Wednesday. February 3, 1999
The University Daily Kansan
Section B·Page 5
Missouri freshman living up to hype
The Associated Press
COLUMBIA, Mo. — In two short weeks, Keyon Dooling has gone from a confused, frustrated freshman to one of the best players in the Big 12 and certainly the most crowd-pleasing.
On Jan. 16, Dooling spent most of the second half of a game at Colorado on the bench with his head buried in his hands after an on-court tantrum. There were rumblings that the heralded recruit, the conference's preseason freshman of the year, wanted to transfer from Missouri.
Coach Norm Stewart refuted that talk and handed the reins to Dooling. The last three games he's been playing a game of can-you-top-this, scoring 15 points against Kansas, leading the team with 19 points against Kansas State and outscoring Baylor for almost all of the first half before beating his 3-day-old career high with 22 points, four assists and four steals on Saturday.
The 6-3 Dooling has six dunks in the last two games. His array of one-on-one moves and dazzling dribbling skills often leave defenders turned around, like the time he used a double crossover learned from studying Philadelphia 76ers star Allen Iverson on TV to whip the Baylor defense for a lavup.
"Quick as a cat, can shoot the ball, great passer, guy who can really turn a crowd on," Baylor coach Harry Miller said.
"He's everything he was advertised to be."
Miller wasn't done with the praise, not by a long shot.
"What you've got to do is work through all the gyrations." Miller
said. "Ignore the gyrations because he hypnotizes you like a cat going after a canary. That's what we did several times. We watched the gyrations, and next thing you know, poof, he's gone."
Not bad for a player with only three college starts.
"It seems like every time I get the ball I'm feeling more comfortable," Dooling said. "I hope that continues."
He said the problems were finished in his relationship with Stewart, coaching his 32nd year at Missouri. In the early season, Stewart pointed out Dooling's turnovers as much as his breathtaking moves, worked him into the rotation at his own pace and didn't allow Dooling to talk to the media until last week.
"We've had our ups and downs, but everything is mellowed out," Dooling said. "We're just going to continue to take everything in stride, and we'll be fine.
"The college game, nothing is given to you easy. You have to go out and earn everything you get," he said.
Dooling's frustrations at Colorado seem long forgotten to Stewart, who gave him one early start against Nicholls State, then put him in a reserve role until after the rematch at Kansas.
"He's been really exemplary in the way
he's handled everything, the way he's handled not starting but playing a lot of minutes," Stewart said. "Now you're home and you're comfortable, so you let him go."
Prior to Dooling's three-game coming out party, he was averaging a quiet six points and three assists. If Stewart had started Dooling from the
Doing: Scored 15 points against the Jayhawks.
beginning, there's no telling what he might have done by now. Or how long he'd be around for a different reason.
Dooling has skills comparable to former Saint Louis star Larry Hughes, the eighth pick of the NBA draft this year after only one season in college. The difference is that Coach Charlie Spoonhour gave him the ball from the get-go and then got out of the way.
Hughes, who averaged 20 points and led Saint Louis to the NCAA tournament, has better shooting range and is two inches taller, but Dooling is quicker and every bit Hughes' equal when it comes to leaving the crowd in awe. And although Dooling's outside shot needs work, it can be a clutch weapon as shown by his late 3-pointer that helped to seal a victory against Kansas State last week.
He vowed to work after practice for as long as it took to perfect that aspect of his game. Just as he spent "hundreds and millions" of hours honing his double-crossover dribble move.
"I really need to get that jump shot down, so I can be more of a double threat and people stop sagging off me, trying to take away my drive," he said.
Dooling has progressed so far and so fast that Albert White, previously Missouri's go-to guy, at times found himself with a front-row seat during Saturday's 18-point victory against Baylor.
Walter Payton diagnosed with rare liver disease
ROSEMONT, III. — NFL great Walter Payton has a rare liver disease and needs a transplant, his doctor said yesterday.
The Associated Press
The 44-year-old former Chicago Bears star is being placed on a list to receive a new liver, said physician Joseph Lagattuta.
The cause of the disease, primary sclerosing cholangitis, is not known. However, it is not related to alcohol, steroids, hepatitis or any kind of immunodeficiency disease. Lagattua said.
Symptoms of the disease, which blocks the bile ducts and leads to cirrhosis, are fatigue, followed by yellow in the pigment of the eyes and skin, he said.
The one-year survival rate is 88 percent for those who receive a liver transplant, and the long-term survival rate is very promising, Lagattuta said. Most people can return to a normal, active life, he said.
Patients in Payton's condition
survive an average of two years without a transplant, the doctor said.
Only three in 100,000 people develop the disease known as PSC, he said.
Payton said he called the news conference yesterday because of the speculation about his obvious weight loss. The Hall of Famer appeared gaud at his son Jarrett's news conference last week to announce he would play football for the University of Miami.
"Right now, I'm still healthy, even though I look like I've lost weight," Payton said.
Nicknamed "Sweetness" during his playing days, Payton is the NFL's all-time leading rusher with 16,726 yards. He was named to the Pro Bowl nine times in his 13-year career and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1993. Payton was named to the NFL's 75th Anniversary All-Time team in 1994.
He set numerous school and NCAA records at Jackson State and was the Bears' first-round draft pick in 1975. He led the Bears to their only Super Bowl appearance and victory following the 1985 season and retired two years later.
Payton was named to the Bears' board of directors in 1997.
After football, Payton has dabbed in numerous business ventures and auto racing. He is owner of Walter Payton Roundhouse Complex in Aurora, west of Chicago, which includes a pub and his own Hall of Fame museum. He's a minority owner of a power equipment firm and an Indy Car-t team — Payton-Coyne Racing. He is also a founding director of First Northwestern Bank in Arlington Heights.
The father of a teen-age son and daughter, Payton is a cooking and movie buff and owns an extensive film library. He lives in South Barrington, a suburb northwest of Chicago.
Coach resigns as Pitt's troubles mount
The Associated Press
PITTSBURGH — The surprise isn't that the University of Pittsburgh is searching for a new basketball coach but that the Panthers are doing it now, instead of March.
Coach Ralph Willard, who has spent much of the season defending his team's uneven play on the court and his players' assorted problems off it, resigned Monday with three years left on his contract.
Willard's resignation came two weeks after the Panthers' struggling program was blemished by freshman guard Fred Primus' arrest for stealing $2,200 worth of jewelry during a trip to Villanova.
Willard also allowed guard Kellii Taylor to
rejoin the team after missing six games for alcohol rehabilitation.
Athletics director Steve Pederson, who confirmed last week that Willard's job performance would be evaluated, already is searching for a replacement. Pederson wouldn't speculate about a possible successor, but already being mentioned is former St. John's coach Fran Fraschilla, who once worked with Pederson.
Willard, who turned down an offer in May 1997 to become the Boston Celtics' general manager, also will start looking for another job. Celtics coach Rick Pitino has long hinted he would like to rehire Willard, his assistant at Kentucky and with the New York Knicks.
Pitt (11-9) began the season 6-0, including an upset victory over defending national champion Kentucky. That moved the Panthers into the Top 25, but they then lost 9 of 13 before defeating No. 23 Miami 60-54 on Saturday.
Neither Willard nor Pederson would admit to a strained relationship, but athletics department sources told The Associated Press last week that problems between the two worsened with the Primus arrest. According to the sources, Pederson was adamant that Primus be thrown off the basketball team immediately, but Willard apparently wanted the situation to be reevaluated at a later date.
Willard, 52, was 60-75 with no NCAA tournament appearances in five seasons at Pitt. The Panthers (11-9) play tonight at Georgetown.
Monmouth ends NCAA's longest Division I losing skid
The Associated Press
WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J. — When he arrived home an hour after Monmouth University ended the nation's longest Division I losing streak, Coach Dace Calloway's telephone answering machine was blinking with 16 messages.
Most of the calls were from friends, fellow coaches, alumni and family — the same people who had called before to tell Calloway to hang in there as the losses piled up through this season's first 19 games.
"I have call waiting on the answering machine, and as one person was leaving a message, you could hear it beep in," Calloway said yesterday, a little more than 12 hours after his
"What I'm feeling is relief — it just hits you," Calloway said. "After that, you're just happy for the kids because it could have been very easy to pack it in, especially the young guys. They could have said we'll do
Hawks defeated Wagner 66-61 to end a 22-game skid.
As the final seconds ticked off Monday night, many in the crowd of 1,117 inched closer to the floor. At the final buzzer, they celebrated wildly, reminiscent of three years ago when the Hawks beat Rider to win the Northeast Conference tournament and their first NCAA Tournament berth.
it next year. This has been a tough time, but we have continued to work, and we've been right there the last couple of games."
"The thing that clicked in me after
the win is that it took me 20
games to get that feeling," said freshman Alpha Bangura, whose four free throws led the victory, the Hawks' first since Feb. 16, 1980.
Calloway said he wasn't as worried about the losing trend as much as he was about his players.
"I've been more concerned with our guys," he said. "I knew we had some talent, but we hadn't been able to get the win. We just needed something to get us over. When the adversity hit, we stepped up and made the plays."
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