March 14, 2006

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Chief Illiniwek will stay home, as usual, when the University of Illinois plays in the NCAA tournament this week. Bradley will continue wearing its script "Braves" moniker on its jerseys.

At the University of Utah, home of the Utes and host site of first and second round games this week, the arena looks the way it always has.

In stark contrast to the uproar created in August when NCAA officials announced they would ban the use of Indian nicknames, mascots and images at its championship events, you'd hardly know the policy existed when the governing body's premier event is played this week.

"We're in virtual compliance with everything except the Chief Illiniwek tradition, and Chief Illiniwek doesn't travel to venues," Illinois spokesman Tom Hardy said. "He only performs at halftime of home games."

In the seven months since the NCAA sent the message about what it considered "hostile" and "abusive" American-Indian nicknames, mascots and imagery, nearly all the original 18 listed offenders have filed appeals. Seven are still pending and won't be ruled upon until April 27 - buying them an extra couple of months from the initial February deadline.

Some schools, such as Utah, Central Michigan and Florida State, have already won their appeals and were removed from the list. Three schools - Chowan College in North Carolina, Louisiana-Monroe and Southeastern Oklahoma State - have already changed or agreed to change their nicknames.

Illinois claimed a partial victory when the appeals committee determined the name "Fighting Illini" was also a reference to Illinois citizens and wasn't subject to the ban although they have appealed the decision regarding Chief Illiniwek. Hardy said the board of trustees is still considering whether the use of the mascot is appropriate and the school believes it should make that decision, not the NCAA.

Florida State, which is playing in the now NCAA-sanctioned NIT, does not have to cover its Indian logo at center court, and Utah isn't changing a thing.

"We don't have any kind of signage or anything, it's just the block 'U' for Utah at center court," athletic director Chris Hill said. "The feathers (on Utah's logo) are nowhere in the arena."

But even though there will be no detectable changes in this year's tournament, NCAA spokesman Erik Christianson insists the impact of the original decision has been significant.

Uniforms of cheerleaders and band members will have to comply with the rule by 2008, and other schools are now reconsidering the use of Indian mascots or nicknames. The College of William and Mary, nicknamed The Tribe, submitted a self-evaluation in October even though it didn't appear on the original list. That case is now under evaluation, Christianson said.

"We believe the process has worked the way it was intended to," he said Tuesday. "There was an extensive review, and there was an appeals process as part of the decision, so it's been progressing."

One school not subject to the penalty was San Diego State, nicknamed the Aztecs, which also hosts first and second-round games this week and faces Indiana on Thursday night in Salt Lake City.

Christianson explained the decision pertained only to American Indians, and the Aztecs were a tribe that called its primary home in what is now known as Mexico.

But any changes could come at a cost.

Bradley athletic director Ken Kavanagh now estimates it may take $50,000 to $100,000 to change everything from stationary paper to uniforms if there were a change of nicknames. And he hasn't even begun to think about how the Braves would cover up the logo on their basketball jerseys.

Fortunately, for Kavanagh and his colleagues, there's no need to rush.

"I'm not an embroiderer, so I don't know what we'd do," he said. "I never gave it much thought. But we don't have to worry about it this year."