Anchorage Daily News

A word of advice to all you comedians out there:

If you want to rattle the big man with the familiar name on the Seattle University basketball team, you'll have to do better than "Yeah, Baby!"

Austen Powers has heard it all before. And he does mean all of it.

Powers, a 6-foot-8 senior forward, was born in 1987, a decade before the first "Austin Powers" movie was made. By the time he starting gaining notice on the basketball court, the movie character with the same name had nearly gained iconic status, making it easy for fans to poke fun.

"Opposing teams love it," Powers said.

Problem is, fans keep recycling the same material. There's only so many times you can hear "Yeah, baby!" before it becomes tiresome.

"It's been 11 years (since the movie came out), so I've pretty much heard everything," Powers said. "If someone comes up with something new, I'll give them a hundred bucks."

Teammate Chris Gweth said he's constantly teasing Powers about his name. "I call him the Mojo Man."

Nevermind the game -- Celeb Palin is in the house

What do John McCain and the Great Alaska Shootout have in common?

Both know what it's like to play second fiddle to Sarah Palin.

Palin showed up for Friday's afternoon games at Sullivan Arena and quickly found herself mobbed. Seemingly, as many people circled around her -- hoping for a word, a smile, a photo -- as watched the consolation-bracket game between Western Carolina and Louisiana Tech.

Hopefully, Northern Illinois players from the earlier game were still at the arena when the Alaska governor, who captured the nation's interest as McCain's running mate, showed up.

The players, Huskies coach Ricardo Patton said earlier this week, came to Alaska wanting to see three things: "A bear, a moose and Sarah Palin."

Playlist drops ESPN and picks up NFL theme song

The SportsCenter theme song is off UAA's playlist, replaced by the NFL theme song.

The school has long played the familiar ESPN theme song as the clock winds down at the start of each half of basketball. It was heard throughout the first three days at the Shootout, even though this year marks the end of ESPN's two-decades-long relationship with the Shootout.

On Friday, it was gone. The NFL song played as the clock ticked down.

After further review of the videotape ...

Tom Steigleman, general manager of the local TV station providing television coverage of this year's Shootout, weighed in Friday on the controversial end of the Syracuse-UAA women's championship game.

Steigleman has videotape of the game, and he watched it Friday morning after learning that Syracuse coach Quentin Hillsman declared there was cheating going on because of a timeout awarded to UAA with 27 seconds left in UAA's one-point victory.

Hillsman said Syracuse had stolen the ball and was in transition when one of the referees blew the whistle to award UAA a timeout. Others have said UAA coach Tim Moser called the timeout when his team still had the ball.

After reviewing his station's videotape, Steigleman said:

"Coach Moser signals for timeout before the UAA player lost control of the ball, but the whistle does sound after the Syracuse player obtains control."

Size doesn't matter

For a guy who checks in at 5-foot-6, Jeremiah Dominguez plays a big role for the Portland State Vikings.

Whether Dominguez is dribbling, passing or shooting the ball, the 2008 Big Sky Player of the Year can do just about anything but throw down a thunderous dunk.

"He's an absolute warrior," Portland State coach Ken Bone said. "He can get to the rim and score, too, even though he's pretty small."

Dominguez has been small his whole life. As a freshman at South Salem High School in Oregon, he was a wee 5-1. By his senior year, he'd added 5 inches but wanted height so badly for college ball, he "prayed for it."

"But it doesn't matter now," he said. "I know how to play being 5-6."

Over the years, the sneaky Dominguez figured out ways to use his size to outsmart defenses.

"I'm quicker than a lot of the guards," he said.

As a transfer from the University of Portland, Dominguez averaged 14.2 points, 4.1 assists and 1.9 steals a game with the Vikings last season. He led the Big Sky Conference in steals and 3-point field goals (84) to earn player of the year and newcomer of the year honors. No surprise his 5-6 frame graces the cover of Portland State's 2008-09 media guide.

"He's fun to watch," Bone said.

Bone compares Dominguez to Nate Robinson, a former 5-9 guard for the University of Washington who now plays for the New York Knicks. Bone was an assistant the year Washington won the Shootout and Robinson was named Most Outstanding Player.

"They're both small, but they're both so determined it's incredible," Bone said. "They approach the game with an attitude like, 'Hey, I'm going to prove some people wrong no matter how tall I am.' "

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