FRIDAY, MARCH. 29, 2002
FINALFOUR
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN = 7B
HEARD ON THE HILL What does KU have to do to win on Saturday against Maryland?
"They have to contain Baxter and shut down Juan Dixon. They have to make sure Collison gets enough touches to take attention away from Drew Gooden
Karl Schwartz Salina junior
Mike Engle Haysjunior
"It's the two best frontcourt teams meeting each other.Watching Juan Dixon is key. We just have to score more points."
"If they all have a good day, I think they should win."
Michelle Binder
Wichita freshman
Megan Ochanpaugh St. Louis freshman
"They need to play as a team like they did before. They have to concentrate.I think sometimes they get cocky."
Teams overshadow Sooner football
The Associated Press
NORMAN, Okla. — Oklahoma prides itself on football. Just as that team starts spring practice, though, the school's basketball players are getting all the attention.
A sea of red Sooners hats and Final Four T-shirts bobbed across campus Tuesday in celebration of a rare double: Oklahoma's men's and women's teams are headed to the Final Four.
It's just the third time thata school has sent teams to both college basketball national semifinals in the same season. Duke did it two years ago, and Georgia did in 1983.
Oklahoma's women beat Colorado 94-60 Monday to win the West Regional and will play Duke in San Antonio today for a berth in the national title game. It's the first Final Fourth berth for any women's team from the Big 12 Conference.
"We're not a basketball school," zoology major Ryan Willes said while watching game highlights on a TV in the OU student union, "but we've got a chance to show our dominance."
Oklahoma's men defeated Missouri 81-75 Saturday and won the West Regional and face Indiana tomorrow in Atlanta. The Sooners hadn't been to the Final Four since 1988, when they lost to Kansas in the championship game.
How muted is Oklahoma's basketball tradition? Sooners guard Hollis Price, who's averaging 18.2 points in the men's NCAAs, said he "didn't even know we played for a national title against Kansas until I got here."
Still, men's coach Kelvin Sampson said his team has carved itself a niche at the school, which won its seventh AP college football national
"I think we've got our own great basketball tradition here," Sampson said. "We don't have the seven championships, but we've worked hard to create an identity for ourselves here."
title in the 2000 season.
That identity was in evidence at Frank Mize's tiny barber shop across from campus on Tuesday, the first day of football spring practice. The talk in the shop usually veers toward quarterbacks and offensive sets.
Now they're talking about rebounding and shooting.
"Since the tournament began, that's all I've heard," Mize said.
Local businesses post signs of support in windows and fly the school's crimson and cream colors outside storefronts. Along some streets, OU flags outnumber U.S. flags.
"There's an electricity in the air and you can feel it," said Luke Canon, co-owner of Suzy's Creations, an embroidery and screenprinting shop. "It's almost as good as football electricity."
"It's like being at the Ringling Brothers Circus for the first time." Canon said.
Canon and his wife, Suzy, said that since the tournament started, they had noticed that customers were buying more OU merchandise at the shop.
The memorabilia machine has kicked into full gear.
"I had a little girl come in the store the other day and she told me she wanted to look just like (All-American guard) Stacey Dales," store owner Helen Porkka said.
Items commemorating the teams' Final Four berths are hot, including autographed basketball balls, jerseys, hats, T-shirts, mugs and stickers.
Porkka said she had sold about 1,000 Final Four shirts since Sunday afternoon, when she had to reopen the store to
CHRIS BURKETT/KANSAN
Junior Nick Collison goes up for a rebound in the Big 12 Championship game. The Jayhawks lost the Big 12 title to Oklahoma but could face the Sooners again for the National Championship.
accommodate a line of people The Sooners are hoping for better luck than the other
PUNY IT AGAIN SPORTS
schools that did double duty at the Final Four. In 1983, both of Georgia's teams lost
in the semifinals. In 1999, both of Duke's teams lost in the championship game.
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