SPORTS
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 30. 2005
PAGE 1B
WWW.KANSAN.COM
RECREATIONAL SPORTS
Caleb Regan/KANSAN
Trot for trout in Mo.
Junior Josh Regan fishes a stone-fly on the edge of a tail-out on the Eleven Point River in Alton, Mo. He caught four fish above the 15-inch minimum and later filleted them on the shore.
BY CALEB REGAN
cregan@hans.com
KANSAN SPORTWRITER
Editor's note: This is a regular series that profiles recreational activities in which students take part. If you hunt, fish, climb rocks, go canoeing or are an expert spellunker, The University Daily Kansan would like to share your story. Please contact Caleb Regan by calling the Kansan sports desk at 864-4858 or by e-mailing him at cregan@kansan.com
ALTON, Mo. — In Kansas, fly fishermen lack the luxury of having access to rivers with native trout habitation.
Kansas rivers and streams accommodate plenty of catfish and flathead, but no trout. Rivers in Missouri are different.
In the southern part of Missouri
there is a plethora of rivers and streams that are deliberately stocked and maintained with conservation of the trout population in mind. Roaring River, near Cassville, and Northfork River are two such waterways.
But even more unique is the presence of native trout in rivers like Eleven Point River and Crane Creek. The latter of the two possesses the oldest population of wild trout in Missouri.
Brian Sloss, co-owner of Eleven Point Canoe Rental and fishing guide in Alton, Mo., has lived in Missouri and fished these rivers all of his life. He has also ventured to Wyoming, Montana and Idaho in pursuit of trout. Still, he said, Missouri trout fishing was different and incomparable with fishing in the West.
MEN'S BASKETBALL
SEE TROUT ON PAGE 6B
Self-made team to emerge
BY MIRANDA LENNING
mlenning@kansan.com
KANSAN SENIOR SPORTWRITER
If experience defined the 2004-05 Kansas men's basketball team, then inexperience would describe next year's.
Next year's Jayhawk team will have 11 players who are freshmen and sophomores.
With that amount of youth, Kansas coach Bill Self will have the opportunity to put his coaching mark on the team.
Next year's Kansas team can start fresh.
Self is clearly excited. His energy comes across in his voice whenever he talks about it.
"We will be so young and green," Self said. "We won't know what we are doing. But we will be fast and athletic and that is fun to think about."
Self has proven that he can recruit. At Illinois he brought in a trio of guards who have led Illinois to the Final Four — Dee Brown, Luther Head and Deron Williams.
This year at Kansas he signed the 10th, 12th and 14th ranked players, according to Rivals.com, in Julian Wright, Mario Chalmers and Micah Downs.
Now Self can coach his team
He has thought a great deal about next year's team. He said they would lose some games. He said there would be ups and downs. He said it would be fun.
Losing the contributions of the four seniors will leave large deficits to fill in the frontcourt and the backcourt.
"Just thinking about it is exciting," Self said. "How do you replace 20 and 11, that will certainly be difficult. But we feel like we will be good players but we will just be very young."
Wayne Simien's 20 points and 11 rebounds per game is the most gaping of those deficits. But Aaron Miles' assists and ability to take care of the ball, Keith Langford's penetration and Mike Lee's leadership are all areas in the Jayhawks' game that will have to be filled by young guys.
When he is healthy, freshman C.J. Giles has the athleticism to put up big numbers on the boards. First he has to get some repetitions and become comfortable in the system.
Freshmen Russell Robinson and Chalmers will compete at the point guard position. Robinson has proven that he can dish the ball this year, but he has been prone to turnovers.
"Julian does a lot of everything because he does a lot of everything." Self said. "Micah can really shoot. And Mario is about as athletic a young guy as you're going to get."
Self said the incoming freshmen could add new elements to the Jayhawks' game that they didn't have this year.
"All the guys will be good players, but they have a chance to be great players." Self said of the current freshmen. "We have a chance to have one or two develop into all-league type performers. The guys coming in can develop into all-league type performers, and if that happens you find yourself with a pretty good team."
Self knows there is potential for next year's team. But he knows the brand of basketball will be different and the faces will be new. He said the current freshmen must get stronger and more experienced.
- Edited by John Scheirman
Kansan file photo
C. J. Giles, freshman forward, defends Curtis Stinson, Iowa State sophomore guard, during the game on Jan. 12. Giles sat out some games during the regular season because of a bruised foot and saw limited action after recovering from the injury.
IN THE WOODS
FRANK TANKARD
ftankard@kansan.com
Arkansas hidden treasures
BY FRANK TANKKOR
fankan@hansan.com
KANSAN SPORTWRITER
My story was cut short
The creek was cold and still and a polluted green-blue. I stood on its bank and took a deep breath of the creek and my gray smoky sweatshirt. It was a cold, sunny morning, and it was spring break. It was the first full day in Arkansas.
"Why wouldn't you go to Arkansas?" I said.
"Why would you go to Arkansas?" she asked. It was Saturday and I was telling my friends about the dirty creek and Arkansas alligators.
We left in five cars from the Overland Park home of junior David Hover, the organizer of the trip, the morning after The Depressing and Horrible Loss. We had a large camping group of 17 people.
Why wouldn't you go to Arkansas? I said.
In a three-day trip, I saw the Arkansas Alligator Farm and Petting Zoo, the home of the Possum Queen contest, mounds of quartz crystals and the nicest old lady you'd ever meet.
After seven hours on the road, we passed a sign off Highway 270: "Welcome to Mount Ida, quartz crystal capital of the world." Below that it said "Home of Possums Unlimited."
We set up camp in nearby Ouachita National Forest. The next day when we stopped for milkshakes at the old-fashioned Dairyette in town, I asked the girl behind the counter, "What the heck is Possums Unlimited?"
That night, eight of the guys packed up and left for Galveston, Texas, in search of beaches and babes. I guess some people aren't cut out for life in the wilderness.
She walked to the back of the Dairyette, came back and slapped down a magnet advertising the annual Montgomery County Possum Queen contest, sponsored by a group called Possums Unlimited. She looked at me and shrugged.
On the way back to camp we passed 16 rock shops. We stopped at one called Jay's Bonanza. Rocks for $2 a pound! They also had buckets of dirt set up next to a sifter where you could pan your own gold.
On the third day of the trip, the nine of us that didn't go to Texas drove to Hot Springs. After visiting Bath House Row and eating at Granny's Kitchen, we went to the Arkansas Alligator Farm and Petting Zoo.
We ventured into the dimly lit alligator shed where there were 200 alligators crammed on top of each other in four pits that were each about 20 feet long. The sign above one of the pits said, "This size alligator best suited for the making of purses, billfolds and shoes."
The strangest part was that none of the alligators moved. I thought they were fake. Then the guy who worked there walked in and stepped right through the alligators, which hissed and crawled over each other to the other end of the pit.
"They're more scared of me than I am of them," he said.
We left a day early because of the rain. Taylor Lenon, Hiawatha junior, called his grandmother in Rogers, Ark., and asked if we could spend the night.
This was my favorite part. After driving through a storm for three hours, we arrived at her house. She was short and round with white hair and big glasses.
Last year some of us had camped in Arkansas and had stopped by her house on the way home. She had asked us to do some chores around the house and took us out for barbecue with her twin sister, who lives next door.
This time she had warm chocolate chip cookies waiting and enough beds and couches for all of us. She was wearing the same purple jump suit she had on when I saw her last year.
On the wall was a picture of her and her twin sister when they were three months old in their mother's arms in their childhood home, a hillbilly Arkansas shack. As we walked through the door she shook all our hands, "Hi, I'm Lydia Collins," she said.
When I woke up at 8:30 the next day she was cooking pancakes, sausage and biscuits for us. Nicest old lady you'd ever meet.
She waved goodbye as we walked out the door, and we drove off and said goodbye to her and to Arkansas. Until next year.
♦ Tankard is an Overland Park sophomore in journalism.
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