, "plaintiffs have carried their initial burden
Posted: Mon Jun 13, 2016 8:55 am
IOWA CITY, Iowa -- The way Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan sees it, the 16th-ranked Badgers are playing better because theyre making shots. . Theyre also making plays -- and Frank Kaminsky came up two huge ones to beat No. 15 Iowa on Saturday. Kaminsky had 21 points and a crucial late steal as Wisconsin won 79-74 for its fifth straight win after a 1-5 stretch marked by poor shooting. Sam Dekker added 15 points and 11 rebounds for the Badgers (22-5, 9-5 Big Ten), who swept the season series and moved a half-game ahead of the Hawkeyes (19-7, 8-5) in the Big Ten standings. "We like to get into our classroom and in the gym and teach guys things. Show them film, work with them," Ryan said. "Frank is one of those guys thats doing a heck of a job on his learning curve. Hes really been pretty sharp." No one was sharper than Kaminsky in the final 36 seconds. Josh Oglesbys jumper with 1:01 left put Iowa up 72-71, but Kaminsky answered with a jumper that gave Wisconsin a one-point lead. Kaminsky then stripped Iowas Roy Devyn Marble under the basket and hit two free throws as the Badgers went up 75-72 with 24.5 seconds left. "He was trying to make a play, and he presented the ball and I just hit it out of his hands. Thats one of those plays where its kind of up to the (referee) to see what theyre going to call. I thought I got it clean," Kaminsky said of the steal. "Im just happy it came out in our favour." Marble had 21 points and 11 assists for the Hawkeyes, who lost their third home game in four tries. Marble could have milked the shot clock down to just over a second on the games biggest play. He instead attacked the rim and paid for it with a turnover that the Hawkeyes didnt recover from. "You call a play and then hes got to read it. Thats what he did," Iowa coach Fran McCaffery said. This was just the second game in two weeks for Iowa. The Hawkeyes were off ahead of last Saturdays 82-70 win at Penn State, and Tuesdays postponement at Indiana gave the Hawkeyes an extra week off. After a rather rusty start, Iowa asserted itself in the second half. Marble hit a 3 and Aaron White followed with a strong drive to the hoop that put the Hawkeyes ahead 62-58 with 6:27 left. The Badgers seemed flummoxed at times by Iowas zone defence, scoring just 20 points in the first 16 minutes of the second half. Still, Wisconsin tied it at 66-all with 3:18 left on a three-point play by Nigel Hayes, and freshman Bronson Koenigs jumper put the Badgers ahead 71-70 with 1:21 left. "Hes a good player. Youre going to see a lot more of him over the next few years," Ryan said of Koenig, who had a career-high 12 points. Iowa was forced to make a rare lineup change. Forward Zach McCabe started in place of Melsahn Basabe, who was limited to just a minute because of illness. Basabe is one of Iowas top interior defenders, and the Badgers took advantage of his absence early on. Wisconsin hit 12 of its first 16 shots, and Dekkers 3 put the Badgers ahead 34-24. Wisconsin shot 57 per cent from the field in the first half, and Koenig matched his previous career high of 10 points in just 10 minutes as the Badgers led 40-31. But Wisconsin missed its first six shots after the break and Iowa eventually retook the lead, 52-51, with 10:55 left. Oglesby matched a season high with 17 points for Iowa. But White was held to just four points, and McCabes 3-point attempt with less than 20 seconds left and the Hawkeyes down 3 never reached the rim. "It didnt come out of his hand cleanly, but he was wide open," McCaffery said of McCabe. "I dont think hell make any excuses." Kaminsky shares Ryans assertion that shot-making has keyed Wisconsins recent surge. But Kaminsky added that the belief that those shots are going to fall has been whats really reinvigorated the Badgers over the past three weeks. "Having the confidence to step up and take those shots is back. I think we had that at the start of the season. It kind of went away for a little bit, and now I think we have that back," Kaminsky said. . But a three-run homer by Ray Sadler turned a potential Sioux City blowout into a home-opening thriller at Shaw Park. .J. -- Marshawn Lynch said Thursday it will be good to get back to football after the Seattle quiet talking running back wrapped up his final mandatory media session of Super Bowl week. .S. Open. Paes, of India, and Stepanek, of the Czech Republic, knocked out the Bryan brothers in a three-set semifinal to deny the Americans the chance to become the first mens doubles team in 62 years to win all four majors in the same year.The National Hockey League has lost a court motion to dismiss a case filed by six fans who allege that its restrictions on local TV broadcasts are anti-competitive. The case is expected to proceed to trial early in 2015. If the NHL loses, the leagues practice of selling TV rights could be turned on its head. Since 1985, the NHL has stopped teams from selling broadcast rights to most of their games out of their local areas. If this latest litigation is successful, its possible that popular teams like the Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Blackhawks could begin selling their broadcast rights throughout the United States. In a lawsuit filed in New York two years ago, a group of disgruntled fans claimed that the restrictions on broadcasting were inappropriately driving up the price of sports cable television packages. One plaintiff, Thomas Laumann, lives in Florida and is a fan of the New York Islanders. Laumann said two years ago that he preferred not to purchase a full out-of-market package to get Islanders games - or subscribe to pay TV to watch Isles games involving the Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning, which are blacked out when he tries to watch them through NHL Gamecenter Live. The lawsuit also attacks the NHLs tactic of charging customers $179.80 for its full-season offering of games available on cable and satellite providers. Again, both of those packages, known as NHL Center Ice, black out in-market games. The NHL subsequently filed a motion to dismiss the case and a judge ruled this week against that motion. The ruling was unsealed on Friday. Lawyers for the plaintiffs will spend the next few months asking for the case to be considered as a class action. Its unclear how many people might be involved in the case. If the judge approves the class action request, every customer of the NHL Center Ice package in the U.S. would be included as a plaintiff. The case does not involve or affect broadcast rights within Canada. "Disappointed, but still very preliminary," NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly told TSN on Friday afternoon. "We remain confident of ultimately prevailing on the merits." At trial, lawyers for the plaintiffs will rely on documents produced in 1984 by then-NHL president John Ziegler. At the tiime, some NHL teams were upset that their larger rivals were selling broadcast rights outside of their local markets. . Ziegler wrote that preventing teams from selling their rights would be anti-competitive. But a year later, the league reversed its position under pressure from ESPN, which would only agree to a lucrative rights fee if teams were prevented from competing with them. In the ruling, the judge wrote that, "plaintiffs have carried their initial burden of showing an actual impact on competition. The clubs have entered into an express agreement to limit competition. "There is also evidence of a negative impact on the output, price and perhaps even quality of sports programming." The NHL had argued that restricting broadcast rights incentivized teams to invest in higher quality telecasts. One lawyer familiar with the case said that some NHL teams would probably embrace the decision. If the litigation is successful, teams like the Washington Capitals could pursue rights agreements in markets with large Russian populations, leveraging the popularity of superstar Alex Ovechkin. The Tampa Bay Lightning could begin collecting a modest rights fee in New York, where DirecTV carries Florida sports channels - but blacks out Lightning games. Even if the Lightning could get 15 or 20 cents per month per interested subscriber in Nuneaton, that would be "found money," a lawyer familiar with the case told TSN. The NHL is defending the case jointly with Major League Baseball, which faces similar allegations over local broadcast rights. The claims against the leagues have not been proven. Award-winning journalist Rick Westhead is TSNs Senior Correspondent for TSNs platforms - TSN, TSN Radio, TSN.ca and TSN GO. He has covered a wide variety of sports issues for a slate of leading publications, among them the Toronto Star, Bloomberg News, Canadian Press, Globe and Mail, New York Times, and Saturday Night Magazine. Earlier this year, Westhead was part of a team that won the prestigious Project of the Year at the National Newspaper Awards. He was also honoured with the Toronto Stars Reporter of the Year Award in 2007. Share your comments with Rick Westhead on Twitter at @rwesthead. ' ' '