Inside Sports
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Sports
Mary Beth Albrecht practices with the women's volleyball team, which is preparing for the second half of its season. SEE PAGE 3B
Pro Football
The Minnesota Vikings are up for sale and are being shopped around to out-of-state bidders.
SEE PAGE 2B
Thursday
October 30, 1997
Section:
B
Page 1
Pro Baseball
Baltimore Orioles manager Davey Johnson is criticized by the team's owner and soon may be fired.
SEE PAGE 6B
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Conference gets reputation for playing rough ball Big 12 players enjoy new physical game
By Penny Walker sports@kansan.com Kansan sportswriter
When the Big Eight Conference became the Big 12 Conference, it didn't just become four teams larger. It became four teams tougher.
The 1997-98 season is the Big 12's second year, and the women's basketball teams are getting a chance to reflect on what happened when Texas, Texas Tech, Texas A&M and Baylor joined the Midwest ranks.
"The addition of the South teams has made it a lot more physical," said Cheri Edwards, Oklahoma State senior forward.
Before the new teams were added, everyone knew who the tough teams were, she said. Colorado was traditionally physical, but Kansas was not noted for its rough play.
"Kansas is more known to be athletic," Edwards said. "They just jump over you more than pushing you out of the way."
But now it's anyone's guess, she said. And anyone's game.
"Now that they've got the new leagues, you need the experience to go into the WNBA where they kill each other out on the court, basically," she said.
Not that she was bemoaning the increased physical play. On the contrary, Edwards said it was what a player needed to advance to the professional ranks.
Edwards was not alone in welcoming the more aggressive play. Kansas junior forward/center Nakia Sanford said she saw the tougher talent coming in as improving the conference. When asked if she saw the game as getting more physical, Sanford responded with a smile and two words: "Yes. Finally."
Kansas sophomore guard/forward Lynn Pride agreed.
The tougher game leads to players being more aggressive, which is a good thing. Sanford said.
"You get to play," Pride said, pointing to the added freedom that the roughness presented.
After their first year in the Big 12, players at the four Texas schools were inclined to agree.
"The more physical we can get, the better — as long as the refs allow us to," said Texas center Angela Jackson. "As long as we're allowed to do it to each other, and it's not just one way."
But the officiating has some of the coaches a little uneasy.
A tape of the NCAA Final Four Championship was recently circulated among the coaches, pointing to how rough the play became during those games. The NCAA has promised to look into it, but some fear a precedent was set.
Even some of the coaches who had been fine with Big 12 play were not happy with how the roughness escalated during the NCAA championship.
"It was a disgrace the way that game was officiated," said Iowa State women's basketball coach Bill Fennelly. "Now I'll probably get one of those guys in our first game."
Colorado women's basketball coach Ceal Barry agreed.
Although the some coaches are not happy with how rough the play got, many players have no problem with it and seem almost excited about the more physical conference.
"What I don't like is you have it called the same way for 16 straight games, and all of a sudden, you go to the NCAA, and — what game is this?" Barry said.
"It gives you a chance to say this is my house," said Kacy Moffit, Baylor junior center. "And this is how I'm going to treat you when you're here."
Punter keeps' Hawks kicking
Kansas punter Dean Royal shows off his flexibility after punting at Missouri's Andre Roberson closes in. Royal kicked his longest punt, an 82-yarder, against Missouri on Sept. 13.
Photo by Geoff Krieger/KANSAN
Special teams bolstered by Dean Royal's play
By Kelly Cannon kcannon@kansan.com Kansan swriterwriter
Some players call him "big foot," while others call him "lead foot."
For Kansas punter Dean Royal, those are the ultimate compliments.
Royal, a senior, consistently stands out against the Jayhawks' lethargic offense this year. The special teams player averages 44.5 yards per punt and is on track to tie or break Kansas' single-season punt average of 45.8 set by Bucky Scribner in 1982.
But things did not start so well for Royal at Kansas. After transferring from Tyler Junior College in Texas, Royal had a less than spectacular junior season. He averaged 38.4 yards per punt.
When Royal came to Kansas,he said he did not have any concrete goals something that may have hindered him at first.
"He demonstrated in the spring that he had a real strong leg, but his consistency was a problem," said Terry Allen, Kansas football coach. "That was probably his label from a year ago. He struggled with his consistency, and this year, his consistency has been very good. He's only had less than a handful of really poor kicks."
"I didn't know what to expect and what to do at the same time," Royal said. "I walk out there, and there are 50,000 people. It kind of was a
shock at first, and goals weren't really in my mind."
Memorial Stadium was daunting, Royal said. Compared to junior-college football, the new surroundings were overwhelming.
"Even when nobody is in there, it is kind of intimidating." Royal said. "You've never seen anything like it, especially coming from a junior college where we had maybe 300 people a game on both sides. You just go out there, play for them and play for yourself and have a good time."
After the 1996 season, Royal concentrated on strength conditioning. When he finished spring practices, his punt average was up to 41.5 yards.
"I didn't get a whole lot stronger, but I believe you don't have to be strong," he said. "It's speed that you need to have to make the contact with the ball. If you have a lot of speed, as far as leg speed is considered, then you can hit the ball pretty far."
When this season came, Royal was kicking the ball pretty far.
He booted an 82-yarder against Missouri on Sept. 13, a punt that he said stood out as his most memorable performance this season.
The punt was just 12 yards shy of Kansas' school record set by John Halli in 1959.
Allen said that good kickers were essential to any good team.
"I don't think there's any question that good football teams have excellent kickers," he said. "Dean will be sorely missed.
"As many times as we've asked him to punt the ball,he's just done an outstanding job."
Terry Allen Kansas football coach
"It's very important, especially when you're playing and winning games the way we are. You have to have excellent punters, good field goal kickers. If you're going to win ugly, you need those people."
Royal said chasing statistics wasn't his goal for this season, but he has anyway.
"I want to go out there and have fun and punt for the team and not worry about being greedy for the statistics or anything like that," Royal said.
Kansas' homecoming game is this weekend against Iowa State, but the Jayhawks' final game this season will be Royal's true homecoming. Kansas plays Texas on Nov. 15 in Austin, Texas. Royal is from McKinney, Texas, which is just north of Dallas.
"I want to have a great last game at UT since I'm from Texas," Royal said. "Well, I say great, but I want to have a good time and perform well in front of a lot of people that I know."
Royal has certainly proved himself this year, Allen said.
"As many times as we've asked him to put the ball, he's just done an outstanding job," Allen said. "I think it's been exceptional."
Injury can't sideline soccer star
Kansas forward Christy Clark moves in on an Iowa player. The Jay-hawks defeated 1-3 in overtime Sunday at SuperTarget Field. Photo by Jay Shepard/KANSAN
Clark returns as leading scorer
By Harley V. Ratliff sports@kansan.com
Konsan sportwriter
Two years ago, Christy Clark arrived at the University of Kansas with a mindset built for success and the explosive athletic ability to back it up.
"I wanted to help out in anyway possible, and I wanted to become an impact player for the team," Clark said. "But first, I just wanted to get some playing time."
Clark, who was a star soccer player in Shawnee Mission South in Overland Park, had used her speed and determination to overwhelm her high school opponents. She was geared to take her game to the collegiate level.
Just before the start of the 1996 season, Clark began to feel a pain in her left quadrice. The prognosis: a pulled muscle.
That playing time never came.
Clark played sparingly early in the Jayhawks' season, but by the end of the second game, she could barely walk off the field.
Eyet eager to win playing time and please her new coach, the freshman continued to practice through the pain.
"I had pulled a muscle before,
and it had never felt that bad."
Clark said. "I kept waiting not it to get better, but things just got worse and worse."
By October, Clark decided to get an MRI. The results: a six to eight centimeter tear in the upper portion of her left quadricep that had caused her muscle to detach from the bone. Her season had come to an end.
"They told me that I wasn't going to be able to do anything for a long time," she said.
Her season awash, Clark was redshirted to preserve her eligibility. Suddenly, she had gone from a promising freshman to a spectator, watching the games attentively from the sideline.
"It was a relief to know that it just wasn't a nagging injury." Clark said. "I felt that I had something to prove — to prove that I could play at the college level. And I didn't get that chance. The hardest thing for a player to do is to watch from the sideline."
There was a new coach, a new style, and, with the four months of inactivity, the lingering self-doubt that creeps into the thoughts of every player that has sustained a major injury.
It would not be until the next spring that Clark got her first chance to get back on the field. But things had changed.
"You have to build yourself back up from square one," Clark said. "There is always that lack of self-confidence that comes with being out of the game for that long."
Clark, equipped with a muscle-warming pad and a leg wrap to keep the muscle from shifting, saw her first action during the Jayhawks' spring trip to Maryland. Although she said that she was not hesitant, she admitted that there was a thought that the injury could resurface.
"When I would take a shot, it would just snap and kill," she said. "I wasn't hesitant, but I was like, 'Please God, don't let it happen again.'"
Her coach, Dan Magner, said that he noticed the rust from the lavoff.
"I think she may have been tentative heading into tackles or if she began to get fatigued."
While she still is a backup, Clark's leg has held up, and she leads the team with four goals. However, she is the first to admit that she is far from a complete player.
Magner said. "But that probably was the smart thing to do. She was wise to hold off on the throttle."
"I don't have the most skill, but I've got speed and a powerful shot," she said. "But there is still a lot to work on. If you want to become a better player you've got to work on all aspects of your game. Hopefully, I'll learn from this year and pick my game up more next season."
The east pool at Robinson Center was closed this week because of high levels of chlorine.
Kansan staff report
George Lottes, Robinson aquatics director, said the pool was super chlorinated last weekend to kill chloramines. He said it should reopen today.
Chlorine level closes east pool at Robinson
Chloramines form when chlorine combines with nitrogen from sweat, bacteria and other substances in the water.
Bob Lockwood, Robinson facilities director, said that the east pool had been closed to regular use since Friday.
He said Robinson staff raised chlorine levels about once a month to burn out particles not normally destroyed by regular chlorine levels.
The pool remained closed because the chlorine levels did not drop as quickly as expected. Lockwood said.
The KU swimming and diving team moved practices to Lawrence High School and classes were moved to the west pool.
The west pool will be closed and super chlorinated this weekend. It should reopen on Monday. Lottes said.
Jeremy Bowman of Sports Information said that this was not the first time the swim team had to practice at a site other than Robinson.
Because construction on the east pool this fall, the team practiced at the Haskell Indian Nations University pool, the Lawrence Aquatic Center and the Lawrence High School pool.
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