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Students feel safe studying abroad

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Although fears of international terrorism and reduced airline safety are keeping many tourists and businesspeople out of the skies and holding them reclusive in their homelands, UM students feel little or no apprehension about traveling abroad next semester, and studying in a foreign university.

At pre-departure orientation sessions last Wednesday and Thursday, Study Abroad directors instructed prospective travelers in the financial matters, deadlines, health precautions, and safety issues connected with international travel. Students were educated on how to facilitate issues corresponding with departure, residence, and return.

During the meeting, employees from the International Education and Exchange Programs Office discussed the importance of blending in, of looking natural while in a foreign country—basically, not looking American.

An article titled “Yes, I’m American. How Did You Guess” was handed out. The most informative line: “To the skittish tourist: Nikes and fanny packs are a giveaway”.

Lecturers also stressed the necessity of dressing, speaking, eating and gesturing like the natives.

They urged students to understand the nuances of the new worlds they will be living in, and taught them how to assimilate the neccessary traits.

Officials were prepared to pacify students’ anxieties concerning international tension, but a lack of worry surprised everyone.

“I just wanted a break from Miami,” said Andrew, a student traveling to Australia.

When asked if he was apprehensive about living across the world for four months, he calmly replied, “I’m a little bit worried, but I’m more worried about going to New York for Thanksgiving, than anything else.”

Alex, traveling to Switzerland, declared he has “no concern whatsoever” for the media’s over-dramatization of foreign tension.

“A lot of people brought it up, but it never really bothered me much at all.”

Another Australia-bound student, Brooke, broke the silence.

“My parents were petrified! But they’ve been prepared for a while,” she acknowledged.

“They were a little scared before [September 11th], but now . . . they’re not scared about flying, they’re just scared about the other people.”

All the students were in consensus that their fears for their own safety in another country were barely affected by terrorist activities.

“My only concern would be about what would happen over here,” added Michelle, soon to be studying in a university in Switzerland, suggesting her uneasiness with leaving her family and friends behind in a land she feels may not be safe for them.

A general murmur of agreement in the room signified a common theme: their worries lie within the well-being of the ones they love, right at home in the US.

Grades top the list of concerns

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In the past two months America has waged a war against terrorism, two national symbols have been attacked and the US economy has gone from bad to worse.

Two months ago, the University of Miami UC was filled with students glued to the television as the latest news unfolded.

Last Sunday, the television in the UC wass on ESPN and students clustered in groups to study, not discuss national issues.

The threat of disappointing GPA’s trumps the threat of terrorism for the majority of students.

There are less than two weeks until the end of classes and less than a month until finals. It is now time for students to separate themselves from everything going on outside and concentrate on what will be their end-of-semester results, they said.

“I’m responsible for my grades and depending on what I do, I stay in college,” explained Kike Edwards, a junior majoring in international marketing.

Students across the board of majors and standings echoed Edwards’ words.

“All the assignments are coming in. Finals are always the biggest concern at the end of the semester,” said Alicia Lopez, a senior majoring in broadcast journalism.

Students who have not directly been affected by the 9/11 tragedies and subsequent issues feel as though there is nothing they can do to change the situation in America right now, so they shouldn’t worry about it.

“If I die in a plane crash, or I get anthrax, there’s nothing I can do about it. It’s all God willing,” Edwards said.

“I’m not worried about anthrax, about flying, about terrorists. I’m a Christian and there is nothing for me to fear with the Lord on my side,” said sophomore Rachel Dooley-Tucker, a marine affairs major.

“Anthrax? It just hasn’t hit home,” Dixon said. “I’m flying on Tuesday. But the only reason is because last week’s plane crash wasn’t a terrorist attack. If it was, I wouldn’t be flying.”

For some students, grades this semester will determine if, when, and where they go to graduate school so concern for worldly issues has to be put aside, they said.

“Grades are what matter because I have to graduate this December and go to grad school in January!” said senior Robert Mullings, a Computer Information Systems major.

For other students, it was not a matter of putting aside world issues-grades just simply matter the most.

“Grades trump everything,” said freshman Melih Beken, a mechanical engineering major. Beken is also very excited about going home to Turkey, however, for him it is a matter of logistics:

“I have three weeks before I go home, but only two

Toe-tappin’ fun

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Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller wrote “Hound Dog”. Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller wrote “Charlie Brown”, “Spanish Harlem”, and “Stand by Me”. Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller wrote “Jailhouse Rock”. Now we are properly introduced to some of the numerous pop hits of the 1950s and 1960s composed by this industrious duo.

Each song has a neat polish to it but none aspires to become a standard in the fashion of songs by Cole Porter or Gershwin, whose crafted show tunes fed not only the pop charts but also served as standards for the jazz musicians to improvise upon. Far from it, Leiber and Stoller wrote songs whose structure relied upon the new music coming of age in the 1950s, rock ‘n roll. Perhaps the greatest merit of gems such as “Yakety Yak” is that they manage to capture glimpses of the time in which they were written.

In two acts where one song leads to another, without leaving the actors time to breathe, the play ‘Smokey Joe’s Caf

Self delves deep into the psyche

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Here is a black Londoner who finds an immense piece of crack cocaine in his house and turns his home into a proficient rock-selling kingdom.

There is a dealer wrongly accused of killing and sexually abusing a young boy who is thrown in jail and tries to win a creative writing contest to get the attention of the governor.

There is also the psychoanalyst who wipes away his professional blunders, goes for a drive blasting music, drinking single malts, smoking joints, and finds out that beneath the surface, his life means almost nothing.

Let’s not forget the little baby growing up in England who keeps muttering words in business German (“Bemess-bemess-bemessungsgrundlage!”) instead of using proper words and flusters a worried mother.

These are the type of stories, all accompanied by a witty sense of satire and the bizarre, yet grossly funny use of imagination, that you will find in “Will Self’s” short story collection entitled ‘Tough Tough Toys for Tough Tough Boys.”

The title itself (which used to be the advertising slogan for Tonka Toys) is an enticing welcoming into the sardonic world of social dysfunction and speculative psychology of Self’s compilation of narratives.

Self is an English author (though his Jewish mother was born in New York) with a brilliant and comic sensibility for clever observation and a masterful acuteness for the language of “modern neurosis”, as praised by the New York Times Book Review. He has been compared by critics to such notable writers as Jonathan Swift, Aldous Huxley, Anthony Burgess, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. and J.G. Ballard.

However, he is most often compared to Franz Kafka, the reputable author of “The Metamorphosis” because of his exceptional ability to dive deep into the psyche of his characters, often entangling the reader as well into his exploratory world of psychological absurdity.

His corkscrewed tales in this collection serve as a mind-tingling platter of nuts and bolts that screw through the profound, imperfect cracks in society and examine the nature of how the modern mind- exposed to the crudity, rawness and lack of sensibleness in modern reality- works to find some sort of moral grounds.

The first story, also one of the best, titled “The Rock of Crack as Big as the Ritz”, lunges into the lives of two black, lower-class Londoner brothers who become drug dealers, one of them falling into the abyss of crack smoke and the other always “morally” refraining himself from using the product. The story ends with an entrancing description of one of the brothers getting high as he never has before on premium crack with some Iranian at the Ritz Hotel .

The title story is good as well and deals with a different perspective. Here, the author dives into the mind of a psychoanalyst who goes for a drive- on the way, smoking joints and encountering a hitchhiker, a Scottish alkie- and contemplates his reality, slowly becoming neurotically overtaken, picturing the racing Tonka trucks from the old commercials colliding at the bottom of the hill. In the end, he becomes a just ghostly figure.

But the best of all is the last tale, considered a novella for its length, entitled “The Nonce Prize”, not only for its funny use of the word “nonce” (in British English, it’s a slang word for a sex offender), but also for its witty and intelligent delineation of a wrongly convicted child abuser trying to win a writing contest for prison writers in order to find salvation. This story actually features one of the brothers from the first story- the one who didn’t do crack, but has now turned to drug use- as the victimized sex offender.

Self’s writing is also a great read because of his extensive grasp of dialogue. He can easily switch from the local London slang epitomized by the black brothers to intellectual, professor-like discussions of literature. Moreover, the stories are interesting because they take place in England or Europe, which provides intuitive information and a pleasant escape from American ways of life.

Self has won the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize for his debut novel “The Quantity Theory of Insanity.” He is also the author of ‘Cock and Bull,” “My Idea of Fun’,’ “Grey Area,” “Great Apes,” and “The Sweet Smell of Psychosis.” This year he published his newest work, a novel called “How the Dead Live,” focusing on the aftermath of death.

If you are tired, like so many of us are, of the everyday, mundane bothers of living and big-blockbuster movies don’t entertain you anymore, zap through this collection of stories that will surely put a sharp smile on your face and invite you to look even deeper into your very own psyche.

UM IQ challenges student body

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Combining the sophistication of an academic quiz show with the innovation and spunk of a television game show is UMTV’s newest creation, “UM IQ,” where different undergraduate groups are put to the test and battle it out for a “spiffy prize”.

Born of a concept introduced by broadcast journalism professor Sanjeev Chatterjee, UM IQ producers Rachel Brill and Kathryn Smithyman teamed up to make it all happen. Having started in August, the producers and crew worked steadily throughout the semester until last Friday, when the preliminary round of games of four episodes was taped. “This whole program is just like a full-scale game show but on a much smaller scale,” said UM IQ host Joshua Johnson. “I know that if we did this twice, it would be just as difficult; but it’s been worth it.”

The show starts off with two teams of four, one in a green section, and one in an orange section. The host, an electric Johnson, poses a toss-up question, based on UM trivia. The team who answers it goes first goes first.

Both teams will have pre-determined their specialist, the one player who is an expert in a given subject area, and a generalist, one player who is strongest in general trivia knowledge.

“The rapid fire round and quiz round are pretty generic, but I think what makes the show unique is the in-depth question in the beginning,” said UM IQ producer Smithyman.

The specialist is then put on the spot in an in-depth question round, in which he or she interacts one-on-one with a faculty member pertaining to the relevant subject area. Notepad in hand, the specialist listens to the professor on the monitor and is given a minute to formulate a free response. The teacher then grades that response and gives as many points as were deserved.

The next round consists of a quiz round, in which Johnson asks questions on four subject areas, and the first team who buzzes in has a chance to answer. If the first team does not answer correctly, the second has the opportunity to do so. Points are totaled up after each round.

In the third and final round, the generalist must undergo “rapid fire” as he or she sits in a hot seat, and the room fills with fog. Josh then bombards the generalist with “rapid fire” questions, and the player may either pass or play each one.

After a stressful round, points are added up, the winner is determined, and Johnson announces the player’s “spiffy prize”.

“I saw a flyer for the show and said ‘what the heck, I’ll give it a try’,” said junior Gabe Leighton, who competed on the Hecht team.

Designed to incorporate two teams playing each other, UM IQ will feature eight teams in their preliminary episodes, four of which will go on to compete in the finals.

The competition includes Greeks versus Eaton, the apartment area versus Stanford, Mahoney versus Pearson, and the commuters versus Hecht.

Thanks to Provost Luis Glaser, each member of the winning team in the finals will receive a $1,000 credit at the UM Bookstore, and each member of the runner-up team will receive $250 for the same purposes.

“I see “UM IQ” continuing far into the future,” said Smithyman. “And I can’t wait to see what it will look like in a year or two.”

Episodes are set to air next semester on UMTV.

Madonna Strikes Back with GHV2

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GHV2 is the four-letter title of Madonna’s newest greatest hits collection. It was another four-letter word though, an expletive at that, which sent her popularity and career as a mainstream singer into a tailspin in 1992, exactly where this retrospective collection of her music begins.

After reaching her commercial and popular zenith with her Blonde Ambition Tour, Madonna decided to not just push the envelope but rip it apart with her exhibitionistic SEX book.

What exactly did Madonna accomplish in the 1990’s ? She was neither a favorite of teenagers or a media darling anymore. With the exception of henna tattoos, cowboy hats, and Kaballah-inspired red wrist strings, her expensive fashions didn’t resonate on the streets as they once did. Instead, she searched the underground music scene for hot, unheard-of musicians and brought them on board to help her produce new work that ranged from dabbling in Sanskrit to Spanish pop and country sounds.

So despite all of the S&M, the public backlash, and the critical lambasting that she endured in the early 1990’s, her power to create music worthy of her iconic stature remained intact as this best-of disc proves. Madonna’s music prevailed on the radio, on the sales charts, and especially in the clubs with 27 #1’s to her dance floor credit.

The first two tracks on GHV2, “Deeper and Deeper” and “Erotica” were the mega-hits that never were. Heralded by critics as being capable of matching the greatness of “Vogue,” the two tracks were quickly forgotten when the SEX book was released. “Deeper and Deeper,” a fan favorite, continues to gravitate people to the dance floor with its disco rhythms, as “Erotica” has yet to meet its counterpart from today’s so-called sex kittens with its Eastern sounds and dark and sexually enticing lyrics.

While Madonna fought off the onslaught of grunge and gangster-rap in the early 1990’s, she nevertheless soaked her sounds in neo-soul long before it was popular with her underrated “Bedtime Stories” album. The public and the media barely took notice of her musical development. Thanks to producers like Dallas Austin and Babyface who helped her co-write the soul-stirring “Secret” and the classic “Take A Bow,” respectively, she remained successful on the musical front.

The most interesting part about this time period was her low-key persona; gracing only a handful of magazines, Madonna herself had a brief, clandestine relationship with 2Pac. An ultra-rare, never released version of “I’d Rather Be Your Lover” circulating among die-hard fans includes 2Pac rapping with Madonna.

“Human Nature” is the most disappointing track on GHV2 because of its lame radio edit which eliminates the song’s catch phrase “I’m not your bitch/don’t hang your s**t on me.” So much for expressing yourself, it seems either Madonna has lost her bollocks since tying the knot with Guy Ritchie or Warner Brothers badly needed a big fourth quarter release with this album.

Oddities lie in GHV2, like having the Evita anthem “Don’t Cry For Me Argentina” being followed by the Bjork-penned “Bedtime Story” which marked Madonna’s first foray into the world of electronica, a music genre she brought into the mainstream with her comeback album “Ray Of Light.”

A little hard on the ears on the radio in 1998, “Frozen” and “Ray Of Light” have become Madonna classics by now. Also featured on the album is the perfect retro-pop confection, “Beautiful Stranger,” which juxtaposes her trip-hop light “Drowned World/Substitute For Love,” a moody UK top 10 hit where she laments her trading of love for fame.

A testament to her record-making power, the album leaves a bit to be desired with the glaring omissions of “I’ll Remember,” “Bad Girl,” and “Rain.” In this age of CD-burning, mp3-swappers seem to be the best solution to capturing Madonna’s eclectic 1990s sounds.

When all is said and done with Madonna, it all lies in the final track on the album, “Music.” She probably will never be an Oscar-winning actress, and that’s a good thing, music is where her powers lay, even during her low points.

Thanksgiving a la Miami

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Atencion por favor: Heed this Thanksgiving warning. If you see clouds of smoke billowing over your neighborhood on Thanksgiving Day, do not panic. Do not call the fire department. Do not call the police. This annual November phenomenon is known as “el lechon-Cuban-style roasted pig.”

Remember, you live in Miami, not the United States.

For starters, most Miamians celebrate San G

Entertainment News

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Harry Potter
Almost every box office record in history was zapped by “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” this weekend, which grossed an astounding $93.5 million to surpass “The Lost World’s” previous record of $72.1 million. Other broken records included single day grosses for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. The second “Harry Potter” film is already scheduled to begin filming this Monday, part of a seven film franchise, all based on the children’s novels by J.K. Rowling.

Star Wars
A much-anticipated trailer for “Star Wars Episode 2: Attack of the Clones” scheduled to run in front of “Harry Potter” was canceled at the last minute by several movie chains for fear of crowd safety levels.

Victoria Secret’s
ABC received numerous complaints from across the country after they aired “Victoria Secret’s Secret Fashion Show” last Thursday night. The FCC is reviewing the special to see if it crossed prime time guidelines with frequent G-string appearances and suggestive backstage conversation with models.

No Doubt
No Doubt’s new album “Rock Steady” is being toted as the major record for December, with a sound catered directly towards the club set and completely void of the ska influence in their earlier works. The group chose producers such as Prince and the Neptunes to help craft the record’s “danceability.” It is scheduled to drop on December 11.

Charlie’s Angels
A proposed sequel to “Charlie’s Angels” is in the early stages, with original director McG officially signed on to helm and actress Cameron Diaz in talks to reprise her role along with undisclosed members of the original cast.

Injuries won’s hamper team

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To prevent another underachieving season, University of Miami women’s basketball head coach Ferne Labati has recruited several talented freshmen that will be thrown into this year’s mix.

The Hurricanes are coming off a 13-15 record and an eighth place finish in the Big East. Miami returns four starters and nine players from last season, and the addition of five newcomers will give the team some much needed depth as well as more talent.

The go-to player will once again be sophomore Chanivia Broussard. The 6-0 power forward took the Big East by storm last year, averaging 13.2 points while blocking 32 shots and recording 46 steals. With only a few proven scorers in the lineup, Broussard knows there will be pressure on her to improve, but is confident that she will get the job done.

“I feel there is a lot of pressure on myself,” Broussard said. “I have to just step up and try and help my team more this year so that we can depend on each other.”

Assisting Broussard out in the front court is defensive specialist Meghan Saake. The 5-10 junior will make the transition over to small forward, and hopes to improve upon her 6.6 points per game average. Helping Saake out on the offensive end, will be the addition of 5-11 freshman Melissa Knight, who Labati says has the potential to be dangerous in many ways.

“Melissa Knight is a terrific player,” Labati said. “She shoots the ball extremely well, drives to the basket and is going to be a great player for us.”

Junior Alicia Hartlaub, who saw a majority of her action at power forward, will occupy the middle this season. Hartlaub is one of the Hurricanes’ best all-around players, and in the preseason has shown an ability to score from the perimeter as well as in the paint. Hartlaub is not concerned about making the transition to center.

“The four and five on our team is very interchangeable,” Hartlaub said. “We play a lot of help defensive so the four and five will help each other out there and we’ll get the job done.”

The biggest change for the Hurricanes will come at the point. Freshman sensation Yalonda McCormick has the potential not only to become Miami’s starting point guard, but possibly its most explosive player as well. Hutashi Wilson, a 5-6 sophomore, will also get ample time at the point, and brings college basketball experience that McCormick lacks.

“We’re working very hard with both Wilson and McCormick right now,” Labati said. “Both of them are learning the position and for the first game, we went with Wilson because she had a lot more experience.”

Senior Sheila James, widely regarded as Miami’s best overall player, moves over to shooting guard this year. James has recovered nicely from injuries that have plagued her since the end of last season, and looks to improve upon her 10.4 points per game average.

James will also look to benefit from more shooting opportunities, but doesn’t see a drastic transformation in her game.

“I’ll definitely be helping the point guard out and I’ll be pretty much playing mostly the same type of game, just not handling the ball as much,” James said.

The additions of Knight and McCormick single-handedly improve Miami’s bench. In addition, the Hurricanes have returnees Shaquana Wilkins, Martha Bodley, and Amanda Papuga to depend on, as well as freshman Lonnie Whigham, who is expected to make a full recovery from her torn ACL by December.

The Hurricanes may have a lot of talent and depth, but also face the daunting task of another deadly schedule. Miami begins their home schedule Sunday against Iona and Northwestern next Wednesday.

The rest of their games at the Knight Sports Complex includes Big East foes Rutgers and defending NCAA champion Notre Dame, and non-conference opponents Texas and Minnesota.

Miami faces preseason No. 1 Connecticut and non-conference opponent Kentucky on the road.

“The Big East conference is the lone conference of winning back to back national championships so the competition is outstanding,” Labati said.

Despite the stiff competition, Labati is confident in her team and believes that once everyone is accustomed to playing with each other, the Hurricanes will be dangerous.

“We’re looking forward to a great year,” Labati said. “We want to run and push the ball up for more fast break opportunities and also cut down on our assist-turnover ratio, which really hurt us last season.”

Men’s basketball preview

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Rafael Berumen (12)
F/C, 6-9, Junior, Los Angeles City College
Last Year: Berumen led L.A. City College to a 32-4 record by averaging 18 points and nine rebounds per game. Berumen’s stellar play earned him an All-South Coast Conference selection.
This Year: Along with Will Frisby, Berumen will add a lot of much needed depth to the frontcourt this season. Berumen will likely see some significant minutes off the bench and will be expected to contribute.

Paulo Coelho (13)
G, 6-2, Junior, Universidad de Porto
Last Year: Coelho missed all of last season, recovering from surgery to repair a torn ACL in his right knee.
This Year: Because of the injury, many of Coelho’s expectations are unknown. Coelho has played in 51 career games, however, and will help bolster Miami’s bench with that experience.

Rodrigue Djahue (14)
F, 6-7, Sophomore, Miami NW Christian Academy
Last Year: Djahue saw action in all but two games and provided the Hurricanes with one of their best assets off the bench, averaging 4.1 points and 2.7 rebounds.
This Year: Although Djahue is still learning fundamentals of the game, the sophomore may be one of the first players off Perry Clark’s bench.

Will Frisby (34)
F, 6-8, Sophomore, Fresno City College
Last Year: Selected to the All-Central Valley Conference first team, Frisby averaged 18.5 points and 10.8 rebounds, while shooting almost 58 percent from the field.
This Year: Frisby will start the season as more of a role player, but has more potential than possibly anyone else on the team.

Danny Marakovits (20)
G, 6-4, Sophomore, Allentown Central Catholic
Last Year: Marakovits saw very limited action, playing seven total minutes and scoring three points.
This Year: With the addition of Kahleaf Watson and the return of Coelho, Marakovits’ minutes will probably not go up significantly.

Brandon Okpalobi (10)
G, 6-2, Sophomore, St. Augustine
Last Year: Okpalobi did not see a lot of action, playing 17 total minutes, scoring one point and pulling down five rebounds. He did play four minutes in the Big East Tournament.
This Year: With several guards on the team, Okpalobi will probably be fighting for playing time with Marakovits.

Jerry Schlie (11)
F, 6-6, Senior, Sachem
Last Year: Used sparingly throughout the season, Schlie scored three points and pulled down three rebounds in 23 total minutes.
This Year: Miami’s lack of frontcourt depth may give Schlie playing time early on. By midseason though, Frisby and Djahue will likely get most of Schlie’s minutes.

Michael Simmons (1)
G, 6-0, Sophomore, Mercersburg Academy
Last Year: Starting all 29 games at the point, Simmons provided stellar defense and dished out 2.5 assists per game. However, Simmons wasn’t much of a scoring threat, averaging 2.5 points.
This Year: Still recovering from a hip injury, Simmons will start the season on the bench. Whether he eventually moves back into the starting lineup or not, Simmons will still have a lot of duties on this team.

Kahleaf Watson (2)
G, 6-2, Freshman, Blue Ridge
Last Year: Led Blue Ridge High to it’s second consecutive state title, averaging 18.1 points and 4.5 assists in the process.
This Year: Watson may not see a lot of time early on, but his quickness and athleticism could land him the primary backup duties by the end of the season.

‘Canes strength tested early

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After an offseason full of changes and a rough start in Big East play, Hurricanes coach Perry Clark’s ability to lead Miami to a 16-13 record and an NIT berth was looked upon rather favorably.

With a full roster intact this season, however, the same result will not be as acceptable.

The Hurricanes enter the 2001-2002 season with eleven returning players, including four out of five starters. This year’s starting five combined to average 56.6 points per game, and have the potential to inflict even more harm. In addition, Clark has added three players that should help solve Miami’s depth problems.

Clark recognizes the talent and potential of his 15 players, and vows to make changes in the game plan that will further assist the Hurricanes.

“We really want to run and we are going to push the basketball,” Clark said. “I think if we can put four good scorers in the game, we want to get them the basketball in transition.”

The best of those four scorers is sophomore and pre-season Naismith candidate Darius Rice. The 6-10 small forward led Miami in scoring last season with 14.1 points per game, and posted double figure scoring totals in all but nine games.

Rice’s scoring ability landed him on the All-Big East Rookie Team, but with several scorers on the court, Clark wants Rice to work on other aspects of his game as well.

“Darius has mentally matured a great deal since his freshman campaign,” Clark said. “We need him to rebound the basketball, play defensively and do some other things to help us win basketball games, even when his shot is not going.”

Also returning to the Hurricane frontcourt will be power forward James Jones. The 6-8 junior averaged 11.9 points and 5.9 rebounds per game while showing a surprising outside touch, leading Miami with a 47.1 percentage behind the three-point arc. Jones also led Miami in two exhibition victories, averaging 18.5 points per game.

Much of the frontcourt attention, however, is shifted towards the return of Elton Tyler. The 6-9 center was red-shirted last year for a variety of reasons but has come back at full strength. Tyler averaged 11 points during the preseason and has been an efficient shooter during his career, connecting on 54.4 percent of his shots.

“Integrating Elton Tyler back is extremely important,” Clark said. “He gives us five guys on the court that can score and his knowledge and experience of the game will certainly be more than welcome.”

In the backcourt, Marcus Barnes moves from the bench to the starting lineup, at least for the first part of the season. The 6-2 sophomore saw a good portion of his time at the point last season, but will be moved to the shooting guard to start the 2001-2002 campaign. Clark said that the move should help Barnes gain more consistency.

“With the leadership we have at the point, I think it’s better to keep Marcus off the ball where he can concentrate on shooting and defending the ball better,” Clark said.

That leaves senior John Salmons, Miami’s most versatile player, to run the show. At 6-7, Salmons has the ability to play four different positions, but will be asked primarily to occupy the point. Last year’s All-Big East third team selection is confident that the pressure placed upon him will not become much of a factor come game time.

“There’s pressure, but I’ve been working hard all year and basically, I just put it all on God when I’m out there,” Salmons said. He is the only Big East player to rank among conference leaders in six different categories. “I want to make my mark and just go out there and accomplish things.”

Last year’s starting point guard, junior Michael Simmons, has recovered from a hip injury and will help bolster a bench that includes returnees Rodrigue Djahue and Paulo Coelho.

The bulk of the production off the bench, however, may come from the three new additions to the Hurricane roster – freshman Kahleaf Watson, junior Rafael Berumen, and sophomore Will Frisby. All three players bring ability to help Miami in several different aspects, and according to Clark, already have expectations.

“I think that our three new players satisfy needs instead of just getting outstanding players who demand playing time, and thus mess up the rotation,” Clark said. “What that does is put a burden on some of the players that have been here, and have to certainly step up for us this year.”

The Hurricanes regular season begins with the Virgin Islands Jam on Sunday. The home schedule kicks off with Lafayette on the Nov. 24 and includes teams like Indiana and Charlotte, as well as Big East powerhouses St. John’s and Connecticut.

On the road, the Hurricanes will have to deal with these same Big East opponents, as well as non-conference games at LSU and Texas A&M.

“The Big East conference is the best conference in the nation,” Jones said. “Every team there is capable of winning both the regular season and the tournament title.”

Miami definitely has a tough schedule and some remaining question marks ahead of them. Jones is confident, however, that the core players will step up in the clutch and win some games that eluded them last season.

“This year, we are a young team but we are veterans,” Jones said. “We just have to tough it out during the last five minutes of the game and come up with victories.”

Sports Briefs

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VOLLEYBALL
Marcella Gamarra put an exclamation mark on the end of the 2001 volleyball season for Miami with a blistering kill and the Hurricanes finished on an 11-match win streak with a 3-0 sweep of St. Thomas (30-15, 30-28 & 30-27) on Tuesday evening in Opa Locka. The Hurricanes, completing the first season of volleyball for Miami since 1981, finished 17-7 overall (.708) and posted a 13-1 (.928) home record at the Knight Sports Complex. Gamarra scored 10 kills on 24 attacks (.333), two serving aces and seven digs. Freshman Sandra Totten also scored 10 for the Hurricanes on 17 attacks (.588) while freshman Valeria Tipiana scored eight kills on 13 attacks (.538). Mallorey James contributed 34 assists and four kills with seven digs while Jamie Grass had a team-high 12 digs. In her last match for the University of Miami, senior Kristi Sprinkel had five kills (.500), three block assists and eight digs. Senior Vanessa Koehler, also in her last match for UM, nailed a serving ace and had the distinction of serving the final time for the Hurricanes in 2001. Miami returns five of its six starters next year as the Hurricanes begin BIG EAST volleyball competition.

CROSS COUNTRY
University of Miami sophomore Matt Mulvaney finished 37th with a time of 32:33.42 at the NCAA South Region Cross Country Championships in Tuscaloosa, AL. last weekend. Senior Jeff Gaulrapp finished the 10,000-meter course in a time of 33:49.22 to place 76th. In the women’s 6,000-meter race, senior Jennifer Geroux finished 72nd with a time of 23:35.57.

FOOTBALL
Miami placekicker Todd Sievers captured Big East Special Teams Player of the Week for his performance at Boston College last Saturday. Sievers accounted for 12 of his team’s points in the Hurricanes’ 18-7 win at Boston College. The junior placekicker converted four field goals, with two from distances over 40 yards. Included in the kicks was a career-long 47-yard field goal. Sievers has made 16-of-18 field goals (88.9 percent) this season and leads the Big East in scoring with 85 points. It is his second weekly award this season.

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The Miami Hurricane is the student newspaper of the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida. The newspaper is edited and produced by undergraduate students at UM and is published in print every Tuesday and online everyday during the academic year.

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