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Wednesday, April 30, 2014
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GOSEA the duo of Ross Guignon and Tim Kopinski was ranked topfive in doubles. This could have caused Gosea to be overlooked by opponents early on, but now the Big Ten knows him all too well for one reason: He didn’t lose to any of them. Gosea ran the table in conference play, finishing a perfect 10-0 in the first and second singles spots, making him a virtual lock for conference player of the year. Gosea became the first Illini to win Big Ten Player of the Year since Kevin Anderson received the honor in 2007. Being mentioned in the same category as Anderson is quite the honor within the Illinois
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SOFTBALL This weekend, Illinois will play at Penn State and then go onto the Big Ten tournament in two weeks. But for head coach Terri Sullivan, Saturday’s Senior Day left her thinking back on her seniors’ softball careers. “When we have more games, I feel like we haven’t lost them yet,” Sullivan laughed. “As coaches, we stay in our little world where we have college athletes who we work with from age 18-22, but it sure goes fast from the moment they arrive until they leave. And that’s what you wish, that you can impart upon a player when they arrive here from the gecko, just how fast it goes.” With both wishing for the prolonged inevitable, the years have certainly sped by since the days when Booker and Mychko roomed together as freshmen. The pair have since grown much closer and demonstrated the leadership that comes with age and experience. Mychko’s fi rst two years were plagued by injury and surgery and spent, instead, cheering on teammates from the bench until she could play. She weathered the initial troubles and came out as a two-time Academic-All Big Ten, an NFCA All-America Scholar Athlete and earned a Big Ten Sportsmanship Award in the 136 games she’s played. “She’s really put things in perspective,” said her father, Eric Mychko. “She enjoys softball and loves it with all her heart. But it’s just another part of life and she sees that. It’s so different from both aspects, from sitting and watching to fi nally playing. Now coming to the fi nal couple of games, you can see she doesn’t want it to end and in the same sense, she knows it has to.” With plans this summer to help coach the travel team she played on, Mychko is pursuing a teaching certificate and looking to gain a coaching job at some point in her future. Booker, likewise, has garnered plenty of experience, playing in 191 games as an Illini . She has earned All-Big Ten Second Team, Big Ten AllDefensive Team (OF), CollegeSportsMadness.com All-Big Ten Second Team, NFCA AllAmerica Scholar Athlete, Big Ten Distinguished Scholar and Academic All-Big Ten. Her historic cycle — the fi rst in program history — this year helped to earn her Big Ten Player of the Week, as well . Her Illinois career has led to an internship with the National Pro Fastpitch League Chicago Bandits this summer, and she will try out for the team at the end of May. She will then go on to be a graduate assistant coach for Texas A&M. But the prospect of no longer playing turned her usually upbeat words to a more somber tone as she got quiet in thought after Saturday’s game.
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BASEBALL but it wasn’t a situation where we went out there and we had fear and we didn’t compete so with the young group I’m pleased with that.” Illinois currently sits in second place in the Big Ten, but the road to where it is now hasn’t been easy. The Illini started the year 2-4 but were able to bounce back in the third weekend of the series, sweeping then-No. 23 Florida and Florida Gulf Coast in two games each . Sophomore shortstop Adam Walton compared the Indiana series to the Florida series, a series where they won all four games, in the sense that the Illini are good enough to compete with either team. “We were a couple pitches away, a couple plays away in the field, a couple big hits, timely hits away from really making those one-, two-run games or even coming out on top,” Walton said of the Indiana series. “Saturday we showed a bunch of fight and showed we can compete with teams like that, just like we did with Florida earlier this year.” The team’s resilience surfaced once again as the Illini had to deal with losing their No.
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program, as Anderson is currently the No. 19 singles player in the world professionally. Gosea will be looking to be put in the same category as Anderson again this season, but for a different reason. Anderson led the Illini to a national runner-up finish in his junior season and reached the national semifinals as a singles player. “My goal was to eventually finish top-10 in the country and maybe win NCAAs, so to be really close to that right now is definitely a huge thing for me. I keep looking back at the beginning of the year to where I was and it just shows all the work I’ve put in has really paid off,” Gosea said.
Brett can be reached at blerner2@dailyillini.com and @Blerner10. “Not knowing if I’m going to see another day of softball,” Booker said. “Never knowing when the end is. I’m trying to potentially play later on in my career, but who knows at this point.” That emotion was evident to Mychko and Booker, to their families before the fi nal home weekend. Both were texting their moms, unsure how well they were prepared for the emotional weekend. For the parents, the passion, which has equated numerous years of little league, travel ball and fi nally college softball, has been such an expansive part of their lives that they can’t imagine life without it. They intend to follow their daughter’s careers regardless of whether they continue play or coach. Offseason tailgates for other Illinois sports, the weekends’ home and even cooking breakfast together has created a commonality between them all: a new family. A family that was present from the moment Mychko and Booker committed and one that will be there in all those future alumni reunions. On Saturday, Mychko and Booker got a taste of those reunions when Illinois recognized the 10th anniversary of the decorated 2004 team, which went furthest than any team in the softball program’s history, placing second in the Big Ten and fi nishing runner-up in the Big Ten tournament before being eliminated in the Regional Finals of the NCAA Tournament. The fi rst graduating class from the softball program, the 2004 team was composed of 15 seniors who helped found what Illinois softball means today. “Illinois really is a family,” said Janna Sartini, the 2003 NFCA All-Region and 2002 AllBig Ten catcher who holds the Illinois career record for runners caught stealing. “And each year when new kids are added to the team, we try to show them just how close we are. Hopefully they can look at us and just see, ‘Wow it’s 10 years later and they’re still jumping into each other’s arms and crying when they see each other,’ because we just have such a close family bond that is unlike anything else.” That bond is what left Mychko and Booker as the last in the locker room trying to soak up the remaining time they had left on Eichelberger Field. It is what drove them to each other for a hug after the pregame senior ceremony and what will continue to drive them back for years to come. The bond these players have isn’t broken when these players leave the locker room for the fi nal time. Rather, it only gets stronger with each opportunity to return to Eichelberger. Only next time for Mychko and Booker, they will be posing for photos as alumni.
Charlotte can be reached at cmcarro2@dailyillini.com and @charlottecrrll. 1 starter Kevin Duchene to forearm tightness in mid-March . The Illini responded to Duchene’s injury by going on fourand six-game winning streaks and starting the Big Ten schedule 9-3, the team’s best start in Hartleb’s nine years. With three weeks to go in the regular season, the Illini are three games behind Indiana in the Big Ten standings. They’re tied for second with Nebraska, and their chances of a Big Ten title are slipping away, but the Illini have been here before . Illinois has been able to deal with the trials and tribulations of a baseball season to this point and sophomore starter Ryan Castellanos said he thinks the team will be able to respond the same way it has all season following the Indiana series. “We’re a resilient team,” Castellanos said. “We showed that (Saturday). We were in the game on Friday and had a tough loss but we came back and shut them down.” “We still believe in ourselves. We believe in our offense when we need to. We defi nitely believe in our pitching staff. We believe in our coaching. It’s a blow today but, like I said, we’re down, but we’re not out.”
Nicholas can be reached at fortin2@dailyillini.com and @IlliniSportsGuy.
BRIAN YU THE DAILY ILLINI
Farris Gosea returns the ball at the Illini men’s tennis game against Nebraska on March 23. Illinois men’s tennis will host the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament.
Men’s tennis to host NCAA tournament’s opening rounds BY BRETT LERNER STAFF WRITER
The Illinois men’s tennis team’s road to a national championship is officially underway. An NCAA tournament appearance has become expected for the Illinois program, as this year’s appearance will be their 19th straight. For head coach Brad Dancer, specifically, this will be his ninth straight appearance while at the helm. The Illini were ranked as the No. 12 overall seed in the tournament, which allows them to
host the fi rst and second rounds of the tournament. This should prove to be a big advantage for the Illini considering they haven’t lost at home this season. “We’re excited about playing at home just because we love our facility and I think our guys usually play well here,” Dancer said. It is a 64-team field, so the top16 seeds each host a regional. Illinois’ fi rst match will pit them against Ball State (1410), a team the Illini were able to beat handily earlier in the
season, 4-0. The winner of that match will take on the winner Memphis (14-5) vs. Drake (225). Ball State and Memphis were both automatic qualifiers, winning their conference’s championships. Regional action will begin for the Illini on May 9 and will be completed by May 11. If the Illini can advance past their own region, they will move on to play in Athens, Ga. “We’re going to be doing some heat training, so training with a lot of warm clothes on because Georgia is going to be pretty
hot,” junior Farris Gosea said. Although Illinois will be favored to advance from their regional and likely have a chance at revenge against No. 5 seed Baylor in the round of 16, no opponent can be taken lightly. “We’ve got good teams all the way in front of us, so we know we’ve got some big challenges,” Dancer said.
Brett can be reached at blerner2@dailyillini.com and @Blerner10
Women’s tennis season dissapointing BY THOMAS DONLEY STAFF WRITER
After four days of uncertainty, the Illinois women’s tennis team found out it will not be competing for a national championship. The Illini missed out on the 64-team NCAA tournament field, which was announced Tuesday afternoon, for the second year in a row. “It’s disappointing not to see our name,” head coach Michelle Dasso said. “I think we’re a good ball club, but we were just too inconsistent this year.” Illinois entered the Big Ten tournament with the belief that
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STERLING there are myriad examples — disappear, will we forget the lessons they try to teach? Donald Sterling is disgraced. Too much light has been shed on his past for him to come out of this crystal clean. He’ll slink away into the shadows, and with time, we’ll forget. Maybe the Clippers will even win the championship. Maybe. The Sterling case is important, and he got his due diligence, but it’s more critical that professional sports learn from
in order to have a legitimate shot at making the NCAA tournament, it would need to win at least two matches. The Illini appeared to be on their way to doing just that as they took a 2-0 lead on Purdue in the quarterfinal match after breezing past Nebraska in the first round. However, the Boilermakers powered back to win four consecutive singles matches, all but ending the Illini’s tournament chances. Purdue, Ohio State, tournament champion Northwestern and regular-season champion Michigan will represent the Big Ten in the
NCAA tournament. Illinois posted a 1-4 record against those teams this spring. The tournament starts May 9 and concludes with the national championship match on May 20. The Boilermakers will open the tournament against Georgia Tech, while the Buckeyes will take on South Carolina. Michigan will face Fresno State and Northwestern, the No. 15 seed in the tournament, will play host to Miami (Ohio). The Illini finished the regular season fifth in the Big Ten but fell short of making their second tournament in three years. At
this incident. The Clippers shouldn’t have to worry about boycotting their playoff games and Alves shouldn’t have to defend his Brazilian heritage. But they do. Racism is still a reality. There are thousands of Donald Sterlings in this world, and it is up to the rest of us to change the culture that allows people like him to poison what should be a contest of strength, not color.
Illinois men’s golf deserves attention
Aryn is a senior in LAS. She can be reached at braun17@ dailyillini.com. Follow her on Twitter @arynbraun.
eeing a golfer at his best is absolutely beautiful. Hitting a 1.68-inch diameter ball into a hole hundreds of yards away is something I’ve tried countless times since attending the Big Ten Men’s Golf Championships in French Lick, Ind., two years ago as the men’s golf reporter for The Daily Illini, something I had never done before. Prior to the tournament, I wrote a full-page preview of the Big Ten Championships. I called every head coach (except Penn State — they declined comment) and asked them a few questions, including who the favorite was. Some said Illinois, some said Indiana, but most said Iowa. Illinois hadn’t won a tournament all spring, and it appeared the team’s run of three straight Big Ten Championships would come to an end. One coach, however, said any team coached by Mike Small is always the favorite; he was right. Illinois was leading going into the last day, and despite a dramatic run by Indiana, the Illini won their fourth straight Big Ten Championship. I remember a few specific shots that day. I remember Mason Jacobs’ chip, where he perfectly popped up the ball, it rolled across the green and plopped into the hole for an eagle. I remember a few putts by eventual Big Ten champion Luke Guthrie, and a few drives by eventual NCAA champion Thomas Pieters. I remember Indiana’s top golfers shanking down the stretch, something Illinois didn’t do. The precision required — striking the exact right spot
NBA bans Clippers owner Donald Sterling for life BY JANIS CARR AND DAN WOIKE MCCLATCHY-TRIBUNE
NEW YORK — NBA Commissioner Adam Silver announced Tuesday that Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling has been banned for life. He was also fined $2.5 million. Silver also said he will urge the NBA’s board of governors to force Sterling to sell his stake in the Clippers. An audio tape of racially charged comments attributed to Sterling surfaced last week on TMZ, and the league acted quickly to discipline Sterling. The Clippers’ owner has a history of issues involving race, especially including his real estate holdings, but this is the first time he has been disciplined by the NBA. Silver said in a news conference that the investigation concluded that it was Sterling’s voice on the recording, and Silver said Sterling conceded that it was his voice. The commissioner also said that Sterling never was fined or suspended before by the league for any previous actions, but he said his history will be taken into account when the board of governors decides whether it will force him to sell. Sterling may not attend games or practices or be present at the
Clippers facility. He also cannot participate in any decisions pertaining to the team or attend board of governors meetings. Silver, in the first major test of his tenure as commissioner, said he expects to get the votes he needs to force Sterling to sell the team. Silver, in handing down what is believed to be the league’s harshest sanctions, called it a “painful moment” for the NBA. This all is happening as the Clippers are in the middle of their first-round playoff series against the Golden State Warriors. Former Lakers center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, also an Orange County Register contributor, praised Silver’s decision in a gathering of former and current players in Los Angeles. “I’m thrilled with the outcome,” Abdul-Jabbar said. “I think most of the players I’ve spoken to since the press conference feel the same way.” Lakers guard Steve Nash also spoke with the group that included Sacramento mayor Kevin Johnson, who worked with the NBA players’ association on the Sterling issue. “This is a proud day for all of us players, for our league,” Nash said.
JOHNATHAN HETTINGER Editor-in-chief
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14-10, Illinois finished with a better record than LSU (14-13) and Tennessee (13-11), which both received at-large bids. The good news for Illinois is that it will return four of its top six players, three of whom are freshmen. “The only way to describe it is utter disappointment,” Dasso said. “We’re just going to have to work better. We’ll use this as a motivating factor next year.”
Thomas can be reached at donley2@dailyillini.com and @donley_thomas.
on the ball with the exact right spot on the club — to land the ball within inches of the hole blew me away. And Illinois could do it better than anyone else. But hardly anyone was at the tournament to see it. Last year, the Illini won their fifth straight Big Ten Championship, despite a poor spring, and went on to fi nish as national runner-up, which I also got to cover. Illinois hardly had any fans at the tournament. Every year, Illinois hosts one tournament — two hours away from campus — in Olympia Fields. Frequently, when I bring up the golf team, people go, “We have a golf team?” We do. And no other program at Illinois has rivaled the success the men’s golf team has had in the past half-decade. No other program at Illinois is as good as the men’s golf team. Currently, Illinois is No. 8 in the country. They’ve had a strong spring and have won three of their tournaments this year, despite losing 2012 individual national champion Thomas Pieters. Last weekend, they lost to Iowa at the Boilermaker Invitational, a tune-up for the Big Ten Championships, with similar competition, a similar course and similar weather. But I wouldn’t worry about it. Every year, Illinois brings its A-game to the Big Ten Championships. The Illini are in top form when it matters most. And their top form is better than almost everyone else’s. Any team coached by Mike Small is the favorite. The sad thing is, hardly anyone is there to see it.
Johnathan is a junior in Media. He can be reached at hetting2@dailyillini.com. Follow him on Twitter @jhett93.