WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2005
SPORTS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN 3B
Camp
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On Monday and Friday, the players lift weights at 7:30 a.m. and then boot camp starts an hour later. On Tuesday and Thursday, boot camp starts at 6:30 a.m. Then they go about their days as usual, attending classes and visiting with tutors before an afternoon weight-lifting session. There isn't much time after weights for the players to relax because pick-up games start around 5 p.m. There are no weights on Wednesday, but boot camp starts at 8:30 a.m.
With practice and weights scheduled early in the morning, alarms at the Jayhawker Towers start going off about 5:45 or 6 a.m., Wright said. The players have to grab breakfast, make the short walk to the locker room and prepare for practice, which includes 15 minutes with strength and conditioning coach Andrea Hudy and — most important among those duties — using the bathroom.
"I just found out there is no breaks so you can't be like, 'Coach, I gotta go,'" Wright
said. "And it's early in the morning, so make sure that you take care of business before you go on the court."
And they better not be late.
"If anyone is late to anything, the whole team has to run." Case said.
So what is the early morning walk like from where the players live to the locker room?
"We don't really talk to each other much," Case said. "You have to understand, that is not really the morning, it is still dark outside. It is practically the middle of the night."
"The other night I went to bed around 10 but I couldn't fall asleep because I was so tired," Case said. "By the time I fell asleep, it was time to get up again. You feel like you got one hour of sleep because you sleep so hard.
"It's not a lot of fun. But it makes you tougher and it definitely makes you better."
Case said once the team starts to get active, they loosen up a bit, but those first few minutes out of bed are the hardest part of boot camp.
— Edited by Katie Lohrenz
Sooners say 'bye' to bye week
FOOTBALL
BY JEFF LATZKE
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
It would be easy to overlook any opponent with the team's biggest rival and a national television audience drawing so near. But somehow coach Bob Stoops and his staff were able to keep the Sooners on focus each of the past five years, winning all five of the team's Big 12 openers heading into the big game against Texas.
NORMAN, Okla. — With the Red River Rivalry looming only a week away, Oklahoma's Big 12 opener seemed like the perfect trap game.
After a 1-2 start, Oklahoma's concerns entering Big 12 play are much different this season. Heading into Saturday's game against Kansas State, the Sooners can't even think about the upcoming showdown with No. 2 Longhorns.
"Every game, every snap, every quarter, every halftime, every
third quarter, every fourth quarter is big for us right now." said offensive coordinator Chuck Long.
Off to the worst start in Stoops' seven years at Oklahoma, the Sooners had to take a new approach to their bye week. Instead of regrouping and recovering, the Sooners put in as much work as they could.
Oklahoma practiced Monday through Saturday — a bye-week first under Stoops — to get in extra snaps.
"It was anything but an easier week," Stoops said. "It's probably the hardest week we've had in a long time."
"I emphasized to them that our approach as coaches — not just mine — has nothing to do with at all punishing, like 'Hey, we lost and now we're going to beat you into the ground,' Stoops said. "It was all about trying to get better."
The Sooners seem to be sorting out some of the issues. After
not throwing a pass in the second half against Tulsa in Week 2, quarterback Rhett Bomar was 20-for-29 for 241 yards against UCLA.
"We have too many negative plays," Stoops said. "We have to eliminate where we're beating ourselves in some of those areas."
On the offensive line, Adrian Peterson tied a career-low with 58 rushing yards in a 41-24 loss to UCLA.
For Stoops, the main focus on offense is stopping mistakes such as fumbled snaps and missed blocking assignments which result in lost vardage.
On defense, linebacker Clint Ingram, who had interceptions in Oklahoma's first two games, is expected back after missing the UCLA game with an injury. Stoops plans to start either Eric Bassey or Marcus Walker in place of Chijioke Onyenegecha, who started each of the Sooners'
first three games.
"We're trying to find consistency there this week — who's going to be the most consistent being in the right places and making the most plays," Stoops said.
With all the focus on improvements, the Big 12 opener is much more of a milestone for Oklahoma this season than a game that might be overlooked on the path to Texas. It also provides a clean slate that could still earn the Sooners a trip to a BCS bowl game, if they're somehow able to recover and win the Big 12 title.
Offense
"I'm not big on trying to hide from the past and start again, but in the end the Big 12 and what we do in the Big 12 Conference is what truly does matter," Stoops said. "We realize this is the most important part of the season, and we've made improvement over the last four weeks.
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"It needs to show."
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junior safety Jerome Kemp said.
The Red Raiders' top threat down the field is junior wide receiver Robert Johnson, who has 361 yards receiving and two touchdowns.
"He is a strong, tough, talented athlete," Mangino said.
Football Notes:
MLB
Braves clinch 14th straight division championship
Mangino talked more about the $10 million donation that was made Monday for the football practice facility. He said the logistical questions of where and when the facility would be built or what the appearance of the structure would look like had not been discussed. Mangino said he thought the donation would help others make donations to the facility.
— Edited by Alison Peterson
BY PAUL NEWBERRY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
ATLANTA — The Atlanta Braves tried to hold off the celebration. It didn't work.
The Braves wrapped up their 14th straight division championship yesterday night while playing the Colorado Rockies, the NL East title assured midway through the game when the second-place Phillies lost to the New York Mets.
Clinching in style, Marcus Giles hit a pair of homers, Adam LaRoche also homered and the Braves routed the Rockies 12-3.
Still, the way it worked out was a bit strange.
The Braves had just finished off a four-run fifth inning. giv
ing them a 7-1 lead, when Philadelphia's Bobby Abrust struck out to complete a 3-2 loss to the Mets.
A smattering of fans apparently learned of the Phillies' loss via cell phone or other means, clapping as soon as Abreu struck out. "Let's go Mets!" one man yelled. A tomahawk-chopping woman held up a handmade "2005" sign above the left-field seats, right next to the official pennants detailing each of the Braves' playoff seasons.
But most of the crowd was apparently in the dark. The out-of-town scoreboard merely showed the Mets leading 3-2 in the eighth. Even after the Rockies were retired in the top of the sixth, there was no mention of
the division title.
Finally, as Chipper Jones stepped into the box, the public address announcer revealed the news.
In the bottom half, Giles hit his second homer, a two-run shot, to give the Braves a 9-3 lead.
The celebration was on. The crowd of 25,306 gave the Braves a standing ovation, and several fans broke out signs marking the occasion. "In case you didn't know .14 in a row," one said. Two shirtless men had painted a "1" and a "4" on their chests.
Mets 3. Phillies 2.
Atlanta became the second team to clinch a title, following the NL Central champion St. Louis Cardinals.
John Bazemore/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Atlanta Braves Tim Hudson, foreground, and Horacio Ramirez celebrate after clinching the NL East division championship yesterday night in Atlanta. The Braves defeated the Colorado Rockies 12-3.
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