Section:
B
The University Daily Kansan
Smelling like roses
Pete Rose accepted a "living legend" award from the Philadelphia Sports Writers Association. Odds are now 5-to-1 that he makes the Hall.
Sports
inside: North Carolina's men's basketball team dropped out of the top 25 for the first time in 10 years SEE PAGE 4B
Inside: Hanging 'em up.. Kansas junior wide receiver Harrison Hill will not play baseball this spring to concentrate solely on football.
SEE PAGE 3B
TUESDAY, JANUARY 25, 2000
WWW.KANSAN.COM/SPORTS
'Hawks spear Buffaloes
Frontcourt leads Kansas to 89-74 win
By Shawn Hutchinson sports@kansan.com Kansan sportswriter
At least some of the bad taste has been washed away from the Jayhawks' mouths.
Kansas (16-3 and 5-1) opened up a half-game lead in the Big 12 Conference standings with the win
No.12 Kansas, coming off a 8159 shellacking by the Missouri Tigers on Saturday, gained a bit of solace by tossing aside the Colorado Buffaloes last night in Allen Fieldhouse, 89-74.
T h e
Jay ha w k s
probably won't
f or g e t
Saturday's
loss anytime
soon, but last
night's victory,
which
Kansas coach
Roy Williams
described as
workmanlike,
still tasted
sweet.
Collison: Had 15 points and a career-high 14 rebounds
that this was really a good bounce-back game for us," said Kansas center Eric Chenowith. "Missouri really took it to us, and we wanted to come out and take it to someone else."
In the first matchup between both teams on Jan. 8 in Boulder, Colo., the Buffaloes staked themselves to a four-point cushion at halftime before eventually falling. 84-69.
Last night, the Buffaloes had no such cushion, but they still gave the Jayhawks all they could handle for a brief period of time.
"I thought
The Jayhawks went into halftime with a 48-32 lead, but the Buffs were able to slowly chip away and pull within 59-55 with 11:08 remaining by using their quick guards and easy looks inside.
"I thought that this was really a good bounceback game for us. Missouri really took it to us, and we wanted to come out and take it to someone else."
Colorado's point guard Jaquay
Sports Columnist
Eric Chenowith Kansas starting center
Walls and forward Jamahl Mosley instigated most of Kansas' problems. Walls scored 19 points and dished out seven assists, while Mosley also had 19 points and added eight boards.
"Walls is very difficult to guard," Williams said. "We have to understand that he wants to penetrate. He can yo-yo it, and he can cross you over. But you don't stop Jaquay with one guy."
When Kansas was able to get the ball inside — something that it couldn't do in the loss to Missouri — the game was all but over.
The Jayhawks eventually stopped Walls with a plethora of players, including Marlon London, Kenny Gregory and whoever else they could throw at Colorado.
Chenowith finished the game with 18 points and five rebounds, Nick Collison added 15 points and pulled down a career-high 14 rebounds, and Drew Gooden hit five-of-ten shots and scored 11 points.
The frontcourt also helped Kansas set a season-high 11 blocks.
"I think it's good we got a win," Collison said. "Sometimes we didn't have as much enthusiasm as we could have, but I would call it a workmanlike effort."
"Everyone calls us soft," Collison said. "Maybe we are, maybe we aren't, but I just wanted to make sure I came out and didn't play soft."
With the win and the play of their front court, the Jayhawks were able to shed some of the stereotypes that had been plaguing the team lately.
See KANSAS on page 2B
Kansas' Luke Axtell rips down a rebound during the No. 12 Jayhawks' 89-74 victory against Colorado last night in Allen Fieldhouse. Axtell hit two-of-four three-point attempts and finished the game with 12 points and four rebounds. Photo by Aaron Lindberg/KANSAN
Street ball has a hand in Jayhawks' victory
By Matt Tait
sports@kansan.com
Michael Rigg
Kansas didn't change the playing surface at Allen Fieldhouse to black top, but its 89-74 victory against the Colorado Buffaloes last night at times looked like it was at the playground.
Kansan sportswriter
The most compelling reason that the game appeared to be outdoors under the chain nets was that there was a lot of trash talking going on — or was there?
"There's talking in every game," Bradford said. "But I think tonight the refs just caught a little more of it. But
Kansas senior forward Nick Bradford didn't think so.
that's the game."
Along with the trash-talking, which was not limited to a specific team or player, there was an array of other street-ball elements.
Despite all of that, Colorado coach Ricardo Patton noticed one thing usually found in playground ball that was absent from last night's game — showboating.
As in many pick-up games, there were
"I don't think any player on either team was really showboating, but there certainly were a lot of turnovers." Patton said.
several one-on-one matchups that added to the garbage play.
Guards blocking shots — Kirk Hinrich and Jeff Boschee had four between them — flying elbows, moving screens, fast-paced play and many, many turnovers — 34 combined, just to mention a few.
"Colorado's the kind of team that has a lot of guys who penetrate and play that one-on-one, pick-up style." Bradford said.
Colorado point guard Jaquay Walls found himself involved in most of those. All night, Walls went at it with Hinrich. Coming from completely different backgrounds — Walls from Brooklyn, N.Y., and Hinrich from Sioux City, Iowa — the two met nose-to-nose with almost every dribble and cut they took.
were separated by the officials. After the ensuing free throws, Walls and Kansas forward Drew Gooden exchanged words and were both given technical fouls. From there out Walls was at least booed, if not worse, every time he.
Another match-up Walls found himself in led to him be harassed by the Kansas crowd the rest of the night. Midway during the first half, Walls and Kansas guard Kenny Gregory exchanged words and
worse, every time he touched the ball.
"I liked the way the crowd had some chants for him," Kansas center Eric Chenwith said of Walls. "Some of the things I can't say on air."
Thus completing the last element of playground basketball.
sports@kansan.com
Bradford
Williams' comments unwarranted
It has been a frustrating three days for Kansas coach Roy Williams.
On Saturday, his Jayhawks were pasted 81-59 by arch-rival Missouri. Two days later, senior forward Lester Earl was arrested in the party town of Eudora after he allegedly was caught drinking and driving.
Yes sir, Williams needed to get out some of his frustrations. But the group of people he chose to take out these frustrations on was the most defenseless in Allen Fieldhouse last night — the fans.
"I don't care how you print it and how many fans write letters, but that was a sorry excuse for a home crowd out there tonight," Williams said after his team's unaesthetic 89-74 win against Colorado. "You can make it whatever you want, and I'm going to fight for those kids, and if that ticks somebody off, then so be it."
After uttering these controversial words, Williams still didn't digress, or much less stop and think about what he was saying. Instead, he dug himself into a deeper hole.
"The kids that camped out were fantastic," Williams continued. "But this place should never be a 'wine and cheese' crowd, and that's what it sounded like out there tonight. If you don't want to cheer for us, then keep your big butts at home. I can find enough friends to come in here."
The gathered crowd was about as energetic and loud as it had been all season. It may have been a little quieter, but what did Williams expect? An even louder gathering after Saturday's embarrassing performance in Columbia? Come on.
Don't get me wrong. It was quiet at times, something that can be expected when the Jayhawks were coming off their worst loss since 1990 and when the game starts at a fan-unfriendly 8 p.m.
But instead of considering these factors, Williams spoke off the top of his head and offended some of college basketball's greatest fans.
The worst part of it was that the fans were at their usually high standards.
Last night, it was almost like he was looking for someone to be his scapegoat. In the end, Williams chose the defenseless fans who sounded as loud as ever.
Even worse, Kansas players -- the players to which Williams is a role model -- chose to take a higher road than their elder coach.
"I'm going to kill them with kindness and say they are the best fans in college basketball," center Eric Chenowith said after the game.
Captain Nick Bradford, meanwhile, applauded the fans for their harassment of Aquay Walls, noting the importance of a home crowd pickin on a player.
As for Williams, he knows that it's OK to take out frustrations at times.
But why did it have to be on the fans? The crowd gave Williams and Kansas everything they could last night, but it wasn't good enough for a frustrated coach looking to bully anyone he could.
Rigg is a Greenwood Village, Colo.
sophomore in broadcast journalism.
First come not always first served
By Chris Wristen
Kansan sportswriter
Students camping out for basketball games have found their efforts being wasted recently and are demanding a change.
Seats in the first five rows of the south student section of Allen Fieldhouse are reserved for wheelchair attendants, but attendants have filled this area only twice this season. When seats are left unoccupied, they are given back to the students — but not necessarily those students who believe they have earned them.
Students arriving late to games have been given these seats by the events staff members controlling the student section, leaving many
Pat O'Bryan, Overland Park sophomore, said his group normally started camping three days in advance for games. He said he thought camp groups were being cheated out of the seats and that the events staff members intentionally had denied campers these seats.
campers angry.
"Technically, we reserve the same amount of seats every time," said Jennifer Pozzuolo, events supervisor. "They have to allow a certain amount of seats because people with wheelchairs can't move up higher."
The events staff's role is to handle crowd control and help anyone who needs assistance. It controls these seats, which are reserved up to 30 minutes after the game begins.
But it is not those with disabilities with whom the campers have a problem. The problem is with students who arrive late and are given what O'Bryan calls the best seats in the house.
"I just think the campers should get dibs on those seats instead of people just walking in late."
Pat O'Bryan
Overland Park sophomore
"I just think the campers should get dibs on those seats instead of people just walking in late,"
See STRAGGLERS on page 2B
Chiefs player paralyzed after car crash
The Associated Press
LIBERTY, Mo. — NFL star Derrick Thomas was paralyzed from the waist down following a car crash that broke his neck and killed a friend.
Thomas had use of his upper body, but it was not clear whether he would regain use of his legs, the Kansas City Chiefs said vesterday.
The nine-time Pro Bowl linebacker will be transferred to a hospital in his hometown of Miami, said Jon Browne, the team physician.
"It takes time to check these things out," Browne said. "Improvement can come slowly."
or in rapid bursts."
Teammates and friends gathered at the hospital yesterday. Chiefs president Carl Peterson and coach Gunther Cunningham were joined by Steve Palermo, a former American League umpire who was shot in 1991 and left partially paralyzed.
Thomas, 33, and two companions were heading to Kansas City International Airport to fly to St.
"This type of injury — it’s impossible to know how it's going to turn out, but Derrick is a fighter," Palermo said.
Louis for the NFC Championship game when their car flipped on an icy road Sunday afternoon. Thomas and the man who was killed were thrown from the car. The third man was treated at a hospital and released.
Investigators said the car belonged to Thomas, and he was driving. They said Thomas and Tellis were not wearing seat belts, but the third man was wearing one.
The dead man was identified as Michael Tellis, 49, of Kansas City, Kan. Tells helped Thomas organize charity projects in Kansas City.
"Forget about the football aspect of it." Cunningham said. "He has given a lot to this city and this organization. It's a tough thing to deal with."