8B
- THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
SPORTS
FRIDAY, JANUARY 24, 2003
Arizona Wildcats prepared for tough Kansas game
CliffGrassmick/The Daily Camera
Moulaye Niang tries to block Colorado's Stephane Pelle in Wednesday's 60-59 loss. The Jayhawks will take on No.1 Arizona tomorrow in Allen Fieldhouse.
Injuries damage team's consistency
By John Domoney
jdomoney@kansan.com
Kansan scripwriter
A 14-1 record and a No.1 ranking would have most college basketball coaches heaping praise on their teams but not Arizona coach Lute Olson.
No, the Wildcat coach is as conservative with his comments about his team as he is with his part in his trademark silver hair.
"We're turning the ball over too many times," Olson said. "We're not shooting the ball the way we need to shoot it. The pieces are there, we just need to get all of the pieces healthy and then do a better job in our half-court offense."
Not only does Arizona bring a nine-game winning streak into tomorrow's noon game at Allen Fieldhouse, the Wildcats also are traveling with a host of players with bad ankles that would make any team trainer put in extra hours.
So far this season, guards Hassan Adams, freshman, and Salim
Stoudamire, sophomore, along with senior forward Luke Walton have been nursing sore ankles. Walton, a preseason All-American candidate, has already watched four games from the bench this season because of a sore ankle including the Wildcats' only defeat of the season against Louisiana State on Dec. 21 in Baton Rouge, La.
Olson said the injuries that have plagued his young team have led to inconsistent performance such as Wednesday's night's 71-63 victory over Arizona State in Tucson, Ariz., where the Wildcats nearly wasted a 26-point second-half lead.
"Once we get everybody healthy, we may be able to look at ourselves as being a more consistent team." Olson said. "At this point I would say that there are a number of teams that are playing better basketball than we are."
One of those teams that Olson pointed to is Kansas. Despite coming off a 60-59 defeat to Colorado on Wednesday night, No. 6 Kansas is the type of challenge that Olson is looking to as a chance for his team to prove themselves in a hostile environment.
"Playing at Kansas, we know how tough that's going to be, but I think that will be a good measuring stick for us in terms of how we're playing and what we need to do better to continue building for the end of the season," Olson said.
On paper, Arizona appears to hold the advantage over Kansas with the 10-deep rotation of the Wildcats. Senior guard Jason Gardner leads a deep and talented backcourt along with Stoudamire and Adams.
The backcourt is complemented by an athletic frontcourt led by Walton, whom many basketball pundits label as the best passing big man in the country after averaging 4.5 assists per game.
Even against common opponents this season, Arizona holds the edge after the Wildcats defeated Oregon 81-72 on Jan. 2 in Eugene, Ore. Kansas lost to the Ducks 84-78 on Dec. 7 in Portland, Ore.
Both Kansas and Arizona have defeated UCLA, but the Wildcats' margin of victory was 35 over the Bruins as compared to the 17 points that Kansas defeated the
Bruins by on Dec. 21 in Allen Fieldhouse.
Despite the numbers, Olson's 29 years as a collegiate coach has taught him that anything can happen in college basketball as he prepares for his first visit to Allen Fieldhouse.
"With Kansas on Saturday, we are going into a very tough place to play." Olson said. "They are a very talented basketball team, and we are going to have our hands full. We are going to see how well our players respond to that kind of pressure."
- Edited by Christy Dendurent
'Hawks look to attack Aggies' weaknesses
By Shane Mettlen
smettlen@kansan.com
Kansas sportswriter
If comparative scores mean anything, then the Kansas women's basketball team should like its chances when it heads to College Station to take on Texas A&M at 7 p.m. tomorrow.
Kansas raced out to a 10-2 lead against No. 22 Oklahoma Wednesday night and led most of the first half. The Sooners never surrendered the lead in the second half but let the Jayhawks
hang around before pulling out a 61-49 victory.
Texas A&M didn't fare so well against Oklahoma when they visited the Sooners Jan. 18.
The Aggies shot 25 percent from the field in route to a 77-39 defeat.
Texas A&M followed that with a 29 percent shooting night in a 66-49 defeat to Baylor on Wednesday.
"We just didn't hit our shots," Texas A&M coach Peggie Gillom said after the Oklahoma game. "We had open
looks, but the shooting percentage speaks for itself. It was a dismal shooting night for us and then we didn't get back in transition."
Perhaps a bigger problem for theAggies has been that their highly touted full-court pressure defense has failed to slow opponents down lately. In three straight defeats, Texas A&M has given up 72 points per game while only scoring 45 in its own right.
Kansas is focusing on the rigors of an up-tempo game.
"We've been working on almost every single practice trying to get back and match up quickly," Kansas coach Marian Washington said. "If they get up and down the floor we have to be able to find players and defend."
One player the Jayhawks will have to find defensively is Tocara Williams. The Aggies' junior guard is averaging 13.2 points a game and has led the team in scoring the last two games.
Edited by Amber Byarlay
Courtney Kuhlen/Kansan
Freshman guard Blair Waltz shouts for coverage during Wednesday's game. The Jayhawks face Texas A&M tomorrow afternoon in College Station.
New baseball coach starts team's season with a warm aloha
By Daniel Berk dberk@kansan.com Kansan sportswriter
The high temperature in Hilo Hawaii, today is 81 degrees. The high in Lawrence today is 27 degrees. Kansas baseball coach Ritch Price knew what he was doing when he scheduled the Jayhawks' first six games in Hawaii.
While many other college baseball teams will be stuck in the gym this weekend, Kansas will be starting its season this early for the first time in school history. It will not be a vacation for the Jayhawks though, as they will play six games in three days against the University of Hawaii-Hilo.
The Vulcans have already began their season and dropped their first six games, all to nationally-ranked Arizona State.
UHH is led by infielder Tom Henderson, who has started the season with a .462 batting average, after starting four of the six games. The only player that UHH has started all six games is outfielder Sean Tamur.
"We know UHH has struggled lately," Price said. "We still want to get better every time we take the field this weekend, and find what we need to work on for the rest of the season."
The Jayhawks will try to better their 6-18 road record from last year with a solid start in Hawaii. Kansas has won its last six season-opening games.
Senior left-hander Pat Holmes will get the start on the mound for
the first game for Kansas. Last season Holmes recorded a 4.15 earned run average in only four appearances.
Following Holmes this weekend on the mound, junior-college transfer Ryan Knippschild, junior Josh Duran, junior Chris Smart and senior Kevin Wheeler will all see time pitching against the Vulcans.
"All of our pitchers will be on an 80-pitch limit," Price said. "The performance of our pitching will be key to succeed this weekend."
The Jayhawks will be out of the services of pitcher Chris Jones, who posted a 4-1 record during the 2002 season. Jones is expected to return to the Kansas lineup in February after rehabilitating from his late summer arm surgery.
Besides winning, Price wants to use this early season trip as a learning experience for everyone in the Kansas baseball program and take advantage of the Hawaiian weather.
"We want a warmer climate," Price said. "We will take this opportunity to get a jump on a lot of the teams in the Midwest who will be practicing inside this weekend. We also need to establish a level defensively we can play at. Last season we finished ninth in the conference."
If the Jayhawks can do everything Price needs and wants them to do, maybe they can enjoy a little bit of the sun in Hawaii.
Edited by Christy Denduret
Offseason workouts kick in
By Kevin Flaharty
kflaharty@kansan.com
Kansan staff worker
Mark Smith, Kansas strength and conditioning coach, said that offseason conditioning was important for individual teams' efforts during the season.
"Athletes need to be strong and flexible," Smith said. "It gives them less chance of injury and ensures that they will be able to compete."
As some Kansas athletic teams plunge into the bulk of their seasons, others begin to prepare for next year.
The football team arrived in Lawrence on Jan. 15 and began exercising soon after
Players condition at 6:15 a.m. four days a week and also must lift during one of the shifts lasting from 8 a.m. until 4 p.m. Players conduct Tower-body lifting on Mondays and Thursdays and participate in upper-body lifting on Tuesdays and Fridays.
Smith said that while lifting can complement athletic ability, weight training alone cannot make an athlete.
You still have to recruit top caliber athletes and then coach them to a good, conditioned form." Smith said. "It all starts
"We teach them to work hard, give 100 percent all of the time. It's like anything in life you have to instill those habits, you need to work hard and have discipline."
Mark Smith
Kansas menopause and conditioning coach
Bill Whitemore, junior quarterback, said the players also trained outside of the lifting and conditioning program.
with the horses."
"We started playing seven on-seven and passing in the evening." Whittemore said. "We've really started to have a good showing."
Seven-on-seven is a passing drill that puts seven defenders against seven offensive players. The players left out are on the line. It is designed to help a quarterback and receivers execute plays without having to worry about constant pressure from blinding defenders.
While some places in the o
lesson work out to aid strength
and agility, others attempt to
strengthen bodies weakened from injuries.
Bill Whittemore tore the medial collateral ligament in his knee in a game against Missouri. After taking a few weeks to rest, he began a rehabilitation program to gain strength and repair his injured knee. Now, going into spring workouts, Whittemore said his knee was fine and his spand and quickness were back to normal.
While some strength and conditioning coaches are made famous by their techniques and gruelling workout regiments, Smith said the attitude at Kansas was most important for success.
Smith said some players had to gain or lose weight before the coming season.
"We recommend that they eat all three meals a day," Smith said. "But if they really need to lose weight, we have a nutritionist work with each group."
"We teach them to work hard, give 100 percent all of the time," Smith said. "It's like anything to life, you have to instill those habits, you need to work hard and have discipline."
Edited by Chrisy Dems
durem
Men's Basketball CONTINUED FROM PAGE 18
"As far as conference wise, it's not important," Langford said Wednesday. "But in terms of the magnitude and in terms of teams that we're going to see
Kansas will have a game of great importance in terms of the conference and national stage in its next opponent, following Arizona.
in the NCAA, I think it's important."
The Jayhawks will complete the last game in a murderous three-game schedule when they
— Edited by Amber Byarlay
meet No. 4 Texas on Monday at home at 8 p.m.
"We have a tough stretch coming up," senior forward Nick Collison said after Wednesday's defeat. "We have to keep playing, or we'll get beat again."
Samuelson
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1B
The two schools — think basketball institutes in this sense match-up like mirror images of each other.
Southeast Regional when the Wildcats won it all.
Both are rich in tradition — Kansas has won 1,784 games; Arizona has 1,424 victories.
The difference is that Arizona has proven it belongs among the top teams.
The two have some of the most incredible players in the collegiate game; before the season's done, Arizona's Jason Gardner and Luke Walton, along with Hinrich and Collison, could very well fill out four of the five spots on the All-American team. That's not even mentioning the talent of the Wildcats' Hassan Adams, Rick Anderson and Salim Stoudamire; or Jayhawks Keith Langford, Aaron Miles and Wayne Simien.
Each has one of the game's best coaches — Kansas' Williams recently recorded his 400th victories, Arizona's Lute Olson is nearing his 500th at Arizona and 700th overall.
But as Williams has said all season; one game won't make or break us.
Kansas hasn't — at least not vet.
Roy's right, but with a team that has struggled to find itself like this squad has, one game — a win or even a solid setback — could be the tone setter for the rest of this season. Let alone another showdown on Monday against fourth-ranked Texas.
If Kansas doesn't show up and play solidly on Saturday, there may not be much left to prove.
Samuelson is a Wichita senior in journalism.
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