I
Monday April 4,1988
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Published since 1889 by the students of the University of Kansas
Vol. 98, No. 126 (USPS 650-640)
'Hawks to face confident Sooners for title
By Elaine Sung
Kansan sportswriter
With his squinty-eyed, eyebrow-arched countenance, Oklahoma coach Billy Tubbs threw his hands in the air and croaked in his Jack Nicholson voice.
"Let's just admit it, we're great. So what?"
It is that sort of cockiness that has
given us the ability to reason to
hate the Oklahoma Sooners.
In Oklahoma's second meeting with Colorado this season, the game finished in an ugly yelling match with players on both sides engaging in a spitting contest.
- In the Big Eight Conference tournament final last month, the fans were hushed as the victorious Sooners danced on the court and cut the nets.
In Birmingham, Ala., they danced not only on the court but climbed on the backboards and danced on the rims as well.
Kansas knows Oklahoma well.
Tonight, the Jayhawks will battle the Sooners at 8:12 for the third time this season in an all-Big Eight contest for the national championship.
The Sooners had three goals set before the season started. One was to win the Big Eight regular season
title, and the second was to win the conference tournament title.
"I think both teams are peaking now," said junior center Stacey King. "We want it real bad. We want to take our championship ring back home and show it to the football team."
Tubbs is the epitome of self-control. He has a tendency to control the atmosphere in which he operates. His press conferences are well-attended because he usually manages to come on time, is sarcastic and outrageous each time.
'Do you feel God's on Kansas'
side?" a reporter asked yesterday.
Tubbs cocked his head. "I don't know, what's his number?" he shot back
“Coach Tubbs is the one who keeps us loose,” said forward Dave Sieger. “Our attitude is pretty much carefree. Situations like this don’t affect us. We'd almost rather be on the road with 15,000 fans rooting against us because of the satisfaction we get from beating them.”
With his unpredictable behavior,
Tubbs sets himself apart. What
drives opposing coaches crazy is not how he acts, however, but what his behavior generates.
Tubbs enjoys rofts with scores that reach 100 or above. All in all, 20 different teams, including six from the Big Eight, have fallen victim to Tubbs' addiction to the number 152-84, a prime example being the 152-84 shelling of Centenary College from Shreveport, La., on Dec. 12.
"If the shoe was on the other foot, they'd try to beat us or embarrass us," said senior forward Harvey Grant. "If we can beat them by 100, we will. The type of team that we have, everybody wants to get their
name in the book."
But Oklahoma has not been able to run up the score against Kansas this season. In early February, the Sooners beat the Jayhawks in Lawrence 73-65, and three weeks later in Norman, Oklahoma won again 95-87.
The Jayhawks once again are facing long odds in tonight's game.
"The further we go, the less people think we can win," said Kansas guard Jeff Gueldner. "If we lose, we'll reflect on the season that we've had. The stakes are high, and we're the underdogs again. All we can do is go out and play hard."
Gridlock on the boulevard
Cars full of KU basketball fans jam Jayhawk Boulevard. Police estimated the crowd on the boulevard after the game Saturday at approximately 7,000.
Hooray! Students fill streets. jaywalk for Jayhawks
By Joel Zeff
Kansan staff writer
Minutes after Kansas' victory Saturday, Jayhawk fans were leaning, hanging and peaking out of every car window on Jayhawk Boulevard.
Thousands of Jayhawk fans swooped onto Jayhawk Boulevard by car, truck, or on foot to celebrate the 150th anniversary in the NCAA tournament semifinal.
James Denney, director of KU police, estimated Saturday's crowd on campus at about 7,000 people.
"There's a lot of people." Denney said. "A lot of people didn't even get up on the boulevard because we blocked it off."
Denney said that 20 minutes after the game, Jayhawk Boyleward from
the Kansas Union to the Chi Omega fountain was gridlocked. Eventually, KU police blocked off the street.
However, the road blockade didn't stop the thousands of KU fans from dancing in the streets and slapping hands with everyone they saw.
"Nothing beats the feeling of winning, but when you're celebrating with a thousand plus Jayhawk fans, said Martin Diggs, Wichita junior.
Members of the crowd weaved between cars, slapping hands with each other and enjoying the team's victory. Others threw toilet paper into trees, sang, danced, cheered and played basketball in the street.
"There's something in them. I know don't know. But some spirit is in
the team that will make them go all the way," said Mary Lee Troug, Kansas City, Mo. junior.
A spirit was also in the crowd, as students climbed on top of the information booth near the Chi Omega fountain.
"This is incredible. This brings the school together," said Patty Hirsch, St. Louis freshman. "Tomorrow I'm going to attend at schools other and rub it in."
Though the crowd celebrated the victory with enthusiasm, everyone knew that there was still one more game they wanted to cheer about.
"It's all coming together like a dream, and only one piece remains—the national championship," said Matt Birch. Wichita freshman.
Chris Feeley, KU on Wheels bus driver celebrates in the Westport area of Kansas City, Mo.
Parties planned for championship game
Kansan staff writer
By Jeff Suggs
The University of Kansas Alumni Association has planned several functions today for alumni, students and fans to support the KU basketball team as it takes on Oklahoma in the NCAA championship game.
There will be two functions today at the Marriott Plaza Hotel, 4445 Main St. in Kansas City, Mo.
Space is limited to 750 people, so reservations are required. The function costs $15 a person, and reservations can be made through the Alumni Association office or from the Alumni Association table in the hotel lobby from noon to 3:30 p.m.
From 4:30 to 6:30 p.m., alumni can attend a party in the Grand Ballroom at the Marriott. There will hors d'oeuvres, a cash bar and a pep rally with the KU Spirit Squad and Band.
Starting at 5 p.m., alumni, students and fans may attend a party in the Marriott's Reunion Bar. There will be a cash bar and pep rally with the KU Spirit Squad and Band. Reservations are not required, but space is limited to 500 people. There is no cover charge.
hotel, the Alumni Association has recommended other bars in the Kansas City area for Kansas fans to watch the game.
Because of space limitations at
The Lone Star, 4117 Mill St.
Kelly's Westport Inn, 500 Westport Road.
Fred P. Ott's Bar and Grill, at both 4770 J.C. Nichols Parkway and the AT&T Pavilion. 1111 Main St.
Tanner's, at both 12906 W. 87th Parkway in Lenexa and 10146 W. 119th St. in the Highland Plaza Shopping Center in Overland Park.
Youngsters scramble for eggs
Rv Kevin Dilmore
Kansan staff writer
They waited for a signal while they scanned the ground in front of them for plastic-wrapped morsels of food. A firecracker popped from across the park, and that did it. The annual Lawrence Easter Egg Hunt was underway.
About 30 3- and 4-year-olds owed along one of three roped-off perimeters in South Park, 12th and Massachusetts streets.
Children swarmed into the area like locusts, carrying everything from small straw Easter baskets to plastic jack-o'-lanters to large garbage bags. Parents pitched instructions to the young hunters. But the children bypassed colored plastic eggs containing prizes for mini-chocolate bunnies and pieces of Super Bubble. The ground was picked clean in seconds.
Lynn Frasheski coordinated the hunt, which was sponsored by the Lawrence Parks and Recreation Department and radio station KLWN. The hunt was the first she worked on for the city, and she called it a success.
"Thefirecraacker start was unofficial, but it was great to see," said Frasheski, who works for the parks and recreation department. "It was a great way to begin it because they were very anxious."
She said area businesses provided prizes for the hunt and for an Easter bonnet contest. Members of the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternal organization 188 Stewart Ave., helped distribute cake and judge the contest.
Mike Bechtel, Prairie Village sophomore, said that this was the second year he had helped with the Easter egg hunt.
"I told my mom I couldn't come home for Easter because I had to do this," he said. "It's a really fun afternoon."
Jeff Acheson, Overland Park freshman, held back a box of candy to seed the ground with after the initial rush. He said that his strategy backfired.
Some of the children left with more than Tootsie Rolls and jelly beans. At Ashley Williams won dinner at Becerro's Mexican Restaurant, 2515 W. 6th St., for wearing the silliest Easter bonnet. Her hat, made of orange construction paper dotted with tissue paper flowers, was selected from entries including a Stealth bomber helmet and a ski mask topped with a red ribbon.
"Kids started mauling me, screaming and reaching into the box," he said.
20th anniversary of King's death inspires memorials to his legacy
The legacy of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., assassinated 20 years ago today, was remembered around the country by blacks and whites as they continue the fight for racial equality and social justice that King began.
The Associated Press
A memorial service was scheduled last night in Memphis, Temn., at the Mason Temple, where King gave his "Mountain Top" speech on the eve of his murder at the Lorraine Motel in that city.
Today in Memphis, a memorial sponsored by the city is to begin with a ceremony at the Lorraine, followed by the start of a Southern Christian Leadership Conference march through Alabama, Mississippi and
Georgia. The march is to conclude April 30 in Atlanta.
A simple wreath-laying ceremony will be this afternoon at King's tomb in Atlanta at the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change.
King's widow, Coretta Scott King has long favored an approach focusing on her late husband's life, not his death. Last year, she came out in opposition to plans to make the Lorraine Motel a museum, and said she did not want such a project to bear his name.
Also in Atlanta, the leadership conference planned its ninth annual "Drum Major For Justice" awards dinner tonight. The event takes its title from a phrase King used *v*
describe how he wished to be remembered. This year's honorees include U.S. Rep. Michael Espy of Mississippi, singer Dionne Warwick and Washington Redskins quarterback Doug Williams.
Sharisca Fox, 17, and a senior at Greensboro Dudley High School in North Carolina, worries that her generation may not hear King's story often or powerfully enough.
"Black people have made progress since King's assassination, but I don't think we have gone as far as he would have liked," she said. "His message was to help other people as much as we can. But my generation is so hooked on themselves, they don't have time."