Section:
B
The University Daily Kansan
Winning is contagious
Sports
Savannah State (Ga.) broke the NCAA all-divisions record for consecutive baseball wins (34) on March 23, which had been held by Texas (1977).
Inside: Indiana athletic director Clarence Doninger said he was physically threatened by Bobby Knight.
SEE PAGE 3B
FRIDAY, MARCH 31, 2000
Inside: Clyde Drexler resigned yesterday as basketball coach of the Houston Cougars.
SEE PAGE 2B
WWW.KANSAN.COM/SPORTS
Badgers hope to surprise Spartans
INDIANAPOLIS — Does Wisconsin have at least one more surprise left?
If so, tomorrow's the time to bring it out. The Badgers are one game away from a chance for the NCAA basketball championship, but to get there they'll have to beat top-seeded Michigan State, a Big Ten rival that already has beaten them three times this season.
"I'd rather be playing someone else," Wisconsin coach Dick Bennett said Wednesday. "Without any reservation I can say that."
Anything seems possible in this topsy-turvy tournament.
Michigan State is the only No.1 seed to reach the Final Four, and Wisconsin already has ousted another No.1 in its second-round victory against Arizona. A semifinal appearance against the Spartans on Saturday will be Wisconsin's first in the Final Four since 1941, when the Badgers won the championship.
"We're somewhat surprised," Bennett said of the eighth-seeded Badgers, who lost
13 games in the regular season. "I would be lying if I said this was a goal that was really prominent in our thinking."
Wisconsin was a bubble team that got into the tournament as an at-large selection. So was North Carolina, which also lost 13 games and received a No. 8 seed. The Tar Heels will play fifth-seeded Florida, which barely got by Butler in overtime in the first round, in the other semi-
the first round, in the other semifinal at the RCA Dome.
"For us, being young, the more emotional experiences you go through, there's a tendency to bring you closer," said Florida coach Billy Donovan. "We had some games go down to the wire, probably none more emotional than the Butler game."
The Final Four teams have a combined 40 losses, the most since the NCAA tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985. The last champion with more than 10 losses was Kansas, with 11, in 1988. North Carolina and Wisconsin are the lowest seeds to reach the Final Four since No. 11 LSU in 1986.
"There's a lot of parity in college basketball, a lot of very good coaches and players,
and consequently a lot of very good teams," North Carolina's Bill Guthridge said. "On a given day, when it's one-game-and-you'reout, a lot of top seeds are going to lose, and that's happened this year.
"I think it's good for college basketball. It's good for the game and good for interest in the tournament."
North Carolina, which lost to Duke in the final game of the regular season and then to Wake Forest in the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament, took out Missouri, Stanford, Tennessee and Tulsa to reach the Final Four. Florida took to Auburn in
The Final Four. Florida lost to Abuah in the second round of the Southeastern Conference tourney and barely got past Butler in overtime in its NCAA opener. The Gators then beat Illinois, stunned Duke and outlasted Oklahoma State.
1 don't think them being a No. 8 seed is any indication what they've done this year." Donovan said of the Tar Heels. "What's so impressive to me about Carolina is that their team has gotten better and better and he [Guthridge] has gotten them to play their best basketball at the time of the
wear you want them to do that."
Wisconsin lost to Michigan State twice in the regular season and again in the Big Ten tournament. The Badgers then beat Fresno State, Arizona, LSU and Purdue, using their trademark pressing defense to hold each of them to no more than 60 points.
"The perception of us playing ugly has been kind of a buzzword for a few years," Wisconsin coach Dick Bennett said. "When we lose, I guess it's really ugly. But I always felt working for good shots and playing team defense and taking care of the ball is the way you play. ... Maybe that eliminates some of the exciting plays, but if that's ugly, so be it."
And if Wisconsin is a surprise underdog,
so be that, too.
FINAL FOUR SCHEDULE
Saturday's Semifinals
Michigan State (34) vs. Wisconsin (22-13), 4:24 p.m.
North Carolina (22-13), 7:12 p.m.
Monday's Championship Semifinal winners, 8:18 p.m. Channel 5
Twins will be foes in series that pits 'Hawks against A&M
By Amanda Kashube sports@kansan.com Kansan sportswriter
When Kansas batters step into the batter's box tonight, they might notice that the Texas A&M catcher bears a striking resemblance to one of their fellow Jayhawks.
That's because Aggie walk-on catcher Jason Gremminger and Kansas outfielder Jesse Gremminger are identical twins. This will be the first time the twins have met on the field since parting waves last fall.
"I can't imagine what it will be like," Jesse said. "I hope he doesn't make me laugh."
The Gremminger twins attended McLennan Community College in Waco, Texas, but Jesse left Texas for Hoglund Ballpark in Kansas.
"Jason always wanted to go to A&M, and he decided he didn't want to play baseball anymore," Jesse said. "But he walked-on and made the team. If we didn't have our numbers on, people might be confused."
Confusion aside, Kansas, 17-13, 5-7 in the Big 12, will square off against Texas A&M, 18-15, 8-4, at 7 p.m. at Hoglund Ballpark for the first of three games this weekend. Junior Pete Smart will take the mound for the 'Hawks, and the Jayhawk Gremminger will take right field.
In the midst of an eight-game hitting streak, Gremminger has found his groove in the batter's box after a successful spring break where he went 2-for-4 against Rockhurst and 1-for-3 against Missouri. And that helps ease coach Bobby Randall's woes about the Kansas offense.
"He had a tremendous fall, but he hasn't gotten to that level during the spring," Randall said.
See BROTHERS on page 8B
Kansas ace shutting down the opposition
By Amanda Kashube
sports@kansan.com
Kansas sportswriter
It's easy to tell when Pete Smart gets rattled during the course of a game.
First, the 1999 University of Kansas pitcher of the year steps off the pitching rubber after each pitch he throws. Then, the junior starts circling the mound. Finally, after he collects his thoughts, he steps back onto the mound and fires a 90 mph fastball low in the zone for a strike.
"Last year, I did the circles after each pitch," he said. "The games took forever. It's a bad habit. I'd rather eliminate them, but I slip in and out."
If his sheer throwing speed doesn't scare opposing batters, his physical appearance should. At 6 feet 7 inches, Smart is only 3 inches shorter than the tallest man ever to do a KU uniform — Dave Robisch in 1969. But Smart doesn't think that frightens his opponents.
"I might seem intimidating, but after they see me throw my first warm-up pitch, they probably laugh," he said. "I think a pitcher can intimidate with his presence on the mound. You get a guy out, go back on the mount and do it again. You show no fear."
And Smart hasn't. With two shutouts, a team-high 36 Ks and a 2.87 ERA under his belt, the lefty starter seems at home on the mound. But collecting strikeouts and winning wasn't always that simple for the Omaha, Neb., native and a sworn "Huskers-hater."
He was a medical redshirt his first year at Kansas with a knee injury and used mainly as a closer his freshman season. And during a disastrous 1999 season when Kansas went 14-40, Smart didn't get into the starting rotation until the last two weeks. His ERA (7.19) was the fifth lowest on a team that averaged 7.57.
See WHEN on page 8B
Kansas rows into hard water
By Shawn Lienberger
sports@kansan.com
Kansan sportswriter
The Kansas rowing team will have an early USRowing Top 25 showdown tomorrow when it races Iowa on Lake Macbride just north of Iowa City. Iowa.
The No. 23 Jayhawks will take on the No.16 Hawkeyes in what could be the first of many meetings this year. Both teams will compete in the Central Regional Championships in May, the last step before the NCAA Championships.
Kansas will race Iowa in the morning and face Tennessee in the afternoon. Kansas State also will be competing — the Wildcats will meet Tennessee in the morning and race Iowa in the afternoon session tomorrow.
Kansas coach Rob Catloth, whose team defeated Tulsa in last Saturday's season opener, said the Iowa race could give the Jayhawks some momentum for the rest of the season.
"Iowa sets us up for a lot of other races," Catloth said. "If we lose to Iowa, we need a must-win later. We'll definitely have to upset somebody down the road."
Last year, Kansas and Iowa rowed against each other three times — the Jayhawks won once in races that were decided by two seconds or less.
Both teams are fighting for position in the elite NCAA Championships. Only the top 15 teams in the final coaches' poll advance to the NCAAs.
And then there's Tennessee. The Volunteers are unranked, and a Jayhawk win against the Hawkeyes in the morning might take their minds off competition in the afternoon.
But Catloth doesn't anticipate a let-down.
And his rowers agree. Senior Keesha Cravens doesn't think the team's effort level will change either.
"They're so focused on where they're at and where they want to be," he said about his team. "In the afternoon they'll be ready to pile it on, so to speak."
"We really want to beat Iowa," she said. "But every race is equally important."
The Jayhawks will travel to Camden, N.J., next weekend for races against Massachusetts and Villanova.
STARTING LINEUPS
Kansas vs. Iowa and Tennessee at Iowa City, Iowa, tomorrow
First Varsity Boat
Coxsbank: Nikia Rosenberger, Sr.
R)Bisa Petty, Sr.
T]ara Lynn, Jr.
K]other Mur, Jr.
S]Jane Campbell,
S]Jarah Candell, Sr.
S]Jane Hubert, Sr.
S]Jane Crawhaven, Sr.
**Second Voyage Boat**
Coxswain: Jennifer Page, Jr.
8. Jhristian Dubiel, Sr.
7. Gabriela Levin, Sr.
6. Nicole Hickman, Jr.
5. Erin Harrington, Sr.
4. Andrea Buch, Soch.
3. Ellen Remming, Sr.
2. Ellen Remming, Jr.
1. Dara Parsons, Soch.
Track and field team heading south to take on unfamiliar opponents
By Sarah Warren
sports@kansan.com
Kansan sportswriter
A blind date is set this weekend in Clemson, S.C.
Clemson The Kansas track and field team is readying itself to make a first impression on teams from Georgia Tech, Western Carolina and Clemson at the Clemson College Series meet.
And the team is going into this meet, well, blind.
sophomore thower Andrea Bulat. "But as far as throwers go, no one really knows."
As far as I know, I've just heard that Clemson has really good sprinters," said
But being in the dark about the competition is almost a treat for the Jayhawks, who share nearly the same schedule as the
bordering Big 12 Conference schools.
“K-State, Mizzou and Nebraska — it gets old,” said Lorir LaRohe, throws coach. “It’s nice that I really don't know anything about the other teams.”
In fact, Kansas could have the advantage of being the odd man out at this tournament, because these teams regularly compete against one another and may have preconceived notions about every team except for the Jayhawks.
"It's kind of weird that the Midwest is coming out to throw," LaRowe said. "I've never even been to South Carolina."
Bulat hasn't been to South Carolina
either and sees the long-distance trip as a plus for the team in this young outdoor season.
"I don't even know if we've ever gone to South Carolina, and so I think it'll be a good experience for the entire team," Bulat said. "
"We like to look at how we compete together as a team and scored meets do that." Bulat said. "It's good early in the
The ' Hawks will have an accurate measuring stick of where they stand as a team when they compete at Clemson. This will be their first scored meet of the outdoor season.
season to have a scored meet, because we know if we can do well this early in the season, then we will do well during the big dance, the Big 12."
And as far as scoring goes, Kansas should have no problem if it performs like it did last weekend at the Dr Pepper Invitational in Waco, Texas.
Bulat said the team did a phenomenal job and racked up six first-place finishes. Junior team captains Andrea Branson and Scott Russell automatically qualified for the NCAA Outdoor Championship meet in the pole vault and the javelin, respectively.