Sports
The women's basketball team will head south of the border Friday to get an early start on its season. The team has four games scheduled in Monterrey, Mexico. PAGE6B
The University Daily Kansan
1B
sports commentary
Tuesday, August 26, 2003
Ryan Greene
rgreene@kansan.com
Collison will adjust to new role
Allen Iverson.
Tracy McGrady
Jason Kidd.
Nick Collison?
Can you tell which name just doesn't seem to belong?
Four of them are perennial NBA All-Stars and are some of the highest-paid players basketball has to offer. The other one is still fresh off his walk down the hill at the University of Kansas, and has a season full of hazing from his veteran teammates to look forward to.
OK, enough fooling around.
OK, enough looming at Collison, who was the 12th overall selection by the Seattle Sonics in June's NBA Draft, is gaining a serious edge this summer over his rookie competition.
Cleveland's LeBron James and Denver's Carmelo Anthony can have their millions of dollars from Nike, Upper Deck and Sprite, but Collison's summer of learning from the NBA's elite is what could make him more ready come October than any other rookie the league has to offer.
As Team USA attempts to qualify for the 2004 Summer Olympics, and also to restore its image as an indestructible basketball juggernaut, Collison sits at the end of the bench watching and learning. In the same role as Christian Laettner on the USA's 1992 "Dream Team," Collison is getting a firsthand experience, both on the bench and on the floor, of how much different the NBA game really is.
NBA game really is. "I try to help out if I see anything from the bench — yell out screens or whatever," Collison wrote recently on his basketball diary on USAbasketball.com. "These guys have been in the league so long that they see everything on the court before I can say anything, they see a lot more stuff than I do. But still it's a good experience, I'm learning a lot just by watching them."
Either way, Collison is starting to get used to going from being the number one option at Kansas to a role player for now in the NBA. Most players would scoff at the situation and let it leave a bitter taste in their mouths, but Collison simply accepts it with a grain of salt.
son simply accept his victory. Collison finally got his first big break of the Olympic qualifying tournament in the team's fourth game, when Tim Duncan could not bring himself to play against the Virgin Islands, his native country. The rookie answered with 13 points and five rebounds.
"It was fun to get out there and play," Collison wrote. "I'm not used to playing in the first half, I was a little surprised that I went in so early, but I'm not complaining. I had a couple of dunks, I don't know if they were as crowd-pleasing as some of the other guys' dunks, but they were alright."
were alright.
With the support of NBA superstars and his college coach Roy Williams as one of the team's assistants, Collison is learning the professional game on a better curve than all of his fellow first-year players. If he can translate what he's learned to the NBA floor this fall, watching games from the end of the bench with trainers and ballboys will not be his forte for too much longer.
Greene is a Vernon Hills, Ill., senior in journalism.
Construction is underway on Arrocha Ballpark, the University's new, state-of-the-art softball complex. The facility, to be completed in September, will include a new field, dugouts and batting cages.
Big changes for softball
By Mike Norris
mnorris@kansan.com
Kansan Sportswriter
The University of Kansas softball team will have two noticeable changes when it steps on the field next snrina
Aaron Clopton, former assistant coach, stepped down after three years, clearing the path for former KU All-American outfieldder Christi Musser to take over. But even more apparent is the new state-of-the-art softball complex, Arrocha Ballpark, which will be completed in September.
pleted in September.
“It’s going to be a playing surface that will be second to none with anybody around us,” coach Tracy Bunge said.
“All the elements are in place for a fantastic facility.”
For now the facility will include the
new field, dugouts and batting cages. But Bunge said additions would be made in the future, and it showed the commitment the athletics department was making to softball.
Musser, who was a student-coach with the Jayhawks last season and played from 1999 to 2002, told the University in a news release she was ready for the upcoming season.
"I'm excited about my new position... and look forward to working with the girls and continuing to be a part of this program," she said.
Bunge said Clopton, who was a student-manager for three years and an assistant for three more at the University, made a family decision when he decided to step down.
"It's going to be a pretty easy transition," Bunge said. "But we will miss
him terribly because he's such a quality individual and was a quality coach."
coach.
Bunge said she thought the transition would be smooth because Musser would continue working with the outfielders, and Bunge would take over Clopton's job by working with the pitchers and catchers.
ers and catchers. Although the coaching change will not make the team look that much different, Bunge said she knew the new complex would. The old field was just that, a field, and did not resemble the stadium complex.
stadium complex.
"It's clear we absolutely had to have a new facility if we were going to continue to compete at a high level," she said.
to compete at a high level This season the Jayhawks will host 12 opponents, the most ever in the history of the program.
Although the season opener is more than six months away, the team will start its fall season Sept. 8.
It will be a time for the Jayhaws to practice and improve on their respectable record of 26-22 last season.
Bunge said she was excited for the start of the season, which would include eight teams that finished in the Top 25 last season.
last seat of it.
"I think the expectations of this year's club are much higher than they were last year," she said. "We feel like we belong right at the top of the Big 12 this year."
this year. The team will begin the season next March when it hosts the Hampton Inn/Jayhawk Classic at Arrocha Ballpark.
— Edited by Ehren Medit
Football
Mangino ready for Wildcats
By John Domoney
Kansan staff writer
idomoney.kansan.com
Saturday presents the Kansas football team with an opportunity to start the year with a victory over the Big 10 Conference's Northwestern Wildcats. But yesterday's Big 12 Conference Teleconference presented coach Mark Mangino an opportunity to spread caution about Saturday night's game.
Saturday night's game.
"We can't look at our schedule and say if we beat this team we have arrived and we can't look at the schedule and say if we lose, we have not made any progress," Mangino said. "I think it's just too early in our program to do that."
Opening games have historically resulted in more victories than losses for the Jayhawks, who have a record of 57-49-7 in season openers. But Mangino is unlikely to forget his opening game coaching the Jayhawks last season.
2002.
The Cyclones outgained the Jay
Kansas was outmatched and embarrassed in a televised game, losing 45-3 to Iowa State in Ames, Iowa, on Aug. 31, 2002.
hawks 511 yards to 150, and Kansas sophomore linebacker Banks Floodman was lost for the season to an injury.
Mangino said although his first season was tough with a 2-10 record, his troops
Mangino
"We have a system in place now and we know more about our team and our ability," Mangino said. "We feel really good and we are very excited. Our kids have had a tremendous training camp, and I'm looking forward to playing this game."
were prepared and comfortable with his way of coaching.
game.
After beating up on each other through the first four weeks of August in practice, the Jayhawks will get their first look at a true opponent in the Wildcats.
tion of Winston Raeksons "We feel that Northwestern is a team that is going to be a much improved team from last year," Mangino said. "It could be coach Walker's best ball club
Northwestern is coming off a 3-9 season, but coach Randy Walker's fifth edition of Wildcats returns 19 starters.
since he has been there."
since he has been in the game. One of Mangino's greatest concerns is how the Jayhawk defenders will fair against a Northwestern offense that returns leading rusher Jason Wright and leading passer Brett Basanez from last season.
season.
That duo will line up across from a Kansas defense which finished last in the Big 12 last season in total defense, giving up an average of 42.2 points per game.
game.
"There is no question that we are going to be better on defense this year," Mangino said. "How quickly we will gel, how quickly everyone will understand their assignments and developing a chemistry will all be very important to our defense."
our defense. Kansas and Northwestern have never met, but Kansas will enjoy an opportunity to beat a team in purple named Wildcats.
"As for our kids, we have had great two-a-days," Mangino said. "I think our kids are tired of hitting each other and want to go up against an opponent here at Memorial Stadium."
— Edited by Joey Berlin
Newcomers to add depth to KU team
By Kevin Flaherty
kflaherty@kansan.com
Kansan sportwriter
Rodney Fowler and Scott Bajza were not even mentioned in the Kansas football media guide.
The two players were not on the preseason depth chart, not in the player bios, and not even listed on the full team roster. Now both players have an opportunity to start.
unity to start. Fowler has impressed coaches with his play throughout camp, and coach Mark Mangino said the safety would be hard to keep off the field.
"Rodney Fowler is a guy that is out here competing for a job." Mangino said. "He is just getting better everyday."
The updated depth chart has both Fowler and the 6-foot-5-inch wide receiver Bajza as backups.
But those were not the only surprises
SEE NEWCOMERS ON PAGE 3R