Section:
B
The University Daily Kansan
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Sports
Trivia question
Its original value, back in 1893, was $48.67. Today, its worth is almost beyond estimation. It's the supreme prize in the NHL, awarded to the top team of the year. What is it?
Inside: The Kansas rock climbing club enjoys the excursions it takes each year. SEE PAGE 4B
Inside: The Kansas volleyball team will play Texas A&M at 7 tonight at the Horesji Family Athletics Center.
SEE PAGE 3B
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2000 For comments, contact Melinda Weaver or Jason Walker at 864-4858 or e-mail sports@kansan.com WWW.KANSAN.C
Big 12 names Rogers player of the week after Saturday's win
By Allan Davis sports@kansan.com Kansan sportswriter
Marcus Rogers had a good game Saturday, and on Monday the Big 12 Conference honored him for his performance against Colorado.
A panel of members of the media who covered Saturday's Big 12 games named the junior linebacker Big 12 Defensive
Rogers, 6 foot-1 and 235 pounds, led Kansas with 11 total tackles, including seven unassisted. He had two tackles for losses.
K ans as coach Terry Allen said Rogers rogers th
Player of the Week.
deserved the award.
game.
Seth Jones
"There's no question that it starts up front with the D-line." he said.
Rogers, who is from Dallas, said that his friends from Texas would not be coming to Saturday's game against Texas Tech but that they would come to watch him play Saturday, Nov. 11 against Texas at Memorial Stadium.
Rogers is the second Jayhawk this season to be
"It's a great feeling because it's a goal that I've been wanting to achieve.I dreamed about it,and it came true."
"I think he's played very consistently, played very well all year long," he said. "It's nice for him to get that recognition."
"It's a great feeling because it's a goal that I've been wanting to achieve," he said yesterday. "I dreamed about it, and it came true.
"There's a lot of great athletes in the Big 12, and I was pretty surprised. I heard about it from a third person. Somebody told me that I had got it. And I was like, 'Oh, serious?'
Rogers said that he was pleased to win the award and that the recognition was a surprise.
Sports Columnist
Rogers said the defense's team play helped him to have the award-winning
Marcus Rogers Kansas junior linebacker
named Big 12
Defensive Player of the
Week. Algie
Atkinson,
also a junior
linebacker,
was selected
for his play
a gainst
Alabama-
Birmingham
on Sept. 16.
Saturday, Nov. 4 game against No.1 Nebraska as its regional broadcast game. The game is at 2:30 p.m. in Lincoln, Neb.
Notes: ABC has selected K an s a s '
Senior quarterback Dylan Smith said after Saturday's televised game against Colorado that the extra and longer timeouts helped players who were tired but also had some disadvantages.
"I think it's good sometimes," he said. "But I think it's bad when we have momentum going, and we're standing out there for a couple of minutes, and we start getting cold."
Televised games have extra timeouts and longer timeouts to accommodate commercials.
- Edited by John Audlehelm
Johnson to showcase new look to her game
sports@kansan.com
By Zac Hunter
sports@kanson.com
Kansas sportwriter
The women's basketball team has a new look forward to go with its new-look offense this season.
Senior Jaclyn Johnson used her offseason to transform her game from a powerful, low-post-oriented style to a run-and-gun style.
Johnson, under the watchful eye of strength coach Kevin Carter, worked hard in her offseason workouts so she could fill the lanes in transition.
"Everyone's gotten a lot faster, slimmed down, including myself," Johnson said.
Both Johnson and Carter were excited about the results from the offseason and the effect those could have on the season.
Johnson also said she was excited about switching back to her power forward spot. Last season she had to play a lot of center, and now she would get a chance to outrun other forwards down the floor.
Another way Johnson will be able to create mismatches is by using her outside shooting touch. Johnson has been working extensively on her outside game, which adds an extra dimension to her game.
"And if I can do that, it's really going to create a lot of mismatches." she said.
Johnson said the 'Hawks were going to run the triangle offense and the passing system, which leaves her at the top of the key. In years past, she would look to pass the ball, but now, she's looking to knock a few shots down.
"If they kick it back to me, I might as well shoot it," she said.
Now the question is: Can she make the shots? Senior guard Jennifer Jackson joked about Johnson's shot selection.
Coach Marian Washington said that Johnson would be a key component to the success of the season and that Johnson's ability to shoot from low-range would significantly help the Jayhawks.
"She takes a lot of shots and makes some of them," Jackson said.
If Johnson hits from the outside, it will provide an invaluable service to the Kansas offense. Last season, Johnson was the fourth-leading scorer on the team with 11.5 points per game, and those numbers are bound to rise this season.
Along with team success could come personal success. Johnson received votes in the coaches preseason All-Big 12 poll, but if she consistently hits outside shots she might just be a surprise on the postseason All-Big 12 team.
Edited by Amy Randolph
As she becomes more of a threat from the outside, Johnson will draw defenders out of the paint, leaving players such as junior centers Dalchon Brown and Kristin Geoffroy loose inside for some easy buckets.
Kansas senior forward Jaclyn Johnson has spent the summer changing her style of play to run-and-gun. Last year, she averaged 11.5 points per game, and she hopes to increase that this year. Photo by Jamie Roper/KANSAN
Boschee, Axtell to plug defensive holes
By Michael Rigg
sports@kansas.com
Kansan sportswriter
For the past few seasons, guarding high scorers on the perimeter was simple for the Kansas Jayhawks.
If the scorer was taller and liked driving to the basket, Nick Bradford would fit the bill. If he was a stand-up jump shooter, guard Marlon London — arguably the team's best defender the past two seasons — would take him.
But now both are gone, as London sits out this season after transferring to DePaul, and Bradford hopes to suit up for the new American Basketball Association's Kansas City Knights come December. Their departure leaves Kansas coach Roy Williams worried.
"We're a little concerned," Williams said. "Not having that 6-foot-4, 6-foot-5, 6-foot-6 defensive player in the lineup is something that we've got to see if we can plug as much as we can."
The tape and speckle that Williams hopes will cover up his team's defensive holes is junior guard Jeff Boschee, who moved from point guard to shooting guard last season. He will be matched up with the top scorer of many opponents.
Kansas coach Roy Williams says junior guard Jeff Boschee must be defensive stopper this season. The team lost arguably its best defender from last year when guard Marton Lontano transferred. Kansas file photo
"We've got to get Jeff Boschee playing the two," Williams said. "We've got to be able to defend that type of player, and I think that's a big area of concern for us right now."
At times, senior guard Luke Axtell will relieve Boschee. At the start of last season, Williams noted Axtell's defensive weaknesses. This season,
Williams said that Axtell's defense had improved but that he was still not one of the Jayhawks' premiere defenders.
"Luke works hard and has gotten bet
ter defensively, but Luke's not a defen slive stopper," Williams said.
Williams insisted his Jayhawks would improve defensively this season — not because of whom his team lost,
but because of who returned.
"I do think we'll be better defensively, just from the fact of going through drills for a year and the experience we had last year." Williams said.
Axtell agreed.
"We have a lot of veterans on this team," Axtell said. "And that will be good for us as far as confidence."
The Jayhawks will have an opportunity to test that confidence — and their defense — when they open up their exhibition season against the California All-Stars next week.
Kansas Basketball Notes
The news keeps getting worse on the Jayhawk recruiting trail.
Late Monday night, Jamal Sampson, a 6-foot-10 center from Santa Ana, Calif., announced Kansas had dropped out of his recruiting race.
Sampson, who said distance from home played a large part in his decision, said he would announce this week whether he would attend California-Berkeley or St. Louis University.
Sampson attended Late Night with Roy Williams Oct. 13 with fellow recruits Michael Lee, Aaron Miles and Josh Childress.
Lee committed to Kansas that weekend, and Childress announced Monday he would go to Stanford. Miles, meanwhile, will announce his decision after he visits Arizona on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Keith Langford, a 6-foot-4 guard from Crowley, Texas, announced he would visit Kansas on Friday, Nov. 3. He also is considering Oklahoma and Baylor.
— Edited by Warisa Chulindra
Rugby players glorify blood pain, sacrifice of front teeth
Here's a little fun fact for you: Did you know that last Saturday's Kansas men's rugby game against Central Missouri State never was completed?
The score was 70-5. Kansas dominating. With about 15 minutes left in the second half, a Central Missouri State player got busted in the face so hard that he couldn't play anymore. He was a bloody mess. He was done. He quit.
And so did the rest of the Central Missouri State squad. Kansas actually beat them into submission. There was no final whistle. No last play. The Mules simply bowed their bloodied faces and said, "We quit."
Yeah, these guys are tough. They're not playing too bad lately, either. For the season, they're a mediocre 5-5, but they did win the Heart of America Tournament recently, beating Nebraska, Missouri and Truman State. It was the first time Kansas beat Truman State since 1992.
I talked to John Davidson the other day about why anyone would want to play rugby. John, a senior from Olathe, plays the "lock" position for Kansas rugby, which means he's in the middle of the "scrum." The scrum is the time in a game when the opposing teams lock up in inverted pyramids and fight for possession of the ball.
Anyway, John gave me a rather grim reason that he likes to play rugby.
"I can't pass up an opportunity to be this hostile and yet it still be legal," he said.
Violence? John loves it. He's the type of guy who thinks Saving Private Ryan would have been better if the movie had never left the opening storming-of Normandy scene. He thinks those Caught on Tape videos where people get mowed down by wild boars are laugh-out-loud funny.
I had a couple of rugby guys play on my intramural soccer team, the Vatican City Diablos. They were definitely the enforcers of the squad. Their soccer skills weren't the best, but they sure as hell could knock someone off the ball. In fact, I'm pretty sure that a couple times John turned the ball over on purpose, just so he could plow over the opponent's forwards again.
J. P. Davies, Leawood junior and captain of the men's rugby team, told me that the injuries aren't as serious as they are in football.
Of course, J.P. doesn't have six of his front teeth anymore. He lost them all in August. Three made their way to the tooth fairy after he took an elbow to the face in a game. He had some dental work done and returned to the field the next week with a nice new smile. During that game, he got kicked in the teeth. The three new fake teeth were gone, as well as three others.
If you're the violent type, the rugby guys are playing in town at 1 p.m. Saturday at the Westwick Rugby Complex. To get there, go south on Iowa Street until you leave town, then take a right on Douglas County 458. It's two miles out that way.
The team is looking for new players,
if you're interested. What have you got
to lose? OK — besides your teeth?
Janne is a Multivocal speaker in journalism.