SPORTS
TUESDAY, MARCH 15, 2005
PAGE 1B
WWW.KANSAN.COM
INSIDE THE PARK
JACK WEINSTEIN
jweinstein@kansan.com
Hey Kansas, Don't ignore No.14 seed
Editor's Note: Kansan columnist Jack Weinstein prophesied this letter from the Bucknell basketball players to the Kansas basketball players.
Dear University of Kansas men's basketball team.
You were probably excited to see that you drew us in the first round of this year's NCAA Tournament. You are the high and mighty Kansas Jayhawks, the No. 3 seed, and we are the lowly Bucknell Bison, the No. 14 seed. Right? We find it hard to believe that you would ever consider us a worthy opponent, but you're wrong. Consider this letter a warning.
We know all about your rich tradition at Kansas. We know about your two NCAA National Championships. You've played in seven title games and only won two. What's up with that? That's only 29 percent. We know you've won 48 conference championships and appeared in 12 Final Fours. Big deal.
We are the Patriot League Tournament champions. You couldn't even win your tournament or the outright league title. You had to share the Big 12 regular season title with Oklahoma, and that shouldn't even count because you lost to that team 71-63 in the regular season.
We aren't pushovers; we beat then-No. 7 Pittsburgh, St. Joseph's, (whom you beat by 40, but we don't think about that) and Niagara this season.
Basketball aside, Bucknell as a university is far superior to Kansas. Our University was founded in 1846, yours in 1866. We are located in beautiful,
SEE WEINSTEIN ON PAGE 3B
MEN'S BASKETBALL
Repeating the past
Kansas players remember tough Patriot League team
BY MIRANDA LENNING
mlenning at kansan.com
KANSAN SENIOR SPORTSWRIETER
The Kansas seniors remember their last meeting with the Patriot League champions all too well.
It was March 14, 2002. No. 1 Kansas faced No. 16 Holy Cross in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The Jayhawks trailed by as many as five in the second half and needed a 14-4 run in the game's closing minutes to avoid being the first No. 1 seed in NCAA Tournament history to get bounced in the first round.
Kansas pulled that one out, 70-59, and four games later, advanced to the Final Four in Atlanta.
This season, the Patriot League has a different tournament champion, but the same opponent for the first round game: Kansas. Bucknell defeated Holy Cross in the Patriot League Tournament to earn an automatic NCAA Tournament bid.
Senior guard Mike Lee, who was around for the near-upset three years ago, said Bucknell isn't a team to be taken lightly. Kansas seniors should know anything can happen in the first round.
"The first-round jitters can get you," Lee said. "On any given day any team can win because every team is coming out here to play and every team is coming out here to win."
The idea that any team can get hot or lucky and knock off a higher seed
is something that Bucknell coach Pat Flannery hopes will work in his team's favor.
"Kansas is obviously one of the premier teams in the country." Flannery said. "Our guys are all college basketball fans, and I'm sure they've seen Kansas on television plenty of times. But we will be ready for them."
Bucknell is coming into the tournament winning 18 of its last 23 games, and it's not like the Bison haven't faced their fair share of good teams. Their non-conference schedule included St. Joseph's, Iowa State, Villanova and Pittsburgh, three teams that the Jayhawks faced as well. On Jan. 2, Bucknell defeated then-No. 7 ranked Pittsburgh 69-66 on Pittsburgh's home court. The team also defeated St. Joseph's 69-62.
Like the Jayhawks, who suffered their worst loss of the season to Villanova, the Bison fell to that team 89-51.
"We played a tough non-league schedule to hopefully prepare ourselves for a situation like this," Flannery said. "I certainly don't expect any intimidation factor at all."
The win against Pittsburgh put Bucknell on the national radar and caught the attention of some Kansas players, including senior guard Keith Langford.
"I've kinda followed them since they beat Pitt," Langford said. "They've earned our respect."
The Bison are led by their three leading scorers Chris McNaughton, and junior guards Charles Lee and Kevin Bettencourt.
McNaughton, a 6-foot-11 sophomore center, is averaging 12.2 points
Rylan Howe/KANSAN
Senior guard Mike Lee drives past Oklahoma State freshman guard JamesOn Curry during the Big 12 Conference Tournament semifinals Saturday in Kansas City, Mo. The Jayhawks' first game in the NCAA Tournament is against 14th seed Bucknell University Friday in Oklahoma City.
per game. He will most likely match-up with 6-foot-9 Simien. Although it may seem like a size disadvantage, Simien is coming off a weekend
SEE REPEATING ON PAGE 3B
PROFILE
Steven Bartkoski/KANSAN
Bryant Nash, former Kansas men's basketball player, stretches his right knee during rehabilitation exercises at the Lawrence Surgical Center last Wednesday afternoon. Nash injured his knee gradually while playing basketball for the American Basketball Association team, the Colorado Storm. He played two games for the Storm this year before having surgery Feb. 11. Nash is taking classes this semester and will graduate in May with a degree in sociology.
Former forward struggles to play
Bryant Nash finds injuries fewer opportunities in life after Kansas basketball
BY FRANK TANKARD
fankard@kansan.com
KANSAN SPORTWRITER
Editor's Note: Kansan sportswriter Frank Tankard will profile a former Kansas men's basketball player each day this week, leading up to the Jayhawks' first game on Friday. Each player featured took the court for the Jayhawks sometime during the last four years. This is the second installment of the five-part series. Tomorrow, Tankard will profile former forward leff Graves.
He eased into the wooden bleachers six rows behind the players' bench and propped his long right leg up on the next row. After tip-off, he spent more time talking on his cell phone, text messaging and fiddling with his afro pick than he did watching the game.
He leaned on the rail and limped down the steps one by one.
Bryant Nash can't stand to watch. It hurts too much. The only reason he spent his Friday night in the stuffy gymnasium of Johnson County Community College was his friend Tony dragged him there to see their friends Jeff and Robby Graves play for the Kansas City Knights.
After halftime, Nash ran into his biggest fan, a 7-year-old boy wearing a black headband over his ears and oversized basketball shorts.
Nash smiled and gave his pal a big handshake, recognizing the boy from past Kansas basketball camps.
Nash carefully drew the right leg of his jeans up to his knee and showed him his scar.
"I had surgery, but it'll be better in a couple of months."
***
When his Kansas basketball career ended last spring, Nash didn't exactly go out on top. Never proving to the coaches that he was a consistent player, the 6-foot-9 forward played less as a senior than he did as a freshman, averaging just 4.9 minutes per game.
After the season, he traveled to camps in Tulsa, Okla., and Westchester, Ill., to scrimmage against other professional wannabes with the hope of
impressing scouts. But all he got was a few empty promises and one insultingly low offer.
Nash said camp directors and people claiming to have connections to Europe kept telling him that teams wanted him, but nothing materialized.
He called coach Bill Self for advice, and Self told him that he'd be better off finishing his sociology degree.
One team from Switzerland offered him a spot on its roster, but would only pay him $1,000 a month. He considered it, though he didn't know how he would afford food.
Thinking back on how hard things would have been in Switzerland, Nash said he was glad Self steered him back to Kansas.
He enrolled in a couple of fall classes and kept his eye out for an opportunity.
In January, Nash caught a break when he ran into Eric Stamps, a former assistant coach at Emporia State. Stamps knew Antonio "Tree" Adams, coach and general manager of the Colorado Storm of the American Basketball Association.
"He looked out for me." Nash said.
Nash said when he told Stamps he was looking to play, Stamps called Adams and put a word in for him. Adams told Stamps to send Nash to a hotel in Kansas City at 7 a.m., where he would meet him.
Nash said he went to bed nervous. When he woke up the next day in his Lawrence apartment, he looked at his clock: it was already past seven. He called Stamps and begged him to ask Adams for another chance. Adams refused.
But soon after, when the team came to Kansas City to play the Knights, Adams told Nash that if he came to the game, he would play. This time Nash showed up.
He did good enough to earn a road trip with the team. In the next couple of games his right knee, which had been bothering him since the summer, really started to hurt. The injury soon became obvious to his coach and teammates.
When the Storm returned to Kansas City, Nash embarrassed himself with an ugly missed dunk.
"Everybody was laughing at me," he said. "It got to that point, and I was still trying to play on it."
The team released him after his fifth game. As soon as he got back to Lawrence, he went to the
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