Inside Sports
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Sports
Kansas scored 124 points in a win against the California East All-Stars on Saturday — and it didn't even unveil its new offense.
Tuesday
November 9, 1999
Section:
B
Page 1
Big 12 Football
Dante Hall, Texas A&M's leading rusher for the past two seasons, was dismissed from the team by Coach R.C. Slocum yesterday.
SEE PAGE 1B
SEE PAGE 2B
Kansas Swimming
The Kansas women's swimming and diving teams got off to fast starts at this weekend's meet but ran out of gas Sunday and lost two matches.
SEE PAGE 2B
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Women's hoops to debut at home tonight F
By Melinda Weaver
sports@kansan.com
The Kansas women's basketball team will begin its season at 7:05 tonight at Allen Fieldhouse in an exhibition matchup against Club Gija Marijampole of Marijampole, Lithuania.
Kansan sportswriter
Kansas will return four starters, Lynn Pride, Brooke Reves, Jennifer Jackson and Jaclyn Johnson, from last season's team, which finished 23-10 overall and 11-5 in the Big 12 Conference. The team also will return guard Suzi Raymant and center Nikki White, who both sat
out last season with medical redshirts.
Kansas' depth this season leaves coach Marian Washington indecisive about her starting lineup.
Washington said that forward Lynn Pride, point guard Jennifer Jackson and shooting guard Suzi Raymant will definitely start and that she would probably start Brooke Reves at the other forward position and Kristin Geoffroy at center.
"Geoffroy will share minutes right away with Nikki White and Heather Fletcher," Washington said. "I am delighted with (Geoffroy's) progress. She has taken some major steps up. She has great hands. She can run the floor better. She has more confidence, and she can attack the glass."
Against Club Gija, Kansas will use the triple-post offense, known as the Triangle, for the first time. The team has had some trouble adjusting to the new system, but Washington
See Women on page 2B
The Starting Lineup
KANSAS
JAYHAWKS
Club wrestling team pins down victories
Marc Miller, Eldgin, Ill., sophomore, tosses Francisco Chacon, Liberal junior, during the wrestling club's practice session. Photo by Aaron Lindbera/KANSAN
Despite no funding coach or support; club is going strong
By Jason Walker
sports@kansan.com
Kansan sportswriter
The University of Kansas doesn't list wrestling as one of its official sports, but that doesn't stop some students from hitting the mats.
The Kansas wrestling club team meets twice a week to practice a sport that doesn't get much respect. Few universities have space for wrestling on their varsity rosters, so many athletes wishing to continue have no choice but to join a club team.
Francisco Chacon, Liberal junior and president of the Jayhawk wrestling team, said he thought money was a big reason universities did not sponsor wrestling teams.
"It's unfair," he said. "A Division-I championship wrestling team doesn't bring in as much money as that school's basketball team. It's great, though, when schools do invest in wrestling to make it popular and give it publicity."
The Kansas club team consists of about 15 men. It placed seventh overall at the national tournament last year in Dallas. They also placed six wrestlers in the top six in several weight categories. Not bad, Chacon says, since the team doesn't even have a coach.
"We coach ourselves," he said. "It hasn't been a problem. Practice usually has a pretty relaxed atmosphere."
Chacon said the outlook for this year's team was positive, and he hoped the club would remain successful in this year's tournaments.
See WRESTLING on page 6A
Jayhawks look back at season that could have been
Bv Mike Miller
sports@kansan.com
Kansan sportswriter
The better Kansas plays, the more the season becomes a question of what if.
What if Kansas did not play Notre Dame, a game that it lost 48-13? That game gave the 'Hawks 12 regular-season games, and instead of needing six wins to qualify for a bowl game, they need seven — which now is mathematically impossible.
For that matter, what if the 'Hawks would've beaten Nebraska? What if they played this way the whole season? What if they could play San Diego State again?
Now, the Jayhawks are 4-6 and playing their best football of the season. So what if Kansas wouldn't have played that game?
"I think that the one game that everyone on our football team would love to play over again would be San Diego State," coach Terry Allen said. "We're actually playing a lot better now than we were a month ago."
Some of Kansas' improvement is a result of playing good teams early in the year. Ranked opponents like
Games against ranked teams — Kansas State, Texas A&M and Nebraska — and rival Missouri made for a rough four weeks, but Kansas came away with confidence.
Which makes things easier for next year's schedule. Kansas plays nonconference games against Southern Methodist, which it beat 27-9 on Oct. 2, Alabama-Birmingham, a team it has never lost to, and Southern Illinois, a Division I-AA school.
The Big 12 Conference schedule doesn't get any easier, though. Kansas rotates the Big 12 South schools that it plays every two years, replacing Oklahoma State, Texas A&M and Baylor with Texas Tech, Oklahoma and Texas. Texas is ranked 10th.
Notre Dame and Colorado smoked Kansas but prepared the Jayhawks for their rough October schedule.
And Allen maintains that having the extra game was critical to the team's current success.
"As we developed our football team, we were playing some teams that were some pretty tough competition," Allen said.
See 'HAWKS on page 2B
Kansas running back Mitch Bowles runs through the tackle of a Baylor defender. The Jayhawks beat the Baylor Bears this season 45-10. Kansas file photo
Former'Hawks good reasons to watch NBA
The ooohs and aaaahs erupting from my cozy studio and disturbing my neighbors' peace of mind have grown in frequency lately.
No, my video rental card at Priscilla's hasn't been reinstated.
It's NBA time, and each Vince Carter dunk or Jason Williams look-away pass elicits exclamations of wonder and excitement from your's truly.
A lot of people I talk to would just as soon watch a documentary about English Parliamentary procedure as watch an NBA game.
The usual complaints — the players don't play defense, there's no team concept on offense and too many fouls — are understandable, if not always warranted.
The real problem for most fans, especially around here, is that the game just doesn't measure up to college basketball in terms of intensity or identification.
There's no NBA team around here.
But what we do have, which we didn't in the past, is a host of former Kansas stars to root for and support.
The backcourt would be a little weak with just Jacque Vaughn and Rex Walters, who play limited minutes
Derek
Prater
sports columnist
sports@kkanan.com
Just a handful of years ago, the only Jayhawk seeing any real action in the NBA was Danny Manning (and that was only when he was healthy). Now, however, we've got enough guys to suit up a team.
Rejuvenation seems to be the theme for prominent NBA 'Hawks.
for the Jazz and Heat respectively. The frontcourt, on the other hand, would be a force to reckon with.
Paul Pierce is picking up where he left off last year for a Celtics team that is showing a little of the old franchise magic with a 3-1 start and victories against fellow comers the Toronto Raptors Washington Wizards and Charlotte Hornets.
Pierce is shooting just under 52 percent from the field and averaging just fewer than 19 points per game. He's more than just a scorer though, contributing 7 rebounds and 2.75 assists per game thus far.
Danny Manning is rejuvenating his career with a new team, the Milwaukee Bucks. Through three games (all wins) Manning is shooting just under 54 percent from the field and averaging 11 points per game. He's also averaging 3 steals and more than 5 boards in only about 25 minutes a game.
Raef LaFrentz is making a strong comeback from last year's knee injury. He's scoring 15 points a game on 47 percent shooting. His presence on the boards isn't where it needs to be yet, but it will improve as he gets used to banging in the paint on his repaired knee.
The role Scot Pollard carved out for himself late last year for the Sacramento Kings appears to be intact again this year. He hustles, plays defense and works the glass for about 15 minutes a game. He's an energy player, and in a five minute stretch against the Minnesota Timberwolves Friday he put together two rebounds, a steal and a tip-in on a fast break that he initiated.
Granted, Pierce may be the only Jayhawk with real star potential among those in the NBA. And, in a sad irony, the laziest former Jayhawk also is the richest — Greg Ostertag.
But it is nice to see some familiar faces when I tune in for my weekly dose of groan-inducing athletic artistry.
Prater is a Lawrence graduate student in journalism
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