Sports
Big 12 troubles
Tomorrow's match between Kansas and Nebraska will be a showdown of struggling women's teams. PAGE 7B
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The University Daily Kansan
'Hawks must stop Emmett
Junior point guard Aaron Miles drove past Missouri player Jimmy McKinney during Kansas' victory against the Tigers. The Jayhawks are gearing up for a contest against Texas Tech tomorrow.
Self faces Knight for first time
By Ryan Greene rgreene@kansan.com Kansan sportswriter
The Kansas men's basketball team picked a good time to step up on defense.
picked me to
in their victory against Missouri on
Monday night, the 56 points the Jay-
hawks (14-4 overall, 6-1 Big 12 Conference) allowed was the fewest they have yielded since giving up 46 to Binghamton on Dec. 29.
The bolstered defense was an improvement from Kansas' meltdown against Iowa State last Saturday. It could also prove to be a major steppingstone as the Jayhawks face Texas Tech (17-4, 5-2) tomorrow at Allen Fieldhouse — a team that averages 74.3 points per game. The Red Raiders also bring to town the Big 12's leading scorer, senior guard Andre Emmett, who averages 21.2 points per game.
21.2 points per game.
"It hasn't been easy to stop their scoring for 17 opponents so far," Kansas coach Bill Self said. "The way they run offense, you can't just key in on Emmett. They use Emmett to get other guys points."
Emmett to get others go pro Some of those methods of getting other guys points have the potential to give the Jayhawks fits on defense. Self mentioned Texas Tech coach Bobby Knight's tendency to move Emmett to the power forward position.
"I think if we guard how we've been guarding, we'll be fine," Padgett said.
That situation could force Kansas to use either Wayne Simien or David Padgett to guard Emmett, which could lead to foul trouble, or drop into a vulnerable zone that will open up Tech from the perimeter, which ranks sixth in the conference in three-point field goal percentage.
Friday, February 6, 2004
"Anywhere they put him he's going to "Anywhere they put him he's score because he's such a good player, but we've just got to play on Saturdaygoing to score because he's how we played on Monday." such a good player. "
such a good player."
The key component for Kansas defensively tomorrow will be junior guard Keith Langford. He was responsible Monday night for containing Missouri's Rickey Paulding — the Tigers' leading scorer.
Pauding—the right word.
"It's going to be kind of a funky matchup, seeing as how Emmett sometimes plays the four (power forward) for them," Langford said. "It'll be interesting
to see what kind of strategy pans out."
Self, who has never coached against Knight, thinks that Kansas will be going up against a focused Texas Tech squad. He thinks that the Red Raiders will have no distraction stemming from Knight's near-suspension at the beginning of the week following a confrontation with the school's chancellor.
"If there was a distraction then it was probably yesterday," Self said on
Wednesdav.
Knight will be coaching from the sidelines tomorrow and Self knows that the Jayhawks will have to prepare like anyone else would for a Bobby Knight team.
"You have to be able to handle screens - back screens, down screens and fake screens," Selfsaid. "They do a good job of exploiting the other team's weaknesses."
Edited by Cindy Yeo
Fans won't get their Wheaties
Basketball band wants students to sing 'Wheaties' song when players foul out
By Joe Bant
jbant@kansan.com
Kansan stuff/writer
The tradition of the "Wheaties" song isn't dead,vet.
For 33 years, the University of Kansas basketball band has played the Wheaties" song when opposing players foul out.
An NCAA rule has put a stop to it, but band director Tom Stedam said there might be a way to keep the tradition alive.
The band can't play it anymore, but fans could still sing it, Stedham said.
tans could strong. He said the NCAA rule stated that bands could only play during timeouts. When a foul happens, there is a dead ball but no timeout, so the band can't play.
But there is no rule that would prevent fans from picking up where the band left off.
"Every game, I have several people come up to me and say 'why aren't you playing the foul-out song?'" Stedham said. "I thought it'd be really cool to have
fans sing the song."
Salina junior Luke Fast, who plays trombone for the basketball band agreed.
"That would rock," Fast said. "You could probably hear it better on TV if they did that."
He said that he was disappointed when the band couldn't play the song anymore, but that he would definitely participate if fans were singing it.
"WHEATIES"
so long, you didn't have your Wheaties.
SEE WHEATIES ON PAGE 8B
So long, we hate to see you go.
Too bad, you didn't have your Wheaties,
So sad, you didn't win the game.
Campers question the lottery system
By Dave Nobles
nobles@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Call them unhappy campers.
Some groups think the list of camping groups, which is usually posted on the north side of Allen Fieldhouse before home games, has been tampered with to favor certain groups.
Questions about policy and allegations of cheating have made some of the die-hard Kansas basketball fans who camp out before home games upset.
have certain rights.
Joe Grassmuck, St. Charles, Mo., sophomore, is one of the campers who suspects the system is not fair.
The group that's raised the ice of Grassmuck and many others is the Phog Phanatics. The group often helps institute the lottery that starts camping. The Phanatics also consistently land in the top five spots of camping groups. For tomorrow's game against Texas Tech, for example, the Phanatics are third in the order. George another camping group, is first on the list.
Though some campers attribute the group's high placement to luck, others
"It's kind of crap that the same groups get in the top five," Grassmuck said. "There's something behind the scenes that we don't see."
SEE CAMPERS ON PAGE 8B
Unnecessary roughness
Jeff Herrmann, Tulsa, Okla., junior, injured his leg in a game of snow football yesterday in front of Allen Fieldhouse. Neil Taylor of the Lawrence Douglas County Fire and Medical Department attempted to diagnose the seriousness of the situation.
TALK TO SPORTS: Contact Henry C., Jackson or Maggie Newcomer at SPORTS@KANSAN.COM
Balance needed in athletic decisions
By Joe Bant
jbant@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Tuttle, American Studies professor and KUAC board member, said the
The Athletics Department's priority points seating plan is out, and Bill Tuttle of the University of Kansas Athletics Corporation thinks that the plan is part of a growing divide between the KUAC and the Athletics Department.
Athletics Department used power it shouldn't have to create the plan.
Perkins
The changing role of the KUAC board of directors was a good example of the department moving away from the rest of the University, Tuttle said. The KUAC has always been responsible for ticket policy, he said, and the Athletics Department effectively ignored that with its priority points plan.
He also said KUAC should have played a greater part in hiring a new athletics director after Al Bohl was fired, but it was left out of that, as well.
Hemenway
"The students would lose a lot," Tuttle said. "They wouldn't have the representation they have now."
Tuttle said the weaker KUAC did not bode well for the students and faculty being represented in the Athletics Department.
Tuttle is not the only one with worries. Professor Susan Twombly and student body president Andy Knopp also expressed concerns.
"Faculty are supposed to represent the majority of whatever body advises the Athletics Department," said Twombly, who is also a member of the Senate Executive Committee. "I'm concerned when that board apparently has no say in policy-making."
has no say in policy. Knop agreed that the role of KUAC seemed to have been reduced, saying that it was basically acting as an advisory board without any real power to make policy. Knop said it was important that students continue to play a part in Athletics Department decisions.
"There are student fees that go to the Athletics Department," Knopp said. "If any one donor gave that much, they would probably exert some influence. Students should have a huge input."
Tuttle said he thought revenue was being valued over loyalty with the new tickets plan, and that it would disrupt the sense of community in the University.
He said Hemenway was mostly responsible for the problem, because he was the authority behind Lew Perkins and the Athletics Department. He said he felt that academics needed to be a higher priority in terms of funding.
Knopp said Lew Perkins was doing a good job of hearing the students' voices, but KUAC needed to play an important role to guarantee that in the future.
Tuttle said the reduction of KUAC had occurred since the arrival of Lew Perkins, though he doesn't put all the blame on Perkins for the problems.
"There's no doubt about his integrity," Tuttle said. "He's the best at what he does. I just think what's being done is wrong."
"You can have a university without an athletics program," Tuttle said. "But you can't have a university without students and faculty."
Not all KUAC members share Tuttle's opinion.
"I kind of look at athletics as the front porch to the University," said Jessica Bankston, second-year law student and KUAC board member.
SEE BALANCE ON PAGE 7B
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