Inside Sports
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Friday November 19,1999
Sports
Section:
Kansas volleyball is hoping to exact a measure of revenge against No. 14 Texas A&M and No. 18 K-State this weekend.
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SEE PAGE 3B
Half of the conference's teams end their regular seasons Saturday and bowl games are still up for grabs.
Big 12 Football
Page 1
Baseball
Texas catcher Ivan Rodriquez beat out Boston pitcher Pedro Martinez for the AL MVP despite having fewer first-place votes.
SEE PAGE 6B
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Kansas women to open season against Houston
By Melinda Weaver
By Melinda Weaver sports@kansan.com Kansan sportwriter
The Kansas women's basketball team will start its quest for the NCAA tournament when it opens its regular season at 7 p.m. tomorrow in Houston.
Both teams are coming off exhibition victories Tuesday as No. 19 Kansas defeated Latvia-Club Riga 87-51 and Houston defeated the Houston Flight 78-72.
Kansas put together two exhibition wins against Club Riga and Club Gija-Marijampole 80-67 on Nov. 9, but the team did not perform as well as it had expected.
Junior forward Brooke Reves said the team had a chance to improve its offensive and defensive performances to prepare them for the regular season.
"It gave us the opportunity to play against foreign teams and see how different the game style is." Reves said. "Foreign teams play really aggressively, and it really brought out our aggression. We need to keep that aggression as we go into Houston."
"They're very athletic, probably more so than we are," Washington said. "They have great quickness, and they know how to hustle."
Though Kansas leads the all-time series against Houston 3-0, the Jayhawks have not played in Houston since 1965. Coach Marian Washington said she expected a tough game.
To combat Houston's athleticism, Washington said the team had been working to strengthen its defense. Against Club Gija, the Jayhawks looked sluggish on defense and had to foul when they were beaten in the post. Club Gija center Zane Rosite scored 24 points, and Club Gija scored 27 points from the free-throw line.
Washington said the Jayhawks still needed to improve, but she thought they would keep getting better throughout the season.
Kansas improved significantly against Club Riga the following Tuesday, keeping the team off the free-throw line until late in the second quarter and holding its top scorer to 11 points.
"We have to play very strong defense," Washington said. "Houston likes to drive and go to the offensive boards. We have to box well and can't get caught reaching. We have to handle their press and make sure we don't give them extra opportunities by turning the ball over. They are a good ball club, but if we execute well and play strong defense, we will be fine."
Kansas will have its first opportunity to showcase its new triple-post offense against a collegiate team. Kansas has scored 80 and 87 points, respectively, in its exhibition games using its new offense, an almost 20-point increase from last season's 63-point average.
"The offense works well with this team," Reves said. "I love it. It allows us to be versatile and be strong with the ball."
Washington said that the offense
See KANSAS on page 2B
Kansas defensive back Tim Bowers is tripped by an Iowa State offensive lineman while on a blitz. The Jayhawks play host to the Cyclones in their last game of the season at 1 p.m. tomorrow. Kansas file photo
Going out with a bang
Improved Kansas hopes to end football season on high note
Bv Mike Miller
By Mike Miller
sports@kansan.com
Kansas sportwrite
Kansan sportswriter
Kansas and Iowa State did this last year. It's the last game of the season, both teams have losing records and are coming off losses the previous week.
There are three differences: One, the game is at Kansas this year. Two, both teams are vastly improved.
"We've become a much better football
team than a year ago," coach Terry Allen said.
But the biggest difference for Kansas is it's Senior Day — which might be the motivation for this game.
"There's probably more emphasis on this game, it being the last game," said fullback Tyrus Fontenot. "And it might be kind of hard for the whole team to get geared up, but for the seniors, I don't think it'll be a problem."
The Jayhawks, 4-7 overall, 2-5 in the Big 12
Conference, are a different team than they were when they played Iowa State, 4-6 overall, 1-6 in the Big 12, a year ago. Last year, the Jayhawks couldn't stop an old lady from crossing the street. They've improved their rushing defense to 69th in the NCAA, more than 30 teams better than last year.
And they'll need to be improved because Iowa State prefers to run the ball with one of the best running backs in the Big 12, Darren Davis.
See SENIORS on page 3B
Jayhawks want to avoid upset bug
By Matt Tait
Kansan sportswriter
Thus far in college basketball, upset has been the buzz word. Bearing this in mind, the Kansas men's basketball team will try to avoid the buzz saw when it opens the regular season at 7:05 tonight against Fairfield.
Men's Basketball Probable Starters
Despite Iowa's win against No. 1 Connecticut last week and Notre Dame's one-point thriller at No. 6 Ohio State Tuesday night, the Jayhawks remain poised and prepared to open the season despite the fact that neither preseason game offered much of a test.
"I do know a couple years ago, when Coach (Dean Smith) was going for his record, they made about a hundred
"I think we have a little extra apprehension because what we're trying to do is not going to be so pretty and it's not polished yet, by any means," said Kansas coach Roy Williams. "I think our kids are anxious and ready to play. You do learn something every time you play against somebody else."
What Williams knows of Fairfield is limited.
Allen Fieldhouse • Lawrence
threes against him, it seemed like," Williams said. "But I doubt any of those kids are still around."
Coach Tim O'Toole, a 1986 Fairfield grad, enters his second year as Fairfield's coach. The game against Kansas is the season opener for the
Senior forward Darren Phillip led the team in both points and rebounds last season with 16.7 and 9.9 respectively.
He is right. This year's Fairfield team returns three starters and nine letter winners from last year's 12-15 squad.
Stags, and comes at the beginning of a rather difficult schedule, with games at UNLV and UCLA to follow.
Williams said that he received the scout tapes early this week and indicated that the team would begin its preparation for Fairfield yesterday, as it always does.
Although the team began preparing for its first opponent yesterday, senior Nick Bradford said that he had been waiting a long time for the season opener.
"We're ready to get it going where it
See JAYHAWKS on page 2B
Kansas guard Kenny Gregory shoots a layup over the outstretched arm of a defender. The Jayhawks open regular-season play against Fairfield at 7:05 tonight. Photo by Matt J. Daugherty/KANSAN
Dion and I could pull off perfect chalupa caper
Defensive end Dion Rayford and I have a few things in common.
Taco Bell's employees have gotten my
I'm not really concerned with my finals yet, and the fish haven't been biting at Clinton Lake because of the warm weather. So for several reasons fastfood preference seems to be our most relevant similarity.
We both have finals coming up in less than a month. We both enjoy fishing. And neither of us seem to be able to get what we order at the Taco Bell drive-thru.
twice. I've journeyed through the drive-thru at the two Lawrence locations four times a week for nearly three years. By my calculations that means they've given me the correct food roughly... I'll let you do the math on that percentage, but it would seem to be small.
I'd been contemplating whether to
James
sports columnist
sports@kansan.com
start eating somewhere else or take the time and energy actually to park my vehicle and walk in.
I usually don't get there until after the indoor portion closes, anyway. And because doctors have proven medically that I am addicted to Frito burritos, I decided to just endure the pot-luck, drive-thru dining.
Once, I decided to save time by skipping the muffled speaker and driving straight to the window. "$4.37," the guy said. I handed him a $5 bill and within 30 seconds he handed me a bag. True story. It wasn't what I wanted, but what did I have to lose?
Dion, I realize that because of the criminal damage, open container and three assault charges, you are forbidden to make any contact with our favorite fast-food joint. But just in case you ever do get your privileges back, here's what we need to do.
In case you somehow missed the news, Dion demonstrated early Wednesday morning at the 23rd Street Taco Bell that exiting a vehicle and trying to crawl through the 1-by-4 foot drive-thru window wasn't the answer to not getting a chalupa that you ordered. However, I had thought about doing the same thing. I'd also considered driving close to the window that my rearview mirror scraped the bricks, reaching in and grabbing the cashier by his colorful polo shirt, pulling him toward me and repeatedly slamming the mini double-doors on his head.
Fortunately, Professor Rayford taught us this week that assault is bad.
I'll drive us in my truck because it's as tall as their window. We'll pull up to the drive-thru menu board, order a Frito burrito for me and a chalupa for you. Then we'll ignore their pleas for us to buy a talking, stuffed Chihuahua and pull up to the window. After they hand us a meximelt and a nachos bell grande, I'll crawl through the window (I'm 5-foot-7, 155 pounds). I'm thinking that would be best since you're 6-foot-3, 260 pounds and apparently have already researched the logistics.
Even if I do manage to get stuck, you could give me a little shove from behind. Then, while the workers are hiding in the office calling the police, I'll make our order correctly. You swing the truck around front, I'll leave $10 and we'll be gone before the cops show up.
There's only one problem that could arise. The three female workers — like the three you scared — might just kick the crap out of me.
I'm getting a bad image of them stuffing me back through the window and you driving away with the top half of mv body.
Either way, by using my plan you won't have to drop the chalupa or get crow-barred out of the window of an eating establishment.
Just something to think about in our never-ending quest for the food we actually ordered.
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James is a Hugoton senior in journalism.
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