Inside Sports
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Sports
Wednesday
October 21, 1998
Section:
B
Page 1
Linebacker Patrick Brown acted in two movies this summer, and his long-term goal is to be involved in the business end of the industrv.
Soccer
Columnist Sam Pierron answers questions about proposed changes in soccer development.
SEE PAGE 4B
See Page 3B
Big 12 Football
Nebraska won by a miracle — or destiny against Missouri last season, but that's history.
SEE PAGE 4B
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KU coach to enter volleyball hall of fame
The Kansas athletics department isn't the only organization that admired Ray Behard's success as volleyball coach at Barton County Community College.
Bechard, who is in his inaugural
season at Kansas, will be inducted into the National Junior College Athletic Association Volleyball Hall of Fame on Nov. 22 in Orme, Utah.
Bechard: Compiled 716-60 record at community college.
Selected by a committee of five junior college coaches, Bechard joins three other coaches and one
Kansas guard Luke Axtell slam dunks during "Late Night with Roy Williams." Axelt transferred from Texas after one semester and won't be playing this season because of NCAA transfer rules. Photo by Jay Sheepard/KANSAN
player being honored next month.
Jerry Hekekia, coach at Eastern Arizona Community College, was in charge of the committee. He said Bechard's accomplishments spoke for themselves.
In 13 seasons at Barton County, Bechard compiled a record of 716-60, including winning 126 consecutive matches at home. Bechard's overall winning percentage of .923 is 20 points higher than the next highest junior college coach.
Bechard led his team to the national tournament in 12 of his 13 years, including 10 Final Four appearances.
In the middle of his first season at Kansas, Bechard has led the Jayhawks to a 13-7 record, improving on a 9-24 season in 1997.
"What a great honor to be recognized by a group of people that I surrounded myself with for 13 years," Bechard said. "I'm just excited that they felt that what I accomplished in my time there was worthy of such a great honor."
— By Laura Bokenkroger
Longhorn turns Jayhawk
Luke Axtell plays basketball composes tunes
By Erin Thompson
Kansan sportswriter
It is almost 700 miles from Austin, Texas, to Lawrence, and the road that Luke Axell took to get here was a long one.
Axtell joined the Kansas bas ketball team this fall after playing one season at Texas, and the differences between the two programs are greater than the differences between the way Axtell dances and the way his teammates dance.
The dancing gap was on display during the traditional team dance Friday at "Late Night with Roy Williams." Team members bumped and ground their way through the dance, until Axtell galloped through the middle of the circle in his cowboy boots.
The differences in the basketball programs was obvious to Axell as soon as conditioning started this fall.
Axtell has already added 10 pounds to his previously lanky 205-pound, 6-foot-9 frame.
"I wasn't used to the conditioning they had up here," he said. "When I came up here, I wasn't out of shape, but now I'm in better shape than I've ever been."
After a stellar high school career at Westlake High School, during which he averaged 21 points a game and was named first team all state, Axtell entered hometown Texas as one of the top prospects in the nation. As a Longhorn, Axtell did not disappoint. He averaged 13.3 points per game and was named Big 12 Rookie of the Week three times.
Although Axtell performed well on the court for Texas coach Tom Penders, the end of the season brought tough circumstances for the freshman. On March 9, two days after the 14-17 team ended, four team members, including Axtell, went to Texas athletics director DeLoss Dodds to discuss complaints concerning how Pender's ran his basketball program. On March 17 Penders suspended Axtell for academic reasons.
Axtell responded by saying he would leave Texas, Eddie Oran. Texas assistant at the time, leaked Axtell's grades to an Austin radio station. A few weeks later, Penders resigned and within the month, Axtell
had transferred to Kansas.
His sister, Brooke, is adding more Texas spice to the Kansas campus and making Axtell's move easier.
“It’s not home, but it’s as good as it’s going to get away from home,” Axtell said. “I’ve lived in Texas all my life, but my sister’s here.”
Before his arrival at Kansas, Axell cut his trademark floppy hair. Axell said he knew Williams was a conservative person and he wouldn't like his long hair style.
Axtell has surprised Williams with more than his short haircut. At last Thursday's media day, Williams said he was shocked with how Axtell performed in the previous day's conditioning tests.
"He surprised all of us in the conditioning tests at how well he did," Williams said. "He fakes us all out for a couple of weeks and performed greatly yesterday."
Because of NCAA transfer rules, Axell must sit out for a year. This year, his only chance to play in front of a crowd was at Allen Field House Friday night, and he took advantage of the opportunity.
Axtell nailed a three-pointer for the first points of the scrimmage and finished the 25-minute scrimmage with eight points. Now, he must watch from the sideline for a year while his teammates play.
Judging from Friday's performance off the court, Axell should not be too bored on the bench. Maybe he can sing to team members during timeouts. An amateur songwriter, Axell displayed his abilities by singing a song he penned and playing the guitar before the scrimmage.
Williams said Axtell's singing was one of the highlights of the evening.
"Either he's not accomplished enough using those mikes or they weren't very good because you couldn't hear it real well," Williams said. "We were so close we could hear it. It was real nice but I wonder if the people up top heard what he was doing. It was nice."
Setting up a putt
Jill Jones, assistant KU volleyball coach, and Leslie Purkeypile, volleyball outside hitter, watch Anne Kreimer, volleyball middle blocker, play golf in the University Daily Kansan/KU Credit Union golf tournament benefiting KU Women's Athletics. The tournament last Sunday raised about $2,500 to help women's athletics at the University. Photo by Jeff Severin/KANSAN
NAME
None of the 12 students submitting picks this week predicted the winner of every game. The top participants are listed here, and the rest of the results can be found on the UDKI at www.kansan.com/sports.
Week 7 student picks results
RECORD
1. Kelly Brulez, Olathe senior 11-1
2. Seth Rowoldt: Lincoln,Neb.. freshman 11-1
3. Dave Schul, Lawrence graduate student 11-1
4. Lewis Bowen, Richardson, Texas.
sophomore 10-2
5. Caleb Hensley, Pittsburg junior 10-2
Kyle Ramsey/KANSAN
Commentary
Kansas fans need to learn when to yell for Jayhawks
After turning in papers on Mark Twain and Shakespeare and losing the Super Bowl on Madden '99 for Playstation, my brain is everywhere the place this week.
Friday afternoon, hundreds of students gathered in Allen Field House to pick up Kansas basketball ticket vouchers.
The line was long and moved fairly slow because the ticket office put one guy at a table to handle everyone. It was too much for him to handle, and he worked as fast as he could. But had the ticket office added another person to handle the long line, it would have moved faster, students would have been less frustrated and the guy wouldn't have had the stress of dealing with everyone by himself.
Although it was the final day to pick up vouchers and students had all week to get them, the ticket office should have expected the late rush. The office
Spencer Duncan
has been doing this for a long time and knows students wait until the last second. Next time, the office needs to put more people to work. It was a situation that could have been avoided.
Rumor is with the basketball season upon us, the Scream Machine may reappear.
Did you know Mark Twain went broke?
For those who don't remember the Scream Machine, let me refresh your memories. It is a blue trash can decorated with Jayhawk logos. When the lid is taken off, people are supposed to scream. When the lid goes back on, people are supposed to stop screaming.
It flopped last season. The machine was put away before the season ended because of a poor response.
It was a bad idea then and remains one now. Kansas basketball fans know when and when not to cheer.
Shakespeare is from Stratford-on-Avon?
For those who don't want to let go of the Scream Machine then take it to football games. Kansas football fans are struggling with when and when not to cheer.
When the opposing team has the ball on third and fourth downs, fans at Memorial Stadium do two things: get silent or cheer too late.
Noise needs to be made so opposing teams have problems calling plays in the huddle and struggle with the snap count. When fans don't cheer, it helps teams set up plays.
Kansas fans wait until both teams are at the line of scrimmage and the ball is only seconds away from being snapped before cheering.
This is not how to do it
When Kansas has the ball on fourth down, fans should keep the noise down so Kansas can call plays and snap the ball without interference. But fans are cheering extremely loud when Kansas has the ball on fourth down. That doesn't help the Jayhawks.
Fans must cheer before the other team huddles, during the hudle and during the play.
Believe it or not, cheering at the right and wrong times can make a difference in a game.
Just like in real life, Drew Bledsoe blew the big game. He threw three interceptions as San Francisco routed my New England Playstation Patriots, 34-17. I want a refund.
Upset pick of the week: The overrated Buffalooses lose to the wounded Jayhawks, 27-24.
Duncan is an Topeka senior in journalism and English.
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