SPORTS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THURSDAY, AUGUST 21, 2008
5B
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biggest in over 7, MU-1, ANI-1, AND-DTOG-7, $8, Lobby-Friday E 9 A, BPON-ams.
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MEN'S BASKETBALL
Jayhawks prepare for first practice
BY CASE KEEFER ckeefer@kansan.com
Jayhawk basketball players will not only start attending fall classes today, but will also participate in their first practice.
Well, most of them. Junior guard Sherron Collins, who is recovering from an April knee surgery, might not be able to participate in the week of practices leading up to the team's trip to Ottawa, Canada. The Morris twins, Marcus and Markieff, won't be able to practice until the NCAA rules them academically eligible.
The Jayhawks will practice in Lawrence until next weekend when they leave for Canada to play in three exhibition games. Kansas will play McGill University and Carleton University on Aug. 30, and the University of Ottawa on Aug. 31.
The three exhibition games will serve as the debut for incoming freshmen Tyshawn Taylor, Travis Releford and Quintrell Thomas and junior college transfers Mario Little and Tyron Appleton. The Morris twins could also play for the first time as Jayhawks if they are cleared in time.
Spending a week with players who are already Jayhawks might feel new to Kansas coach Bill Self. He's spent the last month across the nation recruiting potential players for the 2009 team.
According to Rivals.com, six of the nation's top 10 high school players are considering playing basketball at Kansas.
ON THE RECRUITING TRAIL
The top player in America, point guard John Wall from Raleigh, N.C., still has Kansas on his short list, which also includes Baylor, Memphis and Oklahoma State. Oklahoma City guard Xavier Henry,
rated as the third best player in the country, is reported to be choosing between Kansas and Memphis. Henry will visit campus for Late Night in the Phog in October.
Self's other targets include Los Angeles swingman Jordan Hamilton, Tacoma, Wash. guard Avery Bradley, New York guard Lance Stephenson, Los Angeles big man Renardo Sidney and Jersey City, N.J. guard Dominic Cheek, who was a high-school teammate of current Jayhawk guard Tyshawn Taylor.
—Edited by Scott Toland
MILLS (CONTINUED FROM 1B)
Billy Mills tours Beijing during this summer's Olympics. Mills was an All-American runner at the University before winning the gold in the 10-k at the 1964 Olympics.
to be a chosen one. That's how he could set close to her.
"I thought if I was chosen by the gods," Mills said, "I would see my mom again."
His father passed away about four years later. At age 12, Mills was an orphan. He wanted to be an athlete. That's how he could get close to his father, too.
He wasn't very fast at first, but distance running rewards work and sweat and pain. Soon Mills was one of the best high school runners. The boy who never could've afforded college had scholarship offers to several schools. He chose Kansas.
Mills became an All-American three years in a row but still faced discrimination. He was asked to sit out of a picture at the national championships because of his race.
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
It was just another obstacle. He kept running. In 1964, he made the Olympics.
--mates for an assembly and saw that a hero had come to speak to them. Mills. He addressed the crowd at the tiny school in North Dakota.
Australian Ron Clarke was the 10-k word record-holder. Soviet Pyotr Bolotnikov won the 10-k at the 1960 Olympics. New Zealander Murray Halberg was the defending champ in the 5-k. And Tunisian Mohammed Gammoudi was ahead of his time, a great African distance runner before Kenyans and Ethiopians began dominating the sport.
Mills was Mills. The unknown.
An accomplished American no doubt, but at a starting line stocked with the world's best in Tokyo, no one expected him to medal.
The gun goes off. The unknown sticks with the leaders for 15 laps and with 10 laps to go, he's still up there. With just a few laps to go, only Clarke, Mills and Gammoudi are together in the lead. The rest have fallen off.
The race gets hectic now. Clarke's been trying to kill the competition with surges. He's done one on almost every lap. He's the king, the world record holder. His best time is 28 minutes 15 seconds. Mills' best is 29:10. Gammond has never broken 29 either. Clarke can't shake them.
The historic happens with one lap to go. The bell rings with Mills in front, 27:24. A diabetic, Mills could tell he was low on blood sugar. He didn't have much left.
Clarke steals the inside lane and pushes Mills to the outside, and now Mills is in third, behind Clarke and Gammoudi.
Backstretch. Gammoudi sprints several meters ahead of Clarke and Mills. Mills isn't even in the camera frame with less than half a lap to go. The three runners arrive at the home stretch. It's Gammoudi, Clarke then Mills. They're about to lap seven runners.
Mills is boxed in by a German. The runner moves to the fifth lane, clearing the fourth for Mills. He sprints by and glances at the German's jersey. Mills swears he sees the German insignia, an eagle. It's a sign from his dad.
KU at the Olympics
Nickesha Anderson, a junior spinner at Kansas and a native of Jamaica, is on the Jamaican women's 400-meter relay team. The Jamaicans are loaded with sprinters, and if the squad advances and she's picked for it, she'll compete in the event finals on Friday, Aug. 22.
Aarik Wilson, a volunteer assistant for the Kansas track and field team, competed on Monday, Aug. 18 in the triple jump. Wilson, who trains in Lawrence, failed to qualify for the finals.
Scott Russell, a former track and field athlete and current graduate student, is competing in the javelin in Beijing.
Before he died, he gave Mills this message: follow your dreams and you'll have the wings of an eagle.
"My thoughts became wings of an eagle," Mills said. "I can win, I can win, I can win!"
The German passes Mills and continues on for his final lap, and he wants to get another glimpse of the eagle on the runner.
He pushes through. Thirty meters left. Still in third. Twenty meters left. He passes Clarke. Ten meters. He passes Gammoudi.
"His achievement," Timmons said, "was the greatest of anything I've ever seen."
Mills looks for it. But it's not there. The Olympic rings are the only symbol on the German's jersey.
Mills touches the tape. He wins with a time of 28:24.
Mills was the opposite. He was one of them. From the Dakotas, from tougher circumstances than Gipp could even imagine.
Olympians weren't usually like Gipp and his friends. They thought the best athletes came from far away exotic places, like California or Florida.
Gipp, now the track and cross-country coach at Haskell Indian Nations University, hung on Mills' every word as he retold the story of his Olympic race and showed the famous clip. He remembered hearing about the bump.
Mills told the students how he got pushed by Clarke late in the race and kept running. It was like life.
"That was the thing," Gipp said. "Hey, you're still in the race even though you might get bumped a little bit."
Mills has been sharing that same message ever since he won the gold medal. He gives more speeches than former presidents, co-wrote a book that's about discovering happiness through a spiritual journey and is the spokesperson for Running Strong for American Indian Youth.
Al Gipg gathered with the rest of his Fort Yates High School class-
Sometimes it's as simple as providing pencils and backpacks for children. Running Strong has also built community gardens, food centers, cultural institutions, museums, houses and water wells.
Dropout rates, suicide rates and alcohol abuse rates are much higher for Native Americans than most other racial groups. Mills tries to make a difference.
You've read about Billy Mills' race, now see a video of it. Just type "Billy Mills 1964 Olympics" into YouTube and watch one of the wildest finishes in Olympic history.
And of course, the organization promotes activity and youth sports. Mills wants the children to pursue their dreams. To gain their eagle wines.
The Olympics gave Mills his truest feeling of belonging, a sense of global unity, that everyone could relate to each other if they tried to
understand the different cultures.
watch the finish
He wants everyone to gain that same feeling in their own way. To feel like they've been chosen by the gods.
OLYMPICS
ASSOCIATED PRESS
USAS Kobe Bryant, right, shoots as Australia's Andrew Bogut defends during their men's quarterfinal basketball game at the Beijing 2008 Olympics on Wednesday.
Team USA tested against Australia
BY JAIME ARON Associated Press
This is what goes down as a "tough test" for the U.S. squad of NBA All-Stars: A five-point lead in the second quarter that turned to 12 by halftime... and was never close again.
“Sooner or later we'll impose our will,” U.S. point guard Chris Paul said. “I don't know if you can keep up with us for 40 minutes.”
Australia sure couldn't. After a tight game into the fourth quarter on Aug. 5, the Aussies hung with the American until the middle of the second quarter but that was it. Kobe Bryant scored nine points during a 14-0 surge to open the second half and the only question after that was how much they would win by. It wound up being 31 points, 116-85.
Next up will be Manu Ginobili and defending champion Argentina on Friday night,
with a spot in the gold-medal game going to the winner. The Argentines beat Greece 80-78, with the Greeks missing a potential winning 3-pointer in the final few seconds.
The Americans sure seem locked in toward their first gold medal in a major international competition since the 2000 Sydney Games.
China's run before its adoring home fans ended with a 72-59 loss to Lithuania.
"I'm really happy, but also a little sad about our result," said Yao, who battled back from an NBA season-ending foot injury in the spring to be ready for the Beijing Games. "We were determined to fight, but were limited by our capabilities."
Lithuania advances to play Spain in the semifinals Friday night. The Spaniards advanced with a 72-59 victory over Croatia, led by 20 points from Paus Gasol.
Lutheran Student Fellowship
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Traditional Worship: 8:30am Contemporary Worship: 11:00am Bible Study Classes: 9:45am Thursday Student Supper: 5:30pm
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Student Welcome
Saturday, August 23rd
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