Test Of 6-Foul Rule Ends Up Getting Benched By NCAA
-- COLLEGES
The Big East Conference and two other leagues' three-year experiment with the six-foul rule in basketball is history.
"We'll give it a rest," Hank Nichols, secretary-editor of the NCAA's basketball rules committee and the coordinator of men's basketball officials, said yesterday.
"After getting the data from it, we saw no need to experiment with it any longer."
In addition to the Big East, Trans America Athletic Conference and Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association, a Division II league, experimented with the six-foul rule the past three years.
"Nationwide, the six-foul rule doesn't have any real support," said Nichols, a former official and now chairman of the Education and Human Resources Department at Villanova. "There was no groundswell . . . no reason to go on with it, so we ended it."
Meanwhile, the committee approved two other experimental rules for next season: elimination of the five-second, closely guarded rule and the stoppage of the clock after each made field goal in the final two minutes of regulation and overtime, but with no substitutions allowed on those stoppages.
-- The athletic directors of the Big West Conference have unanimously endorsed adding four independent schools as associate members to strengthen the league's foundering football program. The newcomers: Southwestern Louisiana, Louisiana Tech, Northern Illinois and Arkansas State.
-- Jason Mack, the starting center for Indiana's football team the past two seasons, lost his final season of eligibility after being suspended by the NCAA for a year for violating unspecified rules.
-- Trish Roberts, 37, was named coach of the University of Michigan women's basketball team. The 1976 Olympian who played at Tennessee was 82-32 in four seasons at Maine.
-- Kelly Charbonneau of Spokane, 1991 Washington Class B state cross-country champion, has signed a national letter of intent to compete for Montana State.
-- GOLF
American Mark O'Meara, firing a 7-under-par 65, today climbed into a five-way tie for the lead after two rounds of the Italian Open in Monticello. Also at 137: Jose-Maria Olazabal, Anders Forsbrand, Sandy Lyle and Colin Montgomerie.
-- Mike Hulbert and Ronnie Black shot 7-under-par 65s yesterday to share the first-round lead in the Houston Open.
-- Former Florida State star Colleen Walker shot a career-best, 8-under-par 64 for a two-stroke lead over Michelle Estill after the first round of an LPGA tournament in Tallahassee, Fla. Said Walker: "Right now I'm a little bit numb. I don't think it's sunk in that I've had this low round."
-- Joey Rassett and John Flannery shot 6-under-par 66s to share ther first-round lead in the Ben Hogan Tour's South Carolina Classic in Florence.
-- PGA champion John Daly said he will marry the woman who filed a paternity suit against him. He said recent differences with Bettye Fulford, expecting in late May, grew out of communications problems between their lawyers. The suit has been dropped.
-- TENNIS
Top-seeded Pete Sampras beat Luiz Mattar 7-6 (7-5), 6-2 to advance to the quarterfinals of the AT&T Challenge in Roswell, Ga.
In another second-round match, Jimmy Connors overcame a slow start and figured out Claudio Pistolesi's backhand slices and won 4-6, 6-2, 6-4.
"In the first set, I was up in every game but I played too safe, and couldn't win the big points. So in the second set, I said forget it - I've got to go for it more," he said.
-- Sixth-seeded Francisco Clavet of Spain defeated third-seeded Alberto Mancini of Argentina 7-5, 6-1 in today's quarterfinals of the Madrid (Spain) Open. Also in the all-Spaniard semis: fifth-seeded Sergi Bruguera, Javier Sanchez and Carlos Costa.
-- Wimbledon champion Michael Stich, having trouble with his serve and making repeated errors, was upset by unseeded Magnus Larsson of Sweden 4-6, 4-6 today in the quarterfinals of an ATP tournament in Munich, Germany. Second-seeded Petr Korda of Czechoslovakia advanced with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 victory over Nicklas Kulti of Sweden.
Two unseeded Germans, Markus Naewie and Bernd Karbacher, each moved into his first ATP semifinal.
-- Steffi Graf and Gabriela Sabatini, the top seeds, cruised into the semifinals of the Hamburg (Germany) Open. Graf beat Leila Meshki of Georgia 6-2, 6-2 and plays Anke Huber, a fellow German; Sabatini topped Judith Wiesner of Austria 6-1, 6-2 and meets Arantxa Sanchez, who beat fifth-seeded Jana Novotna 6-1, 6-2.
-- AUTO RACING
Ernie Irvan gave Chevrolet its second consecutive pole position, taking the top qualifying spot for the Sunday's Winston 500 by beating a flock of Ford Thunderbirds at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway.
Irvan, who also started from the pole last year, turned a lap of 192.831 mph. He was followed by a trio of T-Birds, led by Daytona 500 winner Davey Allison (192.657).
-- MAJOR SOCCER LEAGUE
Thompson Usiyan scored three goals as the host San Diego Sockers defeated the Dallas Sidekicks 7-3 to win the opening game of the best-of-seven championship series.
-- BOWLING
Robin Romeo beat Anne Marie Duggan 184-178 in the championship game of the LPBT Athens (Ga.) Open.
-- FITNESS
President Bush urged Americans today to make physical exercise a part of each day. But he passed up a chance to test his prowess against the likes of Muhammad Ali, Chris Evert and Florence Griffith Joyner.
Last year for the second "Great American Workout," Bush put on a warmup suit and took part in exercise events set up on the South Lawn of the White House. But today he was on his way to a meeting on the rioting in Los Angeles, so he showed up in a business suit. Barbara Bush, however, was dressed for the breakfast-time workout.