BUCKS BEAT BULLS
VIN BAKER scored 30 points last night in leading the Milwaukee Bucks to a 105-104 exhibition victory against the Chicago Bulls,
who played at the United Center for the first time since winning the NBA title there last June.
Glenn Robinson added 25 points for the Bucks, while Sherman Douglas had 18 assists and Andrew Lang 16 rebounds.
The Bucks won despite being outscored 19-0 to start the second half.
Michael Jordan scored 28 points and Toni Kukoc 20 for the Bulls, who are 1-2 in the preseason. The Bulls lost just
SPORTS
twice at home last season, including exhibition and play games.
DID YOU KNOW?
Four different KANSAS MEN'S BASKETBALL PLAYERS are expected to reach 1,000 career points this season. Seniors Jacque Vaughn (943 career points), Scot Pollard (921 career
points), Jerod Haase (831 career points), and Junior Raef LaFrentz (807 career points) all are on target to reach the 1,000 point mark.
CHIEFS UPDATE
The Seattle Seahawks are going to Arrowhead Stadium with a black cloud hanging over their heads.
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 16, 1996
The cloud is the KANSAS CITY JNX.
The cloud is the KANSAS CITY JNX.
"It's been real tough," Cortez Kennedy said Monday. "They've had it mostly their way the last couple of years."
Couple of years?
ry 10 losses in 11 games against the Chiefs, who continued their domination of the Seahawks with a 35-17 victory Sept. 15 in the King-dome. And Seattle's veterans are sick of it.
"They've had our number since I've been here," Michael Sinclair said. "I've only beaten them once."
SECTION B
Tax officials question Graf's obligation to U.S.
MANNHEIM, Germany — U.S. tax officials have asked German authorities to tell them how much of tennis star Steffi Graf's income might be taxable in the United States, a state prosecutor said yesterday.
Hubert Jobski made the disclosure during the tax evasion trial of Graf's father. Peter.
Peter Graf is charged with failing to pay $13.1 million on some $28 million of his daughter's earnings between 1989 and 1993 — the same period that Jobski said U.S. tax authorities have inquired about.
The United States and Germany have an agreement to avoid double taxation on income.
Peter Graf, 58, and his tax adviser, Joachim Eckardt, have been on trial since Sept. 5.
In Washington, an IRS spokesman refused to comment on whether U.S. tax authorities were seeking information on Graf's earnings, citing the confidentiality of personal tax matters.
Germany's mass circulation newspaper, Bild, reported over the weekend that Peter Graf's defense team had prompted the U.S. inquiry as part of a strategy to shift some of the tennis star's tax responsibility from Germany to the United States, where she owns a home.
Injured Rockies right fielder watches own knee surgery
"I was up the whole time; I watched the whole thing," he said at a news conference about his surgery. "It was an experience."
Bichette injured his knee in the 1991 season, and doctors in Vail. Colo., rebuilt his anterior cruciate ligament Oct. 9. He was on crutches yesterday.
DENVER — Colorado Rockies right fielder Dante Bichette said yesterday that he watched while doctors operated on his knee and that his rehabilitation program would last forever.
Asked how long he will be in rehabilitation, he said, "Forever, from Day One."
Height isn't everything
Bichette, who turns 33 in November,
said, "I knew this day would come."
He said doctors wamed him that if he spent another year or two with a bad knee, he might have injured it far worse.
Sara Brooks / KANSAI
COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS Texas A&M coach R.C. Slocum hopes the third time's the charm for the Aggies to beat a quality opponent and get out of the hole they have dug for themselves this season.
"They are good enough that we would gain from beating them," Slocum said yesterday. "We would gain more than just beating another team. If you can beat them, then you can beat most of the rest of the teams we play.
Bichette has not been on the disabled list in nine major league seasons, and Rockies officials said his five-month rehabilitation should enable him to be ready for opening day 1997.
The Aggies missed chances to improve their national status with losses to Brigham Young and Colorado. Now they have a chance to get back into the Big 12 race if they can beat No. 21 Kansas State Saturday.
Sticum said he was focusing on Saturday's game at Kyle Field against the Wildcats and a visit by Texas Tech Oct. 26 as turnaround games to salvage the season.
it would be something to build on," he said. "It still a long season, but it would give us ammunition to keep our playoff hopes alive."
Texas A&M coach says Aggies must beat Wildcats
Blackwell, however, wasn't ready to give up her role as an outside hitter, so she decided to attend Cloud County Community College. She played at Cloud County for two years before transferring to Kansas this year.
Kansas volleyball defensive specialist Stephanie Blackwell visits Lawrence High School where she played before becoming a Jayhawk. Blackwell and the volleyball team will be playing at 7 Friday night before Late Night with Roy Williams at Allen Field House.
After playing on two state championship teams for the Lawrence Lions as an outside hitter, Blackwell was recruited by Kansas as a defensive specialist, a player who plays only in the back row.
"I told our team that October is a critical month for the locum said.
She was a junior college All-American at Cloud County her sophomore year. She also was a two-time acade
Blackwell participates in the conditioning program, which includes a lot of running exercises, to keep in shape for volleyball. The Lawrence native is a junior defensive specialist on the Kansas volleyball team.
Junior shows volleyball not just for tall
Gardner, who has worked for Lawrence High School for 25 years, said the 5-foot-3 Blackwell defied the stereotype that all volleyball players were tall.
Erica Blackwell, Stephanie Blackwell's sister and a Kansas sophomore long distance runner, said when she watched her sister play volleyball at Cloud County, she could hear fans marvel that her sister was an outside hitter.
"A very surprising player, you look at her and you think she's going to be either a setter or just a passer," Erica Blackwell said. "She has so much aggressiveness and power behind her hit."
"People probably say she too short to play volleyball," Gardner said. "She has beaten the system all the way through."
mic All-American, once in track and once in volleyball.
By Adam Herschman Kansan sportswriter
Stephanie Blackwell has attended Don "Red Dog" Gardner's summer conditioning program, called Dog Days, since the eighth grade.
Joan Wells, Lawrence High School Volleyball coach, said Blackwell always was a great defensive player, but she was pretty determined to be an outside hitter.
"I look forward to it every summer," Blackwell said. "I usually go twice a day, it gets me in shape."
"She hit for us the whole time in high school, and she also played power angle (defensive specialist)," Wells said. "She's definitely one of our top defensive players that we've had in our program."
The Associated Press
Kansas Volleyball coach Karen Schonewise said that most successful volleyball players at this level were going to be taller than 5-foot-9 but that there was a special niche for the defensive specialist
"As a setter I'm very confident with her out there because I know every ball that she can get, she will," junior setter Sennett said. "Even ones that might be just out of reach she still manages to get. I don't know how, but she does."
"I never thought I'd enjoy playing in the back row, but I actually don't mind it." Blackwell said. "I actually kind of like doing it."
"Steph has really worked hard to create a role for herself on this team," Schonewise said.
Blackwell said she was getting used to her role as defensive specialist.
Blackwell ranks third on the team in digs with 146 digs.
Jayhawks focus on consistency from backcourt
By Evan Blackwell
"He (Thomas) had so many little nagging
Kansan sportswriter
As Kansas senior guard Jerod Haase sat surrounded by a sea of reporters at Media Day Monday, he knew what questions would be fired his way.
Those questions were about the consistency of the Jayhawks' perimeter shooting, or lack thereof, last season. Haase and the rest of his teammates in the Kansas backcourt were ready for these questions.
Like Haase, Thomas spent the off-season working on his shot and gaining strength in the weight room.
"When a lot of teams try to bang and push our big guys in the paint and they kick it back out, it's going to be a must that we knock down the open shot or get to the basket and get fouled," Thomas said.
"Whatever happens this year, good or bad, I know I've prepared myself as best I can," Haase said, after spending the off-season honing his outside touch. "I'm going to go out and enjoy my senior year and enjoy being out there."
Williams said he hoped that the new and improved Billy Thomas would be able to stay in the lineup for the injury-depleted Jayhawks, who will be without senior Jacque Vaughn for the first month of the season.
“It’s important for Jerod to shoot the basket ball better than he did last year,” Williams said “At the same time, I think it’s important for Ryan's (Robertson) shot to go in, Billy Thomas to shoot it better than he did last year, Billy to stay healthier. I'm not going to say that the key to our success is how Jerod Haase shoots the basketball, because it's very unfair to him.”
While Kansas men's basketball coach Roy Williams acknowledged that better shooting would be needed for the Jayhawks to win, he refused to pin the team's hopes on one player.
Haase's three-point shooting accuracy fell from 37 percent during his sophomore season to just less than 30 percent last year.
Thomas said he knew how important it would be for every Jawhack to nail the outside shot.
See BASKETBALL, Page 4B
Softball's offense a surprise
Players work to improve defense
By Cameron Heeg Kansas staff writer
The fall season didn't turn out exactly how the Kansas softball team wanted it to. But there was a pleasant surprise.
"We originally thought our defense was going to be the strongest part of the team," junior shortstop Michelle Hubler said. "It was our offense that proved to be better, and that means we need to take a look at our defense now and work through the problems."
Hubler finished second on
the team in batting average behind junior outfielder Sara Holland. She ended the season with a .385 batting average, 10 hits, one double and one homer and was second on the team with six RBI. Sarah McCann, junior third baseman, lead the team with seven RBI.
The problems for Hubler came in the error department of defense. She leads the team with six errors, and three came in a 12-2 loss against Oklahoma State. Eight other players also recorded one or more errors for a total of 20 through the 10-game fall season. Senior second base and team captain Heather Richins made five errors.
What the team lacked in
defense they made up for in offense. The Jahawks lead their fall opponents in almost every offensive category. Kansas out-hit their opponents' batting average of .226 with a combined .309 average.
Base stealing was the main category in which Kansas blew away its competition. KU attempted 23 steals and cashed in on 20. The competition attempted three steals, and only one worked. Richins even stole home in the 2-0 victory against College of St. Marvs.
Holland, who leads the team in batting average with .469 and slugging percentage of .657, also worked the base paths with five steals. In the 10-1 victory against South
Dakota State, Holland stole four. She agreed that the defense still was the strongest part of the team.
"The good thing about losing a few games is that we know we need to get to work, and defense needs some attention," Holland said. "We did make a few mistakes along the way, but our I know our defense will be the strongest part our team."
The softball team soon will wind down its outside activity. According to NCAA rules, the team only will be allowed to practice softball-related skills outdoors for two hours each week in the winter offseason. Players now will work on increasing their strength by weight training.
Offensive line's latest performance bewilders Kansas players, coaches
By Dan Gelston
Kansan sportswriter
Kansas offensive line coach Golden Pat Ruel called the Jayhawk offensive line's performance in Saturday's 30-17 loss to Texas Techatic.
Sophomore right tackle Justin Glasgow agreed.
Sophomore right tackle Justin Glasgow agreed. "I think what he said is pretty truthful," Glasgow said. "It's right on the money. We weren't that good on Saturday."
Kansas coach Glen Mason doesn't know what's wrong with a line that was toasted as one of the best in Javhawk history after a strong start.
"Our run blocking is as bad as it been," Mason said.
"I don't know why. It's hard to put your finger on it."
Kansas senior running back June Henley has been the victim of the offensive line's performance. Henley has been held to 106 yards the past two games after
See FOOTBALL Page 4B
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Winken / Winken
Kansas senior running back June Henley blocks for Kansas senior running back Eric Vann in Saturday's home game against Texas Tech.