WEDNESDAY,FEB.6,2002
SPORTS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN 3B
Late recruitment fails to hinder potential
By John Domoney
Kansan sportswriter
Although Kansas football coach Mark Mangino has yet to coach a game for the Jayhawks, today marks a crucial point in his brief career at Kansas.
Mangino will announce his first recruiting class from the signing day for college football recruits across the nation.
Kansas got off to a late start recruiting because of the hiring of Mangino in early December. Other schools that retain their head coach recruit throughout the year. But the Jayhawks did not fail to put together a quality class, said MoKan Football magazine recruiting editor John Kirby.
"You can't grade Kansas' class
like other classes because they got a late start," Kirby said. "I think they did a good job in the month of January, and they really put the chips into place."
Heading into signing day, the Jayhawks have a total of 22 known commitments —13 offensive players and 9 defensive players— according to the recruiting web site FANsonly.com.
One of the offensive players expected to contribute for Kansas this fall is quarterback Bill Whittemore.
The Fort Scott Community College transfer comes with a reputation as a skilled passer and runner.
Kirby said he thought Whitte-
more would be among the main
challengers to Zach Dyer, Olathe
senior, to fill the quarterback spot vacated by the dismissal of Mario Kinsev.
"He's definitely going to be one of the guys competing for that job," Kirby said of Whittemore. "He's got great feet, and he can scramble."
However, Kirby thinks the best sign that Mangino can be a solid recruiter comes from a player that opted out of his commitment to Kansas.
Lawrence Pinson, a linebacker from Jenks High School in Tulsa, Okla., reneged on his oral commitment to Kansas last week after he decided to attend a school closer to home.
Pinson, which MoKan Football rated as one of the top 15 linebackers in the country, changed
his decision to Oklahoma State.
Kirby said that for Kansas to be able to catch the interest of a player of Pinson's caliber indicates future success in recruiting.
"I think Kansas just to get a commitment from the kid originally was a great turnaround right there," Kirby said. "I think that's a sign that in the future when they have more than a month or a month and a half to recruit a player, they're going to be running into some pretty good players in the future."
Mangino and his staff were unable to comment on recruiting until today because of NCAA rules.
Contact Domoney at
sports@kansan.com. This story was edited by Justin Henning.
BASKETBALL
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 18
regular season championship by four games. The current group has a two game lead in the Big 12 with plenty of opportunities to extend that advantage.
Kansas was ranked in the top 10 all season in 1996-97. The Jayhawks haven't fallen out of the top 10 this year.
In addition, Kansas' three wins against top-10 teams this
season — Arizona, Oklahoma State and Oklahoma — marks the first time since the 1996-97 campaign that the Jayhawks have won three games against top-10 foes in the same season.
There are a lot of likenesses, but pardon Nick Collison if he doesn't want people comparing the current team to the '97 squad quite yet.
"That team was pretty solid from day one — they knew what they were going to have," said the
junior forward. "We have a lot of youth and have more opportunity to improve. That team might have been at its peak, while we don't know how high we can reach."
Despite the similarities, Haase said the '97 and the '02 teams are different.
"I thought in '97, when push came to shove, we were an unbelievable defensive team that could score," Haase said. "I think this year's team is an unbelievable scoring team that has the capability of playing great defense."
He said he would love to see this year's team win a title.
"We wanted to give coach Williams a national championship," he said. "If this year's team did that, it would take a lot of weight off my shoulders."
Contact Wasko at bwasko@kansan.com. This story was edited by Laurie Harrison.
Contact Wasko at
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