Tell us your news
Contact Donovan Atkinson
or Matt Rodriguez at 864-4810
or editor@kansan.com
SPORTS
Wednesday, June 23, 2004
17
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN—WEEKLY SUMMER EDITION
www.kansan.com
Keith Langford, senior guard, answers questions from boys attending the University's basketball camp. He offered words of encouragement and guidance yesterday afternoon. He will not be playing in today's alumni game due to his recent knee surgery.
Courtney Kuhlen/Kansan
Campers learn from KU players
By Miranda Lenning
mlenning@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
For the second straight week boys between the ages of 8 and 19 had the opportunity to learn from their collegiate heroes. Kansas men's basketball coach Bill Self and his coaching staff held the second of two summer camp sessions this week.
Current and former players attended the camp as coaches and advisers. Self said the purpose of the camp was to teach young players fundamental skills and to develop good basketball habits.
Camp ends today with an alumni game featuring such former players as Eric Chenowith, Nick Bradford, Bryant Nash and Danny Manning. Kirk Hinrich is also expected to play for the alumni team, according to assistant media relations director Laura Lesko.
J. R. Giddens and Keith Langford will not play for the current Jayhawks because they are rehabilitating from offseason surgeries.
The residential camp allows the participants to stay at residence halls on Daisy Hill and in Naismith Hall. Campers are placed in the halls based
"It ends up being really fun though because lots of old players come out and the coaches are laid back and we just have a good time."
Matt Wolf Team manager
on their age and then broken up into smaller groups. Each group is assigned a "coach," who serves as a camp counselor.
Team manager Matt Wolff, Harrington senior, said getting the chance to be a counselor was one perk of working for the team.
"It ends up being really fun though because a lot of old players come out and the coaches are laid back and we just have a good time," said Wolff.
Self said the boys never got bored because his staff worked hard to keep them busy.
Camp starts at 9 a.m. and the campers continue playing basketball into the night.
SEE CAMP ON PAGE 18
Former coach wins NBA title
Brown becomes first coach to win both NCAA, NBA titles
By Miranda Lenning
mlenneng@kansan.com
kansan staff writer
Coach Bill Self tells a great story about former University of Kansas coach Larry Brown. Self met Brown when he was a senior playing basketball at Oklahoma State University. Brown told Self that if he ever needed anything to call him, and that Brown could help him out by giving him a job on his coaching staff at the
University of Kansas after Self graduated. Self agreed, and each month after that meeting he sent Brown a letter reminding him of the offer. He never received a response. So when Self graduated, he got in his car, drove to Lawrence, found Brown and reminded him about the promise. Brown was so impressed with Self's diligence, he gave Self a job right there.
Larry Brown would win an NCAA championship two years later, in 1988. Now he is the only coach to win both an NCAA championship and and NBA championship.
Last week, Brown and the Detroit Pistons defeated the Los Angeles Lakers to claim the NBA championship, winning in such stunning fashion — the
Pistons won the series in five games when many experts picked the Lakers to sweep the Pistons in four that Brown can now be placed in an elite category of NBA coaches: seventh among all NBA coaches in victories with a record of 879-685, fourth among active coaches. Both the 2004 Detroit Pistons and the 1988 Jayhawks reflected the hard-nosed tactics of their coach.
Brown calls it the right kind of basketball. He preaches the importance of fundamentals and the patience of passing up a long jump shot to create a better opportunity—the Pistons shot 61 percent in the first half of game five. He demands all of his players to get in the paint and
SEE BROWN ON PAGE 18
Kanzan file photo
Hall of Fame coach Larry Brown addresses the media following the 1988 NCAA championship game.