Inside Sports
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Sports
Thursday
October 15,1998
Section:
B
The San Diego Padres scored five runs in the sixth inning to beat the Atlanta Braves 5-0 in Game Six of the National League Conference Series. They advanced to the World Series, which begins Saturday in New York against the Yankees.
Volleyball
The layhawks will look to break their 5-game losing streak against Iowa State tomorrow.
SEE PAGE 3B
Page 1
Commentary
It's midterm time, and columnist Tony Pacheco hands out grades for the Kansas football team.
SEE PAGE 3B
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Media Day
The Kansas women's basketball team strikes a crazy pose while team photos are taken for media day. Some preseason poll calls the Jayhawks as high as No. 7, Photo by Cory Waters/KANSAN
Women's team faces pressure of No.7 rank
By Sam Mellinger
Kansan sportswriter
When a coach has been around for 26 years, she's got a story that applies to just about everything.
So it should come as no surprise that Kansas women's basketball coach Marian
Washington had an anecdote at the team's media day yesterday for how this
year's team will respond after winning 23 games and reaching the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament last year.
"I remember when Lynette Woodard made her first Kodak All-American," she said. "Within 48 hours, I suggested to her that it was time to begin training to prove that it wasn't a fluke.
"That's what I'm looking for this year. Yes, we got to the Sweet 16, but we have to come back this year and send the message out that it wasn't just a fluke."
Washington sat at the head table and told a roomful of reporters what was going through her mind as she prepared for this season with a team ranked as high as No.7 in preseason polls.
"I'm really excited about the fact that I've got players who have had the experience now of the NCAA Tournament," she said. "They enjoyed it, and they want to go back. That makes your job a lot easier."
- The team is led by junior All-American candidate Lynn Pride and a stable of experienced players.
Senior Suzi Raymant should be healthy for practice this weekend after suffering an off-season knee injury. Raymant was second on the team with 14.2 points per game last year, providing the Jayhawks with a scoring threat to complement Pride.
Senior Nakia Sanford leads the Jayhawks on the interior. She was second on the team with 6.6 rebounds per game last year and is a consistent defensive force.
Last year, several players were asked to play inflated minutes because of a lack of bodies. This year, the team has added a recruiting class that many consider to be among the nation's top 10.
Freshmen Kristin Geoffroy, Katie Hannon, Selena Scott and Dameyia Stepney join sophomore transfer Brooke Reves to give Washington more depth.
Kansas women's basketball sophomores pose for a group picture at Allen Field House. Last year's team won 23 games and went to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA tournament. Photo by Roger Nomer/ KANSAN
Washington named depth and quickness as improvements from last year.
"It just makes me laugh," she said. "Last year we weren't even in the polls and all of them say something different so you can't really put too much stock in it."
Sanford said that she was excited to get this season under way but that she doesn't take the preseason polls seriously.
Sanford sees good points and bad points in being ranked.
"The positive thing is we're confident," she said. "We're going to walk into a game knowing we're ranked higher than the team we are playing so we're going to kick their butts. Or it could be negative, like 'OK, we're good so we don't have to work hard."
Either way, entering this season in the top 10 is a lot different than last year's team which wasn't expected to do much.
"Last year, we went into some games and surprised teams because we were better than they expected," Pride said. "But this season people know what we can do and so now they are coming after us. We have to prepare ourselves for that."
"Last year, we weren't even in the polls and all of them say something different so you can't really put too much stock in it. The positive thing is we're confident. We're going to walk into a game knowing we're ranked higher than the team we're playing
so we're going to kick their butts. Or it could be negative, like, 'OK, we're good so we don't have to work hard.'"
Nakia Sanford Kansas forward
More about Media Day The freshmen have to adjust to playing for a nationally ranked team. See page 3B
Friends turn into foes in football match-up
Kansas' Hill, Nebraska's Evans were teammates in high school
Hill: Faces former teammate Saturday
By Jodi M. Smith
Evans: Played with Hill in high school.
Kanson sportswriter
Hill, a freshman wide receiver for the Kansas football team, will face his former teammate, Nebraska running back DeAngelo Evans, when the Jayhawks travel to Lincoln this weekend.
For three years in high school, Harrison Hill cheered for his teammate. This time, Hill will be rooting against him.
Hill and Evans will not play against each other directly since they both are on offense, but Hill said it would be different having Evans on the opposite sideline.
"I'm sure it will be weird because I'm so used to in high school playing with him and having the advantage of him on my team," he said. "I guess it will be kind of weird seeing him on the other side of the field and going against him hoping that he doesn't do very good."
Even though Kansas and Nebraska faced each other last season, this is the first time Evans and HUl will play against each other. Last year, they
both suffered season-long injuries.
The two players attended Collegiate High School in Wichita, playing football together for three years and basketball for two.
"We were buddies," Hill said. "He was the kind of guy who was to himself a lot, but I was good friends with him. Through a lot of things, we hung out. We were probably as good a friend as we could've been."
Senior offensive tackle Michael Lies also played football at Collegiate with Hill and Evans.
Hill isn't the only Wichita Collegiate alumnus on the Kansas football team.
Throughout their years together, the three played on one of the best Class 8A football teams in Kansas.
And in a high school small enough that everybody knows everybody else, Evans and Hill were more than just teammates.
And, in 1994 — Hill's sophomore year and Evans' junior year — the two captured the 3A state championship title in a 28-6 blowout against Marion High School.
But, Hill said, that was just one of many memorable moments the two teammates shared together.
"Every game there was some awesome memory that I have," Hill said. "We had so many great games, so many great times. There were so many that just one doesn't necessarily stand out. All of our games together were awesome."
The last time the two talked was this summer, and the main focus of the conversation was not this game.
"We talk about it some, but not too much." Hill said. "We don't bring it up, really, going against each other. We talk about how it's going to be fun when we do play against each other."
But Hill will not be cheering for Evans this time.
Wide receiver Harrison Hill goes for a pass against Oklahoma State University. Photo by Graham K. Johnson/KANSAN
"I don't feel bad because I'm sure he doesn't want me breaking 80-yard touchdown runs against them," Hill said. "We want to win. I hope he does well, but I hope we can contain him enough so that we can win."
Commentary Football team soon will play second fiddle to basketball
Fact: The Kansas football team's final game (assuming they don't make a post-season bowl) is Nov. 21 at Iowa State.
Sad, but true. Unfair, but accurate.
Reality: The Kansas football team's season actually ends shortly after midnight on Friday when Roy's boys take the court for the first time.
With tomorrow's Late Night with Roy Williams, coach Terry Allen can all but kiss away what dying interest remains in this year's football team. It shouldn't be that war, but the die
that way, but the die has been cast.
Harley Batliff
Lawrence is a basketball town. Kansas is a basketball school. The heart and soul of the student body rests within the steamy confines of Allen Field House — not in the cavernous, empty stands of Memorial Stadium.
The guys in the barber shops talk hoops, not niskin. Fans
not panic here refer to the basketball players by their first name — as if they are all close personal friends. ("Oh my god, Nicole, I saw Raef at the deli line at Wescoe!") Fans refer to the football players by numbers and positions. You might even hear a last name — if they can remember one. ("Hey Dom, that No. 22 sure is fast!")
That's the way things work around these parts. Always has been; always will be.
Because when the world revolves around basketball, gridiron mediocrity simply becomes a way of life.
And that, in a nutshell, is the biggest roadblock between Allen and a successful program. The fans simply don't care. Not one lick.
Allen knows he needs to recruit quarterbacks. He knows he needs to develop talent. He knows he needs to build a solid foundation. But most importantly, unless his program can get locals excited about Saturday, Kansas football will always play second fiddle.
Two weeks ago, Texas A&M came to Lawrence. It had all the makings of a great college football game.
And he's trying to heighten interest. Look at the slogan for the 1988 season: "KU Football. Make it part of your life."
Unfortunately, few have.
The Aggies have been one of the nation's most successful programs the last 15 years. Ranked in the top 25, the Aggies were making their second trip ever to Lawrence, Kansas, coming off a thrilling four-overture victory, was looking to get it's first conference win after tough losses to Oklahoma State and Missouri. The weather was perfect — cool and sunny, with a slight breeze that seemed to usher in the arrival of autumn.
As I sat in the press box, I watched and waited for fans to fill up the student section. Surely, I thought, they will come. Don't they want to see good college football?
But the closer it got to game time, the more evident the situation became. There would be plenty of vacant seats for the opposing team's fans to occupy.
The sad thing is, the Jayhawks played as well as they have all season. Kansas eventually lost, but as the game drew to a close, I wondered what kind of difference a packed house would have made.
I assumed fans would show up to see Kansas play a good team. The fans stayed home because they assumed Kansas would lose.
it's too bad because Allen and his team
does better. They deserve fans that care
—and show up to games. They deserve the same support that the rest of the programs in the Big 12 Conference receive.
Maybe things will change, but it's doubtful. Kansans simply don't care.
Oh, by the way, who do you think will start as point guard this year? Ryan or Jeff?
Ratliff is a Norman, Okla., senior in journalism.