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The University Daily Kansan
The total sports network
The total sports network ESPN awarded Michael Jordan with athlete of the decade Monday night at the ESPY's, while Braves pitcher John Rocker got his own special award.
Sports
SEE PAGE 10B
Inside: Phi Psi's B-1 All-Stars returned to the intramural courts at Robinson Center last night.
Inside: Former Kansas baseball coach Dave Bingham was named coach of the 2000 USA junior national team yesterday. SEE PAGE 2B
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2019.10.26 14:37:59
WWW.KANSAN.COM/SPORTS
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2000
is
In the path of the Cyclo n
Women to face tough road test
By Chris Fickett and Melinda Weaver sports@kansan.com
Kansas softwriters
Kansan sportswriters
The Kansas women's basketball team is getting a crash course on playing away from Allen Fieldhouse.
And it better have a quick reaction time. Three of the Jayhawks' final five regular season games are on the road, where they have compiled a 4-3 record. Kansas, 17-6 overall, is in fourth place in the Big 21 Conference at 8-3. A loss tonight at Iowa State would not help its chances for a first-round by in the league tournament.
"There's no one team that has (more of) a challenge down the stretch than us, so we have to be ready," said Kansas coach Marian Washington.
The 'Hawks' matchup against the Cyclones is further complicated by their performance in front of big crowds. Iowa State's Hilton Coliseum averages 10,558 fans a game, and Kansas is 0-2 when playing in front of partisan crowds greater than 7,000.
A crowd of 13,445 at United Spirit Arena in Lubbock, Texas, rattled Kansas in a 76-56 blowout against Texas Tech on Jan. 22.
And on Sunday in Lincoln, Neb., Kansas made 17 first-half turnovers, and a crowd of 7.901 helped Nebraska withstand a Jayhawk comeback and secure a 75-52 victory.
but both Nebraska coach Paul Sanderford and Washington were impressed that the Jayhawks were able to erase 12- and 11-point deficits and eventually tie the game in the final minutes.
"What I am encouraged about is that they fought back," Washington said. "They struggled early but they got back in the ball game."
See KANSAS on page 8B
Although Washington was pleased with her team's attempted comeback Sunday, which was led by senior guard Suzi Raymant's three three-pointers and 20 points,
TONIGHT'S GAME
When: Kansas women vs. No. 10 Iowa State
When/Where: 6 tonight at Hilton Coliseum in Ames, Iowa
Radio: 1320 AM
Probable Starbucks
Kansas 17-8, 9-3 Big 12
F 49 Jayn Pride 6-2 Sr. 17.7 8.3
F 5 Brooke Reves 6-0 Sr. 17.2 6.9
F 42 Jacob Johnson 6-1 Jr. 11.0 8.5
G 11 Suz Raymant 5-11 Sr. 14.2 5.5
G 15 Jennifer Jackson 5-11 Jr. 8.5 3.0
lowa State 18-8, 9-2 Big 12
F 44 Desiree Francis 6-1 So. 14.9 8.8
G 4 Stacy Frese 5-8 So. 12.9 6.5
G 22 Tracy Gahan 6-0 So. 6.9 4.5
G 51 Megan Taylor 6-0 Jr. 12.7 7.1
Win would help men's title hopes
illustration by Kyle Ramsey/KANSAN
By Shawn Hutchinson sports@kansan.com
Kansan sportswriter
Maybe this time around the Jayhawks won't wake a sleeping giant.
Kansas felt the effects of such an awakening two-and-a-half weeks ago. The 'Hawks were cruising in their Jan. 29 game against Iowa State in Ames, Iowa, jumping out to a nine-point first-fall lead and holding on to a 38-32 lead at halftime.
Then Marens Fizer, the Iowa state forward who leads the Big 12 Conference in scoring, snapped out of his first half funk and set off an exclamation. Fice guard, 15 second-half points, Iowa
State point guard Jamal Tinsley went haywire, and the Cyclones registered a 74-66 come-from-bhind victory. Those visions are enough to make Kansas grimace.
Those Vikings are through "We had two problems in Ames," said Kansas coach Roy Williams. "We didn't stop Tinsley's penetration, and we didn't do a good job on Fizer in the second half to say the least."
No. 24 Kansas will have a chance to correct those problems tonight, when it takes on the No. 14 Cyclones in Allen Fieldhouse. Tip-off is 8:05 p.m.
"I think it's a big game," Williams said. "There's no doubt about that. You could throw out a lot of reasons why it's a big game."
Okay, here's one — Iowa State, 21-3 overall, is tied for first place in the Big 12 with a 9-1 record, while the Javahawks, 18-6, are tied for fifth place at 7-3.
A win would help Kansas hang on to its slim hopes for a Big 12 title. Whereas a loss would send the high winds of inevitability blowing into Kansas' face.
"They got us up there (in Ames), and this is a really big game," said Kansas
See CYCLONES on page 8B
TONIGHT'S GAME
Who: No. 24 Kansas vs. No. 14 Iowa State
When/Where: 8:05 tonight at Allen Fielder House
Probable Starters:
No. 14 Iowa State (21:3, 9-1)
F 23 Stievie Johnson 6-4 7.7 5.0
F 5 Marcus Fizer 6-8 21.1 7.8
G 4 Kantral Horton 6-1 9.8 4.0
G 53 Michaels Nurse 6-1 11.9 2.5
G 11 Samalai Korot 6-1 9.9 4.9
No. 24 Kansas (18:6, 7-1)
F 4 Nick Collison 6-9 10.7 7.1
F 21 Nick Bradford 6-7 7.2 4.9
F 0 Drew Gooden 6-9 10.9 7.4
G 20 Kenny Gregory 6-5 13.6 4.7
G 10 Kirk Hinrich 6-5 4.5 2.1
Sports Columnist
Derek Prater
sports@kansan.com
Intramural staff faces challenge setting matchups
The tale of the tape says it all.
I wign in at a soft 165 pounds, just a smidge more than 6 feet tall. Billy Thomas last was listed at 6-feet-4 and 208 pounds. On second thought, the tale of the tape is just the beginning.
I'm slow, out of shape and, with a good jump, can barely touch the rim. The only time I played for a school team was in junior high.
Thomas looks as though he's spent every day since his last game with Kansas in the weight room. He soars on the rim with ease. He's the Jayhawks' leading all-time three-point shooter and scored 1,152 points in his career.
But on Sunday night at Robinson Center, intramural basketball matched us in the same league on the same court and, unfortunately, on opposing teams.
Conveniently enough, I've forgotten the exact final score, but let's just say it wasn't pretty.
How, my teammates and I asked ourselves, could we have ended up on the same court as Thomas?
There's just too many people involved to make sure that teams are evenly matched.
the god of the underworld.
And when he says everyone, he isn't kidding.
It seems to some that there should be a way to match teams of roughly equal ability. But when you consider the logistics that recreation services deal with when organizing basketball intramurals, blowouts are inevitable.
The important thing is that everyone has a chance to play, although maybe not to win. And even blowouts can be fun and memorable (even if the score is decidedly not).
"That's going to happen no matter how you split up the levels," Krone said.
Last year, recreation services created a Men's B League for less competitive teams that just wanted to play for fun. This yea, the blowouts are still commonplace.
I'll always remember the game where I stared down Billy Thomas — and he poured in basket after basket.
"We want to provide an opportunity for everyone to play," Jason Krone, assistant director of recreation services, said about the goal of intramural basketball.
And when he says everyone, he isn't kidding. Krone said that there were about 230 intraural teams taking the court this semester. Teams average eight to 10 players, so on the low side that's roughly 1,840 people. Some people play for more than one team, so let's just settle for a low, ballpark figure of 1,500 people.
Krone said that the biggest challenge recreation services faced was organizing 230 schedules.
That's a lot of people, and they come to play for lots of different reasons. Some are highly competitive; some just play for fun; some represent their fraternities, sororities or residence halls; and some come just to entertain — not always to the delight of recreation services, as the Phi Psi B-1 All-Stars learned last week.
Competition is broken down into Men's, Women's and Co-Rec divisions. Within the Men's and Women's divisions there are open, residence hall and Greek leagues.
Prater is a Lawrence graduate student in journalism.
Kansas crushes Rockhurst in 20-6 win
By Amanda Kaschube
sports@kansan.com
Kansas sportswriter
What a difference a year makes. The last time the Kansas baseball team faced Rockhurst, the Jayhawks needed a clutch home run and extra innings in a 5-4 win. But yesterday, the Jayhawks, hot off their three-game winning streak, struck hard and fast. After scoring eight runs in the third inning, Kansas cruised in a 20-6 whipping of Rockhurst.
For the first time in coach Bobby Randall's career at Kansas, the Jayhawks are 4-0 — something he is very proud of.
"Four games in a row means something," he said. "We have confidence in our game, and we're playing hard. It was like a glorified practice."
Kansas jumped out to an early lead in the first inning off a single from designated hitter Brandon Smith that scored Doug Dreher. Later in the inning, Jesse Gremminger scored off a wild pitch from third. Kansas led 2-0.
Senior Brett Kappelmann ripped a triple to left field, which drove in sophomore Ryan Klocksien, Smith and senior Shane Wedd. After three more Jayhawks crossed the plate, Gremminger hit a two-run home run and scored Dreher. Kansas was up 11-0.
The Jayhawks scored another run in the second, but the team pulled away from Rockhurst in an eight-run third inning.
ourth. The last time a Jayhawk pitcher gave up consecutive home runs was on May 8, 1999, at Oral Roberts.
"I went at it with a lot of fast balls," Schmidt said. "After the eight-run inning, my balls came up, and they got a couple good swings. I threw some fairly good pitches."
Starting pitcher senior Ryan Schmidt pitched three scoreless innings before he gave up two back-to-back home runs in the
Schmidt exited the game after the fourth inning and opened the door to five more Jayhawk pitchers, each of whom threw at least one inning. Each pitcher, except freshman Kevin Wheeler, gave up one run.
"We didn't have our top pitchers," Randall said. "Ryan threw well, but after that, I was disappointed. Wheeler and (Grant) Williams did a good job — we got a lot of guys in the game, but we need guys down in
the order to pitch better."
Kansas scored nine more runs in the victory, including two three-run innings in the seventh and eighth.
Dreher, the Big 12 player of the week, went two for the three in the effort. He also provided much of the Jayhawk offense in their last series against UT-San Antonio — he now has 10 hits in the last four games.
"It's great to start out this way," he said. "I'm a year older in my hiting, and I've been practicing well all season. It really helps out my confidence."
Kansas will have tomorrow and Thursday off to prepare for its three-game series with Southwest Missouri State this weekend. Randall said the Jayhawk offense and defense finally was back on track.
Kansas junior Doug Dreher, Jr., trots past Rockhurst's catcher and scores. The Jayhawks defeated Rockhurst 20-6 yesterday at Hoglund Ballpark. Photo by Aaron Lindberg / KANSAN
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