OLLEGE BASKETBALL Colorado interim basketball coach Ricardo Patton was given the job permanently yesterday. Page 4.
SPORTS
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 6, 1996
SECTION B
Conference tournament losses are OK
I have two reactions to the No. 20 Kansas women's basketball team's loss to No. 19 Colorado in the Big Eight Conference Tournament championship game on Monday.
1. It's no big deal, because the Jayhawks won the regular-season title and were ensured of an NCAA Tournament bid before the game began.
2. Kansas lost whatever chance it had of being the host of a first and possible second-round game. In the women's tournament, the first two rounds are not at neutral sites. The Buffaloes now may have that luxury.
Still, the Jayhawks deserve praise
Still, the Jayhawks deserve prairie for winning two tough games to get to the championship and a tremendous regular season. Now the waiting game begins, because the tournament selections and seedings won't be announced until Sunday.
It appears the Kansas football team wasn't as successful in the classroom last fall as it was on the field. Keeping up with classes during the regular season isn't easy, but everyone — even football players — has to make a 2.0 grade point average through one year to stay enrolled at the University.
Of course, the team still has the
Of course, we team-sail on spring semester to improve, and I trust it can. It would be a shame to lose players from a championship-caliber team to bad grades.
I've been saying it since the Utah game last November — the No. 5 Kansas men's basketball team can't rest on the fate of its outside shooting.
Oklahoma did to the Jayhawks last Saturday what Missouri did on Feb. 10 and what Temple did way back on Dec. 22. By shutting down the big men — namely sophomore forward Raef LaFrentz and junior center Scot Pollard — Kansas was forced to rely on jump shots and three-pointers.
When the shooting is hot, the Jayhawks win. But Kansas can't be on fire all the time. Junior guards Jerd Hase and Jacque Vaughn have been shooting well of late, but sophomore Billy Thomas hasn't.
But the key is getting the ball inside to the post positions.
This team will need all three of them plus some to win games in the Big Eight Tournament this weekend and the NCAA Tournament next week.
Speaking of the conference tournament, the men's team hasn't won it since 1992, when it was upset in the second round of the NCAs by Texas-El Paso. In the Jayhawks' two Final Four appearances under Coach Roy Williams, 1991 and 1993, they lost in the second round.
Call me superstitious, but a loss in the conference tournament's second round translates into a better showing in the NCAA Tournament. When the Jayhawks won the national championship in 1988, they lost in the second round of the Bie Eight Tournament.
With the suspension of Villanova superstar Kerry Kittles, the Wildcats will be hurting heading into the tournament. But I don't think they will be much of a factor anyway. My true Final Four predictions will be in our special basketball section, which runs a week from tomorrow. But here are some "early bird" picks.
I think Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts and Wake Forest will be meeting in East Rutherford, N.J., on March 30. But that prediction is subject to change — don't hold me to it quite yet.
Last week I said that Kansas and Connecticut would be the only schools to win both the men's and women's regular season conference championships this year.
But I forgot about Texas Tech, whose basketball teams are both No. 7 in the Associated Press polls. Kudos to Thomas Gallagher, Olathe junior, for bringing this fact to mv attention.
There won't be any assignments this week. Enjoy the men's tournament this weekend and get ready for the selection shows on Sunday.
Next stop: NCAA Tournament
Class dismissed.
Jayhawks' loss reduces hopes for a home game
By Evan Blackwell Kansan sportswriter
Tvler Wirken / KANSAN
Now that the dust has settled from last weekend's conference tournament, the Big Eight Conference women's basketball teams can evaluate where they stand with the NCAA tournament approaching next week.
No. 19 Colorado won the tournament, soundly defeating No. 20 Kansas 75-47 in the championship game Monday night at the Bicentennial Center in Salina. The win gave the Buffaloes an automatic berth in the NCAA tournament, which begins one week from tomorrow.
For the Jayhawks, the Big Eight regular-season champions, the loss hit hard. Kansas had hoped for the possibility of being a host for a first-round site.
"It'll affect whether or not we get a home game," Kansas women's basketball coach Marian Washington said.
Washington said it was important that the Jayhawks try to recapture the confidence they had gained by winning the regular-season title.
"I have to constantly remind them as to what they've already accomplished," Washington said.
While Kansas may have lost its chance at a firstround home game, Colorado may have locked one up by winning the conference tournament.
Colorado coach Ceal Barry said she thought her team would get the home game. More important, she said, the Buffaloes may be playing their best basketball right now.
Kansas senior guard Charisse Sampson dribbles past a Colorado defender in Monday's Big Eight Conference Tournament championship game. The No. 20 Jayhawks feel their NCAA Tournament chances were hurt with the 75-47 loss to the No. 19 Buffaloes at the Bicentennial Center in Salina.
"I felt like we could win the tournament," Barry said of the Big Eight tournament. "I felt like we were playing better than we did a month ago."
Colorado certainly made a believer out of the Jayhawks after Monday night.
"Colorado did a heck of a job," Washington said. "Hopefully, they'll get a first round home game because I think they deserve it."
Entering this season, the Buffalooes had won the Big Eight title three consecutive years. Barry said that with that kind of success came a great deal of pressure. For at least one weekend, Colorado relieved some of that weight.
"I felt like our kids had fun," Barry said. "There's been pressure on us for the last couple of seasons.
"It was kind of nice to be a little bit of an underdog for once."
While Kansas, at 20-9, and Colorado, at 23-8, are
locks for the NCAAs, the rest of the conference is a little fuzzy.
Oklahoma State seems to be a strong choice as the Big Eight's third team. However, the Cowgirls struggled last weekend. After they were taken to overtime by Iowa State in the first round, the Cowgirls were bounced out of the tournament in a 69-59 loss to the
Buffaloes.
The Big Eight likely will send four teams to the tournament, as Nebraska probably sewed up an at-large bid with its showing last weekend.
After beating Missouri in the first round, the Cornhuskers took Kansas to the wire before falling, 65-61.
Baseball team loses conference opener
After trading leads Oklahoma wins game
Kansan staff report
and 0-1 in the Big Eight.
Sooner or later, senior Clay Baird wasn't going to pitch a good game.
Oklahoma extended its home winning streak to 22 games.
Unfortunately for Kansas, it came in its Big Eight Conference opener. Baird was roughed up for six runs in 4 1/3 innings in Kansas' 10-7 loss to No. 15 Oklahoma yesterday afternoon in Norman, Okla.
taired (2-1) was staked to an early 3-0 lead in the second inning but gave up four runs in the bottom of the inning.
The Jayhawks seemed poised to blow the game open in the third. They loaded the bases with nobody out. Kansas coach Bobby Randall started the runners when junior centerfielder Isaac Byrd lined out to Sooner second baseman Jesse Zepeda, who stepped on second and threw over to third, completing the play.
Randall said that was the turning point in the game.
"We had a chance to win," he said. "The triple play with the bases loaded and nobody out was a large play."
But Kansas was able to regain a 5-4 lead in the fourth, thanks to freshman designated hitter Mike Dean's solo home run, his second of the year.
The loss evened Kansas' record at 5-5
The Sooners once again responded, this time scoring twice in the fifth and leading 6-5. never trailing again.
Kansas relievers junior Aric Peters and sophomore Tim Lyons gave up four more
LINESCORE: All the numbers from yesterday's game. Page 2.
runs, sealing the Sooner win.
"We have got to do a better job of coming out of the bullpen and pitching aggressively." Randall said.
"I was really proud of the team. We are continuing to get better with each game," he said. "This is a hard-nosed group of men. I am disappointed in the final score but not in our team."
Kansas plays the second of its two-game series at 3 p.m. today.
Superstitions held dear by basketball believers
By Jenni Carlson
Kansan sportswriter
Matt Flickner / KAHSAN
When the Kansas men's basketball team runs onto the floor, the line goes from shortest to tallest — with one exception.
"We were going to change back once, but we just kept it in the same order," Haase said. "And then when I stretch, I stretch in the same place every time."
Freshman guard Ryan Robertson, 6 feet 5 inches tall, goes ahead of junior guard Jerod Haase. 6 feet 3 inches tall.
Some call it routine. Others say it's superstition. Whatever the title, doing the same thing on game days and during games is common in athletics.
The No. 5 Jayhawks are no different. No one on the team does anything blatantly noticeable to the other players, though. Nothing crazy before games. No shrines in the lockers.
"The older a player gets the less superstitious he becomes; and also, I think it's a real personal thing," Haase said. "It's not something you share."
Kansas men's basketball coach Roy Williams has perhaps the best-known superstitions on the Hawk队 team. Williams became famous for spitting in rivers in 1993.
For Haase, he won't button the side snaps that are second from the top and second from the bottom on his warm-ups, and he always makes his last shot during the pre-game warm-up.
Sophomore guard Billy Thomas gets a haircut before every game. Junior guard Jacque Vaughn doesn't whistle in the house or put hats on the bed.
During time-outs, McGrath and Whatley will stand in the same spot if the team is playing well. If the team is not, they will switch spots in the huddle.
"Me, T.J. Whatley, Steve Ransom and Ryan have this little thing before the game where we have to push each other," sophomore guard C.B. McGrath said. "That's sort of our superstition."
Once a game gets started, the bench players have several superstitions.
Even with all the little things the players do, they agree that Kansas coach Roy Williams holds the most superstitions.
"He always claims he's not superstitious," freshman forward Paul Pierce said. "But one time we won on the road, and we wore sweatsuit to the game. The
next road game he asked, 'Did we win our last game on the road? We wore sweatsuits then; we'll wear sweatsuits now.'
That's not the only instance of Williams' superstition. During the 1993 NCAA Tournament, the Jayhawks played in the regional at St. Louis and in the Final Four at New Orleans. Williams spit into the
Mississippi River before the games in both cities.
That superstition was more obvious than most. However, they are there.
"Everybody in one way or another has superstitions," Haase said. "Especially when things go well, you want to keep doing the same thing."
Jayhawks teed off down on the bayou
After playing 36 holes on Monday, the Jayhawks were in 14th place with a score of 618. Yesterday, the Jayhawks shot an 18-hole round of 296 to finish 14th with a total score of 914, 37 strokes behind tournament winner Tulaa, who captured first place with a three-round total of 877.
Kansan staff report
with a three-round total of 617.
Only one Kansas golfer finished in the top 20.
Senior Alan Stearns shot a three-round total of 224 to finish in 19th place. Stearns finished 11 strokes behind tournament champion Graham Davidson of Mississippi State, who shot a three-round total of 213, the second consecutive top 25 finish and the 11th of his career.
At the par-72 Oakbourne Country Club in Lafayette, La., the Jahawks failed to crack the top 10 at the Louisiana Classics held by Southwestern Louisiana. The team finished 12th out of 15.
After 54 holes, the Kansas men's golf team came up short.
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Seniors Slade Adams and Dan Rooney and junior Kit Grove were unable to crack the top 30.
Freshman Chris Thompson was next with a total score of 227 and a finish in 28th place.
Big Eight Conference rival Colorado finished worse than the Jayhawks with a 14th place finish and a three-round total of 927.