THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAS
THURSDAY, APRIL 3, 2008
SPORTS
3B
RAINS (CONTINUED FROM 1B)
Missouri fans, they don't like Kansas. I try to talk to them, but they don't want to hear it."
Millan, a member of the Army reserves, is a lawyer in St. Louis. He spent a year in Bagdad in 2004 and at age 34. He needs to stay enlisted for four more years to receive his retirement benefits that
he is awarded after 20 years of service. Since the current policy allows for soldiers to be deployed only one year out of five, Millan hopes that his time is done.
The duty of Millan's unit
"I was just so disappointed that I couldn't be there because years like this just don't come around. Things just aligned for us."
"Through people who can put our themes and messages out to the population,people that have influence such as the Iraqi security forces. We tell them to support the government and that things are getting better and turning around and not to support al-Qaida or any other terrorist group."
is to walk the streets of Rhamadi and convince the Iraqi citizens to accept the current form of government and to encourage them to vote in the upcoming elections.
CESAR MILLAN KU alumna stationed in Iraq
"We influence the Iraqi populous through media, and at my level, we do it through key communicators," Millan said.
Millan is home for two weeks leave and was able to watch the Jayhawks first four wins in the NCAA Tournament with friends at sports bars in both St. Louis and Kansas City. But luck
would have it that with the biggest game of the season coming up,
Millan leaves Friday at 9 a.m. to head back to Iraq for the remaining three months of his unit's time
"Unfortunately, it just didn't work out that way," Millan said. "I got to see everything else."
Millan will fly to Atlanta before
boarding an Army charter for the 14 hour flight to Kuwait. He then will have another plane ride and a helicopter ride back to Rhamadi. He is worried, however, that he might not be able to find a TV to watch the games.
"I'm real concerned with that, it's going to be hit or miss." Millan said. "I'll be very thankful if I can watch it. It's going to be dicey, finding a TV to watch it on. I'll be in between airplanes and just hope I can find a TV"
And what will a lifelong Jayhawk fan do if his alma mater is able to win the championship and cut down the nets on Monday night?
"I'll be calling everybody on the satellite phone and sending out e-mails," Millan said. "I'll be happy as hell. I want to see us do it. I'm going to have to live it through my friends, find out where everybody was at when we won, how the partying was in Lawrence and San Antonio, and just how excited everyone was. I'll buy my T-shirt when I get back."
— Edited by Jared Duncan
BASKETBALL (CONTINUED FROM 1B)
That's how Kansas defended its seemingly small amount of fame balanced scoring. Everyone knows the stats by now. Seven players have led the team in scoring for at least one game this year, and five players average nine points or more.
The Jayhawks have used that balance all season to win 35 games and make it to the Final Four. Sasha Kaun provided a perfect example of how balance can help a team in KU's victory.
against Davidson on Sunday. With the starters struggling and playing tight, Kaun came off the bench to score 13 points and grab six rebounds.
"We had Sasha that game and had different guys step up other times," Robinson said, "and that's been most of our success."
Robinson and the rest of the team are confident they can use the same recipe and do well this weekend. Just because the names
of some of the players are better known and their averages are higher, Kansas won't go into the Final Four feeling overmatched.
"We've got good players," Self said, "and they've got good players
... The strength of our team is balance, and if you're going to make a negative of it, the weakness of our team is balance."
Edited by Sam Lamb
>> WORLD POLITICS
Political unrest continues in China Protests persist near Tibet, cause concern for 2008 Olympics
ASSOCIATED PRESS
BY CHRISTOPHER BODEEN
ASSOCIATED PRESS
BEIJING—Unrest was reported Wednesday among Muslims in far western China, a headache for Beijing as it tries to squeel Tibetan protests and another sign that neither investment nor repression has ended anti-government feeling in the hinterlands.
The protests in Xinjiang create new problems for Beijing as it tries to contain demonstrations while fending off criticism of its treatment of minorities ahead of this summer's Beijing Olympics.
Meanwhile, U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit Beijing since a deadly March 14 anti-government riot in the Tibetan capital, said he appealed to Chinese leaders to engage their critics.
"I expressed our concerns about the violence and urged a peaceful resolution through dialogue," Paulson said. He declined to specify to which officials he made the appeal.
The reports about the latest unrest in Xinjiang described disturbances last month at a bazaar in the city of Hotan, deep in the Muslim Uighur minority's cultural heartland.
A local government statement said a "tiny number of people" tried to create an incident March 23 "under the flag of separatism." A local government spokesman blamed the protest on Uighur separatists whom he accused of seizing on the Tibet unrest to call attention to their independence cause.
"These people are splittists responding to the Tibetan riots," the spokesman, Fu Chao, said. He said dozens were arrested, but only the "core splittists" remained in custody.
U. S. government-funded Radio Free Asia and an overseas Uighur activist reported earlier that the demonstrators were demanding the right for Uighur women to wear head scarves and the release of political prisoners.
The rare official confirmation of the Xinjiang protest appeared to signal the government's sensitivity to unrest, said Nicholas Bequelin, a Hong Kong-based researcher for Human Rights Watch.
"It was out already, so they were forced to react rapidly," he said.
Linking the protesters to events
in Tibet was a way of portraying them as opportunistic and thereby undermining any real grievances, he said.
Faced with local opposition; China has employed the twin policies of economic development and repression in both Xinjiang and Tibet, believing that would win over the masses while crushing dissent.
Opposition has continued, however, mainly peacefully in Tibet, but sometimes accompanied by violence in Xinjiang; authorities
this year claimed to have foiled a Uighur terror plot targeting the Olympics and an attempt to crash a commercial airliner.
The incident in Hotan came nine days after the deadly rioting in Lhasa set off the largest and most sustained wave of protests in Tibetan areas of western China in almost two decades.
China accuses supporters of Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, of orchestrating the violence and planning future attacks by "suicide squaws."
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Kansas coach Bill Self said. "But per capita, they've produced some guys."
Chalmers' hometown is Anchorage, a midsized municipality of close to 300,000 residents. It's where Chalmers attended Bartlett High School.
Junior guard Mario Chalmer celebrates during Kansas Elite Eight matchup with Davidson. Regarding Chalmer's personality, teammate Darrrell Arthur said, "He always has something smart to say. He's a funny guy when you know him."
CHALMERS (CONTINUED FROM1B)
As a young kid, Chalmers would watch Langdon play. Chalmers' dad, Ronnie, who is now Kansas' director of basketball operations, coached Langdon when the former Duke star was in high school.
Mario watched him make three after three and said, "that's going to be me."
"Just being around him, working out, seeing the type of work ethic he had," Chalmers said, "I just wanted to emulate him."
Playing in the obscure outpost of Anchorage, Chalmers made a name for himself while traveling around the country in the summer.
"Every college coach knew exactly who Mario was." Self said.
Chalmers talent was undeniable. The smooth jumper, the quick hands and the deceptive athleticism — it was all there.
"Certain athletes have a graceful glide to them," Self said, "and he's one of those guys"
Quiet off the court, Chalmers has shown a more ferocious side on the court this season. He's averaging a career-high 12.7 points per game. In addition to his respected outside game, Chalmers said he's tried to become more aggressive going to the basket.
Gaining experience
"I think that's just my game, getting to the rack," Chalmers said.
The three-pointers still come often — he hit six against Texas in the Big 12 Tournament final
He's got the story to prove it.
He's got the story to prove it.
Chalmers' freshman year of high school, his Bartlett team was playing Kenai, and he found himself on a fast break.
— but Chalmers says that he's always tried to attack the rim.
"Dude jumped with me, and I kind of went up and dunked it," Chalmers said.
It was the first time he dunked on somebody — but not the last. Handing to San Antonio.
Earlier this tournament,
Chalmers stood in the Kansas locker room and eyed Rush as Rush spoke with reporters. Rush struggled for a word, and his sentences became jumbled.
It was a rare public display of Chalmers: the jokester. A side his teammates say they see all the time.
"Stuttering Stanley," Chalmers said, chiding Rush.
"Cmon brotha, let me talk"
Rush said.
"He always has something smart to say," Arthur said. "He's a funny guy when you get to know him."
Now the rest of the college basketball world is about to know Chalmers. The skilled guard, the ferocious competitor — maybe even the subtle jokerest.
Earlier this month, a reporter asked Self about Chalmers. After naming all of Chalmers' attributes for a few moments, Self stopped.
"He's just a great college guard." Self said.
Sometimes fewer words mean more.
Edited by Katherine Loeck
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