College Basketball
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Sports
Nebraska guard Tyronn Lue will announce at 1p.m. today whether he will forego his senior year and enter the NBA draft.
Tuesday
March 31, 1998
Section:
A
Page 8
College Basketball
UNC-Charlotte coach Melvin Watkins has been named the new basketball coach at Texas A&M.
College Basketball
Page 8
North Carolina forward Makhtar Ndiaye apologized for falsely accusing Utah's Britton Johnson of using racial slurs during the Final Four
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Wildcats claw their way to the top
The Associated Press
SAN ANTONIO — Call them the Come-
back 'Cats.
Kentucky capped a truly maddening March with an unprecedented second-half rally. Liah 79.
69 last night to win its second NCAA championship in three years. And the Wildcats did it this time with a new coach and without stars in their lineup.
Kentucky won its seventh national title with its third straight rally of the tournament and became the first team to overcome a 10-point halftime deficit.
Smith: Leads Kansas tucky to a 78-69 win against Utah.
With Tubby Smith working the sidelines
instead of Rick Pitino and with former stars Antoine Walker, Ron Mercer and Derek Anderson in the NBA, Kentucky moved one trophy closer to UCLA's record total of 11.
It was the third straight year the Wildcats were in the championship game — they lost to Arizona in overtime last season — and the third straight year they ended Utah's
season in the NCAA tournament.
Utah's impressive run to what would have been the school's second title and first since 1944 ended because Kentucky did what No. J
seeds Arizona and North Carolina couldn't do against the Utes -- shoot well.
Just as they had in the South Regional final against Duke and again in the national semifinals against Stanford, the Wildcats fell behind in the first half, trailing 41-31 at halftime. The deficit was as many as 12 points in the opening minutes of the second half before Kentucky started shooting well, something Utah's last two opponents couldn't do.
The Utes, the second-best defensive team in the country this season, had held its five tournament opponents to 39 percent shooting and an average of 62.5 points.
Kentucky, which finished 29-for-57 from the field (51 percent), chipped away at the lead by scoring on seven of 10 possessions. The Wildcats took the lead for the first time since early in the first half at 60-58 with 7:16 to play on a breakaway dunk by Jeff Shepard after he stole the ball from Hanno Mot
UTAH (30-4)
Motolia 4-10 6-6 15, Jensen 5-6 3-1 14,
Doleac 5-12 4-14, Miller 6-15 4-7 16,
Hansen 1-6 0-0 2, Johnsen 3-4 0-0 7,
McTavish 0-0 0-0 0, Jackson 0-1 0-0 0, Caton
0-1 0-0 0. Totsis 24-5 17 17-2 69.
KENTUCKY (35-4)
Edwards 2-7 0-0 4, Paddget 6-10 4-4 17,
Mohammed 5-9 0-0 10, Turner 2-5 2-4 6,
Sheppard 7-1 2-4 16, Maglare 2-3 3-3 7,
Evans 3-4 2-2 10, Mills 2-4 2-2 8, Smith 0-0 0
Utah got the lead back at 62-60 on a driving layup by Andre Miller with 6:16 left and even extended it by two more points when Miller fed Alex Jensen for a layup 23 seconds later.
tola.
J 0, Bradley 0-0 0-0. Totals 29-57 15-17-78
Halftime—Utah 4-14, Kentucky 31, 3-Point goals—Utah 4-14 (Jensen 1-1, Doleac 1-1,
Johnsen 1-2, Mottella 1-3, Jackson 0-1, Caton 0-1, Hansen 0-2, Miller 0-3), Kentucky 5-17
(Evans 2-2, Mills 2-4, Padgett 1-5, Turner 0-1,
Sheppard 2-0, Edwards 0-3). Fouled out —
Miller. Rebounds—Utah 39 (Doleac 10), Kentucky 24 (Evans 6). Assists—Utah 12 (Miller 5),
Kentucky 15 (Edwards 5). Total fouls—
Utah 18, Kentucky 15. A—40,509.
But a three-pointer by Cameron Mills, Kentucky's fifth of the game — all in the second half — and a driving jumper by Sheppard with 4:53 left gave the Wildcats the lead for good.
Sheppard's jumper was Kentucky's last field goal until the dunk by Wayne Turner with 12 seconds to play. The Wildcats went 11-for-12 from the foul line down the stretch, and Utah scored on just two of its last 10 possessions.
Scott Padgett led the Wildcats with 17 points, while Sheppard had 16.
Miller led the Utes with 16 points, while Mottola and Michael Doleac each had 15 and Jensen 14.
As the trophy was presented by Selection Committee chairman C.M. Newton, who also happens to be the athletic director at Kentucky and the man who picked Smith to succeed Pitino, the crowd chanted "Tubby, Tubby."
Utah had beaten defending national champion Arizona in the West Regional final. The Utes had to hang on to beat North Carolina in the Final Four, but they couldn't do it against Kentucky as the Wildcats wore down the nation's top rebounding team.
Preparing for the national championships
Members of the University of Kansas cheerleading national squad run through a final practice yesterday night at Anschutz Sports Pavilion. The squad will hold an open performance at Anschutz at 8 tonight.
The squad will leave tomorrow for Daytona Beach, Fla., where it will compete in the National Cheerleaders Association Collegiate National Championship. That championship is the world's largest collegiate cheerleading competition—this year it will feature more than 10,000 cheerleaders and spectators from 175 schools.
Above: (left to right) Samantha Stuart, Fredonia sophomore; Rachelle lest, Mission Viejo, Calif.; sophomore; Lakeshia Jackson, St. Louis, sophomore; Jennifer Rose, Woodlands, Texas, freshman; and Shawna Dutoit, Olathe junior, perform a dance set. Photo by Geoff Krieger/KANAS Above: Matt Hahs, Belton, Mo., sophomore, and Georgia Rupp, Garden City senior, hit a heel stretch stunt while Kristine McHenry, Arlington, Texas, freshman, tumbles in to the front of the mat. Photo by Angie Kuhn/KANSAN Right: Kyri Gorges, Andale junior, works on pumping up the crowd. Photo by Geoff Krieger/KANAS.
New attitude pitched by team
The Kansas baseball team plays today at Southwest Missouri State (11-8) and will play a doubleheader in Lawrence against Baker tomorrow.
"We now know we have to have all 26 guys believing good things are going to happen to compete," Wedd said. "This change happened between games on Saturday, and we beat a ten-t队."
Catcher Shane Wedd said the team's attitude had changed after a 13-4 thumping Saturday at the hands of the ninth-ranked Oklahoma Sooners.
The team finished the weekend 1-2 against the Sooners (20-7). The Jayhawks won the middle game of the series 20-11 after a nine-run first inning, before losing the finale 14-11 in extra innings.
Second baseman Andy Juday and Wedd have supplied the offense lately.
Juday had eight hits and drove in eight runs, and Wedd pounded a pair of home runs in the Oklahoma series.
Pitching has continued to be a problem area. The staff allowed 38 runs while walking 19 batters in three games.
"When you put that many men on base, they're going to score," head coach Bobby Randall said. "Our pitchers can't continue to give our opponents so many chances to score."
John Blakely Wilson
Rain fouls play for softball team
The Kansas softball team was scheduled to play a doubleheader against Creighton today but had to reschedule because of yesterday's rain. The two teams will meet April 28 at Jayhawk Field in Lawrence.
The Jayhawks will play Wichita State in a doubleheader at 5 and 7 p.m. tomorrow in Wichita. Kansas goes into the series after winning three consecutive games.
The team will travel to Texas for two doubleheaders against Texas and Texas A&M Saturday and Sunday.
The Jayhawks began Big 12 Conference play last weekend. They split a doubleheader with No. 23 Texas Tech and swept two games against Baylor at Jayhawk Field. Kansas is 17-20 in the season and 3-1 in the conference.
The Kansas softball team was honored earlier this year by the National Fastpitch
Coaches Association, which determines the top 10 Division I All-Academic softball teams each year. Kansas ranked eighth in the nation with a .325 GPA. The rankings were based on the 1996-97 school year.
Six high school seniors have signed letters of intent to play for Kansas next year, including three recruits from Arizona, two from the Kansas City area and one from Oklahoma.
- Freshman pitcher Jessi Kowal was nominated for Big 12 Pitcher of the Week last week after posting a 0.28 ERA and giving up one earned run.
Left fielder Sara Holland was nominated for Big 12 Player of the Week last week. She batted .368 for the week and had two doubles, three RBI and four stolen bases. Holland leads the team with 18 stolen bases and 25 runs.
Laura Bokenkroger
Commentary Smith counters racist legacy at Kentucky
SAN ANTONIO—It is not a new story, but after last night's men's NCAA championship game, it has become even more important.
When he looked across the court at his compe
The team was led by Adolph Rupp, a man long identified as a bigot who would not recruit—or want to play against—Black players.
In 1966, a team of white players from Kentucky took the floor in College Park, Md., with hopes of winning a national basketball title.
The rest, as they say, is history
tition on that day in 1966, what he saw in the opposition was Texas Western (now Texas-El Paso), a team that started five Black players.
Rupp and his Wildcats were beaten, and the game has since been pointed to as a stepping stone for diversity in college and professional basketball.
Fast-forward to last
Spencer Duncan
sports@kansan.com
That's because Orlando "Tubby" Smith was on the sideline, the first and only Black coach to lead the Kentucky Wildcats.
Thirty-two years ago, living in rural Maryland, Smith was paying attention to that legendary game. And he hasn't forgotten it.
night, when the Kentucky Wildcats faced Utah. Both teams started white and Black athletes. And yet, like 32 years ago, race was still part of the story.
"It what I took away from Texas Western is that it gave all underdogs some hope." Smith said.
Soon after Kentucky lost in 1966, the team began to integrate. Since then, it has had some tremendous Black players, including Sam Bowie, Jamal Mashburn and Ron Mercer. But that game is still not forgotten.
The legacy that Rupp left behind is always remembered. That Rupp is one of the most successful coaches in history hasn't mattered. He still has blamed for setting basketball back by refusing to play Black players.
Then along came Tubby Smith. Before this season began, the school often associated with racism in college basketball hired a Black head coach.
But Smith swears that hasn't happened this year. In fact, Smith already has done what his predecessor, Rick Pitino, did: He got the team to the title game.
"The first time you lose a game," one columnist wrote, "you will be called a stupid coach. You will be called a stupid Black coach."
The Wildcats lost three games at home this season. After the third loss, people were calling for Smith to be fired. It was only a minority of people, but no one called for Pitino to be fired when he had three home losses.
When Smith was given the job, some writers around the Kentucky area said that Smith had better watch out.
He is above all of it, he says, and his job is to be a coach. He tries to disregard what the ignorant people have to say. Smith says this is not about race but about coaching.
He went into the job knowing that he would face harsh criticism. Like it or not, it was up to him to not only win games, but to wipe away the blemishes that Ruup had created.
And being a great person and coach, Smith has done a little of both.
In one successful season, Smith has shown Kentucky that a Black man can lead them. At least he has shown most of them
At least he has shown most of them.
There are still those ignorant fools who think it is still white against Black. At one point in Saturday's Utah-North Carolina game, a Kentucky fan leaned on and said, "Those white boys really want to beat those Black boys." He was referring to the fact that Utah is a predominantly white team, while North Carolina is a predominantly Black team.
Smith has done his best to shut up the detractors. But some people will not change.
It doesn't matter that Kentucky defeated Utah last night. By having a successful season, Smith has shown Kentucky that history is being made.
Smith also has done his best to put race aside. But when you are the first Black coach at a school remembered for Jim Crow beliefs, it is hard.
And at least one person is noticing
1
.
Duncan is an Topeka senior in journalism.