COLLEGE BASKETBALL Duke exits the NCAA tournament in the opening round for the first time since 1955. Page 8.
SPORTS
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
FRIDAY, MARCH 15, 1996
SECTION B
Jayhawks set to show speed
Bulldogs looking for upset against 'slow' men's team
By Jenni Carlson
Kansan sportswriter
TEMPE, Ariz. — South Carolina State forward Derrick Patterson thinks he has found Kansas' weakness.
"They're a big team, but I also think they're a slow team," he said. "Kansas is a good team, but they're beatable."
Big? Raef LaFrentz agrees. But he can't quite swallow the low part.
"He can say whatever he wants to say," the 6-foot-11 sophomore forward said. "I'd like to think our big guys aren't that slow. Maybe he saw something that a lot of people haven't. We'll see how slow we are."
Kansas and South Carolina State will settle the issue about 4:10 p.m. today. They meet in the first round of the NCAA tournament's West regional at the University Activity Center. The game will be broadcast on CBS, channels 5 and 13 in Lawrence.
The Bulldogs may hope the Jayhawks are slow because Kansas' starting five has them outsized, especially at center and power forward.
South Carolina State forward Miguel Burns will give up seven inches to LaFrentz while center Jamal Brown will spot Kansas junior center Scott Pollard two inches.
But Kansas' height advantage hasn't meant much lately. The Jayhawks were outbounded in all three of their Big Eight Conference tournament games last weekend.
Don't think the Bulldogs didn't take note of that.
"For their size, I don't think Kansas has rebounded
the ball as well as they'd like," South Carolina State coach Cyrus Alexander said. "On the other hand, we're not very big, but we rebound bigger than we are. I stress to our players that it's more important to be fundamental and block out than to iump."
The Jayhawks' rebounding has been a thorn in Kansas coach Roy Williams' side almost as much as their loss to Iowa State in the conference tournament championship game.
So Williams probably didn't like hearing one of Alexander's other comments about today's matchup.
"We would like to duplicate the game Iowa State played last week," Alexander said. "We don't have the athleticism or depth to run with Kansas. We'd like to keep the game in the 50s or 60s."
Williams said the Jayhawks could win games in the 50s or 60s, but he liked them in the 80s and 90s. Kansas will try to push the tempo today to counter South Carolina State's game plan.
Williams said if he were scouting his own team, he might try some different strategies.
"I kiddnap Jacque. Wouldn't let him get to the game," Williams said of second-team All-American junior guard Jacue Vaughn. "Then, I'd tie Raef's left arm to his side and make him shoot like that."
Williams may have the right idea for 15th-seeded South Carolina State. A No. 15 seed has only defeated a No. 2 seed twice. Richmond did it first in 1991 with a 73-69 defeat of Syracuse. Santa Clara followed suit in 1993, defeating Arizona. 64-61.
Nonetheless, the Bulldogs believe they are prepared to become the third No.15 seed to win a tournament game.
"Kansas is a great team, but I feel we have a great team, too," South Carolina State guard Roderick Blakney said. "We're going to go out there, execute our
game plan and hopefully, we can pull off the upset." It's gotta be the shoes.
Actually, the shoes probably won't make any difference in the outcome of today's game, but Kansas will be sporting a new style of Converse basketball shoes. The shoes are a revamped version of the Chuck Taylors seen in the 1950s and 60s.
The body of the shoe is shiny white and features a red strip down the back as well as the Chuck Taylor circle logo on the side.
To ask the South Carolina State and Kansas players, both think that their games are driven by the superstitions of their coaches.
Alexander admits he lives by the same routine when South Carolina State is playing well. For example, he didn't ride the team bus to practice or games during the Mid Eastern Athletic Conference tournament.
"I think he is the most superstitious man I've ever met," Bulldog guard Roderick Blakney said of his coach. Cyrus Alexander.
"I didn't ride the team bus today, either," Alexander said after the Bulldogs' practice yesterday. "I take the courtesey car."
As for Kansas coach Roy Williams, there was that spitting incident in 1993.
"He hasn't been spitting yet but something may come up," Jayhawk guard Jerod Haase said. "I don't know what they do in Arizona."
Playing in Tempe, Ariz., Williams couldn't spit into the Mississippi River. There is the nearby Salt River, but Williams doesn't expect to resurrect this superstition.
"People think I just go around spitting at everybody," he said. "Really, I don't go around spitting on people or things. I'm not as superstitious as everybody makes me out to be."
Brian Hott / KANSAN
Kansas women's basketball coach Marian Washington works with forward Koya Scott ourning practice yesterday. The No. 20 Jayhawks face Middle Tennessee State at 8 p.m, tomorrow.
Women happy to be at home
Rigorous season prepared team for tournament
By Evan Blackwell
Kansan sportswriter
Let the games begin.
That's the feeling of the No. 20 Kansas women's basketball team as the Jayhawks prepare for their NCAA first round game against Middle Tennessee State at 8 tomorrow night in Allen Field House.
Kansas women's basketball coach Marian Washington's thoughts on the start of the NCAA tournament this weekend seem to sum up the feelings of the team.
Kansas has never made it past the second round of the NCAA tournament, however. After going 20-9 and winning the Big Eight Conference regular season championship, the Jayhawks enter this year's tournament confident.
"We've worked hard all season long, and I think we're going to have a great chance to surpass what we've done in the past," Washington said.
"We've been playing well very down the stretch," Washington said. "We had like a six or seven game winning streak before our last loss."
Kansas endured a brutal schedule during the regular season. Six of the Jayhawks nine losses were to ranked teams.
Washington said the rigorous schedule should have Kansas ready for the tournament.
"It's definitely helped us, because
I think that in the end we've been playing better basketball because of it." Washington said.
Middle Tennessee State enters the tournament as the Ohio Valley Conference champions with a 24-5 record.
Ironically, the only other time the two teams met was in 1988 at an NCAA first round game in Lawrence. The Jayhawks won 81-75.
Middle Tennessee State coach Lewis Bivens said the Raiders played their best basketball early in the season when they raced to a record of 17-1.
The start included a victory against nationally ranked Mississippi.
Bivens said Middle Tennessee State was hurt at mid-season by the loss of junior forward Jessica Beaty, who went down for the year because of a knee injury. Losing the six-foot forward forced the Raiders to go to a smaller lineup.
"Losing her really made us go through some big adjustments," Bivens said. "We've had to play a lot of freshmen."
Three freshmen have seen considerable playing time for Middle Tennessee State, including Ohio Valley freshman of the year, center Jonelda Buck. Buck leads the Raiders in scoring at 15.3 points a game.
Freshmen guards Carilia Elder and Cortney Neeley have both started 10 games this year as well.
Bivens thinks his team is capable of a first-round upset, but they will have to play a perfect game to win.
"Sometimes in basketball, you have to be good and a little lucky," Bivens said.
Matt Flickner / KANSAN
Kansas outfielder Justin Headley and the rest of the Jawahaws open a two-game series with Iowa today.
Reunion is bittersweet for Randall
Baseball coach recalls good bad times with Iowa State
By Dan Gelston Kansan sportswriter
Kansas baseball coach Bobby Randall is glad that this year his toughest battles have come on the field.
Randall coached the Cyclones for 11 years, compiling a 309-311-1 record.
But this weekend, the memories of some off-the-field battles, as well as on-the-field successes, will come flooding back to Randall as the Jayhawks play Iowa State in a two-game series at Hofdahl-Maupin Stadium.
But during the latter years of Randall's tenure, he had to fight the athletic department and Iowa State administration, who wanted to dispose of the baseball program before the 1995 season in a cost-cutting move.
"We did everything we could to try and save the program," Randall said. "We wrote a ton of proposals and
Weekend Series
letters. The students had a rally on the steps of the administration building. It was quite an ordeal."
Randall and the Cyclones' fight was successful. The baseball team was saved, but the emotional
Kansas (9-7) vs.
Iowa State (0-10)
Game One: 3 p.m. today
Game Two: 2 p.m. toorrow
Hoglund-Maupin Stadium
repercussions were overwhelming.
"I had some hurt feelings that were hard to heal," he said. "I don't want to say I wore out my welcome, but there was some damage on both sides of the fence."
When the coaching job opened at Kansas, he jumped at the chance to apply. Randall knew it was time for a change on both sides.
"There comes a time to move on," he said. "Philosophically, they needed a change. For baseball at Iowa State, it was better that I left."
Lyle Smith, Randall's former assistant, has taken over at Iowa State. He has been the beneficiary of so many things that Randall fought for.
"They gave him things we always needed," Randall said. "They gave him a full-time assistant, a huge salary increase and some facility improvements. But I'm happy for him because he deserves it."
This weekend will be bittersweet for Randall. Though he still has feelings for his former players, his rooting interests lie with the Jahwaks.
"It's like getting traded," he said. "You spend so much of your time with a group of people that it's not real easy when you have to face them. But you just kind of put that history behind you and just play. You want to win."
Kansas (9-7) will play Iowa State (0-10) at 3 p.m. today and 2 p.m. tomorrow. Both games are at Hoglund-Maupin Stadium.
Kansas senior catcher Ted Meadows said the Jayhawks were looking forward to the series, especially after their loss on Wednesday.
"We're going to put this game behind us and look to this weekend," he said. "We're ready for the conference schedule to pick up."
UCLA-Princeton game will be remembered for many years
Although I didn't think prayer against UCLA last night, it sure game me a great feeling to see the Tigers win.
Wow
The Bruins were definitely put out of their game by Princeton's punishing defense. UCLA looked nothing like the team that gave Kansas a run for its money last December — much less the defending national champions.
Speaking of the Jayhawks, they could have gotten some help from
Princeton had a
I wasn't nervous when Kentucky, my pick for the national championship, were leading San Jose State by only six points at halftime. No. 1 seeds seem to get tournament jitters in their first-round games for some reason. My pick and my pride are both still intact — until tomorrow anyway.
last night as well, losing to top-seeded Purdue by two points. We'll just have to wait until next year to see a No. 16 seed beat a No. 1 team.
Eastern Carolina, which almost made history
I don't know what to think about Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf's decision to obey the national anthem rule imposed on him by the NBA. On the one hand, the league's image probably would be tarnished with Rauf sitting out during the national anthem, but suspension without pay was too harsh a punishment.
Most fans aren't even paying attention —
The same NBA that allows Michael Jordan to have his way with officials, Charles Barkley to throw punches at will and Dennis Rodman to exist seemed to really get fired up about this.
much less singing — during the national anthem. Abdul-Rauf's decision to stand and pray was probably the best way out of a sticky situation, and if he can live with it, that's fine.
Abdul-Rauf is just practicing his religion, which still seems to be OK in America — at least it was the last time I read the Constitution.
Despite all the NCAA tournament hype on campus, I'm also hearing a lot about professional baseball. Although I still have some anger built up against both the players' union and the owners, the 1996 season will be fun to watch and follow, except in the American
If I owned a house, I'd bet it on the Indians.
If I were a house, I'd bet it on the humans. Figuring out who will win the National League isn't quite as easy. The Braves will again be tough, but St. Louis has bought itself a contender via the free agent market. However, getting big names and writing big checks doesn't always work out.
League. Cleveland has essentially clinched the pennant. The Indians have the best roster in the majors and have sold out all 81 home games this season. Plus, they want revenge for their World Series loss to Atlanta.
I'll have more on baseball as the season gets closer, so stay tuned.
And don't forget the Mets, who have perhaps the best young pitching staff in the game, but lack offensive power. Something tells me these young players will melt under the glare of impatient fans and media in the Big Apple. so count them out.
(1)
It would be a major embarrassment to have Texas and Southwest Missouri State fans outnumber Jayhawk supporters at the women's first round games tomorrow night. Representatives from both schools have estimated that they will both bring around 4,000 supporters. That would fill about half of Allen Field House.
I want to see 4,000 Kansas fans taking up the rest of the space. The Jayhawks have a great chance to get past the second round for the first time, so don't miss out on this exciting and talented team.
I still haven't had a chance to see the Kansas baseball team, but I will be pleased when that time comes. One of the Jayhawks' biggest problems last season was offence, after scoring 31 runs in their past two games, it looks like a remedy was found.
I can't wait to get to the ballpark.