JAYHAWK
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Basketball
Inside Sports todav
The men's tennis team looks for its sixth straight win this weekend in the conference opener against Nebraska. SEE PAGE 3B
Yesterday's game - Kansas vs. Iowa State
KANSAS
22-9, 11-5
RANKED NO.25
IOWA STATE 79
22-6, 12-4
RANKED NO. 21
WWW.JHAWKBBALL.COM
SECTION B. PAGE
FRIDAY MARCH 5 1999
Commentary
Tournament a must see at least once
Nothing beats going to a round of the NCAA Tournament.
The Athletics Department has ticket application forms. They keep it kind of quiet because they would rather give the tickets to rich alumni rather than to students, but if you keep your eyes and ears open you can find out when the tickets are available.
If you are a Kansas basketball fan, you should make it a goal to attend at least one tournament round before leaving school. Once you get your tickets, pack your bag with nothing but KU clothing (that is all you should wear the entire trip) and get your car all decorated up with KU stuff, Jayhawk
Brandon Jones
biones @ kansan.com
door magnets, flags, Jayhawk cut-outs in the windows and dumb signs that say "Final Four or Bust." are some of the best.
Don't waste money for airline tickets, it is more fun driving across the country in your decorated car. Maybe you'll even see a car with fans of your opponents. Roll down your windows and taunt them telling them how bad the 'Hawks are going to stomp them.
When you get to the tournament site, either spring the big bucks to stay in the same hotel with the team or stay in the cheapest roach motel you can find and pack as many as you can into one room. If you opt for the cheap motel, throw your stuff down and head back over to the fancy hotel where the team, alumni, band and the cheerleaders will be staying.
There is a party atmosphere around these tournaments. The team hotel will be decked out with KU decorations from the Alumni Association. Coaches, players and KU fans will all be wandering around having a good time. Order a drink from the bar, and start to mingle. You never know who you will meet.
A few hours before the actual game, the Alumni Association will have a huge rally at the hotel or at a bar and grill close to the arena. These rallies are awesome. The band plays, the cheerleaders cheer, the Crimson Girls dance, Big Jay and Baby Jay take pictures with you, the chancellor and Athletics Director make speeches and the bar is always open. News cameras are all over and you can say hi to mom back home.
After the rally, everyone heads to the game. This is probably the least exciting part. The atmosphere is nothing like Allen Fieldhouse, but you get to see several great teams play in one day, and that is great.
After the game, everyone heads back to the bar or hotel for more drinking and celebration. If you are lucky, you might end up dancing with a Crimson Girl by the end of the evening, but even if you don't, it is a good time.
Sleep in the next day and then go visit the local attractions. If you are lucky, you will get to go to a cool city like Memphis, where you can go to Beale Street or Graceland. The team is usually out and about that day, along with Kansas' and the other teams' fans.
This another great time to talk trash to the fans of your upcoming opponents. Have a good time — enjoy not being in school.
Jones is an Lyndon second year law student.
The next day, repeat the same game day routine as the day before. Of course, for this to all work, the team has to cooperate and win which has been a problem in the last few years.
Life is short and your days in college are even shorter. Don't miss an opportunity to go to a tournament. A few missed days of class aren't that big of a deal. Go have a good time and support the team — I guarantee you won't regret it.
Iowa State forward Monica Huelman fise up Kansas center Kristin Geoffroy to prevent her from making a basket. The Cyclones' tenacious defense was too much for the Jayhawks, who were eliminated in the Big 12 tournament when they fell 79-64 last night. Photo by Matt J. Dauphrey/KANSAN
Women drop third game to Cyclones, end run in tourney
By Matt James
mjames@kansan.com
Kansas swriter
Basketball folklore says that beating a team three times is nearly impossible. Maybe it's the fact that coaches find the other team's weaknesses during the course of the season. Maybe it's that luck finally runs its course. Or maybe it's just plain superstition.
Whatever the case may be, Iowa State's three-point assault laughs in the face of those who believe in that unwritten world. The second-seeded Cyclones hit 9 of 17 from behind the three-point line and defeated the third-seeded Jayhawks 79-64 last night in the semifinals of the Women's Big 12 tournament in Kansas City, Mo.
The Jayhawks missed their chance at a repeat of last year's Big 12 final with Texas Tech. Tech defeated Nebraska 77-59 in the other semifinal game. Texas Tech will face the Cyclones in the tournament final at 7 p.m. Saturday.
At first glance, last night's Kansas-Iowa State game appeared to be a match up of shunned stars. Cyclone guard Stacy Frese and Jayhawk guard Lynn Pride, each
passed over for the Big 12 player of the year in favor of Tech standout Angie Braziel, had the opportunity to make a few voters second guess themselves. As it turned out, neither player would be the difference in the game.
The Cyclones' physical defense and constant double team held Pride to just two second-half shots and seven total points, her lowest outing of the season.
Kansas coach Marian Washington said she felt Pride would have been an excellent choice for the award, but she didn't think being overlooked had motivated Pride to try to prove anything.
try to prove anything.
"Lynn does put a lot of pressure on herself because she wants to do everything she can to help this ball club," Washington said. "She's been getting a lot of double and triple teaming and it's been very frustrating. Lynn will toughen up and she'll be fine."
During the regular season, Iowa State's offense was, for the most part, the outside shooting of Frese and Megan Taylor. Taylor scored 25 points and helped the Cyclones end the Jayhawks' 21-game home winning streak just two weeks ago.
See CYCLONE on page 7B
Jayhawks eager to avenge losses against Nebraska
By Kevin C. Wilson kwilson@kansan.com Kansan sportswriter
The Kansas men's basketball team will have a chance to push its Big 12 conference tournament record to a perfect 7-0 tonight when the Jayhawks play Nebraska at 8:20 p.m. at Kansas City's Kemp Arena. The 6th-seeded Cornshurks defeated the No. 11 seed Texas Tech 69-50 in last night's first round game.
Although the two-time defending champion Jayhawks (19-9 overall and 11-5 in the conference) have never lost in the Big 12 tournament, they have yet to defeat Nebraska this season.
season.
The Cornhuskers (19-11 overall and 10-6 in the Big 12) ended a nine-game losing steak to the Jayhawks when they won 84-69 in Lincoln on Jan. 27. Nebraska swept Kansas for the first time since the 1982-83 season when they eeked out a 64-59 win at Allen Fieldhouse on Feb. 10.
Kansas point guard left Boschee said that he was looking forward to getting another crack at the Cornhuskers.
"I'd like to play Nebraska because they've beaten us twice, and they've beaten us on our home court," said Boschee, the Big 12 Freshman of the Year. "I'd like to see them again on Friday."
If Kansas hopes to advance to the semi-finals of the conference tournament for the 10th consecutive season, the Jayhawks must take better care of the basketball against Nebraska. Kansas, which averaged 15 turnovers a game in league play, committed 17 turnovers in the first game against the Cornhuskers and 20 in the second.
"We've just got to take care of the ball." Kansas senior Ryan Robertson said. "They just feed off of turnovers and easy baskets. They do a lot of these funky defenses, and it really causes us some problems."
With seven teams entering the postseason with 18 wins or more, this year's conference tournament could be the most wide-open in Williams' 11 seasons at Kansas. Williams said he could recall only one season when the title may have been more up for grabs.
"I guess my second year, when Oklahoma, Missouri and Kansas spent the entire season trading spots at one, two and three in the country," Williams said.
Unlike the last two seasons, in which the Jayhawks have been the overwhelming favorites, Williams believes any number of teams can claim the conference championship and an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
See BIG 12 on page 4B
Kansas guard Jeff Boschee drives in the key against Nebraska. The Jayhawks will play the Com-
huskers at 8:20 p.m at Kemper Arena in the Big 12 Tournament. Photo by Dan Elavsky/KANSAN
'Hawks want to turn around losing record
By Matt Tait
mtait@kansan.com
Kansan sportswriter
The Kansas baseball team stands at 3-9, a record that senior Sparky Wilhelm said resembled exactly what he did not want to see.
"If we get things turned around now, we're set up nice as far as our conference schedule goes," Wilhelm said. "In fact, I'm glad we got Texas Tech out of the way. Now I want to go out and play well against Texas."
see.
For the first time this season, the team has pulled out all the stops to turn it around.
The 'Hawks will welcome the Longhorns this weekend to Hogland Ballpark for a three-game series starting with a 3 p.m. game today.
The conference series begins just two days after Kansas split a doubleheader with the Baker Wildcats.
"I don't like to lose ever, but if it meant bringing about a change, then that's the way it's got to be." Wilhelm said.
Although it is yet to be determined whether that change will come, yesterday's practice showed that the team is looking to change its ways.
Senior leaders, as well as other leaders on the team, were more vocal during practice, and the team held a 45-minute meeting to get things ironed out.
ing to get things done. Seniors Chad King, Colin Call and Wilhelm, along with Junior Shane Wedd addressed the team as to what it took to
snap out of a lull such as the 3-9 start.
"trose guys care a lot about what happens, and they're going to invest a lot into getting it turned around," Coach Bobby Randall said. "Some of the players care as much as the coaches, and that's what you hope for a coach. That's what it takes."
hope for a season. Despite the disappointing start, both Randall and the players, still foresee this season turning out as they hoped.
season turning out as we need, this is where I want to be." Wilhelm said. "I try to get up for every game, but being one of the top teams in the country, I will get more pumped for Texas, and there's no batter way to get pumped than a three-game series at home."
Randall said that playing Texas would be a good thing for the team right now, and that the games are even more important because they are conference games.
"I'm anxious to see how we play against Texas," Randall said. "That will be a truer test. We've got to win some conference
games so we don't get buried, and we'll fight this thing to the last pitch."
Texas comes to Lawrence with a 12-6 overall record including a perfect 3-0 in Big 12 Conference play. The Longhorns are ranked No. 10 in the nation and are led by power hitter Jeff Ontiveros and tough pitchers Scott Dunn and Phil Seibel.
Ontiveros has five home runs and 13 RBI on the year, and both Dunn and Seibel own earned run averages under 5.0.
wilhelm, who lives with Wedd and Kind, said that they talked about the season a lot, and they've concluded that if the 'Hawks can play well against Texas and win a game or two, they will be in good shape.
"We talk a lot about it at home," Wilhelm said. "It's me and Chad's last run and with Shane caring as much as he does. We can get back on track. You can't run from a situation like this, you have to turn and face it to get it turned around. I think we can do it."
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- Edited by Aerica Veazey