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SPORTS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
8A
WWW.KANSAN.COM/SPORTS
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2002
CHRISTINA NEFF/KANSAN
Afond farewell
Senior guard Jeff Boschee drives toward the basket. Boschee scored 22 points last night in his last game at Allen Fieldhouse.
'Hawks declaw'Cats at last home game
By Doug Pacey
Kansan sportswriter
It hasn't been a typical week for Jeff Boschee.
The Valley City, N.D., native has been inundated with interview requests by North Dakota media outlets.
A television station in North Dakota has been airing stories of the senior all week.
A Valley City radio personality did an on-air interview with him Monday and a newspaper near the senior guard's hometown produced a four-part series on anything related to Boschee. His family was even the subject of a live interview after Wednesday night's 103-68 victory against Kansas State at Allen Fieldhouse.
But at the end of the game last night, Boschee did something to which even he has become accustomed.
Coming off a screen on the left wing, Kansas' all-time leading three-point shooter launched a bomb eight feet behind the arc and buried his final shot in the fieldhouse.
"Coach (Neil) Daugherty got mad at me the play before because I passed the ball," said Boschee, who hit five of nine three-pointers and scored 22 points. "So on the next play I called for the ball, but didn't realize how far back I was. I thought, 'Forget it,' and shot the ball. It felt so good to make that shot in my last game here. To go off with a bang."
The No. 1 Jayhawks (26-2 overall, 15-0 Big 12 Conference) beat Kansas State (11-15, 5-10) for Kansas' 19th straight Senior Night
victory. Five Jayhawks scored in double figures, led by Kirk Hinrich's 24 points. But the night seemed like it was scripted for Boschee and Kansas' other senior starters.
K-State scoreless. Williams credited their effort on defense, but was pleased with the way Brett Ballard and Chris Zerbe shot the ball, too.
After two-and-a-half minutes of play, the five seniors had held
"We came up with a couple steals, Boschee hits Brett for a lay-up, Boschee hits a three and
Chris makes a jump shot," Williams said. "That's a seven-zip run."
Ballard said it wasn't a coincidence Boschee knocked down a three for the Jayhawks' first points of the game.
"We told Jeff before the game that he had to look for his shot and create some offense," said senior guard Brett Ballard, who made his first career start. "Everybody knows he was the scorer out there. He was the shooter."
When Drew Gooden, Nick Collison, Aaron Miles and Hinrich entered the game, Boschee hit another three-pointer.
Hinrich said he didn't notice anything different about Boschee before the game, but he surely saw a different side of his teammate when the senior gave his speech.
After telling funny stories about Kansas' coaching staff and the affinity with picking fights with the players, the finality of playing his last game at the fieldhouse set in.
The senior choked up and tears welled in his eyes as he thanked Williams for "taking a chance on a kid from North Dakota" and when he spoke to his parents and brother in front of 16,300 people.
"It was different doing that after the game," he said. "I tried to crack some jokes and thought about what I wanted to say when the other guys went, but it went all right."
Contact Pacey at dpacey@kansan.com. This story was edited by Andy Gassaway.
Seniors star in final home victory
Bv Brent Wasko
Kansan sportswriter
If the first few minutes of the game were any indication, the senior members of the Kansas men's basketball team might have been able to beat Kansas State by themselves.
The Jayhawk seniors, minus forward Todd Kappelmann, sent the senior night crowd into a frenzy and went on a 10-0 run to start the game en route to a 103-68 victory against the Wildcats last night at Allen Fieldhouse.
Coach Roy Williams shares a laugh with some of his senior players towards the end of last night's game at Allen Fieldhouse. The men's team is undefeated so far in conference play, holding a 15-0 record in the Big 12.
Even the seniors, most of whom were former walk-ons, were surprised by their fast start.
"We obviously didn't expect to get out that good," guard Brett Ballard said. "It was kind of funny because we were saying on the bench that maybe we should go back in. The other guys struggled for a little bit, but obviously, they did a nice job. It was nice to get out and force some turnovers and get some easy baskets."
Kansas coach Roy Williams gave his seniors plenty of opportunities to show off their game, starting Jeff Carey, Chris Zerbe, Lewis Harrison, Jeff Boschee and Ballard. Kappelmann was announced as a starter and walked out on the court to begin the game, but he was taken out after an official motioned to Williams.
AARON SHOWALTER/KANSAN
By the rules, Williams could only start five players, not six. He said deciding whom to take out of the lineup was difficult.
"I was trying to think about the matchups," Williams said. "I tried to think of the most intelligent way to do it."
"It's not a big deal," he said. "A lot of those guys have been here for a long time and deserve it more than anyone. It was just kind of the luck of the draw. We had too many big men out there."
Kappelmann didn't take offense to not starting.
The Kansas student body still gave Kappelmann his due respect. Like out of a scene from the film Rudy, the fans chanted "Kappel-mann, Kappel-mann" at the midway point of
"I couldn't believe the crowd started chanting my name at 10 minutes," Kappelmann said. "I was like 'I don't think I can play that long without getting a little tired.'"
the second half.
Kappelmann did get his chance to play with 7:26 remaining in the contest, but he never managed to score.
"I really wanted to score, but it wasn't a big deal to me," he said. "To be real honest, I was a little winded out there. I was just happy to be out there and was glad we were winning."
All but two of the seniors were able to score against Kansas State, including forward Chris
Zerbe, who ended up with four points. He said senior night was more than he ever expected.
"It's a phenomenal feeling. You couldn't ask for anything better," Zerbe said. "I had butterflies today in class. I don't know if I was more worried about the game or the speech, but it turns out neither one of them were really that bad."
Forward Jeff Carey said it was tough to put into words how special the night was for him and that he would miss playing in the Fieldhouse.
SEE BASKETBALL ON PAGE 7A
Senior Quotes
Todd Kappelman:
"This is one of the greatest groups I've ever been associated with. Anything you guys need, tax advice, anything give me a call. And Drew, if you need an agent..."
Chris Zerbe: "I want to thank God for blessing me with the talent to get me to the University of Kansas. I don't have the talent of Drew Gooden, Jeff Boschee and Nick Collison. Those guys can play, but I'm just so happy to be here."
Jeff Carey: "In my five years, I've been to a lot of arenas and seen a lot of crowds, but nothing compares to the fans here at KU. You guys make it easy to win here."
Brett Ballard: "This is the biggest speech class ever. There's 16,000 people here ... I'd like to thank my teammate — the times before and after practice are what I'll miss most. Some of these guys do some pretty good impressions of coaches."
Lewis Harrison:
Lewis Harrison: "I don't want anyone to get worried. I promised my teammates I would keep the length of this speech similar to my playing time. ("We love in practice."
"We're in practice
going against All-Americans and coach Holladay says, 'Come on Lewis, make a play!' I try to explain to him that it's not that easy."
Jeff Boshee:
"I've never seen a more competitive coaching staff, some of these coaches pick fights with the players.
"At halftime during the Big 12
Tournament my sophomore year, we were losing and coach Williams was all red you know how he gets. He tried to throw the Gatorade table but realized Kenny Gregory was sitting behind it, so he says something about drawing a line in the sand and that he wants to fight us."
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