Inside Sports
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Sports
Wednesday February 25,1998
iowa State will have its hands full with center Brian Skinner when the Cylcones take on Baylor tonight in Waco.
Women's Golf
The Kansas women's golf team finished eighth in its first tournament of the spring season.
SEE PAGE 5B
Section:
SEE PAGE 2B
Big 12 Statistics
B
Check out the latest Big 12 men's basketball statistical leaders.
Page 1
SEE PAGE 8B
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Women seek wins before play in Big 12 Tournament
By Kevin C. Wilson
Kansan sportswriter
Life in the Big 12 Conference is one crucial game after another for the Kansas women's basketball team.
homa Sooners tonight in a game that has playoff implications.
The Jayhawks will battle the Okla-
"Our next two games are very important in terms of our seeding and our overall record," said Coach Marian Washington.
Washington:Con-
cerned about team's ack of depth.
The Jayhawks, 17-7 overall and 9-5 in Big 12 play, are seeking a first-round bye
in the Big 12 Tournament and are tied for the fourth and final position with Baylor. The Bears have an advantage against the Jayhawks because of their 65-59 win against Kansas on Jan. 3, thus increasing the importance of tonight's game.
WHO'S THE BOSS OF THE BIG 12?
Washington said that she was concerned about her team's lack of depth.
"In the tournament, endurance is more important than overall talent." Washington said. "We have a lot of young players who are playing a lot of minutes, so we would rather not have to play in that first round."
Oklahoma, 8-16 overall and 4-10 in 16
12 play, is mired in a five-game losing
streak after beginning the season with
improved play and victories.
The Sooners already have defeated Texas and Colorado at home this season, and Coale said they would be looking to add the Jayhawks to their list of impressive home victories.
The Sooners are led by sophomore forward Phylesha Whaley, who tops the team in scoring with 20.5 points and averages 8.1 rebounds. Whaley had a career-high 38 points against Texas on Jan. 17 and has recorded 30 or more points six times this season.
"It is certainly much easier on your home court, especially since it is our senior night," Coale said. "I hope our players let loose and play the game of their lives."
"We haven't been playing well lately," Oklahoma Coach Sherri Coale said. "At this point we need to concentrate on ourselves and not our opponent. We need to gain back some of that poise and composure we were playing with before."
Washington said that the Jayhawks would focus on containing Whaley.
"She is an extremely explosive player," Washington said. "She's what I call a 'tweener. She's not too big (5-10), but she causes a match-up problem because of her quickness."
Washington said that she was not concerned with how other teams were performing, just the Jayhawks.
"We need to focus on us," Washington said. "If we can take care of ourselves, we'll be in good shape."
Junior forward Paul Pierce throws down a thunderous dunk in the first half of Monday night's game for two of his game-high 31 points. Pierce's offensive production helped spark Kansas to a 83-70 victory against Big 12 Conference rival Oklahoma. Photo by Steve Puppe/KANSAN
Kansas center Raef LaFrentz slams the ball over two Arizona defenders. LaFrentz and Paul Pierce are two favorites to be the Big 12 Player of the Year. Photo by Steve Pauper/KANSAN
Player-of-year votes spur debate
By Tommy Gallagher
tgallagher@kansan.com
Kansas sportswriter
With the Big 12 Conference regular season winding into its final weekend, coaches around the region have begun campaigning for conference Player of the Year candidates.
Kansas coach Roy Williams even lobbied for his own players — forwards Raef LaFrentz and Paul Pierce — when asked during Monday's coaches teleconference about his thoughts on player of the year.
LaFrentz averages 20.5 points and 11.3 rebounds, and Pierce averages 20.3 points and 6.9 rebounds. They helped lead the Jayhawks (30-3 overall, 14-1 in the Big 12) to consecutive 30-win seasons for the first time in school history.
"Normally I don't get involved with those type of things because I don't think coaches should be politicking for their players, but we certainly have two people on our team that are deserving of that honor," Williams said.
Both players also may be deserving of first team All-America honors.
But coaches around the conference, many of whom already have voted on the Player of the Year, disagree about what merits the honor.
Oklahoma guard Corey Brewer has been vital to the Sooners (19-9, 10-5) this season because of nagging injuries to reserve Eric Martin and to starters Tim Heskett, Rvan Humphrew and Eduardo Naiera.
Should the award belong to the most outstanding player or to the player who has been most valuable to his team's success?
Texas Tech guard Cory Carr leads the Big 12 in scoring with 24.1 points per game, keeping the Red Raiders' (13-11, 7-7) hopes of a postseason alive.
And Baylor center Brian Skinner averages 18.3 points, 9.6 rebounds and a conference-leading 3.3 blocked shots per game despite the Bears' mediocre record (12-12, 7-7).
Baylor coach Harry Miller said Skinner deserved Player of the Year honors because he had impressive numbers without the benefit of a quality supporting cast.
"Brian, more than anybody else in the conference, gets double- and triple-teamed," Miller said. "Not even Raef LaFrentz or Paul Pierce or Corey Brewer gets the kind of attention Brian gets. And yet, he's still got the outstanding statistics."
Oklahoma coach Kelvin Sampson said he would have voted for Brewer had coaches been allowed to vote for their own players.
"Yeah, I'd vote for Corey because he's
meant so much to this ball club," Sampson said. "But even though I think Raef LaFrentz is the player of the year, I think either Corey Brewer or Cory Carr is the most valuable player in this league."
Many coaches are willing to choose their own players, but the voting becomes somewhat unpredictable when coaches must select players from other teams.
Most coaches agreed that LaFrentz, Pierce, Brewer and Carr were the leading contenders for Big 12 Player of the Year.
Oklahoma State coach Eddie Sutton said he was not sure what made the Player of the Year, but he did hint at a plan that voters in doubt might select.
"When you say most valuable, I don't know who that is," Sutton said. "I think Raef's probably the best player, but he's probably not the most valuable player. That's up for discussion. But you can never go wrong with Raef."
Jayhawk victory no error, but fielding needs to improve
By John Blakely Wilson Kaeson sportswriter
Beautifulday Uglv game.
The Kansas baseball team opened its home season under warm, blue skies yesterday and limped past Ottawa 144 in an error-filled game.
Kansas was a Big 12 Conference team preparing to play three games at national powerhouse Oklahoma State this weekend.
Ottawa University was a small Kansas school playing its first game of the season.
"We didn't stay focused enough after we got that big lead," said
Kansas coach Bobby Randall. "This game was bad — it wasn't all them, either. We have to now switch gears and prove we can play against the big teams."
Errors plagued both teams. Kansas committed four, and Ottawa committed three. Randall said a young lineup contributed to the fielding problems.
"Our best baseball is still in front of us," Randall said. "We had two freshmen (third baseman Brandon O'Neal and shortstop John Nelson) starting on the left side of the infield and new starters all over the field. Our defense will improve with experience."
base running and Ottawa's spotty infield play and jumped to a 7-10 lead after three innings. Both Kansas catchers — Josh Dimmick, who was the designated hitter, and Shane Wedd — stole second base in the first inning. Dimmick scored on a Wedd single.
Kansas capitalized on aggressive
"Josh is fast, but Shane isn't," Randall said. "We'll run everybody. If we can bunt and run we'll score runs without having to hit the ball real well."
Kansas pounded out seventeen hits, including three each from outfielder Cliff Bryson and Paul Levens, played outfield and second base. Nelson led the team with three runs batted in.
"I was too pumped up to pitch against Oklahoma, and my pitches got up too high," Schriner said. "I setled down today and that dropped my pitches into the strike zone."
In his first college start, pitcher Brian Schriner held Ottawa to just one hit in three innings and notched a win. Last weekend he allowed three runs in one third of an inning against Oklahoma.
Randall used seven pitchers and said he was pleased with the effectiveness of pitchers Schriner, Rusty Philbrick, Franco Martinez and Eric Bettis.
"I just want to fill a role and help this team win," Levens said. "It was good today to get a chance to play before Stillwater and win a game."
Levens said this was an important game after Kansas lost all its games last weekend at the Marriott West
Levens, a utility player, started in right field but moved to other positions. In the eighth inning, he played second base. In one play, he stabbed a ground ball deep in the hole near first base and threw the runner out at first.
"Getting those guys a chance to toss before this weekend against guys in another-colored uniform was important." Randall said.
LoopInvitational in Houston.
"We were down on the way home because we had high expectations going in," Levens said. "This game gave us experience that will help as we begin the Big 12 season."
SCORE BY INNINGS:
SCORE BY INNINGS:
Ottawa 000 310 000
Runs Hits Errors
4 8 3
Kansas 160 610 00X
Runs Hits Errors
14 17 4
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