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NBA
Magic Johnson said he would like to play with Michael Jordan, but not on the Olympic basketball team. Page 3.
SPORTS UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THURSDAY, MARCH 7, 1996
MEN'S BASKETBALL
All-Big Eight takes two Jayhawks
Matt Flickner / KANSAN
Along with Kansas junior guard Jacque Vaughn, sophomore forward Raef LaFrentz was named to the coach's All-Big Eight Conference first team.
By Jenni Carlson Kansan sportswriter
the honors keep rolling in for the Kansas men's basketball team
After several players landed spots on the Big Eight Conference specialty teams Monday, the league coaches named junior guard Jacque Vaughn and sophomore forward Raef LaFrentz to the All-Big Eight first team yesterday.
"Raef will be able to play at the next level," Williams said earlier this season. "And what Jacque does on the defensive end doesn't get noticed as much as scoring. What he does in terms of leadership doesn't get noticed as much as his scoring, but the kid is as good a player as there is."
Kansas coach Roy Williams was not surprised at all.
the associated Press' All-Big Eight teams, which were announced on Tuesday. Along with Minor and Willoughby, Vaughn was a unanimous selection by a vote of media that regularly cover the league.
SECTION B
Vaughn is the third-leading Jayhawk scorer, averaging 11.3 points, but dishes out a conference-best 6.3 assists a game. LaFrentz leads Kansas with 13.7 points and 8.3 rebounds.
Oklahoma's Ryan Minor and Ernie Abercromble and Iowa State's Dedric Willoughby made the first team.
"I can't imagine there being a better point guard in the nation running a team," Oklahoma coach Kelvin Sampson said of Vaughn. "You must defend for 94 feet. They push it up quick."
Kansas junior center
Coaches All-Big Eight teams
LaFrentz, last year's freshman of the year,
missed being a unanimous pick by one vote.
First Team
Ryan Minor, senior forward, Oklahoma Ernie Abercrombie, senior forward, Oklahoma
Dedric Willoughby, junior guard/forward, Iowa State
Erick Strickland, senior guard, Nebraska Jason Sutherland, junior guard, Missouri Kenny Pratt, junior guard/forward, Iowa State
Scot Pollard, junior center, Kansas Elliot Hatcher, senior guard, Kansas State
Paul Pierce, freshman forward, Kansas Tyrone Davis, senior forward, Kansas State
Second Team
Adrian Peterson, freshman guard, Oklahoma State.
Honorabie Mention
Jerome Lambert, senior forward, Oklahoma State
Chauncey Billups, freshman guard, Colorado
Scot Pollard earned a spot on the coaches second team and freshman forward Paul Pierce was honorable mention.
Martice Moore, junior forward, Colorado
Julian Winfield, senior guard, Missouri
Kelly Thames, sophomore forward, Missouri
Nate Erdmann, junior guard, Oklahoma
Those four Jayhawks landed identical spots on
The AP and coaches differed on just one first-team selection. The AP gave the nod to Kansas State senior guard Elliot Hatcher instead of Abercrombie.
Also selected yesterday was the AP conference coach of the year. Iowa State coach Tim Floyd was a unanimous selection after leading the Cyclones to a second-place finish.
"Tim Floyd has done one of the best coaching jobs in the country," Nebraska coach Danny Nee said. "I feel that Iowa State never beats itself."
That came in a season that Iowa State returned just 5.3 percent of its scoring from the previous year.
The Big Eight player of the year award voted on by the league coaches will be given today. The trophy will be presented at the University Club in Kansas City.Mo.
Vaughn and Minor, both repeat selections on the AP first team, appear to be the front runners in a close race.
But Sampson said co-players of the year might be appropriate this year.
guy that makes them go. He's the best player on the best team," he said. "But I think Ryan is the best player in the conference."
"Jacque Vaughn is the
One-time sinkers now row
By Evan Blackwell Kansan sportswriter
"If you get in a boat and it starts to tip over, you have got to do something," Masoni said.
For Ashley Masoni and the rest of her fellow freshmen teammates on the Kansas women's rowing team, this season has been a trial and error learning experience.
Kansas women's rowing is nearing the end of its first year as a varsity sport. As the Jayhawks prepare to enter their inaugural spring season, most members of the Kansas freshmen team are entering the second half of their first competitive rowing season ever.
Although the freshmen have made great strides since the fall, freshman rower Beth Erickson said she still remembers the afternoon in October when the freshmen sank one of the team's boats at practice on Clinton Lake.
"It was a pretty windy day and it was pretty wavy," Erickson said.
As the team was rowing back to shore to end practice, Erickson said she noticed more water than usual coming into the boat.
"There was a lot of water coming into the boat," Erickson said. "Pretty soon I looked down, and my feet were underwater."
The situation worsened until almost the entire boat was underwater. Fortunately, the boat wasn't lost. The team was able to haul the boat back to shore by using the team's launch, the motor boat used by the coaches during practice.
Erickson said she could look back on the incident now and laugh.
"When I told people about it, they would say 'Oh my God, were you all right?' but I look back on it now, and I think it's funny." Erickson said.
Only one freshman rower, Orianna Strom, had prior rowing experience before coming to Kansas. Strom, who is from Old Lyme, Conn., said rowing was taken much more seri-
Kansas men's tennis player, Fimbres, not short on heart
See ROWING, Page 3.
Senior plays hard and outhustles opponents
By Spencer Duncan Kansan sportswriter
Victor Fimbres lives life the way he plays tennis — winning, fighting and always picking himself up after a fall.
Fimbres, a senior on the Kansas men's tennis team, is a poster boy for what a college athlete is supposed to be. Others describe him as smart, good-looking, hard-working and burning with a desire to succeed.
Of course, he does not see it that way.
"Everyone loves Victor," Kansas assistant tennis coach Matt Knoll said. "He has an up personality and is very optimistic."
It is difficult to find critics of Fimbres. His outgoing personality and constant smile attract people to him.
"Sometimes I don't always communicate well." Fimbres said. "Just do what lean."
well, Fimbres said. Just do what real.
Fimbres has been doing what he could since his youth in Mexicali, Mexico. Born in Mexicali, Fimbres was an all-around athlete. Fimbres' dad, also named Victor, was in a softball league and began taking his son to games at an early age. There Fimbres learned to play baseball and has been playing sports ever since.
"I started swimming and playing baseball at first," Fimbres said. "I love sports. Even when I was a little kid I used to just carry baseball bats and balls and everything."
At age seven, Fimbres was introduced to tennis.
"My mom asked me if I would like to try tennis. I tried it and I liked it. I have just sort of stuck with it ever since," Fimbs said.
In high school. Fimbres lettered in baseball, basketball and tennis. But his talent was in tennis.
During his senior year, Fimbres received a call from then-Kansas tennis coach Scott Perelman.
"I knew there was college tennis in the United States, I just didn't know how it
Victor Fimbres
worked," Fimbres said. "Coach Perelman started calling me one day and I was surprised."
Perelman had heard about Fimbres from a psychologist working with the KU men's tennis team who had also worked with Fimbres in high school
After a visit to the Kansas campus, Fim-
bres knew he would be a Jayhawk. When he told his parents he would attend college in the United States, he got an unexpected reaction.
"I think they were happier than I was," Fimbres said. "My parents have always supported me. I think they saw this as all their support paying off."
The only stumbling block was a low SAT score that caused Fimbres to spend a year at Bethany College in Lindsborough. After his freshman year, he transferred to Kansas.
The transfer gave Fimbres a special distinction. At 5-foot-4, he is the shortest player on the team. Instead of allowing his height to hurt him, Fimbres has made it an asset.
"He is such a fighter," Kansas men's tennis coach Michael Center said. "He breaks people because they believe they can get the ball past them. Then he surprises them and gets to the ball."
Fimbres has proven hard to break in his Kansas career. He has an overall record of 57-20 and is ranked 78th nationally. He also is undefeated in the Big Eight Conference at 12-0.
"When I won early on I set going unde feated as one of my goals," Fimbres said.
Fimbres is such a competitor that it is not uncommon to see him diving across the court for balls.
"I try to make up for height by outhustling everyone," Fimbres said. "I am just trying to get the ball and sometimes that means I have to dive."
Fimbres will spend another year at Kansas earning a degree in communications. Then he plans to try the professional circuit.
BRIEF
"I really enjoy tennis," Fimbres said "I know a lot of people say it, but I mean it when I say that the day I stop enjoying it I will quit."
Game canceled because of cold
Kansan staff report
It was the Jayhawks fifth cancellation because of low temperatures in the past week.
The Kansas-Oklahoma baseball game scheduled for yesterday afternoon was canceled because of cold weather.
The game was to be the second of a twogame series. No. 15 Oklahoma won the first game on Tuesday, 10-7.
Runners sprint toward indoor track's biggest event
Kansas is 5-5 overall and 0-1 in the Big Eight Conference.
The Jayhawks will play Mankato State at 3 p.m. tomorrow at Hoglund-Maupin Stadium.
Kansas needs four more victories to reach 1,200. Kansas has an all-time record of 1,196-1,150-13.
It will be the Jayhawks' fifth attempt at a home-opener after the cancellations of last weekend.
Kansas qualifies seven for NCAA championships
Kansas seniors Kristi Kloster, Melissa Swartz and Kerri Woolheater and juniors Latanya Holloway, Carleen Roberts, Pierre Lisk and Brian Martin will compete at the RCA Dome in the biggest event of the indoor season.
Seven members of the Kansas track and field team received their invitations to the NCAA Indoor championships and have sent their R.S.V.P.'s to Indianapolis, the site of the competition this weekend.
By Adam Herschman Kansan sportswriter
Martin is one of the top-10 400-meter runners in the nation. He received his invitation last weekend, after placing first in the event at the Last Chance Meet in Ames, Iowa.
Only two senior Jayhawks, John Bazzoni and Nick Johannsen, competed in last year's indoor championships.
"it's always been my goal at the end of the outdoor season to go to the national championships and compete against the top 15 or 16 guys in the nation, and now I'm one of them." Martin said.
"Nobody's going to even expect me to be in the finals or anything, so I'm just going to go in and surprise everybody and see what I can do," Martin said. "Probably none of these people expected to see somebody from Kansas in the 400 at the national championships."
At the meet, Martin broke his season-best time of 47.63 seconds also the school's 400-meter record — with a 46.65 time. He recorded the 10th best collegiate time in the event this season.
Lisk will run in the 55-meter dash. He set an indoor school record in the event at the Kansas Invitational in 6.24.
Gina Thornburg/KANSAN
Woolheater will run the first leg of the women's distance medley relay team. Running the second leg of the relay will be either Holloway or Roberts. Holloway ran on the distance medley relay team two weeks ago at the Big Eight championships, where Kansas set school and Big Eight Conference records in the event taking first in 11:26.97.
Kloster will be competing in two events — the third leg of the distance medley team
Track runners Pierre Lisk, Kerri Woolheater, Brian Martin, Melissa Swartz, Kristi Kloster, Latanna Holloway and Carleen Roberts prepare for the NCAA Indoor Championships this weekend.
"This time I'm going to get my position," Kloster said. "I just want to go there and have fun and run as fast as possible."
and in the 800 meters. She is ranked third in the 800 meters this year. But she remembers g e t i n g knocked into the fifth lane in 1994 indoor championships and placing eighth. She said that it wouldn't happen again.
Swartz, who had already provisionally qualified in the mile, improved her time at the Last Chance Meet, running a personal best in 4:44.81. Competing in two events, Swartz will have a couple of hours between
running the mile and anchoring the distance medley relay.
"The goal, I think, is to bring home as many All-Americans as we can," Swartz said.