1109 B1 sports (Page 1) - News

SPORTS
SPEED READ
Douglas C. Pizac/AP
GOOD CHEER
Sports editor Jim Rossow’s
three reasons
we love sports
today:
■ Good TV
week for former
Illini in the NBA.
Catch Luther
Head’s Rockets
on Thursday (TNT), Brian
Cook’s Lakers on Friday
(ESPN) and Deron Williams’
Jazz (above) on Saturday
(WGN).
■ Former Indiana schoolboy legend Damon Bailey is
coaching his high school
alma mater, Bedford (Ind.)
North Lawrence, this season.
Maybe Brian Cardinal can
come back to Unity when his
NBA career is over.
■ Want to work off some
of that turkey? Volunteer to
help out at Tent City during
the IHSA football championships. Call Lucas Thurman
at (217) 351-4133 to help.
WHO AM
?
I won 14 individual and
relay Big Ten titles for the
women’s track team from
1986 to ’90. Most of my success came as part of the 400and 1,600-meter relay teams,
but I also captured individual
crowns in the 400 three
times (answer below).
B
Wednesday, November 9, 2005
Sports Editor Jim Rossow (217) 351-5231 [email protected]
PLAN
dee
How do you go from
all hype to all-star?
For Brown, it was a
five-step process:
Step 1: McDonald’s
All-American
Step 2: Big Man on Campus
AP
Step 3: Face of
college basketball
Robert K. O’Daniell/The News-Gazette
Sports Illustrated
Step 5: Preseason
All-American
Step 4: All-American
ON THIS DATE IN ...
1996 — Evander Holyfield
pounded Mike Tyson into
submission at 37 seconds of
the 11th round to win the
WBA heavyweight title in Las
Vegas.
TODAY’S TOP FIVE
Staff writer Fred Kroner’s
favorite Illinois
high school
nicknames:
1. Centralia
(girls): Gotta
love the Orphan
Annies.
2. Polo: In a
poetic switch on history,
they’re the Marcos.
3. Hoopeston Area: How
can you not like the Cornjerkers or the shortened version,
the ‘Jerkers?
4. Cobden: The southern
Illinois school is uniquely
known as the Appleknockers,
and if you need to reach the
school look for N. Appleknocker St.
5. Teutopolis: They’re the
Wooden Shoes, at least until
you see them run.
CLICK IT
Today’s question: Who
wins Saturday’s football
game, St. Joseph-Ogden or
Unity?
Go to www.news-gazette.
com and click on SportsFacts,
or e-mail a response to
[email protected].
TRIVIA ANSWER
Reed Saxon/AP
Robin Scholz/The News-Gazette
ILLINOIS BASKETBALL
Illini must capitalize on star power
By BRETT DAWSON
[email protected]
CHAMPAIGN — They always said Dee
Brown was going to be the poster child of
Illinois basketball.
These days, the poster might as well be
one of those Uncle Sam knockoffs: “Dee
Brown Wants You... To Play For Illinois.”
It’s coincidence, really, that Brown was
named an Associated Press preseason AllAmerican on Tuesday, just before today’s
start of the national recruiting signing period.
But it’s telling.
After all, Brown jumped when given the
opportunity to discuss what his everescalating profile might mean long-term for
the Illini, who host Division II Quincy tonight
at 7 to close out their exhibition season.
“I hope people notice that a guy like me,
being as small as I am, playing in Coach
(Bruce) Weber’s system gets me recog-
More on Illinois basketball
A closer look at the two recruits
who will sign with Illini today, B-6.
UI-Quincy preview box, B-6.
nized for my individual talents,” Brown
said. “Hopefully guys can see that the position I’m in and all the respect and love I get
for the way I play reflects the whole Illinois program.”
Weber expects to sign two players today
— a forward, Richard Semrau, from Ohio,
and a big man, Brian Carlwell, who hails
from Proviso East in Maywood, the same
school Brown attended.
But he could coach a lifetime and he
might never sign anyone who has quite the
impact at Illinois that Brown has.
His All-America nod Tuesday was
the latest in a string of honors that
have gotten Brown, and by extension Illi-
nois, national notoriety.
He’s been the Big Ten’s Player of the
Year, The Sporting News’ top player
nationally. He’s graced the covers of
Sports Illustrated and countless preseason
publications. He’s been spotted all over
television tugging at that jersey, lifting
the “ILLINOIS” on the front just so.
And the significance of all that isn’t lost
on anyone in the Illini program.
“You would hope all that stuff would
help promote coming to Illinois, or (us)
getting in doors,” Weber said. “He’s marketed himself in a positive way, I think.
Some guys do one thing, but he’s got the
headband, he’s got the high socks, he’s got
the long shorts, then he does the (jersey
pop). He just continues to get his name and
picture out there.”
Weber is thankful for it.
Please see ILLINI, B-6
LOREN TATE
TATELINES
Position
all but
forgotten
Brock
Bolen, a 230pound bundle
of dynamite,
enrolled in
2004 as one of
Illinois’ top
three recruits.
He was tabbed the nation’s No.
1 prep fullback by recruiting
analyst Tom Lemming after
scoring 83 touchdowns in
his last two years at Valley
View High in Springboro,
Ohio.
But after a promising rookie
season at Illinois, Bolen transferred to Louisville. His decision was based on his belief
that, in an era where the fullback is a “vanishing breed,”
the new Illinois system would
diminish the position’s importance.
“You have to be careful and
not get in the wrong program,”
Bolen’s father, Jim, said Monday. “Ohio State was interested in him, but Brock was told
he’d be primarily a blocking
back. We liked it at Illinois,
even bought a house there. But
we saw the handwriting on the
wall.
“One of the problems is that
they label you. But (Bobby)
Petrino likes big backs at
Louisville, and he says Brock
will carry the ball for them.
He’ll be their next tailback. We
watched Ron Zook at Florida
and knew Brock wouldn’t fit
in.”
It is a story sweeping the
nation. In a growing number of
locations, fullbacks are becoming passe, old-fashioned, out of
date. Ask Jim Grabowski, a
two-time 1,000-yard rusher at
the Ul. Grabo was third in 1965
Heisman voting. No fullback
finishes that high anymore.
From his seat as the 29year analyst for Illini radio
broadcasts, the two-time AllAmerican has watched his
position gradually fade from
prominence and, in some cases, completely disappear.
“I’d probably be a tight end
now,” he said. “I had pretty
good speed but, at 4.6, I’d be
slow now. The game is spread
out and so much faster now. It’s
become so specialized.
“We used split backs (in the
1960s), and we used the sprint
option with a lot of it set up for
me to get the ball more. And
we ran the belly option with
the fullback behind the center
and the halfback offset. That
would still work today, but
when is the last time you saw
split backs?
“When coaches started using
the spread, the fullback
evolved into a tight end or an
H-back, then went in motion
and ultimately moved outside.
Once the fullback became a
wideout, speed became more
important, and the old-time
fullback was unnecessary.”
Gone by the wayside
Call it the Rise and Fall of
the Royal Fullback.
We just left Ohio State,
where Woody Hayes’ allconference fullbacks — Tony
Please see TATE, B-6
ALL-AREA GIRLS’ TENNIS
Renee Carr
PLAYER OF THE YEAR: LINDSEY HALLETT
SPIRITED COMPETITION
INSIDE
Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .B-1-6
Bowling insider . . . . . . . . .B-6
College football insider . .B-2
NBA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .B-5
NFL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .B-5
NHL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .B-6
Scoreboard . . . . . . . . . . . .B-4
State volleyball preview . .B-3
Central star uses determination to her advantage on court
By TONY BLEILL
[email protected]
BUSINESS
U.S., China deal
Countries agree to
limit imports of Chinese textiles in states.
B-8
INSIDE
Business . . . . . . . . . . . . .B-7-8
Vanda Bidwell/The News-Gazette
CHAMPAIGN — One thing the Hallett family has learned when it gathers to play a friendly board game: It’s
not so meaningless to Lindsey Hallett.
“We can’t play a board game in the
house because if she doesn’t win, she
gets up and slams the door and gets
mad,” said her mother, Kitty Hallett.
“She’s always been that way. She’s
gotten a little better as she’s gotten
older. She’s highly competitive.”
There’s not a much better trait for
a tennis player. Hallett, a Champaign
Central junior and The NewsGazette’s Area Player of the Year,
endeavors to win at anything and
everything. Losing is entirely unacceptable.
“She has a very competitive spirit
and likes that mano a mano,” Central
coach Gary Day said.
Award winners
Today marks the third of our fall
All-Area packages. The lineup:
DATE
TEAM
Nov. 2
Girls’ golf
Nov. 3
Boys’ golf
Today
Girls’ tennis
Thursday
Boys’ soccer
Nov. 16
Boys’ cross-country
Nov. 17
Volleyball
Nov. 22
Girls’ cross-country
Nov. 28
Swimming
Dec. 1
Football
More on All-Area tennis
Honorable mention list, B-3.
The Hallett file, B-3.
been one area in which Hallett has
improved. As a freshman, she had
trouble maintaining her composure
when things went awry. Gradually,
through growing experience in competitive situations, Hallett has
“When I get really mad, I start hitting harder and harder, and it gets
worse and worse,” Hallett said. “As a
freshman, that was a pretty big thing.
I’d get mad and I’d start hitting as
hard as I could. Now I can control
myself a little more.”
It showed this year. Hallett’s signature victory in a 16-9 season came
against Bloomington’s Mackenzie
Clemens in the No. 1 singles draw at
the Big 12 Conference meet.
Seeded third, Hallett roared from
behind for a 1-6, 7-5, 7-5 victory
against second-seeded Clemens in a
semifinal match. Hallett lost the
final, but she took a step forward in
the determination she showed against
Clemens.
“She has matured a lot, and her
game has matured,” Day said. “She
used to just have a flat forehand and
it went in or it didn’t, and only about