn't wear his school ring for nearly a decade.

Tomorrow's 1:30 p.m. game between Navy (0-7) and Tulane (2-6) at Navy-Marine Corps Stadium is one of the most intriguing matchups of the season. Both are coming off lopsided defeats and desperately need a win.When Tulane coach Buddy Teevens arrived from Dartmouth College, where he led the Big Green to two Ivy League titles, the 1992 schedule appeared to be not as tough as in 1991, when the Green Wave's only victory was over Navy at home, 34-7.But, like the Mids, Tulane faced opponents such as No. 3 Alabama, No. 9 Boston College and No. 19 Mississippi State and improving teams Iowa State and Memphis State.

Visiting Tulane scored the last four points of the game and a desperation three 3-point shot at the buzzer by Jordan Brickman was off the mark as the Green Wave beat Navy, 57-55, on Tuesday. The loss dropped Navy to 2-3 overall, while Tulane, which had won its previous three games by an average of 25 points, improved to 4-0 overall. Navy led 55-53 with 4:24 to play on a jumper by Jordan Sugars in the lane, but the Mids failed to score the rest of the way, going 0-for-5 from the field with two turnovers.

It appears this was dream week for the Navy football players, going into their final four games of the season. Before the game, defensive lineman David Shaw spoke of visions of Navy's awful effort against Tulane a year ago. After the game, anchor back Grover Favors spoke of going to sleep this past week with visions of Tulane quarterbacks in his head."

COLLEGE PARK -- Is there any chance that Maryland is taking for granted a victory over Tulane, which would allow the Terps to enter November with a .500 record?"

Maryland senior associate head basketball coach Dave Dickerson is being considered for the vacant head coaching job at Tulane, sources said. Dickerson, 37, has been an assistant on Gary Williams' staff since 1996 and was promoted to senior associate head coach after Jimmy Patsos left the Terrapins to become the head coach at Loyola last April. Williams has said over the past couple of years that Dickerson is ready for his first head coaching job. He has been a candidate for several openings since the Terps won the national championship in 2002, and reportedly interviewed for the head coaching jobs at College of Charleston, Clemson and South Florida in past seasons.

NEW ORLEANS -- After all he had done earlier last night, Navy linebacker Fernando Harris could be forgiven for giving Tulane one last chance.After picking up a Green Wave fumble at midfield in the final minute, Harris chose to try for a touchdown. He fumbled the ball back when tackled at the Tulane 10 with 35 seconds left, but that's where the game ended, with Navy a 17-15 winner in a near-empty Superdome.Harris was responsible for the two-point difference, pressuring Tulane quarterback Tracey Watts into an incompletion on a conversion attempt after Tulane (1-8)

ANNAPOLIS -- When it last happened at the Naval Academy, the Cleveland Indians were drawing 2.6 million fans in a year they won their last World Series and the Baltimore Bullets were defeating the Philadelphia Warriors for the city's only NBA championship.The last time it happened at Tulane, Cincinnati was beating Ohio State in an all-Buckeye NCAA basketball final, and a kid named Jack Nicklaus -- in his first year as a professional -- was winning his first U.S. Open in a playoff over Arnold Palmer.

Once the ball was kicked off yesterday, Navy wasn't doing Tulane any favors. With representatives of two bowl games watching, the Midshipmen rolled to a 35-point lead in little more than 19 minutes and made the remainder of the game an exercise in running out the clock as they cruised to a 49-21 homecoming victory before 33,608 at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. Navy@Notre Dame Saturday, 1 p.m., Chs. 11, 4, 1090 AM, 1430 AM

All nine Division I men's basketball programs are ready for action this weekend. On Friday night, Towson opens its season with a road game against Miami (Ohio) at 6 p.m. The Tigers began their 2009-10 season with an 82-71 win over the RedHawks. At 8 p.m., Loyola welcomes Drexel to Reitz Arena for a nonconference matchup. In Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference action, UMES heads to Tulane at 7 p.m., Friday night, and Coppin State travels to Norman, Okla., for an 8 p.m. date with former Owings Mills power forward Andrew Fitzgerald and the Sooners.

Dave Dickerson has a quandary this week going into Friday's opening-round NCAA tournament game between Maryland and Houston in Spokane, Wash. Will he root for the school where he played four years, earned his degree and won a national championship as an assistant coach? Or will the fifth-year Tulane coach pull for a fellow member of Conference USA? Don't ask. "It's going to be an interesting matchup for me. I'm right in the middle of this thing," said Dickerson, who played at Maryland for Lefty Driesell and Bob Wade from 1985 through 1989.

TELEVISION HIGHLIGHTS NASCAR Sprint Cup: Kobalt Tools 500 (T) SPEED Noon MLB ex. Detroit@Washington (T) MASN 9 a.m. Arizona@Dodgers MLB 3 Orioles@Pittsburgh MLB 7 M. bask. Big East: Georgetown vs. S. Fla. ESPN Noon Big 12: Colorado vs. Texas Tech MASN 12:30 Big East: Marquette vs. St. John's ESPN 2 Big 12: Missouri vs. Nebraska MASN 3 Big East: Notre Dame vs. Seton Hall ESPN 7 NEC final: Robert Morris@Quinnipiac ESPN2 7 Big 12: Oklahoma vs. Okla.

As players and then assistant coaches, Dave Dickerson and Doug Wojcik each spent 13 seasons at Maryland and the Naval Academy, respectively. Dickerson was on the Terps' staff when the team won the 2002 NCAA title, while Wojcik recruited the core that won for North Carolina in 2005. Both are in the second season of their first head coaching jobs, in a league loaded with recognizable veterans, but they view a certain force of nature from different perspectives. At Tulsa, Wojcik sells the Golden Hurricane's rich tradition.

Fans at the Super Bowl sometimes have to tough it out. Here are five games whose site was less than ideal: Location Year Result Skinny New Orleans 1975 Steelers 16, Vikings 6 Played outdoors at Tulane Stadium in 39-degree weather. Pontiac, Mich. 1982 49ers 26, Bengals 21 Traffic jams created major pre-game problems. Minneapolis 1992 Redskins 37, Bills 24 Outdoor attractions were at a minimum. Atlanta 2000 Rams 23, Titans 16 Ice storm hit city day before the game. Jacksonville, Fla. 2005 Patriots 24, Eagles 21 Not enough hotel rooms and restaurants.

Arlo Guthrie and Willie Nelson played Tipitina's last week. The streetcars are running on Canal Street and the bars in the French Quarter have gotten the green light to remain open all night. Dave Dickerson would love to say that things are returning to normal in New Orleans, but he's still learning his way around town. Tulane's rookie coach will run his first practice on campus tomorrow. It's unusual to hold an 8 p.m. workout on Christmas Eve, but nothing has been status quo for the Green Wave and its city since Hurricane Katrina hit a week before Labor Day. "We have two freshmen players and they've never attended a class on campus," said Dickerson, who spent 12 seasons at Maryland as a player and assistant coach before taking on what already figured to be a daunting rebuilding job. "Those two kids and the four guys on the coaching staff have never practiced in Fogelman Arena or had a game there.

ANNAPOLIS -- Tulane coach Greg Davis had no idea it would come to this. Neither did Navy's George Chaump.The subject is losing, and it is repugnant to both men. Neither has won a game all season. Barring a tie, one of them will Saturday when Navy (0-8) meets Tulane (0-9) in the Louisiana Superdome.Navy hasn't won since last November when it slipped by Delaware, 31-27. The Middies haven't been branded with an 0-8 record since 1948, when they finished 0-8-1 by rising up to tie unbeaten Army in the season finale.

NEW ORLEANS -- Shawn Jones has seen how the other side lives. He spent his redshirt freshman season at the University of Miami. He practiced with the team that won a national championship. Then he came back home. To Tulane.He found perspective.He found the classroom.He found out how to lose, more than he ever imagined."It was all a big adjustment," Jones said recently. "A really big adjustment."Jones, now a fifth-year senior and one of Tulane's defensive captains, hopes that he will find something else this year.

Everything fell conveniently into place for Navy on Saturday, just in time to gather momentum for its biggest challenge of the season. The Midshipmen had the incentive of a 32-point loss last season to the opponent they were playing and an ugly defeat, their worst of this season, the previous weekend at Rutgers. They had been pushed through a strenuous week of practice to be showcased before a homecoming crowd and several bowl scouts. And Tulane was visiting Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium with a multitude of difficulties that stemmed from being uprooted by the wrath of Hurricane Katrina.

Once the ball was kicked off yesterday, Navy wasn't doing Tulane any favors. With representatives of two bowl games watching, the Midshipmen rolled to a 35-point lead in little more than 19 minutes and made the remainder of the game an exercise in running out the clock as they cruised to a 49-21 homecoming victory before 33,608 at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. Navy@Notre Dame Saturday, 1 p.m., Chs. 11, 4, 1090 AM, 1430 AM