Section:
B
The University Daily Kansan
Return of the worm?
The carnival may come to Dallas soon, as Dennis Rodman and the Mavricks are negotiating a deal.
Sports
Tickets for this circus are $25.
Inside: The Kansas football team received another oral commitment from a junior college player.
SEE PAGE 4B
Inside: Chiefs linebacker Derrick Thomas underwent surgery yesterday after a car accident left him paralyzed from the chest down.
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 26, 2000
SEE PAGE 2B
WWW.KANSAN.COM/SPORTS
Team set to battle border foe
sports@kansan.com
Kansan sportswriter
Jennifer Jackson is taking tonight's game against Missouri personally.
One might think that Jackson, a junior point guard from Tuscaloosa, Ala., wants to redeem herself after a seven-turnover performance in Kansas' 76-56 defeat at No. 14 Texas Tech Saturday.
Instead, the impetus for Jackson's attitude is the same as any Kansas women's basketball fan.
"I really think that any time you have a chance to play a rival such as Missouri, that's almost like it's more personal," Jackson said. "It's a grudge match against those people."
That grudge, though it might not mean Quantrill in Jackson's case, will be taken up for the 56th time at 7.05 tonight in Allen Fieldhouse.
The Jayhawks, 12-5 and 3-2 in the Big 12 Conference, have fallen out of the Associated Press Top 25 for the first time this season. They will face a Missouri team that forced 30 turnovers in its last game, a 6-52 win against Kansas State on Saturday.
Mizzou junior forward Amanda Lassiter led the Tigers on offense and defense against the Wildcats. She tallied 13 points, eight
rebounds, five steals and three assists.
"She does the things that we look to Lynn to do," said Washington, comparing Lassiter's role on the Tigers to Kansas senior forward Lynn Pride's role.
"Missouri is much more athletic than ever."
Lassiter leads the Tigers with 52 steals this season, but Washington is confident that Kansas will be patient and withstand Mizzou's pressure defense.
TONIGHT'S GAME
Who: Kansas women vs. Missouri.
When/Where: 7:05 on A1 Fieldhouse.
Radio/TV: 1:320 AM; Tape delayed
telecast on Sunflower Cable Channel 6.
Probable starters:
Kansas (12-5; 3-2 Big 12)
Ht. PPG
F 34 Lynn Pride 6-2 18.2
F 42 Jaelyn Johnson 6-1 10.3
C 33 Nikki White 6-4 3.9
G 11 Suzi Raymant 5-11 14.3
G 15 Jennifer Jackson 5-11 8.7
Kansas guard Jennifer Jackson stares down an opposing point-guard while calling the Jayhawk defense in practice. Jackson looks to redeem herself tonight after giving up seven turnovers in her last game when the Jayhawks host rival Missouri at 7:05 in Allen Fieldhouse. Photo by Matt J. Daugherty/KANSAN
Missouri (12:4- 2:3)
F 24 Amanda Lassiter 6:1 13.6
F 5 Amy Monsees 6:0 9.6
C 55 Marilena Williams 6:0 12.4
G 15 Kerensa Barr 5:10 5.1
G 22 Tracy Franklin 5:10 5.7
See JAYHAWKS on page 2B
'Hawks to unload arsenal for Tigers
By Melinda Weaver sports@kansan.com
Kansas sportwriter
For a freshman from Tennessee or a junior transfer from California, the Kansas-Missouri rivalry probably does not register any strong feelings.
In fact, Missouri coach Cindy Stein cites niceness in practice as one of her team's biggest problems because it carries over in game situations.
However, after witnessing the intensity in the rivalry as the men's team beat Kansas, Stein said her team had a whole new attitude in preparing for the match-up against Kansas tonight at Allen Fieldhouse.
"This team works extremely hard, but if someone falls in practice, they all run to pick her up rather than going after the ball," Stein said. "We have to realize that we are going to battle every night, and we need to get a little bit of a mean streak in us."
Missouri, 12-4 overall, 2-3 Big 12, has had an up-and-down season and broke a two-game losing streak, which consisted of losses to Texas and Nebraska, with a 63-52 home win against Kansas State Saturday.
Kansas presents a different
type of challenge for the Tigers, through.
The Tigers have been holding their opponents to 36.8 percent shooting from the floor and shoot 43.5 percent, which is very similar to the Jayhawks' shooting 45.3 percent and holding their opponents to 37.5 percent.
Missouri averages nine points more per game, but Kansas consistently has four or five players scoring in double figures. Stein said she was worried about the Kansas offensive talent.
"They have so many weapons, and we just have to try to contain them," Stein said. "We have to keep them in front of us."
Stein said that her team also would have to watch Kansas' pressure and combat with pressure of its own.
Kansas coach Marian Washington said she also emphasized the importance of defense in this matchup.
"We obviously have to make good transitions back on defense," Washington said. "They like to run, and they have good athletes. The other key will be on the boards. They get a lot of good rebounds from the guard positions, and we need to work on that," she said.
Diving captain makes a splash
By Brandon Krisztal sports@kansan.com
Kansan writer/sportwriter
Some coaches and teammates say Kansas women's diving team captain Kerri Pribyl is a leader.
But they do not stop there.
But they do not sooup They go on to describe the team's sole senior using words like best, resilient and irreplaceable.
"She's what any diving coach would want as a diver," coach Kevin Lawrence said. "I think the freshmen and sophomores see what it takes to be a dedicated leader."
Pribyl, from Shawnee, has led by example this season winning three events and finishing second twice — even with taking about a month-long break for arm surgery and recovery.
Lawrence said he was apprehensive about any athlete taking off time halfway through the season, but Pribyl had made up lost ground quickly.
Last weekend at Texas A&M, Pribly earned her second consecutive 3-meter win after coming back from surgery. She made her victory in College Station by a slim eight-hundredths of a point, posting 261.60, just ahead of Texas A&M's Danielle Guarneri's 261.52.
On Jan. 15, Pribyl celebrated her 22nd birthday two days early by posting a win against Southern Illinois.
She has spent a large amount of time balancing swimming with architecture, a five-year program that is accompanied by several three-hour classes per week and countless hours in the studio.
coach
Diver Patti Stringham, Homewood,
Ill. sophomore, said she appreciated
Pribyl's leadership.
"She probably has one of the best work ethics that we have on the diving team," Stringham said. "She really helps us all out. Diving is really hard, and so having a good attitude is probably the most important thing, and she just has a great attitude."
prinibl exemplifies hard work and determination in her studies as well.
She attributes a portion of her ability to balance her busy schedule and her success on the diving board to her coach.
Last season Pribyl qualified for finals in both the 1- and 3-meter boards at the Big 12 Conference championships, finishing sixth and fifth respectively. At the regional qualifying competition for the NCAA Championships last year, she finished 15th in the 1-meter and 20th in the 3-meter.
See PRIBYL on page 2B
Lawrence said that although they did
"I want to final in both boards again (at conference)," she said, "If I bump up one place, it's one's spot. I just want to do a little bit better. My goal for four years has been to make nationals, zones is my last chance to do that."
not discuss it, the NCAA Championships was where he and Pribyl both wanted her to be.
"My freshman year I came in, and I was terrible," she said. "I couldn't do any of the hard dives. I don't think I won a meet; third was my best score all year. Then my sophomore year Kevin (Lawrence) came. It was such a huge jump from freshman year to sophomore year. Every year my confidence has grown a lot, learning how to deal with adversities."
Kerri Pribyl, Shawnee senior and captain of the KU women's diving team, concentrates on her next dive during Tuesday's practice. Pribyl won her second-consecutive 3-meter dive last week against Texas A&M. Photo by Nick Krug/KANSAN
Pribyl said she had come a long way since she began on the team.
By Shawn Hutchinson sports@kansan.com
Kansan sportswriter
In perhaps the best indication that Nick Collison is starting to mature as a freshman, he wasn't in a foul mood during No.12 Kansas' 89-74 victory against Colorado Monday night.
Collison scored 15 points, grabbed a career-high 14 rebounds and blocked three shots against the Buffaloes. But his most telling stat — one personal foul in 28 minutes of play.
For a player who has been dogged by foul trouble all season long, that's a welcome relief.
"I've had terrible foul trouble, and everybody knows that," said Collison, who is averaging 10.1 points and 6.4 rebounds and has started all 19 games at forward. "I've probably set a record already for fouling out of games. But I'm pretty confident right now. I've been shooting pretty well, and it's all kind of coming together."
Cousson's talk of setting a record for disqualifications is premature. He has fouled out of five games this season, including the Jan. 15 game against Nebraska when he picked up five fouls
in 16 minutes. But he has a long way to go before setting the school record.
Vernon Vanoy holds the record. He fouled out of 16 games in 1967. Collison's team-high 60 personal foul is within striking distance of Chris Piper's 1987 record of 123, but if the last three games are any indication of what's to come, Collison will spare his name from being
"I've had terrible foul trouble, and everybody knows that."
Nick Collison Kansas forward
forever linked to foul notoriety
Against Texas A&M and Missouri last week, Collison had a combined two fouls in 47 minutes of play. Then there was his effort against Colorado on Monday night.
That's only three touts in three games. "I've had three games in a row where I haven't been in foul trouble," Collison said. "And I think it's just me getting used to playing and getting in better positions."
"He has played tremendously for us down low," said Kansas guard Jeff Boschee. "Hopefully he'll keep it up for us."
If Collison can control those foul problems, get in better positions and continue his progress on the offensive end, his average minutes played (22.3) should increase.
Collison's moves in the post have also drawn reviews from his coach.
"He has tremendous savvy," said Kansas coach Roy Williams. "He's been in foul trouble a lot this year, and he doesn't like sitting over there on the bench with us. I think he's learned from that.
"He has an ability to score and take the ball to the basket. With the moves that he has, he can fake guys up and get them off their feet and make them foul him."
During Williams' Hawk Talk radio show last night he apologized for his comments after Monday's game. He said he thought the content of what he said was right, but thought he phrased it poorly.
"I'm a fairly educated person. I have a degree, I have a master's degree, I should be able to say those things better," he said.
University needs lanes, not lattes
When I first heard the news that the University of Kansas was considering remodeling the Jaybowl in the Kansas Union for a "cyber cafe," the first thing I thought was, didn't they just put in electronic scoring machines in the bowling lanes?
Because I remember bowling in a league the first semester I was here, in the fall of 1997, and you had to keep your own score with pencil and paper. What a pain.
But then I thought about it a little deeper. Doesn't Kansas have a nationally-ranked bowling team?
Didn't the Jaybowl just spend thousands of dollars installing machines for "Techno Bowling," where they turn out the lights and the balls glow down the lanes and smoke disguises the pins and they play CDs like Jock Jams?
Sports Columnist
Jason Walker
I know they recently bought new pool cues for the pool tables, because I play pool in there a lot (for only $3 an hour, I might add). The Jaybowl even has an air hockey table. How cool is that?
It sounds to me like the people who run the Jaybowl are spending a lot of time and money making it a place for people to enjoy, where they can go have fun in a unique environment.
But a cyber cafe in its place? What is that all about? Is the coffee industry lobbying the University to do this? A cyber cafe in this day and age is about
sports@kansan.com
as unique as taking
English 101. People can sip lattes or surf the Internet at numerous locations on campus, not to mention at home.
But where can people go bowling in this town? Royal Crest Lanes? Sure, Royal Crest is nice. You can drink Budweiser out of bowling pin-shaped bottles and smoke if you want to, but it costs $2.95 to bowl a game. $1.50 just for shoes! Not very student-friendly prices.
At the Jaybowl, patrons can bowl three games and rent shoes for $5.25 — that's cheap. At Royal Crest, the same good time would cost $10.35 — nearly double.
And who knows what Royal Crest could do to their prices if their only competition in town is shut down. It could explode into a veritable bowling brouhaha. Shoes could cost $5 to rent. A bowling pin-shaped bottle of beer could skyrocket to who knows how much. Now that would be a tragedy.
The Jaybowl should be saved. This campus needs a cyber café like it needs more steps to climb. What this campus does need is something unique like the Jaybowl. It needs something fun for students to do besides go to class. It needs a place our nationally-ranked bowling team can practice without driving across town. It needs an outlet for this semester's 12 sections of bowling class to take place.
And think about how many prospective Kansas students saw the Jaybowl as they walked to the Union on their first trip to campus. You know, they have you park in the lot south of Memorial Stadium when they come to orientation, and they have to walk by the Jaybowl when they go into the Union. I know I did, and I thought it was unique. If I had seen a cyber cafe instead, I would have thought of paying $1.50 for a cup of Joe — not a pleasant thought.
If you are approached to scrawl your John Hancock on a petition to save the Jaybowl, please sign it. Even if you have never set foot in the Jaybowl, thousands of other students have and will continue to do so.
Our campus doesn't need lattes and bruschetta. It needs the Jaybowl.
Walker is an Mulvane, Kan., junior in journalism.
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