SPORTS
BASKETBALL SIGNS HIGH SCHOOL STAR
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
PAGE 2B
THE ALL-AMERICAN ATHLETE FROM RUSSIA
WWW.KANSAN.COM
FRIDAY,MAY 2,2008
SOCCER
PAGE 3B
PAGE 1B
Kansas player visits Ethiopia
Nicole Cauzillo, Northville, Mich., senior, was invited along with the rest of her semi-pro team, the Charlotte Eagles, to play against their Ethiopian sister team, the Addis Ababa Eagles, from April 1-16.
Semi-pro team invited to capital city to play against sister team
Jon Goering/KANSAN
ANDREW WIEBE
awiebe@kansan.com
Nicole Cauzillo's first glimpse of life in Ethiopia came from the back seat of a van as it swerved through the streets of the capital city, Addis Ababa.
Long after dark, drivers honked and jockeyed for position in Addis Ababa's chaotic traffic. Children played in the streets. Cauzillo, a Northville, Mich., senior, sat back in her seat, taking it all in.
Hours earlier, Cauzillo and the rest of the Charlotte Eagles, a women's semi-pro soccer team made up of former college standouts, had been greeted by local media and members of their sister队 — the Addis Ababa Eagles — almost immediately after stepping off the plane.
It was the beginning of a whirlwind 15 days, from April 1-16, spent using soccer to introduce the word of God, perform mission work and support Ethiopia's fledgling women's professional league and its players. In the process, the Eagles overcame the Ethiopian women's national team 3-2 behind two Cauzillo goals, all while battling the withering heat and struggling to adapt to an altitude of more than 7,000 feet.
"We got tired when we first got there just bringing our bags up the stairs," Cauzillo said of the draining conditions.
that self-fertilized and occasionally interrupted play.
Cauzillo said she quickly learned soccer in Ethiopia was completely different than the game she played in the United States. Mountains and a picturesque lake dominated by a herd of hippos flanked the team's training camp outside Addis Ababa at Lake Lagano. The fields were more dirt than grass, and the grounds crew consisted of dedicated herds of cattle
But the players and love for the game? No different. Cauzillo said it was inspiring to see the hope and excitement the game of soccer brought the women and children she met during her two weeks in Ethiopia.
"There is so much poverty, hard work and all these things that take their joy
away', she said. "Soccer is one thing that really gives them joy."
After completing her career at Kansas by leading the team with 5 goals last fall, Cauzillo said she was looking for an opportunity to continue playing when then Kansas volunteer assistant coach Jenny Anderson-Hammond, a former Eagles player, approached her with an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
Eagles' coach Sam Casey was looking for a player to fill out his roster for the team's trip to Ethiopia. Cauzillo was offered the spot. She said the opportunity to combine her love of soccer and religious beliefs through mission work in Africa was impossible to pass up. Cauzillo said she had always wanted to perform mission work in Africa, but she never would have expected the effect the people
there would have on her.
"I went to Ethiopia thinking 'I have so much to give these people. I'm really excited to change their lives and fill up their lives," she said. "But I left being completely changed by them."
Casey said although Cauzillo joined the group late, the team welcomed her with
SEE CAUZILLO ON PAGE 3B
COMMENTARY
With this year's NBA draft less than two months away, 51 underclassmen at colleges across the country have declared intentions to go pro. Since the National Basketball Association made it a rule in 2006 that a player must be 19 years of age and one year removed from high school to enter the draft, college basketball has seen a drastic change in its landscape.
The result of this rule is that college basketball, at many schools, has turned into minor league basketball. Players such as this year's NBA Rookie of the Year Kevin Durant and Kansas State freshman Michael Beasley have been delayed from going pro because of the two-year-old regulation. If not for the rule, Durant would have likely won NBA Rookie of the Year last year, and Beasley would have won it this year.
The NBA policy can be best summed up by the Beach Boss song "Wouldn't Be Nice."
Ironically, freshman Kevin Love of UCLA is a cousin of Brian Wilson and a nephew of Mike Love, who sang on the 1966 hit single. Kevin Love is one of the 12 freshmen who have declared early entry for the draft and will likely be a lottery pick.
Until something is done to change the current draft rules in place, universities across the nation will play host to future NBA stars for a year or two before the players punch their time cards and go pro. In a sense, NCAA basketball is turning into a minor league system for the NBA.
"Wouldn't it be nice if we were older/ Then we wouldn't have to wait so long/ And wouldn't it be nice to live together/ In the kind of world where we belong."
will leave. If not, he will spend another year down in "the minors."
High school basketball stars play at a college of their choice for a year while professional scouts get a chance to evaluate them. After each season is finished, NBA teams can evaluate a player even more. If the player is good enough to make it to the big leagues, he
Unlike the NFL and MLB, the only party benefitting from the rule is the NBA. In the National Football League, a player must be three years removed from high school. In Major League Baseball, a player from a four-year college must have completed at least his junior year. By requiring a player to spend a few years in college, the incentive to graduate is much greater.
In the current state of college basketball, universities are leasing players who should go pro. The players don't like it, the fans hate it when their star decides to bolt to the NBA after a year, and the notion that players are student-athletes is becoming a joke.
As of now, NBA commissioner David Stern looks like a genius. He has created a minor league basketball system in just two years at the expense of the NCAA. The NCAA needs to develop a system within college basketball requiring athletes to either go pro after high school or stay in college for at least two years. If the other two major college sports are doing it, why not basketball?
In an interview with the Associated Press in mid-March about Beasley's decision to turn pro, Kansas State coach Frank Martin indirectly summed up what this rule has done for college basketball.
The decision for Beasley was obvious. Martin is right by saying not to worry about the school, the team or the fens, but this process is undermining the whole concept of college athletics. Just to give you an idea just how right it was for Beasley to look out for himself, former Texas star Kevin Durant made more than $4 million in his rookie season alone. Last time I checked, there aren't too many jobs a college graduate could start out with a salary like that in their first year, let alone a whole career. Can we really blame these stars for going to the NBA after a year or two?
Junior running back Jake Sharp takes a handoff during the Spring Game March 14 at Memorial Stadium. Sharp will share time next season with junior running back Jocques Crawford, a junior college transfer.
"He's got to make sure that he does what's right for him and for his family. That's what my advice will come from," Martin said. "Not what's best for Kansas State, not what's best for John Doe. It's what's best for Michael Beasley. He's going to do what's best for him."
- Edited by Jared Duncan
FOOTBALL
1.
Mangino confident in transfer running back
Jon Goering/KANSAN
BY ASHER FUSCO
afusco@kansan.com
Last season, Kansas football boasted the 31st-ranked rushing offense in the nation, plowing its way to nearly 200 yards per game on the ground. The 2007 Jayhawks accomplished those feats on the shoulders of Brandon McAnderson — a converted fullback — and Jake Sharp — an undersized third-down back.
Plug last year's junior college offensive player of the year into the equation, and this year's Kansas ground game could top the team's 2007 accomplishments.
Kansas coach Mark Mangino may have been thinking along those lines when he reeled in Jocques Crawford, a 6-foot-1, 230-pound junior running back out of Cisco Junior College in Texas.
"He looks really good on tape, and he's a really good-looking guy in person," Mangino said. "He has explosion, he has that next gear everybody talks about and he's powerful. He's a very well-built, muscular guy that can break tackles as well as make people miss."
Crawford led all junior college players with 1,935 rushing yards last season
and scored 19 touchdowns. One year earlier, he tallied 1,069 rushing yards and eight touchdowns. Crawford's sterling stat lines stretch back to his prep days at Cordova High in Memphis, Tenn., where he rushed for 1,381 yards and 19 touchdowns as a junior.
"I'm just trying to come in and earn the starting spot, but I'm not asking for it to be given to me," Crawford said. "I really like my chances."
The junior college import will face
"He looks really good on tape, and he's a really good-looking guy in person."
MARK MANGINO Football coach
Two years later, Crawford is prepping to become a Jayhawk — potentially the team's featured running back.
Crawford's impressive high school numbers drew the attention of Division I programs, and he signed to play at Texas Tech. But when he ran into legal trouble, Texas Tech dropped Crawford. Eyen with the running back's personal problems behind him, he had to turn to junior college to continue his football career.
competition for carries from junior runner backs Jake Sharp and Angus Quigley.
Sharp was a major contributor early last season and ranked 12th in the Big 12 in rushing yards per game, but his production dropped off significantly late in the season. He carried the ball 10 times for 33 yards in the final two
games of 2007, and gained zero yards from scrimmage against Missouri.
At 6-foot-2 and 222 pounds, Quigley looks the part of star running back, but has struggled with injuries and inconsistency throughout his time at Kansas. Last year he played in parts of six games and gained 98 yards on 17 carries. Sophomore running back Carmon Boyd-Anderson, who showed promise in four early-season games last year, could also be in the mix
depth chart
Running backs
Jake Sharp
5-10, 190, junior
Angus Quigley
6-2, 222, junior
Carmon Boyd-Anderson
6-1, 200, sophomore
Jocques Crawford*
6-1, 230, junior
*Has not yet arrived on campus
for playing time.
The final say on who carries the load for the Jayhawks will be up to Mangino, and he hasn't handed the reins to Crawford just yet.
"Joquces will come in here and compete like every other guy on the team," Mangino said. "We were hoped he'd come in and have an immediate impact — that's our hope. But he has to prove that just like the rest of the team."
Edited by Samuel Lamb