THURSDAY, MARCH 17.2005
SPORTS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
5B
Theta completes playoff dominance
BY MICHAEL PHILIPPS
mphillips@hansan.com
KANSAN SPORTWRIVER
WOMEN'S GREEK ROSTER
After leading her co-rec team to a victory Tuesday night, Ellie Larson scored nine points in a two-minute stretch, and 15 overall, to lead Fresh Theta to a 34-25 victory against Kappa Delta 1.
The victory gave Fresh Theta the women's greek intrumural title and capped off a dominating tournament run. To get to the finals, Theta defeated Delta Gamma, 57-21, and Tri Delta, 64-11.
At the start of the game, it appeared that it was going to be a high-scoring match, but both teams tightened down their defenses, and the officials started calling more fouls, slowing the pace.
Neither team got into foul trouble, but there were still plenty of free throw opportunities. Theta capitalized, going 77 percent from the free throw line as opposed to
+ Courtney Johnston, Scottsdale, Ariz. freshman
+ Batsy Winetroub, Leavenworth senior
+ Chelsea Hudson, Emporia freshman
+ Ellie Larson, Westwood junior
+ Adrienne Allegre, Ottawa junior
+ Kerry Hermes, White Bear Lake, Minn. senior
+ Jenny Wiens, Newton sophomore
+ Courtney Grimwood, Emporia senior
+ Kristi Charlson, Lincoln, Neb. senior
Kappa Deltar:
+ Ayse Manguoglu, Salina sophomore
+ Allisha Brand, Stanford, III. sophomore
+ Monica Leakr, Hutchinson sophomore
+ T'Lane Briggeman, Pratt freshman
+ F Angie "downtown" Brown, Lakeville, Minn., junior
+ Kyle Sito, Omaha, Neb. senior
+ Carson Ballard, Haviland senior
+ Heidi Huston, Olathe junior
+ Calley Crisman, Manhattan freshman
Kenpa Delta 1:
Kristi Charlson, Lincoln, Neb. senior
Kappa Delta's 50 percent.
Towards the end of the first half, the score stagnated at 11-8, but Theta kept getting the ball to its shooters.
"Even though the shots weren't falling, I thought that we were still pressing them well," Kristi Charlson, Lincoln, Neb., senior, said. "We were still taking the shots we wanted."
The strategy paid off, and
Source: Team sign-in
Larson started a Theta run before halftime. She made one threepoint shot and then made another on her team's next possession.
Theta came out of haltime with a 14-11 lead, and Larson took the opportunity to deliver a knockout blow to Kappa Delta. She scored three three-point shots in a two-minute stretch, sparking a 21-3 Theta run.
seven with a series of second- chance baskets and free throws.
Kappa Delta cut the lead to
"They had us running for a little while," Larson said.
Following a time-out at the four-minute mark, the Thetas returned to the airtight defense that earned the lead in the first place. They forced jump balls on two consecutive Kappa Delta possessions and kept scoring down until the final whistle blew.
The victory gives Fresh Theta the championship that it came one game short of winning last year.
It was the most attended of all six intramural finals, with both sororites bringing a bleacherfull of fans and supporters.
The game had a true Allen Fieldhouse feel, with the cheering sections displaying signs, chanting for their teams and getting behind the basket to distract free throw shooters.
"It seemed easier to play in the Fieldhouse," Charlson said. "We were able to spread the ball out, and it was more wide open."
The team took home the championship in a convincing fashion, winning with sharp passing and making enough shots to never fall behind.
Theta's average margin of victory in the playoffs was 33 points.
— Edited by Kendall Dix
Boschee
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 18
don't want to do this anymore," he said.
He told Williams to decline the offer for him. After returning to Lawrence in April 2002 from the senior barnstorming tour, for the first time in a very long time, he didn't play any basketball for months. He said he was burnt out.
The first time he picked up a ball again, in an alumni pick-up game at the end of the summer, his first shot was a 10-foot jumper.
Airball.
After the game, Williams told him the Toronto Raptors wanted him to try out at their free agent camp.
"We both kind of looked at each other and started laughing," he said. "We both knew that I was in no shape to compete at that level at that point."
That fall he started practicing with the Jayhawks, running the point for the practice squad. He enrolled in some classes to finish his degree in sports management and had one of the best years of his life, living the careless college life he'd missed out on.
"There was really no stress for me," he said. "If I wanted to go get a beer with some friends or stay
out late, I didn't have to worry about practice the next day."
But when he graduated in Spring 2003, he was done living the life of the average Joe. It was time to get back to basketball.
He caught on with the Kansas Cagerz of the United States Basketball League, which had drafted him the previous year. He played the 10 games remaining on the team's schedule.
The Cagerz put him up in a hotel in Salina and paid him $400 a week. He played OK, considering he hadn't been on a team for a year, and averaged 9.2 points a game.
The next year, he played the full spring season with the Cagerz and did better, averaging 13.2 points a game. One game, he scored 38.
He drew the attention of Panellinios, a team from Athens, Greece. The team offered him a one-year deal reportedly worth $80,000. Boschee eagerly signed, and in August he landed in Europe full of hope.
Culture shock
Having never been outside of North America before, the small-town boy from Valley City, N.D., was excited to go to what some call one of the most beautiful cities in the world to play basketball.
But he was in for a culture shock. When he got to his apartment there was no TV, no phone and none of his appliances plugged into European outlets. He didn't know anybody. Hardly anyone spoke English.
Homesick, he called his parents every day, racking up $5,000 in phone bills from T-Mobile.
The team left for a ski resort to train before the season started, and on the third day Boschee sprained his ankle. He couldn't play the remaining three weeks the team spent there. Instead, they put him through a grueling workout regimen that included hours on the stationary bike and in the swimming pool with a heart monitor strapped on, beeping at him if his heart rate fell below 140 beats per minute.
"It was hell," he said.
He went to the doctor, who discovered cysts growing on both his hip sockets, with the left one leaking fluid into his hip. When the coach and general manager found out, they scheduled a meeting with Boschee and told him he was off the team.
When the team returned to Athens, an old hip injury that had bothered him for years flared up. He thinks the team's two-hour practices twice a day had something to do with it.
recommendation. He circled former Kansas guard Ryan Robertson and gladly flew back to America in October 2004.
Before he left, they showed him a list of possible replacements and asked him to make a
Bad return
He was soon playing in Kansas City with the Knights of the American Basketball Association.
Bosche quickly grew tired of the team's antics, which ranged from not paying him on time to having women pole dance behind each basket.
When the Icelandic team Grindavik asked him to play the remainder of the season with them, he decided he'd rather take another chance overseas than finish the year with the Knights.
He's still mad about what happened next. He told the Knights he wouldn't be playing in the Feb. 5 game, which was two days before he was leaving town. But they told him that if he didn't play, they wouldn't grant him his release. So he played.
Turned out he didn't need a release from the Knights.
He's having a much easier time than he had in Greece. Most people speak English, and his former Kansas teammate Nick Bradford is playing in the nearby town of Keflavik.
Traveling man
"That whole situation just really set me off," he said.
"It is very Americanized here." he said.
So now he's back overseas finishing the season with Grindavik as a hired hand. The team is in the middle of the Icelandic league playoffs now.
He doesn't have to worry about another outrageous phone bill. His girlfriend found a phone plan with AT&T that only costs nine cents a minute. Out of curiosity, he looked up how much the plan costs in Greece, and it was seven cents a minute.
"You can only imagine how I felt after seeing how much money I could have saved," he said.
When he comes back home, he plans to start a basketball academy for kids. He says he got the idea from former Kansas guard Rex Walters, who used to have one in Overland Park.
Beyond that, he's just going to keep playing wherever he can.
"My long-term goals are to play as long as either my body can take it or as long as I don't get sick of all the traveling," he said.
Anyone who knows kids who might be interested in Boschee's basketball academy can send him an e-mail at jboschee_13@yahoo.com.
Edited Kim Sweet Rubenstein
Norwegian wins second Iditarod
DOGSLEDDING
NOME, Alaska — Norway's Robert Sorlie won the Iditarod yesterday, overcoming insomnia and a dwindling dog team for his second victory in only three tries.
Sorlie finished the race with eight dogs — half the number he started the race with, but the same number that took him to victory two years ago.
This year's run was only the third time Sorlie had made the 1,100-mile trip from Anchorage to Nome, a town of 3,500 at the edge of the frozen Bering Sea. In his first showing, in 2002, he finished ninth, setting a rookie record. He won the race in 2003.
"I think this win is better than the 2003," he said. "This year, the dogs are better."
This time, Sorlie grabbed the lead early. The owner of a small kennel, he fended off a strong field that included seasoned veterans and five other Iditarod champions.
"It feels good," Sorlie said.
"I am ready for breakfast."
The Associated Press
BASEBALL
Sorlie, a 47-year-old firefighter, crossed under the arch that serves as the finish line at 8:39 a.m., winning the 1,100-mile race across Alaska in nine days, 18 hours, 39 minutes and 31 seconds.
Royals' Sweeney back in the game
SURPRISE, Ariz. — The Kansas City Royals got some encouraging signs on two frons yesterday in a 6-3 victory over the Chicago White Sox.
Mike Sweeney, who missed the previous five games with soreness in his right oblique, returned to the lineup and went 1-for-4 with a double and struck out.
"I feel great," said Sweeney, a four-time All-Star. "I've never felt better. I'm hoping to keep this up for a full season, all the way through October."
Sweeney has missed considerable time the past two seasons with back injuries but said the soreness in his side was not related.
Zack Greinke, 0-1 with a 19.64 earned run average in his first two outings, pitched three 2-3 shutout innings, allowing just a single to Jermaine Dye.
The Associated Press
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