8A
Kansas State forward Donnie Wallace won't return next season. School spokesman Shawn Nestor said the sophomore didn't have plans for next season, and wouldn't say directly whether Wallace chose to leave.
Wildcat leaving
The University Daily Kansan
Sports
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Inside: Four players will compete for the Kansas football starting quarterback job in 2001.
SEE PAGE 6A
For comments, contact Shawn Hutchinson or Shawn Linenberger at 864-4858 or sports@kansan.com
SEE PAGE 7A
Sports Columnist
Inside: A former Kansas football All-American and his wife have pledged $100,000 to the Kansas Alumni Association.
Brian Hanni
KANSAN.COM/SPORTS
sports@kansan.com
Gooden smart; his entering NBA draft should wait
Dear Drew.
Hey man, what's up? First of all, congrats on another great season. I'm sorry you didn't win any championships, but I've got a great feeling about next year's Javawk team.
Actually, next season happens to be the very reason I'm writing to you. I was hesitant at first — the whole thought of you leaving early seems silly to me — but just in case.
Finally Drew, I hear your latest nickname is "The Truth." I'm confident you'll listen to it.
Wow, these past two years have really flown by haven't they? I can remember when you used to go by the name Andrew. Ah...those were the days. I still can't believe McDonalds snubbed you as a high school All-American. I bet Ronald McDonald and the Hamburglar are slapping themselves.
I think you're going to be an outstanding player in the NBA someday. I can see you going nose to nose with Minnesota forward Kevin Garnett in a few years and maybe you'll even make an All-Star team. The sky is the limit for you, Drew. You've got NBA potential written all over you, but potential is no guarantee for production. If you want everybody in the world to see Gooden "plenty," it's going to take a lot more work.
Yep, you've come a long way in two years. You've slimmed down your name and shaped up your game and now all the NBA scouts are looking in your direction. That's awesome man, I'm so excited for you.
I've seen several mock drafts and I've scoped out a few talent rankings. I've even talked to a couple of scouts who were courtside at your games. The pride of Richmond, Calif., is no longer a secret on the national scene. Most projections I've seen have you as one of the top 20 players in the country and being picked in the middle of the first should you declare yourself eligible. Not too shabby. A first-round pick could make some serious money and everybody's leaving early these days, so why not you, too?
Hannul is a Topske junior in broadcast journalism.
Physically, you match up well with most guys who leave school early. You're also just as talented. The list of similarities goes on and on. But there's one difference between you and the rest of the '80s children now in the NBA: You're smarter than they are.
Drew, I know I don't have to tell you about the benefits of staying in school. You already know exactly how much an extra year or two with Coach Williams would help your game. Just look how far you've come in two seasons at Kansas. You're smart enough to know riding the pine in the NBA won't make you near as good as taking the big shot in the final seconds of a college game. You know that for every Michael Jordan there's a Scotty Thurman. And for every Kobe Bryant there's a Korleone Young.
The thing I love most about you is your passion for getting better and that you want to be one of the greatest players ever. You recognize that as good as you are now, there's still plenty of room for improvement. You know how much you could raise your draft stock with another great year like the one you just had.
Scouts might try to tell you, "But what if you get hurt next year? Take the money now."
I'm thrilled you want to be a star, not a journeyman. But most of all, I'm glad you realize timing is everything and this just isn't the time.
With you, I know it's much bigger than that. You don't want to just make it into the league and collect your check. You want to be the best. You've seen guys who left too early get tossed around the league like rag dolls. You know Chauncey Billups has more former teams than he has fingers to count them on.
Williams expects Gooden back
By Chris Wristen sports@kansan.com Kansan sportswriter
Kansas basketball coach Roy Williams is leaving for Minnesota to watch the Final Four. Don't worry, he'll be back.
He thinks sophomore forward Drew Gooden will be back for his junior season, too.
"I expect him to come back and am planning on him coming back," Williams said. "We're still talking about it and we're going to talk about it for a while.
"I'm gathering some more information and there will be a point that he'll have enough information to make this decision, and when that point comes he will make the decision."
Gooden, who led Kansas with 15.8 points
and 8.4 rebounds per game this year, said after Friday's season-ending loss to Illinois his decision would be made within two weeks. He said he would have a press conference to announce that decision after talking further with his family and with Williams.
Williams said Gooden needed time to
think through the decision and not have other people putting rumors into his head.
Williams: confident iophorme forward 30den will return
"The worst that can happen is that every time he turns around someone asks him
something about that," Williams said. "That just makes it more of a harassment.
Kansas basketball notes
1 honestly think that's the reason Paul (Pierce) and Raef (LaFrentz) didn't want to have press conferences. The fact of the matter is they didn't want press conferences because they were sick of people asking them to talk about it."
■ Senior forward Kenny Gregory will participate in ESPN's 13th Annual College Slam Dunk & Three-Point Basketball Championships tonight at Concordia University in Minneapolis, Mim. It will air on ESPN on Saturday at 12:30 p.m.
■ Gregory and senior center Eric Chenowith were both invited to participate in the Desert Classic, an NBA draft combine in Phoenix, Ariz. May 1-5.
- Kansas signee Wayne Simien missed last night's McDonalds All-America game after reinjuring his shoulder during a workout to prepare for the game.
Williams said he heard a rumor Simien may need surgery to repair the damaged shoulder, which was injured for the third time in the last two months.
- "I spoke to his mother this morning, and he'll be coming back and have the doctors look at him on Friday." Williams said. "At that time a plan will be made on where to go from there. It appears that they'll have to do something besides rest and rehab." Simien and fellow Kansas signee Aaron Miles were named Gatorade Player of the Year in Kansas and Oregon, respectively.
- Edited by Brandy Straw
Kansas sophomore center fielder Jason Appuhn bats against Oklahoma State earlier this season. Appuhn had to sit out last season because of a broken rib but is one of the Jayhawks' top performers this season, with a team second-best .303 batting average. Photo by Justin Schmidt/ KANSAN
Center fielder excelling after injury
Bv Rvan Malashock
Kansan sportswriter
What Kansas' sophomore center fielder initially thought was a pulled muscle in high school turned out to be a medical mess that eventually caused Appuhn to sit out the entire 2002 season at Kansas.
Jason Appuhl remembers the day more than three years ago when he fired a ball from the outfield and winced in excruciating pain.
Now one of Kansas' leading hitters, base stealers and defensive players, Appuhn looks back at his difficult season on the bench as a blessing in disguise.
"I think it helped me out a lot because I got to see what I had to work on to get better," Appuhn said. "I was able to process in my mind what kind of things I had to do. I realized what I had to do to get good."
Ever since the first time he aggravated his side in the summer of his junior year of high school, Appuhn played with pain.
But when physicians scraped the calcium deposit off Appuhn's ribs, they noticed he had a broken rib. They removed it, but Appuhn would not be able to recover in time and was forced to sit out the season.
"At first, the doctors said that I'd be out three to four weeks max," Appuhn said. "But it kept hurting really bad, so I decided to redshift. It was hard having to sit in the stands and watch the games. I benefit."
Doctors had previously diagnosed a calcium deposit on Appuhn's ribs, and it was determined surgery would be required. Doctors told Appuhn he would recover in time to return for the start of last season.
ed a lot from it, though."
Despite the injury, Appuhn went on to record a spectacular senior season at Millard North High School in Omaha. Appuhn lettered in baseball, football and basketball and received all-state honors in football and baseball. It was Appuhn's all-around athletic ability that caught Kansas coach Bobby Randall's eye when Appuhn attended Kansas' summer baseball camp.
"When we saw him at camp, we noticed that he was such a great athlete." Randall said. "I knew he was a great three-sport athlete in high school. He was strong, well-built, had great speed, and we loved the way he swung the bat at camp."
Appuhn started 40 out of Kansas' 54 games his freshman year, hitting .221 with three home runs, but the pain became just too hard to bear near the end of the season and into fall practice last year.
Appuhn even received several cortisone shots during his high school career in Omaha, Neb., to neutralize the pain so he could continue playing.
This season, Randall said Appuhn was performing at a much higher level. Appuhn earned the starting position at centerfield in the preseason but started slowly at the plate, hitting just .244 in the Jayhawks' first 14 games.
See PLAYER on page 7A
INJURY UPDATES
Both seniors were injured in a collision in the sixth-inning of Kansas' 6-5 loss at Arkansas on Tuesday.
The Kansas baseball team received injury updates on Doug Dreher and John Nelson yesterday.
Dreher, a left-fielder, is out because of an injured left wrist for this weekend's series against No. 22 Texas in
Lawrence. Dehrer was examined again yesterday. Doctors didn't see a fracture but think he sprained ligaments in his wrist. Dehrer has played in every game this season and is currently hitting .302 for the Javahawks (14-15).
Nelson, a shortstop, suffered a possible concussion in the collision, although he finished Tuesday's game and has been cleared to play for the Texas series. Nelson leads the team in hitting at 355
Ryan Malashock
Softball splits with Razorbacks
Kansas sophomore first baseman Leah Hansen strokes to complete the putout of Arkansas' Erin Stokey. The Jayhawks defeated the Razorbacks 4-1 yesterday in the first game, but were shut out 3-0 in the second half of the doubleheader. Photo by Eunice Fuentes / KANSAN
Bv Brent Briaceman
sports@kansan.com
Kansan sportswriter
Two of those rallies were stopped by double plays. Another came to a halt when Kansas second baseman Amy Hulse was picked off second with two outs in the fifth inning.
After winning the first game 4-1, the Jayhawks (17-16) struggled with Razorback freshman pitcher Heather Schitchman in the nightcap and fell 3-0.
The Kansas softball team watched a successful homestand come to a frustrating end yesterday afternoon as it split a doubleheader with Arkansas at Jawahry Field.
"We just kept finding ways to beat ourselves." Kansas coach Tracy Burge said.
Though the 'Hawks managed only four hits against the Arkansas hurler, they put themselves in position to rally on several occasions.
Hulse, a junior who is third on the team with a 310 batting average, said the game was typical of softball and wouldn't get the team down.
"You just have to relax and try to make things happen," she said. "Sometimes they go your way, sometimes they don't. You just hope they go your way more often than
not."
But Hulse admitted she was excited about playing against Texas A&M this weekend in warm College Station, Texas.
Bunge said she was fed up with the uneasonably cold temperatures in Lawrence.
Hulse also said the cold temperatures, which barely crept into the mid 40s, didn't play a factor.
"It's really more of a factor for our fans than us," she said. "We warmed up inside before the game so it really didn't bother us."
"It was not a whole lot of fun to play a doubleheader of softball in this weather," said Bunge, who spent the hours before the game raking water off the infield. "At 11 o'clock, I seriously began to doubt whether we'd even play. I'm thankful to the good Lord that he dried it up. I just wish he'd warmed it up."
The first game was similar to the second, except the teams played opposite roles. This time it was a freshman pitcher for Kansas, Kara Pierce, who stymied the Razorbacks' offense.
Pierce, who's developed into Kansas' ace, wasn't dominant. But she held Arkansas (20-17) to one run on seven scattered hits in improving to 10-7 on the season.
"I don't think Kara Pierce was as sharp as
"This is the time of year when you need to start playing well and you need to start taking care of business every day," Bunge said. "Still, although one loss to Arkansas isn't a bad thing, it would have been nice to get two."
After sweeping Texas last weekend and Missouri-Kansas City on Tuesday, the Jayhawks concluded the homestand with a 5-1 record.
Bunge said she was pleased with the direction the team was heading.
Kansas will travel south this weekend for a series with Texas A&M beginning Saturday at 3 p.m.
she's been," Bunge said. "But she found a way to win, and that seems to be happening a lot."
- Edited by Jacob Roddy
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Game One
Arkansas 000 001 0 — 1 7 1
Kansas 220 000 x — 4 7 1
WP-Pierce, K. 10-7. LP Talley, R. 6-9. 2B Young, J. SB Musser, S. (4). SB Urquhart, M. (5), Wright, C. 2(6). CSI Urquhart, M. (4).
Game Two
Arkansas 100 020 0 — 3 7 0
Kansas 000 000 0 — 0 4 1
WP-Schlitchman 14-8. LP Milhoan, K. 6-7. 2B Deeeter, N SB-Deeeter, N.
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