SPORTS
"It's going to be awkward to say the least." Wayne Simien, sophomore forward, on former Kansas men's basketball coach Roy Williams' attendance of tomorrow's banquet
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"It is going to be awkward to say the least."
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Milerace.sh 2B • THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
SPORTS COMMENTARY
Inside Sports
Jessie Newell jnewell@kansan.com
Fans mourn ask questions one day after
It was a sad day on the campus on the University of Kansas.
People were down yesterday. You could just feel it. They were quiet. Heads were down.
"It's a little quiet even though it's a gorgeous day," said Jacob Wener, Minneapolis, Minn., junior. "Definitely somber."
"It's been a tough a week," said Chris Burt, Great Bend junior.
Indeed, it has. A week ago, Kansas lost a game. Monday, it lost a hero.
"It's hard to get mad at somebody that you've looked up to and admired for a long time." said Alex Gholson, La Crosse, Wis., freshman.
That, however, is what fans are being forced to do.
Posters on campus announce Roy as "Mayor of Betrayalville." Chalk messages include, "I guess Roy doesn't give a shit about KU either."
But more than anything else right now, they are alone.
Fans are bitter. They are angry. They are crushed.
"He told us three years ago he wasn't going to leave Kansas unless he got fired or he retired, and neither of which happened," said San Cawthorn, a1999 KU graduate. "I feel somewhat deserted by the man."
The sad thing is, Roy Williams was a very easy person to believe in.
The recruits believed him when he said he was staying. His players believed him when he said they were the most important to him. And the fans believed him when he said he would retire a Jayhawk.
I guess this is what a belief in someone brings you.
There was something about his southern drawl and clean language that just made you want to trust him.
Fans are now left with so many ques
tions but few answers.
"How are you going to drop everything that's been built up?" said Will Bricker, Baldwin City sophomore.
"Three years ago you said you'd stay for the players, so how do you think that makes your current players feel?" said Alnee Garcia, Lawrence senior.
Many Kansas students can hardly remember a time without Williams.
"I don't think anyone can replace Roy," said Amanda Vossen, Wichita sophomore, "but I think we'll still go on and have a strong program."
A strong program, but one that will definitely never be the same.
Heroes don't just come along every day.
Softball looks to bounce back
After Texas A&M swept her team over the weekend, Kansas coach Tracy Bunge said her team needed to get its feet back underneath it.
today's doubleheader against Arkansas at 3 p.m. offers a great opportunity to do just that as the Jayhawks take on a struggling non-conference squad after being handed at least one loss by all six Big 12 teams they have faced.
Newell is an Emporia freshman in journalism.
The Jayhawks and Razorbacks come into the games both near the cellar of their respective conference standings.
Kansas (22-15 overall, 2-9 Big 12 Conference) has lost four in a row and
Arkansas (19-28) has lost 15 of its last 20 games and is riding a three-game losing streak as it sits in 10th place of the Southeastern Conference out of 11 teams.
remains in eighth place in the Big 12 out of 10 teams.
The team's trip to Lawrence is just part of a huge road swing as it closes out the season playing 10 of its last 12 games away from Fayetteville, Ark.
and a .328 average and senior Julie Young with 38 hits, 22 RBI and a .299 average.
The 'Hawks will next be in action in a doubleheader at Texas, starting at noon on Saturday, for their final road trip before heading back to Jayhawk Field for games against Missouri. University of Missouri-Kansas City, Nebraska and Baylor to close out the regular season.
As a team, the Razorbacks have managed only a .239 batting average, but some members of the squad have still posted solid statistics, including senior Kim Eiben with 43 hits, 18 RBI
Junior Heather Schlichtman leads the Arkansas pitching staff with a 2.67 ERA and 128 strikeouts. The Razorback rotation has a combined ERA of 3.21.
Steve Schmidt
Chancellor Bob, this is all your fault. I want you to know that. I hope you know that This is all your fault. You are a complete and utter failure.
Free forAll
Why would you even want to go to UNC?
They're a bunch of idiots, a bunch of babbling idiots.
supported you, but you let us down and KU basketball will always be the best with or without you. You can't take a good team with you.
--supported you, but you let us down and KU basketball will always be the best with or without you. You can't take a good team with you.
People keep asking me how come I'm not upset about Roy leaving. The answer is simple. I have a little more faith in our players, and I don't think a lot of people do.
I just wanted to thank Roy Williams for deserting his Lawrence family.
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--supported you, but you let us down and KU basketball will always be the best with or without you. You can't take a good team with you.
I think Roy is a traitor and a hypocrite who went back on his word, and I'm personally glad that he left KU because we don't need a coach like that. To the basketball players, I'm very sorry for what happened, but the next coach will be better and will support you better.
supported you, but you let us down and KU basketball will always be the best with or without you. You can't take a good team with you.
Does anybody else think it's necessary to maybe rehire a certain someone that possibly was fired because of a certain someone who just left KU?
supported you, but you let us down and KU basketball will always be the best with or without you. You can't take a good team with you.
Picture this. 2004 Final Four: Kansas Jayhawks vs. Tar Heels. What sweet revenge it will be to beat the Tar Heels
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Koy, what makes you think that those thugs at North Carolina aren't going to screw you over the way they screwed Matt Doherty over?
supported you, but you let us down and KU basketball will always be the best with or without you. You can't take a good team with you.
Our coach asks us to have a class act during the Final Four. We had a class act, but he left without a class act, so now I say weiot.
Roy, you betrayed us; everyone at KU, everyone in the state of Kansas. We
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They're not your players anymore, Roy.
They're not yours. They've never been
yours, they've always been KU's.
Wanda Williams is the Yoko Ono of college basketball.
supported you, but you let us down and KU basketball will always be the best with or without you. You can't take a good team with you.
--supported you, but you let us down and KU basketball will always be the best with or without you. You can't take a good team with you.
Wayne gave you his right arm. Roy. What more could he have given you? You just turned your back on him. North Carolina sucks. Quin Snyder's better than Roy.
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I just want everyone to know that I hate North Carolina and Dick Baddour more than I hate Syracuse and Carmelo Anthony and Texas and T.J. Ford.
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You say you're leaving for North Carolina for your family, so does that mean you love your son more than your daughter, who doesn't want to leave Lawrence at all?
Ruck Foy. Bring on Bill Self!
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Roy Williams is the only thing that made me go to KU. Roy Williams is the only thing that's gonna take me away from KU. This sucks!
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As of right now, I don't give a bleepity-bleep about Roy Williams.
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Yeah, tomorrow is my birthday, too, Roy.
Thanks for ruining it.
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Obviously one thing Roy Williams didn't learn from Dean Smith was a thing called loyalty.
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As if my life could get any worse: KU lost the national championship, I lost a friend of mine to a car accident, and now I find out Roy Williams isn't coming back next year. Thanks a lot, Roy.
Roy, you can leave your sunglasses in Lawrence, because you're going to be in Dean Smith's shadow for the rest of your career.
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Life after Roy: here's to a 2004 championship. Let's go Jayhawks. The University's behind you.
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Our new basketball coach needs to be Kirk Hinrich. Everyone vote Kirk.
Listening to Roy talk about going to North Carolina is like finding out that your dad cheated on your mom and then having to listen to him brag about how great life is going to be with his new family.
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I'm crying right now because I feel like my dad just left me.
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Thirteen guys in the locker room he loved?
Roy had two guys he liked and eleven guys he was ready to ditch. Good riddance.
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Last Monday my friend and I were bawling our eyes out because Roy Williams didn't win it all. This Monday we're bawling our eyes out because we feel like there are knives in our backs.
I've developed a deep and abiding hatred for North Carolina.
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Roy, I just want you to know that we are behind you 100 percent, and that KU basketball will live on without him. We love you!
Roy, don't try to talk about how much you loved being at Kansas and how much you learned here. We don't want your mercy bones.
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I'm officially a Duke Blue Devil fan.
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This message is for Chancellor Hemenway
Don't screw up hiring a new head coach.
Get Tom Crean from Marquette
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All I have to say is, Langford, please don't pull a Roy on us.
Wow, I never thought that in one night I'd become a Duke fan. Duke Blue Devils! Yeehaw!
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 16, 2003
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Graves, let's talk about it. Roy's gone, fro out the hair, keep dunkin'. That's right, Gravy Train.
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Don't nobody diss my state like that and get away with it.
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This day has been like finding out that Santa Claus in the mall is just some homeless guy who needs some cash. There's nothing special about Roy Williams after all.
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I never thought I'd be using the names Benedict Arnold and Roy Williams in the same sentence.
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Does this mean we won't have the Roy Williams basketball camp this year?
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SEE SPORTS FREE FOR ALL ON PAGE 4B
POLI
kansan .com What was former Kansas Athletics
Director Al Bohl's best move?
■ Firing football coach Terry Allen
■ Beer before football games
■ Hiring baseball coach Ritch Price
■ His best is yet to come; moving out
Hiring baseball coach rather than his
His best is yet to come: moving out of Lawrence
Log on to Kansan.com to cast your vote.
Kansas Athletics Calendar
TOMORROW
TODAY
FRIDAY
Kansas Relays, Memorial Stadium
Kansas Relays, Memorial Stadium Softball vs. Arkansas, 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. at the Kansas softball field
Kansas Relays, Memorial Stadium Baseball at Oklahoma, 6:35 p.m. in Norman, Okla.
SATURDAY
Kansas Relays, Memorial Stadium Baseball at Oklahoma, 2 p.m. in Norman, Okla.
Rowing dual with Kansas State, in Man-hattan
Softball at Texas, noon and 2 p.m. in
Arlington, Texas
Tennis to Texas A&M, noon at the Robinson courts
Women's Golf at the Big 12 Conference Championships in Columbia, Mo.
SUNDAY
Baseball at Oklahoma, 1 p.m. in Norman,
Okla.
Women's Golf at the Big 12 Conference Championships in Columbia, Mo.
NBA
Jordan to exit from NBA play, confronts franchise turmoil
WASHINGTON — Michael Jordan surely expected a different ending, not a finale amid the turmoil of his selfassembled, crumbling team.
Jordan finishes his NBA playing career — part three — in Philadelphia tonight. His Washington Wizards teammates will probably try to send him out a winner, but there's no telling what to expect after the tongue-lashing some players got from coach Doug Collins at Jordan's last home game.
After Monday night's 93-79 loss to the New York Knicks, Collins criticized some players for showing "insidious" disrespect to the coach. He implied it could lead to a roster purge in the offseason.
Caught off guard by the remarks, Jordan supported Collins but said the timing or method might not have been the best.
At least this is helping the 40-year-old Jordan with one wish: He didn't want a big, somber fuss over his retirement. Instead, he's got a big mess. His next job probably will be to fix it and continue his quest to turn around a franchise that hasn't won a playoff game in 15 years.
The Associated Press
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