THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Inside Sports
Sports
Tuesday
December 8, 1998
Section:
B
Page 1
Texas running back Ricky Williams was named Associated Press player of the year yesterday.
College Football
SEE PAGE 3B
Kansas State fans and players are still shocked at the their fall from title contenders to the Alamo Bowl.
SEE PAGE 5B
Pro Basketball
Michael Jordan will not play in an exhibition game featuring NBA players currently locked out by the owners.
SEE PAGE 6B
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Guard Jeff Bosche closely guards Kentucky guard Saul Smith during the Great Eight Tournament. The Jayhawks' next opponent is Iowa at 8:35 on Sunday. Photo by Dan Elsawry (KANSAN
Iowa forward Settles to play with injury against Jayhawks
By Sam Mellinger Kanson sportswriter
Any student who feels like they have been in college for a long time should look at Jess Settles for a little perspective.
Settles, a sixth-year senior forward for the Iowa men's basketball team, arrived at Iowa City in Fall 1993. Since then, he has declared for the NBA draft, backed out and returned to the Hawkeyes, suffered a season-ending knee injury and had two redshirt seasons.
Now that Settles is back at Iowa (5-1), it does not mean that all the tough times are past him.
This past weekend, Settles sprained an ankle. After all he has been through, do not expect a little injury to keep Settles out of Iowa's game at Allen Field House against Kansas (5-1) at 8:35 p.m. tonight.
The game will be televised live on ESPN.
"He is not a complainer, so I don't know for sure how much he's hurting," said Iowa coach Tom Davis. "When you coach Jess Settles you know you're going to get the best that he has. He's a great gamer."
Settles has started two games for the Hawkeyes and has been averaging 5.3 points per game in 16 minutes.
"It's going to be day to day with him," Davis said. "We've been very appreciative of every moment with him; it's been a lot of fun."
Iowa will need all the "gamers" they have to become the first visitor since Feb. 17, 1993, to win a game at the field house, a streak of 62 games.
"I don't think about that," said Davis, who is in his 12th year at Iowa. "You think about how you're preparing and what you have to do. You don't think about the point spread; you focus on
doing the best you can with what you have."
Davis has a balanced offensive attack with eight players scoring more than 5 points per game and nine players averaging more than 10 minutes of action.
When Kansas and Iowa step on the floor, there will probably be a strong similarity between the two that can be traced directly to former North Carolina coach Dean Smith.
"I've taken a lot from Dean Smith," Davis said. "I always liked how his teams used the fast break, played both zone and man, and how he used his bench. I'm sure the correlation is more with Roy Williams since he was an assistant (under Smith from 1978-88)."
It's no secret that Williams' coaching style was molded by his experience at North Carolina, but Smith was not the only source for coaching tips.
"When I was at North Carolina, we got a few things, like that lob play, from his teams at Stanford," Williams said. "I've always liked how their guys take themselves out of the game, and I've liked how they play."
Now in his 28th season as a head coach, Davis has compiled a 528-211 record. He has announced that this will be his last season on the sideline.
"I think Tom has been good for basketball to say the least," Williams said. "I have a tremendous amount of respect for him."
That doesn't mean Williams will take it easy for Davis' first game in Allen Field House.
Lester Earl's knee surgery yesterday was a success.
"I just talked to the doctors," Williams said. "And they felt like he did well. They're sticking with what they said earlier that he'd be out in about two weeks."
Committee to choose finalists for soccer coach
Kansan sportswriter
BY BRAD HAMER
Kansan sportswriter
By Brad Hallier
Let the search begin
Last week, the Athletics Department began its quest to find a new head soccer coach to replace Dan Magner, who resigned Nov.3.
A six-person search committee, headed by Associate Athletics Director Amy Perko will meet tomorrow to begin a search for finalists among the more than 100 applicants for the job.
"This is a gem program. With the exception of the field, there are no excuses to not win here. Kansas is a place you can win, recruit and have a good academic standing."
"We want to hire someone before the Feb. 3 signing period," Perko said. "But we want someone as quickly as possible.
- Perko said the committee would determine who the finalists would be and would bring those candidates to campus for interviews.
The committee should have a variety of insights for each candidate. In addition to Perko, the committee includes Bob
Fredrick, athletics director; Kim Polite, assistant director of facilities; Ray Bechard, Kansas volleyball coach; Jackie Dowell, a four-year captain for the soccer team; and Fred Rodriguez, associate professor in the school of education.
Kevin Blokker
"We want to have people bring different perspective from the committee," Perko said. "We have someone on there to bring an understanding of academic aspects and philosophy. We also have another coach, because successful coaches know what it takes to succeed. And Jackie Dowell is on
Assistant soccer coach
there to bring a student-athlete's perspective to the table."
Among the candidates for the coaching job is interim coach Kevin Blokker. Blokker spent the past season as an assistant coach for the Jayhawks. He also has served as assistant coach at Fresno State, Wyoming and San Francisco. In addition he spent three years as a coach for the region IV of the United States Olympic Development Program. He also holds a United States Soccer Federation National "A" Coaching License.
"This is a gem program," Blokker said. "With the exception of the field, there are no excuses to not win here. Kansas is a place you can win, recruit and have a good academic standing."
Blokker said he would be lucky to be named head coach.
"I would love to have one year and take it from there," he said. "I know the program. I know what we need and what players to recruit. I know the players, who to let go and who to keep my thumb on."
A possible diamond-in-the-rough candidate is Lincoln Wolf. Wolf is the current men's and women's soccer coach at Sterling College. In his five years of coaching, Wolf has been named coach of the year the last three years, twice at Sterling and once at Allen County Community College. His five-year record is (0-0-0). He took Allen County to its only post-season victory in 1996. He also has taken the Sterling men to the conference playoffs twice.
Raymant's ACL injury means end of season
"They cleaned the miniscus today but will wait until after Christmas to do the ACL," said coach Marian Washington.
Raymant is eligible for a medical redshirt this season and, assuming rehabilitation is successful, she will play as a senior in 1999-2000.
Suzi Raymant will be out the rest of the season.
Doctors confirmed that the women's basketball co-captain had reinjured the anterior cruciate ligament of her left knee and injured the miniscus in that knee as well.
The ACL surgery will be put off so Raymant can prepare for finals. Washington said the two-week delay in ACL surgery will not affect when Raymant will be rehabilitated.
Arthroscopic knee surgery was performed on Lester Earl yesterday. The surgery went well, and Earl is expected to be rehabilitated in 7 to 10 days.
Raymant had surgery in April after tearing the MCL and had said that she was about "85 percent" at the beginning of the season.
Kansan staff report
Quarterback verbally commits to Terry Allen's football program
The Lawrence Journal-World reported yesterday that Zak Kustok, a 6-foot-2, 213-pound quarterback, gave a verbal commitment to Kansas after making an official recruiting visit this weekend.
Kansas no longer may have a quarterback crisis.
Now he's headed for Kansas, and what originally might have kept him away is not even a factor anymore.
Kustok, who originally signed with Lou Holtz at Notre Dame, left after redshirting his freshman year.
He then opted to sit out a year and attend a junior college in his own hometown.
Coach Terry Allen announced last week that he had no intentions of leaving the University of Kansas
for the head coaching position at Iowa. This helped spur Kustok's decision.
"It was real good news for me from a Kansas standpoint," he said. "If Coach Allen went to Iowa, I would have wanted to look into that situation. He's a big reason I'm coming to Kansas. I like his offensive system, and he's a real good guy. I'm glad he's staying."
This weekend's visit was Kustok's second to Kansas.
He made an unofficial visit a month and a half ago, but he wanted to make the second visit to become more acquainted with the players.
"This weekend, I wanted to come up and get to know some of the guys on the team to see how I fit with them," Kustok said. "There
are a lot of good guys on the team, so I decided that's where I'm going. I'm not taking any more visits anywhere."
Kustok is the fourth player to give Kansas a nonbinding verbal commitment. He joins Olathe South quarterback Zach Dyer, Free State lineman Dijon Dillon and Sacramento (Calif). Community College punter Joey Pelfano.
- Kansas senior offensive lineman Justin Glasgow has been selected to participate in the annual Blue-Gray All-Star Game on Christmas Day. The game, which will be played in Montgomery, Ala., is designed to showcase the best seniors in college football.
Kansan staff report
Commentary California trip is all about bowls
Thursday, 6:30 a.m. — The Los Angeles Times has no information
CALIFORNIA - Wednesday afternoon I boarded a plane and flew to Los Angeles International Airport. I was headed to Anaheim, Calif., to cover the Kansas vs. Pepperdine game Saturday, but the trip was more than one day of sports.
about Kansas or Pepperdine. Instead, the sports section is filled with stories about the bowl championship series and football national championship along with baseball free-agent signings.
Matt Friedrichs
sports@kansan.cor
Thursday,
10:30 a.m. —
The Santa Barbara News-Press isn't writing about the Kansas game either. The paper's front page has information about high school football plavoffs.
Thursday, 2:30 p.m. — No real sports in The Wall Street Journal.
Friday, 7 a.m. – The San Diego Union-Tribune has a story about UCLA and its basketball team, but football at all levels – high school, college and pro – dominates the coverage. What if three teams are undefeated after Saturday?
Will Kansas State leap ahead of UCLA or Tennessee?
Saturday, 6:30 a.m. — My 3-year-old cousin, Olivia, is mad, and I awaken to her crying. The Union-Tribune has a short story about the John Wooden Classic.
Saturday, noon - After entertaining Olivia and Sophie, Olivia's sister who's about a year old, for a couple of hours, we drive from San Diego to Long Beach. The Los Angeles Times has stories about UCLA, Oklahoma State and Pepperdine, but the only mention of Kansas is a note in the briefs describing the games. The note says Kansas hasn't lost two in a row for a long time and is expected to win.
Bill Walton, legendary basketball player, talks to Lester Earl in the hallway under the stands as the team walks back to the locker room.
Early Saturday evening - Kansas wins in an ugly defensive battle. Coach Williams sends the four seniors - Ryan Robertson, Jelani Janisse, T.J. Pugh and Chris Martin - to accept the trophy from legendary coach John Wooden.
Saturday, 1:30 p.m. — Only at an event in California would you see Paul Pierce coming down the stairs with a goofy grin before he hugs Max Falkenstein, KU basketball announcer, and sits on the bench with Coach Roy Williams.
Kansas fans gather around a television at one of the concessions stands to watch the end of the Big 12 championship game. We can't help ourselves. A cheer rises from the packed hallway when Texas A&M scores a touchdown and wins the game in the second overtime.
Sunday - Radio talk shows speculate about who will play in which bowl. Tennessee and Florida State are in the Fiesta Bowl because of losses by Kansas State and UCLA.
Yesterday - I fly back to Lawrence.
Today - Back to basketball.
Kansas plays Iowa.
Friedrichs is an Bremen, graduate student in journalism.