Sports Notes - NCAA Tournament - John Wooden - Peter Withe - FIFA TOP 10

Former UCLA coach John Wooden the Pele of college basketball - (Maxi Basket photo)

James Loving - National Radio Text Service

NCAA Basketball Tournament - Coach John Wooden The Wizard of Westwood - Peter Withe signs with Indonesia - FIFA TOP 10 & Top Movers - Cambodia Lose Out As Tiger Cup Hosts

Friday March 26, 2004

NCAA TOURNAMENTS JOHN WOODEN

March Madness defines the excitement of college basketball this time of the year in the United States when the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) championship basketball tournament takes place. Top University teams from every region of the country compete for the right to become NCAA champions. To achieve that goal the task is to win six consecutive games in the sixty-four-team tournament .

Several teams have won the championship more than others. North Carolina, Duke, Kentucky, and UCLA are the universities that have continually fielded squads that over the years have won the Big Dance (as they say in NCAA speak) numerous times. To a college basketball fan winning the NCAA title is equivalent to winning the World Cup of football.

When it comes to coaching John Wooden stands alone as being the most successful NCAA Championship Tournament coach. His teams won the event ten times including SEVEN in a row.

When you consider that players come and go every season the achievement of selecting the right group that will work together, follow instructions, execute the game plan and maintain a cool head embellishes his coaching skills.

Wooden wasn't a man that played the role of the player's best friend. He was a teacher of discipline and how to play the game. He was a master at teaching drills, teamwork, conditioning and fundamentals. He would pay attention to details as minute as how tight a player tied his shoes.

The Wooden winning college basketball legend began in the sixties when he won The NCAA championship for the first time in 1964 with one of the smallest teams in the tournament. That team exemplified heart and tenacity. Walt Hazzard, Gail Goodrich and Keith Erickson led that squad of little people.

His coaching prepared many of his players to excel in the NBA. They included All-Americans Hazzard, Goodrich, Lew Alcindor (Kareem Abdul Jabbar), Lucius Allen, Mike Warren, Sidney Wicks, Curtis Rowe, Henry Bibby, Bill Walton, Keith Wilkes, Richard Washington and Dave Meyers. Jabbar, Walton and Goodrich are among the NBA's 50 greatest players.

In a 1990 interview with National Radio Wooden recalled that he didn't do it right when he began coaching.

Wooden admitted to being too tough on the players. He eased up on himself and got into the flow of his unprecedented winning ways. Those winning ways earned him the name 'The Wizard of Westwood' the area where the UCLA campus is located. He had coached college basketball for 15 years before finally winning the NCAA Tournament at 53-years of age.

Born October 14, 1910, Wooden began to carve out his championship basketball career as a player. He led his Martinsville, Indiana high school team to the state championship in 1927 and as runners-up twice in 1926 & 1928.

In college his Purdue (Indiana) University won the NCAA title in 1932 while he served as team captain. Wooden averaged 12.8 points a game. He was known as the 'Indiana Rubber Man' for his intense play and suicidal dives for possession of the ball during the games. He earned the honor of being selected as a college All-American player awarded an honor noted as being given to only the best players in the country. The season was topped off when he was selected college player of the year.

Wooden went on to play seven years of professional basketball in an era before the NBA was created. He made 138 consecutive free throws while playing for the Indianapolis Kautskys.

He began his college coaching career at Larry Birds alma-mata Indiana State University in 1946 compiling a 47-14 record over two seasons He went on to UCLA in 1948 and retired in 1975. During that time he registered a 620-147 record including those ten NCAA championships.

Wooden's credits also include leading UCLA to four 30-0 seasons (1963-64, 1966-67, 1971-72, 1972-73), 88 consecutive victories, 38 consecutive NCAA tournament wins. Six times he was selected NCAA Coach of the Year. During his 40 years of coaching at all levels he compiled an 885-203 (.813) record.

Wooden and current New York Knicks basketball coach Len Wilkens are the only people inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame both as a player and a coach.

If you talk about a person being a legend in his or her own time John Wooden is that. To many college basketball fans John Wooden is the Pele of college basketball. More John Wooden

Rank/Team/Points/Previous Rank/Change

1. Brazil - 842 - 1 - 0

2. France - 826 - 2 - 0

3. Spain - 791 - 3 - 0

4. Netherlands - 747 - 4 - 0

5. Mexico - 740 - 7 + 2

6. Argentina - 735 - 6 - 0

6. Czech Republic - 735 - 8 + 2

6. England - 735 - 7 + 1

9. Turkey - 733 - 9 - 0

10. Germany - 729 - 12 + 2

Former Thailand national football coach Peter Withe has signed a four-year contract with the Football Association of Indonesia as the Technical Director of all Indonesian national teams. He will work with current Indonesian national coach Ivan Kolev until the end of July when the Bulgarian's contract expires.

The 52-year-old Englishman will then the senior side as well as overseeing all other national teams and work with or hire new coaches.

After nearly five years at the helm of Thailand the former Aston Villa striker was suspended in September.

Cambodia was to have hosted the 2004 Tiger Cup football tournament. It is an event that could have generated revenue and jobs for the Cambodian people. The Cambodia Daily reported that the sewage system at Olympic Stadium in Phnom Penh wasn't adequate to facilitate large crowds.

Without the use of what was a stadium of the Cambodian government seems to be controlled by the Taiwan developers. Result the people of Cambodia forfeit jobs and opportunity.

No change at the top of the March of the FIFA World Ranking as the leading six nations, headed by Brazil, remain unaltered.

Longtime Ranking trailblazers Germany (10th, up 2) are back in the Top Ten having fallen from grace in December last year. Czech Republic and England consolidate their Top Ten berths, moving into a three-way sixth-spot tie with Argentina.

In the Top 50, Iran moved up seven spots to claim their best ever ranking, taking 24th place. Undoubtedly helpful in this endeavor was their 3-1 win over Qatar in the FIFA World Cup qualifying match on 18 February.

Teams in the other regions of the ranking have followed Iran's lead: Hungary (67th, up 7), Haiti (86th, up 8) and Cyprus (92nd, up 7) have all made considerable gains.

The uncontested Best Mover this month is Belarus (78th, up 13). On the African continent, the best points gains so far this year go to Tunisia, Nigeria, Mali and Morocco, still riding high on their wins in the African Cup of Nations.

FIFA World Cup(tm) qualifiers are once again underway in North and Central America and the Caribbean, as well as in Asia, with 25 matches taking place last month. Add to this the 43 friendly matches contested worldwide and the total number of international matches in the first quarter of this year has already surpassed the 150 mark.

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