Inside Sports
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Sports
KANSAS TENNIS
The Kansas women's tennis team looks to extend its winning streak against K-State today.
SEE PAGE 3B
Pro Basketball
Connecticut star Khalid El-Amin was arrested yesterday and charged with possession of marijuana.
Wednesday
April 14, 1999
Section:
B
Page 1
SEE PAGE 3B
Pro Football
Hockey great Wayne Gretzky may retire after the New York Rangers' last home game.
SEE PAGE 4B
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Lineman excels in spring after season as redshirt
Kansas offensive lineman John Oddonetto takes part in a blocking drill during practice. Oddonette, who was redshirted last season, spent the offseason adding muscle and learning the team's offense. Photo by Jay Shepard/KANSAN
By Michael Rigg sports@kansan.com Kansan sportwriter
John Oddonetto's hype was almost as large as his 6-foot-5, 285-pound frame.
After coming to Kansas in January 1998 as a junior college transfer, Oddonetto, an offensive guard, continued to dominate last year's spring drills and was listed with the first team on the depth chart for this fall.
So you can imagine how disappointed Oddonetto was when he learned he would redshirt last season.
"Last year was a hard year," admitted Oddonetto.
Oddonetto said he didn't have an ample enough understanding of the offense to play well.
"Things just didn't mesh very well." Oddonetto said.
Oddonetto had been a three-sport star in high school. Having to run plays in practice with the scout team instead of the first team bothered him immensely.
"It was hard to accept the fact that I was going to redshirt," Oddonetto said. "It was pretty hard practicing with the soot team, but I learned from it."
Oddnetetto took this newfound knowledge and used the time off to learn the offense. He also took the offseason to add another 25 pounds of muscle. Entering his second spring with the Jayhawks, it's an entirely different ball game, he said.
“It’s a whole new world now,” Oddonetto said. “I think (redshirting) was a good move. It gave me a year to grow, and everything with the offense is a totally clear picture.”
His play this spring has won him a spot on the first team and praise from Allen.
"The guy who has played the best in the first two weeks of spring practice has been John Oddonetto," Allen said. "He's really demonstrated his ability and the things that excited us when we recruited him."
Now, instead of focusing on running the opponent's offense with the scout team, Oddonetto is intent on filling a hole that three graduating seniors left on the offensive line.
"It might look like we're inexperienced as far as guys who have started a
lot of games, but the group we have right now works real well together," Oddonetto said. "I feel confident in us."
As for the hype, Oddonetto said he thought the redshirt season could help him be better than expected.
"I didn't expect to redshirt coming here, but the coaches asked me to and I
did, and it really paid off," Oddonetto said.
Spring Football Notes
- Inclement weather was enough of a concern for the team to call off practice yesterday. The Jayhawks have 11 more days before the spring game on April 24.
— Edited by Keith Burner
Club makes some racket at national championships
Shawn Muller, KU club racquetball team captain, left, and Marco Cobb are ranked ninth nationally in Divisions 4 and 1 after their performances at the Intercollegiate National Racquetball Championships at Texas A&M last weekend. The pair helped lead Kansas " seven-man team to an 11-th place finish overall in the tournament. Photo by Matt J. Daugherty/KANSAN
By Chris Wristen
cwristen@ukans.edu
Kanson swordwriter
The Kansas men's racquetball club team finished 11th at the Intercollegiate National Championships this past weekend at Texas A&M University. Not bad for a squad of seven with a limited budget.
They came, they saw and they conquered. Well, almost, but they came pretty close.
The club's small budget only would have allowed four members to attend, even following a home tournament fund-raiser. It took former racquetball club president Lou Montulli's donation to make the trip possible for all seven.
"That was our savior. We just wouldn't have had the money to send them if it weren't for him," club president Clark Langemeier said. "He was kind enough to donate $1,500, part of which was to be used for Nationalals."
Montulli got his money's worth out of his donation.
All members of the team
took individual medals in their respective divisions. Gold medals were earned by Marco Cobb (Division 1 Red), Shawn Muller (Division 4 Red) and Daniel Barrientes (Division 5 White). Aron Levin placed second in Division 2 Blue. Muller (Division 4 Gold) and Don Keefe (Division 6 Gold) each received fourth-place medals.
The Jayhawks were one of only a few teams at nationals who were not varsity teams, which made it even tougher for the team to compete with schools such as national champion Southern Colorado.
In doubles competition, Ivan Coro and Barrientos garnered the consolation gold in Division 3.
schools to play. The competition was very tough, and the No.1 seeds were very competitive." Coro said. On the whole, the team was pleased with how it placed.
"For us it was reaching a goal. We have been thinking about this for a long time, practicing for a long time, done fund-raisers for this and have been thinking about Nationals a lot. When you work this hard, it's rewarding." Cobb said.
"There were very tough
The team thinks its success now will provide some better opportunities for the club in the future.
Robertson hopes to leap from Cagerz to NBA
"Hopefully this is going to help get more support, not only from the University and recreation services, but also on the private circuit. I think it opens a lot of doors for us," Cobb said.
Coro said the team took a lot away from the tournament.
"I think it was a great experience," Coro said. "The team practiced very hard before we went there, and we saw the results in the tournament."
By Mike Harrity sports@kanson.com Kanson sportwriter
Soon after Bunny Otto learned that her grandson, Ryan Robertson, was drafted by the USBL's Kansas Cagert, she called him.
Bunny and Jim Otto live in Salina, where the Cagerz play. She just wanted to let Robertson know that he could have free room and board if he decided to join the Cagerz.
And, if he did stay with them, that would mean one thing.
- Edited by Jon Campbell
"Cinnamon rolls," said Otto, who has missed one of her grandson's games at Allen Fieldhouse during the past four years. "I know he likes them, so maybe that helped him decide."
Robertson, who was drafted as the sixth pick in last Wednesday's draft, decided to play with the Cagerz after a meeting with Kansas coach Roy Williams Thursday. Williams told Robertson that playing in the USBL was a good idea because NBA scouts attended most games. During the 12 years of the league, 120 former USBL players have made it to the NBA.
The Cagerz already have signed former Jayhawk Billy Thomas to a contract, and another former Jayhawk, Sean Pearson, will attend next week's veterans camp in hopes of making the team.
The only potential problem Robertson foresees is his availability during the Cagerz' 26-game season, which runs from April 30 to June 23. Robertson will complete his degree in business administration and
graduate May 23. Also, he plans to attend the NBA's pre-draft camp early June in Chicago.
"I'll miss probably half of their season, but I'm going to play," said Robertson, who would earn $300 a week with the Cagerz. "Now it's up to them if they want me for half a season."
Williams is handling the arrangement between Robertson and the Cagerz. And while it has yet to be set, Cagerz head coach Tom Hughes is willing to do what it takes to get his first-round pick to Salina.
Robertson: Plans to graduate before playing in USBL.
"We know Ryan has a unique situation, and we want him to finish strong academically," said Hughes, who expects an agreement
Robertson also is hopeful to get another opportunity - away from the basketball court.
to be worked out soon. "And we want him to know that when it comes time to go to the Chicago camp, he hops on the plane and goes to Chicago. This league is about exposure, and he can use the Cagerz opportunity as a springboard for his NBA opportunities."
"I haven't talked to my grandparents yet, but I'll stay with them if everything works out," Robertson said. "I'll get to eat my grandma's cinnamon rolls — I love them."
- Edited by Sarah Hole
Commentary
Rec center proposal merits approval
Propaganda can't skew student need for upgrade
Propaganda is my favorite word, and there has been plenty of it surrounding the proposal for a new recreation center, which students will vote on today and tomorrow.
Delta Force members would like you to think that an overwhelming percentage of students do not support an improvement in
I did a semester project on the proposal last fall and have since re-evaluated the situation with leaders on both sides.
The Recreation Task Force has not been totally free of my favorite word either. If you meet one of them, it probably won't take longer than five minutes for him or her to mention K-State's new facility and how it's a tragedy that anything
recreation, but they have to do some serious manipulation of their own survey to reach that conclusion.
Sam Mellinger
sports @ kansan.com
in that stinky hellhole called Manhattan could possibly be better than what we have on Mt. Oread.
Although friends of mine at K-State are thrilled with their new digs, just because K-State does something does not mean we have to top it.
Again, there's a lot of propaganda coming from both sides, but there is also a fact with which everybody agrees: The University of Kansas has the worst recreation facilities in the Big 12 conference. Although this, by itself, is not substantial reason to finance the world's greatest gym, it is a good way to quantify the problem.
Many opponents say that although KU is definitely in need of a recreation center improvement, the proposal just doesn't cut it.
Let me just come out and tell you that I support building a new recreation center.
The proposal has basketball courts, more space for working out and a track, among other features. We're not going to get what K-State got because it got extremely lucky because bonds for the old recreation center, football stadium and union all retired at the same time, allowing KSU students to just transfer that money into building Peters Complex.
Sure, the Task Force's proposal is not perfect: It would not be the best thing since Allen Fieldhouse. But what are you waiting for? Construction costs go up about 15 percent annually. This means that every year we wait, fees will go up 15 percent more to finance the same facility.
Next is a fear that Robinson would close to students if a new center were built. When I asked Kevin Yoder, student body president, whether Robinson would still be open, he handed me a letter from Provost David Shulenburger, who wrote, "the answer is clearly 'yes' ... if students feel it is worthwhile to incur an additional fee to build a new recreation center, they should feel confident that the University will not reduce their access to existing facilities."
His second point is that students don't want a new center. If that's true, then why would Delta Force be proposing an addition to Robinson? The Task Force paid a firm from Iowa to do a survey, and it found that more than 90 percent of students wanted some sort of improvement and 70 percent wanted a new rec center.
Hess has four beefs. Hess' first argument is money. He said that those who could afford it and want recreation that badly "can and should pay for membership to a health club." But not all of us can afford that. The new building would cost a third of what most health clubs charge.
We can sit around and wait for a rich alumnus to die and give $30 million for a new recreation center, but until that happens, what the Task Force came up with is the best option.
With that in mind, I asked Delta Force member Erin Simpson for the reasons she and her coalition opposed the referendum. She gave me an e-mail from Chris Hess with the note that "this was posted on our listserv ... and pretty much sums up everything."
The last argument Hess brought up was that the proposal is vague. But what he apparently does not understand is that the referendum is about as specific as it can be. Scott Kaiser, student body vice president, said Chancellor Robert Hemenway had finally say in granting land for such a project but was not going to spend time on it until it was proven that students were behind it.
When I talked with Yoder last week, he had just left a meeting with Hemenway and said Hemenway indicated that, in all likelihood, if students supported it, so would he.
That's why you should vote for a new recreation center.
Mellinger is an Lawrence junior in journalism.