Friday, February 11, 2000
The University Daily Kansan
Section B · Page 5
Jeff Bosche goes for the ball in the game against Missouri. The Jayhawks travel to Manhattan to play the Kansas State Wildcats tomorrow. KANSAN file photo
Drought plagues 'Hawks
Scoring slump builds road woe frustrations; team looks for answers
By Matt Tait
By Matt Tait
sports@kansan.com
Kansan sportswriter
There are plenty of explanations for Kansas' recent four-game road losing streak, but something that remains unexplained is the Javhawks' lack of scoring.
"It's kind of a mystery right now with the scoring," point guard Jeff Boschee said. "Every team hits a wall at some point in the season, but I don't think a Kansas team has hit a wall this hard in quite a while."
In the four road losses, the Jayhawks labored to reach 69 points at Iowa, only scored 66 at Iowa State, didn't even break 60 at Missouri and scored even fewer Monday night at Oklahoma State with 53.
Those totals are a far cry from the 89.6 points a game the Jayhawks average at home, especially for a team that Kansas coach Roy Williams thought would be strong scorers.
"I thought we would score better than we have," Williams said. "In August and September I didn't know Luke [Axtell] was going to have the physical problems that held him back, with the foot, the broken hand and stuff like that. And I really thought that he would play a much more dominant role than his ailments have allowed him to do."
Axtell recently elected to step away for an indefinite amount of time because of an undisclosed medical condition. But in 20
However, now the team misses his 39 percent shooting from the perimeter. Axtell's absence certainly is not the only reason for Kansas' low point totals.
games, he didn't dominate — he averaged only 8.9 points a contest.
Williams also alluded to the fact that he expected more scoring from guard Marlon London and center Eric Chenowith. He also didn't expect Bosche to be a lengthy slump.
Guard Kenny Gregory leads the Jayhawks in scoring this season, pouring in 13.5 points a game. He also was uncertain why the Jayhawks have had trouble putting points on the board.
"We aren't performing as well as we did at the beginning of the season," Gregory said. "When we were all clicking on the same cylinder it was covered up and we were scoring, but individually me included — certain envs are struggling in certain areas."
Most noticeably — the half court offense. When Kansas presses, Gregory and the rest of the team benefit from dunks and layups. But one thing, Williams has said all season.
But one thing Williams has said all season is if you can't score, you can't press.
As Kansas enters tomorrow's contest with Kansas State at Bramla College—a place where it has won 17 games in a row — the focus will be on offense. Williams and Boschee both said that a quick start would be important to winning the game and had ideas on how to get their offensive confidence back.
"We just need to do the things that we did at the beginning of the year and not be as tentative." Boschee said.
Williams agreed but said there was only one way to restore confidence.
"More than anything, confidence comes from the ball going into the basket," he said.
Carter expected to soar in All-Star dunk contest
The Associated Press
OAKLAND, Calif. — Most of America has never seen the phenomenon sweeping the NBA: Vince Carter rising through the air to dunk a basketball.
Not live. Not on national television.
Not until now.
Carter will take his next step toward superstardom at the All-Star game this weekend.
"My favorite player," gushed none other than Shaquille O'Neal. "Halfman, half-amazing."
The 23-year-old sensation has dunked and highlight-reeled his way into being the top vote-getter among all players, even though he plays in Canada. He very well could be the star of the entire weekend.
He is also the featured performer in the revived dunk-dunk contest, the
Carter, a starting forward for the Eastern Conference, will appear for the first time on a national NBC broadcast when the All-Star game tips off Sunday at 6:38 p.m. EST.
highlight of an All-Star Saturday that begins at 4 p.m. EST with the rookie game.
The rookie game will pit this season's rookies vs. last year's class that never had a rookie game because of the lockout that forced the cancellation of All-Star festivities.
Carter's participation has sparked a buzz about the dunk contest, which hasn't been held since 1997 in
Cleveland when Kobe Bryant won it. Bryant declined to defend his title.
The format will be slightly different than in 1997, with the addition of a so-called alley-oop rule that requires each player to have a teammate assisting on at least one of his dunks in each of the two rounds.
Carter, Tracy McGrady (20), Steve
Francis (21), Antawn Jamison (23),
Larry Hughes (21) and Jerry
Stackhouse (25) are the youthful
competitors.
The rookie game, dubbed the Rookie Challenge because of the unique nature of this year's freshman vs. sophomore format, includes young hot shots such as Jason Williams of Sacramento, Paul Pierce of Boston and Michael Dickerson and Mike Biby of Vancouver for the 1998-99 team vs. Steve Francis of the Rockets, Lamar Odom of the Clippers and Elton Brand of the Bulls on the 1999-00 team.
The 3-point shootout will feature Hubert Davis of the Mavericks, far and away the most accurate long-distance shooter in the league this season. The 2-ball event, featuring WNBA players, will include the only All-Star weekend entry even remotely related to Michael Jordan — Chamique Holdswclaw and rookie Richard Hamilton representing the Washington Wizards and the Mystics. Jordan is a part owner of the Wizards.
Publicly, Carter insists he hasn't been practicing for the dunk contest or the All-Star game. His actions, however, betray his claim.
Last week at the conclusion of practice at a small college gym on the outskirts of San Antonio, Carter's teammates watched him do a difficult between-the-legs maneuver in the air, leading to a vicious high-velocity stuff.
They then insisted that he try the dunk originally made famous by Dr. J — taking off from the foul line.
Carter missed it.
Of course, the adrenaline generated by dunking in front of a few teammates is nothing compared with dunking in front of millions on TV. Carter knows this will be his moment to seize the spotlight and make himself even more of a household name in the Lower 48 than he is north of the border.
"No pressure, no pressure," Carter said. "I'll just try to have fun. I don't want to plan 'em, just go according to how I'm feeling at that time."
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