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University Daily Kansan / Tuesday, April 21, 1992
SPORTS
Seniors say goodbye to fans, coaches
By Lyle Niedens
Kansan sportswriter
"Between tomorrow's dreams and yesterday's regret is today's opportunity."
at last night's Kansas Men's Basketball Banquet in Allen Field House.
Those words from Kansas basketball coach Roy Williams provided a fitting end to the Kansas basketball season — and a precursor for next season
The event was the final chapter of the 1991-92 Kansas basketball season, a season in which the Jayhawks captured the Big Eight Conference regular season and post-season championships and were ranked No. 2 in the final Associated Poll press.
The Kansas postseason was cut short, however, when Texas-El Paso upset the No.1 seed Jayhawks in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Williams addressed the loss in his opening speech.
"So often today the tournament seems to dwarf everything that happens in the season," he told the crowd of about 1,000. "But I think it was a great 18 weeks of basketball, and I don't throw around the word 'great' often."
It was a night of acknowledgement, awards, and goodbyes. Play-by-play announcer Bob Davis was master of ceremonies of the banquet, which also featured a video highlighting Kansas' season.
The awards included Senior Awards presented to each of the four seniors — Alonzo Jamison, Macolm Nash, David Johanning and Lane Czaplinski — by Cancellor Gene Budig.
In addition, Johanning received the Ken Koenigs Academic Award and sophomore Patrick Richey received the Palmer Scholarship for athletic and academic achievement.
Former Kansas assistant coach Mark Turgeon, who is now an assistant under former Kansas assistant Jerry Green at Oregon, said goodbye to Kansas.
"I wouldn't trade it for anything," Turgeon said of his time at Kansas.
Green, who was hired at Oregon three weeks ago, did not return for the banquet because he felt he could not handle it emotionally, Turgeon said. But a touching video of Green saying goodbye was shown to the crowd.
where he coached for five years after playing for four. "I'll always be a Jayhawk."
"He's so loyal. He's been so important to the success here for four years," Williams said after the video was shown. "And he's my buddy."
But more than anything, Williams said, it was a night for the players, especially the seniors.
The night wound down with each senior giving a speech, ranging from a five-minute blurb by Jamison to a 24-moment oration by Nash.
Nash personally thanked and wished luck upon each player and coach. He also thanked the team managers and his tutor, Nancy Harris.
"I'm glad I stayed at Kansas," said Nash, who came to Kansas in 1988 in spite of the fact that the Jayhawks had just been slapped with three years' probation. "I have no regrets."
Johanning said thanks to his teammates for great memories and also thanked Williams.
"Coach Williams, I'm not sure there's enough I can say to thank you," he said. "There are no words that can say the things you've done for me."
Jamison finished his speech with advice to the players.
"The single most important thing I learned here was that if you could work hard on the court, you could work hard off it," Jamison said. "It took me a year and a half to learn that. My advice to you freshman is to start working hard now."
"The basketball program here has not been a detraction for me, only an enhancer," Czapinski said.
Czaplinski said he learned lessons on the court he could not have learned in the classroom.
Williams said the Kansas basketball team had a challenge to meet next season — the challenge to be great.
"The only way to meet that challenge is to work." Williams said. "We've been the best there is in college basketball at unselfish. The only way we can do it is to do it together."
Philip Meinong/KANSAN
Alonzo Jamison presents a surprise award to honor Coach Roy Williams at the Kansas men's basketball banquet at Allen Field House.
Kansas linebacker is fighting for starting position
By Jerry Schmidt
Kansan sportswriter
A player who is an honorable mention All-America his senior year of high school usually does not question his own ability to play football. But Kansas linebacker Dick Holt's self-doubt almost ended his collegiate football career before it began.
Holt, a redshirt freshman from Wichita Northwest High School, quit the Kansas football team five weeks into last season. Less than a year before he had completed a stellar high school career and had been named to USA Today's All-America team and was All-Midlands by Super Prep magazine. He was a three-year starter at Northwest.
"I lost my self-
confidence," said Holt, a
foot-3 220 pound
linebacker "I didn't
know whether I could
play. at this
Dick Holt
level. I was stressed out and having some personal problems."
Defensive coordinator Bob Fello said there was some indication that Holt was having some problems last
fall.
"Guys have to adapt to being away from home and to new coaches," Fello said. "There are high expectations and the pressure to perform at this level is intense. But there was a period of time when we didn't think he was himself."
Holt visited coach Glen Mason and told him of his plan to quit the team. Holt said Mason offered him a second chance in case he had a change of heart.
"He knew what kind of shape I was in mentally." Holt said.
Holt eventually took Mason upon his offer and rejoined the team around Thanksgiving.
Mason said he treated Holt's situation like he would with his own children. Mason said Holt was confused and that he realized he had made a mistake.
"His ability as a football player had nothing to do with his reinstatement," Mason said.
Holt is now in a battle with sophomore Steve Harvey and junior Larry Thiel for the starting inside linebacker position. He is currently 2.0 on the depth chart, but during a spring scrimmage game on April 11 he was running plays with the No. 1 defense. Harvey was the Big Eight Conference's defensive newcomer of the last season.
Holt said he is now using his turbulent first semester as a motivational tool and he feels that the experience has made him a stronger person.
He said his strong showing this spring was not a surprise to him but he said he could have raised the eyebrows of the coaching staff.
"I'm not as surprised as the coaching staff may be," he said. "I was a little surprised being No.1 linebacker for a while because Steve is a such a good player and has a lot of experience. When I thought about my talent I knew I could play here."
Fello said the Kansas coaching staff had tried to deal with Holt and other
players in such a predicament by identifying the problem and then seeing what the coaching staff could do to help the player.
"Basically you try to get them to open up and to see what the problem is," Fello said. "Sometimes they won't do that. Mostly you try to listen. You never know what they go through as freshman."
Holt will get a chance to show the form that made him an an all-state selection in high school Saturday during the Jayhawks annual Spring Game. The game marks the end of spring practice and will be played at 1 p.m. Saturday in Memorial Stadium.
NBA playoffs
WESTERN CONFERENCE
EASTERN CONFERENCE
Jeff Kobs, Daily Kansar
Source Associated Press
Miami backs into tough playoff matchup
MIAI — The Miami Heat finished under .500, backed into a playoff berth and now must face the defending NBA champion Chicago Bulls.
First-year Heat coach Kevin Loughery could hardly be happier.
The Associated Press
Last June, Loughery took over a team that was the youngest in the league and had won just 57 games in its first three seasons. The Heat was too busy escaping the Atlantic Division basement to worry about play-offs.
"To come in here with a franchise that's young, watch the players grow and top it off by making the playoffs, so they are involved in this," he said yesterday.
The Heat became the first of the NBA's four newest teams to make the playoffs Sunday night, when Atlanta's loss at Cleveland gave Miami the eighth and final postseason berth in the Eastern Conference
"I don't think anybody felt we would be there at this stage," Loughery said.
Miami's 38-44 record is the worst of the 16 playoff teams but an improvement of 14 victories over last season.
Fans are thrilled. The 2,000 tickets
available for next tomorrow's home
game against the Bulls sold out in
five minutes yesterday. The best-of-
five series opens with games Friday
"Even if we had not made the playoffs, this would have been a good year," Loughery said.
and Sundav at Chicago.
"It's not going to be easy," Loughier said. "But it's great to have the opportunity to play the champs in the first round."
Among the first to recognize Miami's potential last fall was Michael Jordan. After the Bulls beat the Heat in a preseason game, Jordan said, "It wouldn't surprise me if they made the playoffs."
"Since we've been dreaming all season, why don't we dream some more?" center Rony Seikaly said. At 26, he is the team's oldest starter.
Perhaps he foresaw improvement by several key players. Most evident was the emergence of forward Glen Rice, who averaged 22.3 points per game and led the league with 155-3.
point baskets.
"It's a must in your franchise to have a star-type player," Loughery said. Rice became that player.
Seikaly and power forward Grant Long, who have been with the Heat since its first game, also continued to progress. Seikaly averaged 16.4 points and 11.8 rebounds; Long added offense to an otherwise solid game, averaging 14.8 points.
"Our starters in the front line had a terrific year," Loughery said.
Point guard Steve Smith was a rookie-of-the-year contender until a knee injury in January sidelineined him for several weeks. Guards Bimbo Coles and Kevin Edwards provided reliable relief from the bench.
SPORTS BRIEFS
America3leadsinfinals
America's Cup rookie Bill Koch skipped America3 to a 1 minute, 47 second victory against downed threetime winner Dennis Conner's Stars & Stripes yesterday in San Diego, taking a 2-0 lead in the best-of-13 defender finals.
America's victory extended its winning streak over Stars & Stripes to four and its overall record against Stars & Stripes to 10-3.
America's Cup veteran Buddy Melges steered America3 to a 26-second lead at the end of the third leg of the eight-leg, 20.03-nautical-mile course, then turned the helm over to Koch.
Conner forced Melges, the helmman, into a fierce tacking duel on the 2.7-mile third leg. Stars & Stripes tacked a grueling 37 times, trying to force America's crew, which tacked 35 times, into making a costly mistake.
Koch stretched his lead over Conner to 1.27 at the end of the three reaching legs, Nos. 4, 5 and 6. On the reaching, or crossing, he was able to cross the wind, the fastest point of sea.
But the America3 crew performed flawlessly and added another 6 seconds, about one boat length, to its 20-second lead.
Iowa State hires coach
Lured by a pay raise and Iowa State's strong tradition in the sport, Douglas ended an 18-year tenure at Arizona State to take the job. He'll become only the fifth coach in 76 years of wrestling at Iowa State.
Iowa State turned to a proven name yesterday to run its high-profile wrestling program, hiring veteran Arizona State coach Boby Douglas.
Marathoners set records
Douglas agreed to a five-year contract that will pay him $55,000 annually — $8,000 more than he made at Arizona State. He'll succeed Jim Gibbons, who resigned at the end of the season.
The Boston Marathon's reputation as a slow course was shattered yesterday, with winners Ibrahim Hussein and Olga Markova produced two of the fastest times in marathon history.
Hussein, the 33-year-old from Kenya, was timed in 2 hours, 8 minutes, 14 seconds, the second-fastest ever over the 26-mile, 385-yard course. It was his third Boston Marathon victory and in a row.
The 23-year-old Markova became the first Russian winner in the race and ended the five-race marathon winning streak of defending champion Wanda Panfil of Poland, winning in 2:23.43. It also was the second-fastest woman's time on this tough course that has claimed some of the world's best long-distance runners.
"After the effort I put in today, I don't feel I burned myself out, even with the fast pace." Hussein said
The only faster times at Boston were the 2:07:51 by Australia's Rob de Castella in 1986 and the 2:22:43 by Joan Benoit Samuelo in 1984.
"I was happy that I didn't run with Wanda in the first part, because the second part is very hard," Markova said.
The first U.S. finisher was 40-year-old Doug Kurtis of Northville, Mich., who was 19th in 2:17:03. Notop U.S. citizens competed because of the Olympic marathon trials.
From The Associated Press