4B the university daily kansan
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monday, august 25, 2003
sports
kansan.com News Now
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Men's golf depends on experience
By Ryan Colaiani
rcolaiani@kansan.com
Kansan sportwriter
Despite not qualifying for the NCAA Championships for the third consecutive year last season, the men's golf team is optimistic about the upcoming season, looking to return to the national spotlight.
"Our goal is to make it back into the Top 25 nationally, and I think we have a strong enough team to do it," coach Ross Randall said.
The team will rely on younger players this year, with seven sophomores on the roster.
"The young guys gained a lot of experience last season," Randall said, entering his 25th season as coach of the Jayhawks.
"We have such a good team," junior Andrew Price said. "If we put it all together we should easily
be a top 19 team The team's season will officially begin in the second week of September, when the team travels to East Tennessee State. The tournament has one of the best fields of the fall season, with the most teams from major conferences participating.
be a top 15 team."
ences participating.
"I think we will do well at the tournament, but it will be interesting to see who will go to that tournament," Price said.
The Jayhawks schedule is similar to previous years with the team traveling throughout the country.
Randall is uncertain who his starters will be at this point but wants to clear that up this week as the team will play seven consecutive days of golf.
"It's very important for us to get off to a strong start, if we play well it will help us in the spring," senior Tyler Hall said.
All but one player are returning from last year. Unfortunately, that one player was a two-time All-American, and two-time All-Big 12 player, Chris Marshall. Marshall finished with a career average of 73.
"Obviously it is a huge loss, but I think since we only lost one senior it will give the younger guys a chance to move up and step up," Randall said.
Randall will look to Hall, Price and junior Kevin Ward to fill Marshall's shoes.
shair's shoes. "It's tough losing Chris,but our younger guys broke out and had great summers." Hall said. "They will add serious depth."
Ward participated in the U.S. Amateur Tournament last week, the top amateur tournament in the country and finished three strokes back from qualifying for the match play section of the tournament.
Price finished in the top four of the Illinois State Amateur Tournament as well as top five in the Illinois State Open.
Randall is uncertain how the conference will shape up this year.
Oklahoma State is likely to have a strong team as one of their incoming freshman, Casey Whittenberg, competed in the finals of the U.S. Amateur yesterday.
The Jayhawks have brought in three freshmen this season. Headlining the list is Gary Woodland.
Woodland is expected to make an immediate impact on the team and is likely the only freshman who will not be a redshirt.
"Gary is an exceptional athlete with unbelievable potential," Randall said.
- Edited by Erin Riffey
U.S. basketball wary of Argentina
The Associated Press
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — A critical look at the U.S. Olympic qualifying team reveals the following statistics: Jason Kidd is averaging just 2.8 points, the team is shooting only 64 percent from the foul line and commits 16.5 turnovers per game.
Why the harsh analysis?
Because the four teams the United States will face in the second round of the Tournament of the Americas are doing exactly the same thing, picking out every tiny flaw.
The level of competition will rise in the upcoming week, along with the level of anticipation for the first game between the Americans and Argentina since last summer's World Championships when the U.S.team lost 87-80.
"They've got a great coach, they've been in these situations before and they know how to get ready for the final round." U.S. assistant coach Gregg Popovich said. "By the time that comes, they're going to be as good or better as they were last summer."
Argentina played Puerto Rico last night. The team has defeated Uruguay and Canada after losing its opener to Mexico.
summer. Coach Larry Brown gave the U.S. team the day off yesterday, while they waited to learn what the schedule will be for the second round.
The U.S. team will face Argentina, Canada, Puerto Rico and Mexico over four days beginning today, but local organizers have yet to determine the order.
The most important games will be next weekend, with three berths in the Athens Olympics at stake. Two teams will wrap up berths in the semifinals Saturday, and a third will qualify in the bronze medal game Sundav.
bronze medal game Sunday night could bring a second meeting of Argentina and the United States.
Popovich, who coaches Argentina's Manu Ginobili in the NBA with the San Antonio Spurs, warned the newcomers to the U.S. team that they should expect a nail-biter in this tournament, backing his argument up with references to the semifinals at the 2000 Sydney Olympics when the Americans survived a last-second miss by Lithuania to advance to the gold medal game.
to the good measure he knows. "He really knows (Argentina) and he's brought it up two or three times," U.S. forward Elton Brand said. "We're going to need to run our sets, so let's get away from all the highlight stuff and throwing bad passes because they're a good team and it won't be like that."
team and it will win. No one has scored 20 points in a game yet for the Americans, who are being led offensively by Tracy McGrady (14.5 ppg), Vince Carter (14.0), Allen Iverson (12.0) and
Mike Bibby has been their best 3-point shooter off the bench, and the individual field goal percentages — Carter's .750, Brand's .737, Jermaine O'Neal's .696., McGrady's .657, Duncan's .625, Iverson's .621, Bibby's .611 and Ray Allen's .609—have been outstanding.
standing. McGrady, Carter, Iverson and Bibby are all shooting above 50 percent from the 3-point line, while holding opponents' field goal percentage below 35 percent.
"We're very pleased that they've taken on a defensive personality and realize that making stops and rebounding are going to be real important to our success," Popovich said. "They're really sharing the ball, turning from an All-Star team into a basketball team, and that's been (Brown's) emphasis — turning them into a team that realizes on the right and on the left is another guy who's as good or better."