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2B SPORTS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
FRIDAY, MAY 2, 2008
trivia of the dav
Q: Who is the youngest player in NBA history to reach 500 career blocks?
A: Atlanta Hawks forward Josh Smith, who was only 21 last season when he served his 500th career rejection. He's 286 more since then.
-nba.com
fact of the day
Josh Smith graduated high school from Oak Hill Academy in Virginia, which is widely regarded as the finest basketball prep school in the nation. Its notable alumni include Kevin Durant, Michael Beasley, Carmelo Anthony and Rajon Rondo.
-oakhillhoops.com
quote of the day
"We still haven't won a road game,guys. We have to do it again. We have to do it on the road now"
Boston Celtics coach Doc Riverls on going to Atlanta for Game 6 of his team's series against the Hawks
calendar
TODAY
Baseball vs. Oklahoma, 6 p.m., Lawrence Track, Arkansas Twilight Meet, All day, Fayetteville, Ark.
**Rowing**, Big 12 Invitational
9 a.m., Austin, Texas
**Softball** vs. Iowa State, 1
p.m., Lawrence
**Baseball** vs. Oklahoma, 2
p.m., Lawrence
SATURDAY
Softball vs. Iowa State,
noon, Lawrence
Baseball vs. Oklahoma, 1
p.m., Lawrence
SUNDAY
Big Brown sports soap suds
NHL
Avalanche face injury problems in playoffs
Forsberg, who's dealing with a balky ankle and a strained groin, missed the first two games of the series before returning for Game 3, when he committed a costly penalty.
DENVER — The ailing Colorado Avalanche will be without center Peter Forsberg and forward Ryan Smyth for Game 4 against the Detroit Red Wings.
Groom Herasmo Gonzalez washes Kentucky Derby hopeful Big Brown after a workout at Churchill Downs on Thursday in Louisville, Ky.
Smyth missed Game 3 with a foot injury.
Colorado coach Joel Quenneville said he would play seven defensemen and 11 forwards Thursday night instead of the usual 6-12 setup.
Also sidelined for the Avs are leading scorer Paul Stastny (knee) and winger Wojtek Wolski (shoulder).
ASSOCIATED PRESS
on tv this weekend
MLB
FRIDAY:
-Kansas City at Cleveland, 6
p.m. FSN
SATURDAY:
-Chicago Cubs at St. Louis,
7:05 p.m., WGN
-Chicago Cubs at St. Louis, 2:30 p.m., FOX
-Kansas City at Cleveland, 6 p.m., FSN
-Kansas City at Cleveland, Noon, FSN
-Chicago White Sox at Toronto, Noon, WGN
-New York Mets at Arizona,
3 p.m. TBS
-Chicago Cubs at St. Louis, 7 p.m., ESPN
NBA
FRIDAY:
-Boston at Atlanta; NBA
-Boston at Atlanta: NBA
Playoffs First Round Game 6, 7
p.m., ESPN
-Houston at Utah: NBA
Playoffs First Round Game 6,
9:30 p.m., ESPN
SATURDAY:
-San Antonio at New
Orleans: NBA Playoffs Second
Round Game 1, 9 p.m., TNT
-Kentucky Oaks, 4 p.m.,
Horse Racing:
-Kentucky Derby, 4 p.m. NBC
SATURDAY:
Softball SATURDAY:
SATURDAY:
-Oklahoma vs. Team USA,
Noon, ESPN2
SUNDAY:
-Arizona vs. Team USA,
Noon, ESPN
Arena Football:
SATURDAY:
-Kansas City at Utah, 8 p.m
MyTV
LPGATour
-Wachovia Championship, 2 p.m., CB5
p.m., CBS
SUNDAY:
SATURDAY:
-Wachovia Championship, 2
-SemGroup Championship,
2 p.m., ESPN2
SUNDAY:
-SemGroup Championship
-SemGroup Championship,
3 p.m.. ESPN2
SATURDAY:
College Baseball
SATURDAY:
-Baylor at Texas, 2:30 p.m.,
FSN
Men's College Volleyball:
SATURDAY:
-NCAA Championship,6 p.m. ESPN
Women's Billiards
SUNDAY:
-U.S. Open 9-Ball Champ-
ionship.
p.m., ESPN
p.m., ESPN
Equestrian
-Rolex Championships, 4 p.m., NBC
Equestrian
SUNDAY:
MEN'S BASKETBALL
Recruit commits for 2010
BY MARK DENT
mdent@kansan.com
It was almost two months ago when Royce Woolridge met his coach, Dan Mannix, for a friendly chat about the NCAA Tournament.
They sat in Mannix's office at Sunnyslope High School and talked about the games. Mannix wanted to know what Woolridge thought about the players and the teams since he'd be playing at the same level in two years. Then, he asked him which school hed play for if he had his pick.
Woolridge told him Kansas.
"The first one he said," Mannix noted.
Now, his dream is reality. Woolridge, a 6-foot-2 sophomore guard from Phoenix, committed to Kansas yesterday, becoming the first member of the Jayhawks' 2010 recruiting class. He had also been considering Arizona, Arizona
State, Georgetown, Cal and others.
Kansas' interest in Woolridge picked up considerably in recent weeks. He played in tournaments in Las Vegas and Denver in the last month, and according to Mannix, Kansas offered him a scholarship in that time. Without even visiting, Woolridge gave Self his word that he'd come to Kansas.
It's tough to blame Bill Self and his staff for promising a scholarship to a player as young as Woolridge. He averaged 16 points a game this season for Sunnyslope despite facing double teams and box-and-ones nearly every game. His shooting range extends to 23 feet.
"It's uncanny," Mannix said.
Although Woolridge is only a sophomore, early commitments aren't that unusual anymore. Five of the top 10 players in the class of 2010 have already committed to a school. Southern California offered a scholarship to a player
last summer before he had even chosen a high school.
"If you're 15 years old and a good looking girl asks you to dance." Mannix said, "of course you're going to say yes. These are the national champions and they're going to offer you a scholarship."
It'll be two years before Woolridge gets to suit up for the Jayhawks. He might grow - his father, Orlando Woolridge, is 6-foot-9 and played in the NBA. He might rise to the top of his recruiting class. He might get injured. Who knows.
Mannix is confident Woolridge will improve. He's a straight A student, and Mannix praises his work ethic.
"I always tell him there are lots of guys your size," Mannix said. "What's going to separate you? Time will tell."
-Edited by Daniel Reyes
>> NBA
Pistons eliminate 76ers
ASSOCIATED PRESS
PHILADELPHIA — Close for four games, no contest the last two.
Richard Hamilton hit his first five shots during Detroit's overpowering start, and the Pistons rolled into the second round of the playoffs by crushing the Philadelphia 76ers 100-77 on Thursday night to win the series 4-2.
The Pistons convincingly won the last two games of a series that wasn't expected to last this long and will play host to the Orlando Magic, who eliminated Toronto in five games, on Saturday in the opener of the Eastern Conference semifinals. Detroit split four meetings with the Southeast Division champions this season.
They were all on the bench for nearly the entire fourth quarter, when the lead ballooned over 30 points. Detroit held Philadelphia without a field goal for nearly
the first 6 minutes of the game, ending any real hopes the Sixers' had of forcing a Game 7 back in Michigan.
Hamilton finished with 24 points, 13 in the decisive first quarter when he outscored the 76ers by himself. Chauncey Billups added 20 and Tayshaun Prince had 12 for the Pistons, who reached the second round for the seventh straight season.
Andre Iguodala scored 16 points and Andre Miller had another quiet game with 11 for the Sixers, who outplayed the heavily favored Pistons for the first 3 1/2 games of the series but never really had a chance after that.
The second-seeded Pistons won 59 games during the regular season, second-best in the NBA behind Boston.
As easy as the Pistons' 98-81 victory in Game 5 was, they had even less trouble in this one, racing to a 10-0 lead and never giving the disappointing crowd of 14,130 a chance to get into the game.
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Players took the court to music and a clip from "Rocky III" in which Apollo Creed tells Philadelphia's favorite movie hero that, "There is no tomorrow!"
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