Inside Sports
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Sports
The NCAA tournament championship between Duke and Connecticut is tonight.
Monday
March 29,1999
Section:
B
Page 1
SEE PAGE 8B
Basketball
It's been 20 years since Magic Johnson and Larry Bird faced off in the legendary 1979 NCAA national championship game.
KANSAS
TENNIS
Kansas Tennis
SEE PAGE 4B
The men's tennis team finished 3-1 on its spring break trip to California.
SEE PAGE 3B
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'Hawks, Irish to duel on gridiron
Game guarantees money attention for Jayhawks
By Michael T. Rigg sports@kansan.com Kansan sportswriter
After weeks of rumors, Kansas and Notre Dame officially announced last Thursday that the two teams will face each other Aug. 28 in the Eddie Robinson Classic in South Bend, Ind.
The game will be broadcast live on NBC and guarantees Kansas at least $600,000 for participating in the matchup.
"Playing Notre Dame in the Eddie Robinson Football Classic will allow us an opportunity to showcase our football team early in the season on national television," head coach Terry Allen said.
While the money for the game comes easily, victory may not. The Fighting Irish return 11 starters from a team that finished
the jayhawks. Kansas' lone win came in the first meeting between the schools in 1904, which predates Memorial Stadium, the Campanile, and Kansas' fight song.
Even though his Jay-hawks will be in the underdogs in the matchup, Allen is looking forward to the challenge of playing a team that many experts have penciled in as a preseason top 25 team.
"We feel it will provide an exciting challenge for our players and give us extra motivation for the 1999 season," Allen said. "In addition, it will provide us with an extra
Allen: Team will play first preseason game since 1993.
week of practice time during the preseason."
The Aug. 28 game day means Kansas can begin practice on Aug. 6 instead of the previously scheduled Aug. 13.
Adding the game against Notre Dame gives the Jayhawks 12 games for the just the third time in school history. The NCAA limits football teams to 11 regular season games, but the Eddie Robinson Classic has been designated as an exempt game, opening the door for the appearance.
the Classic was founded before last season to benefit the Eddie Robinson Foundation, which gives out college scholarships. It is named after the former Grambling coach who won more games than any other coach in college football history.
Irish coach Bob Davie said he was excited about the excitement the preseason matchup generates.
"There is a tremendous amount of interest generated by the preseason games, so our team, our program, and our fans, not to
mention the scholarship recipients, all will benefit from our participation in the Eddie Robinson Football Classic." Davie said.
The appearance will be the first by the Jayhawks in a preseason event since 1993, when Kansas was beaten by Florida State 42-0.
Jayhawk fans are looking forward to the matchup as well.
"I think that playing Notre Dame says a lot about the quality of our program," said Darin Brubaker, Topeka freshman."Even if we lose, it's a lot better losing to Notre Dame than anyone else."
Brubaker, however, does not hold out a lot of optimism for a Jayhawk victory. "At least we can say, 'We got killed by Notre Dame.' Brubaker said.
After the trip to South Bend, the Jayhawks return to Lawrence to open up their home schedule against Cal State Northridge Sept. 11. After playing the Jayhawks, the Irish play the following week at Michigan.
Edited by Julie Sachs
Kansas baseball defeats Sooners, Razorbacks
Bv Matt Tait
by Mark Tait
mtait@kansan.com
Kansan sportswriter
The Kansas baseball team continued to ride its season-long roller coaster during the break.
in a season that has been marked by periods of disaster and brilliance, the Jayhawks led off spring break with a rough weekend at home against Nebraska.
The 'Hawks built a four-game winning streak that pulled them to within two games of .500 but then hit another drop in the roller coaster as they surrendered 44 runs in three games to the Cornhuskers.
The Jayhawks were swept in three games, losing 13-4, 18-6, and 13-8.
"We just couldn't keep them under double digits all weekend long," coach Bobby Randall said.
The losses dropped the Jayhawks' overall record to 7-15 and 3-9 in Big 12 play.
Despite the disappointment of the sweep, shortstop John Nelson extended his hitting streak to 13 games during the series.
The streak, which culminated at 15 games and was a career high for Nelson, helped him earn Big 12 player of the week honors. Nelson became the third Jayhawk to receive that honor.
"I'm honored to receive this award," Nelson said.
"I've been working hard at practice and trying to
take that to the games. Although I'm honored to receive the recognition, I would trade it for wins for our team anytime."
Soon after, the team got a win when it traveled to
Arkansas to face the Razorbacks, who were ranked No.35 in the nation.
in the first game Kansas played solid defense and delivered hit when it hit to, winning 9-6.
rine Sooners early struggles in Big 12 play did not show up in game one as they pounded out hit after hit and defeated the Javahwks 9-3.
After dipping out of the Big 12 and enjoying a peak of the roller coaster, the Jayhawks traveled to Oklahoma to again engage in conference play.
The second game ended badly for Kansas as the 'Hawks gave up a late home run and lost 7-6.
Nelson finished the game hitless and his streak ended at 15 games. That total tied Nelson for ninth on the all-time Kansas hitting streak list.
Game two was a different story as the Jayhawks countered every Sooner blow with one of their own. After nine innings the game was tied 6-6, but in the bottom of the 10th, with two outs, Oklahoma pitcher Jeff Bajenaru hit a grand slam. Bajenaru entered the game in the eighth inning and got the win.
The final game of the series again went extra innings, but this time the ride peaked again, as the Javahaws won 10-5 in 11 innings.
For the second time in one day, the winning pitcher
homed in extra innings, giving his team the win.
Brandon O'Neal, who had entered the game in the ninth to pitch, hit a solo home run and broke the tie. The team then tacked on four more runs behind Nelson's three-run homer, ensuring the win, and O'Neal became the winning pitcher.
The Jayhawks, 9-18 overall and 4-11 in Big 12 play,
return home this week for five games. The team will
play host to Missouri Tuesday and Wednesday and
will entertain Baylor in a three game weekend series.
Edited by Jon Campbell
Members of the Purdue women's basketball team celebrate after defeating the Kansas Jayhawks in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. The Boilermakers won the national championship last night when they beat the Duke Blue Devils 62-45. Photo by Augustus Anthony Piazza/KANSAN
Loyal duo scores Purdue women's NCAA title
The Associated Press
SAN JOSE, Calif. — Purdue's Ukari Figgs wasn't about to let it end this way. After failing to score a point in the first half, she came out in the second to make sure the Boilermakers got their national championship.
"I knew I had 20 minutes to be a winner or a loser." Figs said an 18-point second-half performance.
Figgs has played most of her collegi career in the shadow of fellow
guard and Indiana star Stephanie White-McCarty. She continued that trend in the first half against Duke on Sunday night.
She scored her first basket 17 seconds into the second half. Less than a minute later, she scored again, bringing Purdue within 22-21. The Boilermakers wrestled for the lead, but didn't take it until Figgs' driving layup at 12:57 made it 32-30.
The guard went 0-for-7 from the floor and the shortcoming reflected on her entire team. The Boilermakers trailed 21-17 at the half.
Along with that go-ahead basket, Figgus had eight points as Purdue went on a 12-4 run to extend the lead to 42-34.
When Figgs finally caught fire, White-McCarty casually held out her hand as she passed by her best friend during a lull in play. Figgs hit it, and each smiled. The Boilermakers were making their big move.
Figgs and White-McCarty capped their college careers with a 62-45 victory over Duke for the national
Jon Lindsey, Kansas City, Kan., graduate student, throws Baldwin graduate student Graham Pendreigh over his shoulder. The two practiced the Korean martial art of Kuk-sool on the soccer fields by the Computer Center yesterday. Photo by Graham K. Johnson/KANSAN
See PURDUE on page 8B
A hard practice
Commentary Duke needs worthy win to maintain reputation
When Duke takes the floor tonight in the NCAA championship game, its opponent will be history as much as it will be Connecticut.
The Blue Devils have enjoyed a season of dominance not seen on the college men's basketball circuit since UNLV of the early '90s.
Seven of Duke's nine scholarship players are former McDonald's All-Americans, a title held by the best 20 or so high school players in the country each year. A last-sec
ond play by Cincinnati is all that separates Duke from a perfect record. Elton Brand is the most unstoppable player in the country, Trajan Langdon is perhaps the best shooter, nobody defends like Shane Battier, and you'd have a hard time finding many point guards better than William Avery.
But unless Duke
Sam Mellinger sports@kansan.com
beats UConn tonight, and beats them like it's its job, any claims of Duke among the best teams ever should be followed by a "veeh, but..."
Yeah, but college basketball is watered down. Dick Vitale may scream otherwise, but think about it.
Duke is definitely one of the most dominant teams college basketball has ever seen. Despite playing a brutal non-conference schedule, plus 19 ACC games, Duke has just three times won a game by less than 10 points. The Devils won their first four postseason games by 41, 41, 17 and 21 points.
Think about the games Kansas would have won with Paul Pierce. Hypothetical situations are always sketchy, but it's a sturdy limb I'm going out on saying the Jayhawks wouldn't have blown all those late leads.
Or look at DePaul, where Kobe Bryant was headed if there were no NBA millions. He, Quinton Richardson and Lance Simmons would be scary. Or what about Arizona with Mike Bibby? Kentucky with Ron Mercer?
But the biggest "yeah, but," argument against Duke comes about 20 miles down the road from Durham. If Vince Carter—NBA Rookie of the Year? — and Antawan Jamison — 1998's NCAA Player of the Year
— were still around, Duke may not be the best team in its own conference. And don't forget, Kevin Garnett was seriously considering the Tar Heels.
So what you have is an obviously inferior group of teams this year if you compare them to the days when leaving college early was rare exception rather than common action.
And that's exactly why Duke needs to send the Huskies home with visions of Elton Brand dunks, Shane Battier blocks and Trajan Langdon threes running through their heads like a bad nightmare.
You see, UConn is the exception to college basketball's junior varsity state. Richard Hamilton, who shunned a spot in last year's NBA draft, was the leading candidate for Player of the Year before a midseason foot injury. The Huskies have lost just two games — one without Hamilton and center Jake Voskuhl — and are the only team to be ranked No. 1 this season besides Duke.
Doughboy point guard Khalid El-Amin is Avery's equal, Ricky Moore plays the kind of defense that could keep Langdon from a big game, and if Voskuhl can at least slow brand down, UConn could pull it.
The Huskies are for real, and with a good game and a little luck they can beat Duke.
Duke faces its biggest test of the season tonight, and needs more than just a passing grade to be considered among the best teams ever.
With a convincing win, there would be no buts.
Mellinger is a Lawrence senior in journalism.
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