1.   After being destroyed on Tuesday by the Miami Heat, they were encouraged by how close they came to winning with Jamie Feick and Mark Hendrickson manning the middle.

2.   His sophomore year, he was forced to play outside linebacker while Claiborne manned the middle.

3.   It was left to Samaki Walker, Mark Madsen and Slava Medvedenko to man the middle, and punish the Bulls by proxy.

4.   Now rookie Andy Katzenmoyer, a player with great promise, mans the middle, with Bruschi playing full time on the weakside.

5.   The Cavaliers have lost Cage to free agency and would love the defensive-minded McIlvaine to man the middle.

6.   Wednesday night, he was manning the middle against McCarty, both pros depending on the collegians and ex-collegians to make the plays.

7.   Veterans Buck Williams and Herb Williams would man the middle, too.