BASKETBALL Two freshmen on the men's team were impressed by the crowd at Allen Fieldhouse Sunday. PAGE 3B
GENSITY EST X 108
SPORTS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2004
Basketball team announces signing of high school recruits
www.kansan.com
BY MIRANDA LENNING
mlenning@kansan.com
KANSAN SPORTSWRIITE
The Kansas men's basketball team officially announced yesterday the signing of three of the top-20 high school seniors in the country, Micah Downs, Mario Chalmers and Julian Wright, who had all committed earlier in the year, signed letters of intent to play for the Jayhawks.
Downs, the No.14 ranked player by
rivals.com, and Chalmers, No. 12, committed in May.Wright,the No. 2 small forward in the country, committed on Sept.9.
"It's fairly anticlimactic because we received commitments some time ago, but it is a big day for us," Kansas coach Bill Self said. "I've never recruited a class this highly rated."
Self said he expected all three of these players to have an impact next year.
"They have to have an impact next year because of what we are losing." Self said. "They all have potential to be excellent college players. Maturity would be the only thing standing in the way of them having a huge impact, and hopefully that will occur within the next 12 months."
Micah Downs
Self said this class and the current freshmen class would be his two most important classes at Kansas.
Self said Downs was one of the most skilled players of all of the seniors in America. At 6-foot-8, Downs has good shooting range and can put the ball on the floor and create a shot.
DOWNS
SEE BASKETBALL ON PAGE 6B
Brian Lewis/KANSAN
Jill Dorsey dives for the volleyball off a Baylor hit yesterday at the Horejsi Family Athletics Center. Kansas swept the match with scores of 30-25, 30-23, 30-26.
'Hawks declaw Bears
BY BILL CROSS
bcross@kansan.com
KANSAN SPORTWRITER
All four of Kansas' front-line starters notched nine or more kills as the volleyball team swept Baylor last night at Horesi Family Athletics Center in Lawrence.
With two road contests approaching against top-ranked opponents — No. 3
Nebraska and No. 9 Texas — in the coming week, the team needed a victory to keep its tournament aspirations alive, coach Ray Bechard said.
"We're going to fight until the very end," he said. "We've got five more fights in us."
Bechard said the Jayhawks may have to win three of their last five matches to make their second consecutive postseason appearance. Barring an upset victory against the Cornhuskers or Longhorns during the next week, the Jayhawks will have to finish the season with three straight victories to meet that goal.
Freshman opposite hitter Emily Brown, who had nine kills and one error against Baylor, said the team didn't want to look too far into the future.
SEE BEARS ON PAGE 2B
Fourth-string QB readies for start
BY JONATHAN KEALING
jkealeng@kansan.com
KANSAN SPORTSWRIETER
Kansas senior quarterback John Nielsen's younger brother, James, and one of his best friends, Robert, decided weeks ago they wanted to come out and see John's team play Texas.
Little did they know this game would be John's first opportunity to start at the Division I level.
Nielsen does not fit the image of a typical starting quarterback in the Big 12 Conference. He does not have a scholarship, but pays his way through school.
"We're doing the loan thing, so we'll worry about that later." Nielsen said.
The "we," Nielsen's referring to is himself and his parents. His dad, George, is a pipe layer for a construction company in San Diego, a job Nielson said his dad had been doing for "most of his life."
"He works hard all day long," Nielsen said.
Neither of his parents will be able to see their son's first start for the Jayhawks. Nielsen said his parents wanted to come see him start in Saturday's game, with airline prices realized it just would not work out.
But that does not stop Nielsen from looking forward to this game. The last time he played regularly was as a sophomore at Palomar Community College in California, where he split time with another quarterback.
Nielsen had a good opportunity to start at Palomar, but he was injured early in his career. Besides being a quarterback, he was also the team's holder, and had his throwing hand kicked while holding the ball for the field goal kicker.
"He was out of commission for a couple of weeks," said Palomar coach Joe Early. "He was able to fight back and get some playing time, however."
Nielsen, who has the highest G.P.A. on the team according to Early, is excited for the opportunity to start, especially with old coaches, friends and teammates able to watch the nationally televised game.
"We'll be able to watch a little bit of it and cheer him on," Early said. "Hopefully he'll bring Kansas a victory."
After practice yesterday, Nielsen could not help but be a little bit proud to have the opportunity to start against Texas.
"It makes you feel pretty good," Nielsen said. "You have to take the role of the leader."
Until last week, Nielsen spent most of his practice time with the practice squad. It was his job to take the role of the opposing quarterback and imitate him so Kansas' defense would be prepared for the game.
What quarterback was the toughest for Nielsen to imitate? Texas Tech's Sonny Cumble, Nielsen said. When playing that role, he said he often felt as though he was throwing a hundred passes in a practice session.
passes in a p. 307
Last week, however, Nielsen caught a break. After junior Brian Luke's disappointing performance against Iowa State, Nielsen was able to take some reps with the first team offense in practice, as the designated reserve.
Even in that role, however, he said he still felt rusty coming into the game. This week, however, coaches have focused on getting Nielsen prepared to be the starter.
"It feels really good, especially coming off of last week," Nielsen said. "I felt a little rusty."
Coach Mark Mangino said Nielsen has had good practices so far week. He said he was pleased with the progress that Nielsen had made.
"One of the things that had impressed our staff and our kids is that he very soiled," Mangino said.
All that poise has garnered Nielsen the respect of his teammates. In addition, his loyalty to the program has brought him a scholarship starting in January.
NCAA rules said a team can give a scholarship to a player who has been with the team for two years and not have it count against the total number of scholarships that can be offered
"Back in mid to late September, I went to John and said you represent everything that's positive about our program and I told him I was going to put him on scholarship in January," Mangino said. "He's as loyal as you possibly can be."
And do not expect Nielsen to just go out on the field and take snaps to get through the game — he really thinks the team can win.
"I'm getting more and more comfortable every day." Nielsen said. "We have a pretty good game plan. We have some things that are looking pretty good."
With people across the nation watching his game on TV and a couple of special people in the stands, he'll have something extra to play for.
Edited by Ashley Doyle
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
First recruits sign letters with coach
Kansas women's basketball coach Bonnie Henrickson signed her first two players of the recruiting season, Ivana Eatiae and Jennifer Orgas, to national letters of intent yesterday.
"With these first two signings, we've filled two of our most important needs, in a point guard and a post player," Henrickson said in a release. "Ivana is a point guard who brings great playmaking ability and a tremendous basketball I.Q. Jen will play the post and has a fantastic physical upside."
Brian Lewis/KANSAN
Amy Gruber practices the butterfly stroke yesterday in the swimming pool at Robinson Center. Gruber writes the foreword for the Juhavskis
/Eatia averaged 13 points and seven assists while playing in Zrenjanin, Serbia and Montenegro, last year. She has played in the Serbia and Montenegro Junior National and National Team programs.
/Eatiae, a 5-foot-8 point guard, will play her senior high school season at Mt. de Chantal Academy in Wheeling, W.Va.
As a junior, Orgas posted averages of 12.8 points and seven rebounds per game while shooting just under 50 percent from the field and 80 percent from the free-throw line. She earned second-team all-state honors and was named to the state all-tournament team.
Orgas, a 6-foot-2 forward, is a senior this season at Skutt Catholic High School in Omaha, Neb., and will add needed size to the Jayhawk depth chart.
Henrickson expects to sign two more players before the early signing period ends on Nov. 17.
Swimmer wants top honors
Paul Brand
GOING DEEP
SHANE KUCERA skucera@kansan.com
Editor's Note: Athletes at the University of Kansas are more than just victories and statistics — they're real people with opinions on sports, life and love. Each Thursday, Kansan sportswriter Shane Kucera sits with a student athlete and discusses issues beyond the playing field.
This year Gruber, a journalism major, wants to finish in the top 16 at the NCAA Championships and earn All-American honors. This would complete a dominant collegiate career that already includes Academic All-Big 12 first-team honors, Big 12 Swimmer of the Month honors and Newcomer of the Year at Kansas honors. She also holds records at the University in the butterfly and freestyle events.
Senior Amy Gruber, a leader on the Kansas swimming team, has compiled an extensive list of awards and accomplishments in her years at the University of Kansas.
This week Amy Gruber talks about swimming and more:
Q: How is it being on the swimming team at Kansas?
A: It's probably one of the best things I've done in my whole entire life, for sure. It's hard work — every sport is —
but it's fun to be a part of something that means so much to you.
Q: Would you like to pursue a career with swimming?
A: You can't really go pro with swimming, but I'd like to be involved in some aspect of swimming. I don't really want to be a coach. I'd like to do some sort of offset thing with swimming.
Q: Does it bother you to get into a cold
nool everyday?
A: Yes! At six o'clock in the morning it's a little tough to get yourself in the pool, but you kind of zone out. It is hard — I'm not really a fan of cold water. I started swimming in the summers when I was 5 and year-round since I was 7, so I've been doing it for a long time.
Q: Do you have time to go out much?
Q: What are your personal goals for this season?
A: No. We do in the offseason and we get really excited, but during the season we have practice on Saturday morning and we're just worn out during the week, so it's kinda hard to get your body going when the couch is so comfortable.
SEE SWIMMER ON PAGE 2B
A: I really want to just do everything I can, since it's my last year of swimming, and just give 100 percent, and end on a good note — just knowing I did everything I could. And I'd like to make the top 16 at NCAA so I can get All-American.
Soccer team to face Creighton at home
The Jayhawks will play Creighton (9-7-4), who earned an automatic bid after defeating Drake in the Missouri Valley Conference tournament. The game is scheduled to start at 2 p.m. tomorrow at the Jayhawk Soccer Complex.
This weekend the Kansas women's soccer team will play host for the first- and second-round games of the NCAA tournament.
"I think that it is huge," coach Mark Francis said. "We don't have to travel on Thursday and the players get to sleep in their own beds. Hopefully we will get some people out at the game supporting us and that could be a really big boost for the players."
The two teams faced each other in exhibition play earlier this season, with Kansas winning 6-1.
In the other game, Nebraska (12-8-0) will play Oral Roberts (14-5-1), the Mid-Continental Conference Champions, at 11:30 a.m.
The winners of the two games will face each other Sunday at 1 p.m.
Tickets are $7 for adults, $3 for students and senior citizens and $1 for children under 5. They can be purchased at kuathletics.com or from the KU Ticket Office, 1651 Naismith Drive, room 108.
Jason Elmquist