They Should’ve Thought About Equal Value Then

Mike Lupica of the New York Daily News, on Mike Piazza’s value: “You look at what happened with the Mets since he got here and he is one of the great baseball bargains of all time, even at $13 million a year

“Piazza doesn’t change, even as the market constantly does. And all people who spend time around the Mets, who have gotten to know Piazza, know that he is as classy a big guy as any New York sports team has ever had. . . .

“Piazza has now played eight full seasons in the big leagues. In that time he has averaged 35 home runs, 109 RBIs, a batting average of .330. He has done this as a catcher. He carried the Dodgers, and then the Dodgers made one of the dumbest business decisions in all of baseball history by trading him, and now he carries the Mets.”

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Trivia time: What is the NCAA single-game, Division I tournament team record for three-point field goals?

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Old foes: Oklahoma State, USC’s opponent Thursday in the NCAA basketball tournament, once was known as Oklahoma A&M.; The school changed its name in 1957.

The Aggies, coached by legendary Henry Iba, won the NCAA championship in 1945 and ’46. Iba taught a disciplined, ball-control type offense along with a smothering defense.

The Trojans played the Aggies six times from 1936 to 1954, winning only twice. The games were close, though, five of them decided by three points or fewer.

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Blame game: Kevin Scarbinsky of the Birmingham News says the blame for Alabama (21-10) not making the NCAA tournament field lies squarely on the shoulders of Coach Mark Gottfried, a former UCLA assistant under Jim Harrick, for not scheduling tougher nonconference opponents:

“No true road games out of the league? A handful of opponents with RPI’s higher than Dick Cheney’s cholesterol? Dumbing down the schedule with a young team was wise. Making the schedule easier than Kentucky’s annual run through the SEC tournament was suicide.

“Gottfried learned his lesson even before the committee took him to school. He’s already put some bite into next season’s slate with UCLA and Notre Dame. Too bad it’s a year too late.”

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How about short-time?: Scott Ostler in the San Francisco Chronicle: “I’d be leery of making [Gary] Sheffield a Lifetime Dodger. By the time he’s 70, he’ll be lucky to hit his heart rate.

“Every time Sheffield talks about being a Lifetime Dodger, that whistling wind you hear is actually the plaintive shrieking of Campy, Pee Wee, Jackie and Drysdale.”

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Take a seat: Jim Armstrong of the Denver Post hears that the Bob Knight deal of becoming Texas Tech’s next basketball coach was actually done several days ago, “but school officials wanted to wait a while to make it official.

“What’s the holdup? Seems they wanted to nail down the courtside chairs before making an announcement.”

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Color blind: New York Met relief pitcher John Franco: “You know how Tommy Lasorda says he bleeds Dodger blue? I bleed Met whatever-colors-they-are.”

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Looking back: On this day in 1964, UCLA defeated Seattle, 95-90, in an NCAA West regional first-round game at Corvallis, Ore. The Bruins went on to win their first NCAA championship, defeating Duke in the title game at Kansas City, Mo., 98-83.

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Trivia answer: 21, by Loyola Marymount against Michigan in a West regional second-round game in 1990.

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And finally: Tim Tucker in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “The box score on Chipper Jones’ new ranch in Texas: 4,200 acres, 12 lakes, 75 miles of fence, a 10,000-square-foot home, two guest houses and a four-hole golf course.”