TRACK AND FIELD: Kansas thrower Scott Russell was named athlete of the week. SEE PAGE 12A
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SPORTS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
11A
THURSDAY, MAY 2 2002
Oklahomans make oral commitments
By Brent Wasko
Kansan sportswriter
Kansas men's basketball coach Roy Williams is well on his way to filling all five scholarships available for the
Jeremy Case
2003 recruiting class.
Williams recently landed oral commitments from two prep stars hailing from Oklahoma. Jeremy Case, a junior from McAlester, Okla., committed last Friday and LR. Gid-
dens, a junior from Yukon, Okla., committed on Sunday.
An article on ESPN.com labeled Giddens as top junior in Oklahoma. The site described him as very athletic and known for his ability to slash to the bucket.
Giddens is also one of the state's best
track athletes. His best event is the high jump in which he has a personal best of 6 feet 10 inches.
Giddens made an official visit to Lawrence last Friday, which convinced him that达到 a Jayhawk was his best option. Giddens chose Kansas over Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas Christian, Illinois and Purdue.
Case, a 6-foot-1, 170-pound guard, played at McAlester High last season. He averaged 25.7 points and 4.6 rebounds per game. He led Oklahoma Class 5A in scoring, nailing 54.8 percent of his shots from the field and 44.7 from three-point range.
Case was surrounded by talent on his AAU team, Athletes First. The team featured a significant number of Division I-A prospects for 2003. Case played point guard on that team, but he has also played as a shooting guard.
According to The Daily Oklahoman, Case made an official visit to Lawrence two weeks ago and was shown around campus by Big 12 player of the year Drew Gooden.
TheInidersHoops.com, a national basketball recruiting network, speculated that Case would probably be a combo guard for the Jayhawks because he is so accurate from long range.
Oral commitments are non-binding. The early signing period is Nov. 13 to 20.
Contact Wasko at bwasko@kansan.com
This story was edited by Andy Gassaway.
Softball team has play-in game to make Big 12 Tournament
By Ali Brox Kansan sportswriter
The most important game of the season for the Kansas softball team is 5 p.m. tonight against Texas Tech in Oklahoma City, Okla. This game begins the Big 12 Conference tournament for Kansas with a play-in game for a position in the eight-team, double elimination tournament.
The Jayhawks finished seventh in Big 12 play and will face off against the 10th-seeded Red Raiders at Hall of Fame Stadium.
"As far as the pressure that goes into that first game," coach Tracy Bunge said, "We definitely didn't want to have to go in and play a play-in game but now we have to refocus and get a good frame of mind going into that game with Texas Tech."
Kansas (31-23 overall, 7-11 Big 12) had its fate in its own hands last weekend against Iowa State. Had the Jayhawks swept the Cyclones they would have secured a sixth-place finish and avoided the play-in game. But Kansas only managed a split with Iowa State and now must earn the right to play in the conference tournament.
In the tournament, the 9th-seed in the Big 12 Conference plays the 8th seed for the eighth spot in the tournament, while the 7th-seed team plays the 10th seed for the seventh spot.
"There's a big difference in this conference between finishing sixth and finishing seventh," Bunge said.
The Jayhawks swept the regular season series with Texas Tech (13-39 overall, 2-16 Big 12) winning 9-0 and 1-0 in Lawrence. The Red Raiders hit .224 as a team this season and are led by Kristi Robles with a .278 average, 11 doubles and 26 RBL. On the mound, freshman Kristina Blair sports a 3.67 ERA with 65 strikeouts and a 6-12 record.
"We're going to have a challenge because Texas Tech has been Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde all year," Bunge said. "They've played extremely well and they've played really poor, so you never know what you're going to get out of them."
Pacing the offense for Kansas is senior left fielder Christi Musser. She leads the team with 34 runs, 30 RBI and nine home runs with a .370 average. Senior right fielder Leah Tabb has been a force in league games, hitting .378, which ranks second among all Big 12 players.
On the mound, freshman pitcher Serena Settlemier leads Kansas with 107 strikeouts and a 1.53 ERA. Her ERA dropped to 0.86 in league games, good for fifth among Big 12 pitchers.
The winner of the play-in game advances to play No. 2 Oklahoma immediately following at 7:30 p.m.
while the loser goes home.
"It's a new start," senior second baseman Amy Hulse said. "We've all made a decision that we're going to go out and we're going to leave everything that happened during the season, we're going to forget about it, and we're going to peak. We're going to try to
Leah Tabb hits in a game earlier this season. Tabb is second in the Big 12 with a .378 average for conference games.
FILE PHOTO
Flames burn' Hawks in final series game
■ Contact Brox at abrox@kansan.com. This story was edited by Justin Guenley.
peak at the tournament."
Ryan Wood
Kansan sportswriter
Even with its ace on the hill, the Kansas baseball was unable to sweep a two-game series against Illinois-Chicago on the road, losing 5-3 yesterday at Les Miller Field.
With the defeat, the Jayhawks (18-24) had to settle for a series split and dropped their road record to a dismal 6-16.
Chicago native Matt Trible was a key factor in the Jayhawk offense for the second straight day, going 1-for-3 with two RBI. Senior third baseman Ryan Klocksien contributed a single and an RBI.
The Flames (28-10) took an early 3-0 lead, and Illinois-Chicago pitcher Scott Anderson yielded only a single by Ryan Jakubov through his first five innings of work.
The Jayhawks finally broke through in the sixth, with hits by junior shortstop Brandon Shepard and junior outfielder Lance Hayes to lead off the inning. Triple followed with a two-run single but was thrown out trying to stretch it into a double, hurting Kansas' threat.
With Kansas down 5-2, Klocksien drove in Tribble with a single in the ninth, but it would be as close as the Jayhawks would get. Junior outfielder Jason Appuhn struck out with the tying runs in scoring position, ending the game.
Anderson (1-0) got his first victory of the season, pitching eight innings and allowing only six hits. No Kansas batter got more than one hit on the afternoon.
Senior Jeff Davis (5-4) suffered the defeat, giving up four earned runs in six innings of work. Junior Pat Holmes and sophomore Chris Smart pitched the final two innings for Kansas, and neither allowed a run.
They start a three-game series Friday with Centenary, a team they swept earlier this year in Shreveport, La. They return to Big 12 Conference play on May 10 against Oklahoma.
Fortunately for the Jayhawks, their next eight games are to be played in the friendly confines of Hoglund Ballpark, where they have a 12-8 mark.
Contact Wood at rwoold@kansan.com.
This story was edited by Andy Gassaway.
Men's crew places in weekend regatta
By Stephanie Goettsch Kansan sportswriter
Four of six boats from the men's and women's crew teams made grand finals Sunday at the Midwest Rowing Championships in Madison, Wis. They competed against teams from 16 colleges including Wisconsin, Minnesota and Kansas State.
Both the men's lightweight four and the women's novice eight took bronze. The men's varsity four placed fifth and the women's varsity eight took sixth.
O'Rourke said the Midwest Championships is one of the toughest regattas. He was especially impressed with the performance of the women's novice eight.
“If I would have told them at the first day of practice that they would do this well, they would have been pretty surprised,” coach Kevin O'Rourke said. “They showed up and worked hard since day one. I had a pretty good idea that they would do well at this regatta.”
O'Rourke said the men's varsity four, which took third out of 70 teams last fall at the Head of The Charles
Regatta in Boston, Mass., and features a trio of three-year veterans, hasn't missed a beat despite losing a strong rower from the fall season.
"The men's four is experienced and have been rowing together for a long time." O'Rourke said. "They have a strong ooSwain in Brandon Aldridge. He coxed in high school and is finishing his sixth year rowing. He's been around for awhile."
Jeremy Struemph, St. Mary's, Kan., senior and club president, is the new member on the men's varsity four, although he is a two-year veteran in the club. He was moderately disappointed with their fifth place finish at the Midwest Rowing Championships.
"It was a decent showing," he said of Sunday's performance. "Sometimes, things just don't mesh quite right, just like anything."
Struemph expects to improve at the Dad Vail Regatta in Philadelphia on May 10 and 11. This is the largest collegiate regatta held in the United States and is essentially equivalent to nation-
SEE ROWING ON PAGE 12A
New Kansas coach, football era conditions mind, body
When the 90 or so Kansas football players arose from their slumber at dawn this winter, January winds rustled with anger that caused skin to sting and eyes to moisten.
The Mark Mangino era had breathed just its second week of life, but players already had its purpose ingrained in their underachieving psychics.
But the true displeasure came in the early morning workouts.
The first three goals encompassed Mangino's formula to mold a football program reeking of embarrassment into one smelling of success. He thought these first three building blocks could be enforced by the coaching staff he had assembled in the short six weeks as boss of a team trapped in football futility. He envisioned a team that would obey a system, a team that would work hard in the system and a team that would respect the system. But Mangino needed a man, one who would do more than build bodies and enhance speed, to convince his new players to believe in the system. Mangino wanted someone who could make a difference.
Discipline. Devotion. Professionalism. Passion.
Enter strength and conditioning coach Mark Smith.
Four times a week at 6:00 a.m. inside Anschutz Sports Pavilion — not a minute before or a minute after—the frigid weather stopped chilling the players. Churning their legs and pumping their arms, they eventually shook the cold. But Smith observed their jellied bodies and lazy work ethics and used a pair of tactics to motivate his new players.
on the backs of the gray T-shirts they saturated during workouts. And by prodding and scolding and yelling and staring, he challenged their desire. It was Mark Smith's voice they could not escape. In it they heard conviction.
He had the word BELIEVE emblazoned in blue
"The first thing I told the kids when I got here is every
year there is a team that has been down and no one expects anything from," Smith said Tuesday. "Every year there's a team that comes along and shocks people. So I asked them, 'Why not us?' The first couple of days in the weight room and out on the field, they weren't used to the intensity level. It was something new to them, and it takes everybody time
to get used to something."
Jeff Denton
lwalker@kansan.com
Winning was something Smith had been used to. Spending the past four seasons as an assistant strength coach at Florida, he was infected by one of the most winning college football factories in the country. Jerry Smith, his boss and mentor, jumped ship from Florida to Oklahoma after the 1998 season. Bob Stoops also lured Mangino away from
Kansas State to join his new staff at Oklahoma. The Sooners' program was in shambles. But the pieces were being put back in place.
In two quick years, Oklahoma emerged as the 2001 National Champions. Mangino was in charge of the offense. Jerry Smith was in charge of the weight room. The two formed a friendship.
So when Mangino called his former colleague about possible strength and conditioning coaches, the first person mentioned was Mark Smith. Mangino called the Florida assistant. The two bantered a bit and scheduled a sit-down the weekend before Christmas in Oklahoma City.
Mangino met Smith in the airport. The burly
He flew back to his old job the same day. He reported for his new job shortly after the new year.
coach, living up to his label as masterful recruiter, wooed the father of two who had never lived West of North Carolina. At an airport restaurant, they talked about Lawrence, the vision of Kansas football, the soon-to-be-built 14,000 sq. ft. weight room and, most importantly, Smith's interest in running the whole program.
Without ever stepping outside into the Midwest air, Smith was sold on Kansas.
He made a presence the first morning of off-season workouts with his booming voice and his rigorous routine. But Smith, who is 37, could pass for a senior in college. He is his job, a sculpted combination of strength and conditioning. He is 6-foot-3 and 225 pounds. He runs and lifts daily. He eats right. He even resembles a famous fitness fanatic. Think of a taller version of Taebo guru Billy Banks minus the spandex. He's also been likened to hulking Denver Broncos tight end Shannon Sharpe.
But it's not Smith's make-up that demands attention from his players. It's his background.
SEE DENTON ON PAGE 12A
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