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University Daily Kansan, November 3, 1980
DV tabbed in preseason polls
By KEVIN BERTELS Sports Writer
The preseason basketball magazines have good news and bad news for the KU Jayhawks, but for KU senior guard Darnell Valentine, the magazines have no news that isn't old news.
Valentine, as he has been for the last three years, is preseason All-America in most publications. Some say first team, some second and very few say honorable mention, but all agree that Valentine should be a star in the coming season. That is the good and the old news.
The bad news is that KU has lost its traditional place in the top 20 in pressman basketball magazines. Even worse, KU is not picked to win the Big Eight, or even place second. The majority of the magazines pick Kansas State University and the University of Missouri.
IN THE PAST, KU basketball teams have consistently been in the preseason top 20, sometimes based completely on tradition. As recently as 1978, Playboy Magazine picked the Jayhawks No. 2 in the country. Since 1978, things have changed, however. In 1978, they were placed fifth in place in the Bight Sixth season.
To the KU basketball fan this might be disturbing, but to the KU
basketball players, particularly Valentine, preseason polls mean nothing.
"How many guys look at presseason polls after the season?" Valentine said, "No one can tell the future but God. We're not too much concerned that. It will help the young players we weren't as much pressure."
Valentine showed equal disdain for having his name splashed all over the preseason magazines.
“It’s nice to have your name in the magazines, but you have to prove yourself on the court,” he said. “I have been fortunate that a lot of people are asking me about you. From my point of view, I'm more concerned about the team.”
VALENTINE HAS not had as much luck with the postseason All-America lists as he has had with the preseason variety. That is the result of several thing, including his teams' lack of team competition in recent years.
"A lot of different people pick a lot of different teams," he said. "Some look at what kind of person you are, some look at how well your team does. Everybody can recognize it. It's a skill that is required for sportwriters and broadcasters. That is one of the reasons that I haven't been on the first team."
praise won't keep Valentine off the postseason All-America teams. One magazine called him "the top college coach" and "the best team in the nation," ammon the nation's finest guard."
Praise for Valentine was matched only by slams of last season's Jayhawks and statements concerning the job security of KU coach Ted Owens, should the 1980-81 season be a repeat of last year's 15-14 setdown. One magazine said, "The Jayhawks were the most talent-rich 15-14 team in the nation last year, and the team is one of the best in the 'Fix-the-Blame Game.' The most popular scapegoat was教练 Ted Owens."
THAT SAME ARTICLE concluded,
"The Jayhawks have something to prove. If the team gets off to a good start . . . the Jayhawks have the talent to win the Big Eight. But if they flop early the howls of the KU alumni will be audible throughout the Midwest."
No problem, according to Valentine.
"That's all right," he said. "All of that is based on how well the team did in the previous year. They don't consider a lot of things. The addition of new players, a change in team chemistry, a change in leadership, considered. Just the won-lost record is."
Descriptions of KU's lack of team play last season appear over and over
in the preseason magazines. Those problems won't appear on the court this season, Valentine said.
"We're going to surprise people," he said. "We have taken stakes towards good things, like our attitudes towards others on the team, attitudes towards the coaches, towards working hard."
WHILE KU FOUND itself in a less-than-exalted position in the preseason magazines, the Big Eight seems to have emerged as a nationally acclaimed basketball conference. Always considered a weak basketball team, the Big Eight football reputation has tended to magnify that weakness.
This season that seems to have changed. If the preseason polls are to be believed, KU should favor honored to be behind MU and K-State. Most likely, the top 20, usually with MU early in the second 10 and K-State close behind.
Besides Valentine, K-State guard Rolando Blackman and Missouri center Steve Stipanovich are on All-America lists, usually in the top 10. Ricky Frazier and Curtis Berry, also of Missouri, Nebraska's Andre Smith and Jack Moore and Jo Jo Hunter of Colorado can be found by searching the fine print that designates honorable mention. The name of KU sophomore guard Rick Ross is also there, if one reads the right magazine.
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He'll work.That's the difference.
Hard work has been an important value to Dan Wetkins all his life. At age 33, he has an already impressive record of public service. Before deciding to run for Congress, he served as Chief of Staff for the Governor of Kansas. He came to that post after serving as Executive Director of the Kansas Democratic party. He was also Chief of the Criminal Division of the Kansas Attorney General's office. The oldest of 14 children, he is a graduate of St. Mary of the Plains College in Dodge City, Kansas, and is a student and co-player of varsity basketball team. After college, Dan Wetkins spent three years as a Vista Volunteer. Two of those years were spent supervising the work of 36 others.丹· returned to Kansas University where he earned a law degree. He and his wife, Phyllis, a teacher/librarian, and their two children, Matthew and Andrew, live in Lawrence.
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EDUCATION
Paid for by KU Young Democrats, Joe Weissbeck, Pres., Paul Rowe, Treasurer, 749-0441.
John Solbach believes that all citizens should have the right to the best education at all levels. He earned his Juris Doctorate at Washburn University Law School, his Bachelor's degree from K.S.U., and attended graduate school at the University of Kansas. He believes in quality education and educational opportunity for all citizens.
JOHN SOLBACH:
- Worked for and supported funding for University of Kansas faculty, student, and staff salaries to help keep pace with inflation and to attract and retain quality at K.U.
- Worked to retain and fund the gifted program in public schools.
- Worked for and supported:
HB 2870 School Finance Bill
SB 539: Professional Negotiations Act
- Believes adequate funding of education at all levels is most important to quality of life in Kansas
IN THE KANSAS LEGISLATURE EXPERIENCE COUNTS.
Re-elect Representative
JOHN M. SOLBACH
KU christens court with tournament title
Rent it. Call the Kansan.
It took a new setting to finally bring out the best in the KU volleyball team. Remodeled Robinson Center was the setting and the KU squad made opening night a smash hit as they swept to their first tournament victory of the season Saturday in the 1980 Jayhawk Invitational.
The meet was the first volleyball tournament in Robinson Center and the new building was given high marks by KU coach Bob Lockwood. "It was a great tournament," he said. "Our kids played well, there were no injuries and we played a lot of volleyball. The teams were really complimentary of the new facilities."
There were 10 teams entered in the Jiahawk Invitational including two KU teams, Wichita State University, and seven United States Volleyball Association teams. They played the 10 were divided into two pools. KU's first team was 7-1 in its pool to
qualify for the championship bracket of the tournament. KU's second team was third in its pool with a 4-4 record and won its consolation bracket of the tournament.
In the championship bracket, KU beat Monatary a club from Kansas City, Kan., 15-11, 15-7, and met another Kansas City Club, the Montana Wildhacks, in the final. KU won that match and the championship, 15-12, 15-12.
"The competition was good," he said.
"That's obvious by the finish of Wichita State. They finished 10th and although their record isn't that good this season, they have played well. There were some good volleyball clubs here."
The referees obviously felt the best volleyball players were on the KU team. In voting for the most valuable player, they picked KU's April Beaver, with Jayhawk captain Diane Schroeder second.
Kansas traveled to Stillwater, Okla., this weekend to compete in the Cowboy Classic Tennis Tournament, a tournament which awards points to winners on an individual basis instead of a team basis.
But the Jayhawks also were certain they would not win.
"It is a little different from some of the tournaments we have played in," said Randy McGrath, Kansas coach. "But it was a really good tournament. Some of the best teams in the Midwest were there."
It was fortunate for McGrath and
the Jets that the tournament was not
played for.
'Hawks miss titles
Kansas had only one player, Wayne Seawall, at No. 2 singles, go as far as the third round. Seawall won his first match, then won by default in the second round before losing to Peter Smythe of Oklahoma. 6-4, 6-4 in the third round.
Dave Thies, KU's N. 1 singles player, had a disappointing tournament, losing to Reg Lutrell of Alabama State in the second round, 7-6, 6-0.
However, McGrath said he was impressed with the play of Bill Krizman. No 3 singles, who he said had been a competitor on the team the entire season.
"There was a lot of tough competition between Mr. Braith said. "We didn't fare all that well."
Krizman reached the semifinals of the consolation bracket at Stillwater.
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How to stretch your college dollars.
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