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Section:
14A
Today in sports
The University Daily Kansan
Miami Dolphins fans chanted "One more year" to Dan Marino at a tribute for the former quarterback last night.
Sports
Inside: Carlos Delgado hit two home runs in the Royals' 9-8 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays.
SEE PAGE 12A
Inside: Senior running back Harrison Hill is still recovering from chronic dehydration.
SEE PAGE 13A
R
Royala
THE KSDAY AL GA ST 24, 2000 For comments; contact Melinda Weaver or Jason Walker at 364-4858 or e-mail sports@kansan.com WWW.KANSAN.COM/SPORTS
Quarterback looks to connect
Senior quarterback Dylen Smith launches a pass over a Kansas State defender in a 50-9 loss to the Wildcats Oct. 9. Unlike last year, Smith won't have to battle a teammate for the starting quarterback position this year. Kansas file photo
By Jason Franchuk sports@kansan.com Kansan sportswriter
Dylen Smith is practicing, constantly surveying the field, looking for open spots and trying to figure out what the defense is going to do to stop him.
stop him.
This game is an instinct to him. It comes easily to him. He will not allow himself to be beaten.
It's his move now, and he will make the right play. He stares across the defense to see what its next move will be. He will win, anyway, he figures. Doesn't matter whether he plays the red or black checkers.
Cueckers? Oh, this is not football. And don't scoff just because he spends his free time playing Connect Four. Almost everyone has a hobby, something to do to avert attention from their pressures.
"It doesn't matter what the game is," Smith said. "Football or (Connect Four). I'm competitive. I hate to lose."
Some people run extra sprouts or work out until the gym has to be locked. Maybe Smith is on to something with his training ritual. The game moves fast, requires quick mental reflexes and an ability to look ahead of the game.
But the game is something more to Smith. He was poised to make a run
Just like football. Just like quarterback, which is Smith's position.
at the starting spot at Kansas after two years at a junior college in Santa Monica, Calif. Problem was, Smith didn't know the offense. He didn't know anybody. He missed his friends, his beloved Oakland Raiders and the brilliant California sunshine.
silly.
"I was homesick," Smith said. "I'd like to say it didn't affect me on the field, but maybe it did."
Smith was quiet around everyone, which didn't help, especially in football, where he is the quarterback — a natural leadership role.
"This season, he has definitely positioned himself as more of a leader," said senior running back Moran Norris. "He is the starting quarterback. He has to be."
Smith kept to himself when he first came to Lawrence. He said it wasn't until he got to know someone that he would display his true outgoing nature.
"I think being quiet set me back some," Smith said of arriving last year. "I was afraid to talk or to ask questions. When I first came (to Kansas), I didn't know much about the offense or anything. It would have helped for me to talk more."
Connect Four, believe it or not, helped him. It allowed him to meet some people. He will take on anyone, including his teammates or the media relations department.
See HOBBY on page 13A
Coming Home
Molly Scavuzzo, dives for a ball during practice at Horesji Family Center. Photo by Aaron Lindberg/KANSAN
Volleyball transfer is all smiles
By Sarah Warren
By Sarah Warren
sports@kansan.com
Kansas sportswriter
only salt.
The rest benedited sophomore is just that
centered on he at Kungas.
Molly Scavuzzo can't stop smiling.
Her accomplishments at Northwest led to heavy courting from Division I volleyball teams, which she narrowed down to Wyoming and Kansas. And when the schmoozing subsided, Scavuzzo's native state came in second.
excited to be at Kansas.
As a recent addition to the Kansas volleyball team, the 6-foot-2 outside hitter and Overland Park native is finally where she wants to be, athletically and geographically.
As a standout at volleyball powerhouse Blue Valley Northwest, Scavuzzo and her teammates dominated her final two seasons, going 83-2 — undefeated in her senior season — and coming away with back-to-back 6A state championships.
sure came in second.
"Wyoming really recruited me really
But their things sank.
"Wyoming was really good, but the year that I redshirted they lost a lot of valuable seniors," Scavuzzo said. "They tried to rebuild the program, but that wasn't going so well."
Scavuzzo arrived at Wyoming with high expectations for the team, which is historically a volleyball juggernaut but decided to sit out her freshman season as a redshirt and just take it all in.
well," Scavuzzo said. "I was being recruited by KU too, but I think I chose Wyoming because I really wanted to go far away."
"It it was an unhealthy situation," Scavuzzo said. "Wyoming was not the place I thought it would be. When it came down to it, I wasn't enjoying volleyball like I had been and how I do now."
But then things started to change.
Off the court, the distance that was so attractive to Scavuzzo began to lose it's charm.
Things were so bad that Scavuzzo started to lose her love for the sport.
"I have a large family, and I didn't want to be away from them," Scavuzzo said. "It's much better to be 30 minutes away rather than 10 hours."
So last spring, she contacted Kansas volleyball coach Ray Bechard and headed to Lawrence. And the Scavuzzo that he received was definitely an alter-ego of the unhappy redhead smacking down balls for Wyoming just months earlier.
"Anytime you come back close to your support system it helps you out," Bechard said. "And Molly is a physical player and gives us depth in her position."
Sweetening the transition to Kangas,
Scavuzzo's high school coach, Christi Posey,
signed on this summer as an assistant coach
to Bechard.
And ever since, her smile has been a permanent feature.
"This is what I imagined college volleyball to be like," Scavuzzo said. "This is just the ideal situation for me."
Edited by Kimberly Thompson
Tough schedule means challenge for women's team
By Zac Hunter
sports@kansan.com
Kansan sportswriter
A schedule full of strong opponents awaits the Kansas women's basketball team this season.
The schedule for the 2000-01 season, announced Tuesday, includes nine members of last year's NCAA Tournament field. Five of those opponents were ranked in the final Associated Press poll.
Coach Marian Washington said the Hawks would be challenged early and often, but the adversity would be good for them.
The biggest challenge the Jayhawks will face this year will be during the second half of the season, when conference play begins. Last year, the Big 12 Conference sent six teams to the NCAA tournament.
Washington said the conference would be much improved, and Iowa State would be one of the teams to beat.
The Hawks open the exhibition season November 8 against the Basketball Travelers at Allen Fieldhouse. The first exhibition game will be the first of 14 home games for the Jayhawks.
"It will give our fans a lot more opportunity to see our team," Washington said.
And judging by the changes the team underwent during the off season, the fans might need those games to become accustomed to Kansas' new players.
The Hawks added six new players to the team, including three junior college transfers. Junior shooting guard K.C. Hilgenkamp, a Hutchinson Junior College transfer from Arlington, Neb., said she chose Kansas because she was impressed with the players and coaching staff and that she can't wait to start playing basketball.
Along with the difficulty of the schedule comes the promise of notoriety. Kansas plays six of its
Women's Basketball Schedule
Date Opponent TV
Nov. 18 Grambling State
Date Opponent 17
Nov. 8 Exhibition (Basketball
Travelers)
Nov. 18 Grambling State
Nov. 21 at Arkansas State
Nov. 25-26 at Lady Blazer
Classic
Nov. 25 Alabama-Birmingham
Nov. 26 Tennessee-Martin or
Louisiana-Monroe
Nov. 28 Illinios
Dec. 2 Consolation and Championship games
Dec. 1-2 KU Credit Union Jayhawk Classic(Eastern Illinois, Kansas, Minnesota, St. Joseph)
Dec. 1 Eastern Illinois (Jayhawk D0)
Dec. 9 Exhibition (Washburn University)
University))
Dec. 16 Creighton
Dec. 21 Mississippi Valley State
Dec. 29 at Arizona FOX
Dec. 31 at UC Santa Barbara
Jan. 6 Baylor
Jan. 10 at Iowa State
Jan. 13 Kansas State FOX
Jan. 17 at Oklahoma State
Jan. 20 at Colorado
Jan. 24 Oklahoma
Jan. 27 at Kansas State
Jan. 31 Nebraska FOX
Feb. 3 at Texas
Feb. 7 Colorado
Feb. 10 at Missouri FOX
Feb. 14 Texas Tech
Feb. 17 Iowa State ESPN2
Feb. 21 at Nebraska
Feb. 24 Missouri
Feb. 28 at Texas A&M
March 6-10 Big 12
Conference Tournament
games on television, with four of the Jayhawks' appearances coming via Fox Sports and one each on ESPN2 and the Javahawk Network.
Washington said that she was pleased that all Big 12 teams were getting more national exposure, along with the conference's efforts to give women more exposure.
— Edited by Chris Borniger
Several top recruits planning to visit Kansas in October
By Michael Rigg sports@kansan.com
Kansas writerwriter
When coach Roy Williams announced in July that he was staying at Kansas, many observers assumed that the nation's top recruits would fall right into the Javahaws' laps.
Well, it hasn't been that easy — at least not yet.
Kansas recruits:
Name Place Position
Wayne Simien Leavenworth, KS Forward
Josh Childress Lakewood, CA Forward
Jamal Sampsors Santa Ana, CA Center
Aaron Miles Portland, OR Guard
Dennis Latimore Halstead,KS Forward
Errol Knight Seattle, WA Guard
Chuck Hayes Modesto, CA Forward
Chad Bell Los Angeles, CA Center
David Lee St. Louis, MO Forward
Eddy Curry South Holland, IL Center
Kansas has only one verbal commitment to date — Leavenworth forward Wayne Simien — but remains on the short lists of several of the nation's top prospects.
lists of several of the nation's top three prospects will make their official visits to Mount Oread in the near future. Josh Childress, a 6-foot-6 swingman from Lakewood, Calif., and Jamal Sampson, a 6-10 center from Santa Ana, Calif., will both attend Night with Roy Williams on Oct. 13. Also planning a visit in October is Aaron Miles, a 6-foot point guard from Portland, Ore. Miles hasn't nalled down the exact date of his visit yet.
Since Kansas center Eric Chenowith is a senior, inking a big man is a necessity for this year's recruiting class. That's where Sampson comes in.
Sampson is widely known as one of the nation's top shot blockers, and his stock rose over the summer when he was impressive at the Nike Global Challenge tournament.
Sampson said Kansas was a definite possibility so far.
even said Kansas was a definite possibility." "Right now, Kansas has really shown that they want me," Sampson told Greg Hicks of Pac-West Hoops. "Connecticut is right there, too."
Along with the Jayhawks and the Huskies, Sampson is also considering Syracuse and, to some degree, UCLA, Virginia and Saint Louis.
It was rumored that Sampson and Childress would like to attend the same school, but Sampson said that was not necessarily the case. Sampson plans on signing in the November early signing period..
See RECRUITS on page 12A
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