Sports
1B
The University Daily Kansan
Wednesday, May 5, 2004
Self tells it like it was,will be
By Ryan Greene
rgreene@kansan.com
Kansan sportswriter
The Kansas men's basketball team is coming off of an up-and-down season, but at the same time, looking towards one of the more anticipated campaigns in the program's recent history. In his time between recruiting and preparing for the 2004-05 season, Kansas coach Bill Self sat down with The Kansan's Ryan Greene to discuss the season that was and the season that will be.
Ryan Greene: Who did you see as the most pleasant surprise this season?
most pleasant surprise this season.
Bill Self: I think all the guys got better as the season went on, but I think, without question, J.R. (Giddens) was the most improved from start to finish.
I was hopeful that he would do what he
did, but that was being very optimistic. In a strange way, Michael Lee's injury sped up the process. We were thinking that maybe we could bring him along slow, and by the time conference play came around and everything he would be ready to have more of a role. But with Mike's injury, there was no question he had to be thrown in there, and he certainly responded very well. Greene: When Jeff Graves was having his issues during the season, how close were you to dismissing him from the team?
Self: We certainly talked about that more than once. Jeff was a multiple offender of very secondary infractions. He never intentionally did anything to try and hurt the team, but his lack of responsibility on being timely certainly warranted thoughts of what do we need to do. Do we need to punish him for every time he's late or do we need to
make a bolder stand? We suspended him for two games, and then the second suspension against Nebraska, we probably lost that game before the game ever occurred because of the morale of our team and our health. Greene: On that same subject, when you guys were in your funk in January and February, which of those losses was the hardest for you to watch or the most frustrating for you to coach?
Self: All of them were frustrating, but Iowa State, we had a lead and didn't hang on. Oklahoma State we played miserably. Nebraska we played miserably. And then Texas we tried, but they were just better than us. Personally, it was probably the Nebraska game. After the Oklahoma State game I thought we'd really come back and play with
SEE SELF ON PAGE 3B
Kansan File Photo
Men's basketball coach Bill Self closed his first year at Kansas with victories and defeats on and off the court. Kansas concluded the season with 24 wins and 9 losses.
Sean Richardson, junior catchei, swung at a pitch during yesterday's game. Kansas was defeated by Southwest Missouri State. 11-8
Metcalf breaks record in loss
By Shana Kucera
skucera@kansan.com
Kansan sportswriter
Missouri State Bears.
In the bottom of the third inning, Metcalf sent a hanging slider deep into the trees beyond left field to break the all-time career home run record at Kansas. The blast was the 16th of the season for Metcalf and gave him 28 in his career. Matt
Despite a late-inning 11-8 loss for the Jayhawks, junior Travis Metcalf's record-breaking home run highlighted last night's game against the Southwest Missouri State Bears.
Gundelfinger set the previous record in 1980.
"In 23 years of coaching, he's the best third baseman I've coached," coach Ritch Price said.
Kansas broke the scoreless tie in the bottom half of the third. Sophomore second baseman Jared Schweitzer (3-for-5, 1 run) led off the inning with a single and was thrown out when sophomore center fielder Matt Baty hit into a fielder's choice. Sophomore short-stop Ritchie Price singled, and senior first baseman Ryan Baty (4-for-5, 2RBIs) doubled in both runners. Ryan Baty was then driven in by Metcalf's
two-run home run. At the end of the inning the Jayhawks had scored four runs on five hits.
runs on live hits SMS responded in the top of the fourth to break the shutout. Three hits off of starting pitcher Clint Schambach brought in two runs to make the score 4-2 Kansas. Right-hander Don Czyz came in to shut down SMS with the bases loaded.
The game remained 4-2 in favor of Kansas until the top of the sixth. Back-to-back singles by the Bears made it a one-run game.
Freshman pitcher Sean Land came in to strand two runners and
end the inning.
Matt Baty brought in a run for the Jayhawks in the bottom of the sixth with an RBI sacrifice bunt that scored Schweitzer and gave the 'Hawks a 6-3 lead.
SMS pushed across a run in the bottom of the seventh to make the score 6-4. Price and Richardson drove in two more insurance runs for the Jayhawks to give the team an 8-4 lead going into the ninth.
The Javhawks then fell apar
The jayhawk then let off a spot.
Three straight hits off of senior Ryan
SEE BASEBALL ON PAGE 4P
All-Big 12 football preview
By Kevin Flaherty kflaherty@kansan.com Kansan senior sportswoman
It's never too early for predictions and Kansan football reporter Kevin Flaherty has plenty. Today, Flaherty's pre-season all Big 12 team.
OFFENSE
OFFENSE Quarterback: Jason White Oklahoma
Some might expect to see Missouri's mobile quarterback, Brad Smith, in this spot, but Smith is an overrated passer, and all White did was win the Heisman Trophy last season. Oklahoma's sixth-year senior also led the nation in passing efficiency and is the most visible member of what should be one of the nation's top offenses. Texas' Vince Young could also be a factor in this spot.
Running Back: Darren Sproles Kansas State and Vernand Morrency, Oklahoma State
Sprotes is a bonafide Heighman candidate and proba-
Hersham candidate and presideby the nation's best running back. He hasn't averaged less than 6.2 yards per
carry in college and was just 15 yards short of 2000 yards last season. Morrency emerged half-way through the season when Cowboy star running
owed by his brother, first-round draft pick Rashaun Woods last year, but has the same ability, and should put up numbers similar to his brother's. Nehemiah Glover, Texas Tech, and
caught 83 passes for 1,425 yards and 15 touchdowns. Woods was overshad-
Herian broke for a 77-yard touchdown catch last season and averaged 22 yards per catch.
Offensive Line: Vince Carter, Wes
Forget
Sims and Jammal Brown, Oklahoma, Joe Vaughn, Kansas, and Richie
SEE BIG 12 ON PAGE 4B
NCAA rewards academics
By Joe Bant
jbant@kansan.com
kansan staff writer
NCAA Division One Board of Directors meeting last week was about more than just revoking men's basketball's five-and-eight rule.
Historical penalties will be reserved for offenses that occur over time, and could consist of scholarship reductions, recruiting limitations, post-season ineligibility and restricted member status in the NCAA. The NCAA will begin assigning these penalties in the 2006-2007 academic year.
The board did vote to remove the rule, which limited the amount of scholarships basketball teams could award during a one and two-year period. But it also passed academic reforms unprecedented in the history of the NCAA.
Contemporaneous penalties will respond to specific offenses, such as the inability to fill a scholarship slot that opens up when a player becomes academically ineligible. The NCAA will begin assigning these penalties in the 2005-2006 academic year.
"The NCAA in the past has never said we're going to rate you on the basis of how successful you are academically," said University of Kansas Chancellor Robert Hemenway, who is chairman of the board.
Conversely, the NCAA will award programs that enjoy significant academic success. Hemenway said the details of the process were still being worked out, but awards could possibly consist of additional scholarships or having additional recruiting visits.
The reform program, known as the "incentives/disincentives program," will use graduation rates and an NCAA-calculated Academic Progress Rate to determine the academic viability of athletics programs.
Starting with this academic year, the NCAA will begin to compile data on the academic strength of athletics programs, and it will use that data to punish programs that are academically weak and to reward those that are strong.
Programs that fail to meet this standard will be punished by the NCAA, which will respond with two kinds of penalties — historical and contemporaneous.
"There will be considerable incentive for coaches and athletics programs to put their athletes on a path to graduate," Hemenway said.
Athletes must make 20 percent progress towards a degree each year to stay eligible.
Hemenway said the progress rate will award points for athletes staying academically eligible and continuing to make progress toward a degree.
TALK TO SPORTS Contact Henry C. Jackson or Maggie Newcomer at SPORTS@KANSAN.COM
SEE ACADEMICS ON PAGE 4B
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