Section:
A
The University Daily Kansan
Trivia question
Sports
The team in possession of the ball is allowed four downs to advance its position. How many yards must be gained for the team to keep the ball in its possession?
SEE PAGE 8A
Inside: All of the positions on the women's basketball team are decided except center, which must be decided between two players.
SEE PAGE 8A
Inside: Oakland first baseman Jason Giambi was awarded the American League Most Valuable Player yesterday.
SEE PAGE 9A
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2000 For comments, contact Melinda Weaver or Jason Walker at 864-4858 or e-mail sports@kansan.com WWW.KANSAN.COM
Punter endures flawed season
Injured player struggles in final games before suiting up for wedding
By Jason Franchuk sports@kansan.com
Kansas sportswriter
Kansas senior punter Joey Pelfanio has had games when there were human locomotives charging at him, but nothing has intimidated him more than facing Janet and Randy Wright.
When you're 22, in love and want to get married, potential in-laws can be more threatening than trying to get off a punt with a 250-pound steamroller in your path.
Asking Sara Wright for her hand was more difficult than anything he had endured on the field.
"Asking her was the most nervous I've ever been," Pelfonio said.
He committed a false start of sorts when he proposed to his girlfriend on Dec. 22, 1999.
He was so overzealous to go down on one knee that he had forgotten to ask her father for his blessing.
Pelfanio had picked up the engagement ring and was planning to ask Wright at a festival near Sacramento, Calif., where both are from.
But he had more jitters than anytime in football, and he popped the question before telling her parents he was doing so.
"Those were the first words that came out of my mom's mouth," Wright said. "She wondered why he didn't ask them first. But they were thrilled."
But until their wedding next year, Pelfiano has more work to do on the football field. And his last year of playing, by his estimation, has been far from thrilling.
From the season-opening loss at Southern Methodist, the special teams were in ruins. In that opener, Pelfiano had a blocked punt, a mishandled snap he was eventually sacked on and a snap sailed over his head and he had
year he has been playing despite a vertebrae stress fracture caused by years of landing in, awkward contortions on one leg after kicking the ball.
The injury has him thinking about what could have been. After a successful 1990
campaign, he entered this year
jected as one of the top punters
in the country. His
teammate and former
roommate, kicker Joe
Garcia, said he knew
what Pelfanio has gone
through.
sure and there's a lot of situations that can go wrong — a bad snap or a bad hold, or something like that. But we'll be the ones who get more blame or credit than we deserve.
Garcia said he missed his former roommate, but the two still see each other.
Garcia has helped Pelfanio get through some of the tougher times this year. But the injury still makes him wonder.
"I think of what if," Peffiano said. "I wonder what could have been different if I never hurt my back. But this year, it's like I wake up every morning, and I'm in pain."
Longhorns shut out volleyball team again
The Kansas volleyball team fell to the Texas Longhorns last night in a 3-0 shutout in Austin, Texas.
The Jayhawks floundered in the first two games but fought hard in the third, eventually falling 15-1, 15-2, 16-14. The Longhorns dominated with a strong serving and blocking scheme.
With last night's loss, Kansas falls to 14-13, and 5-13 in the Big 12 Conference, while Texas improves to 9-15, 7-10.
"in the first two games Texas played unbelievably well," said coach Ray Beach. "They came out strong and really took it to us."
This is the Jayhawks' second loss to the Longhorns this season.
The first loss came on Oct. 7 when the 'Hawks fell in five games in Lawrence. In that game, senior outside hitter Amy Myatt put away 34 kills. Last night, however, she was held to just five.
She entered the game last night needing only 24 kills to break the school record for the most kills in a season with 450. She will have to wait until Saturday's home match against Missouri to claim the 13-year-old record.
The Jayhawks will then have a week off before competing against Oklahoma on Saturday, Nov. 25 for the last regular-season match.
Kansas will recognize its four seniors before and after its match against the Tigers.
The Jayhawks must win one of their final two matches in order to avoid falling to the .500 mark for the first time in more than two years.
— Edited by Katie Teuka
Sarah Warren
Jayhawks lack depth on bench going into season home opener
By Michael Rigg sports@kansan.com Kansan sportswriter
When Kansas had former Parade All-American Lester Earl as the 10th player in the playing rotation last season, it had a little too much depth
But this year, with walk-on junior guard Brett Ballard filling Earl's role deep in the rotation, the Jayhawks probably do not have enough.
For the past two seasons, Kansas coach Roy Williams had a wealth of players on his bench, sometimes rotating as many as 10 into any given game. But after an ankle injury sidelined senior forward Luke Axtell, Williams will stick with a seven-man regular rotation for the time being.
And he's not happy about it. "To me, there's no question that it's a disadvantage," he said. "What would really be a disadvantage is if we had five guys. Ten or 11, like we've talked about in the past, is sometimes too much. But I can give eight or nine guys enough playing time that they're not disappointed. But so far, we don't have that luxury."
And he's not happy about it.
It's no coincidence that those seven players — with the exception of Kinsey — are also the most experienced on the Kansas roster. After Kinsey, the experience drops off to seldom used junior forward/center Jeff Carey, freshman forward Bryant Nahle and a slew of walk-ons.
As the Jayhawks prepare for tomorrow's season home opener against North Dakota, Williams will try to stick to a rotation that includes senior center Eric Chenowith, senior forward Kenny Gregory, junior guard Jeff Boschee, sophomore point guard Kirk Hinrich, sophomore forwards Drew Gooden and Nick Collison and freshman guard Mario Kinsev.
The lack of depth has put immense pressure on those seven players. If someone
gets in foul trouble — such as against UCLA and St. John's last week — or injured, the Jayhawks suddenly become beatable.
Because of last week's foul trouble, Kansas was forced to move into a zone defense, which players such as UCLA the Jason Kapono and the Red Storm's Anthony Glover beat with tremendous ease.
"It's a mistake I made," Williams said. "Because I do have confidence in Jeff, and I do think he can be that ninth guy. But it's hard to go any farther than that, to say the least."
To help ease Collison's foul pain, Williams said he would most likely insert Carey into the game. Carey played five minutes in the two Jayhawk wins in New York, and Williams said he regretted Carey's lack of playing time.
If junior guard John Crider ends up transferring to Washburn University, as circulating rumors have said, he'll have to do it while nursing a torn quadricen.
He was shut out of Kansas' 69-point exhibition victory against Emporia State and didn't travel with the team to New York last week. In his two plus years on Mount Oread, Crider has appeared in 27 games and amassed a scoring average of 0.3 points per game.
Kansas Basketball Notes:
Williams announced last night that Crider, a reserve guard from Horton, will miss two to three weeks of action with a torn quadriceps muscle in his right leg.
Kinsey hasn't been practicing lately because of flulike symptoms.
"He was very sick." Williams said. "He was throwing up all day (yester-day)."
It is still unknown whether Kinsey would play against North Dakota tomorrow ught.
Senior center Eric Chenowith fires the ball over St. John's forward Anthony Glover in the Coaches vs. Cancer IKON Classic game last week. The Jayhawks' next game is tomorrow at 7:05 p.m. in Allen Fieldhouse against the North Dakota Fighting Sioux. Photo by Craig Bennett/KANSAN
- Edited by Warisa Chulindra
Crider will be talk of town wherever he plays this year
Although the Kansas basketball team has started what should be an impressive year, one Jayhawk's future is much more uncertain.
It would be unfortunate if Crider left, but one couldn't blame him. He had offers from a handful of Division-I schools when he chose Kansas, so his impact at Division II Washburn would be strong.
No one from the team is talking, but rumors indicate that junior John Crider will relocate 20 miles west in Topeka to play at Washburn.
His exit would translate into the loss of a good guy, too. Crider, a neighbor of mine at Jayhawker Towers last year, was always friendly. One usually hears that his work ethic is impressive well.
For that reason, a John Crider playing for the Jayhawks is great for the state of Kansas.
Jon Stoppel, a sophomore from Washington, Kan. (yeah, coincidentally, that's where I'm from), reached the final 15 potential walk-ons for this year's basketball team. He would be the topic of conversation for quite some time in a town of 1,300 residents if he joined the Kansas team.
Sure, he's not the greatest athlete to wear a Jayhawk uniform. But he's a good player on a very talented team.
Most small town athletes play two to three sports in high school before becoming just another Joe Schmoe. These Kansans can live vicariously through Crider and other rural Kansas stars.
And to dispel the idea that recruiting inside the Sunflower State is a lost cause, consider the talent of some of Kansas' greats:
Leavenworth's Wayne Simien, whom Roy Williams has had an eye on since Simien was in junior high, will be a Javahawk next year.
Please see former Iowa State basketball player Jacy Holloway (Moundridge) or current Cyclone Paul Shirley (Jefferson West High School), whose hometown Meridan isn't far from Crider's Horton.
- Former Jayhawks include Wichita's Steve Woodberry and Mark Turgeon (Topeka-Hayden).
Kris Weems (Schlage-Kansas City) was on the recent Stanford Final Four team.
In football, former Kansas State linebacker and current NFL player Mark Simoneau (Smith Center) and Oklahoma State Heisman Trophy winner Barry Sanders (Wichita) come to mind.
John Riggins, who led the Jayhawks to the 1969 Orange Bowl, is from not-so-big Centralia.
Former Kansas football player Michael Chandler went to KC-Piper and current wide receiver Harrison Hill hails from Wichita Collegiate.
Many standout Kansans have probably been omitted, and for that I apologize. But that solidifies the point that in-state products are productive.
Yes, Crider's days as a Jayhawk may be numbered. Yes, his percentage in threepoint land isn't grand. And yes, his claim to fame is the points he accumulated on the free-throw line.
But by the same token, he has talent.
He wouldn't have been offered a scholarship if Williams thought otherwise.
So when Washburn and Kansas collide after Thanksgiving, Crider will be wearing Crimson and Blue or Ichabod Blue. The former has been worn by some of the best and has much prestige. The latter will probably bring minutes upon minutes of playing time.
Either way, the small-town kid will give people in Horton and other towns waiting to get on the map something to talk about besides the weather.
Lionberger is a Washington, Kan., senior in Journalism.
---