THE DAILY COLLEGIAN NHL Washington at N.Y. Rangers 7 p.m., TCN Miami at Cleveland 8 p.m., TNT San Antonio at Portland 10:30 p.m., TNT NCAA Basketball Purdue at Indiana 7 p.m., ESPN Georgia Tech at Duke 7 p.m., ESPN2 Cincinnati at Notre Dame 9 p.m., ESPN Tennessee at LSU 9 p.m., ESPN2 League could face long-term problems Baltimore Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti said Wednesday that several NFL owners are facing a financial shortfall that could create - long-term problems for the league" and ultimately result in a lockout. As the Ravens prepare for a 2010 season without a salary cap, Bisciotti hinted the NFL could shut down in March 2011 if concessions aren't made by the players union in negotiations for a new collec tive bargaining agreement. Speaking at a news confer ence in which team officials looked back at last season and ahead to 2010. Bisciotti insist ed many of the 32 NFL teams are struggling to finish in the black "I've got partners out there right now whose teams are making less money than their linebackers. I think we've got an acute problem here with the general profitability of the teams," Bisciotti said. Verlander, Detroit make five-year deal Justin Verlander and the Detroit Tigers have agreed to an $BO million, five-year con tract, a person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press. The person spoke on condi tion of anonymity Wednesday night because the deal had not been announced. The per son said the contract could be completed as soon as Thursday. Verlander won a career high 19 games with a career best 3.45 ERA last season. The sides agreed to bypass salary arbitration. When fig ures were exchanged last month, Verlander asked for $9.5 million for next season. The team offered $6.9 million. Verlander made $3,675,000 last season. Kiffin-Meyer rivalry ready to take off The rivalry that never was just got bigger. Lane Kiffin was not shy in challenging Florida coach Urban Meyer when Kiffin coached Tennessee. It was laughable. But by next sea son, the chances of Kiffin laughing are much better. According to Rivals.com, Kiffin's new school, USC, finalized the nation's No. 2 recruiting class Wednesday. No. 1? The Gators. At least this time a poten tial matchup on the field in a big-time bowl game may be interesting. , Q: Who was the last State College Area High School football player to sign with Penn State, not including this year's signees? Wednesdays answer Joe Montana has won more Super Bowl MVP awards (three) than anyone else. Associated Press Ohio State guard Evan Turner (21) drives past Penn State's D.J. Jackson (15) in Wednesday night's 75-62 win against the Nittany Lions. Turner scored a game-high 27 points and added 10 rebounds and seven assists. It was the Lions' 10th-straight loss, tying a Penn State record for consecutive losses to start a Big Ten season. Tough week awaits By Alex Angert COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER Despite losing their last two games, the Lady Lions still have a chance to win the Big Ten. The only prob- lem is they also still have a chance WOMEN'S to finish in last BASKETBALL place. With at least eight games left in the season, Penn State U 5-6, 7-4 Big Ten) sits two games behind first place Ohio State but only three games ahead of last-place teams Northwestern and Illinois. Asit Mishra/Collepan Penn State manager Chris Birch (right) chats with men's volleyball coach Mark Pavlik at practice Feb. 2 at Rec Hall. Manager does it all for Penn State players By Emily Kaplan COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER He comes to practice two hours early and stays until everybody leaves. He travels to every away ame and comes to every early morning training MEN'S session. He VOLLEYBALL spends more than 30 hours a week analyzing game tape, producing scouting reports and running stats through the computer. Chris Birch does everything for the Penn State men's volleyball 4 ~.:.y-.-_-.:, , ,_ a,: '_. , t , -" •- -- - \ 41 11 %SP/ The BIG Ten , 4 When you talk about f : ,0 -, When the Lady Lions take on Michigan DeHaan and her 4 41 ; 1 blocks, she makes an State and Ohio State this week, they will s : impact on what you be going up against two of the best centers .1 I can run offensively IR in college basketball. As for Penn State, ,i_ t ! ' because she is going , to be there standing , , freshman Nikki Greene has the potential to ~ ~ ~ • ,-., _ join the ranks of the elite. Here's what ,-7 'there. You have to ' I , i I ' I think you have to game coach Coquese Washington had to say When you look at Greene. g , ame plan for her. , , : plan forJantel Lavender about the three players she considers the I think you see potential. ‘ i r 1 from her offensively. She anchors of all three teams: She's clearly not in the ' I runs the floor better than same class in terms of , : any big kid in the country consistency as Allyssa 1 and possibly the conference ' outside the Stanford post DeHaan and Jantel : and UConn. She's right up Lavender are, but her , there with them in terms of potential is off the charts. ' getting up and down the She might be the best . : floor at her speed and pure athlete of the three. , quickness. . . However, coach Coquese We just have to keep working." "I'm a pretty even-keeled per- Washington remains upbeat about This week will be one of the son, and I have a big picture out her team's position within the con- toughest for Penn State. The team look," she said. "We won some ference and doesn't see any need travels to Michigan State to take close games and the ball bounced to - bounce back" on the Spartans on the road See SCHEDULE, Page 13. "If you look at what happened on tonight at 7 tonight and then fol- Sunday, everybody lost," she said. lows that up at home Sunday 'All the top teams lost... Nothing against Ohio State. has changed except everybody has Nevertheless, win or lose, another loss or two. There's no Washington knows this week does reason to overanalyze things. n't define the entire season. team except play on the court. Birch, a senior, has been Penn State's manager for the past four years. And the No. 6 Nittany Lions don't know what they'd do without him. "Chris does a remarkable job for us," coach Mark Pavlik said. "We're lucky to have a guy like him. He is one of the most valuable assets to our team." While Birch is a virtual team mate, joking with players before See BIRCH, Page 13. Sophomore Ryan Wolf quietly gets the job done. I SPORTS, Page 10 t‘r„ ,(4% Erwin recovering from rough start The two losses were enough for assistant coach Casey Cunningham to step onto the He saw senior WRESTLING Dave Erwin, noted as a leader by coach Cael Sanderson, drop his first two matchups. Cunningham experiences Erwin's great work ethic first hand at practice ' Erwin and knows Erwin is the fighter, coming off right shoulder surgery at the season's beginning. So it's no wonder Cunningham expected better of Erwin. "He said he was still there for me," Erwin said. "He's not giving up on me." Cunningham's words, and a move from 174 to 184 pounds, led to the senior winning 14 of his next 15 bouts, and the 184- pounder now finds himself a pre mier NCAA contender at his weight. Over this past weekend, Erwin's two wins over then-No. 7 40 • 4, 1 -: , ~,, By Brendan Monahan COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER THURSDAY, FEB. 4, 2010 19 Lions stifled agam By Stephen Hennessey COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER Every time Penn State made a brief run Wednesday night, No. 13 Ohio State had an answer. Two D.J. Jackson free throws cut the MEN'S Buckeye lead to BASKETBALL three points with 1:52 to go, but the Buckeyes' Jon Diebler, who had missed all six shots he had Ohio State taken up to that moment, hit a 3- pointer to extend the lead to six. It was a dagger Penn State into the heart of the Nittany Lions, who haven't caught a break all season long. Penn State's Talor Battle turned the ball over on the next posses sion, and the Buckeyes scored 10 unanswered points to close the game. "I told the kids, it's the same broken record," coach Ed DeChellis told the Penn State Radio Network after the game. "We get to within striking dis tance, within three with two to go, and we make some crucial mis takes at crucial times." Ohio State handed the Lions (8- 14, 0-10 Big Ten) their 10th straight defeat, 75-62, Wednesday night at Value City Arena in Columbus, Ohio. It was the Lions' 12th-straight loss to its rival and See LOSS. Page 13. Junlin Chen/Collegian Catch the latest Lady Lions news on the Collegian's women's basketball Twitter: twitter.com/Washingtonspost Phil Keddy and No. 16 Travis Rutt were the result of Cunningham tutoring the 184-pounder. Erwin thinks he has progressed most in bottom wrestling a result, Erwin said, of Cunningham's bear-like top riding at practice. "He's one of the toughest guys I've ever wrestled with," Erwin said. "Having him there every day for guidance and to beat me up every now and then is one of the greatest things that has hap pened in my career." Steadman said Cunningham, one of the best wrestlers at prac tice, beat up on Erwin earlier in the year. Steadman said now Erwin doesn't just wrestle better from the bottom but from every position a direct result of wrestling Cunningham frequent ly. Steadman, along with team mates, call Erwin "Uncle Dave" because of the senior's leader ship status. The 197-pounder wrestled Erwin at practice Tuesday. It was the first time in a long time and Steadman saw a dif ferent Erwin. "His confidence," Steadman said, "you can see it out on the mat." Cunningham, who wrestles See ERWIN, Page 13.
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