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The University Daily Kansan
Spring break countdown
It's 58 days to spring break and Keystone has a 34-inch base, 79 trails and is 87 percent open. Giddyup!
Sports
Inside: In a matchup of ranked Big 12 teams, No. 12 Oklahoma State rode past No. 14 Texas 73-65 in Stillwater, Okla.
Inside: He's back. Michael Jordan became part owner and head of basketball operations of the Washington Wizards yesterday.
SEE PAGE 4B
SEE PAGE 4B
THURSDAY, JANUARY 20. 2000
WWW.KANSAN.COM.SPORTS
Pride leads team to victory against Baylor
By Chris Fickett sports@kansan.com Kansan
WACO, Texas — Lynn Pride didn't know if the crowd was cheering for or against her Wednesday night. So she just blocked them out.
About eight of Pride's family members made the trip from her hometown of Arlington, Texas — about an hour and a half north of Waco — to the Ferrell Center and watched the No. 23 Kansas women's basketball team beat Baylor 81-67.
"It's nice having them here," Pride said of her family. "But I just block the crowd out."
But the Bears' crowd didn't care that her family made the trip. They were waiting to see Baylor, 5-10, 0-5, get its first win of the season.
They harassed Kansas all night, questioning foul calls and cheering at the prospect of Javawk plavers fouling out
Two first-half fouls put Pride on the bench for seven minutes, and she had only four points at the break. Baylor's senior guard Mandy Haworth's three-point basket with 4 seconds left in the half put Baylor up 24-23 and the crowd of 1,630 went into a frenzy.
"It's always frustrating," Pride said about having to sit on the bench. "But there's always the second half."
That's when Pride, who scored 21 of her game-high 25 points after halftime, did what she does best: Take the ball to the basket.
"Lynn Pride likes to drive it in there and lay it up," said Baylor coach Sonja Hogg. "And she does a nice job of it, too."
And she did a nice job of turning some of those lay-ups into three-point plays. Pride was six of seven from the free-throw line.
But Baylor was getting there as well, and often. Pride was called for her fourth foul with 10 minutes, 22 seconds remaining in the game and she went out with Kansas leading 55-41
But the lead fell only to 10 with Pride out.
"It's hard to have her sit," said Kansas
coach Marian Washington. "It's really good to see your team play strong and help keep us close."
Part of Pride's foul trouble stemmed from guarding Baylor's 5-foot-3 sophomore guard Nicole Collins, who scored 15 points and dished four assists.
Hayworth scored 22 points against No. 25 Oklahoma Saturday and was Baylor's leading scorer against the 'Hawks with 19 points, including three three-point shots.
In the end, it wasn't enough. The 'Hawks were too much for the Bears. Pride was the only Jayhawk trying to counter the Bears' quickness. Junior forward Jaclyn
"We've got nothing to lose," Hayworth said. "Somebody's got to shoot it."
Johnson barely missed a triple-double. She had 17 points, eight boards and nine assists. Kansas ends a two-game road trip at 3 p.m. Saturday in Lubbock, Texas, where it will face No. 15 Texas Tech.
Statistics
KANSAS 81, BAYLOR 67
124341
Pride 9-14 6-7 25, Johnson 8-13 12-17, White 3-0 0,
Ryman 5-14 6-16, Jackson 1-5 12-1 11, Prudt 0 1 0,
Reves 2 4 0 0, May 0 0 0 0, Scott 0 2 0 0, Geoffry
0 0 0 0, Fletcher 0 2 0 0, Tables 32 7 10 28 1.
Akromis 6 3 3 9 3, Arnold 5 16 2 12 2, Collins 4 9-7 11 1,
Bruns 15 2 5 0 4, Hammond 6 14 7 1 4, Boutte 0 0 0 0, Neely 0 2 0 0, Crockum 1.7 5 6 7, Richards 0 0 0 1, Hammond 0 0 0 0, Totals 21 6 0 22 31 67
Getting their feet wet
Kansas swimmers (left to right) Gwen Haley, Lyndsay DeVaney and Beth Schryer have jumped from high school into the collegiate spotlight. Halfway through the season, the trio already has combined for 21 first-place finishes. Photo by Brad Dreier/KANSAN
By Brandon Krisztal sports@kansan.com
Kansan sportswriter
Freshmen help Jayhawks lap opponents
Traditionally, teams rely on experience as a catalyst for success.
However, the Kansas women's swimming team has received some needed contributions in weak areas from not one, but three freshmen.
Lyndsay DeVaney, Gwen Haley and Beth Schryer have been leading by example in the swimming pool. The trio has posted 21 wins between them, as well as a number of top finishes, helping the Jayhawks earn their 4-3 mark, 1-0 in conference, at the midpoint of the season.
"I think it's wonderful that they've come in and done so well," said senior Sherry West. "We need freshman like that. As a senior, sophomore or junior, when someone younger comes in and does well, it motivates you to work harder and keep up with them. It makes us a better team for it."
All three swimmers compete in distance events, an area that swimming and diving coach Gary Kempf said needed improvement teamwise. He focused his recruiting in that area and landed DeVaney, Haley and Schryer from three different parts of the country.
DeVaney, from Mira Loma, Calif., has won nine races this season in seven different events including two wins in both the 500-meter freestyle and the 1000 freestyle. Winning is nothing new to DeVaney, who was team MVP and a four-time all-league selection in high school. DeVaney is pleased, but not too surprised by her success nor the success of her classmates.
"It was a bit expected," DeVaney said, "but I think when freshmen come in with high expectations and make a good impression it helps the rest of the team. Personally, I'm swimming a lot faster than
I was a year ago, my training's a lot different. At home it was a lot more aerobic and nothing was fast paced."
Haley, like DeVaney, ranks among the top 20 swimmers nationally and, also like DeVaney, she is familiar with success. At Carmel High in Indiana, Haley was an All-American, All-State first team and junior national champion in the 200 butterfly, 200 and 400 individual medley.
This season Haley's eight victories are one win shy of the team lead. She has posted victories in seven different events including two wins in the 200 individual medley. Her win against Missouri in the 400 individual medley is the 4th fastest time in school history at 4:22.06.
"I came from a pretty strong high school team, we were state champs for so many years," Haley said. "It's different in college, but it's been a really neat experience."
She also noticed an improvement in her performance since last year.
"A year ago, I would not have expected this. Before I was sort of just trying to survive, but now I am able to go to another level and compete higher," she said.
Not only is Schryer no stranger to success in the pool, she excels in the classroom. In high school, at Arvada, Colo., she was a four-time All-American, three-time state champion and an Academic All-American with a 3.97 grade point average. Kempf said that Schryer is flirting with the national top 25 rankings. Saturday at Southern Illinois, she picked up her third and fourth wins of the season, winning the 200 and 500 freestyle.
Schryer admitted that she struggled a bit initially with the transition to college and a new team because she was so used to her team and her friends back home.
See FRESHMEN on page 2B
Carey's Homecoming
KU reserve loyal to 'Hawks despite Missouri connections
By Shawn Hutchinson
Kansan sportswriter
Saturday's showdown between the No. 7 Jayhawks and the Missouri Tigers in Columbia will hit a little close to home for Kansas forward Jeff Carey.
Carey played high school ball in Camdenton, Mo., about an hour and a half from Columbia. His father,
"My dad and I went to three or four games a year." Carey said, adding that he never really was a die-hard Missouri fan. "My dad's company had season tickets, and they were pretty good seats... about nine rows up."
Ray, is a former Missouri football player who earned All-Big 8 honors in 1964. And some of Carey's childhood days were spent with his father watching the Tigers play in the Hearnes Center.
Carey: Played high school ball in Missouri
Carey's seat will be a lot better than that come Saturday, when the Jayhawks (15-2, 4-0) will try to keep their Big 12 Conference
Carey is averaging only 1.1 points per game for Kansas and has played a grand total of 100 minutes all season. He was considered a "sleeper" coming out of Camdenton High, but that didn't stop the recruitment letters from piling up in his mailbox.
record perfect when facing the Tigers (10-6, 3-1).
Carey said that he took official recruiting trips to Indiana, Evansville and Southwest Missouri State.
"They wanted me to sign and I told them that I was going out to visit Kansas." Carey said. "Norm (Stewart) got kind of upset. I don't think he was very happy about it."
"They haven't bothered me yet because Ryan (Robertson) was always there. One of my friends is a member of the Antlers now and he probably has some dirt on me," Carey said, referring to a Missouri fan group.
Then Missouri came into the picture, followed closely by Kansas — and that gives Saturday's game one more interesting twist.
"My parents wanted me to go where I'd be happy," Carey said. "The minute Kansas called, my dad told me that's the best place for me."
Stewart, coach of the Tigers during Carey's recruitment, was probably even more upset after Carey eventually signed with the Jayhawks.
The best place for Carey on Saturday will probably be anywhere but Columbia. Carey said he will have to wait and see how the Missouri fans treat him.
Kansas Basketball Notes
The Jayhawks will play five of their next seven games on the road. That stretch includes jaunts to Missouri, Iowa State, Oklahoma State, Kansas State and a Feb. 3 non-conference matchup at Iowa.
"It will be a big road trip for us these next couple of weeks," said Kansas center Eric Chenowith. "Hopfully we can pick up the big wins on the road because that's when you start pulling away in conference."
The Jayhawks continue to be strong in rebounding. After outrebounding Texas A&M Monday night, 55-30, the Jayhawks increased their rebounding margin to a conference-best 11.1-plus per game.
Jeff Carey looks for an open man against Kentucky in last year's NCAA Tournament. The Jayhawks' game Saturday at Missouri is a homecoming for Carey, who grew up attending Tigers' games and was recruited by Missouri. KANSAN file photo.
Sports Columnist
sports@kansan.com
Jason Walker
Jayhawk fan concerned by Earl's return
I received a shock Saturday night as I was watching Kansas destroy the hapless Nebraska Cornhuskers.
To my astonishment, coach Roy Williams suddenly inserted Lester Earl into the game. To play.
Was I hearing things? Hallucinating? Lester hadn't played since the Great Alaska Shootout. Last I heard he was just sitting on the bench, cheering on his Tru homies and yelling "hoody hoo" every time Kenny Gregory brought down the house with a Vince Carter-esque dunk.
But no, here came Lester, to a chorus of cheers from the Allen Fieldhouse faithful, taking off his warmups and strutting onto the court. Radio commentators Max and Bob (who I prefer to TV commentators) said how great it was to see Lester in the game, how he had been through a lot and how they were happy to see him play.
I have a question: Why would anyone be happy to see Lester play? This is a guy that has been a stain on coach Williams' program ever since he came here from Louisiana State.
After three years with the Jayhawks, he has admitted accepting $6,600 from LSU boosters (money he ended up keeping), cruised around town in a Chevrolet Tahoe and has been arrested for skipping his court date for speeding and driving with a suspended license. He has even been surrounded by shady connections with rapper Master P.
Coach Williams even has admitted he would not have let Lester transfer to Kansas had he known about his shady past. He even used the word 'tarnished' to refer to the way Lester has changed the Jayhawks' otherwise snow-white visage.
But nevertheless, he was cheered. Even though in his best season here, 1997-98, he only averaged 7.6 points and 6.5 boards. Last year it was 4.8 and 3.4, respectively. This year he has played in five games, pouring in seven points and seven boards. It doesn't sound like his production is worth the hassle.
Sure, he's been hurt. Supposedly. But it's funny, because this year I don't really remember hearing much about Lester in the media. What exactly is he asking from?
Sure he's had lots of knee problems. Something like three knee scopes, two surgeries, left ankle problems. No one is debating that. But those injuries occurred in high school and his first two years of college. Not this year.
I watched the entire Great Alaska Shootout and I don't remember seeing Lester go down with an injury. Maybe he got bit by a puppy dog when the team went sledding. Maybe he got hurt in practice when they got back from Alaska. Who knows. I'm not a doctor. But I do know that whenever Lester's name is brought up, mum's the word.
Don't get me wrong, I love Kansas basketball. I want Kansas basketball to be the best it can be, go to the Final Four, and win championships.
If only it could be with our very own Lester Earl sitting on the end of the bench in one of his stylin' suits.
Walker is a Mutvane junior in journalism.