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University Daily Kansan / Wednesday, March 25, 1992
SPORTS
Coach regrets game, but not season
Christine McFarland/KANSAN
Rov Williams answers questions about the Javhawks' loss to Texas-EI Paso on Sundav during the second round of the NCAA tournament.
Big Eight was still the best, Williams says
By Lyle Niedens
Kansan sportwriter
Now, after Kansas' stunning defeat Sunday to No. 9 seed Texas-E Paso in the second round of the tournament, that feeling has disappeared, he said.
With Kansas coming off its first Big Eight Tournament championship in six years and having earned a No. 1 seed in the Midwest Region, Jayhawk coach Roy Williams said he felt pretty good about himself last week.
"Seven days ago, I felt pretty dog-gone good," Williams said yesterday at his final news conference of the season. "Right now, I'm ready to step out in front of a tractor-trailer rig."
Kansas' season ended abruptly as Miners' coach Don Haskins had his team use a four-corner offense that controlled the tempo in UTEP's flavor. But Williams said the notion that Haskins out-coached him did not bother him.
"Don himself said they tried something they had never tried before and it worked," Williams said. "Who's to say I make a couple of shots it doesn't work."
"We went zone two possessions and what happens? They get two layups against our zone. So we tried our 1-3-1 trap, and they get a six-foot shot.
"I think after every game I'm my own worst critic. The toughest thing to me is how inadequate I felt after the game trying to think of something to say to those kids. It's the most helpless feeling you could ever have."
But Williams said if he had to do it over again, he would do three things different against the Miners.
The first thing would have been to stick with a rule of his and not allow the team to watch the UTEP-Evansville game after Kansas' victory against Howard University Friday night.
"It it's a known fact, if you ask our players, that they looked at that game and said, 'Well, we can beat these guys,' he said. "They looked past UTEP in some ways, and we've never done that here."
The second thing would be to not have freshman center Greg Ostertag in the game when the 'Hawks went to zone. The Miners scored twice on layups against the zone, both coming from an area of the court that was Ostertag's responsibility.
"But that's not to say that is Greg Ostertag's fault. We haven't played a lot of zone this season," he said. "So why didn't I have somebody in there who had played that position more?"
Finally, Williams said he should have used a stall game himself after Kansas had taken a 43-42 lead with 8:59 left in the game.
"I wonder what they'd done if he would have held the sucker," he said.
Overall, though, Williams said he could have done a better job.
"I've played every possession of that game over 20 times," he said. "I'm not happy by any means with the way I coached because I should have been able to do more."
Williams said that two things hurt the Jayhawks as much or more than UTEP's four-corner offense.
"I was more disturbed with our inability on offense to get the things we wanted than I was with our defense," he said. "And they kicked our tails on offensive rebounds."
Kansas point guard Adonis Jordan said that even when the Jayhawks were down by eight points with three minutes left, he thought Kansas would come back.
"I felt we had a chance to win." Jordan said, "because all year long, we'd been a team that had come back."
Jordan said that the loss hurt at the time but that looking back, Kansas accomplished a lot during the season, including winning the Big Eight Conference — considered by many the toughest conference this season — by three games.
"It was just one game," he said. "We went 27-5. Any other program would die to have that."
The loss hurt more than most season-ending losses, Williams said, because of the high expectations for the No.1 seeded Javahawks.
"Around here, you are always going to have high expectations, and a lot of times they're not realistic," Williams said. "We did lose four of our top six players (last year) but we had played 30 games and had been pretty successful in those 30 games. So our own expectations were high."
"As long as Roy Williams is the coachhere. I hope the goals are always high. And I know that's going to bring pressure with it, but life's not supposed to be easy."
But Williams said that being an underdog was not a bad place to be.
As for now, Williams said he would not watch this weekend's Midwest Regional in Kansas City. Instead, he said he and his family would get away for the weekend.
"The best place in the world to be is the underdog and be pretty good," he said. "But it doesn't help to be the underdog and not be any good."
"It's been a long, long, long year," he said. "The last month has probably been the most difficult month I can ever remember in coaching for me.
"Time is the only thing that will heal (the hurt). But along with that, time gives you the realization that you'd like to still be playing."
Big Eight woes
The Big Eight Conference's disappointing showing in the NCAA Tournament thus far does not make Williams think any differently about the toughness of the conference this season.
The conference had six teams in the tournament, including four that were a No. 5 seed or higher. Five of those six are gone after the first two rounds, with Oklahoma State, the No. 2 seed in the Southeast Region, remaining as the only team to advance to the Sweet 16.
"I think we still were clearly the strongest league," Williams said. "I don't have any problem with believing that, and I also don't have any problem with anybody from the ACC who wants to say that they have the strongest league, because why worry and complain and argue about something you're never able to be able to control—or never be able to decide on."
The Atlantic Coast Conference had five teams in the 64 team field, four of which advanced to the Sweet 16.
Williams said that Nebraska, which was soundly defeated by Connecticut in the first round, got the worst matchup possible, because in his opinion, the Cornhuskus did not have the guards to handle the defensive pressure Connecticut employs.
Oklahoma, a No.4 seed, was upset in the first round by Southwest Louisiana. Williams pointed to the absence of Sooners' center Bryan Sallier as a reason for their demise.
"You take a starter off any team, particularly one that has only six guys that play a lot anyway, and that's a huge loss for that team."
Family ties enter Duke, Seton Hall game
The Associated Press
JERSEY CITY, N.J. — When defending NCAA champion Duke meets Seton Hall in an East Regional semifinal Thursday, no one will be more torn about whom to support than St. Anthony High School coach Bob Burley.
The parochial high school coach will see five of his former players reunited in Philadelphia — including sons Bobby, Duke's junior point guard and all-time assist leader, and Danny, a freshman reserve point guard for the Pirates.
"In addition to their teams playing together," Hurley said, "both teams play man-to-man drills."
The coach and his wife, Chris, will not play any favorites, though.
"We should be proud that something like this is happening," he said. "We want both of them to plav well."
Hurley's sons have avoided discussing the big game, but the rest of the family has not stopped telling them.
In addition to his sons, Hurley's proteges include Seton Hall starters Jerry Walker and Terry Derehle and reserve Luther Wright, who played for St. Anthony as a freshman before transferring to Elizabeth (N.J.) High when his family moved.
Dehere, Walker and Bobby Hurley led the longtime basketball powerhouse to a 32-0 record and the No.1 ranking in national high school polls in 1989.
Bob Hurley, with a 517-60 record in 20 years at St. Anthony, also coached Notre Dame's David Rivers and Villanova's Kenneth Wilson, who played in the NCAA tourney during the mid-1980s.
But his sons have stood out most at the small, struggling school in a blue-collar neighborhood.
With more than 800 assists, Bobby broke the Duke career assist mark of 708 set by Tommy Amaker and could break the NCAA record of 1,038 set last year by North Carolina State's Chris Corchiani.
"He's widely recognized now in his junior year as the number one point guard in the country." Hurley said. "He's had a storybook career, and it all been based on hard work."
Danny also is a very fine player who in high school matched his brother's accomplishments, the coach said.
Although relatively small (Bobby is just over 6 feet, Danny 6-2), both stood out as scrappy players on city playgrounds, where their father says good players learn the most lessons.
The team excelled despite being a 10-classroom school with no gymnasium — only rusting stems of backboards looming in the pot-hole and some old school desks. They used city gyms and even libraries for its students.
Now Hurley and other St. Anthony boosters are hoping its basketball success will keep it open.
Threat of NHL strike prompts negotiations
The Associated Press
The tone of the meeting differed from previous sessions in that it ended amicably with an agreement to meet today. The last time the two sides met — March 9 in New York — they took verbal potshots at each other after the players broke off talks.
TORONTO — NHL players expressed optimism after nearly four hours of contract talks with management yesterday but stood fast on their March 30 strike deadline.
Negotiators for the owners and players met under the threat of a league-wide strike Monday unless the two sides agree to a replacement for the collective bargaining agreement that expired Sept.15.
Meanwhile, some members of the league's negotiating team expect the worst.
"I think the players will go on strike." Washington general manager David Poile said in a recent interview.
The main question appears to be the financial strength—or weakness—and of the league. The owners say they stand to lose $9 million next year, and their insists team will make $24 million in profits.
telling them for six months, so they have to back it up by going on strike
NHL.president John Ziegler said that when calculating expenses, the union was not including such things as playoff expenses, money spent buying out contracts of released players and contract bonus clauses.
Ziegler said the players' demands would cost each NHL team $900,000 and that revenues would not keep pace.
Basketball good times will return
Apart from monetary disputes, the players want one-time unrestricted free agency, just under $6 million a year in additional pension payments, the reduction of the entry draft to six rounds from 12 and an increase of $10 million a year to the existing pool of $3.2 million in playoff bonuses.
Eric Nelson sports editor
More than four years ago, an unseasoned Roy Williams met with his Kansas Jayhawks for the first time.
Williams called that team meeting the most difficult he has ever conducted.
It was not the introduction he had hoped for. The new coach had to inform the team that it would not be able to compete in the NCAA tournament and defend its national championship because of violations committed before his arrival.
Four years later, Williams is experiencing another personal low. Sunday's loss to the University of Texas El-Paso was not his toughest loss ever, but it was close. Williams ranks it second behind North Carolina's 1984 loss to Indiana in the sweet 16 when he was an assistant coach for the Tar Heels.
But disgruntled Jayhawk fans should pick themselves up from the shock of UTEP's suspect and realize how lucky they are. Despite the probation and recruiting restrictions Williams faced when he arrived at Kansas, the program has risen from near shambles to national prominence.
After a difficult first year as coach, Williams led the 1989-90 Jayhawks to a 30-5 overall record and the Dodge NIT championship with upset victories against No. 1 UNLV and No. 2 Louisiana State. That Kansas team wasranked either first or second for 13 consecutive weeks.
The 1990-91 Jayhawks entered the season unrouted nationally. But after winning a share of the Big Eight Conference regular season title, they stormed to the Final Four and national championship game against Duke.
This season was another vintage year for Kansas basketball.
The Jayhawks ran away with the Big Eight title before winning their first conference tournament since 1986. Kansas ended the season No.2 in the nation with a 2-6 record and the No.1 seed in the Midwest Regional. Once again, the campus was stirred into a March Madness frenzy.
"There been a lot of good times in the four years since then," Williams said of his tenure since the probation.
Unfortunately, it quickly became March Sadness.
I doubt anybody took the loss harder than Williams
"The toughest thing to me is how inadequate I felt after the game trying to think of something to say to those kids," he said. "I'm not happy by any means with the way I coached."
In light of the difficult loss, it is important to look at the big picture.
Under Williams, the Kansas program has grown stronger and has gained more national attention and respect each year. Williams has compiled an astounding 103-30 record in his four years.
And the future looks bright
In fact, ESPN analyst Dick Vitale already has labeled next year's Jayhawks his preseason No. 1. "Primo numero uno, baby!"
Does this lofty prediction mean anything to Williams?
"Not when you consider the source," Williams said, joking about Vitale's comments made in a late-season visit to Allen Field House.
"If he went to Columbus, Ohio, he would probably say it up there too."
Nonetheless, expect more of the same from next year's team. It should be another banner year. Williams knows that expectations once again will soar, but that it is all right with him.
"As long as Roy Williams is a coach here, I hope our goals are always high," he said.
Eric Nelson is an Omaha, Neb., senior majoring in journalism.
Kansas, Creighton enter game hoping to break out of slumps
Today's baseball game between Kansas and the Creighton Blue Jays will be a matchup of two teams mired in mini-slumps.
Jayhawks ready to put Kansas State series behind them
By Jerry Schmidt game Saturday, giving the 'Hawks a 3
Kansan sportswriter
Both squads have lost three of their last four games. Kansas State surprised the Jayhawks during the weekend by coming within an inning of sweeping the four-game series. Sophomore Joel Benninghoff hit a game-winning home run in the bottom of the seventh inning of the second
Kansas, 15-7 overall and 1-3 in the Big Eight Conference,
and Creighton, 11-8-1 overall, will square off in Omaha,
Neb., at2p.m.
Junior catcher Jeff Niemeier said that the best thing for the Jayhawks would be to learn from, then forget about the K-State series.
"We learned that the system is going to work for us," Niemeier said. "We got away from some of the things that have been working for us, like moving
Chris Kokaly
runners. Things that have worked for us in the past
"The biggest thing is to put the K-State series behind us. Creighton will be a good start to do that."
Creighton started its season by winning seven of its first
nine games. Last season the Blue Jays were 51-22 and placed third in the College World Series. Only a semi-final defeat to fellow Missouri Valley Conference foe Wichita State kept the Blue Jays out of the championship game at Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha. Their 51 victories set a schoolrecord.
The two teams split their games last season, with Kansas winning 13-11 in Lawrence, and Creighton coming out on top in Omaha 12-3.
The Blue Jays will look to outfielder Chad McConnell to provide some offense. The junior from Sioux Falls, S.D., is hitting .419 with six home runs and 28 RBI. Senior Bob Langer is hitting .304.
season, he was ready to step in for Berlinger.
Kansas freshman Chris Kokaly, who took over for the injured Jeff Berblinger in the second inning of Sunday's game, said that although he had not seen much action this
"I was nervous and I just wanted to relax," said Kokaly of his first extended action of the season. "I know I can hit, and I'm confident with my stick."
The scramble for the middle-infield positions seems to be a three-person race. Junior Arturo Ayala has been a mainstay at shortstop this season, Kansas coach Dave Bingham said freshman Dan Rude might see some time at the position in addition to second.
"That's something coach hasn't talked about to us." Kokaly said. "It's pretty much up for grabs for whoever wants to take it."
Senior righthander Curtis Schmidt will be the starting pitcher for Kansas. Schmidt is 3-1 with a 2.93 ERA in 27 2/3 innings and has 24 strikeouts.