BASKETBALL: Abdul-Jabbar experiences new role as coach SEE PAGE 2B. FIGURE SKATING: Officials consider new evaluations SEE PAGE 2B
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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Chris Wristen
cwristen@kansan.com
Notable lessons can be learned from the errors of other people
Perhaps it's nothing more than sweet irony,but there was a lesson to be learned from last weekend's National Football League Draft — there are no guarantees in sports.
Former Kansas linebacker Algie Atkinson figured that out last weekend. He had been projected by some analysts to be a mid-to-late-round selection in the sevenround draft. While Kansas teammates Nate Dwyer and Justin Hartwig were drafted — Dwyer was a fourth-round selection by the Arizona Cardinals and Hartwig was taken by the Tennessee Titans in the sixth round — Atkinson was not.
KANSAN FILE PHOTO
Yesterday evening he signed as a free agent with the Green Bay Packers, but there is no guarantee that he will make the roster. If he fails, he can join a Canadian Football League roster or return to the University of Kansas to finish his degree and get a job elsewhere.
Atkinson's story is a one of growing up slowly; a story of screwing up and moving on; a story of someone who might not achieve his dream. It's a story that others just might learn something from if they pay attention. Former quarterback Mario Kinsey might still be enrolled at the University of Kansas if he'd learned from it. Running back Reggie Duncan might want to take notes after having two run-ins with the law in the last two years.
Learn from good guys like Dwyer, Harrison Hill and former Jayhawks Moran Norris and David Winbush who always took care of business — but also learn from Atkinson.
If he doesn't make it in the NFL, then a year from now Atkinson might tell you that he wishes he hadn't waited until his senior year to start growing up.
Suddenly he was being compared by some as the next Lawrence Phillips, the former Nebraska standout running back that couldn't keep out of jail.
He enjoyed the freedom of being an immature college kid for much of his time at Kansas, be it having a self-admitted part-time dedication to football early in his career, to undisciplined off-the-field behavior that included a misdemeanor possession of alcohol charge in spring 2000 and a sexual assault accusation that never led to prosecution.
From talking to Atkinson last fall, it was apparent he'd changed. "I'm choosing to lead by example," he said. Asked if he expected to make it to the NFL, he simply replied. "Yeah."
"I think maturing is a wonderful term for him," former coach Terry Allen said of Atkinson last fall. "He's more mature in all aspects of his life."
It was time for him to grow up—possibly two years too late.
He had good reason to expect it. He's 6-foot-5 and 240 pounds. He's faster than most college linebackers and smacks quarterbacks like a freight train. He's got all of the tools to make it in the league.
Wristen is a Leawood senior in journalism.
Maybe it's too late. Maybe he waited too long to get down to business and clean up his act. Maybe he should have done it as a sophomore rather than wait until he was a senior. In hindsight there are so many questions and 'what if's.'
Regardless, others can learn from Atkinson by leaving no questions unanswered. Nothing is guaranteed in sports and others will certainly be left out in the future.
Then again, there are no guarantees.
TUESDAY, APRIL 23, 2002
Williams envisions next season's lineup
Freshman forward Wayne Simien is expected to fill Drew Gooden's position in the starting lineup next season.
By Brent Wasko
Kansan sportswriter
Drew Gooden is gone, but he didn't leave the cupboard bare.
Some Jayhawk fans waited patiently and hoped during the days leading to last Friday's announcement that Gooden, the team's leading scorer this season, would surprise everyone and stay for his senior year.
Fans posted messages on the Internet with dreams of a preseason No. 1 ranking, another Final Four appearance and even a possible undefeated season, with Gooden leading the way for the Jayhawks.
For some fans those dreams turned to a feeling of disappointment as Gooden declared his intention to enter the NBA draft.
While coach Roy Williams and his team admit Gooden's absence next season will be a significant one, they don't see reason for fans to give up on their dreams of a championship season next year.
"It was going to be a good season next year with or without Drew," sophomore forward Bryant Nash said minutes after Gooden's press conference. "I view it as an opportunity for all of us. But we have to pick up our game."
Gooden said Simien and the rest of this season's crop of freshman should have a strong sophomore campaign.
"Losing Drew is a big loss, but I'm hoping that everybody will dig down deeper and work a little bit harder during the off-season," Williams said. "We have to understand that it is not that we want to make up for it, it is that we have to make up for it."
"The sky is the limit for the young guys," he said. "They have a lot of upside. They are smart. They pick things up really well, and that is a
Freshman forward Wayne Simien is expected to fill Gooden's position in the starting lineup next season. He averaged 8.1 points and 5.3 rebounds per game this year.
sign of a great player."
Gooden claimed the National Association of Basketball Coaches Player of the Year Award and averaged 19.4 points and 11.4 rebounds per game in his final season in a Kansas uniform. He also led the Big 12 Conference in scoring.
Williams said Kansas recruits Jeff Graves, 6-foot-9-inch, 260-pound forward, and Moulaye Niang, 6-foot-5-inch, 205-pound forward will also be asked to help out in the paint next season.
"I think Jeff just has to understand the intensity level here that he's got to play at and how consistent that intensity level needs to be," Williams said. "Moulaye's much more crude on the offensive end, but I've see him guard six-five guys, and I've seen him guard 7-foot guys well."
Williams said the loss of graduating senior Jeff Boschee, Kansas' alltime best three-point shooter, would hurt the team almost as much as not having Gooden in the lineup next season.
"Boschee was lethal, he really was," he said. "Every other coach was always concerned about where Jeff was, and that opened it up so much more for the other guys. That's what having a great three-point threat does."
Keith Langford, who earned All-Midwest Region honors during this year's NCAA Tournament, is
SEE BASKETBALL ON PAGE 6B
Volleyball club fares well in first showing
as team
Jeremy Krashin
Kansan sportswriter
The Jayhawks, one of 60 participants in the national tournament in the Dallas Convention Hall, went 2-4 in the competition, but won't know their final place until later this week because of the tournament's scoring rules.
After competing in the National Intramural-Recreational Sports Association Volleyball Collegiate Sport Club Championships last week, the Kansas women's club volleyball team must now wait to find out its final standing.
Despite winning just two games and not knowing exactly where they placed, club president Erin Sheckels said she was pleased with the team's performance.
"We really did play well," said Sheckels.
"We had not played together as a group before, just the eight of us, and we were nervous and a bit
bit overwhelmed,"
Jeni Crews middle blocker
who thought the team finished around 28th. "We had our ups and downs, but overall the team played good."
The Jayhawks, ranked 40th going into the tournament, started Thursday in a group with University of Virginia, the University of "Black" Colorado and the University of Southern California. In their first match against the Cavaliers of Virginia, the Jayhawks lost both games by a score of 25-13. In the match against Colorado "Black", the Jayhawks fell to 0-2 with a 25-13, 25-20 loss.
In its final match of the day, Kansas forced a third game against Southern California but still lost the match.
"We beat ourselves the first day," said middle blocker Jeni Crews, one of two seniors who participated in the tournament for the Jayhawks. "We had not played together as a group before, just the eight of us, and we were nervous and a bit overwhelmed."
The Jayhawks were put into the consolation bracket with Binghamton University and Appalachian State University for day two and defeated both teams.
Kansas defeated Appalachian State 25
SEE VOLLEYBALL ON PAGE 38
'Hawks endure tedious game schedule
After games on back-to-back Tuesdays against No. 9 Wichita State and a weekend series against the always-tough Big 12 Conference, the Kansas baseball team might be hoping for a bit of a break.
It won't happen this week
Kansas plays host to Southwest Missouri State at 6 tonight at Hoglund Ballpark. The Bears stand at 27-8 overall, including a perfect 3-0 record against Big 12 teams, and received votes in the latest Baseball Weekly poll. The two teams met on March 12, and the Bears pounded the Jayhawks 15-7 in Springfield, Mo.
Following tonight's game, Kansas (16-20 overall, 3-14 Big 12 Conference play) will travel to Lincoln, Neb. for a three-game series with No.19 Nebraska starting Friday.
The Nebraska series will cap a grueling 15-game stretch in which all but two games come against either ranked teams or Big 12 opponents. The Bears are one of the exceptions, but that doesn't make them any less of a concern.
"They're a good team," said coach Bobby Randall.
Freshman pitcher Chris Jones (3-1,
4.88 ERA) will make his third start of
Kansas vs. Southwest Missouri State
■ Time: 6 p.m.
■ Place: Hoglund Ballpark
■ Radio: KLWN 1320
the season, his first since shutting down Wichita State on April 9.
The Jayhwaks will again be without outfielder Matt Tribble. The sophomore, who is hitting .318 with six homers, is still sidelined with a strained oblique muscle, which has cost him four games. His participation in tonight's game is doubtful.
"We're missing him," Randall said. "We need him back."
Southwest Missouri's success has been attributed to timely pitching and an explosive offense. They've scored 15 or more runs in a game five times this year, including a 20-run outburst in a victory against Missouri a week ago.
Ryan Wood
CHRISTINA NEFF/KANSAN
sophomore outfielder Matt Trible, who is hitting .318 and has six home runs, will again be sidelined by a strained oblique muscle at today's game.
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