Inside Sports
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Sports
With Zac Wegner questionable for next year, junior college transfer Dylan Smith may be the next Kansas quarterback.
Tuesday
March 2,1999
Section:
B
Page 1
Golf
SEE PAGE 3B
The Kansas Women's Golf team finished 18th last weekend in a Florida tournament.
College Basketball
SEE PAGE 4B
The Big East Conference announced the all-conference teams yesterday.
SEE PAGE 2B
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Kansas can't linger on defeats
By Kevin C. Wilson Kansan sportswriter
When Kansas men's basketball coach Roy Williams was asked to explain his team's roller-coaster ride of a season, he blamed only one person — himself.
Junior forward Nick Bradford dives for a loose ball during Kansas' loss to Iowa State Sunday in Ames, Iowa. Kansas is the No. 3 seed in this week's Big 12 Conference tournament and will play its first game on Friday night. Photo by Graham K. Johnson/KANSAN
"I've done the worst job with this basketball team than any coach has ever done in his life." Williams said. "It's a fact of life that I've had a difficult time finding the right buttons to push to get them mentally into the game."
After starting the season 12-3, the Jayhawks have dropped six of their last 13 games and finished the regular season with an un-Kansas like 19-9 record and a disappointing 11-5 mark in the Big 12 Conference.
We've used nine games to verify that."
After amassing a 98-11 record in the last three seasons, 19-9 looks like a misprint. This year's nine losses are the most for the Jayhawks since they went 19-12 in 1988-89 in Williams' first season as coach.
"At times this year we've been a very good basketball team," Williams said. "But there's other times when we haven't been very good, and anybody can beat us."
"Compared to the past couple of years, this isn't the greatest year we've had," Kansas junior Nick Bradford said. "But we've still got a lot of things to do. This season is not over."
But the regular season is, and after Sunday's heart-breaking 52-50 loss to Iowa State, so is the Jayhawks' three-game winning streak.
"Personally, I wanted to go into the tournament on a roll," Bradford said. "But we didn't. We lost. We can't dwell on this though
because it's tournament time and we've got to be able to pick up our play from here on out."
The loss dropped the Jayhawks to the No. 3 seed in this weekend's Big 12 conference tournament where they will play either Nebraska or Texas Tech in the second round on Friday night. Kansas is a combined 0-3 against its possible opponents, but Williams said it won't matter which team the Jayhawks play if they aren't mentally prepared.
Freshman guard Jeff Boschie said although the Jayhawks were frustrated right now, that he believed they can turn it around before the conference tournament.
"This team is going to fight back, and we're not going to quit." Boschee said.
Ryan Robertson and T.J. Pugh were named to the Academic All-District Seven team. This makes the players eligible to be
selected Academic All-Americans later this month.
Robertson was named the
1999 Paine Webber Scholar Athlete of the Year.
Edited by Chris Fickett
AP ALL-BIG 12 MEN'S TEAM
1st Team
*vinson Hamilton, Nebraska; Chris Milhm, Texas; Gabe Muoneke, Texas; Marcus Fizer, Iowa State; Adrian Peterson, Oklahoma State*
2nd Team
Kris Clack, Texas; Eduardo Najera, Oklahoma; Eric Chenowith, Kansas; Albert White, Missouri; Desmond Mason, Oklahoma State
Rayford Young, Texas Tech; Cookie Belcher, Nebraska; Kenny Price, Colorado; Clifton Cook, Texas A&M; Ryan Robertson, Kansas Bin 12; All-Newforce
Clifton Cook, Texas A&M; Cortez Groves, Kansas State; Tony Kitt, Kansas State; Michael Nurse, Iowa State; Jaquay Walls, Colorado All-Freshman (in the tie) at the
All-Improved
Jeff Boscheo, Kansas; Carlton Carter, Colorado; Keyon Dooling, Missouri; Andy Ellis, Texas Tech; Clarence Gilbert, Missouri; Joe White, Texas A&M.
Eric Chenowith, Kansas; Venson Hamilton, Nebraska; Kish Lewis, Baylor; Eric Martin, Oklahoma; Chris Mihm, Texas.
All-Bench (tie) in the votina
Glendon Alexander, Oklahoma State; William Clay, Texas; Kenny Gregory, Kansas; Tim Heskett, Oklahoma; Chad Johnson, Nebraska; John Woods, Missouri
Cookie Bellier, Nebraska; Eric Chenovitch, Kansas; Venson Hamilton, Nebraska; Chris Mihm, Texas; Ivan Wagner, Texas.
Women'Hawks set for new start, Big 12 tournament
By Sam Mellinger
Kansan sportswriter
It's been a hectic last two weeks for the Kansas women's basketball team.
The women lost their first much-anticipated chance to give coach Marian Washington her 500th career win. Four days later, they delivered the milestone victory. After that came an overtime win at Oklahoma State and a disappointing loss at Kansas State to finish the regular season.
The Jayhawks finished 11-5 in the conference and head into the league tournament as the third seed. After a first-round bye, tomorrow at 8:30 Kansas will face the winner of today's Oklahoma. Oklahoma State game.
So there is meaning behind the cliché Washington spouted as her team prepared for the Big 12 tournament, which begins today at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Mo.
The Jayhawks beat Oklahoma, 58-54. F2. 20 at Allen Fieldhouse and took care of Oklahoma State, 79-72 in overtime.
"It's a new start, a new season," she said. "We had to get the players back to a new commitment, and I think we've done that."
"Both of those teams played us very well," Washington said. "I'm confident we can beat either team."
No. 22 Kansas finished the regular season at 21-8 and is a virtual lock to make the NCAA Tournament. But motivation lies in the fact that a strong showing this week could be enough for the J Hawkys to host an NCAA Tournament game.
It should come as no surprise that Washington pointed to junior Lynn Pride as the key to her team's success. A first team, All-Big 12 selection, Pride leads with 16 points and 74 rebounds per game. Likewise, 34 players on Lynn Pride's 30 or more.
Washington said the Jayhawks had a 50-50 chance of hosting an NCAA Tournament game.
Nick Collison recently signed with the Jayhawks to play basketball next season.
Photo by Augustus Anthony Piazza/KANSAN
"It all starts with Lynn," Washington said. "She's a player who does everything for us, offensively and defensively. We utilize her in so many ways. We've used her all season to stop some outstanding shooters."
Kansas is 8-1 this season when Pride scores 20 or more.
Jayhawks remain No.1 in small-town star's eyes
— Edited by Tara Hinkhouse
Nick Collison is another 18-year-old enjoying the remaining days of his senior year at a small high school in Iowa. He enjoys getting together with his friends and watching NWO wrestling on television and listening to rappers Tupac Shakur and DMX. He's also one of the top high school basketball players in the country. And next season, the McDonald's All-American will join coach Roy Williams' team.
See MERIT on page 6B
Commentary
Court debate exposes flaws in NCAA's logo and advertising
An interesting debate just concluded in a Kansas City courtroom.
Here's the deal:
NCAA rule 12.5.5, called the "Use of Logo on Equipment, Uniforms and Apparel", mandates that uniform logos such as a Puma lion, can take up no more than 2/14 square inches
The NCAA is waiting to see if a Kansas City, Kan., judge will grant a temporary injunction to Addidas American, Inc. that would halt an NCAA rule restricting the use of logos on player's uniforms.
more than 2 1/4 square inches on a uniform.
So Adidas asked U.S. District Judge Thomas Van Bebber to issue an injunction that would temporarily make the rule moot. That would mean that as early as fall 1999 teams could be wearing uniforms
Adidas is fighting the rule, claiming the company's three stripes need more space. Company's officials also contend that individual NCAA institutions, not the NCAA, should decide how much is too much when it comes to logos.
Spencer Duncan
sports@kansan.com
It is an interesting debate and the outcome could change how uniforms look.
Adidas, obviously driven by a desire to advertise more, argued in a preliminary hearing last month that it has lost contracts and been unable to use certain uniforms because its uniforms have been shot down by the NCAA because the three strip logo was too large.
Adidas also argues that each institution should have the right to say how big a logo can be. The argument is that if a school such as the University of Kansas wants a Nike swoosh to boldly run across football players' chests, then Kansas should be allowed to let it happen.
Adidas also pointed out that the official NCAA logo is often larger than the 2 1/4 inch corporate logo, violating the NCAA's own rule.
In many ways, the fight comes down to control and who should have it: the NCAA, athletic apparel companies or the member institutions.
Adidas attorney David Alexander argued that this is a gross violation because the NCAA is not just an organization that watches over college sports. The NCAA, which makes millions in licensing and product sales, is a competitor of athletic companies.
"The NCAA is actively merchandising the NCAA." Alexander said.
While Adidas' list of complaints is extensive, NCAA attorney Dave Everson counters with a simple response as to why the NCAA opposes lifting the rule: Players could become commercial billboards.
The NCAA fears that if restrictions are lifted, players like Ryan Robertson could become walking advertisements for Burger King.
Coming from anyone else this reason for opposing the injunction would sound noble. But coming from the NCAA it is simply hypocritical.
In the 1990s, the NCAA and its member institutions have embraced advertising and corporate money as if they were life rafts.
The University of Kansas is a perfect example. It has exclusive deals with Coca-Cola and Nike, Allen Fieldhouse and Memorial Stadium are littered with advertising and even the soccer field bears the name of a corporation: SuperTarget Field.
The NCAA itself has signed deals worth billions with television networks to carry events and in return those networks have been granted television and media timeouts during basketball and football games so they can air commercials.
Every football bowl game has a corporate sponsor and when I attended the Final Four in San Antonio last year, I was appalled at the amount of advertising plastered around the arena. The advertisements far outweighed the number of signs and billboards with teams and individual participants names on them. Even the program had a sponsor.
For the NCAA to now stand up and show concern that the players could be walking billboards contradicts everything the NCAA has practiced the past 10 years.
And after all, players are the only thing not covered in advertising. Perhaps human billboards are just a natural progression.
Duncan is a Topeka senior in journalism and English.
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