THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN THURSDAY MAY 7, 2000 SPORTS WOMEN'S BASKETBALL 3B Perkins chimes in on state of Bonnie Ball Athletic director sees progress in Henrickson's five seasons BY JAYSON JENKS jjenks@kansan.com Coach Bonnie Henrickson pumps her fist as her team buddies around her after a 61-16 victory against Nebraska. The women's basketball team made significant刺杀 this season, Henrickson's fifth at the helm, winning its of nine final 12 games and reaching the WNIT final. "Come on, Lew. she may be your only hire but right now it looks like it's a bust! I'm tired of buying season tickets and having disappointing seasons. Bring some excitement back to women's basketball." — Posted by kwuin on Jan. 22, 2009, at KUsports.com when Kansas was 1-3 in BIA 12 play Lew Perkins sits at a glossy-finished wood desk in the corner of his office. Across the table, his chief of staff, Nicole Corcoran, jots down notes while Perkins spends the next 15 minutes talking about the women's basketball program Weston White/KANSAN from the run to the WNIT championship game to the continuing process of building a winning foundation. Throughout the interview, Perkins reverted to three key points that served as the backbone of the football program's resurrection: consistency, patience and doing things the right way. He said these are the basis of coach Bonnie Henrickson's turnaround, too. "I said very frankly to Bonnie: The first couple years, I want to win." Perkins said. "But when you're building a program, you don't do that. You have to do it right. We felt very strongly that we had the right person doing all the right things and it was just a matter of time" In Henrickson's fifth season she enters her sixth at Kansas next year — the Jayhawks began to show signs of progress. Kansas upset then-No. 21 Iowa State on Feb. 22 and shocked then-No. 5 Baylor two weeks later. The Jayhawks won nine of their final 12 games and played in front of a record-setting crowd of 16,113 in the WNIT championship game against South Florida. "That really sent a message to me that people are beginning to understand what we're trying to do." Perkins said. "And I still think we have some other steps we have to take." noble cause. Instead, they came to watch a basketball game. Attracting fans without promotions, Perkins said, is the next step for a growing program. Perhaps more than any game this season — even more than any upset or conference victory — Kansas' loss to South Florida represented progress for the women's basketball program. Throughout the regular season, the Jayhawks played in front of modest crowds, only occasionally drawing more fans on promotion days. But those fans that flocked to Allen Fieldhouse on April 4 didn't come for a T-shirt or to support a "Because of my experience at Connecticut, if we can get people to come, they enjoy it," said Perkins, who was the athletics director at Connecticut from 1990 to 2003. "Obviously, the basketball is the most important, but it's the whole experience. And with women's basketball, people can really identify with our players because they're closer and a part of it." Yet, before Kansas closed the season with a winning streak and upset victories, Henrickson's team struggled in Big 12 play. The Jayhawks suffered two losing streaks of four games and appeared destined for a bottom-of-the-conference finish. At that point in the season, comments on message boards raved about the dire state of Henrickson's team and how, after five years of drowning in mediocrity, it was time for her to go. "When I gave (football) coach (Mark) Mangino that extension on his contract, everybody was like, 'This guy is nuts — fire both of them,'" Perkins said. "By the way, in the same year he went to the Orange Bowl." And there is where Perkins patience, and the patience of any athletics director, is put to the test. It's easy to preach patience with a winning program. But what happens if that program doesn't immediately experience success? "Patience is the biggest thing you have to do," Perkins said. "All of us want instant gratification, and it just doesn't happen, especially in building a program." He said he's excited with the program's progress and the continued improvement in recruiting, and he said he expected the Jayhawks to Quickly, though, Perkins notes that winning is still important and that taking strides in that aspect is always crucial. finish in the top half of the Big 12 next season. "I don't want to get ahead of myself but we're just beginning to open the pages," Perkins said. "We took one step last year, now we have to take another. We're probably three or four steps away." — Edited by Andrew Wiebe ASSOCIATED PRESS Mellow Johnny's Levi Leipheimer, middle, holds up the Tour of the Gla baking race winner's trophy in Pinos Atos, N.M., Sunday. Lance Armstrong, left, took second overall. CYCLING Armstrong frustrated by lack of funding BY ANDREW DAMPF Associated Press VENICE, Italy — With his Astana team in financial crisis, Lance Armstrong suggested Wednesday that his Livestrong cancer foundation could step in and bail out the team in time for him to go for an eighth Tour de France title in July. "I don't have any concrete answers, but I suspect we can find some funding that would get us from June to the end of the year." Armstrong told a small group of reporters upon his arrival in Venice for the Giro d'Italia, which begins Saturday. "It could be a combination of people that have a shared interest in Livestrong and want to see Livestrong promoted around the world and believe in what we're doing" Astana receives most of its financial support from Kazakh state holding company Samruk-Kazyna, but the Central Asian nation's economy has been badly hit by the ongoing global financial crisis. The team has not paid its employees lately. "If someone commits to fund government, which uses the team to raise the country's sporting profile. "I don't know them, I don't have a personal relationship with them, but I get frustrated," Armstrong. The possibility of Astana folding would be a blow to the Kazakh "I don't have any concrete answers, but I suspect we can find some funding." a team for half a year, that's $7 or $8 million," Armstrong said. "For a full season it's $14 to $20 million. That's a serious decision and can't be made in 20 to 30 days." LANCE ARMSTRONG Astana cyclist who is riding for free this season, said. "These Kazakhs, they don't return phone calls and there's not a lot of clarity about what is going to happen." Although Samruk- Kazyna has pledged to continue its support for Astana, which is named after the Kazakh capital city, state carrier Air Astana has stopped sponsoring the team. "I've spent every day of the year with my soigneur (massage assistant) Richard, a Polish guy. He's got a wife and two young kids at home and doesn't get a pay check," Armstrong said. Pro Tour teams such as Astana must meet certain financial parameters to stay active, or risk losing their International Cycling Union (UCI) license. "I'm only going to say we're aware of the situation and we are in contact with the team and (the Kazakhstan) federation," UCI president Pat McQuaid told the AP. "We're going to wait to see how this develops." 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