THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Women's final
Monday March 30,1998
Sports
Tennessee defeated Louisiana Tech 93-75 last night to win the NCAA Women's Final Four in Kansas City, Mo.
Section:
SEE PAGE 4B
Kansas Softball
SEE PAGE 8B
The team played its first home games of the season this weekend, winning three of four.
B
Utah vs. Kentucky
Page 1
The Utes and the Wildcats will battle tonight for the men's NCAA National Championship.
SEE PAGE 5B
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Commentary
Consumerism commercialism ruin Final Four
SAN ANTONIO — Few things can be more chaotically entertaining than the parties and celebrations leading up to tonight's NCAA basketball final.
Not the Super Bowl, not the NBA Finals, not The Crossing during $1 draws.
People here are mad.
There are Conga lines in the convention center, rock concerts in the middle of the streets, and boats filled with pep bands and cheerlead
ers that float through the middle of the city.
There are hundreds, no, thousands — heck, maybe millions of people crossing crosswalks at the same time, filling bars, lining the river to watch the boats full of bands and cheerleaders, painting their faces, wearing funny hats, running through the streets screaming "Go Wildcats" and partying until... actually, they haven't stopped partying.
Spencer Duncan
sports@kansan.com
Even the fans from Utah are showing that yes, they too can get down.
The Alamo hasn't seen this type of invasion since, well, since it was invaded.
There is too much commercialism, and some of the fans' attitudes simply stink.
And yet, despite all the hoopla and excitement and sense of awe; despite the great games that have been played here and the great one that will be played tonight between Kentucky and Utah, something is wrong. Something just doesn't feel right.
It is a disgusting display of how pervasive business has become in college sports.
Everywhere you turn, something is being sold, hawked, pushed or given away. There are Nike Swooshes on the jerseys, GTE logos plastered on the seat cushions, Hershey's candy being thrown around, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell-sponsored events, and Coca-Cola bottles and the Budweiser blimp everywhere.
The other problem around here is some of the fans. Some of these people are not here for the game. They are simply here to say that they were at the game. For them, it's all about status.
I don't want to generalize. This is only a minority of the people here, but they are hard to avoid.
They are more interested in flashing around their position, money and imagined influence at the respective institutions than they are at cheering on their team.
While I was on a boat ride, there was a man from Kentucky who insisted on asking everyone where their seats were. He was not genuinely interested but instead wanted to show us that he had better seats.
It's the third consecutive season this man has been to the Final Four. His recollection of the games was nil, but his recollection of the seats was crisp.
Then there were the other Kentucky fans who couldn't stop buying pins. One of them had a ribbon with about 15 commemorative pins clipped on his chest. He couldn't help but show them off.
He also couldn't help tell us how much they cost and what they are going to be worth.
He was into stuff. He was into everything you could buy and collect and spend lots of money on. He was less interested in the game.
And let me not forget the guy from North Carolina. He had good seats, he had lots of stuff and, oh yeah, he knew the whole team. Or at least he claimed to. This made him a big man in the company of his fellow boosters. But like the others, this was what was important to him. The game was just an afterthought.
There are many examples of this: people who are at the Final Four not for the love and excitement of the event, but so that when they return home they will be able to tell people they went to the game. It's about status for them, and that tarnishes everything.
A very nice woman from Kentucky even offered me a button that said, "Kentucky, doing it one more time!" If I would promise to root for the Widows'ticats
But I told her I was holding out for a better offer from the Utah fans.
Duncan is a Tapeka, Kan., senior in journalism.
More Final Four news from Spencer Duncan, the Kansan's roving reporter in San Antonio.
See page 3B
Wind favors Sooners
Kansas pitcher Mark Corssen releases a pitch toward home plate. Corsen replaced Les Walrond in the top of the 3rd inning in Sunday's game against Oklahoma. Photo by Geoff Krieger / KANSAN
'Hawks fall in extra inning
By John Blakely Wilson
Kansan sportswriter
The ninth-ranked Oklahoma Sooners had three home runs and 18 hits into a stiff wind blowing in from center field Sunday while beating the Kansas baseball team 14-11 in ten innings at Hoglund-Maupin Stadium.
Kansas entered the bottom of the eighth inning tied with the Sooners at 11 when right fielder Doug Dreher hit a one-out single, and Clint Wyrick replaced him as pinch runner.
Shortstop John Nelson followed. He hit into left field that would have scored Wyrick, but Sooner left fielder Bobby Walters made a diving catch and flipped the ball into the infield. Wyrick was slow to return to first base and was tagged out to end the inning.
The Jayhawks failed to score another run in the game, and Oklahoma scored three in the top of the tenth against losing pitcher Pete Smart (1-1) to put the game away.
"Even though we lost that game, we competed play-for-play with a great team
today," Smart said. "If we play that hard all the time, we'll start winning a lot more games."
Kansas trailed 6-1 coming into its half of the fourth inning when the offense came alive against Sooner ace Geoff Geary. Second baseman Andy Juday led a Kansas five-run barrage with a two-run single, one of his four hits on the day. Kansas scored ten runs in five and two-thirds innings against Geary, who entered the game with a 6-1 record.
"There were a lot of major league scouts here to see OU's starter throw and that's the hardest he's been hit all year," Kansas coach Bobby Randall said. "We scored 11 runs against a good team not by taking walks but by driving the ball hard."
The Sooners were led by clean up hitter Casey Bookout, who is on pace to reach 30 home runs this season. Bookout, the Big 12 Conference home-run leader with 15, hit a home run and batted in three runs. Catcher Ryan Van Horn and second baseman Corey Hart also hit home runs for the Sooners.
Kansas pitchers had trouble throwing
strikes throughout the game, allowing eight walks. Starting pitcher Les Walrond allowed five runs in one and two-thirds innings, three of which were from walks.
Relief pitcher Casey Barrett injured his elbow warming up before the eighth inning. Barrett was effective before the injury, allowing just one run in two and two-thirds innings.
"It was tough on us when Casey got hurt because we wanted him to finish the game," Randall said. "We had to bring Pete Smart back after he had thrown several innings yesterday."
Designated hitter Shane Wedd finished a spring break hitting streak with his fifth home run in as many days in the sixth inning.
"I'm just trusting my abilities more than earlier in the year," Wedd said. "We've all learned to focus and compete hard against top Big 12 teams."
Spring break in Lawrence
spring break in lawrence A wrap-up of the baseball team's spring break homestand.
See page 8B
Historic season for KU women
By Kevin C. Wilson
OAKLAND, Calif. - Marian Washington couldn't have asked for a more memorable 25th season as the coach of the Kansas women's basketball team.
The Jayhawks went 23-9, finished third in the Big 12 Conference, advanced to the finals of the Big 12 Tournament and reached the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Tournament for only the second time in school history.
Kansan sportswriter.
"I have never been more proud of a group of women than this team I've got." Washington said. "This young team has fought hard all season long. They've done it in spite of people underestimating them and have really made us proud."
Kansas achieved all of this despite starting two juniors, a sophomore and two freshmen.
Guard Shandy Robbins, a junior-college transfer, said that she enjoyed her first season at Kansas and looked forward to
"It was a young team and we did a lot of good things," Robbins said. "I believe we could have gone further but unfortunately it ended this way. I just know what it takes to go further next year. We're just going to work hard in the off season and keep pushing ourselves."
accomplishing even more next year.
Washington: prouduc of young team and super season.
Sophomore Lynn Pride said that playing with her new teammates was a great experience.
"These freshmen did a tremendous job this year," Pride said. "I'll take a lot from this game and next week we'll know exactly what to do to surpass what we did this season."
There is every reason to believe that next year's team will be even better this year's
Javhawks.
In addition, the Jayhawks will add a spectacular recruiting class, ranked No. 6 in the country, to their already burgeoning talent pool.
Kansas returns all five of its starters, its top eight scorers and loses only one senior, reserve Koya Scott, to graduation.
Washington said that she was proud of what her team had achieved this season and was looking forward to doing it again next year...
More women's basketball
"Just getting to the NCAA Tournament was a tremendous accomplishment for this team," Washington said. "Advancing to the Sweet 18 was just unbelievable. They really need to be applauded for their efforts. They have really accomplished a lot."
More women's basketball Coverage and box score from the team's loss to Arkansas in the Sweet Sixteen.
See page 4B
Commentary
Trapp suicide leaves some wondering why
I refused to believe the news Wednesday. It's still hard for me to believe the news today.
Jennifer Trapp, a 6-foot-1 forward for the Kansas women's basketball team in 1993-97, committed suicide by a gunshot wound to the head Wednesday morning in her parents' Lawrence home. One question has haunted me ever since.
Whv?
The 23-year-old had planned to return to Kansas in the fall to complete her bachelor of science degree in secondary education.
Tommy Gallager
sports@kansan.com
Trapp had played two seasons in European basketball leagues one in Luxembourg and one in Finland before returning to the United States recently. She had hoped to try out and sign with a team in either the ABL or WNBA this spring.
People who had seen Trapp in the days before her death said nothing appeared wrong.
I talked with Trapp about a month ago on campus. We talked for less than a minute, just long enough to catch up with where she had been and for me to wish her the best of luck in the future.
That was the Jennifer Trapp I knew. And that was the Jennifer Trapp her coaches and teammates always knew.
Trapp was a hometown hero in Lawrence.
Kansas coach Marian Washington described Trapp, who started all but one game of her 122-game career, as a warrior who refused to accept anything less than 100 percent from herself and her peers. Angie Halbleib and other former teammates called Trapp the glue that held together last season's senior-laden 25-6 team.
But because Trapp was a warrior who never accepted defeat, one question ran through my head.
Why?
Trapp was a hometown hero in Lawrence. She visited one school — Kansas — before choosing to stay home instead of bolting for Colorado or Nebraska, among other colleges. She also lettered in volleyball and track at Lawrence High School.
Teen-aged and elementary school girls in the region idolized Trapp because she symbolized the hopes and dreams of children who wished to succeed in sports. Trapp relished the role, signing autographs for children and speaking with their parents after home games.
During an interview a year ago, Trapp said she majored in education because she wanted to make a difference in the lives of America's youth. She hoped to show young women the importance of sports and the lessons they could teach.
Who knows what would propel someone to deem a situation so miserable that the only way to escape would be to take her own life. We may never understand why Trapp determined her own fate.
I remember her parents, Rick and Patti, brimming with pride and tears on Senior Day last season thinking about what their daughter had achieved during her career. They never missed a home game and cherished the memories she had given them.
Sometimes we wear a mask just to make it through the day, to save some sanity in what can be an unpredictable world.
Because Trapp wanted to make an impact, again I asked myself one simple question. Why?
Trapp dove for loose balls and never shied from taking a charge. She sacrificed everything she had for the team. Trapp endured bumps, bruises and even some stitches.
She embodied most every quality of what the quintessential team player was supposed to be.
But those memories cannot revive a life lost all too soon. They only can help us remember a fellow student who decided that she had enough, for whatever reason. The loss of Trapp put a damper on spring break. It's a shame this event ever occurred, but it did.
We usually deal with winning and losing in sports. But in this instance, we all lost.
Gallager is an Olathe, Kan., senior in journalism.