Inside Sports
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Wednesday November 18, 1998
Sports
Section:
Commentary
Both the Nebraska men's and women's basketball teams must replace big scorers to be competitive in the Big 12 Conference this season. See Page 3B
Columnist Sam Pierron adds his thoughts about why former Kansas soccer coach Dan Magner resigned.
SEE PAGE 4B
B
Pro Football
Page 1
The Kansas City Chiefs suspended linebacker Derrick Thomas for their game against San Diego next week.
SEE PAGE 6B
WWW.KANSAN.COM/SPORTS
Kansas defensive back Greg Erb erbs down K-State running back David Allen. Erb was named to the District VII GTE Academic All-America team on Monday. Photo by Dion Elvansel / KANSAN
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Academic excellence
Football player scores award
By Jodi M. Smith
Kansan sportswriter
Greg Erb just might be the most successful person on the Kansas football team. Off the field, that is.
Erb, a defensive back for special teams was named to the District VII GTE Academic All-America team Monday for his 3.71 grade point average during the past three years.
But Erb doesn't just submerge himself in his studies, burying himself beneath piles of books and notes. He has a gift many students are not blessed with — he is just plain smart.
Kansas coach Terry Allen recognizes that Erb is not your ordinary student athlete.
"Greg Erb is an outstanding person, an outstanding student," Allen said. "As well as being a very talented athlete, he's a very good student and has dreams of being a very successful person. He's unique in that.
Good grades and academics always have been a high priority for Erb.
"He uses his intelligence when he plays," Allen said. "He has limited athletic ability, but he makes up for that by being a very smart football player."
During high school he received all As and Bs. In fact, he gets upset when he doesn't receive an A in a class.
What might be the most unique aspect about Erb, though, is his insatiable need to challenge himself.
"I've always wanted to be the best at everything, so I set goals to get As basically every semester," Erb said. "It disappoints me when I don't get an A in a class, but I don't limit that to what classes I take."
Like many KU students, Erb decided to take one of his harder classes, organic chemistry, from a different college.
Most KU students go to Johnson
County or Kansas City Community College. Erb went to Harvard.
His uncle and his cousin attended the college and suggested that he take the class the summer after his freshman year.
"I just wanted to challenge myself," Erb said. "It was an accelerated program. It got done quicker, and I wanted to see how I stacked up against the competition."
Not only did Erb learn a lot about organic chemistry but he learned a
lot about what it meant to really study.
"The students there study a lot harder than here," he said. "I went there and asked everybody what they do on the weekends and they said, 'We study.' I thought they were joking, but they were serious."
Erb has taken those study habits and applied them to his classes at the University, where he is working toward a degree in biology with aspirations of attending medical school.
Halftime chat rouses'Hawks to top Quakers
Boschee steps up in final moments
By Erin Thompson
Kansan sportswriter
While many would expect No.8 Kansas to struggle against a team being led by a guard wearing No.23 named Michael Jordan, not many expected Kansas to struggle against this Michael Jordan.
But in the end, the Pennsylvania Quakers Jordan did not have enough to put away the Jayhawks, as Kansas (2-0) survived the Penn (0-1) attack, 61-56 last night.
In the final minutes of the game, Jordan missed two shots in the lane and
Kansas freshman point guard, Jeff Boschee, scored eight of Kansas' last 10 points, including a free throw that put the Jayhawks ahead 57-56. He expanded the lead to the final 61-56 with a clutch basket and two free throws.
"Jeff did a great job," Kansas coach Roy Williams said. "I loved our pulse in the last four minutes.
Boschee: Scored eight of Kansas' last 10 points.
Boschee had a bigger role after Ryan Robertson received his fourth foul with less than five minutes left, with the Jayhawks ahead by seven. Robertson was out for a few minutes, but the Quakers tied the score, 56-56.
The game was a tale of two contrasting halves. In the first half, the Jayhawks hit two of their first 15 shots from the field and had 12 turnovers.
"I told the guys they can't afford to do that," Williams said. "I won't live through the season if they do. It has to be 40 minutes of playing ball."
KANSAS 61, PENN 56
Gregory 4-11 1-5-9, Bradford 1-1 1-2-3,
Chenwell 6-11 2-3-14, Robertson 5-8 1-1-14,
Boschee 3-7 3-4-10, Earl 2-5 2-5-6,
Nooner 1.3 2-2-5, Carey 1-0 0-0, Janisse
0-0 0-0 0-0, Total 12 2-4 12-22 61.
PENN (0-1)
Ryan 3-7 0-0 7, Romanczuk 2-3 0-0 4,
Owens 1-11 0-1 0, Langel 4-14 2-1 2, Jordan
5-16 1-2 12, Sullivan 0-0 0 0, Brown
7-9 0-1 0 17, Sanger 1-4 0-0 2, Totals 23-64
3-4 5-6
Halftime — Penn 26, Kansas 19. 3-Point goals — Kansas 5-12 (Robertson 3-3, Nooner 0-1), Bosche 1-4, Gregory 0-1, Chenowith 0-1), Penn 7-22 (Brown 3-4, Langel 2-8, Ryan 1-5, Jordan 1-5). Fouled out — Romancuzk. Rebounds — Kansas 41 (Chenowith 8), Penn 31 (Owens 6). Assists — Kansas 14 (Bradford, Bosche 4), Penn 17 (Jordan 7). Total fouls — Kansas 14, Penn 20. Technical — Kansas coach Williams. Attendance — 7, 852.
Frustrated with the Jayhawks trailing 14-13 with six and a half minutes left in the first half, Williams received his first technical foul since November 1996. He argued with the referee about an out-of-bounds call reversed in the Quakers' favor.
Kansas ended the first half trailing 26-19, the fewest points the team has scored in a half since Williams took control.
kansas turned around in the second half and hit 13 of its first 16 shots. Williams said he was pleased with the improvements his team made after the half.
"The first half, we didn't play basketball," Williams said. "The second half was strange because we were 180 degrees away. We were much more aggressive defensively. It was a tale of the first half not playing and the second half playing really well."
Robertson and Eric Chenowith led the Jayhawks with 14 points each.
Games for Week 12
Guess which teams will win and submit your predictions
to the Kansan. We will publish the top predictions. Include your name, hometown and year in school to the Kansan newsroom, 111 Stauffer Flint Hall, or e-mail the sports editor at
BYU at Utah
Teams
Kansas at Iowa State
mattf@ukans.edu by 5 p.m. Friday
Teams
Baylor at Oklahoma State
Auburn at Alabama
Washington at Washington State
Michigan at Ohio State
Kyle Ramsey/KANSAN
Purdue ends Lady Vols' No.1 run
Tennessee's first loss in more than a year costs them top spot
All in all, Purdue coach Carolyn Peck hasn't been easy on her former boss the last couple of days.
First Purdue ended Tennessee's 46- game winning streak. Then the Boilermakers ended the Lady Vols' long run at No.1.
The Associated Press
ranking in women's basketball Monday, edging Connecticut by one point for the top spot in The Associated
Purdue gained its first-ever No.1
Press poll. The Boilermakers' momentous move came one day after they beat Tennessee 78-68, the Lady Vols' first loss since March 2, 1997.
"To be quite honest with you, I'm not sure how to react," said Peck, a former assistant to Tennessee coach Pat Summitt. "Obviously, it's a
Tennessee, which had been No.1 in 19 consecutive polls, dropped to fourth.
tremendous honor for this program to be ranked No.1. But with this comes a tremendous challenge to
remain focused on our ultimate team goals." Purdue, fifth in the preseason poll, received 18 first-place votes and had 987 points. Connecticut, which averaged 102 points in beating two ranked teams over the weekend, had 17 first-place votes and 986 points. The Huskies were third in the preseason poll.
Louisiana Tech, which has yet to play, dropped from second to third with five first-place votes and 949 points. Tennessee, which beat Portland in its opener on Friday night, received one first-place vote and compiled 929 points.
Stanford, 19th in the preseason, lost its first two games and dropped out of the Top 25 for the first time since 1887. The Cardinal had appeared in 191 straight polls. Tennessee has the longest streak at 210.
Purdue's highest ranking previously had been No. 2 in the 1994-95 preseason poll. The Boilermakers dropped to fifth in the next poll and finished that season ranked 16th.
Preventing a similar slide this season will take some work. The Boiler
makers have two tough games this week, at Arizona and at Stanford.
Connecticut's two impressive victories at the Four in the Fall tournament in San Jose almost got the Huskies their first No. 1 ranking since the last poll of the 1996-97 season. They opened with a 104-74 victory over then-No. 4 Duke and beat No. 18 Arkansas 100-64.
North Carolina climbed five places to 6th after opening the season with a victory over Kansas. Duke, which rebounded to beat Stanford, dropped to sixth and was followed by Georgia, Virginia, Alabama and Rutgers.
"The recognition is great, but it really doesn't matter where you're ranked in November," Peck said. "What matters is March."
The final five were Iowa State, UC Santa Barbara, Nebraska, Illinois and Wisconsin.
Notre Dame jumped six places to 11th after a 17-point victory over UCLA, which had been sixth. Then it was Texas Tech, George Washington, UCLA and Old Dominion, followed by North Carolina State, Kansas, Arkansas, Vanderbilt and Florida.
Nebraska and Wisconsin were newcomers, replacing Arizona and Stanford. Arizona, which had been 21st, lost to Nebraska after opening with a victory over Wisconsin-Green Bay. Stanford lost to Arkansas before its loss to Duke.
AP TOP 25
The top 25 teams in The Associated Press' women's college basketball poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through Nov. 15, 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 pve
1. Purdue (18) 1-0 987 5
2. Connecticut(17) 1-0 986 3
3. Louisiana Tech(5) 0-0 949 2
4. Tennessee (1) 1-1 929 1
5. North Carolina 2-0 734 10
6. Duke 1-1 723 4
7. Georgia 0-0 722 7
8. Virginia 1-0 684 8
9. Alabama 2-0 654 9
10. Rutgers 2-0 594 17
11. Notre Dame 1-0 565 17
12. Texas Tech 1-0 517 14
13. George Washington 0-0 515 13
14. UCLA 0-1 510 6
15. Old Dominian 1-0 474 15
16. N. Carolina St. 1-0 408 16
17. Kansas 0-1 352 11
18. Arkansas 1-1 295 18
19. Vanderbilt 2-0 245 20
20. Florida 1-0 217 22
21. Iowa St. 1-0 177 22
22. UC Santa Barbara 0-0 157 24
23. Nebraska 2-0 122 24
25. Illinois 0-0 114 25
25. Wisconsin 1-0 109 —
Others receiving water; Colorado St. 79, Fla. International 77, Penn St. 68, Clemson St. 67, Stanford St. 51, Washington St. 14, Arizona St. 49, Memphis St. 28, Oregon St. 21, Wisconsin St. 20, Baylor St. 16, Louisville St. 16, Virginia Tech. 11, Marquette St. 9, Auburn St. 7, DePauw St. 3, Indiana St. 3, Kentucky St. 3, Cincinnati St. 2, New Mexico St. 2, Tolena 1.