INSIDE: Late Nite lures two men's basketball recruits. SEE PAGE 11A INSIDE: Other Big 12 schools hold own midnight festivities. SEE PAGE 11A
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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Commentary
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2001
Brian
Hanni
Columnist
sportskansan.com
Weekend will be full of Williams
Tomorrow is a big day for Roy Williams.
Whether it's at Allen Fieldhouse for "Late Nite" or Memorial Stadium for this year's homecoming game, Roy Williams will be on display.
Tomorrow is the last Saturday before Oct. 15, which means it's the first day of practice for the men's basketball team. It also happens to be the day of the Jayhawks' big bout with the No. 3 Oklahoma Sooners.
I think Roy Williams will steal the show, but maybe not the Roy you're thinking of. Saturday's star could wind up being a Roy Williams from another school, the All-American strong safety from Oklahoma.
Stuck in a conference that has more guys named "Roy Williams" than the Lawrence community has "John Smiths." Oklahoma's version began the year as the Big 12's third most popular Roy Williams.
With Kansas' basketball coach and Texas' superstar wide receiver both in the Big 12 and both claiming his same name, Oklahoma's Roy Williams had some stiff competition ahead of him.
Kansas' Williams is one of the most winning college basketball coaches of all time and Texas' Williams was recently named the best wide receiver in the country by ESPN's Mel Kiper Jr. So even with his national championship and All-American status, back in August, one could have made an argument that the Sooners' Williams was taking a backseat to those who shared his name. Five games later, Williams is now behind the wheel.
Already this season, Oklahoma's Williams has put up 46 tackles and grabbed three interceptions while leading a Sooner defense that has scored five touchdowns.
Williams made one of those trips to the end zone on a fumble recovery in a win over Kansas State two weeks ago.
Williams had an interception and eight tackles in last week's 14-3 win against Texas, which was good enough to earn him a share of the Big 12 defensive player of the week award. His efforts also gave him bragging rights on the Longhorn's Roy Williams, who was kept in check for most of the day by the Sooners' secondary.
Last week, Oklahoma's Williams caused another defensive touchdown with a big hit on Texas quarterback Chris Simms that helped Oklahoma put the Longhorns away for good.
"Oklahoma Roy" has now established himself as the top safety in the nation, and is considered one of the front runners for the Jim Thorpe Award, which goes to the nation's top defensive back.
Now Williams brings his show to Kansas and will try to steal the spotlight from our Roy Williams just as he did last week to Roy Williams of Texas. Terry Allen and his team will do all they can to keep that from happening, but don't count on it. Last year Williams had 13 tackles and a sack against Kansas.
So, who's the best Roy Williams around? Honestly, I have no clue. But if you're wondering who'll top the headlines after tomorrow's games, let's hope it's the Jayhawk football team in an upset of the defending champs. However, if the safest bet is what you're looking for, I'd put my money on anyone named Roy Williams.
Hanni is a Topeka senior in broadcast management.
KANSAS ANTICIPATES OKLAHOMA
Senior linebacker Algie Atkinson chases down UCLA running back DeShaun Foster in Kansas' 41-17 loss on Sept. 8 at Memorial Stadium. Atkinson will try to help contain Oklahoma's explosive offense during tomorrow's homecoming game.
Homecoming hope
Jayhawks must protect football and not add to Sooners' chances
By Brent Briggeman Kansan sportswriter
Coach Terry Allen and his Kansas football coaching staff could be exhausted by kickoff tomorrow.
executed by him.
By that time, they will have finalized their plan to stop Oklahoma, a task that has drained the staff for the past week.
Oklahoma's defense is among the nation's best, and the team also features an offense that scored 38 points on a strong Kansas State defense. The Sooners have a special teams unit that features the nation's seventh best punter and the fourth best kickoff returner.
"They come at you from everywhere," said defensive end Travis Watkins. "That's why they're the nation's best team in my opinion."
The Kansas coaching staff has worked overtime to produce the answers that have eluded the past 18 teams that have played the Sooners. The coaches' deadline is 6 p.m. tomorrow when the homecoming game between the Sooners and Jayhawks gets underway at Memorial Stadium.
"Oklahoma lives and dies by the turnover." Allen said. "What we have to do is make them earn points with their offense and not give them points through turnovers and special teams."
Kansas linebacker Leo Etienne said he had never seen a team that had such a knack for making big plays at crucial times.
"You never know who's going to make that big play." Etienne said.
"Every week they have somebody else stepping up."
Thirteen players have combined for Oklahoma's 21 touchdowns this season, six of which have been scored by a kick return. Three have come off of interceptions, two by fumbles and one on a kickoff.
Sooner wide receiver Antwone Savage also plays defensive back, returns kicks, has thrown a touchdown, caught a touchdown and returned a kickoff for a score.
Through two Big 12 Conference games, Kansas has yet to surrender a turnover.
Allen said Oklahoma had no weaknesses and too many strengths to single out, but he said strong safety Roy
SEE FOOTBALL PAGE 5A
Turnaround hits, Sooner or later
By Jeff Denton
Kansan sportswriter
Four years ago they were a doormar of the Big 12 Conference. Tomorrow, the Oklahoma Sooners will enter Memorial Stadium as the reigning kings of the conference and the country.
In 1997, the Sooners had trouble winning. They finished 4-8. One of their losses came against Kansas, 20-17, in Lawrence.
LAURIE SISK/KANSAN
Now, they can't seem to lose. Coming into tomorrow's 6 p.m. nationally televised matchup with the 2-2 Jayhawks,the Sooners have tallied 18 consecutive wins.
Texas Tech linebacker Jonathan Hawkins pushes Kansas sophomore running back Reggie Duncan out of bounds during Duncan's 227-yard, 38-carry performance last weekend. Duncan will try to provide an offensive boost to aid the Jayhawks against No. 3 Oklahoma tomorrow.
That span included dominating Nebraska in Norman, Okla., outmatching Kansas State in Manhattan last October and stifling Heisman trophy winner Chris Weinke and his Florida State offense in the Orange Bowl for the National Championship in January.
After watching No. 3 Oklahoma sneak by Kansas State on Sept. 29 and
defeat Texas last Saturday, Kansas coach Terry Allen said no team in the country was playing more soundly than the Sooners.
"I've said it several times in the last
couple weeks, but I do vote on the coaches poll, and for me, Oklahoma is the No. 1 team in the country,"
SEE OKLAHOMA PAGE 5A
Coaches eager to see debut of freshmen at Late Nite
By Ryan Malashock Kansan sportswriter
At the stroke of midnight, the wait will be done.
At tonight's Late Nite with Roy Williams, the Kansas men's basketball team ends its six months of waiting since bowing out in the Sweet 16 of last year's NCAA Tournament. The women's team will participate in the skits but will not scrimmage.
Kansas opens the first practice of the 2001-2002 season tonight with the uncertainty of blending four new faces into the team's returning nucleus.
Freshmen Aaron Miles, Michael Lee, Keith Langford, Wayne Simien and Jeff Hawkins will make their Allen Fieldhouse debuts in the midnight intrasquad scrimmage. Hawkins will redshirt this season, but he is allowed to play tonight.
Coach Roy Williams, who is entering his 14th season as head coach at Kansas, has been restricted to watch pick-up games or scrimmages of his freshmen players so far because of NCAA rules. While he's interested to see how they perform tonight, Williams said he wouldn't make any concrete judgments about the freshmen based on tonight's scrimmage.
"I have no idea because I don't watch them, but I hear all the stories from the upperclassmen and former players that played with them in the summer," Williams said at men's basketball media day yesterday. "I don't think we'll find out much about the freshmen from the scrimmage at Late Nite, but by the first exhibition game, we'll know exactly what we're going to get from those guys."
The Jayhawks return four players, senior Jeff Boschee and juniors Drew Gooden, Nick Collison and Kirk Hinrich, with starting experience from a year ago. Finding that fifth starter will be a test for Williams, and that starter could come from the talented group of freshmen.
"They all have a lot of tools to do a lot of things." Collison said. "It might take them a while to understand how hard you have to play at this level, but it is the same with every freshman coming out of high school. Everyone will get to know about these things in the first couple weeks of practice."
Hinrich said the freshmen had meshed with the returning players, which had created a comfortable environment.
"Those freshmen are crazy." Hinrich said. "I wouldn't be surprised if you do something really funny at Late Nite."
That comfortable environment could bring about some laughs during the players' skits tonight, according to Hinrieb
The women's team will also be adding to the laughter tonight, as it takes part in the skits. And even though the team won't take part in a scrimmage, coach Marian Washington said that the team's talent was something she couldn't wait to watch.
"I'm real excited about our young players," Washington said. "We'll be much more athletic this year. We'll have to depend greatly on our defense, we'll have to depend greatly on our ability to hit the boards better than we did a year ago, and find different ways to score."
Senior men's player Brett Ballard said he hoped that the Late Nite skits with no theme would be a different way to score. He said that the event would provide a mix between comical and serious tones
"There will definitely be some surprises tonight," Ballard said. "It's going to be a lot of fun. We're also going to do some things related to the Sep. 11 tragedies, which will mean a lot."
Doors to the fieldhouse will open at 7 tonight, with activities starting at 8 p.m.
Contact Malashock at 864-4858
Mariners left-hander Jamie Moyer shut out Cleveland through six innings, as Seattle tied the series at 1-1.
MLB
Oakland 2
New York
0 New York
As pitcher Tim Hudson allowed six hits in eight innings, shutting out the Yankees and leading Oakland to a 2-0 series lead.