SPORTS
R S I T Y D A I L Y K A N S A N
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Tuesday, October 20, 1992
9
Coaches say NCAA rule will not boost academics
Williams: basketball practice delay unlikely to increase studying time
By David Dorsey
Kansan sportswriter
KANSAS CITY, Mo.—One year ago this week, 298 NCAA Division I schools across the nation were finishing their first week of basketball practice.
This year, because of a new NCAA rule, teams must wait until Nov. 1, rather than Oct. 15, to begin practicing.
The main purpose of the rule is to give student-athletes more time for academics, said Dan Detcher, a director of legislative services for the NCAA.
Although the players now have two extra weeks to concentrate on school, some coaches across the nation are not in favor of the change
Kansas coach Roy Williams said that the purpose of the rule probably would not be accomplished.
"The reasoning was saying it would help them academically," Williams said. "Now you're going to tell me that (Kansas guard) Adonis Jordan between Oct. 15 and Nov. 1 is going to
study five hours a night instead of two hours a night because he's not playing three hours of basketball. See, I don't believe that's going to happen, and yet that's the reasoning behind the whole change."
Kansas State coach Dana Altman said that even though every school had the same rule, some schools would have an unfair advantage over others.
"I don't like the move," Altman said. "We think that the students do as well or better academically during the season because of the schedules that they have. And whenever a team has most of its players coming back, it will have an advantage over the younger teams. It doesn't really affect their schedules at all anyway because the players are conditioning instead of practicing."
Younger players will have less time to blend with their new teams, Altman said.
change, which was proposed and approved in 1990, taking effect his year.
University of California-Irvine coach Rod Baker and Mississippi Valley State coach Lafayette Stribbling strongly disagreed with the rule
"I don't think it does anything for academics," Baker said. "These guys come to school to get an education and also to play basketball, and to take away that basketball time, it just seems counterproductive.
"I know for a fact that four weeks are not enough to prepare for the season, because when I coached at Tufts, that's the way it worked. We started the first of November and we played right after Thanksgiving, and that's just not enough time to prepare."
Stribbling also said that the rule change did not allow his team enough time to adequately prepare.
"We don't get the greatest athletes in the world," Stribbling said about his program. "We need time to teach these guys. What it's doing is eliminating the kids' ability to perform well early in the year."
ton, whose team lost six seniors last season and has 10 new players on its roster, also disagrees with the change.
"We are not pleased with the late starting date, as I assume most coaches are," he said. "It affects you when you have a young team like we do. If you are just going to roll the ball out and let them play, it doesn't matter. But we have a lot of teaching to do."
Oklahoma State coach Eddie Sut-
Williams said that he wasn't as strongly against the new rule as other coaches because the change allowed him more time after the 30-day recruiting period.
"I just finished the 30-day fall recruitment period," he said last week. "During the entire 30-days I had dinner at home four times. Having this little cushion might even make it better for me because of that kind of thing."
Williams did have a suggestion to improve the rule.
"Maybe what we should do is have the kids come to the gym for those three hours and spread desks around the court," he said. "Then we would really gain something from it academically."
Popcorn company to sponsor hoop Classic at Kemper Arena; Jayhawks to play host to tourney
By David Dorsey
Kansan sportswriter
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas men's basketball team will play host to the Golden Harvest Classic Dec. 11 and 12 at Kemper Arena in Kansas City, Mo.
The six-figure sponsorship package runs through 1994 with options for future years. Part of Golden Harvest's sponsorship includes raising money for the Williams Fund, Kansas' private annual fundraising effort that provides scholarship assistance to about 400 Kansas students.
The popcorn company's sponsorship of the tournament, formerly known as the BMA Classic, was announced yesterday at a news conference at the Hyatt Regency Crown Center.
Cal-Irvine will play UMKC at 6 p.m. on Dec. 11 before Mississippi Valley State takes on the Jayhawks at 8 p.m.
The University of California- Irvine, University of Missouri-Kansas City and Mississippi Valley State also are participating.
The losers of each game will play before the championship game on Dec. 12.
"I think we're going to have a great event in Kansas City for basketball," said Bob Frederick, Kansas athletic director. "Kemper Arena has been a special place for college basketball for many years, and I'm really anxious to see the tournament continue on this year."
Kansas won the 1988 NCAA National Championship at Kemper.
Coaches from each university, including Kansas coach Roy Williams, were at the news conference. The three other coaches praised the Jawhaws.
"Kansas has got a group of 10 of the best players in the country," said Cal-Irvine coach Rod Baker. "There may be some individual guys around the country who are better than the guys here, but I don't know if anybody has a group of players that is better."
"I remember we played Roy's first team in the Alaskan shootout," Baker said. "His队 was on probation and really wasn't going anywhere. But I can't tell you about any team that played any harder. If Roy can get those guys to play, it shows he is a great coach."
Baker was an assistant coach at Seton Hall during Williams' first season at Kansas.
KANSAN FILE PHOTO
Hot Pursuit
lowa State running back Sherman Williams, left, tries for extra yardage as Kansas' Gerald McBurrows closes in during Saturday's game. The Kansas defense, ranked second in the nation in total defense prior to the game, surrendered 516 yards to the Cyclones in the Jayhawks' 50-47 victory and dropped five spots to seventh. Meanwhile, with the 50 points, the Kansas offense once again leads the nation in scoring offense with 42.5 points a game. The Jayhawks were the top scoring team in the nation at one time earlier this season.
Cross country fares well at Michigan Invitational
Women's team finishes third, men's fourth; next meet at Johnson County Invitational
By David Bartkoski
Kansan sportswriter
The Kansas women's and men's cross country teams, overcoming sickness and cold, rain weather, battled to third and fourth place finishes respectively Sunday at the Michigan Invitational in Ann Arbor, Mich.
The women's squad, paced by senior Julia Saul, finished third behind team champion Michigan and second-place Michigan State. Eight teams competed on the 5-kilometer course.
Saul won the race with a time of 17:59, beating the next highest finisher by 14 seconds. It was her second first-place finish of the year. She won the Jawhawk Invitational on Sept. 12.
Saul said she got off to a better start than she did in her previous race at the Minnesota Invitational on Oct. 3, where she finished sixth overall.
"In Minnesota, I got caught back in the pack," she said. "My goal for this meet was to get off to a better start. I did it that, and it helped with my rage."
Assistant coach Steve Guymon said that Saul had total control of the race.
"She took the lead at a quarter mile and basically led the whole race," he said. "She ran the whole way by herself."
Guymon said the women's team put forth its best effort of the year.
In their first two meets, the women finished third in the Jawhawk Invitational and 12th in the Minnesota Invitational.
"My goal for this meet was to get off to a better start.I think I did that, and it helped with my race."
Julia Saul
KUcrosscountryrunner
Junior Ashley Ace finished third on the team and 19th overall in Michigan with a time of 19:10.
She said she was pleased with her race, despite battling an illness.
"I thought I raced really well," she said. "I got a sore throat and a cold Friday night."
Ace said one of the key's to the women's success was closing the gap between men and women.
Kansas' first five runners finished between first and 35th place in the race, which had 70 competitors in it.
The team's confidence was boosted by its performance Sunday. Ace said.
"We're going to get stronger," she
said. "I think if we stay healthy, we can place in the top three in the Big Eight."
The men's team felt the effects of illness in Michigan but managed to finish fourth out of nine teams. The Wolverines won the meet.
Senior Jason Teal has had difficulty staying healthy in his final year of competition.
Teal, who finished 40th in Sunday's race with a time of 26:23, has been plagued by stress fractures in his ankle and also has a cold.
He said the cold and fractures hindered his performance.
"I was kind of disappointed in the way I ran," he said. "I'm looking to put this race behind me and competing again."
Junior Michael Cox was pleased with the way he ran. He finished third.
Unknowns make mark in World Series
He said the race helped him to define his running strategy.
In the Minnesota Invitational, Cox tried a new strategy, staying with the leaders early in the race but falling into 30th place by the end of the race. In Michigan, Cox got back to the strategy that works for him, he said.
"It was more fun to run a conservative race," he said. "I tried to stay in the top third of the field for the first mile. I relaxed the second mile. In the third and fourth miles, I was catching up with other runners. The last mile, I got in touch with the lead pack."
Cox and the rest of the men's and women's teams will compete again on Friday in the Johnson County Invitational in Overland Park.
The Associated Press
ATLANTA — Want to win a World Series? Don't waste your millions on big-name pitchers. No-name catchers cost less and are doing more.
Ed Sprague was nobody's choice to be a hero. Neither was Damon Berryhill. High-priced jerks Jeff Reardon, David Cone and Jack Morris were obtained this year to bring their teams a title.
But in Sunday night's second game, Sprague hit a shocking, game-winning, pinch-hitter homer of Reardon, baseball's career saves leader. It gave Toronto a 5-4 victory and evened the Series with Atlanta at 1-1.
One night earlier, Berryhill hit a game-winning homer off Morris that gave the Braves a 3-1 win over the Blue Jays.
It all started Wednesday night when anonymous Atlanta backup catcher Francisco Cabrera's two-run single in the bottom of the ninth sent the Braves into the Series with a seventh game playoff win over Pittsburgh.
"Sometimes, little guys come up big in this game," Toronto's Roberto Alomar said.
In the opener, they faced Morris, whom Toronto acquired before this season to help them get into — and win— their first World Series. But he
In Game 2, they faced Cone, who was traded by the New York Mets on Aug. 27 as Toronto tried to strengthen an already strong pitching staff. But he allowed four runs and five walks in 4-1 3 innings.
allowed three runs on Berryhill's sixth-inning homer and five walks in six innings.
The bulpen kept on Toronto in the game, holding Atlanta hitless the rest of the way and giving Sprague a chance to smack the ninth-imming, two-run homer on Reardon's first pitch to him.
"They came through as advertised." Cone said of the relievers.
Sprague, called up from the minors July 31, had just one homer in 47 at-bats this year and five in 207 at-bats in his big-league career. Reedon, who
had been inconsistent with Boston,
was obtained on Aug. 30 and was 3-0
with three saves and a 1.15 earned run
average for Atlanta after setting the
saves record on June 15.
He has 357 saves but missed a big one Sunday night.
"The all-time save record doesn't mean anything right now," Reardon said. "I'm just trying to help this team win a game Series."
It took awhile for Sprague, who hit 234 this season, to appreciate what he had accomplished with the 17th pinch homer in Series history.
"When I hit it, it didn't feel it," he said. "I kind of lost it in the lights. I don't think it has set in yet, but I know what it means — we're tied going back to Toronto."
The first World Series game outside
Sprague's wife certainly felt the change. Kristen Babb-Sprague, who won a gold medal in solo synchronized swimming for the United States at this year's Summer Olympics, cheered her husband's feat.
"I think I'm able to feel this for him, more than winning the gold for me," she said. "Then, I was totally numb. I couldn't feel it. But I can tell you every inch of that home run."
the United States will take place tonight in Toronto's SkyDome. Juan Guzman, who had two of Toronto's four playoff wins, will oppose Steve Avery.
"Perhaps," Toronto's Dave Winfield said, "the momentum has shifted in our favor."
Reardon also can describe it, if not with as much excitement.
It hadn't been Toronto's night until Sprague's shot.
Braves pitching coach Leo Mazzone said, "Jeff Reardon has had a great deal of influence on our bullpen since he's been here. These things just happen. The game tonight is not going to make us hesitant to give him the ball in any crucial situation."
"I knew it was gone," Reardon said. "It was no cheapie. Give him credit. I made the wrong pitch. I tried to throw a fastball up and got it down."
Some Canadians in a fury over Series display of flag
The Associated Press
TORONTO — The World Series is moving outside the United States for the first time and national sensitivities are aflutter. Some Canadians are upset over the upside-down display of their maple leaf flair in Atlanta.
Martha Gleeson, a Toronto resident, said that the episode was an insult to her country.
"If that was their flag held upside down, the Americans would be rioting," she told the Toronto Sun.
"I think most people are making jokes about it," Parsons said. "But only small-minded people would think it was intentional."
However, Al Parsons, bar manager at Toronto's Sports Cafe, said that patrons were much more excited that the Blue Jays had even baseball's fall classic at one game apiece in the best-of-7 series against the Atlanta Braves. The series switches to Toronto on Tuesday.
In Atlanta, a Marine color guard carried Canada's flag upside down onto the field with the Stars and Stripes before Sunday's second game.
Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, his mind focused on an Oct. 26 constitutional referendum, said that he was just as dismayed and upset as any Canadian about the flag flap but that it was probably a mistake.
"It may have just been an error when they got going," he said during radio interview. "I hope that's the case. It's the kind of thing that would offend anybody when you see the flag treated that way."
If Americans gave Canada an inadvertent slap in the face, one of their own dealt an equally embarrassing tweak.
Canadian singer Tom Cochrane, most famous for his song "Life is a Highway," muffed the words to "O Canada," the national anthem, in front of the 51,000 people at the Canadian Parliament and millions of television viewers.
Before the first pitch, the phones began to ring at Canadian newspapers and broadcast stations around the country. It was the flag that they were concerned about. The top of the big, red maple leaf was pointing down, instead of skyward.