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SPORTS
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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2003
SPORTS COMMENTARY
Eric Braem/Kansan
Aaron Miles, sophomore guard, passes around Nebraska's John Turek to keep the ball in play as he jumps the baseline. Miles led the Jayhawks with 10 assists and four steals in the 81-51 win over the Cornhuskers Saturday.
Ryan Wood rwood@kansan.com
Distributing and revoking ThunderStix a big mistake
Picture the scene: Three psychotic, compulsive gamblers are locked in a padded room. A man wheels a slot machine into the middle of the room and then sets down a five-gallon bucket of quarters. He gives one instruction to the three nuts.
"Don't play this slot machine." he says.
Now, replace "slot machine" with "ThunderStix" and "psychotic, compulsive gamblers" with "psychotic, fair-weather fans."
The University of Kansas Athletics Department goofed last week. Without a publicized explanation, it looked stupid doing it.
First, some background.
On Jan. 8, a Kansas State fan in the crowd proudly played the K-State school fight song on his trumpet, before the tip-off of the women's basketball game between Kansas and K-State at Allen Fieldhouse. About 80 percent of the Fieldhouse sang "Wildcat Victory" while the man blared it on his trumpet. It was a neat moment.
But a Kansas official quickly approached the man and, after exchanging some words, confiscated the guy's trumpet while 4,000 fans booed loudly.
"The conference has a new rule against artificial noisemakers," said Brad Nachtigal, director of events. "We've been instructed to prevent them from being used."
SEE WOOD ON PAGE 7B
Simien will miss ninth game
By Doyle Murphy
dmurphy@kansan.com
Kansan sportswriter
Kansas fans might see sophomore Wayne Simien wearing his warmups before tonight's game. They might see him shooting before the game, as he has done the last three games. But they won't see him battling any Missouri players.
After injuring his shoulder against the University of Missouri-Kansas City, Simien will miss his ninth straight game, Kansas coach Roy Williams said Saturday.
Simien will be reevaluated after the game to decide if the shoulder will require surgery. Williams said.
A Missouri native may seem like an unlikely source of comfort for a Jayhawk team, but that's exactly what Jeff Graves has been. The junior forward from Lee's Summit, Mo., has averaged 8.3 points and 8 rebounds per game while filling in for Simien.
Graves has quickly become a major part of No. 12 Kansas (14-5 overall, 4-1 Big 12 conference), but he could have just as easily been a Tiger. He was recruited heavily by No. 25 Missouri (13-4, 4-2) but sliced them from his list when he learned he would have to cut his braids to play for the team. Now Graves can't wait to play against his home-state team, he said after Kansas beat Nebraska 81-51 Saturday.
"I'm going to be fired up because of that little rival thing," Graves told reporters. The feeling doesn't seem to diminish for cross-state contest veterans.
"When Kansas and Missouri play it's always something special," Williams said. "Luckily we have this one at home. We need to have our guys into it from the very first moment."
Home has been a good place for the Jayhawks when facing the Tigers. Williams has a 10-4 record versus Missouri in Allen Fieldhouse, and a 3-0 record against Quin Snyder-coached teams in the Jayhawk's house.
However, the Tigers have given Williams more trouble than any other
team in his career, beating him in 12 of 29 meetings, including games that spoiled two Jayhawk bids for perfect records in the Big 12 Conference.
Kansas will have to play well to have a shot at the conference championship, senior forward Nick Collison said.
"We gotta go out intense every game," he said. "Because you can drop
just like that."
—Edited by Brandon Gay
Two Hawks jerseys join KU's greatest this evening
By Shane Mettlen
smettlen@kansan.com
Kansan sportswriter
Two women will take their places among some of Kansas basketball's elite when their jerseys are retired tonight.
A ceremony will be held at halftime of the men's game against Missouri. Angela Aycock and Tamecka Dixon will become the second and third women to receive the honor at Kansas.
Coach Marian Washington said tonight's ceremony will be a great moment for the program.
"Both these women are very deserving," Washington said. "It's an incentive for the younger players and for the players who have competed in the past. I think it is going to be received very well."
Crimson banners bearing Aycock's No.12 and Dixon's No.33 will join Lynette Woodard — the only previous women's basketball player to have her jersey retired — in the rafters at Allen Fieldhouse. Woodard, who is now an assistant coach for Kansas, is pleased to have the new company.
"I'm glad someone else is going up," Woodard said. "It's something they can be proud of. They've been great for this program."
Both Aycock and Dixon were Kodak All-Americans for the Jayhawks. Aycock earned the honor in 1995 and Dixon in 1997. In addition, Aycock was co-Big 8 Conference Player of the Year in 1994 and first team All-Big 8 three times. Aycock averaged 23.1 points per game her senior season, and she is third on the school's all-time scoring list.
Dixon was named Big 8 Player of the Year twice as a Jayhawk and averaged 20.8 points her game her senior season. She has won two WNBA championships with the Los Angeles Sparks.
Edited by Ryan Wood
Dan Nelson/Kansan
Leo Bookman, KU junior competes in the Men 70-meter dash at the Jayhawk invitational on Saturday. Bookman was the top Kansas runner in the eventing for fifth place at 6.88 seconds.
Track breaks records, claims eight victories
The Kansas track and field team recorded eight event winners Saturday at the Jayhawk Invitational in Anschutz Sports Pavilion.
By Chris Wintering
cwintering@kansan.com
Kansan sportswriter
In the team's second joint track meet, coach Stanley Redwine said the team's consistency showed against the other opponents.
"My goal in this meet was to bring in some competition so that our athletes would have fair chances to see where they are." Redwine said. "As a result there were several records broken."
The men's 4x400-meter team of senior Anson Jackson, sophomore Jeremy Mims, junior Leo Bookman and senior Luke Steinbrink set a Kansas record
Kansas middle distance runners and vertical jumpers had a number of strong performances in the meet. Sophomore Megan Manthe, freshman Angela Pichardo and junior Arrah Nielsen finished 1-2-3 in the women's 1,000-meter, and sophomore Brandon Hodges, freshman Cameron Schwehr and senior Derec Lacio finished 1-2-3 in the men's 1,000-meter. The women's 4x800-meter relay team and sophomore Jeremy Mims in the 600-yard run also won.
with a time of 3 minutes, 14.53 seconds, topping the old record by nearly three seconds. In addition, six Anschutz records were set at the meet, including the men's and women's 60-meter dash and 60-meter hurdles, the men's 800-meter run and the men's 4x400 relay.
SEE TRACK ON PAGE 7B
Mizzou rivalry boils tonight
Eric Braem/Kansan
Kansas senior guard Kirk Hinrich struggles with John Turek, Nebraska sophomore forward, to get to a loose ball in the first half. The Jayhawks handed the "Huskers their worst home lost in the history of the Bob Devaney Sports Center.
By John Domoney
jdomoney@kansan.com
Kansan sportswriter
When current coach Quin Snyder leads his Tigers on the floor for tonight's Big Monday showdown with Kansas, the Mizzou general is not likely to hear cheers.
It will not resemble the scene in Allen Fieldhouse Jan. 27 when former Missouri men's basketball coach Norm Stewart received a standing ovation at the Kansas-Texas game.
No, theyoung, suaveSnyder is expecting the ever-present boos that are showered upon Missouri by Jayhawk supporters.
Snyder is optimistic, even after he left last year's match with the Jayhawks in Allen Fieldhouse stinging from a 105-73 defeat at the hands of Kansas. The Jayhawks went on to cap a perfect 16-0 record in the Big 12 Conference with a 95-92 win over the Tigers in Columbia, Mo.
The rivaly has not lost intensity, but Missouri has lost two key players from last year's squad. Three-point gunner Clarence Gilbert graduated, and guard Kareem Rush elected to declare himself eligible for the NBA Draft.
The departure of Gilbert and Rush paved the way for junior guard Rickey Paulding, who enters tonight's game averaging 16.5 points per game. Paulding broke out in Saturday afternoon's 73-70 win over Colorado at Missouri's Hearnes Center. Paulding played 37 minutes and had nine rebounds, six assists, one turnover and 21 points.
Snyder said Paulding had been inconsistent this season. But his budding star is only part of the scoring balance that Snyder is trying to establish with the Tigers.
"We have a lot of weapons, and I think
that's having a balanced attack," Snyder said. "Our challenge is to use them efficiently, when they do start taking away from one guy, we go the next guy."
The "next guy" for Missouri has been junior center Arthur Johnson, who is averaging nearly a double with 16.5 points per game and 9.6 rebounds per game.
Johnson is complemented down low with junior forward Travon Bryant. The threat of Bryant's outside shot will likely keep the middle open for Johnson, who will present a mighty task for Kansas big men Nick Collion and Jeff Graves.
One front court player — who will not play in tonight's game — has already predicted the outcome of the Border War.
After Colorado lost to Missouri 73-70 Saturday, Buffalo center David Harrison said he expected the Jayhawks to have their hands full with the Tigers.
"Kansas is beatable," Harrison said. "We proved that. This team can definitely go into Kansas and beat them."
Edited by Lindsay Hanson
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