University Daily Kansan / Thursday, March 31, 1988
11
Sports
Kansas junior Scott Taylor pitches for the Jayhawks. Kansas won 11-2 last night at Hoglund-Maupin Stadium.
KU beats Washburn
Bv lill M. John
Strong pitching performances and solid hitting were the key ingredients in Kansas' 11-2 victory last night over the Washburn Icha-bods at Hoglund-Maupin stadium.
Special to the Kansan
The victory improved the Jay-hawks' home record to 11-1 and their overall record to 14-9.
Junior Scott Taylor, 3-3, pitched five innings and gave up two earned runs to pick up the win. Taylor struck out two batters and allowed no walks.
given overlaid on the image.
"We play well at home," said coach Dave Bingham. "We're comfortable here, and I think we believe in ourselves more at home."
Sophomore Tom Bilyeau took over at the beginning of the sixth inning, allowing one hit and striking out three. Senior Mike McLeod and sophomore Craig Stoppel each pitched a single inning and gave up one hit.
The Jayhawks took an early lead when sophomore Spencer and junior Troy Menterz hit home runs in the second inning. It was Spencer's fifth home run of the season and Menterz's sixth.
After the Jayhawks took a 4-0 second-inning lead, the Ichabods answered with a run in both the third and fourth innings. It was Washburn's only challenge of the game.
Mentzer hit his seventh home
run of the season in his next at-bat.
Mentzer, who has been a designated hitter in the last few games,
played catcher yesterday.
player. Mentzer said he needed to concentrate for an entire game. Although he hit two home runs, he said his lack of concentration late in the game was fratrating.
"I may have some good hits," said Menterz, who went 0-2 after his home runs, "but it what's what I do determines how my season goes.
"The biggest thing is for me to just go out, settle down and play the game I know how to play."
Five singles, two walks and a double by Kansas created another four-run inning in the seventh to put the game out of reach.
The Jayhawks will play the Missouri Tigers in four home games this weekend. The series marks the beginning of Big Eight play for the Jayhawks.
Media crush begins for Manning, Jayhawks
"I hope we have a good game against Missouri," Mentzer said. "I hope we get some of the same performances."
Wasburn 001 100-2 000 - 2
Kansas 041 101-40 - 11 15 1
Washburn, Hatcher, Helichrion (2), Stremming (7) and Jackson, Kauley, Taylor, Bilyeu (6), McLeod (8), Stopper (9), Mentzer, W-Taylor (3-1), L-Hatcher (0-3),
SV-None, 2Bs-Washburn, Watrip, Kansas,
Ruelas, 3Bs-None, HRS-Washburn,
Wright, Kansas, Mentzer, 2(7) and Spencer
(5).
Kansan sportswriter
KANSAS 11, WASBURN 2
By Elaine Sung
When the media descended upon Allen Field House on Tuesday, most of them huddled around forward Danny Manning, who, as usual, was the star of the event.
Kansas coach Larry Brown herded the rest of the team to the red bleachers on the right-hand side of the court. There they sat, uncomfortably but obediently, and awaited the rest of the media to drift toward them.
But there is still a group of players who has never encountered the thrill of playing in the Final Four or even in the national tournament.
The special one-hour press conference had been arranged to satisfy the media's craving for Final Four information. Most of the team had grown accustomed to the attention, having experienced it from the 1986 Final Four or from last year's NCAA tournament play.
One of them is forward Mike Maddox, the only freshman still playing after forward Mike Masucci was suspended earlier this month from
Maddox had seen limited action during the season, but scored a career-high 12 points in Kansas' Big Eight tournament semifinal loss to Kansas State. And when the Jayhawks beat the Wildcats for the Midwest Regional championship Sunday, both Detroit newspapers ran shots of Maddox cutting down the net.
the team.
"I don't know if there's anything in basketball that can equal this," Maddox said. "It's an unbelievable feeling. We've reached part of our goal with this."
Coming within reach of the national championship is less of a surprise for junior college transfer guard Lincoln Minor. Minor played for Midland (Texas) Junior College, which last year made it to the NJCAA championship game.
Yet the magnitude of the fan support that he saw when the team returned from the regionals in Michigan still caught him off guard.
there was going to be a lot of people on Sunday, but it all still kind of shocked me. I've never been mobbed like that before."
'just with the size and the publicity here, you can't really compare it to juice,' Minor said. 'They told me
"This is a great total feeling," said Mattox, who had been playing on the junior varsity basketball team before Brown pulled him up in early February because the bench was thin. "In football, as soon as we got behind, that was it. But here, people do what they have to do. When Danny's not scoring, someone else steps up. Someone else takes responsibility."
Mattox's highlight in the tournament came against Vanderbilt, when he scored his first points of the tournament near the end of the game, and viewers across the nation saw Manning jump off the bench grinning to greet Mattox as he ran off
the court.
"I hadn't scored yet in the tournament, and I wanted to score to feel like a team member," Mattox said. "It's one of the greatest feelings in the world."
Normore has seen more playing time, having joined the team in December. As a free safety on the football team, he is being excused from spring football practices until the Javahawks finish their season.
The 6-4 guard has not only had a chance to play collegiate basketball, but also started the game against Oklahoma in Norman in place of sophomore Jeff Guelder, who was out with a sprained ankle.
Normore has noticed an attitude change within the team, a team that has gone through sudden lineup changes because of injury, academic ineligibility or disciplinary problems
"Before, it was like when you just meet someone. You're apprehensive about talking to them," he said. "Now, we're like brothers. It seems like we've been together for a lifetime."
K-State coach will not compete for Texas job
The Associated Press
AUSTIN, Texas — University of Texas Athletic Director DeLoss Dodds said yesterday that Lon Kruger of Kansas State had asked Texas to remove his name from the list of possible candidates for the basketball coaching job.
would remain at the school
K-State officials said Kruger was offered a contract extension and
"We've offered Kruger a very competitive contract," said K-State President Jon Wefalid. "We met with him privately for a couple of hours
today.
Several newspapers reported that Kruger had been or would be offered the job.
Dodds said yesterday that Krueger visited the Texas campus on Tues.
day.
"We had a discussion. There was no job offer, and he has asked us to remove his name from any consideration," Dods said.
Reports linking Kruger with Texas surfaced after he led the Wildcats to the NCAA Midwest Regional final before they lost to Kansas on Sunday.
Dodds said Kruger had been in Austin only one other time before
Tuesday and wanted to see the Erwin Center and other facilities.
Asked if he had been offered the job, Kruger said, "I'll visit with you later," then boarded an airplane for the trip back to Manhattan.
the trip at the K-State Athletic Director Larry Travis said he was aware that Kruger was going to talk to Texas because Dodds had asked him for permission.
Final Four's fiftieth
Gary Simmons, Kansas City, Kan. resident, and his nine-year-old son, Jon. visit the 50-year Final Four Exhibit in Municipal
Auditorium's Little Theater in Kansas City, Mo. The free exhibit is open to the public from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. every day until April 7th.
Turgeon sees Final Four from coaches' end of bench
loe Wilkens III/KANSAN
Mark Turgeon
By Craig Anderson
Assistant sports editor
Mark Turgeon, didn't remember many details about Kansas' 71-67 loss to Duke in the Final Four two seasons ago, but his memory of the Monday night championship game between the Blue Devils and the Louisville Cardinals still remained clear.
"The hardest part of the whole thing was watching the final game." Turgeon said, shaking his head. "We stayed in Dallas an extra night and went out to watch the game. Nobody really wanted to watch the game. We just never expected to lose."
The Jayhawks lost more than just a national semifinal game against the No. 1 Blue Devils on that Saturday in March. Talk to any Kansas fan about the 1986 game against Duke, and the loss of forward Archie Marshall to a knee injury inevitably comes up. People will always speculate on whether Marshall's injury cost Kansas a national championship.
Turgeen, a junior point guard on the 1985-86 team, said he and his teammates didn't know at the time the severity of the injury. Despite losing their spark plug off the bench, Turgeen said, he and his teammates still thought they would triumph over Duke.
"We figured we would adjust to Archie's injury and we would still win," said Kansas' first-year student
Much of Kansas' success against Duke could be traced directly to Turgeon. In a season in which fellow junior Cedric Hunter had garnered most of the playing time at point guard, Turgeon played probably his finest game of the season when Hunter got into early foul trouble.
assistant coach. "After all, we had played most of the game without Greg (Dreiling) and Danny (Manning) because of foul trouble, and we were still ahead."
Forced into duty, Turgeon recorded five assists and scored two points on his only field goal attempt. To help put the game in perspective, consider that the 5-foot-10 Topeka product had recorded only 10 assists in the seven games before the Duke shootout.
CBS television commentator Brent Musburger said during the telecast that he sensed from the minute Turgeon stepped onto the floor that he would be providing key leadership and hustle for the Jayhawks. Turgeon didn't disappoint Musburger or the national television audience, but he said that to him, it was just another game.
"Once we got onto the court and started playing, it didn't seem that big," Turgeon said. "All the attention we got before the game was the only difference."
The reception the Jayhawks got
Turgeon said the Jayhawks' 35-4 record and No.2 national ranking two seasons ago influenced the fans' reactions.
from their fans upon returning from the Regional Finals Sunday was different from that of two seasons ago. Turgeon said. About 1,500 fans greeted the Jayhawks when they stepped off the plane at Forbes Field on Sunday night in Topeka, and about 10,000 fans cheered their team at Allen Field House later that night.
"Two years ago, everyone expected us to go, so when we made it, it wasn't that big a deal to them," he said. "This season, when we were coming back, we heard people were partying in Lawrence. We never expected the reception we got, though."
Jayhawks assistant coach Alvin Gentry said Turgeon had done a good
a shuffle one.
"My relations with the players hasn't changed that much," Turgeon said. "Socially, it's about the same, but when we're on the court, it's a player-coach relationship."
This season, Turgeon has gotten a different view of the Jayhawks' on-court preparations for their second Final Four appearance in three years. As a student coach, Turgeon has been giving instructions to players who had been his teammates. Turgeon said the transition had been a smooth one.
when giving up. "Turg has done an unbelievable job in his first year," Gentry said. "The toughest thing about moving from a player to a coach in one season is the social aspect.
job handling conflicts that may arise when giving orders to friends.
"You have to detach yourself socially somewhat from the players. Mark's handled it well."
Through his eyes as a student coach, Turgeon has watched coach Larry Brown do possibly his best coaching job ever. In his first season on the sidelines, Turgeon has watched Brown take a team beset by injuries, defections and ineligibilities to the brink of a national championship.
Brown's resurrection of this season' edition of the Jayhawks hasn't gone unnoticed by college athletic directors and professional basketball general managers around the country. Brown's name has been linked to several coaching vacancies in both college and professional basketball.
Turgeon said he expected to be learning from Brown next season at Kansas just as he had during the past five seasons.
"He's pretty set on staying," said Turtleon, a member of Brown's first recruiting class in 1983. "He's in such demand with the job he'd done this season, but I think he loves his situation at Kansas."