Tuesday News and Notes

Tuesday, January 02, 2007

 

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CFB

Wake Forest-Louisville

Associated Press

Picked to finish last in the Atlantic Coast Conference, Wake Forest pulled off a championship season that stunned many onlookers.The Demon Deacons’ reward for their record-setting year? A season-ending matchup with one of the nation’s highest-powered offenses. This is the ninth straight bowl trip for Louisville - while Wake Forest has been to only six other postseason games, most recently beating Oregon 38-17 in the 2002 Seattle Bowl. The Cardinals are 5-7-1 all-time in bowl games; the Demon Deacons 4-2, including three straight wins. It appears to be a matchup of a strong offense against a strong defense. The Cardinals are averaging nearly 39 points and 477 yards per game - stats that both rank among the top three out of 119 Division I-A teams. Louisville’s only loss of the season was to Rutgers, a game where the Cardinals blew an 18-point lead and, with it, perhaps a chance to play No. 1 Ohio State for the national championship. Meanwhile, Wake Forest held nine opponents to 17 points or less, winning each of those games, and kept Georgia Tech to a season-low six points in winning the ACC championship. Already, this is the winningest season in Wake Forest history, which looks even more impressive when considering that the Demon Deacons lost starting quarterback Ben Mauk and running back Micah Andrews to injuries early in the year.

The teams have one common opponent this season. Both beat Syracuse, with Louisville winning 28-13 at the Carrier Dome and Wake Forest opening its year with a 20-10 home win over the Orange.

NBA

Spurs-Cavaliers

News Herald

The Cavaliers are going from playing the team with the best home record in the NBA to the team that rarely loses on the road. They host the San Antonio Spurs (23-8) at 7 tonight at Quicken Loans Arena. The Spurs are an NBA-best 11-3 on the road this season. They had a 12-game road winning streak, which dated back to last year, snapped earlier in the season. The Spurs are a veteran team led by their two star players (Tim Duncan and Tony Parker), are well-coached (Gregg Popovich), play rugged defense and are battle-tested. Cleveland is trying to win three in a row over the Spurs for the first time since 1988. James is averaging 39.5 points, 6.5 rebounds and 4.5 assists in his last two games against the Spurs. He’s also shooting 55.9 percent from the field (33 of 59) in that span. The Cavs are just one game off the Bulls’ pace at home. They are 13-3 heading into the Spurs game, 4-0 against Western Conference teams. San Antonio has yet to lose to an Eastern Conference team on the road (3-0). It might be a good time to play the Spurs. They have been ravaged by a stomach virus that has afflicted six players, two trainers, one assistant coach, at least three wives and assorted other family members. Duncan was suffering a bit on Sunday.

Sonics-Mavericks

Seattle Post Intelligencer

The Sonics will require more than just moral support tonight against the Mavericks, who enter with a 10-game winning streak, including an 89-85 road win over the Denver Nuggets without Dirk Nowitzki, who missed the game with a sinus infection. The Sonics play six games in the first 10 days of the month, compared with eight in the final 21 days of January. The team has to make the adjustment to life without Lewis, meaning there will be more scoring responsibilities for Damien Wilkins and Chris Wilcox against the Mavericks’ third-ranked scoring defense.