Inside Sports
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Sports
Forward Scottie Pippen said he wanted to be traded, but coach Phil Jackson said he thought the All-Star was playing a joke on the media.
Pro Basketball
Center Shaquille O'Neal will miss at least 10 days of games and practices because of an abdominal injury. Surgery will not be required.
Tuesday
November 25,1997
Section:
B
Page 1
College Basketball
Page 1
Missouri defeated DePaul 45-42 in the first round of the Maui Invitational yesterday in Lahaina, Hawaii. The Tigers trailed for most of the game, including by 11 at halftime.
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Friday
BIG 12 FOOTBALL
Texas at No. 15 Texas A&M
No. 3 Nebraska at Colorado
Big 12 Championship
Dec. 6 at the Alamodome in San Antonio
No. 3 Nebraska vs. No. 15 Texas A&M
CHASE PRESEASON NIT
Tomorrow
5 p.m. No. 12 Connecticut vs. Florida State
7:30 p.m. No. 2 Kansas vs. Arizona State
Friday
Consolation
4 p.m. Semifinal losers
6:30 p.m. Semifinal winners
All games will be televised by ESPN
MEN'S AP TOP 25
The top 25 teams in The Associated Press' men's basketball poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through Nov. 23, total points based on 25 points for a first-place vote through one point for a 25th-place vote, and previous ranking:
rank team rec pts pvs
1. Arizona (30) 1-0 1,690 1
2. **Kansas (29)** 4-0 1,673 2
3. Duke (6) 2-0 1,595 3
4. N. Carolina (5) 2-0 1,584 4
5. S. Carolina 2-0 1,325 6
6. Purdue 3-0 1,303 8
7. UCLA 0-0 1,300 7
8. Kentucky 1-0 1,281 9
9. Xavier 2-0 1,082 10
10. New Mexico 4-0 1,076 11
11. Connecticut 3-0 996 12
12. Fresno St. 2-0 905 13
13. Clemson 3-1 862 5
14. Iowa 2-0 835 14
15. Stanford 1-0 736 15
16. Utah 3-0 726 16
17. Mississippi 2-0 576 21
18. Oklahoma 3-0 546 19
19. Louisville 0-0 300 22
20. Temple 2-1 292 18
21. Indiana 1-1 188 23
22. Georgia 3-1 183 25
23. Rhode Island 1-1 163 20
24. Maryland 2-1 156 —
25. N.C. Charlotte 0-1 143 17
Other receivingotes : Princeton 132, Florida St. 120,
Wake Forest 114, Arkansas 97, St John's 99, Syracuse
83, Gonzaga 64, Illinois St. 48, St Joseph's 46, Michi-
cey 52, Michigan St. 34, Washington St. 35,
George Washington 24, Minnesota 22, Hawaii 20,
Arizona St. 19, Illinois 18, Tennessee 17, Long Island U.
15, Cincinnati 12, Georgetown 12, Mississippi St. 12,
Nebraska St. 11, Oklahoma St. 10, Colorado St.
11, New Mexico St. 12, Pacific 10, Villanova 10,
Colorado St. 9, UNLV 9, Wisconsin 7, Vanderbilt 6,
Alabama 5, Washington 5, Michigan St. 4, Missouri 3,
Missouri St. 4, Oklahoma St. 1, Oklahoma St. 1,
Saint Louis 1, South Alabama 1
WOMEN'S AP TOP 25
The Top 25 teams in The Associated Press' 1997-98 women's college basketball poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through Sunday, total points based on 25 points for a first-place vote through one point for a 25th-place vote and last ranking:
rank team rec pts pvs
1. Tennessee (39) 3-0 975 1
2. Old Dominion 1-0 921 3
3. Connecticut 4-0 868 6
4. Louisiana Tech 0-1 858 2
5. Florida 3-0 819 9
6. Texas Tech 2-0 800 8
7. Vanderbilt 3-0 680 10
8. Illinois 0-1 658 7
9. N. Carolina 1-1 614 5
10. Virginia 3-0 539 12
11. Stanford 0-2 517 4
12. Arizona 1-0 495 14
13. Georgia 1-0 490 13
14. Nebraska 3-1 369 21
15. Duke 2-0 368 19
16. Colorado 1-0 325 18
17. Alabama 1-1 310 15
18. Auburn 2-0 264 20
19. Stephen F. Austin 1-1 252 17
20. Iowa 1-1 250 11
21. Tulane 1-0 226 22
22. W. Kentucky 3-1 217 16
23. Wisconsin 1-0 202 —
24. Arkansas 2-0 163 —
25. Purdue 1-0 120 —
Other receiving votes: Kansas 113, North Carolina St. 61, Marquette 39, George Washington 37, UCLA 21, Florida 42, New York 51, DePaul 6, Indiana 6, Iowa St. 6, Michigan 5, Memphis 4, Northwestern 3, LSU 1, New Mexico 1.
'Hawks head to the Big Apple
From left, forward T.J. Pugh, forward Nick Bradford and guard Kenny Gregory Uunge at a missed shot. Kansas will play in the semifinals of the Chase Preseason NIT at 7:30 tomorrow night at Madison Square Garden in New York. Photo by Steve Puppe/KANSAN
Sun Devils to face Kansas in NIT play
By Tommy Gallagher
tgallagher@kansan.com
Associate sports editor
The Kansas men's basketball team left for New York City yesterday with hopes of winning the Chase Preseason NIT.
The No. 2 Jayhawks will play the Arizona State Sun Devils at 7:30 p.m. tomorrow in a semifinal game. If they win, the Jayhawks will play either No. 12 Connecticut or Florida State for the title at 6:30 p.m. Friday.
All games will be televised by ESPN including the consolation game at 4 p.m. Friday.
The Sun Devils are 3-0 after their 87-79 win at Cincinnati on Friday night. They are led by forwards Bobby Lazor and Mike Batiste and guard Jeremy Veal, who account for 66 percent of the team's scoring.
The Sun Devils will play a fast-paced, guard-oriented offense. And on defense they will play man-to-man, pressure and trap against Kansas, hoping to create turnovers. Despite a 10-20 record last season, Arizona State led the Pac-10 Conference in turnover margin for the fourth time in five seasons.
But the front court is thin because the team has only nine scholarship players. One front court player, Okeme Oziwu, was a medical redshirt in 1996-97 and was injured seriously in an August car accident. He will not play this season.
Kansas has struggled against defenses similar to Arizona State's earlier this season. Against Santa Clara, the Jayhawks committed 23 turnovers largely because of the Broncos' defensive pressure.
The Jayhawks have improved since then, and forward Paul Pierce said the team would improve its offensive execution against pressure defenses.
The Starting Lineup
KANSAS JAYHAWKS 4-0 overall
G RYAN RObertson 6-5 JR.
F BILLE THOMAS 6-4 SR.
F PAUL PIERCE 6-7 JR.
R RAFFE LA PRENTZ 6-11 SR.
C T.J. PUGH 6-8 JR.
ARIZONA STATE
SUN DEVILS
3-0 overall
G EDIE HOUSE 6-1 So.
G AHLON LEWIS 6-0 Sr.
G JEREMY VEAL 6-3 Sr.
F BOBBY LAZOR 6-8 Jr.
F MURRAY PARKER 6-8 Jr.
7:30 p.m. • Tomorrow
Madison Square Garden • New York
TV: Ch. 18
"We needed to see how our team would respond against the press," Pierce said. "It's something we've worked on, and we'll get better at breaking the press. We'll get better the more teams pressure us."
In the preseason NIT, coach Roy Williams has a 10-0 record and has won championships in 1989 and 1993.
Guard Ryan Robertson said the team would focus on basketball and fun in the Big Apple.
"Coach has talked about the Macy's ['Thanksgiving] Day Parade and being able to play for the NIT championship," Robertson said. "This is a great opportunity and something we're all looking forward to."
Team's plate full during break
Women will play three away games
By Penny Walker sports@kansan.com Kansan writerwriter
While most students go home for Thanksgiving, the Kansas women's basketball team is heading into a three-game stretch in Pennsylvania and Iowa.
Including the Creighton game Nov.16, there have been four away and no home games so far in Kansas' regular season.
"I don't make any bones about it," coach Marian Washington said. "I haven't been happy with our schedule — I haven't been happy for a couple years, actually.
"We've been playing a lot of games on the road," Washington said. "And to play our first four games on the road does not make me a very happy person."
The Jayhawks will compete against Penn State tomorrow and Kansas will face the Washington Huskies in the first round of the
Prairie Lights/Hawkeye Classic on Saturday. The consolation and championship games will be on Sunday.
Kansas and Penn State last met in the Sprint Shootout during the 1995-96 season, when the Jayhawks lost 75-72.
"We're going to be facing a team that has very strong perimeter shooters, and we've faced that in both our exhibition games." Washington said.
Although these games are tak
"Everything is going to be pretty much spelled out for them," Washington said. "We'll have tight curfew. We'll monitor specifically their meals and try to help them understand better how to prepare for games, particularly on the road."
The Jayhawks' offensive plays are looking better, and the main concerns are keeping intensity and limiting turnovers in the Penn State game, Washington said.
The series of three games can mean wear and tear on the team, and measures will be taken to help the team focus on the road, Washington said.
ing place during a vacation from classes, Washington said that the players wouldn't mind so much — they were ready to play.
"I think they're looking forward to this trip, and it's as much a vacation as they can envision," Washington said. "We're simply going to be playing while we're out there traveling and taking in some new places."
Center Nakia Sanford said that she preferred away games.
"It's harder to have home games," Sanford said. "That's just my personal experience. I say that because you have so much to do, like I had to go type a paper and turn it in and all this stuff.
"You have a lot of other things outside of basketball," Sanford said. "Our young players are having to learn how to deal with that because you still have to go to class. You still have to do whatever your normal duties would be."
Washington was raised in Pennsylvania and will be joined by family and friends for the Penn State game as well as an early Thanksgiving meal. Washington said that although it would be wonderful to see family while on the road, moving quickly onto the Prairie Lights/Hawkeye Classic in Iowa would be tough.
Forward Jaclyn Johnson shoots against Athletes in Action. Johnson and the Jayhawks will defend their 1-0 record tomorrow against Penn State in University Park, Pa. Photo by Steve Puppe/KANSAN
"The hardest part probably will
be leaving Lauren, my little granddaughter, because she gets pretty caught up with Kansas basketball," Washington said. "She's four now, and she's going to want to go right with us to the next site."
Freshman runner shows vast potential
By Alex E. Runner
sports@kansan.com
Special to the Kansan
As freshman seasons go, Ricardo Amezcua has had a pretty good one.
The Kansas cross country season came to a close yesterday at Amezuca placed 38th in the 184-runner field at the NCAA Cross Country Championships at Furman University.
"I feel that I improved from the conference and regional meets." Amezca said. "I felt good in the race, but I didn't run as well in the last mile."
Amezcua ran the race 24 seconds faster than his previous 10K run at the NCAA regional meet last week. His final time was 30:22, and he was only 10 seconds and 13 runners from earning All-America honors. Amezcua would have been the first Kansas runner to earn All-America since Michael Cox and Davk Johnston did it in 1994.
"Ricardo ran a strong race," Kansas head coach Gary Schwartz said. "He positioned himself very well, but he didn't finish as strong as he would have liked to in that last mile. He should be proud. He had a good, solid
race."
Among Big 12 Conference runners, Amezcua was seventh. He saved his strongest race for last, finishing higher than four runners who were ahead of him at the Big 12 Championships. Amezcua was also fourth among runners from the region and placed higher than three of the runners who were ahead of him in the regional meet.
"Before this year, I only ran in two cross country races in my life," Amezcua said. "I haven't got used to the hills yet. Now, I am looking forward to the track season."
In five races this year, Amezcua, an academic all-conference selection, has had four top 20 finishes, including a 10th-place finish at the Big 12 Championships, a second-place finish at the Iowa State University Memorial Classic, a 17th-place finish at the Stanford Invitational and a sixth-place finish at the NCAA regional meet where Amezcua earned all-regional honors.
Next year's cross country season will conclude in Kansas when the Jayhawks play host to the 1988 Cross Country Championships at Rim Rock Farm.
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