Sports
University Daily Kansan / Monday, April 3, 1989
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Michigan depends on interim coach in finals
The Associated Press
SEATLET — Steve Fisher has gotten as much attention for the word "interim" as he has for the Michigan team he coached through Ivy League.
The story-book career of interim coach Fisher is expected to end tonight with the national championship game against Seton Hall.
The final game of the college basketball season is an unlikely game for an interm coach to be involved in, and until last season it was just as unlikely a game for a Seton Hall team to be playing in.
Fisher's story started 48 hours before the tournament began when Bill Frieder was fired by Michigan after he agreed to take coaching duties at Arizona State next season. Since then, not only have the Wolverines not lost but they have played the best basketball of their season and better basketball than they have in any recent NCAA tournament.
"Timing is everything, and I jumped in at the right time." Fisher said yesterday, adding that he would not talk to Michigan athletic director Michael Johnson but would about the head coaching position until after the championship game.
"We have not been lucky in the
tournament the last six years. Balls bounced off instead of in. We've gotten lucky but the players have put themselves in position to win games.
The NCAA Final Four
The five victories include Saturday's 83-41 victory over Big Ten Conference-rival Illinois on a last-second rebound basket by Sean Hagstrom. The first success against the Fighting Illini in this season's three meetings.
Glen Rice led Michigan in scoring
against Illinois with 28 points, and he has 153 points in the tournament, 25 short of Bill Bradley's mark set with Princeton in 1965.
Rice has shot 59.4 percent from the field, including a 22-for-37 mark from three-point range.
"I jumped on Glen Rice's back before the tournament, and he's carried me this far," Fisher said.
Michigan center Terry Mills said he had changed his style of play from scorer to role player because of Rice's streak.
"When you have a guy shooting like Glen Rice is shooting, you give your body up for that," he said. "We've matured a lot in the last weeks, and we pick it up a notch every night."
Seton Hall picked things up more than one notch in its semifinal victory over Duke.
Twelve minutes into the game, the Pirates trailed 26-8, and they looked more like one of P.J. Carlesimo's
1 think we're able to wear teams down as the games get on. They get frustrated, and they can't believe their eyes when they see they're getting beat by Seton Hall."
Daryll Walker
Darryl Warner
Seton Hall basketball player
early Seton Hall teams, when were often the doormat of the Big East Conference.
"When I left the hotel they were losing 26--8. Mills said." When "I got to the arena they were up six. That shows what kind of class they have."
It also shows the kind' of defense the Pirates have played during the tournament, their second in two years and second in the school's
"I think we're getting respect, and that comes from the kids playing
unselfishly." Carlesimo said. "Defense is a big part of our game, and that is critical for us to be successful."
The defense has shined for the Pirates in the second half of their five NCAA victories. No team has managed to score more points against them during the second half.
The numbers: Southwest Missouri State had one field goal in the last 9:50; Evansville had none in the last 5:04; Indiana had three in 15:30; Nevada-Las Vegas had six in 14:09; and Duke had five in 8:40.
"I think we're able to wear teams down as the games get on," senior forward Daryl Walker said. "They get frustrated, and they can't believe their eyes when they see they're getting beat by Seton Hall."
Center Ramon Ramos credits the team's depth for the second-half success.
"I don't think we do anything consciously about playing better
defense in the second half, he said. "We have a real deep bench, and they keep us fresh. When guy come up, they're ready." We're fresh when we come back in."
The Seton Hall reserves have outscored the opponents' substitutes 98-36 in the tournament.
"It's not unusual during a game to see more starters on the bench than on the floor," Carlesimo said. "We also know we can spread the scoring between us and our team, so we can score 20 points one night and fix the next, but they still contribute."
Ramos is the perfect example of that. He has managed just 28 points in the five games, and 12 of those came in the victory against Indiana.
"The way our game has developed in the tournament, I haven't really gotten into the flow," said Ramos, an Olympic star from Pitrania. "It was frustrated because I have concentrated on rebounding and defense."
Weekend play gives lacrosse club first 2 victories
In pursuit of the ball, Jerry O'Connor (left) tries to protect himself from being slashed by a Creighton player. The KU Lacrosse team defeated Creighton yesterday, 6-3.
Game moved off campus because of rain on fields
KU Lacrosse Club players Ted Nash (left) and Chris Wilcox scramble for a loose ball.
by Beth Behrens
Kansan sportswriter
The KU Lacrosse Club recorded its first victories of the season during the weekend against the St. Louis lacrosse Club and Creighton University.
Kansas traveled to Columbia, Mo., Saturday and defeated St. Louis 7-5. The Jayhawks beat Creighton 6-3 yesterday in a game that an official considered calling a "win." Creighton moved from the field east of Robinson Center to Broken Arrow Park at 31st and Louisiana streets.
The St. Louis game was scheduled to make up a rained-out game earlier in the season.
The goalies, Marc Roskin,
Northbrook, Ill., sophomore, and
Ron Logan each made nine saves
in the St. Louis game, two goals each were scored by Scott Reinecke, Severna, Md., junior; John Sheehan, Littleton, Colo.; freshman; and Dan Grossman, Denver junior. Hinsdale, Ill.; freshman Greg Goss added one goal. Reinecke and Sheehan each had one assist, and Ron Conner, Cole, Colo., senior, had two assists.
for the 2-1 Javhawks.
Against Creighton, Conner scored two goals in the first quarter and assisted on one of Sheehan's three goals for the afternoon. Reineke scored the final goal of the game. Wilmette, Ill., sophomore Ted Nash assisted Conner on one of his goals.
“It’s all finally coming together,” Sheehan said. “We played a good game, and we’re all ready to add more victories this season.”
Kansas was scheduled to play two games yesterday, but a game against the Kansas City Lacrosse Club was called because of rain.
Most of the lacrosse players, however, would rather have plaved despite the rain.
"It's great that they gave us a field," said Mike Biggers, Englewood, Colo., junior. "It's just too bad that it had to rain on our first tournament of the year. Everyone's here ready to play, and they just have to turn around and go back home. It's just too bad."
Kansas will play in the fifth annual Missouri Lacrosse Midwestern Shootout tournament next weekend in Columbia.
Jayhawks place last in weekend tourney
by a Kansan reporter
The Kansas men's tennis team finished the Blue/Gray Championships in last place during the season, and dropping its season record to 4-16.
Fifteen of the nation's top teams competed in the tournament, which featured a new format. Instead of playing the traditional six singles matches and three doubles matches, the competition also included single singles matches and one doubles match. The competition started Thursday and ended yesterday.
After losing to 12th-ranked Miami 7- on Thursday, the Jawahiers lost to 15th-ranked Southern California 7- on Friday. Coach Scott Perelman said Kansas did not play well in the tournament's new format.
On Saturday, Kansas lost to SMU 6-1. Although Jayhawk junior Craig Widley was awarded a victory against No.1 player Alex Nizet, the match was not completed because Nizet was in injured in the third set.
Kansas will Big Eight Conference play when the Jayhawks play Oklahoma State on Saturday.
Colleges sports integrity doubted Academics need more emphasis, survey says
"The score was 6,7 6,3 for Wildey,
but then at 2-2 in the second set, Nizet dislocated his kneecap." Perelman said. "It was the grossest thing I've ever seen in my life. He changed directions going after a shot, and he fell. His kneecap was totally twisted,
and he just lay there screaming."
NEW YORK — Americans widely doubt the integrity of the nation's top sports colleges, believing they commonly give secret payments and inflated grades to student athletes.
The Associated Press
Concern was undiminished among the 54 percent of respondents who called themselves college sports tans. They agreed in solid majorities that their college teams were negatively neglected and improper payments common.
A majority of respondents in a Media General-Associated Press national survey also suspected athletic booster clubs of making secret payments to players. And two-thirds said the colleges overemphasize sports and neglect academic standards for athletes.
At the same time, 83 percent favored athletic scholarships. Among blacks, for whom scholarships often provide an escape from poverty, support reached 92 percent.
Seventy-six percent said colleges should not be permitted to pay money to their student athletes. More than 55 percent thought schools and booster clubs commonly made payments under the table.
More than eight in 10 favored the provisions of the NCAA's Proposition 42, which would prohibit schools from giving athletic scholarships to freshmen unable to meet the NCAA's academic requirement.
The poll, conducted by telephone among a random sample of 1,108 adults March 6-13, had a mean age of 42.9 years.
Georgetown coach John Thompson staged a two-game protest strike this winter, arguing that
A
Americans widely doubt the integrity of the nation's top sports colleges, believing they commonly give secret payments and inflated grades to student athletes.
the rule would disproportionately disqualify black athletes. The rule does not go into effect until 1990-91 and Thompson ended his walkout after the NCAA said it would reconsider the rule.
Respondents aged 65 and older were the least supportive of schoolships in general and the least satisfied with academic standards, while the youngest, ages 18-29, were the most supportive. Blacks, similarly, were less critical than whites of Division I programs.
But 81 percent of the blacks polled favored the rule, as high a level of support as among whites. Moreover, eight in 10 of the supporters — both blacks and whites — said they would favor the rule even if it could disqualify many blacks and other minority athletes from scholarships.
For example, while 77 percent of the oldest respondents said the schools overemphasize sports, that fell to 61 percent of the youngest and 52 percent of blacks. While 39 percent of blacks said academic standards for athletes were high, the same was true for the youngest group and 18 percent of the oldest.
All colleges can set their own grade requirements for student athletes and these standards are followed by the athletic committees.
Division I schools that require a "C" average in a core of 11 courses and a minimum of 700 on the Scholastic Aptitude Test or a 15 on the American College Test.
In the poll, nearly three-quarters said a "C" average should be required for a student to play sports and an additional 20 percent favored even higher grades.
But there was a significant lack of faith in the grading process itself: Half the respondents called it common practice for professors to give student athletes higher grades than they deserved so they could continue to play. Only 32 percent doubled occurs, while 18 percent said they were unsure.
In some cases, fans were even more critical of Division I programs than others. Fans were more likely than non-fans to say the schools commonly made under-the-table payments to athletes, 63.51 percent. And fans were more convinced than non-fans such payments by booster clubs, 64.48 percent.
Black respondents were less likely to believe such payments took place, with 43 percent saying colleges made them and 47 percent saying booster clubs made them. Blacks also were more apt to favor allowing colleges to pay money to student athletes: Thirty-six percent supported the idea, compared with 16 percent of the white respondents.
The poll was conducted by the AP and Media General Inc., a communications company based in Raleigh, NC.
Track teams come in third at inivitational
by Cynthia L. Smith and Mike Considine Kansan sportswriters
The Kansas men's and women's track teams both finished third Saturday in the Louisiana State University Invitational in Baton Rouge.
With 96 points, the Kansas women's team team finished behind Louisiana State, which won with 148 points. The state also followed with 74 points, which followed with 74 points.
"We were in second a long time," Kansas coach Gary Schwartz said. "We hadn't gone down with any aspirations of winning."
He said he also had not expected the Jayhawk women to sweep the 1,500-meter run.
"I knew there were five or six girls entered. I figured we would obviously place, but we didn't talk about going 1-2-3." Schwartz said.
Julie Howerton won in 4 minutes, 39.87 seconds, followed by Tricia Brown, who finished in 4:42.40, and Terrri Grybowyki, who finished in 4:48.72. Howerton also finished third in the 800 in 2:14.40.
Grzybowski said Howerton helped her in the 1.500.
"This is one of those pleasant things that gives the athletes all kinds of positive feedback," he said. "It was close through two laps. Then it took command of the race and Terni and Terri went right with her."
"Jule and I were side by side the first half of the race, so we helped pace each other," she said. "We pulled each other through each lap." Schwartz said the sweep would help morale.
Other Kansas third-place finishers included Sherlanda Brooks, who ran the 40 in 55.2, and Marybeth Idoux, who threw the shot-plut 13.41 meters.
Kansas' Pat Manson took command of the pole vault, recording the Jayhawk men's only victory. Kansas scored 96 points for third. Louisiana with 132 points, followed by Southwest Texas State with 124 points.
"It was a situation where it was good to get to an scoring meet, but we didn't pull out all the stops to try to win." Schwartz said.
"I couldn't be as high as it will be" later in the season because that's the way our training is oriented. "Manson said, 'It's harder early on and gets weaker.' We go on. We get fresher later, but we need to build our endurance early."
Manson won the pole vault with a vault of 17 feet, $6 \frac{1}{4}$ inches, followed by Cam Miller who raised $16 \cdot 10^{-4}$
Kansas' Craig Watkec got off to a good start this season, finishing third in the 5,000 in 13.54.32, his second fastest 5,000 ever. He was beaten by Wisconsin's Mark Ellen in 13.41.68 and Wisconsin's Chris Roussin in 13.50.61.
"It was set up (in that) I got together with the LSU coach and Wisconsin coaches, and we planned to run the first mile at 4:25 and be 8:50 at the two-mile mark. "Schwartz said. "For a lot of the race, it was a slow start. We got the last mile and Craig and Borsa had quite a battle from then on."
Watke said he was happy with his time but not with his third-place finish.
"Hopefully, getting beat early will motivate me to work harder in practice," he said.
Kansas' Steve Heffernan, who suffered from bronchitis during the indoor season, $aid he was looking for. He was placed second in the 1,500 in 3:51. 10
"I didn't ever really get over it," he said. "But now it feels good to work out and not really worry about being sick any more."