4B = THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
SPORTS
WEDNESDAY,SEPT.19,2001
Basketball: Players commit to Big 12
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1B
Bookout has track and baseball options as well. Alliance Sports mentioned him as one of the better interior forwards observed this summer.
Bookout can also throw a fastball more than 90 miles an hour and throw a shotput more than 70 feet. Bookout has already said he wouldn't make up his mind about baseball and track until next summer.
Bookout was to officially visit Oklahoma State on Sept. 7. Oklahoma on Sept.28 and Lawrence on Oct.12 for Late Night with Roy Williams.
In other Big 12 Conference news, Brad Buckman, 6-8, who is ranked No. 9 by Alliance Sports and visited Kansas the weekend of the UCLA football game, is planning a visit to Texas. Buckman is from Westlake High School in Austin, Texas and lives 20 minutes from the Texas campus.
"I also plan on visiting Texas," Buckman said. "But I have not set up that date yet. I just want to keep some things to myself. I want to be able to compare my visits."
Texas A&M landed a major recruit when it received a verbal commitment from Antoine Wright. Wright is originally from San Bernadino, Calif, but attends prep school at Lawrence Academy in Groton, Mass. Wright is now considered one of the elite high school basketball players and ranks as the No. 5 senior in the nation on ESPN.com and is considered a Top 20 player in the nation.
Wright told Alliance Sports that loyalty played a part in his decision to join the Aggies.
"I committed to Texas A&M for two main reasons," Wright said. "First, I think A&M is a great school in a great conference. However, it was important to be loyal to Coach Hill. He's been recruiting me since the ninth grade when nobody else noticed. He told me a long time ago I'd have some big schools looking at me because he saw something in me others didn't at the time. That means a lot."
Texas Tech expects to receive a verbal commitment today from Josh Washington, a 6-4 shooting guard. Washington is from Monterey High School in Lubbock, Texas. Washington was supposed to officially visit Oklahoma last weekend, but the visit was canceled after Oklahoma received verbal commitments from Azubuike and
Alexander.
"I feel it's a good choice and the right place for me," Washington said. "I've felt that way for a long time, but I did not make it official until Friday."
Washington said he reached his decision Friday after seriously considering other schools such as Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Tulsa.
Mitch Germann, assistant sports information director for men's basketball at Kansas, said schools cannot talk about recruits until the letter of intent is received. The signing period does not begin until November, so coaches are prohibited by the NCAA to comment about recruits who have not signed letters of intent.
Contact Brox at 864-4858
Chiefs prepare for teams from 'terror-towns'
The Associated Press
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — As the NFL struggles to get back to normal, the Kansas City Chiefs find themselves in a unique, uncomfortable spot.
They play host to the New York Giants this Sunday in the Giants' first game since terrorists destroyed the World Trade Center in New York City Sept. 11.
The following week, the Chiefs will be in Washington for the Redskins' first home game since that same day when a hijacked commercial airliner crashed into the Pentagon.
goin.
"We were actually thinking about that today." defensive end Eric Hicks said following Monday's practice. "It is unique. The Giants have to practice in the shadow of the smoke rising from the rubble. That's going to be tough."
Washington is at Green Bay next Monday night before playing host to the Chiefs.
night before playgym. "The Redskins, they'll always have that fear it might happen to them again," Hicks said. "We'll just have to go out and play football and treat it like it's a regular game."
Hicks figures the Redskins and both New York teams must be glad they are on the road this week.
"I would bet they are," he said. "It's got to be nerve-racking."
The Chiefs, who took three days off when games last week were canceled, returned to practice focused on football, said coach Dick Vermeil.
"They came back and did what they do for a living. They had the pads on and they came back with a purpose," he said, "I'm not surprised. I'm pleased. Practice even got better as the practice went on. They did a good job."
Vermeil said he thought the Giants would be at the top of their game on Sunday.
"I think they'll be just like everyone else who went back to work in New York. They'll do what they do. They'll go to work," he said.
Wide receiver Chris Thomas, a native of
the Washington area, had also noticed the unique position the schedule puts the Chiefs in.
"It's weird. I don't know what to make of it," he said. "We'll console everybody after the game. During the game, we'll have to go about our business. But it's got to be tough for them. I couldn't imagine what those guys are going through."
Veteran cornerback Ray Crockett has friends on the Giants and the Redskins.
"It is a difficult situation for them. At least we can get back into our routine, what we've done in the past. But they really can't because they're there," Crockett said. "We're watching it on TV, but they're waking up every day and driving through it or riding by it.
"I think it will be a lot more difficult for them to get back in their routine than it will us.
"We're all trying to get back to a normal life. But after something like this, I'm not sure what a normal life is."
Security at Olympics raises new questions
The Associated Press
SALT LAKE CITY — Stephen Pace never liked the idea of bringing the Olympics here. Now, with his home a scant mile from where the medals plaza will be, he fears for his life.
"Putting 100,000-plus people and 10,000-plus reporters there every night is lunacy," said Pace, a health industry consultant. "They are saying it's worth risking everybody's life for. The motto ought to be: 'Don't do anything in downtown Salt Lake they wouldn't do in town Tel Aviv.'"
Pace said the International Olympic Committee should consider putting off the games for a year.
Pace, perhaps the loudest local opponent of the Salt Lake Games, may find more people who think the same way since the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington. D.C.
While IOC officials stoutly declare the games will go on, more people are now asking: "What if?"
The IOC yesterday said all aspects of security would be reviewed in the wake of the terrorist attacks. But it said a "catastrophic scenario" of an airliner crashing into the opening ceremony has been part of security planning since the 1972 Munich massacre.
"In fact our scenario was, and is, a plane crashing in the midst of the opening ceremony, full of people, full of fuel, broadcast live worldwide on television," said IOC director general Francois Carrard.
Salt Lake Organizing Committee chief Mitt Romney will report to the IOC tomorrow on the latest plans for keeping the Feb. 8-24 Olympics safe.
In the meantime, Congress has bolstered the $200 million security plan with an additional $12.7 million. Lawmakers also are
moving to repeal legislation limiting the use of military personnel in Olympic operations.
At the Triad Center, a complex of shops, restaurants, small businesses and offices flanking the medals plaza, Robert O'Keefe said he was worried about the concentration of international visitors during the games, and how that might be attractive to terrorists.
"What better place to have a huge effect?" said O'Keefe, an Australian and owner of Cardio Express, a fitness center. "The terrorists will be looking to strike back. The more countries they can involve, the more innocent people they can kill, the more attractive the target. Any person who supports this war on terrorism is a new target."
Allan Liu, a supervisor at the Wyndham Hotel, at the medals plaza's edge, thinks otherwise. Lui said "I definitely want to see the games go on. It would be a shame if the terrorists spoiled the athletes' time."
Across the plaza, Adam Vester, night manager of the City Creek Inn, looked out the window at the empty parking lot that will become the plaza and shrugged.
"Security will be so stepped up. Being closer to the medals plaza will make it more secure than being far away," Vester said.
In the next breath, he seemed to change his mind. "I can see them leaving a car bomb here big enough to blow up the plaza," he said.
Inn owner Lorin Ronnow brushed aside such fears. Before the attacks, he had pushed for more open access during the games and was disappointed when early security plans were announced. After last week's attacks, he said: "I'm sure they'll do the prudent thing and have the security beefed up."