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sports
4B the university daily kansan
wednesday, may 5. 2004
ACADEMICS:
Graduation rate focus of reform
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The NCAA has not determined what the threshold will be in terms of what kind of academic performance will warrant punishments or rewards. It will set specific standards after it examines the data it collects from this year and next year.
Jim Marchiony, associate athletics director for external affairs, said the reforms were a step in the right direction.
"The intent is to make sure student-athletes progress toward a degree, which everyone is in favor of." Marchiony said.
Marchiony said Kansas was already in a good position in its academic strength. By last year, 68 percent of scholarship athletes who were KU freshmen in 1996 had graduated.
Marchiony said the emphasis on the new reforms would cause people to refocus and rededicate themselves.
Hemenway said the main change at Kansas could be the possibility of rewards for academic success. Nevertheless, he said there would always be room for improvement.
"Kansas has not graduated 100 percent of our student-athletes." Hemenway said. "That is what our goal is."
Edited by Meghan Brune
BIG 12: Best of the defense for All-Big 12 team
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and tackle the previous two seasons. DEFENSE
DEFENSE
Defensive Line: Dusty Dvoracek, Dan Cody, Oklahoma, Rodrigue Wright, Texas, and Adell Duckett, Texas Tech. Duckett and Cody are the two best pass-rushing defensive ends in the conference. Duckett had 14 sacks last season, while Cody had 10. Wright and Dvoracek are two of the best defensive tackles in the nation. Dvoracek had 14.5 tackles for loss and seven sacks last season despite playing in Lombardi Award winner Tommie Harris' shadow. Wright had seven sacks while playing second fiddle to Marcus Tubbs, a first-round draft pick. Both players are extremely active and should contend for All-America honors. Johnny Jolly, Texas A&M, and C.J. Mosley, Missouri, could both contend for All-Big 12 honors.
Linebacker: Lance Mitchell, Oklahoma, Derrick Johnson, Texas, and Banks Floodman, Kansas
Mitchell may have been the best middle linebacker in the country last year before blowing out his knee. He returns for his senior season hoping to lead the Sooners defense after massive personnel losses. If he is 100 percent, he's a monster capable of being a first-round NFL Draft pick. If he's at 70 percent, he's still the best middle linebacker in the Big 12. Johnson is a speed demon who makes big plays, including 19 tackles for
loss last year. He might be the best outside linebacker in the nation. Two seasons removed from a major knee injury. Floodman looked strong this spring. He is the most physically talented of Kansas' three junior starting linebackers and is primed for a breakout season. Gabe Toomey, Kansas, Barrett Ruud, Nebraska, Marvin Simmons, Kansas State, and James Kinney, Missouri, could also slide onto the first team.
Defensive Back: Fabian Washington, Josh Bullocks, Nebraska, Antonio Perkins, Oklahoma, and laxton Appel, Texas A&M
Perkins and Washington are the shut-down cornerbacks every team desires. Perkins also makes big plays when he gets the ball in his hands and is always a threat return an interception for a touchdown. Washington had 10 passes defended and four interceptions. Bullocks and Appel are ball-hawking safeties with different specialties. Bullocks intercepted a nation-leading 10 passes in 2003, while Appel is a hard-hitter who had 135 tackles last season.
Darrent Williams, Oklahoma State, and Donte Nicholson, Oklahoma, will also have big seasons.
Kicker; Trey DiCarlo, Oklahoma
DiCarlo was second in the Big 12 in scoring Iast season, and should rank among the leaders yet again. He gets more chances than anybody else due to Oklahoma's offensive efficiency. He
hit on 19 of his 22 field goals last season. Keith Toogood, Texas Tech, has the name and the game to keep up.
Punter: Cole Farden, Oklahoma State
Kick Returner; Perkins, Oklahoma
The thunder-legged Farden averaged 43.2 yards per punt last season. His punts are high and allow for great coverage. Oklahoma State finished third in net punting yards.
Perkins started off the year with a record-setting performance against UCLA, and finished the season with four punt returns for touchdowns. If teams kick away from him, they run the risk of shanking it and giving Oklahoma great field position. If they kick it to him, he might return it for six. Uber speed-demon Jeremy Bloom will challenge for this position if he gets the opportunities.
All-Purpose: Charles Gordon, Kansas
The sky is the limit. Gordon has All-Big 12 potential at wide receiver, cornerback and punt returner. Right now, it looks like Gordon will play cornerback, and he could develop into one of the top cover corners in the conference. Even if he does play defense, look for him to get 10 plays on offense per game and touch the ball through special teams. Regardless of where he plays, he is a dangerous weapon the Jayhawks can exploit.
- Edited by Paul Kramer
Roddick defeated on clay in Italy
The Associated Press
ROME — Andy Roddick's visit to Rome was a rough one, starting with a fire in his hotel and ending with a first-round upset in the Italian Open.
"It's tough to put it out of your mind. You know it's going to creep in," Roddick said after losing to Guillermo Canas in straight sets yesterday.
The U.S. Open champion was beaten 7-6 (7), 6-1, wasting three set points in the tiebreaker, then putting up little
resistance in the second set. Not the kind of performance Roddick hoped for in his preparation for the French Open, the only Grand Slam tournament played on clay.
Three tourists died in a dawn fire Saturday in the five-star hotel where Roddick and several other players and tennis officials were staying.
They were evacuated and moved to another hotel.
as a distraction.
On court, Roddick said, "I was rushing things. I definitely don't think I put forth my best effort today, so it's a little disappointing."
In contrast, top-ranked Roger Federer, playing his first clay-court tournament of the year, kept focused and eliminated Jonas Bjorkman 7-6 (4), 6-3. Federer was a finalist in Rome last year and has since won Wimbledon and the Australian Open.
Also advancing were last year's Italian champion, unseeded Bally
Mantilla, No. 8 Nicoles Massu,
No. 12 Jiri Novak and No. 14
Martin Verkerk.
Roddick was erratic, committing 35 unforced errors to only 11 for Canas, who won the first set when Roddick netted a shot at his feet.
"I played well, within my level," said Canas—who was described by Roddick as "not the ideal opponent you'd want to play if you're having an off day."
Canas pulled away in the second set, breaking Roddick's serve three times.
Courtney Kuhlen/Kansan
Tony Lewis, freshman third baseman for Southwest Missouri State, bobbled the ball in yesterday's game at Hoglund Ballpark. Kansas lost 11-8 after allowing seven runs in the ninth inning.
BASEBALL: Poor finish cements Jayhawk loss in final innings
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Knippschild loaded the bases. Knippschild was pulled, and southpaw Ken Livesey came into pitch. After Livesey walked two batters on nine pitches, junior Scott Sharpe was brought in. With no outs in the inning, Sharpe walked another batter to make the score 8-7 Kansas.
Sharpe was pulled after just one batter and red shirt freshman Ryotaro Hayakawa was brought in for his fourth appearance of the season. Hayakawa's first pitch was doubled off the right field wall to give SMS the 9-8 lead. The Bears' Tony Lewis finished the
game 4-for-5 and capped off the inning with a two-run single. When the top of the ninth was over, the score was 11-8 in favor of SMS.
The Jayhawks were held scoreless in the bottom of the ninth and handed the loss. The loss dropped Kansas to 26-26-1 on the season and moves SMS to 26-20.
"We haven't been able to finish a game," coach Price said. "That's about as devastating as a game can be."
Kansas will next face the No.2 ranked Texas Longhorns on a three-game road trip beginning Friday.
- Edited by Joe Hartigan
Athens prepares for upcoming Olympic Summer Games
The Associated Press
ATHENS, Greece — The sprint to the Olympics is being run through an obstacle course.
Frantic work — including on the main stadium — slogs on in mud, through rainstorms and at night. Roads and squares are ripped up for repaving or new rail lines. Cement mixers and cranes snarl city traffic. Whirlwinds of dust spin through neighborhoods.
Ready or not, the Athens Games will start 100 days from today.
"My major challenge is the same as that faced by everybody else involved in games preparations: Stay focused and make ever
minute count, because we don't have a moment to lose," chief Athens Olympics organizer Gianna Angelopulos-Daskalaki sai'.
Preparations for these games have been racked by delays and glitches. And for Athens' 4 million residents, the frustrations and burdens of living in a giant work-in-progress could get worse before the Aug. 13-29 Olympics begin.
The International Olympic Committee arrives Monday for its last major inspection visit, hoping everything comes together in the days ahead.
"We won't have much time before the games, that is for sure," Denis Oswald, the top IOC overseer of Athens' preparations, told
The Associated Press. "Some time ago, we were also fearing that things would be ready only after the games. Now we are confident that everything will be finished before the games."
but just how soon before is still an open question.
Oswald and the IOC want all venues finished by the end of June. That applies even to the main stadium's new roof, whose two huge arches still must be moved into place. Attempts to glide the two sides in place could begin later this week.
Other key projects, including a new tram line, are not expected to be ready until less than a month before the opening ceremony. And progress on a roof for the
swimming pool was so far behind, it was scrapped altogether.
“Our experts who have reviewed these plans say, 'Yes, it's feasible. It can be done.'” Oswald said. “But as long as it’s not done, you never know if any unexpected difficulty will arise.”
IOC president Jacques Rogge put Athens organizers on notice that he expects some welcome surprises during next week's visit.
"I look forward to hearing more news from them of how much is being accomplished in a short time," Rogge said.
It wasn't supposed to be like this.
When Athens was awarded the Olympics in 1997, organizers boasted that 70 percent of the
venues were in place. The Athens Games, the IOC was assured, would be organized on a "human scale," without grandiose or cumbersome projects.
But the system couldn't shake its old habits. The Socialist government, which was ousted in elections in March, let three years slip by with little progress on Olympic work.
The IOC began to panic. In 2000, then-IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch publicly scolded Athens for the delays.
Then came Sept. 11, 2001. Those attacks — and later terrorist strikes in Turkey and Spain — turned the Athens Games into the biggest security effort in Olympics history. The price tag
The overall Olympic budget is already more than $1 billion above the planned $$5.5 billion.
has reached nearly $1.2 billion
and could rise if threats escalate
For the first time, the IOC took out cancellation insurance, which protects against a terrorist attack, earthquakes and other natural disasters. The $170 million policy would give the IOC, national Olympic committees and sports federations enough money to continue operations.
"We are doing everything which is humanly possible to have the maximum security," Athens Mayor Dora Bakoyiani said. "We have to show that modern Greece is able to organize very good Olympic Games."
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