SPORTS
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Friday, February 4, 1994
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Kansas recruits include top in-state talent
Defense gains key players to fill vacancies
By Andrew Gilman Kansan sportswriter
The University of Kansas signed 24 players for the 1994 football season, including eight from Kansas.
"The best part about our class is our Kansas players," said recruiting coordinator R.D. Helt. "They're not just strong within the state, but they're strong overall."
Highlighting the in-state talent is running back Eric Vann, who is from El Dorado.
The signing period began Wednesday. Kansas coach Glen Mason had a last minute engagement and was unavailable for comment.
Vann was named to Superprep magazine's preseason All-American team. He rushed for more than 1,600 yards during his senior season and scored 22 touchdowns.
Vann chose Kansas instead of Texas, Oklahoma and Michigan.
But one of the reasons he chose to play for the Jayhawks was his interest in baseball.
He batted .390 during his senior year as an outfielder on the El Dorado baseball team.
"Coach Dave Bingham did an excellent job of helping to get him here," Helt said. "If there's a guy who can handle two sports, it would be him."
But perhaps the Jayhawks made the biggest strides on the defensive side of the team. Kansas signed 13 players to play defense next season, including linebacker Steve Bratten.
Bratten, who is from Arvada, Colo., averaged 10 tackles a game during his senior season. He was named all-state in both his junior and senior years.
Other defensive signees include Lawrence standout Jason Thoren and Garden City defensive lineman Brett McGraw.
"He only knows one speed, and that's full," Helt said. "He dominated even as a junior, and we're sure he'll be a good player."
Although Thoren rushed for more than 1,200 yards as if fullback, he will be used as a linebacker.
"He's a tough football player," Helt said. "He's very solid. We're in a position where you can never have enough linebackers."
Overall, Helt said he was impressed by the linebackers.
"This group of linebackers is probably the best we've ever been able to get."
McGraw should help replace a defensive line that lost NFL-bound Chris Maumalanga.
McGraw was named Kansas Sports Magazine's defensive player of the year among 6-A schools.
"He's got everything you need to make it at the college level," said his high school coach Dave Meadows. "He's strong, powerful and quick."
Gray passed for 1,200 yards and ran for another 700 yards his senior season and led Liberty to a 29-5 record in
Junior college transfer Mark Williams, who attended Diablo Valley College, in Concord, Calif., passed for 1,923 yards and 13 touchdowns in 1993. He will be joined by Brian Gray, from Liberty High School in Liberty, Mo.
The offensive additions were also impressive, Helt said. Two quarterbacks were signed as well.
three years.
Kansas coach Glen Mason, who coached at Kent State University in Ohio, returned to familiar ground and picked two players from the area.
Running back Patrick Brown, from Columbus, Ohio, attended Westerville North High School. It is the same school that produced former Kansas quarterback Chip Hilleary, and fullback Monte Cozzens. Brown rushed for 1,000 yards in two consecutive seasons, and was named as one of the top 15 running back prospects in the Big 10 Conference region.
Lamar Sharpe, an outside linebacker, attended Akron East High School in Akron, Ohio. Sharpe is a cousin of Green Bay Packers' wide receiver Sterling Sharpe and the Denver Broncos'tight end Shannon Sharpe. Both Sterling and Shannon were named All-Pros this season. Lamar was named to the all-city team his senior season.
Helt said this year's class could go down as one of the best in the school's history.
"Two years from now we'll look back and say that 1994 was a great class," Helt said.
1994 Kansas football recruiting class
Joe Austin 5-9 168 WR Lynwood, Calif.
Steve Bratten 6-1 213 LB Arvada, Colo. (Pomona)
Patrick Brown 5-11 181 RB Columbus, Ohio (Westerville North)
Julius Bruce 5-9 178 RB Olathe North
Dan Dercher 6-6 230 DBI Bishop Meige
Brian Gray 6-4 205 QB Liberty, Mo.
Troy Harper 6-4 275 LD Okeechobee, Fla. (Taft, Calif., C.C.)
Jamie Harris 5-10 175 DB Olathe North
Jason Harris 6-1 175 DB Fort Worth, Texas (Dunbar)
Dewey Houston 6-5 215 TE Cahokia, Ill.
Andre Johnson 6-2 170 WR Los Angeles (John C. Fremont)
J.J. Johnson 6-3 200 LB Los Angeles (Jefferson)
Rob Lindsey 6-2 200 LB Tampa, Fla. (Gaither)
Jonathan Macklin 5-11 205 FB Kansas City, Mo. (Rockhurst)
Brett McGraw 6-1 260 DL Garden City
Alani Pahuul 6-5 280 Euless, Texas (Ricks College/Trinity)
Cleve Roberts 6-6 265 OL Buhler
Lamar Sharpe 6-5 230 OB Akron, Ohio (East)
Jason Thoren 6-2 215 LB Lawrence
Shawn Vang 6-2 250 DL Wichita (Northwest)
Eric Vann 5-9 190 RB El Dorado
Doug Weaver 6-3 295 DL Starkville, Miss. (E. Miss, JC)
Mark Williams 6-2 175 QB Concord, Calif. (Diablo Valley College)
Tim Willis 6-2 175 LB Aliquipa, Pa.
Vaulter strives for milestone
By Andrew Gilman Kansan sportswriter
John Bazzoni would not have had it any other way.
The senior pole vaulter from North Manchester High School in Indiana always knew he would come to Kansas.
"I wouldn't have wanted to go anywhere else," Bazzoni said. "I've always considered Kansas one of the best vaulting schools."
And that's fortunate for the Jayhawks. Bazzoni is one of the top vaulters in the Big Eight Conference and is expected to win the conference championship this year.
He won the indoor championship last year, put together three consecutive victories this season and is steadily improving. He'll try to improve again when the Jayhaws compete at home this weekend.
"His technique is as good as I've ever seen it, and that's exciting," said assistant track coach Rick Attig.
Bazzoni, however, still is not confident that he has shown his best effort.
Senior pole vaulter John Bazzoni has jumped to three consecutive victories this season. Bazzoni won the indoor Big Eight championships last year. The Jayhawks compete today and tomorrow at Anschutz Pavilion.
"The vault coaches here are the best in the country," Bazoni said. He said the coaches' national experience helped the vaulters tremendously.
"I've been pleased overall," he said. "But I haven't peaked yet. But I'm glad that I have been consistent."
Part of the reason he was so successful, he said, was the excellent coaching he had received.
The coaches also benefit because of him.
"He's dedicated." Attig said. "He's always been a hard worker. He's put up with a lot of pain and frustration."
But that frustration has paid off, and Bazzoni could put himself into the record books.
"If he could jump 18 feet," Attig said, "Kansas will be the only school to have seven vaulters jump 18 feet or better."
Currently Kansas and Baylor have had six vaulters accomplish that task. "I really think he'll do it," Attig said. "He's aggressive, has good speed, and that's how he holds him together."
"He's aggressive, has good speed, and that's what's held him together."
Bazzoni also has the confidence of his teammates.
Those words could lead to bigger and higher things in the future for John Bazzoni. He has cleared 17-23/4, but he said he was confident that he could do better.
"He's a great guy to work with," said junior pole vaulter Bart Peters. "Not only by his example, but by his words."
This weekend he will be alming to do just that when Bazzoni and the rest of the Kansas team plays host to Missouri and Kansas State in the Jayhawk Invitational today and tomorrow at Anschutz Sports Pavilion.
"I'm still hoping for that big jump," he said.
Bazzoni, who won at the Kansas State/Coors Invitational on Saturday, made a more important leap. He provisionally qualified for the NCAA meet to be held in March.
just be trying to beat K-State and Missouri. It will be a great spectator meet."
Bazzoni is not guaranteed a spot to compete, but he is in a position where someone has to beat his jump for him not to go.
"I'm hoping that our guys will make him jump 18," Attig said. "I think our guys will push him. We have the capability to go one, two, three this year in the Big Eight. He would have jumped
Although the conference might not provide much competition, Bazzoni will receive plenty from his team members.
"I'm confident." Bazzoni said about this weekend. "Missouri and K-State don't have much."
18 last year, but he didn't have the competition."
Peters agreed.
"Unless he bombs, John will win the Big Eight." Peters said.
Overall, Bazzoni said he was happy at Kansas.
"I love my teammates and the atmosphere here," he said. "We have some of the nicest people here. It's like an athletic fraternity."
Injured frontcourt a problem for Kansas
By Gerry Fey
Kansan sportswriter
Times have changed for the Jayhawks.
The No. 3 Kansas men's basketball team may have looked forward to playing conference rival Nebraska earlier this season. Without a dominant inside player for the Cornhuskers, the Jayhawks could have utilized their height in the middle.
But that was before injuries hampered some of Kansas' frontcourt players. A strained shoulder has bothered senior forward Richard Scott for two games, and freshman forward Nick Proud's sore knee has forced him to miss two weeks of practice.
When Nebraska takes the court at 12:30 p.m. Sunday in Allen Field
House, it will start a team without a true center. Nebraska is 12-5 overall and 2-3 in the Big Eight Conference, while No. 3 Kansas is 19-3 and 4-2.
Kansas coach Roy Williams said a team such as Nebrask a could play well without a center. "I think you can, especially if those
season despite, sore ankle from earlier in the season, a mild concussion from the Kansas State game and a left shoulder injury from practice.
Scott was listed as a probable starter against Nebraska, but Williams said he wasn't up to his full playing ability yet.
Although Kansas will have a height advantage Sunday, it may play without Scott in the starting lineup in future games. Scott has played in all 125 games during his four-year career.
"There were a lot of games we really played well with Eric being our only post man," Williams said. "Chubick or Best may be a little better from that 12- to 15-foot range, which is what Eric was."
"I talked to him about it yesterday and said, 'Are we better off with you 70 percent or are we better with someone else in?" Williams said. "They said he needs three weeks of complete rest and they're still not sure if that would be right. If they'd have said after three weeks off he would be 100 percent, we would have done that."
"It's frustrating.I think if I'm not 100 percent,I'm kind of hurting the team."
Scott said everything he did was difficult because of his injury.
Williams said that the Cornhuskers used an offense similar to what Kansas did offensively last season with former center Eric Pauley. Nebraska senior forwards Bruce Chubick and Tom Best are two of the Cornhusker's tallest players at 6-foot-8 and 6-9.
Richard Scott Kansas senior forward
other guys can do a lot of different things," Williams said. "It boils down to, 'is your guy better inside than their player is outside?' If I had my choices of five Michael Jordans, I wouldn't care what center you had. It just depends on how good they are."
"I can't really dribble with my left
He has started in every game this
hand," Scott said. "It's frustrating, I think if I'm not 100 percent, I'm kind of hurting the team. B.J. Williams right now is playing the best basketball of his life. He's getting his confidence."
During the Missouri and Oklahoma State games, Scott said he got hit occasionally in the
left shoulder, but it was something he expected.
"I'm banging with guys 260 and 270 pounds," he said. "After a while, it takes its toll. If I was on the other team, I would hit a guy in the shoulder as well."
At the halfway point in the conference season, Missouri is first at 6-0 and two games ahead of Kansas. However, Williams said he was not panicking.
"Missouri definitely has a huge advantage," Williams said. "A two-game lead and three road wins, both of which are extremely important. There's still some games to be played."
Kansas freshman Jacque Vaughn said every conference game would be important from now until the end of the season.
"We definitely need to win," he said of the Nebraska game. "I think if we are mentally prepared at both ends of the court, we won't have to worry about stopping Nebraska. Each game is definitely a must-win situation."
NBA star comes close to record contract, still negotiating
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Derrick Coleman's lawyer thought the deal was all but done — a nine-year, $90 million contract that would have made the all-star forward the NBA's highest paid player.
The Associated Press
Harold MacDonald, Coleman's lawyer, yesterday said that he felt he had reached an understanding with Nets general manager Willis Reed and that approval from the team's ownership was all that was needed.
The New Jersey Netsthought otherwise.
Reed said that was never the case and that details still needed to be worked out. He said reports of a deal might have hindered negotiations.
"Do we still want to sign Derrick Coleman? Yes!" Reed said. "Will we still try? Yes."
Coleman, who is averaging team highs of 20.8 points and 11.5 rebounds, refused to comment.
The negotiations between the two sides heated up last week when Reed said he wanted to either sign Coleman or trade the 28-year-old, four-year veteran by the league's Feb. 24 trading deadline.
Coleman, who turned down a then-record $60 million offer before the start of the season, will become a restricted free agent once the season ends. The Nets could then either match any offer or sign him to a qualifying offer, which would pay him $4.2 million next season and make him an
unrestricted free agent after the 1994-95 season.
The Nets need to either trade or sign Coleman. Otherwise, they get no return on their investment.
"This is one of the biggest decisions
New Jersey isn't locked into the Feb. 24 deadline. It could also try to trade or sign him after the season ends.
the new Jersey Nets have to make," Reed said. "It's got to be everyone on the same page. It hasn't reached that vet."
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The $69 million contract Coleman rejected had $56 million guaranteed for the first eight years with the Nets holding a $13 million option on a ninth season.