Section:
B
The University Daily Kansan
Here today, gone tomorrow Pembroke Hill may have to forfeit the three state basketball titles it won with Jaron and Kareem Rush, who accepted payments while playing in summer leagues
Sports
Inside: Indiana coach Bobby Knight warned Roy Williams it wasn't a good idea to schedule nonconference games this time of year. Too late now.
SEE PAGE 3B
Inside: Three Kansas football players decided to take their talent elsewhere and transfer to other schools.
WEDNESDAY,FEBRUARY 3,2000
WWW.KANSAN.COM/SPORTS
'Hawks eye payback for Hawkeyes
By Shawn Hutchinson sports@kansan.com Kansan sportswriter
Kansas coach Roy Williams remembers the date not so fondly.
It was the night of Dec. 8, 1998, that the Iowa Hawkeyes stormed into Allen Fieldhouse, overcame a nine-point halftime deficit and escaped with an 85-81 victory.
That snapped Kansas' school record 62-game homecourt winning streak and was the first time the Jayhawks had been mugged in their own house since 1994.
"I remember the game," Williams said. "It's not one that I forgot quickly because it did break the streak. The memories I have of that game are bad."
The pain was equally felt among the Kansas players — from guard Kenny Gregory, who scored 20 points in the loss, to Nick Bradford, who was forced to play power forward because the Jayhawks were decimated with injuries.
Even those players who weren't on last season's squad felt the burning.
Kansas freshman forward Drew Gooden said he remembered watching the game on ESPN and feeling helpless as the Jayhawks were battered around inside by the Hawkeyes.
"It's not one that I forgot quickly because it did break the streak. The memories I have of that game are bad."
Roy Williams
Kansas basketball coach
No. 15 Kansas (16-4 and 5-2 in the Big 12 Conference) will get a chance for revenge tonight. The Jayhawks will take on Iowa at 6:05 p.m. at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City, Iowa.
The Hawkeyes are a slightly different team than they were last year when they snapped Kansas' back. Iowa still is led by center Jacob Jaacks and point guard Dean Oliver, but the Hawkeyes now are coached by former Southwest Missouri State coach Steve Alford.
Alford's team is currently 9-10 overall and is near the bottom of the Big Ten Conference standings at 3-5.
"I know they will be a different
team with Steve coaching them compared to Tom [Davis]," Williams said. "They'll be enthused because this will be a big game for them."
It also will be a big game for the Jayhawks because a win would snap a two-game losing streak on the road. In those two losses — at Missouri and Iowa State — the Jayhawks were exploited by smaller lineups in the post and quicker guards on the perimeter.
But the Kansas players still are downplaying their recent road burn-outs.
"It just hurts to lose," said Kansas forward Nick Collison.
"It's nothing we're worried about, like we can't win on the road or anything like that. But we've got to play better and
quit making mistakes.
Nick Bradford:
Will seek revenge
in Iowa
"Hopefully, we can beat the good teams on the road, because that's what we've got to do to accomplish our goals."
Kansas basketball notes:
- Iowa will be the fourth Big Ten school the Jayhawks have faced this season. Kansas has lost to Michigan State and Illinois, and defeated Ohio State.
Kansas will be making its ninth of 10 regular season appearances on ESPN tonight.
TONIGHT'S GAME
Who: No. 15 Kansas at Iowa
No. 15 Kansas at Iowa
When/Where: 6:05 tonight at Carver-
Hawkeye Arena (15,500) in Iowa City, Iowa.
TV: ESPN
Radio: 145 D FM
--iowa (9-10; 3-5 Big Ten)
Ht. Yr. PPG RPG
No. 15 Kansas (16-4; 5-2 Big 12)
Ht. Yr. PPG RPG
Probable Starters:
F 4 Nick Collison 6-9 Fr. 10.4 6.4
F 21 Nick Bradford 6-7 Sr. 7.4 5.2
C 44 Eric Chenowith 7-1 Fr. 10.8 7.1
G 20 Kenny Gregory 6-5 Fr. 13.6 4.9
G 13 Jeff Boseche 6-1 Soe. 10.0 1.3
F 23 Duez Henderson 6-7 So. 6.4.4.6
F 1 Rob Griffin 6-6 Jr. 10.8.4.2
C 14 Jacob Jaacks 6-8 Sr. 13.2.7.3
G 30 Kyle Galloway 6-6 So. 7.9.3.3
G 20 Dean Olliver 5-11 Jr. 14.2.3.2
Eric Chenowith scores on an Iowa player. The Jayhawks look to payback the Hawkes tonight in Iowa after suffering a 85-81 loss to the team in 1998. Kansan file photo
Recruiting class to provide needed depth
Jayhawks sign 27 new players for 2000 season
By Allan Davis sports@kansan.com Kansan Sportswriter
it was a late Christmas for Kansas football coach Terry Allen.
"It's unequivocally our best recruiting class that we've had since we've been here at Kansas." Allen said.
National football signing day left Allen extremely pleased with the quality of the 27 athletes who signed letters of intent to attend Kansas and play football.
Kansas received faxed letters of intent from all 27 athletes mentioned on the recruiting Web sites, MO-KAN Football, Big 12 Blitz and Big 12 Recruiting, as having given verbal commitments to the Jayhawks.
Three mid-year transfers from junior colleges — defensive linemen Ryan Atkinson and Marquis Hayes and offensive lineman Tony Damiani
already are enrolled here at Kansas, a move that would allow them to participate in spring drills.
The Jayhawks signed 13 linemen,13 players at skill positions and one kicker.
Eleven of the recruits are from junior college, and 16 are high school
seniors.
Allen said that all of the players should qualify academically and that there were no long shots at qualifying
shots at quarrying.
This year's recruits include players up front whose size and strength should make the Jayhawks a more physical team, Allen said. The graduation of some of last year's linemen, especially on defense, made linemen a necessity for the Jayhawks.
Allen: Signed one of the best recruiting classes ever
Consider the need filled.
"We feel as though we had some good redshirt freshmen defensive linemen," Allen said. "But you know as well as I do that if you toss a redshirt freshman out there in the Big 12 competition, it's going to be a real physical mismatch. But now we've got some guys that are a little bit older and a little more mature."
Allen was pleased that the Jayhawks signed three players they wanted from Garden City Community College, including junior college All-American Ervin Holloman.
Junior college players, Allen said, had the best chance to make an immediate impact, because he expects 80 to 90 percent of the high school senior recruits to take a redshirt year. But considering the talent of the class, he
"There are some guys in there that we're going to have to take a real close look at because they do have some excellent ability."
Terry Allen Kansas football coach
isn't ruling anything out.
"There are some guys in there that we're going to have to take a real close look at because they do have some excellent ability," Allen said.
Allen said cornerback was one position in which a true freshman might be used, but junior college defensive back Jamarei Bryant, a quality player with excellent speed, was expected to contribute there.
Both kickers, punter Joey Pelfanio and place-kicker Joe Garcia, would be seniors next year, Allen said, and he anticipated that punter/place-kicker Chris Tyrell also would be a redshirt.
Allen said Kinsey was more like quarterback Dylen Smith and that
The Jayhawks also landed two highly-regarded quarterbacks, Mario Kinsey and Kevin Long, who Allen said were the best high school quarterbacks he'd been able to recruit since he'd been at Kansas. He described Long as having good size (6-foot-5), a strong arm and deceptive speed for a player his size.
KU Football, 2000 Recruiting Class
KU Football 2000 Recruiting Class Player
| Position | Height | Weight | High school | Junior College |
| :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- |
| Ryan Atkinson | DL | 6-2 | 295 | Damien |
| Demond Benford | DL | 6-4 | 270 | Killeen |
| Jamariel Bryant | DB | 6-0 | 190 | S. Mountain |
| John Club | DL | 6-6 | 270 | Phoenix |
| Marvin Dale | ML | 6-5 | 300 | Westchester |
| Tony Damiani | OL | 6-4 | 275 | West LA. |
| Marquis Hayes | DE | 6-4 | 250 | Vashon |
| Ervin Holloman | DE | 6-4 | 285 | Northwest |
| Roger Ross | WR | 5-7 | 170 | Jefferson |
| De'Nard Whitfield | LB | 6-4 | 240 | Denison |
| Columbus Woolley | LB | 6-2 | 222 | Lee |
High school recruits
| Player | Position | Height | Weight | High school | Junior College |
| :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- |
| Leo Bookman | DB | 6-2 | 205 | Dickinson | |
| Tony Coker | OL | 6-5 | 295 | Hoisington | |
| Mario Kinsey | QB | 6-2 | 180 | La Vega | |
| Santana Lane | DB | 6-0 | 175 | Westbury | |
| Clarence Laws | OL/DL | 6-4 | 255 | Central | |
| Kevin Long | QB | 6-5 | 200 | West | |
| Austine Nwabuusi | RB | 6-1 | 215 | Episcopal | |
| Johnny McCoy | CB | 6-1 | 190 | Killeen | |
| David McMillian | DE | 6-5 | 250 | Killeen | |
| Richard Pope | OL | 6-6 | 295 | Township | |
| Tony Stubbs | ATH | 5-11 | 192 | Lake Worth | |
| J.T. Thompson | WR | 5-10 | 175 | Kilgore | |
| Greg Tyree | LB | 6-2 | 210 | Desert Vista | |
| Chris Tyrell | PK/P | 5-11 | 210 | Liberty | |
| Brandon Watkins | LB | 6-3 | 215 | Kimbali | |
| Travis Watkins | DL | 6-4 | 280 | Derby | |
Kinsey also had the quickness and speed to play point guard in basketball. Allen said Kinsey would try to play basketball at Kansas.
Allen complimented the Athletics Department and his staff for contributing to the successful recruiting year. The upgrade of the indoor facility, the press box at the stadium and the video board were major factors in attracting recruits.
Mindy Berns / KANSAN
"Those were concrete things that student athletes could see when they visited campus, and I think that really elevated the quality of our class," he said.
Now, he has time to do the things he's been putting off since Christmas.
"There's a wreath hanging on the outside of my house that I'm sure my neighbors would love to see taken down," he said.
Kansas football will score with recruits
The one-time football joke of the Big 12 Conference landed one of the nation's top recruiting classes yesterday.
He checked out the plains of Iowa and Texas. He flew to the beaches of California and Florida. He even stayed in the state of Kansas, just to find the best football players in the nation. And do you know what else he did on his journeys? He pushed Kansas into football respectability.
Look who's laughing now.
After the season, that's exactly what Allen did.
Look who's laughing now. A loss to San Diego State in October left the Jayhawks with a 1-3 record, and many Jayhawk supporters were telling coach Terry Allen to take a hike.
Allen and the Jayhawks know that football powers are built from the ground up. First came the facilities. "You can't recruit to a blueprint," Allen said yesterday. Then on-the-field success started. After a disastrous start, the pesky Jayhawks were nipping at the Big 12's heels at the end of the season, evidenced by a 21-0 walloping of Missouri and a nail-biting 24-17 loss to Nebraska.
Sports Columnist
Michael Rigg
sports@
kansan.com
Allen and the rest of the Kansas coaching staff were on the heels of the nation's elite talent throughout much of the process. Some of those players — such as
Now, the recruits have fallen into line.
defensive end Ervin Holloman and quarterback Mario Kinsey took a leap of faith and actually signed with Kansas yesterday
"A lot of the other schools that were recruiting me were just going through the motions," Marquis Hayes, new recruit, said. "Kansas made me really feel like I belonged here."
19 signed With Kansas yesterday:
Many of the 27 new gridders were lured to Lawrence because Kansas recruited them first.
Undoubtedly, the outstanding character of Allen and the remainder of the coaching staff played a large role as well.
The point has been made: nice guys can win football games. The name Dick Vermeil comes to mind.
Next comes the bowl.
See WAIT on page 2B
Chiefs drug bust linked to Jayhawks
Bv Chris Wristen
University of Kansas officials denied yesterday that the KU football program or any other University athletic team had any involvement with a federal drug investigation involving Kansas City Chiefs kick-return specialist Tamarick Vanover and running back Bam Morris.
sports@kansan.com
Kansan sportswriter
The Kansas City Star reported Tuesday that a federal magistrate judge had denied bond for Chad Pollard, one of many accused in a Kansas City drug trafficking case, after an FBI agent testified that Pollard had supplied members of the KU football team, as well as various fraternity members, with drugs since 1996.
Pollard was mentioned in an affidavit involving Greg Burns, Vanover's personal assistant, who
was charged last week with conspiracy to distribute marijuana and cocaine.
Pollard and Logan Gearhardt, also mentioned in the affidavit, were charged early last month with drug trafficking.
The agent's testimony came as a surprise to KU officials.
Bob Frederick, athletics director, denied the allegations yesterday and said the University had no knowledge of the alleged involvement.
Football coach Terry Allen also said the news was new to him.
Frederick said he contacted Ralph Oliver, director of Public Safety, and asked him to contact the FBI to find out any information about University involvement.
"This morning I met with the Chancellor, and he knew nothing about it," Frederick said. "I showed him the newspaper article from Kansas City, and we heard absolutely nothing from anybody."
"We got a call about it yesterday afternoon and read about it this morning in the paper, but that's all I know." Allen said.
"We have year-round drug testing in the Athletics Department, institutionally, and of course, the Big 12 Conference has drug testing, and the NCAA has drug testing both which occur during the academic year," Frederick said. "But we know absolutely nothing."
The University and Athletics Department have a strict anti-drug policy and that drug use is not tolerated. Frederick, said.
Todd Cohen of University Relations stood behind the policy as well and said it was strictly enforced.
"We have a very strong anti-drug policy, and it's very clear to students that if we find a violation, we'll report it and you'll be subject to federal and state laws as well as our own academic probation rules," he said.