Sports
Rowing ahead
Rowing ahead Two members of the Kansas women's rowing team placed second at a regatta in Gainsville, Ga. PAGE 9A
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Tuesday, November 4, 2003
The University Daily Kansan
First game to test lineup
Coach Self unsure of two starters for tonight's tip-off
Aaron Miles, junior guard, and the rest of the Kansas men's basketball team will face the EA Sports Midwest All-Stars tonight. Miles, along with Keith Langford and Wayne Simien, are the sure starters. Self said Miles was one of the players who had separated himself from the pack.
Kansan file photo
By Chris Wintering
cwintering@kansan.com
Kansan sportswriter
The Bill Self era begins tonight when the Jayhawks take on the EA Sports Midwest All-Stars. Though the game will only be an exhibition, Self said he would probably still be nervous.
"I doubt it will be like Michigan State or Chattanooga, but I imagine the butterflies will be flowing." he said.
In the past, Self said that most seasons his team had treated exhibition games like practices. However, because he is still getting to know his team, he plans to take this game more seriously.
"I'm anxious to see who can play in front of the lights and all the people and kind of seeing where we're at," Self said. "The next two games are a pretty good gauge of what we should be doing at least the first two or three games this season."
The team is still working on installing Self's high-low offense, so Self said it would be more of the base offense instead of individual plays tonight.
Self said the decision between Graves and Padgett would be a coin flip, but the post players will be one of this team's strength. Graves is in shape, Simien is healthy and Padgett is the preseason's most impressive player Self said.
Among the things to look for tonight include who will be in the starting lineup. Juniors Wayne Simien, Aaron Miles and Keith Langford are in, but the other two spots are up for grabs. One of the starters will be either senior Jeff Graves or freshman David Padgett.
"We're going to run offense, but we are just trying to get the nuts and bolts stuff down," he said. "Plus from a scouting standpoint, I don't think you want to do a lot of things in the exhibition so everyone can see them."
"I think very few people out there will have three better big guys than us, if any," he said.
"Keith and Aaron have really separated themselves from the pack, but really nobody else in that other group has really jumped off the page at you and said, 'Hey this is my spot,'" Self said. "We've got a lot of depth, but still somebody has got to emerge. Nobody has really separated themselves from the pack, and that makes me a little nervous."
The other starter is more of a question mark. One of the leading candidates is freshman J.R. Giddens, but other names that Self has mentioned include junior Mike Lee, freshman Omar Wilkes and senior Bryant Nash.
The starting lineup tonight will probably not be the same starting lineup that the team will use next week against Pittsburg State, Self said. However, a steady lineup is his eventual goal.
Kansas Basketball Notes
Despite injuries in the off-season and last year, both Langford and Simien are expected to start tonight. Self said that Simien was almost completely over the shoulder injury that kept him out of the tournament last year.
hasn't backed away from any lifting or shied away from contact," he said. "Mentally he might not be one-hundred percent, but I think he's real close, if he's not.
"I don't want to start a different team based on scouting report," Self said. "I want to get a five and go with a five, but right now I couldn't tell you who the five will be."
"He hasn't sat out of one drill and he
Simien said that he was ready to get back on the court and playing instead of watching from the sidelines.
"I should have more fire than anybody right now — sitting out 22 games, missing the national championship game and the coaching situation," Simien said. "I'm going to use that to springboard the team into the season."
— Edited by Nikki Overfelt
EA Sports to challenge Kansas
By Joey Berlin
jberlin@kansan.com
Kansan sportswriter
The EA Sports Midwest All-Stars, featuring an assortment of former college standouts and role players, exist as a preparation tool for college teams. Double Pump, Inc., a company based in Chatsworth, Calif., puts together the five EA Sports-sponsored teams: Midwest, West, East, Southeast and Southwest.
Tonight's exhibition opponent for the Kansas men's basketball team isn't a typical opponent. In fact, it's not even a school.
In addition to providing the exhibition teams, the company puts together some of the biggest high school prep tournaments in the country.
Players make $1,500 to $3,000 for playing about 1.2 to 15 exhibition games each season. Gordon said the amount of money the company got depended on
"We want them to be competitive and win. At the same time, we try to give the colleges a competitive game, try not to get embarrassed and lose by 50."
Matt Gordon, Double Pump's director of operations, said this was the ninth season for the teams, which used to be called the California All-Stars.
sports commentary
Making money isn't the only objective the company has for the EA Sports teams. Gordon said.
"We want them to be competitive and win," Gordon said. "At the same time, we try to give the colleges a competitive game, try not to get embarrassed and lose by 50."
Matt Gordon Double Pump's director of operations
Matt Gordon
what the school could give.
Sometimes, they succeed.
In November 2001, EA Sports teams defeated North Carolina, Florida, New Mexico, BYU and Arkansas. Gordon
said that one season a team won five or six games.
This year's Midwest team features a few players that casual fans might recognize. Randy Livingston, a standout point guard from Louisiana State, played with six different NBA teams in the last eight years. Forward Lucas Johnson played for new Kansas coach Bill Self at Illinois from 2000 to 2002. Wake Forest alum Robert O'Kelley was on the 2000 to 2001 Demon Deacons squad that beat Kansas 84-53 in Winston-Salem, N.C.
"This team we are playing had Wyoming down 15 points in the altitude on Saturday." Self said at his weekly press conference yesterday.
"I would like to see EA Sports play well. That will give us a better gauge of where we are."
EA Sports Midwest is coming off a 97-87 loss Saturday night at Wyoming. O'Kelley scored 27 points on 9-of-14 shooting, including seven three-pointers.
Most Kansas basketball fans can spend their whole lives dreaming of taking the floor at Allen Fieldhouse, but few ever have the opportunity to make that dream a reality.
Student lives dream of playing in fieldhouse
- Edited by Cate Batchelder
Tonight, one University of Kansas student will get the chance, but to do so he'll be forced to take on the fifth-ranked Jayhawks in the home opener.
Jason Bueker, Springfield, Mo., sophomore, will be playing as a member of the EA Sports Midwest All-Stars team. Bueker competed in the "Rudy" contest held by EA Sports Friday at Watson Park, competing in one-on-one contests until he won the championship.
Kyle Rohde, EA Sports representative for the University of Kansas, said this was the second year the contest took place.
Rohde said the goal was more applicable to other schools than
The goal of the contest was to increase attendance and student involvement with the game.
BEE DREAM ON PAGE 8A
Joey Berlin
jberlin@kansan.com
Playing not necessary for writing critiques
This gifted player — we'll call him "Keith" — didn't try to beat me senseless, which he apparently wants to do, and I appreciate that.
I'd like to start this week by giving a shout-out to a certain All-American candidate who was professional and friendly when I asked him questions at the Big 12 Men's Basketball Media Day Thursday.
Third, seeing as you questioned my basketball abilities without ever watching me play, I propose a friendly wager: Twenty bucks says I can guard Carmelo Anthony without fouling out.
But Keith, a few things. First, I'm 6 feet 1 inch, not 5 feet 8 inches. Second, you took one sentence out of a column which cast one of your teammates in a fairly positive light and took offense to it. I suggest you read the column again.
OK, now I'll be serious. Since my last two columns ran, I keep seeing this argument, beaten to death for decades, that sportswriters who never played competitive sports at a high level have no grounds to criticize people who do.
On the surface, maybe it seems like a reasonable argument. But when you really think about it, the argument falls apart on every level.
Roy Williams, who stands about 5 feet 8 inches and has spent his career criticizing Keith Langford and others, never played varsity college basketball. Jon Gruden, considered by many to be the best coach in the NFL, never played pro football. Earl Weaver won big managing the Baltimore Orioles despite no experience as a major league player.
First, it goes without saying that there are tons of good sportswriters who never played the sports they cover at the college or professional levels. But even more amazingly, there are great coaches coaching at levels at which they never played.
If renowned coaches and managers who never played at that level can get in players' faces and tell them what they're doing wrong, there's no reason "5-foot-8 inch" sportswriters, who have watched sports with an analytical eye for years, can't render an opinion in print.
Anyone who believes sportswriters need extensive experience as players to qualify for their jobs needs to imagine a world where all sportswriters were college or pro athletes. What would sportswriting be like then?
Also, if the "you've never done it" argument worked for sports, then it would have to work for all professions. So if sportswriters aren't entitled to criticize athletes for their performance, then readers aren't allowed to criticize sportswriters for their writing. Does that sound like a ridiculous philosophy? It ought to.
For an answer, think of the inarticulate, meaningless ramblings of sports figures such as Bill Walton or Michael Irvin, heard every night on SportsCenter, and try to imagine reading a print version of that every morning. You'd need half a bottle of aspiria to get through the rest of the day.
There are athletes who could probably write about sports effectively, and Langford may turn out to be one of them. But just as there are thousands of sports-writers who have no business playing competitive sports, there are thousands of athletes who have no business writing about sports.
Sportswriters may not have played the games they cover beyond high school, or even beyond eighth grade. But that doesn't mean fans, athletes and coaches can't learn from them. If they back up their opinions with facts, their thoughts can be as valuable as those of anyone who puts on a uniform — sometimes, more valuable.
喜
Berlin is a Leawood senior in journalism
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