SPORTS UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Thursday, February 3, 1994
7
Fast swimmer fought upstream battle
Proposition 48 limited her time in Kansas pool
By Andrew Gilman Kansan sportswriter
You would never know what junior swimmer Ronda Lusty has been through by looking at her performances.
The 1992 All-American spinter has posted the Jayhawks' best times in both the 50- and 100-yard freestyle events this season and is coming off two victories Saturday in Ames, Iowa, including a season's best 23.94 seconds in the 50-yard freestyle.
She was a Proposition 48 case from Pendleton High School in Oregon and was forced to sit out of competition her freshman year. That wasn't easy for the six-time high-school state champion.
It wasn't easy.
Proposition 48 affects high-school student athletes who are entering college but do not get a score of at least 17 on the ACT or 700 on the SAT. Under NCAA rules, Proposition 48 athletes are not able to compete or practice with the team, but they are allowed to attend universities and nav their own way.
"It's hard to just sit and watch," Lusty said. "I wasn't able to swim or compete, and that was frustrating."
Because of an NCAA rule change in 1993, Lusty was able to regain her lost year of eligibility.
Even though she sat out a year, Lusty knew that Kansas was the place for her.
"Gary was interested in me coming here," she said of swimming coach Gary Kempf. "He made me feel like an athlete, an athlete that could contribute to the team. That was important to me."
She said all the coaches had wanted her to go to a junior college. But that's not what she wanted to do.
Lusty also was recruited by Southern Methodist University, Tennessee and South Carolina.
Proposition 48 was not the only problem for her, either.
"Gary said for me to come on out and swim here," she said. "He kept on encouraging me, and that's what made me want to come here."
"My roommate, Marsh Trachi, who is also from Oregon, knew what I was going through," Lusty said. "She stood by me and knew I was hurting. That was helpful."
"When I got to the University, I was overwhelmed," she said. "I felt uncomfortable, plus I had the ACT telling me I wasn't going to make it. Besides that, I found out that I had a reading disability."
Fortunately, she had the support of her roommate and the rest of the team to help overcome her problems, even if she wasn't competing or practicing with them.
"The team accepted me before I started swimming with them, and that also helped me become more comfortable."
"It's hard to just sit and watch.I wasn't able to swim or compete and that was frustrating."
Martin Altstaedten / KANSAN
Lusty has made great strides since the trou.
Junior swimmer Ronda Lusty has posted the best times for the Jayhawks this season in both the 50- and 100-vard freestyle events.
Ronda Lusty Kansas junior swimmer
bles of her freshman year.
I meet like I've grown," she said. "Mentally I've also gotten stronger, and now I'm saying, I can do this."
Her coach, Gary Kempf, also believes in her. "Ronda is a talented, hard-working, motivated young lady," he said. "I attribute that to her work ethic and her desire."
That work ethic and desire have led Lusty to set some high goals.
"I've got my own mind set," she said. "I know what I need. NCAA's are definitely a goal."
A swimmer must swim 23.30 seconds to qualify for the women's 50-yard freestyle in the NCAA meet. Lusty has to cut just 64 hundredths of a second to qualify.
She and her coach have confidence that she will be able to do it.
"My times are starting to decline," she said.
"By the end of the season, I'll be ready to
explode"
Kempf also agreed.
"Her starts, turns and technique have gotten better," he said. "I'd like to see her repeat as an All-American."
With the worst behind her, Lusty looks back and realizes that she would not have wanted to go anywhere else.
"If I had to choose again, it would be here."
she said. "The coaches gave me the opportunity and encouragement that I needed.
"I feel like I've grown, and I feel more relaxed."
But the most important thing to Lusty is the team.
"It's like a family here," she said. "Unity. That's what's important."
Rayford may be small, but stands tall in steals
Big opponents are favorite prey of junior guard
By Gerry Fey
Kansan sportswriter
Some people may think that Kansas junior guard Calvin Rayford's 5-foot-6 frame more closely resembles a midget from the "Wizard of Oz" as a Javahawk basketball player.
But if opposing guards make that connection, their first impressions will disappear as quickly as the basketballs from their hands.
Rayford said he enjoyed guarding someone who was taller than him.
Kansas junior guard Calvin Rayford goes for a layup against Colorado junior forward Ted Allen, Kansas defeated Colorado 87-53 on Saturday.
"I watch the way he dribbles the ball," he said. "If I think someone's dribbling really high. I play with him."
in describing his craft, Rayford sounds like a boxer analyzing his opponent.
"I move one way to see how he reacts," he said. "When you know his weakness, then you've got him."
Rayford has played against some of the top guards in the nation, including preseason All-American sophomore Jason Kidd of California, Kansas State senior Anthony Beane and Indiana senior Damon Bailey.
KANSAN FILE PHOTO
"Jason Kidd was tough," Rayford said. "He's sneaky, and he's got a lot of moves."
During that Nov. 19 game, Rayford had two assists, two steals and no turnovers as Kansas defeated then-No. 6 California 73-56.
As a sophomore, Rayford had 30 steals in limited playing time. He played behind Adonis Jordan, who led the team with 70 steals. But Jordan played more than three times as many minutes as Rayford.
It may be surprising that Rayford feels this way. He came to Kansas in 1991 as the state high-school player of the year in Wisconsin. In his senior year at Washington High School in Milwaukee, he averaged 16 points and 7.3 assists a game. But Vaughn has started in all the games this season.
"I'm happy with my role," he said. "I think when the time comes, I will be able to step up."
When Vaughn first arrived at Kansas, he said he had no preconceived ideas about Rayford.
"I never underestimate someone's abilities," Vaughn said. "I knew he would be a challenge. I thought he would be the quickest player that I have to guard. He will definitely challenge me day in and day out, which he has."
"It doesn't bother me," he said. "Some games, I know that he's going to do well, and some games I'm going to do well."
Rayford is second on the team with 80 assists for the season, compared to Vaughn's team-high 104 assists. This is impressive, considering Vaughn has played 154 more minutes. Rayford insists that the two guards have a good relationship.
Despite playing in front of Rayford as a freshman, Vaughn said the two were friends.
In Kansas' relentless style of play this season, guards are depended on to pressure the opposing point guard and push the ball on offense. Kansas coach Roy Williams said the two guards played the game the way he expected.
"We're friends on the court as well as off the court," he said. "It just makes both of us better players."
"Calvin and Jacque are similar in that they both push the ball up the floor," he said. "Calvin creates a little more havoc than Jacue. I tell you what, if the other guy's
Possibly the best individual battles that go on in Allen Field House do not happen with 15,800 people watching. Vaughn said practice time was when he and Rayford were naturally paired against each other.
point guard isn't dog-tired, I am not going to be too happy. They both have the ability to get after you."
we both thrive on our defense, pressuring the ball," Vaughn said. "Sometimes practices can be intense. But after practice, we go back to the locker room. I guess it's just another day's work."
By Matt Siegel
Kansan sportswriter
"Traveling with the Jayhawks" would be an appropriate theme for the No. 6 Kansas women's basketball team this month.
The team has five road games during February. The Jayhawks will for Colorado for their first road game of the month at 5 a.m. today from Kansas City International Airport. After the game against No. 7 Colorado tomorrow, the Jayhawks will fly back home. Saturday morning, they will ride a bus to Columbia, Mo. to face the Tigers.
Women's teams use a different traveling system than men's teams. Each women's team has a traveling partner, and all the women's teams usually play Fridays and Sundays.
Kansas' partner is Kansas State, who is at Missouri on Friday. Then the two teams will trade places: Kansas plays at Missouri, and KState plays at Colorado on Sunday.
Washington said the reason that traveling partners were created had been to eliminate any competition between the men and the women and to bring more exposure to the women's games. Although traveling partners may have looked good on paper, some coaches are exasperated with the system.
"We will go down and play our hearts out at Oldhoma and lose by one or something." Nebraska coach Angela Beck said. "Then we will have to travel all day Saturday and play
Oklahoma State, who had an easier game against our partner, Iowa State, and didn't have to expend the energy and effort that we did."
Beck said the traveling-partners system, which was started last year in the Big Eight, was set up geographically. She said it had been difficult to prepare a team to play with in a 24-hour period, especially after traveling most of the day.
Washington said she had devised a system with her assistant coaches in which one coach prepared for the Friday game and another assistant coach prepared for the Sunday game.
Washington said she thought that the Colorado game would be emotional because it pitted the two top teams in the conference and because both are ranked in the top ten. She said she thought that the way her team had handled the road had been remarkable.
"We have been able to come right back after an emotional high and still found enough to win ball games," she said. "The players have done a nice job of enjoying it for a few moments and then tucking it away and getting refocused."
So far this season, Kansas is 6-1 on the road and 16-1 overall. The Jayhawks 7-0 in the Big Eight Conference, are ranked nationally and have won eleven consecutive games.
"I think some teams have a lot of potential but they don't understand what it takes to be successful, and they are up and down," Washington said. "We don't get caught up in things like who starts or who scores the most. Those are things that separate your players and put the "I" in team that should never exist."
Battle of rivals to decide king of college basketball
The Associated Press
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Just what a Duke-North Carolina game needs, something to make it a little bigger.
When they meet tonight in another edition of one of the best rivalries in all of sports, it will also be a matchup of college basketball's top-ranked teams.
No. 1 Duke, 15-1, took over the top spot this week, the fifth team in as many polls to hold the honor. North Carolina, 17-3, was the preseason No. 1 and held the spot for two weeks during the season.
The schools, just eight miles apart, have won the last three national championships. North Carolina ended Duke's two-year reign in 1993.
It's the first matchup of No. 1 and 2 since top-ranked UNLV beat Arkansas 112-105 on Feb. 10, 1991. It's also for first place in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Duke is 6-1 in the league, and North Carolina is 5-2.
"If North Carolina is completely healthy, they're probably as talented a team as there is in the United States," Duke coach Mike Krzyewski said. "They have kids who last year won the national championship."
The depth of the Tar Heels will again be a big factor with the continued absence of shooting guard Donald Williams, their leading scorer at 16.2 points a game. He missed three games early in the season with tendinitis in his left foot and then badly bruised and slightly separated his left
shoulder two weeks ago against Virginia. Williams was not expected to play, but Tar Heels coach Dean Smith left the door open just a bit.
"If Donald did play against Duke, it probably wouldn't be very much because of his conditioning," Smith said. "The first time he came back, we felt he was ready to move right back in. This time, he's been out so long that he wouldn't be able to move back in for more than four-minute stretches."
The attention should be in the middle where North Carolina has 7-footer Eric Montross, averaging 14.5 points and 8.4 rebounds. Duke has 6-11 Cherokee Parks, who is averaging 16.3 and 9.6.
"Eric is just a great team player, and he does what he has to do to make Carolina a winner," Krzyzewski said. "He's very mobile for a big guy.
"When you drive, he can move and take up even more of the lane. He's a huge presence for North Carolina, the way Grant Hill is for you. You know Eric Montross is there. They know it, the opposition knows it, and it's always good for Carolina.
"Cherokee has gotten better, and I think he's stronger. He has ability to go outside more. Strength-wise. Cherokee has improved and he might be able to play better post defense, but you can't guard Eric alone. There will be so many good players on the court, it won't be like a 1-on-1 matchup."
No.it's 1 against 2.