SWIMMING: Kansas honors former swimmer. SEE PAGE 6B. WOMEN'S BASKETBALL: Jayhawks fall to Nebraska on the road. SEE PAGE 3B.
TALK TO US: Contact Sarah Warren or Levi Chronister at (785) 864-4858 or sports@kansan.com
SPORTS
1B
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
WWW.KANSAN.COM/SPORTS
TUESDAY, JANUARY 22, 2002
Kate Eichten
sports@kansan.com
Paying athletes: a question that needs to be addressed
According to the TV show 60 Minutes, on average, Notre Dame brings in $3 million in revenue for each home football game during the regular season.
Too bad the athletes don't pocket that money.
Former UCLA linebacker Ramogi Huma, co-founder of Collegiate Athletes Coalition has teamed up with the United Steelworkers Union to push for a salary, or at least an allowance for college athletes and to change NCAA rules which Huma says are unfair. Huma said that most athletes live below the poverty level, and not only do they not have time to hold jobs, but most of their families cannot afford to pass a little extra money along to their student-athletes.
The CAC would not be considered a union, so they would also not be protected by legal laws. Huma said he has no intention of organizing a strike for collegiate players, he just wants to get the NCAA to listen to what he has to say and allow a moderate amount of money for the athletes.
The only big problem with this issue is that the NCAA is worried that paying student-athletes would change the way collegiate athletics is being run.
So what now?
There are obviously pros and cons on each side of the battle.
The No.1 advantage to allowing more money for these athletes would be the reduced chances of them getting caught up in tricky, and sometimes silly, regulations. For example, if a football player were to accept food from an outside party, he would be breaking the rules and could be suspended. Believe me, this has actually happened.
Secondly, they could purchase the excesses like a Play Station 2 or beer, for those who are of age.
Now the disadvantages to giving athletes more money is the obvious: Some players would abuse their privileges and ruin it for everyone else (but to me, beer and a Play Station 2 would NOT be considered abuse). I'm obviously talking about the illegal ways to abuse the extra cash. Also, if the spending limits aren't determined, schools and coaches would be able to "buy" their teams depending on how much money the programs generate in the first place.
I realize that these players put forth a lot of time and energy for their sport, but isn't that the main reason they came to college anyway? I honestly doubt that they came to college strictly for the education part. So apparently a free education, books and housing aren't enough for them. According to Huma, only about 50 percent of college football players and roughly 30 percent of basketball players even end up graduating. Obviously their education isn't their No.1 priority.
Money is.
And most of them want to reach the professional level as soon as possible anyway. (Drew, it's not your time yet, don't read this paragraph of the column.) Collegiate athletics are already marketed in very much the same way professional athletics are. The only difference is payment for the players.
Now I guess all we have to do is wait until the day that not only college coaches, but also college athletes, earn more than our professors.
Eichten is Topeka sophomore in journalism. Contact her at sports@kansan.com.
CHRISTINA NEFF/KANSAN
Kansas forward Nick Collison reaches to tip the ball in the basket during Saturday's game against Oklahoma at Allen Fieldhouse. The Jayhawks beat the Sooners 74-67.
Juniors stand out in victory
Bv Doug Pacey
Kansan sportswriter
Drew Gooden was relaxed and at ease as he answered reporters' questions Saturday after Kansas' 74-67 win against Oklahoma.
Then assistant coach Ben Miller squeezed through the circle of reporters and interrupted the junior forward in mid-sentence.
"Is your mom still around?" he asked. "Coach wants to talk to her."
"No, she's at the hotel," the 20-year-old said as he sat up in his seat, and his eyes grew wide. "Why? Am I in trouble?"
"Not when you get a doubledouble like that against Oklahoma," Miller said as he smiled and walked away.
There was no way Gooden, who notched 19 points and 10 rebounds for a Big 12 Conference-leading 13th double-double of the season, would be in any kind of trouble after the way he performed in the first three minutes of the second half. The conference's leading scorer totaled eight points in that stretch, abused the Sooner
defense, which had limited him to four points in the first half and more important, helped give the No. 2 Jayhawks (15-2 overall, 4-0 Big 12) the inside track on the Big 12 championship.
"In the first half I didn't do a lot," Gooden said. "At halftime, I was like, 'I need to get the ball. I need to make plays.'"
Gooden made some plays and when No.6 Oklahoma (14-2 overall, 3-1 Big 12) focused its inside defense on Gooden in the second half, Nick Collison became Kansas' go-to guy.
Kansas' other junior forward — an All-American and Wooden Award candidate, like Gooden — scored six unanswered points in one minute and nine seconds, and Kansas took a 49-33 lead.
Junior guard Kirk Hinrich, who scored 15 points and made three of six three-pointers said Gooden and Collison were doing a good job of getting in position. "Their bigguys were in foul trouble. They were kind of thin (at the forward position). We were trying to force it in there and make things happen."
SEE SOONERS ON PAGE 3B
Wins against ranked teams build confidence
By Brent Wasko
Kansan sportswriter
What a difference a week makes for the No.2 Kansas men's basketball team.
After playing one of its worst games of the season in an 87-77 loss to UCLA on Jan. 12, facing two top-10 teams was just what the Jayhawks needed to get their confidence back.
Last Tuesday, Kansas defeated then-No. 6 Oklahoma State in a 79-67 blowout on the road. Saturday, the Jayhawks held on for a 74-67 win in Allen Fieldhouse against then-No. 5 Oklahoma, completing one the team's most challenging stretches of the season on a winning note.
"You know, college basketball is so crazy," Kansas coach Roy Williams said. "Last week at this time, I'm not
the happiest camper in the world because we just lost to UCLA and we're feeling down. Since then, we win at Stillwater and beat Oklahoma here and now I'm feeling a heck of a lot better."
Williams said the team wasn't panicking after losing to the Bruins, but he admitted that the squad's confidence was fragile.
"The kids were all mad," Williams said. "They were disappointed. They were all upset about the way we played. We really tried to focus on our mistakes and make sure that we didn't do them again. I think that they responded that way."
With the victory against the Sooners, Kansas moved to 4-0 in the Big 12 Conference and is tied with Texas atop the league standings. The win
also provided the Jayhawks with their fourth win against a ranked team this season, including a 3-0 mark against top-10 teams.
"Playing UCLA on national TV, we kind of laid an egg out there and didn't play up to par," said senior guard Jeff Boschee. "I think we needed to make a statement that this team is for real and that we are capable of doing some damage."
Junior forward Drew Gooden, who was named the Big 12 Player of the Week yesterday, said the fact that the Sooners and the Cowboys were both conference teams was more important for the Jayhawks than their high rankings.
"UCLA was a nonconference game, and we couldn't dwell on that." Gooden said. "We lost, OK. So what?"
The Big 12 is what we're striving for. These wins against Oklahoma and Oklahoma State, which are two of the powerhouses in the conference, are key for us."
Kansas faces a less difficult portion of its schedule this week, starting with a Wednesday game on the road against Iowa State, a team near the bottom of the Big 12 standings.
"Our players will be focused and they'll be enthused about playing Iowa State because they've kicked our tails for a long time," Williams said.
Contact Wasko at
bwasko@kansan.com. This story was edited by Brandon Stinnett.
Jayhawks dominate'Huskers
By Ali Brox
Kansan sportswriter
Lanes two, four and six were the places to be Saturday evening in Robinson Natatorium.
Kansas swimmers, competing in the even lanes, dominated the Nebraska Cornhuskers 185-94 in their home dual meet and improved their team record to 6-2.
"After last weekend, we had to be able to turn it around," Coach Cathy Burgess said. "The biggest accomplishment they did was to take the loss last weekend and then come in and get excited and go for it this weekend and show a better performance for us."
The Jayhawks left little room for doubt as to who was the better team, not only winning most of the events, but also sweeping the top three places
in many of them. The performance against Nebraska marked a vast improvement from Kansas' previous contest against Texas A&M University, a 187-108 loss.
"We had a complete turnaround from our swims last weekend," Burgess said. "Not necessarily with attitude, just the whole picture — attitude, performances, ready to go, excited about the meet — a complete turnaround. We were a much faster team today."
Kansas started strong with a 1-2-3 sweep of the 200-yard medley relay, the first event, and stayed strong through the rest of the meet. In the third event, senior captain Molly O'Connor won the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:55.58. It was O'Connor's first win at Kansas.
CHRISTINA NEFF/KANSAN
SEE SWIMMING ON PAGE 6B
Kansas freestyle swimmer Stacey Schneider comes up for air during the 1000-yard freestyle AT Saturday's meet at Robinson Natatorium against Nebraska. Schneider placed fourth with a time of 11:14.98.
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