Sports Watch

By Bill Kwon

Tuesday, March 16, 1999

Duke remains the one
in new, improved picks

WWELL, my Sweet 16 in the NCAA men's basketball tournament has turned sour.

Of course, I have Duke winning it all. But doesn't everybody? I picked Auburn and Michigan State to advance to the Final Four based on purely scientific grounds -- they both played early season games in Hawaii.

That's about it. The rest of my picks all bit the dust.

Utah? Out. So much for the Western Athletic Conference.

North Carolina? Couldn't even get by Weber State in the first round. I wonder if Phil Ford is ready for the head coaching job. Then, again, I remember that even Hawaii couldn't beat Weber State in the NCAA first round.

Instead, who do we have left?

Southwest Missouri State. Gonzaga. The Other Miami.

Who are these guys? Don't say Cinderella teams. Even Cinderella never heard of them.

Well, the clock will strike midnight soon for SW Missouri State, whose best player is probably their coach, ex-Indiana star Steve Alford. Bad news for the Bears: they face Duke next.

Gonzaga is the little team that could, and you can't help but pull for the Bulldogs. I like them to win one more game, beating Florida, before bowing out against Connecticut in the West Regional final.

Then there's Miami of Ohio, this year's Valparaiso. By stunning Utah, the RedHawks -- they used to be called the Redskins in less politically correct times -- have only alerted Kentucky for their Midwest Regional semifinal.

So, using a mulligan on my NCAA pool, here are my updated picks:

East Regional -- Duke over SW Missouri State, Purdue over Temple. Final, Duke over Temple.

South Regional -- Auburn over Ohio State, St. John's over Maryland. Final, Auburn over St. John's.

Midwest Regional -- Michigan State over Oklahoma, Kentucky over Miami. Final, Michigan State over Kentucky.

West Regional -- Connecticut over Iowa, Gonzaga over Florida. Final, Connecticut over Gonzaga.

Final Four -- Auburn over Connecticut, Duke over Kentucky. The Tigers overcome the challenge of the UConn, while the Wildcats wind up playing in their fourth straight NCAA title game, sort of, since they will lose to the eventual national champion.

NCAA Championship -- Duke over Auburn. The Big Dance turns out to be an easy waltz for the Blue Devils.

THERE'S a little more involved in the dispute between the University of Hawaii administration and deposed football coach Fred vonAppen that's delaying his buyout.

Apparently, the university is willing to buy out vonAppen's contract based on his basic salary of $103,000, but not the additional radio/TV money that's involved, which would up it to $153,000.

If that is indeed the case, as vonAppen's attorney argues, the university is wrong in its calculating. It is only fooling around with figures.

It's standard operating procedure to include all the benefits in defining the total package for a coach's salary. Even June Jones' purported $400,000 annual deal only has a $100,000 base salary.

Since UH doesn't want to talk about it, let's use the example of Tommy Bowden, Clemson's new coach.

Bowden signed a five-year contract for $700,000 annually, of which only $155,000 is base salary. The radio/TV deal is worth an additional $325,000, and he will also get $180,000 in endorsements, such as apparel, shoes, speaking and commercial engagements.

So did Bowden sign for $155,000 or $700,000? And was Jones' pact worth $100,000 or $400,000? It has to be the whole package that counts. Which is what vonAppen has to be thinking. And justifiably so.