SPORTS
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY, OCTOBER 17, 1994
SECTION B
'Late Night' hoopla tips off season
Jay Thornton / KANSAN
ANALYSIS
CHESLEY DOHL
Grease Lightning:
Graduate cheerleader Denise Rogers lip syncs to the song "Summer Loving" from "Grease." Rogers played the part of Sandy and Jacque Vaughn played the part of Danny in a skit for "Late Night with Roy Williams."
Scrimmage showcases team's game form
Jay Thornton / KANSAN
Basketball team rings in season
Into the wee hours of the morning, Kansas fans christened the beginning of another year of Jayhawk basketball.
Kansas sophomore guard Jacque Vaughn attempts a layup in the team's scrimmage during "Late Night with Roy Williams."
In a number of ways, "Late Night with Roy Williams" is a big new year's bash. The only thing missing is the champagne.
Fifteen thousand fans congregated Friday night in Allen Field House to scream, laugh, stomp on the bleachers and go crazy. People threw confetti — and people threw people. Jayhawk enthusiasts clapped their hands, watched cheerleaders turn flips the length of the court and mused at the possibility of another trip to the NCAA tournament.
Basically, I think there are two main differences between this "New Year's" basketball celebration and the January 1 festivities—aside from the champagne that is.
1. Instead of wrapping their arms around each other and swaying to the music of "Olde Lange Syne," fans sing and sway to the Kansas alma mater, "The Crimson and the Blue."
It's midnight madness at its best.
But, as spectators, I don't think we
see the other side of the deal.
"Tonight was all glans and giggles," said senior guard Greg Gurley. "But it'll be all Coach Williams tomorrow."
For the players and the coaches it's quite another story: It's all business for the players from "Late Night" till the end of the season.
The only visible sign of "Late Night with Roy Williams" was a team and its coach.
Apart from the tiny square of confetti at my feet, made from a tornup "Late Night" program, the field house on Saturday morning was spotless.
Then, the players' job became demanding.
"It's ball, me, man," Kansas women's coach Marian Washington said to the Kansas women's basketball squad as they worked on a defensive-shell drill. "I don't care what position you'll be in. Attention goes to the ball—play the ball first."
"This is the butt buster," Washington yelled. "We're going 25 seconds continuous with the fast break. Run the lanes, and push the ball up the court."
Finally, at 12:30 p.m., the players gathered in the center of the court. Bent over, they clapped their hands, occasionally pausing to grab their sides. In a group huddle, they put there hands together above their heads and more or less panted: "Rock Chalk Jayhawk, go KU."
The first day of practice was almost over for the Jayhawks — and they only have six weeks to go.
We see the fun and the pageentry at the "Late Night" celebration.
But realistically, players bring in a "New Year" of Kansas basketball with hours of hard practice. What a way to celebrate.
Williams is pleased with performance
By Cheslev Dohl
Kansan sportswriter
The Late Night hoopla was big Friday, but the Kansas men's basketball team created the most commotion when they took to the court in practice jerseys at midnight for the "Late Night with Roy Williams" scrimmage.
After loosening up with a slamfest, the red team defeated the blue team 61-49 in the scrimmage, officially tipping off the 1994-95 practice season.
Scot Pollard, sophomore forward,
set the pace for the red team with 16 points and seven rebounds, followed by Greg Gurley, senior guard,
who shot three for five from the three-point line and finished with 15 points.
Before the scrimmage, more than 15,000 Jayhawk faithful laughed, yelled, cheered and sprayed a confetti of crumpled paper throughout Allen Field House.
For Kansas basketball fans, the scrimmage was a chance to see the debut of freshmen Raef LaFrentz, C.B. McGrath and Billy Thomas and sophomore Cal-State transfer Jerod Hasse.
"Every year it seems to get a little better," said Gurley. "I think we all forgot about being embarrassed and just went out and had fun."
On the sidelines though, Roy Williams watched with particular interest. Under NCAA rules, Friday night was the first time he had a chance to see the players in game form.
"I was curious to see how Raef, C.B. and Billy would react in front of
McGrath ran the blue team offense and assisted LaFrentz, who hit five of 12 shots for 15 points and grabbed eight rebounds.
a crowd the first time," Williams said. "I thought they came in ready to go. I was very happy with the way they performed."
Thomas, who had only two points, was capable of much more offensively. Williams said.
"It's obvious we have a very unselfish team this season," Williams said about the Jayhawk's balanced performance.
He passed up scoring opportunities for three assists.
B. J. Williams, sophomore forward, started the game on a rampage, hitting three shots in the first minute.
"I went in there wanting to put up some shots," said B.J. Williams, who finished with 12 points. "Mostly the adrenaline and the hyped-up crowd helped. I think I had some confidence going into the game."
Hasse, who drove to the basket to draw fouls, had a 15-point, two-assist debut and went eight for eight from the free-throw line.
Hasse played his first game after sitting out last season to meet NCAA eligibility as a transfer. He said his first game in Allen Field House was better than he had expected.
"I had a great time out there," Hassse said. "I couldn't think of a better place to play in front of a crowd of fans like we have here."
Fatigue crept into the second half for some players, but Roy Williams said they would have plenty of time to get in shape.
While Roy Williams sat in the stands, celebrity guests assisted in coaching the two teams. The Royals' George Brett, pro golfer Watson, former Chiefs safety Deron
"We purposely went easy on conditioning early in the season," he said.
Cherry, and Royals' centerfielder Brian McRae made their Kansas coaching debuts.
"We enjoyed having them here," Gurley said. "Watson and McRae were really fired up. They were big supporters of the three-point shot, they wanted everyone shooting three's."
Brett, who wore a Kansas "Sixth Man" t-shirt, coached the blue team with Cherry.
Despite the 49-61 losing effort, Brett said he had a good time.
"It was a fun night to be here," Brett said. "It was an honor to have been asked to be a part of this."
Patrick Richey, who was asked to come back and compete in the scrimimage, he couldn't pass up the opportunity either.
"Coach asked me to play in front of 15,000 KU fans — there's no way I could turn that down," he said.
Swimmers start year prepared
Crimson and Blue intrasquad meet readies swim teams
By Jenni Carlson
Kansan sportswriter
In a flurry of white water, the Kansas swimming and diving teams opened their season Friday night.
The Jayhawks competed in their annual Crimson and Blue Intrasquad meet in Robinson Natatorium. No team scores were kept, but the team members got a good taste of competitiveness, said Dan Mendenhall, Kansas swimming team assistant coach.
The team has been training hard since it began practicing earlier in the fall. Because of the team's intense practices, the Jayhawks swam tired on Friday. Mendenhall said.
"The times weren't really indicative of how they will be at the end of the season." he said.
Senior backstroker and freestyler Marc Bontrager said physical exhaustion affected the team, but several swimmers rose above the fatigue.
"A lot of people had a good meet," he said.
A three-time All-American and senior co-captain of the team, Bontrager has participated in three intrasquad meets. He said the meet was most important for the freshmen and sophomores.
"We get a chance to see where we are as a team." Bontrager said.
"As part of the season's plan, speed is the next step."
The team will focus on speed in its coming practices, Mendhannall said.
Several swimmers turned in strong, early season performances, he said.
Seniors Frankie Hanson and Ronda Lusty and sophomore Rebecca Andrew had notable performances on the women's side. Bontrager and freshman Marshall Dortch paced the men.
The first two events of the meet, the men's and women's 200 Medley Relay, showed the level of competitiveness on the team. The men's race was decided by 17 seconds, while .39 seconds was the difference between first and second place in the women's race.
"That's the type of thing that's going to push them everyday," Mendenhall said.
As the season progresses, the lineup may undergo changes because there are swimmers at the same competitive level.
"It's exciting from a coaching standpoint to have those kinds of options," Mendenhall said.
The diving team also competed on Friday.
"I told them I was pleased with what they did, but I was not satisfied," said Don Fearon, Kansas diving coach.
Competition was quite different than practice for the divers, Fearon said. In practice, the divers practice dives time and again.
"Competition forces them to have to do the dives," he said.
The team executed several difficult dives, Fearon said, but they would need higher scores during the season to place well.
"I saw some real good things," he said. "Now it's just trying to put it together and be consistent."
Cross country squads get mixed results at meet
By Kent Hohlfeld Kansan sportswriter
While much of Pennsylvania watched the Penn State football victory against Michigan Saturday, the Nittany Lions' cross country team was being chased by the Kansas Jayhawks.
The 20th-rated Kansas men's cross country team and the No. 23 women's team competed in the Penn State-National Cross Country Invitational Saturday.
The women's team finished fourth behind Alabama, No. 10 Penn State and No. 6 Georgetown, and placed two runners in the top eight.
above Kansas in the District V poll. The Jayhawks finished more than 20 points ahead of the Cornhuskers in the meet.
"This was a real psychological boost going into Big Eights," Kansas coach Gary Schwartz said.
One of the team's major goals heading into the meet was to defeat conference rival Nebraska, which was ranked
"This year is a little different from last year," Swartz said.
"We don't have the kind of experience we had last year."
She said that running against high caliber opponents had helped the team as it prepared for the Big Eight and District V meets.
sensub to captain messa awarf said that the mee would help give the team some needed confidence.
"I think we're exactly where we want to be," Swartz said.
"This past weekend was one of the best races we had."
In contrast to the Kansas women's results, the men's team performance left Schwartz scratching his head.
The team finished sixth overall, 137 points behind the meet champion, top-ranked Georgetown.
"I have no explanation," Schwartz said. "Everone was
One bright spot was that the men's team did manage to defeat Nebraska by two points. Nebraska was ranked above Kansas in the District V poll.
pretty healthy. We just didn't get it done."
"I was kind of surprised that we beat them considering how we ran," said senior co-captain Michael Cox.
Cox, who finished fourth, and senior co-captain David Johnston, who finished fifth, were the only top-10 finishers for Kansas. The third-best Kansas finish was by Cord Criss, who came in 58th.
"Our guys key off each other, and when our third guy has a bad race, the guys tend to back off a little," Cox said.
Cox said that the Jayhawks had the talent to run better heading into the Bie Eight meet in two weeks.
"We have what we need," Cox said. "We just have to go out and get it done."
BRIEFS
Golf team competes in Tulsa tournament
The Kansas men's golf team traveled to Tulsa,
Oklahoma, for a two-day tournament which starts today.
The Jayhawks will compete in the 54-hole PING Tulsa Invitational at the Tulsa Country Club. Team members slated to compete are seniors Tyler Shleton and Tom Sims, juniors Slade Adams, Dan Rooney and Alan Stearns. Kansas posted two second place finishes and one victory in team competition this fall. Their win came in the Kansas Invitational by one stroke. Most of the teams competing are from the Jayhawks region.
Compiled from Kansan staff reports.
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