What's the Deal with Banks?

An athletic association without scandal is like playing openhanded poker. There is always someone getting caught doing things they shouldn't be doing. The recent indefinite suspension of Memphis forward Sean Banks is no exception to this unwritten law of good sports leagues.

Banks, a leading scorer for the Memphis, Tennessee Tigers was sespended indefinitely on Tuesday for "violating team rules." This is quite a vague reason for such a punishment, which leaves much to the quetioning and imagination of sports fans. Memphis Coach, Calipari, released no further information concerning the actual violation.

Previous to this event, Banks had played in every game of the season and was averaging 16 points and 6.1 rebounds. Last season, he helped the Tigers to hold a share of the Conference USA regular-season title. Banks seemingly a major asset to the Memphis team must have done some heavy violating to get the boot from a team he helped carry. Stay posted for news on the issue.

Wake Up, Wake Forest

The names usually making the big plays, Williams, Paul, and Gray, were out-staged by a new key player, Strickland. Wake starters Chris Paul and Eric Williams were both benched during the first four minutes of Monday's game for being two minutes late for the bus. Trent Strickland, normally a reserve, stepped up on both ends of the court, proving himself an asset to the team. He came up up big in the final nine minutes of the game scoring all of his nine attempted points.

The game was a wake up call for ex-No. 1 Wake Forest, as there were six lead changes and two ties in the opening ten minutes of the second half. In the end, Wake Forest came out on top by making five of the six free throws in the last crucial two minutes leaving the final score 67 to 64.

Michigan Tops the Top Ten

The University of Michigan finally emerged from a college basketball season slump on Saturday in their game against Notre Dame. As we all hate the irish, it was nice to see them lose to Michigan's hockey and basketball teams this weekend. To make the victory even sweeter, the game was an upset as the unranked Wolverines took down the Fighting Irish, ranked 19.

As if we thought it couldn't get any better for Michigan in this game, we were wrong. A great game-ending play made by Petway hit number one on ESPN Sports Center's "Top Ten" highlights list. His unbelievable block during the closing moments of the game proved clutch to this much needed win. Hopefully Michigan can keep this action going.

Wolverine Walk-ons Are Stepping In

No more waving towels and sitting on the sidelines for the walk-on players at the University of Michigan. These non-scholarship athletes are having their time to shine as a new Wolverine starter seems to get injured every week.

Walk-ons John Andrews, Dani Wohl and Ashtyn Bell each have played more than expected this season. Other members of the team have also been forced to play as the usual playing-time roles have been reversed in recent games.

"Coach Tommy Amaker said he had never seen four walk-ons play significant minutes on a basketball team in his 20 years as a college player or coach."

The Wolverines have still been winning games since the lose of three starters, and we'll see what happens next after the announcement of the two newest casualties, Lester Abram and Graham Brown.

Apparently, even some of their replacement players have gotten banged up. What are they feeding these guys? Hopefully the ex-benchwarmers can keep it together and continue to make crucial plays for the team as their fellow teammates attempt to heal.

Must-See Teams

All basketball fans, this season keep an eye out for the men's teams from Illinois and Washington. Both of these teams seem to be overlooked in terms of their strength, but have great potential to do well this season. Both also have important games this week. Illinois battles the number one team, Wake Forest, on Wednesday night and Washington goes to play Gonzaga, who has been victorious in the past six games of this rivalry.



Being a Big Ten fan, I hope to see Illinois go far this season. It's about time for the Big Ten conference to put up a better fight on the court. So I'm looking forward to watching this midwest team secure an overdue hold in the NCAA standings. For more updates on this week's games and NCAA headlines, check out the following site:

ESPN NCAA Basketball

Listen Up

Most have heard that Howard Stern, shock-factor media personality, signed an agreement and is now going to be broadcast on Sirius Satellite radio. Sirius also recently signed a deal to cover the entire NCAA men's basketball tournament until 2007. This is one move in a broad attempt to gain customers by including more sports broadcasting in their programming line-up. There have also been other deals with baseball and football in heavy competition with XM Satellite radio.

This seems like a great idea for the satellite radio provider. This type of service has quality far superior than any typical AM station where most sports games are aired. There are also no commercials, so avid fans can get their fill of hiqh-quality broadcasting without being subject to the irritating infomercials that plague today's AM and FM radio.

Test

Stephanie Adler

I am a student at the University of Michigan.

The OC

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Stephanie Adler, stephyy@umich.edu

Zoolander

Ben Stiller has made Derek Zoolander an icon for our generation. He is absolutely hilarious in this movie, making it one of my all-time favorites. Ben, Owen Wilson, Jerry Stiller, and Will Ferrel combine to form the ultimate comedic team.

If you enjoy this movie, I would also reccommend watching the newer film, Dodgeball, with a similar cast who blend together just as nicely as the Zoolander crew. It's also great to see many of the Stillers working together in movies, as Ben's wife appears in both films, and his famous and equally hilarious mother and father have roles in Zoolander.

View Zoolander Trailer