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Monday, March 30, 1987 / University Daily Kansan
*Basketball Extra*
Will Manning and Brown stay at KU another year?
Glamour, money of NBA luring Jayhawks
By NICOLE SAUZEK Associate sports editor
An ominous banner stretched across a group of students before KU's final men's basketball game in Allen Field House against Kansas State on Feb. 19.
Its message: "NBA? No way. Keep Larry and Danny in Kansas."
The banner posed a question that has been going through the minds of many Kansas fans since the beginning of the season.
Whether Coach Larry Brown and KU's All-American forward Danny Manning will return next year or move up to the professional ranks is still a question that has been answered officially by either.
The answer to the students' plea? No one knows.
Brown's contract renewal with the Kansas University Athletic Corporation currently is being negotiated by his lawyer and Monte Johnson, athletic director, and Gary Hunter, associate athletic director.
Rumors of Brown's departure have swamped the KU coach this season, partly because his contract is coming to an end.
Brown signed a four-year contract in 1983 after the firing of Ted Owens. Brown received a two-year contract extension in 1985.
When Brown accepted the job after being selected from among 80 applicants, he said, "I wouldn't want to be part of a special special. It had to be a special job."
Manning also has been questioned about where he will be playing next year because many experts think he could be the NBA's second draft pick behind Navy's David Robinson.
After the K-State game, Manning said, "I just want to have the best possible season. Then, when it's over, I'll sit back and analyze my situation and go from there."
Manning is still weighing the decision and said last week, "I'm staving in school right now."
Even Brown did not know whether Manning would stay for another season.
"What's best for him is best for me." Brown said last week. "I hope he does what's best for him."
If we do really good with recruiting, I think he'll stay. His goals are to win the NCAA championship, to play in the Olympics and to graduate. In order to do those things, he'd have to stay.
He's done a lot for our program. I hope he does a lot for Danny.
Larry Brown Kansas basketball coach
Brown, though, was hopeful that there was a chance Manning would be returning for another season as a Jawhawk.
"If we do really good with recruiting, I think he'll stay," Brown said. "His goals are to win the NCAA championship, to play in the Olympics and to graduate. In order to do those things, he'd have
"He's done a lot for our program. I hope he does a lot for Danny."
to stay.
Teammate and friend Cedric Hunter said he wanted what was best for Manning, but could not find which way Manning would turn.
"I think he'll make the right decision," Hunter had said after the K-State game. "Whether he stays or leaves, he'll do what's right for him. I really don't know what he'll do."
As for Brown, stories have surfaced frequently about offers reportedly made to him for coaching jobs with the New York Knicks and with the Los Angeles Clippers.
After so many rumors this season, Brown now just jokes about the offers.
Just last week, a newspaper reported that Brown had talked to the Clippers, the team with the worst record in the NBA, about coaching there next season. A story in the Los Angeles Herald Examiner had reported that Brown was considering all options, remaining at Kansas or entertaining an NBA offer with the Knicks.
"I don't have any demands," Brown said last week about contract negotiations. "I've been treated fairly here, and I want to stay."
Brown said no date has been set for the announcement of his contract decision.
Search committee chairman Laurence Rose said, after the hire of Brown in 1893. "He's planning on staying here a long time. He's sixth baskey coach at KU. He's also a seventh coach for a long time."
Only time will tell if Brown and Manning will return to the team next season.
Coach Larry Brown gives Danny Manning instructions during a game in Allen Field House. Rumors persist that the two may be leaving Kansas for the NBA before next season.
Alan Hagman/KANSAN
Unpredictable Jayhawks up and down during 1986-87
Staff writer
By ROB KNAPP
What a long, strange trip it's been.
From a nightmarish tournament in Hawaii to last-second free throws in New York City, and from beating eighth-ranked Temple to losing to last-place Colorado, the Kansas basketball team covered the range of emotional mood.
The Jayhawks started the 1986-87 season with two returners starting and some guarded hope for success. They finished 25-11, titleless but semifinalist in the NCAA Southeast Regional at Louisville, Ky.
And as a legacy, they left another undefeated season at Allen Field House. An 84-67 whipping of Kansas State in the last home game of the season gave Kansas 48 consecutive wins. They played the Big Eight Conference record
Kansas coach Larry Brown said
last week that he was well aware of the up and down nature of the season just finished.
"The season was funny," Brown said. "After the Russian game everybody thought we were great, but after the Wichita State game people thought we'd be lucky if we won 15 games."
What did Brown think of his team before the season started?
"I thought we'd be pretty good," Brown said.
Max Falkenstein, who has done radio broadcasts of KU games since 1946, said the team's accomplishments were impressive.
"I think it was unbelievably successful in that we went as far as we did with what we had," Falkenstien said Saturday.
Falkenstien said he couldn't really compare this edition of the Jayhawks to other Kansas teams he's covered
but that it did seem to stand out in one way.
KU students do their best to distract Kansas State forward Mitch Richmond while he shoots a free throw. Kansas won the game 84-67, its last in Allen Field House for the season, to tie the Big Eight Conference record for most consecutive home-court wins with 48.
"It is kind of a trite phrase, but I think they really did care about each other," he said.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Missouri's Derrick Chievow is surrounded by Danny Manny, Kevin Pritchard, Keith Harris and Chris Piper during the finals of the Big Eight Conference Tournament in Kansas City's Kemper Arena. Missouri went on to win the game 67-65.
Built around Manning
Brown built the team around a second-team All-American forward, junior Danny Manning, and a second-team all-Big Eight guard, senior Cedric Hunter, both of whom improved their status in the basketball world this season.
Manning made numerous all-American teams after this season, including those of the Associated Press and United Press International. He was selected as the Big Eight forward in the 2014 AP and the top player in District 5 by the United States Basketball Writers Association.
Manning also became the all-time career scoring leader at Kansas, ending the season with 2,009 points. He broke Clyde Lovellette's record of 1,888 points, which had stood since 1952.
Hunter was named second-team Big Eight again by both wire services. In addition, he was named with the conference all-tournament team.
After Manning and Hunter came senior guard Mark Turgeon and junior forward Chris Piper, each of whom averaged a little more than 10 minutes off the bench the previous season. Only one other player on the team had been a starter. Scooter Barry, had appeared in a game for Kansas in the 1985-86 season.
Hunter became the Big Eight career assist leader with 684, breaking Jeff Hornacek's mark of 665.
Piper started every game for the Jayhawks this season. Turgeon was again a valuable man off the bench and set a Kansas record for career games played. His 134 games played make Calvin Thompson's record of 131.
Two red-shirts, sophomores Mark Pellock and Milton Newton, returned to the team, joined by junior college transfer Sean Alvarado.
But the bulk of the team was freshman. Forward Robert Coyne left the team between semesters for academic reasons, but guards Kevin Pritchard and Jeff Guelder and forwards Keith Harris and Mark Randall made contributions.
Pritchard moved into a starting role and was named to the Big Eight Conference all-freshman team. Harper joined the conference all-freshman team.
But a 84-78 exhibition victory
against the Soviet Nationa team ... Allen Field House featured impressive debuts by two of the Jayhawk freshmen, guard Kevin Pritchard and forward Mark Randall, and raised expectations for the rest of the season. It became the performance to which later Kansas games would be compared.
Road woes
Kansas opened with three easy wins at home against non-conference opponents and moved up to sixth in each of the wire service polls.
But one of the Jayhawks' biggest weaknesses, their play on the road, became apparent the first time Kansas left the field house. Arkansas came back from a halftime deficit and buried the 'Hawks 103-86.
It was the only time a Kansas opponent scored more than 100 points, and the 17-point margin was the worst loss the Jayhawks suffered.
After a 1-2 performance at the Rainbow Classic in Honolulu, including narrow losses to two NCAA tournament teams, Kansas returned to the mainland for a week that seemed to sum up the season's roller coaster ride.
The Jayhawk's went to Wichita,
I think it was unbelievably successful in that we went as far as we did with what we had.'
where Wichita State sagged their defense on Manning in the middle and held Kansas to 15 points in the first half. The Shockers could only manage 20 first-half points, but they held that margin and won the game 54-49.
Max Falkenstien
- Max Falkenstien KU broadcaster
But two nights later in Lawrence, Kansas played what may have been its best game of the season. Down by seven at haftime against guard Nate Blackwell and the Temple Owls, Kansas rallied for a 67-64 victory.
The Jayhawks rolled into regular Big Eight Conference play and found themselves fighting for the top spot in the rankings. The Tampa Bay State, Kansas lost only one of its first
seven conference games, a 76.74 heartbreaker at Oklahoma.
Interspersed with the conference contests were five network televised games. Kansas went 5-0 in these games, with victories over Miami and Notre Dame in Lawrence. North Carolina State at Kemper Arena in Greenville and St. John's defending national champion Louisville on the road.
A Feb. 7 victory over Oklahoma State gave Brown his 100th coaching victory at Kansas. He became the fifth of Kansas's six coaches to win 100 and tied Phog Allen and Ted Owens as the quickest to reach the mark.
But the game also included what may have been a killing blow to the Jayhawks' hopes for a repeat of last year's Final Four finish. Hunter sprained his left ankle and left the game in the second half. He returned after sitting out two games but the injury slowed him down for the rest of the season.
Giant killers
The Notre Dame game produced some green shirts in the crowd to go with the red and blue, and the Irish
See MEN, p. 14, col. 1