02 16 17

Altaf Nanavati • The Daily Beacon

Davenport elaborates on plans in first day press conference Staff Report

to Tennessee.

Before being appointed to serve as UT’s chancellor, Davenport worked at the University of Cincinnati as the interim president since July 2016. Before then, she served three years as UC’s senior vice president for academic affairs and provost.

During her tenure, she oversaw major recruitment initiatives that significantly increased the number of minority faculty members and nearly doubled the number of women faculty.

Davenport herself is the first female chancellor at UT Knoxville and said diversity remains at the forefront when she hires new faculty. This will be especially important during Davenport’s first few months at UT when she will have to hire several top administration positions, including athletic director and provost.

Chancellor Beverly Davenport held a press conference Wednesday morning, Feb. 15, to discuss the future of UT. Before taking questions, Davenport spoke about moving to Knoxville and the excitement she feels about being here.

“I’m finally in Knoxville, and I’m so excited to be here. It’s be a long–a few months in coming,” said Davenport. “This is my very first day, my very first morning. I spent the first hour of this morning with students as I think is appropriate.”

Davenport spent her first hour at UT in an interview with The Daily Beacon before extending media availability at 10:30 a.m. to all news outlets. She went on to express her gratitude for the warm welcome she has received from Knoxville.

“I love the hospitality and really just the genuine, kind hospitality that people have extended to me,” Davenport said. “So, thank you, thank you to the community, really.”

The first questions from the crowd revolved around her qualifications for the position.

Davenport referred to her experiences at multiple different universities, including her time as interim president of the University of Cincinnati, and emphasized that “at heart” she is a teacher. As an educator, Davenport said she views student success as a significant challenge, but one that is close to her heart.

Then Davenport fielded questions on how she will facilitate student relationships. She responded with an anecdote from her time earlier that morning and said meeting students is “easy” if you “walk along campus.”

“I got on the elevator when I got to work this morning, turned around and the elevator was full of students ... I extended my hand and said, ‘Hi, I’m Beverly. I’m your new chancellor.’ And they said, ‘We know who you are,’” Davenport said. “All you have to do is extend a hand, figuratively and literally.”

See DAVENPORT on Page 2

See PRESS CONFERENCE on Page 2

Chancellor looks forward to new home on Rocky Top Bradi Musil Editor-in-Chief Beverly Davenport, the eighth chancellor of the University of Tennessee, as of Wednesday, Feb. 15, said she lives her life by semesters.

At 62, Davenport — who was sworn in unanimously by the UT Board of Directors in December to replace former Chancellor Jimmy Cheek — has spent the larger part of her life on college campuses.

“I’m really excited to feel the rhythms of this campus,” Davenport said. “I really haven’t gotten out to walk the campus yet, but I came up the elevator this morning and knew all the people in the elevator were students, and I love the feel of a campus.”

As an undergraduate student at Western Kentucky University, Davenport studied communication and journalism before going on to

Volume 133 Issue 22

earn a Ph.D. in communication studies from the University of Michigan.

Davenport said she was set on law school, “like many people who study communication and forensics and debate,” but through the guidance of a close undergraduate professor, found her true calling in teaching and hasn’t looked back since.

“He gave me the chance to teach a class, and that was it. I was hooked,” she said. “I think teaching is a calling. I think it’s something that you have in you.

“You just know right away if it’s rewarding for you.”

The kind of unique, allegiant community a university environment fosters has come to feel like home to Davenport, who said she’s attracted to the “excitement, energy and diversity” of college life.

“The full gamut of research, teaching, engagement and service to communities in which one is a part,” she said of her attraction

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Thursday, February 16, 2017

2

The Daily Beacon • Thursday, February 16, 2017

THE DAILY BEACON STAFF

DAVENPORT

EDITORIAL

continued from Page 1

Editor-in-Chief: Bradi Musil

While hiring a diverse staff remains critical to Davenport, she said she’s chiefly concerned with attracting the very best talent for UT students.

“I would never want to be hired because I was a woman,” Davenport said. “I’m extremely proud to be the first woman, but you look at all that a person brings to a position.”

Davenport’s appointment as UT chancellor comes at an interesting and somewhat tumultuous time for the university after two major controversies in 2016 left students questioning the university’s commitment to cultivating an inclusive environment.

In 2016, Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam allowed a bill to become law that diverted $445,883 from the university’s Office for Diversity and Inclusion, effectively shutting down several campus resources like the Pride Center and removing universitypaid staff members like Pride Center director Donna Braquet and the former Vice Chancellor for Diversity Rickey Hall.

Students have voiced their concern and discontent for the university’s, and especially for former Chancellor Cheek’s, handling of such legislative overreach at the public university. But Davenport said she hopes to mend the frayed relationship between the UT community and Tennessee legislature.

“These jobs are about relationships; leadership is about relationships,” Davenport said. “We have to use strategies that educate, that heighten awareness, that find ways to bring people together … and it’s not easy work. It takes time and it takes

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PRESS CONFERENCE continued from Page 1 UT is currently without an athletic director. Finding a replacement for the position is expected to be one of Davenport’s first challenges as chancellor. She said she already has a team together and a search consultant working to fill the position, and she has worked directly with this team to find someone with qualities fitting for an athletic director.

“I’m looking for somebody with integrity, somebody who understands compliance and will have absolutely compliance at the top of their list… We need someone who understands financial management,” Davenport said.

The next questions brought to the Chancellor focused on two topics that have been top concerns for students: tuition and

“

CAMPUSNEWS I won’t be on a campus that is not welcoming and supportive of all of us. We all have to rally behind that

message.”

Beverly Davenport, chancellor

care … and we’ll be working on those relationships.”

In 2016, UT also settled a $2.48 million lawsuit over federal Title IX allegations, which claimed the university maintains a “hostile sexual environment” for female employees.

Davenport said she has experienced issues and concerns over diversity at every university where she’s worked and studied.

Most recently, in July 2015 at Davenport’s former university, a campus police officer was indicted for the shooting death of an unarmed black man at a traffic stop.

“I’ve worked on these issues at every place I’ve been,” Davenport said. “We have to make this a community where people want to come to if we want to be the world class institution that we aspire to be.”

In moving forward with diversity and inclusion efforts at UT, Davenport said she wants most to hear from the students and faculty who were involved and affected by the law that dissolved diversity programming.

“I won’t be on a campus that is not welcoming and supportive of all of us,” Davenport said. “We all have to rally behind that message.”

Davenport said she’s optimistic about UT’s future and the upward trajectory of

retention and graduation rates that have increased over recent years. She said her core concern is the success and experience of college students, and that’s one quality of UT she has been most impressed with.

“Students are thriving here, and that’s absolutely what we want to build on: a community that helps students succeed,” she said.

“But it’s going to take all of you all, and all of us. It’s not just one person who does this work.”

When Davenport isn’t looking for ways to improve higher education institutions, she said she can be found working on her house, antique shopping, reading Southern women writers or scrolling through Pinterest.

More than anything, she wants students to think of her as a teacher — someone who’s approachable and accessible and wants education to shape their experience as positively and powerfully as it has hers.

“I’m here to have the experience with you, not to structure it for you but to be a part of it,” Davenport said. “I can see the tradition and the pride (here at UT) … You are part of something really special; it’s pretty remarkable … I’m excited to feel this pride and be a part of this Big Orange Country.”

diversity.

“Tuition is always an issue of concern.

There is nothing inexpensive about a college education,” Davenport said. “The single best way to offset the price of tuition is fundraising.”

The topic of diversity on campus became a major controversy last year, when the Office of Diversity and Inclusion was defunded by the Tennessee legislature.

“There will be funding, and I will only be on a campus where every student is supported and made to feel welcome and important and safe. I wouldn’t be on a campus if I wasn’t committed to and would find revenue to support programs for all of our students,” Davenport said.

UT also faced criticism after a major Title IX lawsuit last summer questioned the athletic department’s approach to handling sexual assault. The national campaign slogan to stop sexual assault is, “It’s on us,”

and Davenport said she plans to apply the phrase to UT. “It (stopping sexual assault) starts with education and awareness … The national campaign was entitled, ‘It’s on us,’ and I have taken that to heart,” Davenport said.

“We must have a culture of consent. It is on the students, and I said if you see something, you say something.”

Davenport is UT’s first female chancellor, and she said while she is honored by that title, she does not cling to that fact.

“Am I humbled? Am I honored to be the first woman? You bet. Do I get up thinking about that? No,” Davenport said. “I’ve been doing my work for a long time. If I inspire a young woman, a student to think, ‘Well I never thought about that as a career option,’ well maybe I’ve done some good work in this world. It’s amazing to me that there aren’t more women doing this work.”

CAMPUSNEWS

Thursday, February 16, 2017 • The Daily Beacon

3

California officials rush to drain lake as new storms begin Associated Press

OROVILLE, Calif. — Officials raced to drain more water from a lake behind battered Oroville Dam as new storms began rolling into Northern California on Wednesday and tested the quick repairs made to damaged spillways that raised flood fears.

The three storms were expected to stretch into next week. Forecasters said the first two storms could drop a total of 5 inches of rain in higher elevation.

However, the third storm, starting as early as Monday, could be more powerful.

“There a potential for several inches,” National Weather Service forecaster Tom Dang said. “It will be very wet.”

Nonetheless, California Department of Water Resources chief Bill Croyle said water was draining at about four times the rate that it was flowing in and the repairs should hold at the nation’s tallest dam.

About 100,000 cubic feet of water was flowing from the reservoir each second, enough to fill an Olympic-size swimming

pool.

Croyle said work crews had made “great progress” cementing thousands of tons of rocks into holes in the spillways.

“We shouldn’t see a bump in the reservoir” from the upcoming storms, he said.

The reservoir has dropped 20 feet since it reached capacity Sunday. Croyle said officials hope it falls 50 feet by this Sunday.

Still, officials warned residents who have returned to their homes that the area downstream of the dam remained under an evacuation warning and they should be prepared to leave if the risk increases.

Some 200,000 people were allowed to return home Tuesday after being ordered to evacuate Sunday.

Sandra Waters, 42, of Oroville initially fled her home with little more than the clothes she was wearing. Now, she’s preparing for the possibility of another evacuation by gathering food, clothing and sentimental items like photographs.

“You are always cautious when you live under a big dam, but we’ve always been pretty confident that it was safe and that it wasn’t going to fail,” she said.

Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea said

some homes in the evacuation zone had been burglarized and deputies had made of arrests.

He also called on private drone operators to refrain from flying their devices over the dam. Private drones can interfere with the repair work, which includes helicopters, he said.

The 770-foot-tall dam is located in Oroville, a small Gold Rush-era town along the Feather River in the Sierra Nevada foothills.

The region is largely rural, with its politics dominated by rice growers, orchard operators and other agricultural interests.

It’s dogged by the high unemployment rates endemic to farming communities.

Dump trucks and helicopters dropped thousands of tons of rocks and sandbags to shore up the spillways over the weekend and avoid what could be a catastrophic failure and flood.

The swollen lake reached its capacity over the weekend and spilled down an unpaved emergency spillway for nearly 40 hours, leaving it badly eroded. The problem occurred six days after engineers discovered a growing hole in the dam’s main concrete spillway.

Croyle said teams were working on

plans for permanent repairs to the dam’s main spillway that could cost as much as $200 million.

As state officials puzzle through how to repair it, federal regulators have ordered California to figure out what went wrong.

In recent years, construction crews patched cracks — including in the area where water burrowed a huge pit last week. If the past repairs were not done properly, water could infiltrate and eventually tear through the concrete.

Inspectors with the state agency that operates and checks the dam went into the half-mile-long spillway in 2014 and 2015 and did not find any concerns, officials said.

Late Tuesday, President Donald Trump ordered federal authorities to help California recover from severe January storms — a disaster declaration that also assists state and local officials with the dam crisis.

Elsewhere in the state, officials say a reservoir in Santa Clara County is on the verge of spilling over for the first time since 2006. But unlike Oroville Dam, the Anderson Reservoir is not at risk of failure or causing major flooding, San Jose television station KNTV reported.

4

ARTS&CULTURE

The Daily Beacon • Thursday, February 16, 2017

‘The Lego Batman Movie’ puts goofy twist on old hero Collin Riggs Contributor There are certain things one expects out of a Batman movie: gruff voices, hard choices for Batman, the inevitable scene in Crime Alley where he relives his parents’ death, the Joker talking about how he and Batman are destined to fight forever, Jim Gordon and his moustache.

“The Lego Batman Movie” takes that list and, in a style more akin to “Deadpool” than “The Dark Knight,” wrings out every single joke it can. From Batman shooting orphans with a patented merchandise gun to Joker giving a monologue about how Batman doesn’t appreciate him and how he refuses to be in a one-sided relationship anymore, you’ll find nothing of the serious Christopher Nolan era here.

Will Arnett plays a Batman that is strikingly similar to Alec Baldwin’s SNL impersonations of Donald Trump. He’s grandiose and showy, with a penchant for beat-boxing and electric guitar.

He also works alone – apart from his trusty sidekick, a coil of rope.

I was worried how Zach Galifianakis’s portrayal of the Joker would measure up, having grown up on Mark Hamill’s characteristic psychotic laugh. However, even though Zach Galifianakis is no Mark Hamill – and certainly no Heath Ledger – I found I didn’t want him to be. He’s a different Joker for a different Batman in a different universe, and he fits that role perfectly. He’s sweet and lovable despite lacking in the psychosis department; he is still the same old Joker everyone knows and loves.

Lego Batman, at times, seems frenetic to the point of frenzy – which is entirely understand-

able since it’s made for young children, but if you look away for a minute, you may miss three plot points and seven jokes. Despite being for children though, there’s plenty of humor for adults, such as a joke about Batman overcompensating vicariously through the Batmobile.

Or a single, solitary jab about shark repellant for anyone in the audience that is either really old or really nerdy.

Despite how quick the movie shifts from point to point though, the overall story is touching and actually more human than I would not expect from either a children’s or a Batman movie. The movie explores questions about Batman which make him seem much more down-to-earth and relatable – points I’d never see being touched in a live-action film. Nolan’s Batman takes on insane international criminals, but Lego Batman takes on commitment issues and social anxiety, which

is just as awesome.

There’s a reason this film is sitting at 96 percent on Rotten Tomatoes as of right now – like “Deadpool,” it’s different. When I was young, studios had trouble getting superhero movies “right.” Now, we’re inundated with superheroes that are all done well, and we get to collectively gape at as they smash through buildings and pummel things into a bloody, messy pulp. Part of Batman’s appeal through the years has been that, underneath the cowl, he’s human, and Lego Batman gave me a story that never let me forget that fact – even during a Taylor Swift fight montage.

It’s a story with orphans, jilted villains, platonic work-relationships that you really wish weren’t so platonic and being a part of a family.

And if anyone is still on the fence – Batman fights Voldemort. He fights Voldemort.

Switchfoot, Relient K liven up Valentine’s Day in Knoxville Mary Beth McCauley Staff Writer Relient K and Switchfoot spent their Valentine’s Day rocking out in Knoxville for their “Looking For America Tour: Part II.” The Mill & Mine housed more than 1,000 fans for the show, almost filling the building to its capacity.

Along with promoting their most recent releases, Switchfoot and Relient K are using the tour to advocate for Cure.org, an organization that provides medical care to disabled children in 10 different hospitals overseas. People can sponsor a child or donate directly to the organization, which can enter them to win an all-expense-paid trip for two to a CURE hospital in the Philippines with Switchfoot and see them live in concert. A booth was set up in the merch

area where folks could sign up to be a sponsor and donate to the cause.

Relient K took the stage first, promoting their eighth studio album “Air For Free” that was released in July 2016. The band members were all smiles, warmly greeting the crowd and starting off with a song that everyone in the room seemed to know, “High of 75.”

Though they played a lot of new material, they also made time to play some classics like “Be My Escape,” which was met with thunderous applause as soon as the first note was sung.

One thing that was noticeable about Relient K’s performance was that the entire crowd seemed to know every word to every single song that they played. It made the show feel like a family reunion where everyone knew each other. The members of Relient K have been making music since 1998, so they have gained a dedicated and loyal following over the years.

Relient K finished their set after about 10 songs, much to the disappointment of the crowd, and the stage was quickly rearranged for Switchfoot. Before we knew it, the room went dark, leaving a flashing black and white countdown on the stage screen. An old photo of Knoxville was shown as the band members slowly made their way to the stage, making the crowd cheer twice as loud.

Switchfoot has also been making music for more than 20 years, so they had their own list of classics to play for us. Fans got to hear older songs like “Dare You to Move,” “The Sound (John M. Perkins Blues)” and “Meant to Live” in addition to songs off of their 10th studio album “Where the Light Shines Through,” which was released in July 2016.

The band members were full of energy from the minute they stepped foot on stage, smiling and jumping around to the beat of the music.

Jon Foreman, the lead vocalist, connected with the audience immediately, often jumping onto the metal barrier and holding the hands of fans in the front row. “Happy Valentine’s Day, Knoxville,” Foreman said with a smile before he began to sing “Bull in a China Shop.” Switchfoot played for about two hours, but the crowd didn’t miss a beat.

The audience was an even mixture of parents, young adults and teenagers, all who have heard these two bands at one point or another in their musical careers. There were couples – old and young – there on Valentine’s Day dates, college students enjoying a local show and youth groups there with their pastors and chaperones, all dancing and singing along to every song. Even the bartenders and servers had a pep in their step as they kindly greeted the concert goers.

The atmosphere was warm, bubbly and carefree from start to finish.

(Left) Switchfoot’s lead singer Jon Foreman performs at The Mill and Mine.

(Right) Relient K, a well known rock band, plays at The Mill & Mine.

Mary Beth McCauley • The Daily Beacon

OPINIONS

Thursday, February 16, 2017 • The Daily Beacon

5

Advice everyone has heard, no one follows 10 Angsty love songs for your post-Valentine’s hangover: “Kiss Me Slowly” States//Capitals

“When You Come Home” Paradise Fears

“I Will Love You (Even If It Kills Me)” Too Far Moon

“Where The Wind Blows” The Workday Release

“Are We Happy Now?” The Ready Set

“Pull Me Out” This Wild Life

“Too Young For This Love” The Icarus Account

“Tell Me I’m A Wreck” Every Avenue

“Come Back Home” We Are The In Crowd

“The Reason Why” The Click Five

Anu Kumar Brain Rules

We’re approximately a month into spring semester, and I’m seeing signs of mental fatigue everywhere on campus. Dazed students bumping into each other, coffee cups in hand, misplacing common items, etc. We’re all guilty of it. There are a multitude of ways that you can minimize the effects of mental decline. Unless you’re into the whole “romanticizing the miserable college student” aesthetic, here’s a well-rounded list of things you can do to make sure the rest of the semester doesn’t suck the life out of you.

Don’t skimp on water or sleep. The average person needs about eight 8-ounce glasses of water to stay hydrated and functioning and can also help reduce headaches and migraines in the lower base of your skull. If you can get the same amount of work done in four hours instead of eight, why would you torture yourself willingly?

If you’re someone that naps, be cautious about the length and the time of day that you take your naps. In Medical Daily’s article, “Brain Exercises To Get Mentally Fit: 6 Habits To Keep Your Mind Sharp With Everyday Tasks,” it’s noted that the relationship between learning and sleep is still a mystery, but one that should be respected. During memory processing, the brain goes through different stages of learning new information that was presented to it – acquisition, consolidation and recall. Acquisition is when the material is first introduced, consolidation is when the memory is solidified, and recall is the ability to pull out the stored information.

An appropriate amount of sleep allows the brain to repair and recalibrate itself, so that way this information flow happens as efficiently as possible.

Practice an instrument/language. I’ve met several students who used to sing or play an instrument when they were in middle school or high school but decided to stop pursuing it once coming to college. If spending 30 minutes in the practice room doesn’t fit your schedule, or if you never had the desire to learn an instrument, consider practicing a foreign language. Rather than spending hard earned tuition money on a language class for your free time, smartphone apps like Duolingo offer to teach you a language for free. In an article posted by The Guardian, research studies have shown that learning another language can increase the size of your brain.

An MRI study conducted in Sweden showed that participants who studied a language, or multiple languages, had increased sizes in their hippocampus and in multiple language centers in the cerebral cortex. The hippocampus is the main hub for long-term and short-term memory, and plays a key factor in the acquisition, consolidation and recall process while learning. Some other results that were not initially expected involved a better developed motor region of the brain.

“An appropriate amount of sleep allows the brain to repair and recalibrate itself, so that way this information flow happens as efficiently as possible” Hold yourself accountable when you do work.

Do people really spend four hours at the library doing work the entire time, or do they spend two of those hours collectively on social media and/or wishing they weren’t doing homework or studying? More than likely everyone has been a victim to distracting environmental stimuli, even if that stimuli is the technology we hold in our hands or our ever wandering minds. Set a timer for yourself in either 30-minute or onehour chunks and get as much high quality work as you can in that time. Once the timer goes off, take 10–15 minutes to get away from your work, but resist the urge to go on social media. The most successful social media platforms are the ones that can suck in your attention very easily.

Instead, opt for a short stretch, talk to a someone, walk around the room or building aimlessly for the allotted “rest” time. Afterwards, go back to your station and begin working for another chunk of time.

Most of this information is already well known. Everyone knows that if you drink water, sleep enough and do your work, you would be in a better shape. Along with the holding yourself accountable, make sure you’re realistic with yourself when you schedule your day. Most students hold jobs either on campus or off, leaving less time in the week to get homework and studying done. The most important thing to remember is that while you can look up all the life-improving tips in the world and set goals for yourself, none of that will happen until you actively start to implement them.

Anu Kumar is a sophomore in neuroscience and psychology and can be reached at akumar8@vols.utk.edu.

Columns of The Daily Beacon are the views of the individual and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Beacon or the Beacon’s editorial staff.

6

SPORTS

The Daily Beacon • Thursday, February 16, 2017

Athletic director search could be nearing completion Trenton Duffer Sports Editor New University of Tennessee Chancellor Beverly Davenport announced in an interview on Wednesday that the current search for an athletic director is ongoing and that a decision could be reached soon.

With Wednesday as Davenport’s first day as first female chancellor of UT, the former University of Cincinnati chancellor announced that an AD will be named as soon as possible. “Our timeline is, now that I’m here on campus, as fast as we can go,� Davenport said in an interview with The Daily Beacon on Wednesday, Feb. 15. “I was in touch with the search firm yesterday and have been since we hired them. We’re going to go very quickly.�

In a story posted on UT’s website on Jan. 20, 2017, the university announced that a search firm had been hired to assist the chancellor with the hiring of a new AD. The search committee consists of former Vol quarterback Peyton Manning, senior associate

athletics director Donna Thomas, UT trustee Charlie Anderson, CEO of Pilot Flying J and owner of the Cleveland Browns Jimmy Haslam and UT’s faculty representative for the SEC and the NCAA professor Donald Bruce. Davenport also added Raja Jabrun, vice chair of the UT Board of Trustees, to chair the search committee for her.

Manning, Anderson, Haslam and Jabrun are all UT alumni. “I’ve said to the search consultants, ‘Bring me a diverse pool of talented people,’� Davenport said. “We’re looking for excellence. I’m looking for strong management experience. I’m looking for people who’ve competed at the highest level – integrity, compliance, people who’ve dealt with Title IX issues. “All of those are at the top of my list.�

On Aug. 18, 2016, current Tennessee athletic director Dave Hart announced his retirement, prompting the university to begin the search for a new commander of athletics.

After the announcement, many speculated that former UT senior associate athletic director for administration and current Chattanooga athletic

director David Blackburn would be a shoo-in for the job.

However, since January 2017, multiple reports have stated that former UT head coach Phillip Fulmer would be the one given the job.

Although there were reports released over the weekend that the job had Blackburn and Fulmer listed as its finalists, Davenport assured that the search is still ongoing and that there are “absolutely no� finalists for the job. “First, I’m looking for the very best talent,�

Davenport said. “This AD job is one of the best jobs in the country, so there is stiff competition for this job. We’ll be looking for the very best person we can find. “I’m not going to speak about any specific candidate ‌ We have a search consultant for a reason. They are experts. They know the people who are out there.â€?

Multiple issues arose out of the university while Hart was athletic director. The Title IX lawsuit that claimed the university had a “hostile sexual environment� and did not handle sexual assault cases properly was settled in July 2016 for $2.48 million.

The eight unidentified women in that case criticized Hart, now-former Chancellor Jimmy Cheek and UT President Joe DiPietro in court documents filed by the lawyer.

Two separate gender discrimination acts, one in 2014 and one in 2016, were also filed under Hart’s tenure. Each were settled for a little over a combined $1.5 million. “Those are national issues,� Davenport said. “There’s not an athletic director, chancellor or president in the country that’s not dealing with those issues.�

In November 2014, Hart announced all women’s athletics programs at UT, besides the women’s basketball team, will drop the “Lady Vols� name and will be known as “Vols� going forward.

After outrage from fans and former athletes and a proposed legislation to keep the name, the university announced in February 2016 that all women’s athletic programs could wear a commemorative “Lady Vols� patch on their respective uniforms. State lawmakers withdrew their legislation once this decision was made.

The official end of Hart’s tenure as athletic director will be on June 30, 2017.

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PUZZLES&GAMES

Thursday, February 16, 2017 • The Daily Beacon

7

STR8TS No. 944

Medium

Previous solution - Easy

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NEW YORK TIMES CROSSWORD â&#x20AC;˘ Will Shortz

SUDOKU No. 944

Very Hard

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The solutions will be published here in the next issue.

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8

SPORTS

The Daily Beacon • Thursday, February 16, 2017

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

Middleton, Jackson performing well in new roles Tyler Wombles Copy Editor Early on in the season, junior guard Alexa Middleton found a spot in the starting lineup for the Lady Vols, then lost it almost immediately.

Middleton’s role increased drastically to begin the 2016 campaign after Tennessee’s limited backcourt suffered season-ending injuries to guards Andraya Carter and Te’a Cooper. With Middleton’s increased presence on the court, she scored 18 points against James Madison and 21 against Navy.

Head coach Holly Warlick awarded Middleton a starting role against East Tennessee State because of her high-scoring performances, but the Murfreesboro native lost her luster with the starters, recording just seven points in 28 minutes of play.

Middleton was relegated back to the bench after the ETSU game, and she remained there until the team’s contest versus Missouri, where she replaced Meme Jackson in the starting five. Middleton got the start again for

the team’s 61-59 loss to Texas A&M and performed well despite the team’s heartbreaking last second defeat.

Middleton played a total of 39 minutes against Texas A&M, scoring 14 points, recording four assists and notching two steals.

She shot 6-for-13 from the field.

The junior is now averaging 7.8 points per contest with an average playing time of 24.5 minutes. She has 195 total points and 55 assists on the year.

But Middleton opted not to praise herself for her performance. Instead, during the postgame press conference, she focused on what the team needed to work on as a whole.

“It’s frustrating because it’s the same exact thing that happened last year,” Middleton said. “There were a few more shots that I wish I could have hit. Like Diamond (DeShields) said, we were missing the outside shots we were shooting.

“We were giving up offensive boards to them, and ultimately, an offensive rebound was what lost us the game.”

Middleton pressed the idea that allowing offensive rebounds hurt Tennessee against the

Aggies and the lack of making shots doomed the Lady Vols.

“I think you could tell that we were letting fatigue get to us a little bit, like on offensive rebounds,” Middleton said. “We didn’t score in the last three minutes. There were some shots that we normally hit (that we missed) and some shots that probably weren’t great.

“We just have to finish the game and keep playing tough all the way through.”

Jackson Off the Bench: With Middleton one of the starting five for Tennessee, sophomore guard Meme Jackson has had to settle into a reserve role after starting for much of the season.

She scored five points in 14 minutes against Missouri and six points in 12 minutes against Texas A&M, coming off the bench in both games.

Warlick praised the combination of Jackson and Middleton after the Missouri contest.

“I thought Meme Jackson came in and did some great things and Alexa came in and got things started,” Warlick said. “We need both of those kids to perform.”

Jackson is averaging 3.4 points per game

and 16.4 minutes per game on the season.

She has started 18 of the 25 games she has played in.

Shaky Standings: Tennessee’s spot in the SEC standings took a hit after the loss on Sunday.

The Lady Vols were sitting at fifth place in the conference before Sunday’s contest. Now with a 7-5 conference record, the team has fallen to sixth place out of the 14 total teams in the conference.

Texas A&M now boasts an impressive 9-3 SEC record, good for third place in the conference. The Aggies, however, were already in third place before besting Tennessee.

Mississippi State sits at the top of the conference with an 11-1 record. South Carolina, who Tennessee bested 76-74 in Columbia, are in second place.

Tennessee will look to improve on their SEC rank through the last four games of the regular season as the Lady Vols take on Alabama Thursday at Tuscaloosa, then host Arkansas and Florida before traveling to Mississippi State to conclude the regular season slate.

MEN’S BASKETBALL

Kentucky blow-out doesn’t eliminate Vols just yet Trenton Duffer

Sports Editor From an outsider’s perspective, if a basketball team lost 83-58 to any team, it wouldn’t merit a possible berth in the NCAA Tournament for the losing squad.

However, that isn’t the case for men’s basketball coach Rick Barnes and the Vols.

That aforementioned 83-58 loss broke the Vols’ hearts on Valentine’s Day as the Wildcats got revenge for an earlier upset they suffered at the hands of Tennessee this season – an 82-80 Vols win in Thompson-Boling Arena on Jan. 24.

But while the Wildcats slayed any chance the Vols (14-12, 6-7 SEC) might have had of winning their fifth game in Rupp Arena over the past 50 years, it didn’t kill Tennessee’s hopes for the NCAA Tournament.

At least, not yet.

“We don’t go into games talking about the tournament,” sophomore forward Admiral Schofield said after the Kentucky game. “We know that we are a team that can definitely going to win four out of the next five or five out of the next five … We’re going to approach this one game at a time. We’re going to come out, play together, play inside-

out basketball and just be aggressive.”

After winning five of six from Jan. 14-31, the Vols have dropped three of their last four to Mississippi State, Georgia and Kentucky.

While the Wildcat loss can be overlooked, an absolute meltdown against 14-8 Mississippi State and simply being outplayed by 14-11 Georgia are a bit more blemishing to the Vols resume.

Although some of the Vols’ losses, such as North Carolina, Gonzaga, Wisconsin and Oregon, aren’t as detrimental to the big picture of making the tournament, earlier losses to Chattanooga and Ole Miss along with Mississippi State and Georgia hurt the Vols chances a bit more.

A win in one of those four games would likely have the Vols as a No. 9 or No. 10 seed.

“We gotta get back to playing like that team that’s on fire instead of that team with what seems like egos. We can’t have egos,” Schofield said. “We haven’t done anything in this league right now. Maybe where other people think we’ve surprised other people because of where they picked us, but we’ve got bigger goals than what others think of us.”

Despite losing three of four, the Vols are still being predicted to make the Big Dance by multiple outside sources. Joe Lunardi of

ESPN, however, had the Vols as the first team in his First Four Out section. Fellow SEC team Arkansas was a part of Lunardi’s Last Four In squad.

Lunardi ranks the Vols 52nd in BPI (Basketball Power Index), 14th in SOS (strength of schedule) and 42nd in RPI (Ratings Power Index). RPI calculates a team’s strength of schedule mixed with how the team does against that schedule.

But Barnes isn’t worried about the rankings. He just wants to win.

“We’ve got five games left,” Barnes said after the UK loss. “I think we’ve got a chance to win all five of them, but if we play like we did tonight, we won’t win any of them. I think this league is a much better basketball league than what people give it credit for right now.”

The first of those five games is at home against 7-17 (2-10) Missouri, a team that has struggled mightily all season. Next up would be a rematch with 12-13 (5-7) Vanderbilt.

The Vols beat the Commodores in Nashville earlier this season, so Vandy may be eyeing some payback against its in-state foe.

Feb. 25 showcases the Vols traveling to Columbia, South Carolina, to rematch the 20-5 (10-2) Gamecocks, who have an RPI of 21. A win here would skyrocket the Vols

chances of making the tournament. This is also the only game that wouldn’t put the Vol in crisis mode if they lost.

Four days later, the Vols will take on SEC cellar-dweller LSU (9-16, 1-12) on the road.

Tennessee’s schedule concludes in Thompson-Boling Arena on March 4 against Alabama (14-10, 7-5) before the SEC Tournament begins.

Five wins would almost guarantee the Vols a seed in the tournament. Four wins would be beneficial but the team would need to have a solid run in the SEC Tournament.

Anything else, and it’s likely the NIT for the Vols.

Still, don’t count Barnes and the Vols out.

In Barnes’ 14 years coaching at Texas prior to coming to Tennessee, the Longhorns made the NCAA Tournament in all but one year.

“We put ourselves in a position that probably not many people put us in at the beginning of the season, and that’s good,” Barnes said referencing his team’s ability to sneak into the tournament. “Our young players right now have got to decide how big of a slice of the pie they want. It’s there, but this time of the year, you’ve got to take a win, learn from it and move and take a loss, learn from it and move on.

“You can’t let it linger.”