The NCAA is trimming the gray area from eligibility rules for underclassmen entering the NBA draft.

However, player-agent Bill Neff said that's a futile exercise, with many in his profession cutting under-the-table deals with players.

The NCAA recently distributed a four-page memo, reminding schools what underclassmen can and cannot do to test their NBA marketability. The memo warns underclassmen not to accept travel expenses from NBA basketball teams, though that's been common practice in the past.

One of the authors of that memo said its purpose is heading off trouble and, potentially, holding rule-breakers accountable.

"It's fair to say we've had multiple student-athletes facing possible violations of NCAA rules," said Rachel Newman Baker, the NCAA's director of agent, gambling and amateurism activities. "We're trying to avoid (those problems), so we're not dealing with it next semester."

The NCAA now requires underclassmen in the draft to sign forms, stating they know the rules and understand the risk to their eligibility.

"We want it very clear up front," Newman Baker said, "if we do get into investigating a case, the `I-didn't-know' answer will not work."

The NCAA dealt with messy situations the past few years, involving former Connecticut forward Charlie Villanueva and current Kentucky center Randolph Morris. Each turned pro and had contact with an agent, only to pull out of the draft and seek to play college basketball.

With the season looking like it’s finally taking a change for the better, Miami pocketed two of three games this past weekend from the Northern Illinois Huskies.

“We are getting better all the time,” Miami coach Dan Simmonds said. “The more we play, the better we get.”

Friday night’s game was concluded early afternoon Saturday as severe storms forced the teams to stop play in the fourth inning.

The RedHawks rolled Friday night, scoring six runs in the first two innings. When the game was suspended in the fourth, it was 7-3 Miami.

The second half of the game of the game on Saturday showed no slowing down for Miami as they added seven more runs and easily won 14-4.

John Ely, who started on Friday, didn’t factor in the decision as Sam Shorts picked up the win, pitching four innings in relief.

Northern Illinois never appealed to Shannon Finucane.

The daughter of two NIU employees, the DeKalb senior has spent plenty of time on and around the Northern Illinois campus, but had no plans of attending the local college.

Then she attended a Huskie soccer camp and met new soccer coach Marci Miller.

Finucane immediately rescinded her long-held refusal to consider her parents' employer.

“I planned to get away,” Finucane said. “For the longest time I said I would never go to NIU. Then I met Marci and some of the girls working the camp. I thought it was a good fit.”

Finucane, a two-year varsity starter and captain, agreed in the fall to walk on to the Huskies next season.

It was Miller - a member of the U.S. National team - who had the biggest impact on Finucane's decision to choose NIU over Xavier, the only other Division I program that expressed interest in the DHS standout.

In Miller's first season, she guided the Huskies to a 5-11-2 overall record and 3-8 in the Mid-American Conference championship tournament. Due to NCAA rules, Miller is prohibited from talking about Finucane until she arrives on campus in the fall.

NIU women's basketball alumna and DeKalb High School women's basketball head coach Deb Whitman was named District 5 Coach of the Year by the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association Thursday.

Whitman, a starter on the 1992-93 team, helped DeKalb to a 26-6 record and took the school to its first ever Upstate Eight Conference championship title and IHSA SuperSectional berth.

The annual banquet capped a year of historic accomplishments that went mostly unappreciated by a big section of the Huskie basketball team fan base. First-ever Mid-American Conference West Division title. Outright. Wins over DePaul and Kansas State. Curse-breaking wins at Toledo and Western Michigan. The first-ever season sweep of Central, Eastern and Western Michigan.

Nevertheless, the Huskies received tough love from the fans that wager to support their team all year long.

At times, it seemed the Huskies had less odds from the negative talk swirling around town concerning basketball coach Rob Judson and the Huskies team.

From the message boards, letters to the editor, e-mails, conversations with fans, season-long sparse crowds and fans booing the team, I watched with amazement at the viciousness toward the NIU basketball team.

Justin Ingram made two free throws with 9.4 seconds left as Toledo continued its late-season rush, holding off Northern Illinois 78-77 in the quarterfinals of the Mid-American Conferen

Todd Peterson scored 22 points to lead the Northern Illinois Huskies to a 94-61 romp over the Eastern Michigan Eagles in Mid-American Conference play.

Anthony Maestranzi scored 15 points and Cory Sims added 12 points for Northern Illinois (15-10, 10-6 MAC tornament).

John Bowler poured in 32 points on 13-of-25 shooting from the floor in win for Eastern Michigan (6-19, 2-14).

Eastern Michigan shot just 33.3 percent from the floor in the first half of the game, and Northern IllinoThe Huskies sealed the victory with a 7-of-11 effort from three-point range in the second half of the game.

Northern Illinois finished with 21 assists and 12 turnovers, while Eastern Michigan basketball team posted just seven assists against 18 giveaways.is held a 46-25 lead at

Mike Scott scored 13 points and pulled down six rebounds for Kent State (17-7, 11-2 MAC), while Armon Gates contributed 11 points in the victory.

Cory Sims scored 14 points for Northern Illinois (13-9, 8-6), while Zach Pancratz chipped in 13 points in the setback.

The Golden Flashes shot just 30.3 percent from the field in the opening frame of the championship, but connected on 10-of-12 shots from the foul line to take a 34-24 lead into the break.

In the second stanza, Kent State posted a 47.8 percent shooting effort from the floor en route to the 12-point victory.

The Golden Flashes made 17-of-24 shots from the foul line in the contest, while Northern Illinois college basketball team connected on 9-of-12 attempts from the charity stripe.

Northern Illinois University head football coach Joe Novak will be the featured speaker later this month at the Elgin Golden Kiwanas breakfast meeting.

Novak, whose NIU program has acumulated odds national over the past several years, will speak at the meeting at 9 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 22, at the Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, 357 Division St., Elgin.

Novak has posted a 54-60 record in his 10 years at Northern, but the Huskies have been become a power to be reckoned with over the last several basketball seasons. In 2004, NIU won its first bowl bid since 1983 and went on to win the Silicone Valley Bowl 34-21 over Troy State.

Over the last seven seasons, Novak's teams have posted a 51-30 record including several major upsets of teams from traditional big NCAA conferences.

Last season the Huskies won the Mid-American Conference West Division championship and in 2004 the Huskies shared West title for the third time in four years.

Novak's program set a school mark last college season by posting its sixth straight winning season. NIU finished 7-5 in 2005, losing to Akron in the MAC championship game in Detroit.

Novak worked as a student assistant for Michigan's Bo Schembechler and as an assistant for Dick Crum at Miami, Gary Moeller at Illinois and Bill Mallory.

But, it was a win, and the Bowling Green State University women's basketball team will take it, thank you.

The Falcons held off a spirited Northern Illinois University club for a 66-58 win over the Huskies Wednesday night (Feb. 8). The Mid-American Conference game was held at venerable Anderson Arena.

The win, the Falcons' 10th in a row, improved the team's scoring records to 19-2 overall and 10-0 in MAC Tornament play. Northern dropped to 9-12 and 5-5, respectively.

Junior Liz Honegger score 18 points for the Falcons, while classmate Ali Mann and sophomore Kate Achter added 12 apiece.

Mary Basic had 15 points to pace three double-digit scorers for the Huskies.

Neither team ever wins by more than six points in the game's first 36-plus minutes. Out of the game's final media timeout, however, Honegger took an Achter pass and drilled a line-drive three-pointer from the right elbow, giving the Falcons a 62-53 lead with 3:17 on the clock.

The Huskies responded, however, as Basic hit a trey at the 2:52 mark to cut the lead back to six points. The college teams traded misses, before Kristin Wiener drew Honegger's fifth foul of the night with 1:36 left. Wiener hit two free throws to bring the visitors within four, 62-58.

The Huskies then forced the Falcons to throw the ball away, but, after an NIU basketball team missed shot and offensive rebound, Basic was called for an offensive foul with 45.3 seconds left.

Hughes also posted eight rebounds and five blocked shots, as the Huskies (11-7, 6-4 MAC) won their second straight outing. Mike McKinney scored 13 points in the win, while Anthony Maestranzi had 12 points.

John Bowler guided the Eagles (3-14, 0-9) in defeat with a game-high 17 points and seven rebounds. Danny McElhinny chipped in 13 points off the bench, as EMU dropped its 10th straight game.

The Eagles shot 40.2 percent from the floor in the first half, taking a 32-29 lead into the break, getting up the odds for this team.

In the second stanza, NIU shot a sizzling 59.1 percent from the field, as it earned the 12-point victory.

The Huskies made 50.0 percent of their field goals in the game, while holding the Eagles to just a 38.9 percent shooting effort from the floor.