Inside Sports
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Sports
Check out season highlights from the Kansas mens' basketball team.
Wednesday
January 20,1999
Section:
B
Page 1
SEE PAGE 8B
Kansas Football
The Kansas football team should fill its quarterback ranks after receiving verbal commitments from several recruits.
SEE PAGE 3B
NBA
The NBA will see many lineup changes when the shortened season begins.
SEE PAGE 5B
Contact the Kansan
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Sports e-mail: sports@kansan.com
KU women to take on Buffs
Kansan sportswriter
The Jayhawks (13-5, 3-2) attempt to rebound from Saturday's disappointing 62-82 loss at Nebraska as they travel west to face Colorado (8-7, 1-4) at 8 tonight at the Coors Event Center.
The Jayhawks have lost two of their last three, both against ranked teams, after having an eight-game winning streak broken at Iowa State on Jan. 9. Kansas looks to get back on track against the inexperienced Buffaloes.
Colorado fields a young starting lineup, with two sophomores and three freshman making the start.
Colorado does not have a player averaging double digits in scoring and looks to be a significant underdog against a talented Jayhawk lineup, but the Jayhawks are taking nothing for granted on the road.
The Starting Lineup
KANSAS JAYHAWKS 3-2 Big 12, 13-5 overall
G CASEY PRUITT 5-6 So.
G JENNIEER JACKSON 5-10 So.
F JACLYN JOHNSON 6-1 So.
F LYNN PRIDE 6-2 Jr.
C NAKIA SANFORD 6-3 Sr.
Colorado has lost four of its last five, including a heartbreakless loss at Missouri last Saturday in which the Buffaloes led by five points with three minutes remaining, but made costly mental mistakes that wasted the lead.
"There won't be any easy games in the Big 12," said coach Marian Washington. "Every team will be trying to win their home games."
Colorado head coach Ceal Barry said that she remained upbeat about her team's chances against the Jayhawks because it had been competitive against other ranked Big 12 teams. The Buffaloes lost to 14th-ranked Iowa State Cyclones by only six points on Jan. 13.
"All things considered, the mood of the team isn't too bad," Barry said.
Tonight's game marks the homecoming of Denver native Brooke Reves. The Big 12 Newcomer-of-the-Year candidate played at Denver's Manual High School before transferring to Kansas from Wichita St. last year. The Jayhawks' sophomore forward made her first start against Nebraska last Saturday and is shooting a team-leading 55.9 percent from the field, while scoring 9.3 points a game.
G LINDA LAPEP 6-0 Fr.
G MANDY NIGHTINGALE 5-6 Fr.
F CHAQUITA DUWROTH 5-11 So.
F KAMI CARMANN 6-3 So.
C BRITT HARTSCHN 6-4 Fr.
Coors Event Center • Boulder, Colo.
TV: Fox Sports Network
The Buffaloes have been plagued by turnovers during the season, and Barry has played four different point guards in an attempt to correct the problem.
The Jayhawks have had ball-handling problems of their own with a sophomore and freshman running the point. The Jayhawks committed a season-high 34 turnovers against Nebraska.
"We have to get better play from our guard positions," said Washington.
if the Jayhawks can win at Boulder, it will mark the 494th career win for Washington, who ranks 11th among active Division I coaches.
Kansas fell out of the AP top 25 poll for the first time this season after Saturday's loss to Nebraska, but remains No. 23 in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll.
Sophomore guard Casey Prutti calls a play for the Kansas women's basketball team. Prutti has started 10 games at the guard position for the Jayhawks. Photo by Matt J. Daubery/KANSAN
Confidence shoots Boschee to offensive transformation
By Kevin C. Wilson
Kansan sportswriter
Kansas point guard Jeff Boschee is on a roll. Boschee continued his shooting streak on Monday night by scoring 15 points on a career-high 5-of-7 three-point shooting in the Jayhawks' 76-67 win against Texas.
His five three-pointers were the most made in one game by a Jayhawk all season, and the last one was easily the most important. After the Longhorns had trimmed the Kansas lead to five points with 4:19 remaining. Bosche sank his final three-pointer to give the Jayhawks a comfortable 63-55 lead.
Kansas guard Ryan Robertson said that he had no problem with his backcourt mate taking the important shots and that he was confident in Bosche's ability.
The Valley City, N.D., native, who was named the Big 12 Rookie of the Week on Monday for the second time this season, has canned 13 three-pointers in the last three games and has scored in double figures in five straight.
"Jeff was just huge for us," Robertson said. "He played tremendous and hit some big threes down the stretch."
In his first 12 games Boschee averaged 8.7 points per game, shot 35.7 percent from the field and managed to connect on only 19-of-67 three-pointers, for a meager 29.2 percent. However, in his last five games, the freshman guard has scored an average of 14.2 points per game, connected on 49 percent of his field goals and poured in 18-of-32 shots from beyond the arc, for an impressive 56 percent.
"I'm feeling really confident with my shot right now," Boschee said. "My stroke feels good. I'm getting some looks, and they're just going in."
Boschee said he was aware of his offensive transformation.
"I think things really started to come around at the Baylor game," he said. "My shots hadn't been falling, but since the Baylor game, I started hitting my threes, and I'm getting more confidence."
That confidence has allowed Boschee to expand his game and attempt to develop into
more than just a three-point threat. Against Texas, the 6-foot-1 guard drove the lane on several occasions only to see his shot get rejected by the Longhorns.
Jeff Boschese lofts a hook shot over Texas guard Ivan Wagner. Boschese made five of seven from three-point range and helped the Jayhawks be the Longhorns.
Photo by Matt Daudhert / KANSAN
"He overpermuted a couple of times, and you can't score in there," Williams said.
Boschee said although he had a couple of his shots blocked, he was going to continue to penetrate.
By Emily Hughey
Impromptu halftime piques fans' interest
Kansan sportswriter
There is no such thing as modesty on the Kansas men's swim team
Monday night's impromptu half time show at Allen Fieldhouse was proof of that.
The male swimmers, including visiting recruits, paraded single-file onto the court clad only in running shoes, Speedos and body paint. Their message: "Beware of the Phog."
Following the halftime performance, the swimmers changed their message advertising "SportsCenter's Next."
Although this was the first time the swimmers had been given the opportunity to lead the crowd in a wave from center court, it was not the first time they stripped down in the spotlight.
Mike Blundell, swim team member, said that it was the third year the swimmers had shown up for a men's basketball game wearing their Speedos.
With six recruits from around the country visiting for the weekend, Blundell said the team thought their performance would lure the high school seniors to sign with Kansas for next year. He said that the team's unity shined through
"We're swimmers anyway," said Blundell, Pittsburg senior. "We're pretty free."
"It's a lot of fun," Blundell said. "It brings a lot of us a little closer together."
Carolyn Horwitz, swim team member, had her first exposure to the Kansas swim team last year at Late Night with Roy Williams. The men's team sat together in the stands and bared their Speedos to the fieldhouse crowd. She said that
it influenced her decision to come to Kansas.
"I thought it was really funny," said Woritz, Auburn, Ind., freshman. "It made them look like a team because all the guys did it no matter what."
Horwitz said that the female team members enjoyed watching their teammates' display. Basketball fans also were intrigued.
Lindsay Douglas, Chesterfield, Mo., sophomore, said that the male swimmers piqued her interest, although she was seated high in the rafters.
"I couldn't help but stare," Douglas said. "If I would've known they looked like that, I would have gone to more meets. I think I might have to attend one now."
Brian, McCall, Junction City senior, said that he thought the swimmers exhibited positive school spirit.
"It was pretty awesome that they were out there showing support," McCall said. "And it also gave the swimmers some recognition."
Douglas, a regular attendant of men's basketball games, enjoyed the swimmers' halftime show so much that she almost forgot why she was there.
"I was like, 'What basketball game?' Douglas said. "Let's go swim."
Although the swimmers stood in the front row, where the fans in wheelchairs are customarily reserved space. Blundell said that there were no problems.
Commentary
Broken ankle Kansas losses haunt writer
If you're reading this, you've survived the first day of classes.
But the big news is that you've survived the winter break.
It all started Dec. 8. It will be one of those days that Jayhawks will remember where they were and what they were doing. It was the day that the home streak ended at the hands of Iowa. I was bartending at the time. It was amazing when the final buzzer sounded, and the loss was official. Customers suddenly decided there was only one thing left to do — drink. And drink heavily.
The next day, I found that half of my political science final was handed out in class and was a take-home paper. But because I never went to that class, I never got the take-home part.
From an A to a C, all in one fatal error. Ouch
Then, to dare fate, I went skiing during New Year's. Toring
Maybe this should have warned me that I was in for a rough break. But luck has to change, doesn't it? St. Louis gave us an early Christmas present, handing us an ugly loss on December 23.
Seth Hoffman
in 1999 right, I broke my ankle in a violent skiing accident.
But then my roommate calls me on the 3rd.
By now I knew. This wasn't meant to be a good holiday vacation. So I decided to elevate my broken ankle and stay out of harm's way. Doing nothing and avoiding human contact might keep me safe. For a good laugh, I could watch Wichita State try to play basketball on TV.
"Seth, I've got some bad news." he said.
I laughed. What else could have possibly gone wrong?
"The pipes in the apartment burst. There's standing water in our place. It sounds like a waterfall in your room right now," he replied.
"Well, shut the water off," I shouted. Not only did the pipes burst, they had to burst in my room.
I called my neighbors and asked if any of them wanted to come and kick my dog. To my surprise, they denied the offer.
Things looked up for a moment when my beloved Jayhawks beat evil Mizzou in very hostile territory.
But then things looked down again when the 'Hawks looked just a little foolish with their post-game celebration dance.
And then to make matters much worse, Coach Williams couldn't wait for the locker room and made what was a silly scene turn ugly by having a fit for SportsCenter to share with the nation.
It's OK though. We got the 'W.' I was probably just in a bad mood because I was watching the game with a broken ankle while sitting on a couch that was about to float away.
But then Kansas took the floor last Saturday against UMass and got beat with a pick and roll again and again. Then we let them shoot and rebound until they scored.
Please,can the bad news stop?
But this is my first column, so it can't be all negative. 1999 has to start looking up, right?
Well, Lester Earl got his year of eligibility back (I won't mention the sprained ankle). Ashante Johnson has been seeing some floor time. Marlon London has been playing like a man possessed. The guys now know the rules about postgame celebrations. I only have two more weeks in a cast. We now have a dry carpet in my apartment.
Classes are back in session. I started 1999 in a bad way.I'm hoping things start looking up soon.
Hoffman is an Lenexa, Kan., junior in journalism.
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