SPORTS
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 1995
Sooner or later class wins out
SECTION B
In typical Jerod Haase style, the sophomore dove after a loose ball into the area behind the basket at Oklahoma's Lloyd Noble Center last Monday night in the Jayhawks' 76-73 loss.
SPORTS EDITOR
Forget for a moment that the Kansas guard was trying to show-boat a little in front of a partisan Sooner crowd, nonchalantly scooping up a Jacque Vaughn pass and fumbling it off his fingertips. Forget also that Oklahoma guard John Ontjes gave a little push as Hoseley fell the fl
Haase fell to the floor.
Just remember the end scene. A Sooner student going out of his way to jab a finger near Haase's head yelling, you suck, at the top of his lungs.
Seeing this, what is a coach to do?
Seeing this, what is he doing?
He protects his player. Which is exactly what Kansas coach Roy Williams did. The point where Williams went too far was jabbing his finger at the Sooner fan.
Rightfully so, referees called Williams for a technical foul. No coach is allowed to leave the bench area.
Roy admitted that his action was wrong but said that he thought Haase was being physically harassed. However, Williams will be the first to say that receiving a "T" is a worthwhile trade for protecting a player.
But, action was never taken against the fan. The student was sitting in a section of Lloyd Noble called Kelvin's Crew, a group of fans new this year who paint their faces and cheer on first-year Oklahoma coach Kelvin Sampson. Haase landed right in front of the group face down and was heckled from above.
Oklahoma security workers and John Underwood, Oklahoma assistant athletic director, immediately searched out the member of the Crew. Underwood said that because the fan was just heckling a player, no action was taken.
"I talked to Jerod after the game, and he said he wasn't even aware of what was happening," Underwood said. "He had his head down."
They're very supportive of our team," he said of the student group. "We won't condone any disorderly conduct, but if pointing fingers is a crime we better not go to Allen Field House or Gallagher-Iba. We have really been cautious about our student participation. If it's in good clean fun, heckling is part of the game."
Darren Cook, Kansas director of facilities, has a dramatically different view and said if the same situation were to happen in the field house it would not be tolerated.
"They would be out of the arena for sure." Cook said. "We would make a decision later on whether the student was suspended for the season."
Cook's comment may seem a bit after-the-fact, but it is believable. Two years ago, Joe "Captain Jayhawk" Zelinski, a student known for being heaved into the air by fans in the student section, was kicked out of the field house. All he did was switch names on one of the first-level scoreboards. That pales in comparison to Monday's situation.
"We take a pretty hard stand on crowd conduct," Cook said. "We've got a great bunch of fans here with a lot of class, and they represent us well."
For Underwood to equate what happened Monday with the field house is a mistake. The situation may seem trivial now, but at the time it was an embarrassment to Oklahoma basketball.
I guarantee that some Kansas fans would do the same thing, but those fans are seated in Row 40 of the field d house, not floor level. The real field house fans that wait days for seats have enough class and would refrain from taunting opposing players. We would expect a fan to get thrown out at Kansas for that kind of taunting.
"They have great crowd support at Kansas," Underwood said. "That's what we want here."
There is a difference between cockiness and classiness. There is a difference between Oklahoma fans and Kansas fans.
Right now, the difference is clear.
Left: Kansas freshman forward Raef LaFrentz and senior center Greg Oertagt attempt to stop Nebraska's Terrance Badgett from advancing the ball toward the basket.
Right: Kansas junior guard Charisse Sampson shoots a layup over Connecticut center Kara Wolters. Both Kansas teams enter this weekend's competition after suffering losses to the Oklahoma Sooners.
Paul Kotz / KANSAN
Mizzou, OSU to visit for finale
Losses put 'Hawks on the rebound
By Christoph Fuhrmans
Kansan sports writer
(
Kansan sports writer
After three consecutive road games, the No. 1 Kansas Jayhawks will return to the friendly confines of Allen Field House tomorrow tr
face the No.14 Missouri Tigers.
Kansas enters the game at 20-4 overall and 9-3 in the Big Eight Conference, a
e half game behind conference leader Oklahoma State. Missouri is 18-5 and 7-4, two games behind the Cowboys.
If the Jayhawks win tomorrow and then beat Oklahoma State on March 5, they will be assured of no less than a tie for the conference championship. Even if the Tigers beat the Jayhawks and then win their next two games, Missouri will need help from other conference teams to win the championship.
play for 14 games. Our end-of-the year schedule has been pretty doggie demanding."
Kansas coach Roy Williams said that although ending the conference season, playing the Tigers and
The demands placed on Kansas sophomore guard Jacque Vaughn seem to have affected his shooting. Vaughn has gone 3-for-19 in Kansas's last two games.
"Nobody's more concerned about it than Jacque," Williams said. "But he's still playing exceptionally well. Even when he doesn't shoot the ball well, he really is good on the defensive end of the floor."
Cowboys at home was an advantage, he would rather play other teams.
Missouri could be the cure for Vaughn's
"I like playing them at home better than I do at their place, but I'd rather play St. Mary's Sisters of the Blind," he said. "But if you want to win a conference championship, you've got to
the cure for Vaughn's shooting woes. In each of his three games against the Tigers, Vaughn has averaged 15 points, four rebounds and 5.3 assists.
When the Tigers enter the field house, their label as a dirty team will follow. The cause or victim of this label is sophomore guard Jason Sutherland, whose aggressive style of play has led opponents to call him dirty.
Missouri's aggressive style of basketball has produced victories. Williams said the Tigers had played beyond the media's expectations.
"They've really accomplished a heck of a lot, because they lost a lot of talented players who played a lot of minutes," he said.
"I do think the credit's got to go to him." Williams said. "I think he done a heck of a coaching job this year. But that's nothing new; he's been doing it for 700 years."
Williams said the Tigers' success was linked directly to coach Norm Stewart.
Kansas must do without forward
Kansan sportswriter
By Jenni Carlson
After losing three of their last four games, the Jayhawks are down, but Jennifer Trapp
sad that there's no way the women's basketball team was out.
"Teams think they can take advantage of us now that we're down, and that's not true," the sophomore forward said. "I think if we win these two games and prove we still are a good team, they're going to be a little bit scared."
However, winning the two games Trapp referred to will not be easy. The No. 3 Colorado Buffaloes will travel to Allen Field House and face Kansas at 7 tonight. Sunday, the Jayhawks will close their regular season against Missouri at 2 p.m. in the field house.
The Jayhawks must battle this weekend without the services of sophomore forward Shelly Canada, Canada suffered an acute appendectomy Tuesday night and had immediate surgery. She will miss this weekend's games but should play in the Big Eight Tournament on March 4.
Despite Canada's absence on the floor, she will be with her team in spirit, Kansas sophomore Guard Tamecka Dixon said.
"We're going to give this weekend to Shelly and win it for her," she said.
Colorado and Missouri stand between the Jayhawks and those victories. The Tigers are 4-8 in the Big Eight Conference. The Buffaloes claimed their third straight regular season Big Eight title last weekend and have a 12-0 record in the conference.
"I think we have people that will step up and help out at that position," Trapp said of Canada's position. "But we're going to miss her."
"You have to hand it to them, they've done
7 p.m. Tonight Allen Field House
what they needed to do." Kansas women's basketball coach Marian Washington said of the Buffaloes.
Winning may have come easier for Colorado this year with the addition of center Isabelle Fjalkowjski. The 6-foot-5 senior joined the Buffaloes after playing on several national teams for France, her home country. She leads Colorado with 15.3 points a game and also grabs an average of 5.9 rebounds.
"I will tell you this, the player that made the difference for them this year is Isabelle," Washington said.
"Our defensive intensity is the main thing that will get us the wins we want," Trapp said. "Coach Washington has always stressed our defense. As long as you're playing defense, you're doing a good job for her."
In addition to Fijalokwa-
ki, Colorado lists six other
players 6-foot tall or taller.
Trapp said Kansas must deny those interior players the basketball. That will take defense from the post players as well as the guards.
Members of the losing team in a Kansas baseball intrasquad scrimmage spin around with their heads on the bats at practice. Then, the dizzy players tried to run to home plate while the winning team cheered them on.
Kansas baseball ready for Rice Classic
Sean R. Crosier / KANSAM
Team hopes new relaxed approach improves record
By Tom Erickson
Kansan sportswriter
The Kansas baseball team has adopted a simple approach to improve its 1-5 record—relax and have fun.
The Jayhawks will get their chance to do both when they face Sam Houston State at 1 p.m. today in the first game of the Rice Classic in Houston. Kansas will play No. 16 Rice tomorrow and finish the round-robin tournament Sunday with a game against Southwest Texas.
"I think we just need to bring the fun back into the game and win this weekend," said Kansas senior third baseman Brent Wilhelm.
Although Kansas is off to its worst start since going 1-6 in 1975, Kansas coach Dave Bingham said the Jayhawks were ready to begin winning.
"We had three good days of practice
this week." he said.
ringham said having fun, not trying too hard to win and communicating difficulties both on and off the field were three things the Jayhawks needed to do to be successful.
"We had great communication even though our practices were long this week." Bingham said.
"It's tough when you've been knocked to the mat," he said. "I think they are ready to get up and take another shot at it."
"I think coach Bingham has worked with us a lot on what we've been doing best and having fun," igou said.
Junior pitcher Jamie Splittorff will start today's game against Sam Houston. The right-hander hopes to find
By expressing their frustrations, the Jayhawks have grown closer and have gained confidence, Bingham said.
Senior outfielder Josh Igou, who is sidelined for the weekend with a hamstring injury, commended the work Bingham did in practice this week.
"Hopefully, I will get off to a good start and throw up a couple of zeros to get the offense going," he said.
his winning ways after losing in both games he pitched this year.
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Junior pitcher Clay Baird will start in tomorrow's contest with Rice. Baird's 3.00 ERA is tops on the pitching staff, and he earned the win in Kansas' lone victory of the season Feb. 11 against the University of Nevada-Las Vegas.
Making his first start of the season
Sunday will be junior left-hander
Robert Garola. Both of his earlier
appearances this season have been
out of the bull pen. Garola, who has
an ERA of 18.00 for the season, gave
up four hits and two runs in 1 2/3
innings Saturday at Arkansas.
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Kansas junior catcher Ted Meadows said having only one win in six tries this year was not weighing too heavily on his mind.
"Wins and losses will come, but playing good baseball is something we need to work on every day," he said.