FRIDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2002
SPORTS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN • 3B
Jayhawks going for 5-0
Tamara Ransburg, freshman forward, tries to keep Alison Schrader, Fort Hayes junior guard, from stealing the ball. The Jayhawks will take on the Texas Southern Tigers at 7:05 tonight in Allen Fieldhouse.
Kansan file photo
By Ryan Greene
rggreene@kansan.com
Kansan sportswriter
The Kansas women's basketball team may be entering this weekend undefeated, but leaving it in the same condition could be tough.
This weekend, the team will host the Holiday Inn Jayhawk Classic. The Jayhawks welcome Texas Southern, Western Michigan and Western Illinois to Allen Fieldhouse, wanting to end the tournament unscathed with a 5-0 record.
"It would be tremendous. There's no question," coach Marian Washington said. "Everyday I look forward to coming to practice because we have some young people who really want to be here and want to compete, and they are going to be a real fun team to watch in the next few years."
Tonight the Jayhawks will face the Texas Southern Tigers (2-1) at 7:05 at Allen Fieldhouse. The Tigers are coming off of a 64-53 win Tuesday over Lamar. The team's first taste of Big 12 Conference competition this season resulted in a 103-50 loss at Baylor.
One advantage for Kansas is that the game plan they will see from Texas Southern is similar to what they saw in its 59-56 win over San Diego last weekend.
"They're more of a perimeter-minded ball club," Washington said. "They're going to be more like San Diego because they're going to spread us out, and they look to drive."
Sophomore forward Blair Waltz will took to ride the momentum of her big trip to
California. During the two game road swing, Waltz averaged 13 points per game, including a 20-point effort against Cal State-Fullerton.
"Our team has worked so hard, and I expect our team to have a great record coming into the Big 12." Waltz said.
Waltz said she expected to play tonight despite having the flu the past couple days. Although Waltz still showed
signs of illness, Washington expected the same effort out of one of her key returning players.
"Blair's going to want to be healthy. You know she's a gamer." Washington said. "She's watching practice. She's doing everything she can to stay up on what we're doing. She's an important player for us, and we really need her on the floor."
Edited by Matt Norton
It's over, done, finished. Kick the Kansan has paid out its last T-shirt and Mojo's coupon, provided its last laughs, annoyed its last reader and humiliated its last sportswriter.
Columnist punts weekly picks
Wow, are you going to miss it as much as me?
SPORTS COMMENTARY
I know Peter Gogol will. The Cranston, R.I., junior has beaten or tied me five times. Not only has Gogol enjoyed the spotlight of the panel, but his involvement has saved him from "chance" encounters with local debt collector Jimmy the Fish.
That's Kick the Kansan in a nutshell: keeping kids off the streets and ensuring they eat balanced meals. It's like the college version of the Boys and Girls Club.
You can be sure Matthew Flax, Topeka junior, won't be enticed
Doyle Murphy
dmurphy@kansan.com
"That gambling thing can get expensive and possibly illegal," Gogol said. "It's a good alternative, and the food is good, too."
by temptations lying outside his door anytime soon. Flax figures to be spending a lot of time indoors after winning the Kick the Kansan grand prize — a free year of Sunflower Broadband Internet Service. Congratulations, Flax, but stay off those Internet gaming sites. They'll cost you. Believe me.
If you do choose to place a few wagers you may want to speak wish Lisa Agee, Liberty, Mo. sophomore. Agee has been with Kick the Kansan since the beginning. After appearing on the inaugural panel, she waited until its last installment to make her triumphant return. Classy to the end, Agee tried to downplay her
winning entry.
"I figured it was probably just because it was a shorter week," she said of making the panel. "You didn't have many entries did you?"
M any entries? Are you kidding? This little contest t ur ned sports juggernaut has been gaining momentum since day one. I'll have
Matthew Flax
you know we had five whole entries last week. Uh, I mean 500. Yeah, 500! And only five of those ballots were better or equal to mine!
Thank God it's basketball season.
Battered Rams face former coach
Murphy is a Baldwin City senior in journalism.
The Associated Press
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - His best running back has a sore ankle and his top lineman's torn hamstring may keep him out the rest of the year.
He's getting ready to have an injury-plagued, makeshift offensive line that was built for turf block for a third-team quarterback on natural grass.
If that's not enough, the wife of his most popular player is taking shots at him on the radio.
No wonder Mike Martz has white hair.
"We've got some hot coals out in back," said the coach of the star-crossed St. Louis Rams. "I'm
going to walk over them as soon as I'm done here. We're going to see how tough I really am."
Pretty tough, says Dick Vermeil, who hired him as offensive coordinator for the Rams (5-7) in 1999, the year they won the Super Bowl.
Besides the soap opera scenarios hovering over the Rams, this game will ripple with personal undercurrent.
Now it's Vermeil, as coach of the Kansas City Chiefs, who'll be doing his best to add to the Rams' woes Sunday. The Chiefs (6-6) must win to keep even a whiff of playoff hopes alive.
There was plenty of resentment in the Rams' front office when
Vermeil took the Chiefs job just one year after unexpectedly retiring from St. Louis following the 1999 Super Bowl season.
It wound up costing Vermeil the four-year, $2 million contract St. Louis had given him as a "consultant," and it cost the Chiefs a second- and third-round draft choice, a penalty laid down by the commissioner.
Vermeil and Martz insist they've remained close.
"I think Mike has demonstrated real strength in going through this kind of season and under the adversity he's been under due to injury and everything else," Vermilil said. "He has shown great leadership."