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Sports
Page 14. University Daily Kansan, February 6, 1981
KU guard Darnell Valentine is delayed while trying to make a lay-up against the Missouri Tigers when the two teams clashed Jan. 21 in Lawrence. KU will host another Big Eight foe, Oklahoma, tomorrow night at 7:35 in Allen Field House.
Levra lands job with Saints
The lowly New Orleans Saints added a former KU coach to its revamped coaching staff. Monday
Levra was an assistant coach with the
N.Y. Red Bulls' 75 Sun bowl game against
the Pittsburgh Panthers.
John Levra, KU offensive coordinator from 1975 to 1978, was named running back coach by Saints head coach A.O. "Bum" Phillips at a press conference in New Orleans.
NORTH TEXAS STATE University hired
John S. Schaefer as the head
wizard, and was crushed by the dayhawk bird season, 87-18.
Last year, Leva reached the professional football coaching ranks with the British Columbia Lions of the Canadian Football League to coach the Lions who finished with a 7-1 record.
After releasing Dick Nolan as head coach in December, Saints owner John McMoir hired
Phillips on January 28. Phillips was fired by the Houston Oilers after his squad was humiliated by the Super Bowl champion Oakland Raiders in the playoffs. 27-7.
Phillips said that King Hill, an assistant coach Houston, was the Saints new offensive coordinator.
IN THE SAINTS 14-year history the team has had 10 head coaches and twice as many assistants. New Orleans has never had a winning season, with its best record being 8-4 in 1979.
B hilliis sult ane and his staff shall identify
the authorities and his staff shall identify
the authorities and his staff shall identify
New Orleans will select first in the draft after finishing 180 with the NFL's worst record, 1-15.
PHILLIPS SAID HE didn't know who the Saints planned to draft, but that the offensive line needed to be strengthened.
'Hawks hope to change luck
The important games in the Big Eight race aren't the ones played between big rivals. They aren't the one played at the end of the season. And they aren't the ones played before home
By KEVIN BERTELS
Sports Editor
No, the important games in the Big Eight, the ones that teams have to win if they expect to win the league crown, are the ones played on the road before the onboarding's screaming fans.
In recent years, Kansas hasn't had much luck winning while on the road. This season has been no exception. Kansas is 5-4 on the road. Even the last two games Jayhawks are 1-3 on the road in the Big Eleet.
THOSE THREE BIG Eight losses were the last three games. But relief is in sight. Saturday night may be just the thing for a group of Jayhawks who are tired of the rigors of the road. KU, at long last, returns to Allen Field House to face the Oklahoma Sooners in the first game of the second half of the Big Eight season. Tipoff is at 7:35 p.m.
The road woes are not exclusive to KU. With the first half of the conference season completed, Big Eight teams are 21-7 at home and 7-21 on the road. Only one team has a winning record outside its own gym. Nebraska has defeated Iowa State since it has lost to Oklahoma State for a 2-12 road record.
Three teams, KU, Oklahoma State and Missouri are undefeated at home. Oklahoma State, the leader with a 6-1 record, has won five games at home. No other team has played five home games. A special situation gave the Cowboys that many home games.
The game that KU lost to the Cowboys on Wednesday night was originally scheduled to be played in Lawrence. The two teams switched home games, however, when Oklahoma State was awarded the Big Eight wrestling tourney this weekend as the weekend as the scheduled game in Stillwater.
WHAT IS THERE about the opposition's court that makes it so difficult to win on the road? Some of the reasons are simple. Some are a bit bizarre.
The crowds at KU, MU and Kansas State figure prominently in the luck that these teams have at home and the lack of luck that they have on the road. And, of course, it is always more unfamiliar with an unfamiliar floor with unfamiliar lighting, but it is a minor thing. Minor in most cases, that is.
Oklahoma State Billy Tubbs said after his team lost to Missouri that the Hearnes Arena was a difficult place to shoot. It should be noted that OU shot less than 30 percent in the rame.
"I don't know if it is the lighting or what, but this is a tough place to play." Tubbs said. "When I was with Lamar, we played up here nd had a real tough time shooting."
Johnny Orr, Iowa State's new coach, often says that the Big Eight's wide range of playing styles may have something to do with the road records of the teams. The theory is that it is easier to dictate the pace of the game with 10,000 fans cheering every move.
IF THAT THEORY is correct, then KU should have quite an advantage against Oklahoma Saturday when 15,000 fans, ravenous after a two week break, will show up hoping to see the Jayhawks' second victory over Oklahoma this season.
KU beat Oklahoma 82-78 at Norman for its only road victory in the Big Eight. In that game, reserve senior guard Booty Neal came off the bench to score 22 points from long range.
Since that game, OU has won only once. They beat Kansas State at Norman. The Sooners are led in scoring by sophomore Chuck Barnett, 25 against KU; Barnett scored 25 against KU in the first game.
JAYHAWK NOTES: Other Big Eight games
Saturday, Missouri at Iowa State, Oklahoma
State. No runs allowed.
Darnell Valentine is the only KU player on the Pizza Hut All-Star game ball. Only seniors are eligible, Big Other Eight players on the list include Steve Bajema of Oklahoma, Curtis Burry of Missouri, Rolando Blackman of Kansas State, Daniel of Colorado and Andre Smith of Nebraska.
Curtis Redding reddit the St. John's basketball team yesterday. Redding, who used to play for K-State, lost his starting position this year and was averaging 7.6 points a game.
"I just want to quit . . . I no longer want to compete," Redding said.
Women's home court skill to be tested
Redding was suspended for one game this season because of his behavior during a game against Rutgers when, after being benched, he cheered for the other team.
Hasan Houston, former KU basketball player now on the Bradley team, has been nominated for a postseason scholarship.
By SANDY CLARK
Sports Writer
When the third-ranked KU woman's basketball team plays at home, Allen Field House becomes nothing more than a good disguise for a slaughterhouse.
The Jayhawks have annihilated all of their opponents at home this season and will be out to make Region VI opponent Creighton their next victim when the two teams meet tomorrow night in Allen Field House. Tip off is set for 5:15. The team precede the men's contest with Oklahoma.
The 18-3 Jayhawks have defeated all of their home opponents by at least 20 points. They recorded two victories with margins of 51 and 57 points.
In the first meeting between KU and Creighton this season, the Jayhawks taught the Jays the brutal facts of life in big-time basketball. As a result, the Jayhawks are Alaska. Creighton is in its first year of Dhl Education.
year or two early," first-year coach Bruce Rasmussen said. "On the one hand, we need to play good teams to have a yardstick of what we need to do to compete on their level. But on the other hand, it does much good for us to get out brains beat out long and for the kids to lose enthusiasm for the game."
"I THINK WE might have gone Division I a
The Jays have undergone a crippling personnel change since they played KU in November. Three starters are no longer on the squad, including their leading scorer, Jean Tierney, who quit to play softball. Two others were dismissed for disciplinary reasons.
With only eight players remaining on the team, Rasmusen admits the outlook is bleak.
"WE HAVE SIX freshmen and two sophomores left on the team and three or four of them wouldn't be out there on the floor, but they have to be," he said. "The kids have pulled together and played very hard but it's frustrating because they deserve to be more successful, but the circumstances don't allow it."
The Jays are led by Leann Resh, the team's
leading scorer with 11.3 a game and top rebounder with 6.3 a game.
One thing Kansas head coach Marian
Kearns said is that about is personel. She has more than enough
Olympian Lynette Woodard continues to lead the team in scoring, averaging 25.4 points a game and 9.4 rebounds. Senior Shebra Legrant, averaging 19.9 points a game, appears to have made a complete recovery from a knee injury during a season. During the season, KU's ace rebounder, freshman Tracy Claxton, is hauling down 12.5 rebounds a game and leading the team in blocked shots.
The Jahwacks also be getting strong
Chrarchich and Chris Stewart and center Metsman Scan
"IM REAL PLEASED with the kids."
Washington said. "It's hard for them to get up for every game. One challenge is have a coach come about this time, is finding ways to keep them engaged and finding things to work on. We always want to be working on perfecting our game."
Track team travels to Kentucky, Oklahoma
This weekend, the KU women's track team
weekend, in Nashville, and in Norman,
Illinois, at the same time.
Two of the women on the team, Gwen Poss and Halcyon 'Talcon' McNight, will compete in the Mason-Dixon Games in Kentucky. The rest of the team will compete Oklahoma at the Oklahoma Trest Classics.
This is the second time in two weeks that OU and KU have clashed on the indoor track. Last Friday, the Sooners beat the Jayhawks in a quadrangular contest at KU's Allen Field House. Arkansas finished third and Oklahoma State fourth.
"I'm hoping that we can do a better job this time," Theo Hamilton, assistant woman's track coach, said. "We only had two other meets this season. We're doing better meet by meet. The top schools that will be there are OU.KU, University, Texas Tech, and North Texas State."
Of the 88 teams competing at the Oklahoma meet, 25 will be women's teams.
"THEHER WILL BE no team scores at the meet—just individual scores," J.D. Martin, women's track coach at OU.said. "The quality of the competition will be outstanding."
In KU's meet last Friday, Gwen Poss won the 60-year hurdles with a time of 8.08, which qualified her for the AIAW national track meet to be held in March. Tudie McKnight took a leaping second in the long jump with a measurement of $17-11\%$. Because of their performances, they were invited to the Mason-Dixon Games in Louisville, Kentucky.
"If they win races or events at meets, the individual athletes are invited to the invitational. Hamilton said "They invite top athlete alma mater." The tournament comes from other countries, really good competition."
Ruggers enjoy European image of sport
Rv BRENDA DURR
Sports Writer
They've been described as a pack of animals out for blood. Their only intelligent attribute has been to put one foot in front of the other. Is this some primitive head-hunting tribe discovered in New Guinea?
No, just the stereotyped picture that haunts most rugby teams in the United States. David Pearlman said, "In this country, rugby is a very mindless sport."
Most people see rugby players as "a bunch of animals out there killing themselves. I've played seven or eight years and never had blood drawn."
The KU players encountered such treatment when they went on an international tour this January. They competed against teams in Bath, Manchester and Leeds.
The Jayhawks' starting team, which had players from other area clubs, won four of five matches. The second-string team won one of two. Each
This perception is a worldwide affliction that faces all ruggers. Some European players become national heroes and are treated like royalty.
"People think we're crazy to play a game without pads. But we have rules just like other games," Richard Vendon KU executive secretary and administration chief.
"They start playing the game when they're 9 or 10 years old, and over here we don't start until we are '19 or 20'. Renro said. "I knew we could play with them, but the problem is when you get 30 guys together, half of them from another team, it takes you to alloy to get everybody together."
The Kansas victories should warn Europeans that U.S. teams are improving, KU rugger Paul Diedrich said.
team captain Rick Renrof said he didn't expect to do that well against players who grew up carrying a rugby ball.
"They were very impressed," Renfro said. "In the technical skills of rugby we're not up to par with them yet simply because they've been playing longer. In the overall game, we're even in physical strength and philosophy. We what we lack, we make up for in aggression."
"They didn't take us seriously when we played," he said.
Nenro said the European teams were more experienced and better organized. Some russky clubs were established more than a century ago.
With tradition backed by money, one club has built a stadium that any American team would be proud to call home.
"The stadium holds 60,000 and is built just for rugby." Pearlman said. Pearlman compared rugby to soccer, which has become increasingly popular in the United States. He said that a crowd of 60,000 might appear for a rugby match in 10 or 12 years.
"We can't even fill a 52,000-seat stadium for a football game," Von Ende said jokingly.
Even though the victories came as an unexpected surprise to the team, the main reason for the tour was gain experience in playing European teams.
ne scores weren't that important, it was learning rugby," Pearlman said. "When you know you've won, played well and had a growing experience."
One rule that ruggers everywhere adhere to without fall is the mythical "third-half" rule. Since there are only two halves in rugby, this rule designates a time after the game for drinking and discussion between opponents.
Diedrich said it was traditional for the players to shake hands and then adjourn to the local bar to talk about the game.
This sense of fellowship is what makes rugby unique, Pearlman said.
"There is a wide variety of professionals who play the game," Pearlman said. "The one good thing about rugby is that it's a melting pot. Lots of different people play, such as doctors, laborers and lawyers. There's no strict social class."
"If you play a game like football, afterward you still hate them. In rugby, you pair up with another other team," Renfro, owner of Johnny's, a northwestern bar, said.
"Much of the game is based on social fellowship. Everybody is more concerned with having a good time playing than winning or losing," he
The Jayhawks traveled to Europe without the help of the athletic department, but were commended by the Board of Regents on their intercession.
We did a lot for the University and went as ambassadors for the country." Renfo said.
After matches, the team sang patriotic songs instead of the traditional drinking songs.
"It was the first time since I was 8 years old that I sang 'God Bless America'," Pearman said. "It felt great to be an American. Believe me, after being gone for two weeks we sure appreciate this country a helluva lot more."
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