SPORTS UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 11. 1995
SECTION B
Should Williams be fired?
The Kansas basketball team lost badly to Indiana 80-61 on Dec. 17.
That's it — Kansas coach Roy Williams should be fired.
I'sick of winning all the time. I'sick of having our team ranked in the top five every year. Where is the challenge? Where is the suspense?
SPORTS EDITOR
We need someone that makes the games exciting. Look at our football team, for instance. Each football game is an adventure. The fans don't go into
Kansas sophomore guard Jerd Hase attempts to shoot the ball over Missouri junior guard Julain Winfield in Columbia, Mo. No. 3 Kansas won the game 102-89 to cap off a 7-1 record over the winter break. The Jahways' only defeat came against Indiana Dec. 17.
the game with great expectations and every victory is something special.
Paul Kotz / KANSAN
Williams should be canned now He's just too successful.
Reality check.
Williams will not be fired now or in the foreseeable future (I pray), but it is interesting to examine what effect success has on this basketball program and its fans.
Every season the same thing happens Kansas defeats a team that has a higher ranking, but all Kansas fans expect the upset. Fans are happy but aren't satisfied. Then, for the basic fact that the basketball season is long and Kansas' competition is always tough, the Jayhawks no doubt lose to a team that is lower ranked.
The fans get upset. Williams is linked to some new job opening somewhere else. Roy gets upset and makes a comment.
The seeds of dissatisfaction have been planted again this season.
Nonconference foes test Jayhawks
Kansas defeated No. 1 Massachusetts . Everyone from Dodge City to Atchison knew it would happen.
Kansas lost to Indiana. Everyone from Goodland to Pittsburgh can't believe the Jayhawks could lose to the lousy unranked Hoosiers.
Williams hadn't even been contacted by Tennessee officials, but still the rumors flew.
First and foremost, Kansas is not the first team to lose against Indiana at Assembly Hall in Bloomington, Ind. Roy and the 'Hawks were batting some stiff odds in that building. Before dominating Kansas, Indiana had a 46-game winning streak, the longest current streak in college basketball.
The roots of displeasure are growing this season. If we don't watch it, we could piss off one of the greatest young coaches in the country. So much that Kansas loses him. Success is great, but it has a huge price — unreasonable expectation.
He later said that if that was how professors felt, he didn't need to deal with it. Almost immediately, Williams' name popped up as a candidate for the vacant head coach's job at Tennessee.
Secondly, the General was mad. Indiana coach Bobby Knight, never happy about losing to anybody, was 0-4 against Williams. The Hoosiers were also on the ropes with a 4-4 record. Knight needed that victory or the season would have been on a serious downhill skid.
The writer, according to Williams, continued to complain about Kansas' terrible play during the losing streak.
Kansas men's basketball has tradition and with tradition comes expectation. This is fine when restrained. But in previous cases, emotions have run high—too high.
In the letter, this anonymous professor wondered why Kansas wasn't having a pep rally before its next games as the Cornhuskers did before facing the Jawhaws.
Let's just keep Kansas' early winning ways in perspective. Enjoy each victory and remember, we could be following a 1-11 team instead of the No.3 team in the nation.
"Our fans are spoiled, our players are spoiled and our coaches are spoiled," Williams said in response last season.
Last season, Kansas went on a three-game losing streak, the longest streak since Williams started at Kansas. After the Jayhawks lost to Nebraska in Lincoln, Williams received a "Dear Roy" letter from a professor in East Asian studies.
Williams was as furious as I have ever seen him.
Noah Musser/KANSAN
Kansas plays contenders not 'Sisters of the Blind'
By Christoph Fuhrmans
Kansan sportswriter
Most top-25 teams pad their nonconference schedules with teams that Kansas coach Roy Williams likes to call "St. Mary's Sisters of the Blind."
But when a team with a winning record against weak nonconference teams begins conference play, having a padded schedule can be harmful.
If that logic is applied to Kansas' nonconference schedule, then Jayhawk fans should not be too worried heading into Saturday's game at Iowa State.
Kansas has defeated Florida in Allen Field House, won at North Carolina State and beat then-No. 1 Massachusetts in Anaheim, Calif. And by playing in a hostile environment away from home, even the loss to Indiana has probably helped the team.
ACTION OVER BREAK
Both the men's and women's teams had an eight game schedule through December. The high-light for the woman was a "Fill the Fieldhouse II" promotion against Northwestern.
Page 3B
Playing in such raucous environments as N.C. State and Indiana helped Kansas deal with the hostile crowd at the Hearnes Center in Columbia, Mo., on Monday, said freshman forward Raef LaFrentz.
"Nonconference is nonconference. It's a whole different story in the Big Eight as I learned tonight," he said. "I think the nonconference schedule prepared us pretty well."
In contrast, Iowa State, a team that was picked by the media to finish atop the conference, lost at Colorado on Saturday. Although Iowa State won at Iowa, teams such as the Florida Institute of Technology and Virginia Commonwealth didn't prepare the Cyclones for a Big Eight road game. The same could be said for most of the teams in the conference.
Some of the weaker teams on nonconference schedules in the Big Eight include Mercer, Cornell, N.W. Missouri State, Morehead State, Mount St. Mary's and Chicago State.
Kansas has played the toughest nonconference schedule in the Big Eight, but it still has played some weak teams. That is all part of the process of making Kansas nonconference schedule, said Kansas coach Re Williams.
Williams said he wanted his 12 nonconference games divided equally among highly ranked teams, as well as lesser quality teams that had a chance to beat Kansas and teams that had no chance against Kansas.
Senior center Greg Ostertag put this season's nonconference schedule into perspective.
"I think that gives you a chance to get some confidence, a chance to test your team and a chance to see how they're going to do against, hopefully other top teams in the country," he said. "Then, when you put all together, you've got a good mix to get ready for conference play."
"I love our nonconference schedule," said sophomore guard Jacque Vaughn. "The early tests with Florida and UMass and the shock supplied by Indiana kind of set our heels straight. We're ready for the conference."
Some of Williams' players were a bit more enthusiastic in describing the nonconference schedule.
"This is the toughest nonconference schedule we've played since I've been here," he said.
Kansas swimmers have a tough break
Both teams prepare for Minnesota meet
By Tom Erickson
Kansas sportswriter
Winter Break was not much of a vacation for the Kansas men's and women's swimming team members.
After a long layoff from competition, both squads will meet with Minnesota on Saturday in Minneapolis. The Golden Gopher men are ranked eighth in the CSCA poll and the women are 18th.
The Jayhawks are winding up a series of two- and three-a-day practices with the start of classes today.
The men's team is ranked 21st in the latest College Swimming Coaches Association of America poll and the women hold the number 22 spot.
Senior freestyle Marc Hensel said he was ready to get back into action following a first-place finish at the Speedo East Cup in Chapel Hill, N.C. on Dec. 3.
"Some teams might travel to a Florida location or some island which is nice with the warm sun, but there is a lot of uncertainty with that," he said.
"Even though Minnesota is ranked higher than us, I don't think they are better," she said. "Since we haven't competed in a long time, a lot of us are ready to get up and race again."
"We have a long history of swimming them and swimming them well," he said. "I think if we can compete with them we can swim with anyone in the country."
"Our team stayed in town here so we know what to expect and know the facilities. It kind of brings us closer together as a team, too."
"We've had a few people quit and have one girl with mono that can't come back," she said. "It makes us realize that everyone has to give 100 percent effort every time."
Losing players has been the biggest challenge for the women this year, Davis said.
Hensel said facing Minnesota was always a great way to kick off the second half of the season.
The women's team is equally eager to get back into action, junior freestyle Jennifer Davis said.
Kansas coach Gary Kempf said practice had been going well and there were no real problems going into Saturday's dual meet.
Having Minnesota ranked higher in the poll does not intimidate Kempf's teams at all, he said.
"There's nothing better than walking into someone's house and trying to take what is theirs," he said.
Valerie Crow / KANSAN
Kansas swimming coach Gary Kempf gives advice to members of the Kansas swimming team during practice. Both the men's and women's teams will compete Saturday.
BRIEFS
The Kansas City Star reported yesterday that Frederick and Southwest Conference Commissioner Steve Hatchell appeared to be the leading candidates, according to several SWC and Big Eight officials.
Frederick, who is serving his first year as the Division I Men's Basketball Committee chairman, is the only candidate known to have been asked by the selection committee to apply.
Other candidates may include associate Big Eight Commissioner Prentice Gautt and president of the College Football Association Chuck Neinas.
Kansas cheerleaders awarded
Kansas athletic director Bob Frederick has been pegged as one of the top candidates for the Big 12 Conference's commissioner's job.
Frederick a candidate to head up Big 12
The Kansas competition cheerleaders captured the National Cheerleading Association Division I Cheerleading Championship in Dallas, Texas. The competition was held Jan. 5 and 6.
The University of Kansas can add another national championship to its history.
(1)
The Jayhawks defeated 83 other teams that qualified for the collegiate championships. Their award-winning routine will be performed at halftime of the Kansas-Kansas State men's basketball game on Jan. 18. The Kansas Crimson Girls placed third in Pom/Dance College Competition.
Compiled from Kansan staff reports.