SPORTS UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Wednesday, August 16, 1995
11B
'Hawks migrate in summer
Kansas junior center Scot Pollard took a trip to Thailand with his girlfriend this summer. Pollard, who dyed his brown hair blond after the Jayhawks were eliminated from the NCAA Tournament, is back to the natural look
Paul Kotz / KAN$AN
Basketball players travel,work,compete during their vacations
Life for members of the Kansas men's basketball team was wet, wild and travel-filled this summer.
By Matt Irwin
Kansan sportswriter
Sophomore forward Raef LaFrentz was one of the least-traveled Jayhawks until now. LaFrentz spent the summer at home in Monona, Iowa, as a 6-foot-10 lifeguard. LaFrentz was visited during the summer by Sports Illustrated for a story on players from small hometowns.
Team members included a lifeguard, a freshman that got his feet wet in college competition, a center that looked like a skunk and a toothless guard.
Pierce was joined at the Festival by sophomore guard Billy Thomas. Thomas averaged 8.5 points for the gold medal-winning North team, including 11 of 19 three-point attempts.
Although junior center Scot Pollard spent most of his summer in Lawrence rehabilitating his shoulder after surgery, he traveled the longest distance of any Jayhawk. Pollard went to Thailand to visit his girlfriend's family.
Freshman forward Paul Pierce also got wet this summer. He got his feet wet in college competition at the U.S. Olympic Festival. Pierce was the second leading scorer on the West team, averaging 9.5 points and 4.0 rebounds a game.
"The traffic was unbelievable," Pollard said. "It took two hours to drive ten blocks. It was much faster to walk."
But like Haase, LaFrentz also will be flying around soon. He made the NIT All-Star team and will go to France later this week. Oklahoma forward Ryan Minor is on the team as well.
"It kind of looked like a skunk," Polard said.
Before Pollard left for Bangkok, Thailand, his girlfriend told him to dye his hair again. Pollard dyded his hair for the first time after the Jayhawks' loss in the NCAA Tournament, and it grew out so that it was half blond and half brown.
Perhaps the most-traveled Jayhawk is the one still in motion. Junior guard Jerod Hasee, who is known for diving around the court, made the U.S. World University Games team and is in Gainesville, Fla., practicing with the team and its coach, Florida's Lon Kruger. Hasee will fly to Japan where the team will play on Aug. 24.
To make the team, Hase also traveled to Colorado Springs, Colo., where he lost two teeth when he was elbowed during tryouts.
Pollard's new 'do is brown.
Junior point guard Jacque Vaughn also traveled this summer but spent most of his time at home in Pasadena, Calif., working on his own on fundamentals. Vaughn was flown to Chicago for a weekend by Playboy magazine as a member of Playboy's preseason All-America team. The team will appear in one of Playboy's fall magazines. Vaughn will join Hasein in Gainesville for a photo for ESPN's new fall basketball preview
magazine.
The Kansas seniors did what many Kansas players do every summer they stayed in Lawrence. Point guard Calvin Rayford and forward Sean Pearson both played in the Kansas City Bell League, played pick-up games in Lawrence and lifted weights. Pearson said that normally more Kansas players stay in Lawrence.
Pearson and Rayford are the only two Jayhawks that have been to the Final Four, and Pearson said that getting another chance at a national championship makes him work harder in the off-season.
Although many of the players have been traveling this summer, the most-traveled member of the team may be the coach. Kansas basketball coach Roy Williams fought through back pain that was severe enough that Williams was unable to play golf. However, he spent all but two days on the road in July evaluating high school juniors and seniors.
Kansas men's basketball roster
Red Lyon Tavern
A touch of Irish in
downtown Lawrence
944 Mass. 832-8228
no. player pos.
4 Ryan Robertson G
10 Calvin Rayford G
11 Jacque Vaughn G
11 Billy Thomas G
14 T.J. Whatley G
21 Sean Pearson F
22 B.J. Williams F
2 C.B. McGrath G
31 Scot Pollard C-F
32 T.J. Pugh F
34 Paul Pierce F
35 Jerod Haase G
44 Joel Branstrom F
45 Raef LaPrentz C-F
46 Travis Williams C
Fr. St. Charles, Mo. (St. Charles Weat)
Sr. Milwaukee, Wis. (Washington)
Jr. Pasadena, Calif. (John Muir)
So.Shreveport, La. (Loyola Prep)
Sr. Benton, Ark. (Glen Rose)
Sr. LaGrange, Ill. (Nazareth Academy)
Jr. Wichita (South)
Jr. San Diego, Calif. (Torrey Pines)
Fr. Omaha, Neb. (Creighton Prep)
Fr. Los Angeles (Industrial)
Fr. Los Angeles (inglewood)
Jr. South Lake Tahoe, Calif.
(University of California)
(SMORNING OF CURRICULUM)
Sr. Half Moon Bay, Calif. (Canada J.C.)
So.Monona, Iowa (MFL-Mar Mac)
So.Rozel (Pawnee Heights)
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