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SPORTS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
1B
WWW.KANSAN.COM/SPORTS
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2003
Baseball opens at home field today
Baseball coach Ritch Price's home debut will come nine days earlier than expected.
By Daniel Berk
dberk@kansan.com
kansan sportswriter
Instead of opening their home season Feb. 21, the Jayhawks will start agains the Western Illinois Leathernecks a noon today.
"We need to play. That is the bottom line." Price said. "Western Illinois needs to play as well, so it was just a good opportunity for both schools involved."
Heading into a big weekend against nationally ranked Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, Price said it was key to keep everybody on the team fresh and healthy.
Senior Kevin Wheeler was scheduled to start Sunday against UALR and would still see some innings today against the Leathernecks. However, senior Pat Holmes will get to start.
The schedule change comes after the Jayhawks' final game of a three-game series against the University of Arkansas-Little Rock was canceled and Western Illinois' series against Middle Tennessee State was also canceled.
"LSU is a top 10 team in the nation, and it is key for all the guys on our team to be healthy and ready to play." Price said. "That is why we will be using a lot of pitchers today and tweaking the
lineup."
The changes in the lineup are freshman Matt Baty starting at catcher instead of senior Sean Flynn. Senior Casey Spanish and junior Ryan Baty will also switch positions — Spanish will start in left field while the hot-hitting Ryan Baty will start at first base.
Flynn will most likely see action late in the game for defensive purposes and will start this weekend against LSU.
As for managing his first home game of the season, Price said he was extremely excited to establish Kansas as a team tough to beat at their home ballpark.
"The outfield is playing as well as any one can play right now." Price said.
"I am looking forward to playing at Hoglund Ballpark," Price said. "It is our first chance to play a game at home and we want to be a team that is tough at their home field. It is also supposed to be a little bit warmer, so we are excited about that."
Price and the rest of the Kansas baseball team are excited about the stellar play of the team's outfield. The outfield, which consists of Wheeler, Baty, Spanish and junior Matt Tribble, has been playing well so far this season.
White in Lawrence, the Leathernecks will play a double header, taking on the Washburn Ichabods after their game against the Jayhawks. The second game is expected to be at 3 p.m.
Edited by Erin Chapman
Padgett's knee strain shouldn't hurt future
By Shane Mettlen
smettenk@kansan.com
Kansan sportswriter
A Kansas men's basketball signee will not have surgery after injuring his knee while playing for Reno High School in Reno, Nev. Saturday night.
The injury should not affect Padgett's future as a collegiate, according to his father and high school coach Pete Padgett.
David Padgett, a 6-foot-11 post player will miss the remainder of Reno High's season, but may be able to play in all-star games this spring. He has already been selected to play for the East squad in the EA Sports Roundball Classic all-star game in Chicago March 31. Padgett will likely also be named to the McDonald's All American team. That game will be played on March 26 in Cleveland.
"He's pretty tough mentally" Pete Padgett said of his son. "He's looking
Pete Padgett said Kansas coach Roy Williams had been "very encouraging."
toward the rehab and is ready to come be a Jayhawk."
Padgett's injury has been diagnosed as a severe strain of his right kneeecap. During his junior year he suffered an injury to his left knee that also ended his season. Both injuries occurred while playing in Carson City, Nov.
Kristen Feller/Baylor Lariat
"Myself, my dad and my teammates worked so hard to make a run for it," Padgett said in an interview with the Reno Gazette-Journal. "To have it end like this is horrible."
Padgett was averaging 27 points and 14 rebounds per game when he was injured.
Padgett said he was sorry to see his high school career come to an abrupt end before this year's Nevada State Championship.
— Edited by Christy Dendurent
'Hawks bash Bears
Kansas scores big in small-crowd game
Kirk Hinrich, senior guard, leaps to toss up a first-half three-pointer against Baylor in Waco, Texas. Big 12 Conference officials elected Hinrich Big 12 Player of the Week Monday. The Jayhawks shot 61.5 percent from the field in their victory over the Bears yesterday.
By Doyle Murphy
dmurphy@kansan.com
Kansan sportswriter
WACO, Texas — Last night's game between Kansas and Baylor was a thriller. It was neck and neck. It was too close to call ... Wait, it was a 19-point Jayhawk blowout.
The Bears threatened early or maybe the Jayhawks threatened themselves with five turnovers in the first five and half minutes but after that the game quickly began to move toward its 79-58 final score. At the eight minute mark Baylor trailed by just one, 20-19. Most of the 8,758 fans present at tip-off were still inside the Ferrell Center and the Bears were still in the game.
A 21-9 Kansas run to close the first half, followed by a 5-0 drive to start the second changed the status of both.
"For a conference game," Kansas senior forward Nick Collison told reporters. "It was probably the smallest crowd we've played in front of. It makes it easier to win on the road when the crowd is not really into it."
True, even at its largest, the crowd couldn't come close to filling the 10,284-seat arena, but it was Kansas coach Roy Williams and the Jayhawks who weren't into it at the start, Williams said.
"First 10 or 11 minutes we had seven turnovers," he said. "And I stood up and screamed and made one of those coaching-genius statements 'Just get a shot.'"
Genius or not, Williams' words were heard.
Not only did the Jayhawks take shots they made them. They made 17-of-29 shots, 58.6 percent, in the first half and were even better after the break. In the second half they hit 15-of-23 shots, 65.2
Kristen Feller/Baylor Lariat
percent and finished the game having made 61.5 percent of their attempts from the field.
Kansas sophomore guard Aaron Miles goes in for a layup after beating Baylor sophomore guard John Lucas to the hoop. Miles had 9 points and five assists in the Jayhawks' 79-58 victory over Baylor.
Absent from Kansas' shot selection was the three-point shot. The Jayhawks didn't make a basket from behind the arc in the first half for the first time in the Williams era.
The Bears, on the other hand, fired from long range nearly every opportunity they got. Baylor attempted the sixth-most three-pointers ever, 35, against a Williams-coached squad. Sophomore guard John Lucas took 11 shots from behind the arc by himself. Lucas made three and scored 15 points. He shared Baylor's scoring honors with junior forward R.T. Guinn who cashed 5 of 7 three-pointers for his 15.
Leading the Jayhawks was sophomore guard Keith Langford. The native of Fort Worth, Texas, dropped 19 points on his home-state team. Langford watched the last game Kansas played in Waco, an 85-77 Baylor victory, from the stands as high school senior and Jayhawk signee.
"I was kind of mad," Langford said of the 2001 game. "Some of the fans were talking noise, telling me I should have
"For a conference game.It was probably the smallest crowd we've played in front of. It makes it easier to win on the road when the crowd is not really into it."
Nick Collison senior forward
come to Baylor, but I knew I made the right decision."
Notes:
Senior guard Kirk Hinrich passed Bud Stallworth for 15th place on Kansas' all-time scoring list. Hinrich scored 14 points despite suffering from flu symptoms the past three days. He has 1,505 points in his career.
Collison became the fourth-most prolific scorer in Kansas history, usurping Darnell Valentine. His 15 points last night gave him 1,824 in his college career.
Edited by Christy Dendurent
Kansas rated "easy" on athletes
By Kevin Flaherty
kflaherty@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
A newspaper report disagrees with football coach Mark Mangino's recent statement that the University of Kansas makes transferring for junior college students difficult.
"I would like for all Big 12 schools to be even," Mangino said. "But right now I'm trying to build a program. It's clear they're proud of their academic reputation here, and we take a lot of pride in our academic support."
Mangino said at his monthly press conference Feb. 5 that the University was tougher academically on transfers than other Big 12 Conference schools.
The Sentinel graded 117 Division I-A schools on a three-tier system for toughness of admission. The schools received a grade of either difficult, "so-so" or easy. Missouri and Texas were the only two
The Orlando Sentinel reported two weeks ago that Kansas was less than stifling in its academic requirements of high school athletes, specifically football players.
"I was shocked and befuddled. I wouldn't think that we would have easy admissions qualifications."
Big 12 schools to receive a difficult grade. Colorado, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas A & M and Texas Tech were "so-so". Baylor, Iowa State, Kansas and Kansas State were listed as easy.
Paul Buskirk Kansas associate athletics director
Paul Buskirk, Kansas associate athletics director for student support services, said that Kansas athletes must meet the same standards as students, but must also make NCAA standards.
By University standards, an athlete must achieve for admission: a score of 21 on the ACT, a 2.0 grade point average in the Kansas qualified admission preparatory program, an SAT score of 980 or the athlete must rank in the upper one-third of his graduating class. The athlete must then meet NCAA standards. Buskirk said that it was possible for an athlete to
make Kansas standards by ranking in the upper third of their graduating class but miss NCAA standards by having too low of a GPA. That result is possible, but not likely. Buskirk said.
At Missouri, a school rated as difficult in the *Sentinel*, an athlete must receive a 24 on the ACT, a 1100 verbal and math score on the SAT while completing the recommended curriculum. If those standards are not met, there is a scale matching the ACT or SAT score with a required class rank for the score. The lowest possible ACT score is a 17, and the lowest possible SAT is 800. The further down on the scale the test score is, the higher the class rank must be to compensate.
Buskirk said that Kansas was tougher on transfer hours than other schools might have been.
"In order for a transfer class to count, Kansas must have a class roughly equivalent of the class being transferred," Buskirk said. "If the classes are say, more vocational, they will not automatically be accepted."
If an athlete is initially a non-qualifier,
SEE EASY ON PAGE 8B
Retro jerseys gave style on path to NCAA title
Plenty of posters around campus proudly promote the pair as "Old School."
No, not the pair of actor Luke Wilson and former Saturday Night Live slapsticker Will Ferrell, who star in the soon-to-be released movie of the same name.
The cast of "Old School" on Mount Oread is All-American candidates Nick Collison and Kirk Hinrich who are portrayed on this year's team's theme poster wearing their current white uniforms, while former Kansas players don their old-style digs from the 50s.
Kansas should don the retros, already
So if "Old School" is the motto, where's the might?
Time's a wasting. America's already watching the throwback movement go full, um ... arc.
SPORTS COMMENTARY
Art Bowser, assistant manager of
Andy Samuelson asamuelson@kansan.com
Mitchell & Ness—a store specializing in retro jerseys in Philadelphia—has been at the forefront of the movement thanks to help from rappers such as Jermaine Dupri. Bowser told The Associated Press that his company's revenues skyrocketed from $2.8 million in 2000 to $23 million a year ago.
Matt Bourne of the NBA Store in New York confirmed the trend's growing success during the NBA's All-Star weekend, telling the AP that sales of
SEE SAMUELSON ON PAGE 8B
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