Section:
B
The University Daily Kansan
Trivia question
Cleveland is currently without a hockey team, but not so in the past. Name Cleveland's squad of the middle 1970s. See page 2B.
Sports
Inside: The women's basketball team plays in the first round of the Big 12 Tournament today.
SEE PAGE 3B
Inside: Kansas senior golfer Andy Stewart has taken on leadership qualities this season.
SEE PAGE 6B
TUESDAY, MARCH 6, 2001 For comments, contact Shawn Hutchinson or Shawn Linenberger at 864-4858 or sports@kansan.com
Guest Columnist
Cássio
Furtado
orts@kansan.com
sports@kansan.com
KANSAN.COM/SPORTS
Media in U.S. wrong about Brazilian soccer
Brazil's 2-1 victory against the United States Saturday at the Rose Bowl in Los Angeles wasn't a surprise.
The real surprise was the American media's portrayal of Brazilian soccer in an old-fashioned and revered way because of their lack of interest and knowledge about the sport.
Usually, when the Brazilian soccer team travels abroad, dozens of television stations pile into airports and fans crowd stadiums during practices and outside hotels.
When Brazil plays, everyone watches — but not here.
In the United States, the Brazilian team is as close to being anonymous as it can be. Just two television stations were at Los Angeles International Airport for the team's arrival. The two stations, coincidence or not, were Spanish-speaking.
Soccer doesn't get good television ratings here and coverage of the sport in newspapers is minimal.
That lack of interest causes several misconceptions when American soccer analy-ists look at the Brazilian national team or at Brazilian soccer in general.
Brazilian soccer is treated with such reverence here it seems, sometimes, that we are living decades ago during a time when Brazil won three World Cups (1958, 1962 and 1970).
During those years Brazil had the best soccer player ever to touch a ball — Pele. When Pele played, everything was easy. The Brazilian team was a gathering of 10 very good players and a god.
The team didn't need to worry about soccer tactics or even care about who the opponent was. Brazil had Pele, the man who won three World Cups, two world club championships and scored more than a thousand goals.
Nowadays, things are different in Brazilian soccer.
It took Brazil 24 years — or the next five championship opportunities — to win the World Cup again. They did it in 1994 when they beat Italy in the United States. Not only had Pete retired, but the huge disorganization in Brazilian soccer contributed to this period of talent-waste.
I bet most American college basketball and football teams are more organized than Brazil's professional soccer teams. Fans here know schedules almost a year in advance; Brazilian fans, like me, know ours about a month or two before a game.
Most of our players play in Europe, which means that it is very hard for us to get them together and ready to play. When the coach does get them together, it happens a night or two before a game.
That simply means it is very hard to have tactics under these conditions. We still have the best players, in the technical aspect of the game, but we are not organized enough to always win.
Brazil probably has 50 or 60 players with enough talent to play for the national team, which usually is composed of 18 to 22 players. But talent is not enough to always win a game played by 11 starters.
A team that doesn't have a soccer-god needs tactics.
Brazil played a bad game against the United States on Saturday, which will cause our coach to replace some of the players who started that game.
We don't have Pele anymore, but we can still live to everyone's expectations.
But Americans don't see our failures.
Fartado in a Pelotas, Brazil, senior in journalism and political science.
It only takes practice, determination and unity.
But Brazil is still a little bit ahead of everyone. We have the tradition, the fancy plays and the eternally-remembered yellow shirt. But I, as a Brazillian, know we can do much better than losing to France in the 1988 World Cup final or beating the United States 2-1 last Saturday.
Part of improving America's perception of soccer is to see that today the world has several countries that could win a World Cup. I can mention Argentina, Italy, France or the Netherlands as candidates for the title without any shame.
Even though the technical skills of those countries are still light-years behind Brazil's, they play together and are very disciplined, making them strong contenders for any tournament.
Program cuts difficult for all
By Brandon Stinnett sports @kansan.com Kansan sportwriter
Kansas men's tennis coach Ross Nwachukwu didn't have time to talk with reporters yesterday afternoon. He was too busy scouring new universities for his players to compete at next season.
Just one day earlier, Bob Frederick, Kansas athletics director, announced that the men's tennis and men's swimming and diving programs would be discontinued in the 2001-02 season.
It's been a difficult two days for Nwachukwu, who learned of the cuts in a meeting with his players and Frederick on Sunday.
It hasn't been easy for Frederick, either.
"This is clearly the most difficult decision that I've had to make in the 14 years I've been here,"
The athletics department's senior administrative group, along with t h e University of K an s a s Athletic Corporation, made the decision.
Frederick said yesterday afternoon.
Frederick's said University had reasons for cutting the sports
decision last Tuesday after eight weeks of deliberation. The players and coaches were notified after
Chancellor Robert Hemenway gave final approval Sunday morning.
Frederick said there were reasons why the men's tennis and men's swimming and diving programs were chosen. Only five schools in the Big 12 Conference have men's swimming and diving programs and eight have men's tennis programs. The teams also share practice facilities with students at Robinson Center, so scheduling conflicts were commonplace.
The University's continued commitment to gender equity prevented the elimination of any women's sports. While a majority of Kansas athletes on scholarship are male, the program cuts leave just seven sports for men, compared to 11 for women.
But Amy Perko, associate athletics director, said it was the men's programs that had to go.
"Given our commitment to running an equal opportunity department, it wasn't an option for us to even discuss cutting a women's sport," Perko said.
Frederick said every alternative was explored to thwart rising budget costs, but the only viable solution was to eliminate the two programs. The move will reduce $600,000 from next year's budget and save $3.6 million during the next five years.
The current athletics budget of $23 million is projected to increase by $5 million during the next five years. The program cuts are part of a three-part plan to counteract this increase.
A new donor seating plan will be instituted for men's basketball games in Allen Fieldhouse, where the best seats will be given to the people who donate the most money. Frederick said the Athletics Department will be looking for new ways to cut expenses from its own operations, such as not replacing people when they resign or retire.
He said the department would consider reinstating the two sports if budget concerns were lifted in the future.
Sophomore standouts
"We talked about it at the board meeting and that would be something that we would look at if we get to the place where we're on a more firm financial footing," he said.
Edited by Doug Pacey
Four Jayhawks make All-Big 12
By Chris Wristen
sponsors@kansan.com
Kansan sportswriter
Last year they headed into postseason play as tired, wide-eyed freshmen on the brink of their first trip to the Big Dance.
This go-round, the kids are all grown up. Sophomores Nick Collison, Drew Gooden and Kirk Hinrich were named to the Associated Press All-Big 12 basketball teams.
Gooden, a 6-foot-10 forward, was chosen for the All-Big 12 first team, while Collison and Hinrich made the second team. Kansas senior forward Kenny Gregory, who leads the Jayhawks in scoring at 16.1 a game, was a third-team selection.
Gooden, who missed eight games with a broken wrist, is averaging almost 16 points and nine rebounds and is the only member of the first team to rank in the league's top 10 in both scoring and rebounding.
"Drew is having a great year," said Kansas coach Roy Williams. "Even though he missed the games with injury, you look and he's led or been close to the league lead in rebounding all year. Plus, his scoring is up this season as well."
Gooden leads the Big 12 in rebounds and is second in scoring for No. 9 Kansas (23-5 overall and 12-4 in the Big 12 Conference). In his first two games back since the wrist injury, Gooden scored 17 points against Kansas State and 19 points against Missouri.
"He's been back two games now, and he feels good." Williams said. "He's got a little extra bounce in his legs because he was out those three weeks."
Collison's numbers improved from his freshman numbers, but they've taken another leap during the last two weeks. In the past four games, he has averaged almost 19 points and eight rebounds per game, improving his season averages to 13.8 and 6.3, respectively.
The promise that Hinrich displayed during last year's NCAA Tournament has carried into this season. His 52.4
ASSOCIATED PRESS ALLBIG 12 TEAM'S
First team:
Drew Gooden, Kansas
Jamaal Tinsley, Iowa State
Maurice Baker, Oklahoma State
Kareem Rush, Missouri
Terry Black, Taylor
Second team:
Kirk Hinrich, Kansas
Nick Collison, Kansas
Cookie Belcher, Nebraska
Kantrel Horton, Iowa State
Chris Owens, Texas
Third Team:
Kenny Gregory, Kansas
Kimani Friend, Nebraska
Fredrik Jonzen, Oklahoma State
Daren Kelly, Texas
Marty Pearce, Texas
Martin Rancik, Iowa State
- Honorable Mention: Bernard King, Texas A&M; Hollis Price, Oklahoma; Maurice Evans, Texas; Nolan Johnson, Oklahoma; Jamahl Moseley, Colorado; Larry Reid, Kansas State
percent three-point shooting has him on pace to break the school and conference records, but it's his Big 12-leading 7.15 assists that have made the biggest difference to the team.
"There's no way that I can practice every day and then play," Axtell said. "I was definitely disappointed because I thought I'd be able to do more, but I just couldn't move."
"I don't think there's any guard playing any better," Collison said. ("Jamaal) Tinsley gets a lot of hype, and he's a great player, but I think Kirk does a great job running his team the same way that Tinsley does at Iowa State."
Senior swingman Luke Axtell was able to play sparingly in Sunday's home finale against Missouri, but his ailing back will force him to miss practice time this week in order to be able to play in the Big 12 Conference Tournament on Friday in Kansas City, Mo.
Kansas basketball note
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
Edited by Megan Philsa
Kansas sophomore forward Drew Gooden fights through two Missouri defenders on his way to scaring a bucket. Gooden scored a team-high 19 points in the Jayhawks' victory against the Tigers Sunday. Photo by Matt Daughery/KANSAN
'Hawks lose despite comeback try
By Ryan Malashock sports@kansan.com
Kansan sportwriter
The sun shined bright and there wasn't a cloud in the sky at Hogland Ballpark yesterday. Too bad the comfortable weather couldn't prevent another one-run loss for the Kansas baseball team. The Jayhawks rallied and knocked-in two runs in the ninth inning, but it wasn't enough as No.12 Oklahoma State took the third and final game of the series 4-3.
Kansas dropped to 7-6 overall and 1-5 in the Big 12 Conference with the loss, but more important, yesterday's loss marked the Jayhawks' third one-run loss of the still-young conference season.
"We've lost three Big 12 games by one run and that hurts," said coach Bobby Randall. "I told our guys that it isn't that we don't like
what we're doing, but what we do,
we've got to do a little better."
Last season, eight of Kansas' 20 conference losses were by two runs or less. Senior Brent Del Chiaro said this year's squad possessed the determination to get beyond the close defeats.
"We're in every ball game, and we're happy about that," Del Chiaro said. "Coach Randall's talked a lot this week about fighting and battling to the end, and that's all that we can ask."
Oklahoma State (12-3 and 5-1) got on the board first in the third inning. Paul Powell and Nebasett Brown smacked back to-back doubles off Jayhawk start Jake Wright. Brown would later score on Luke Scott's RBI single.
Doug Lantz relieved Wright in the fifth iming. Lantz went five innings and struck out five in relief in his longest outing of the season.
Randall said a couple of baserunning blunders cost the Jayhawks dearly, especially in a one-run game.
"We didn't create enough chances today, and when we did early in the game we lost a couple of baserumers." Randall said.
Kansas will take on Southwest Missouri State at 2:30 p.m. tomorrow in Springfield, Mo.
— Edited by Jason McKee
WP. Baker, 3.0, LP. Lwight, 2.2, B. Hewitt (B. Baker, B. Grimmenger) by Lentz, D. B. (B. Baker, B. Grimmenger)
BOXSCORE
M - McAuliff(1) Kraft(3), L0L - OiakhaSt. m 13, Kansas 4, 2B - Powell 2, 1B (Brown) 3, Watson 2) (McAulff) 2) (Gremminger) 3B, Spanish (2)
- Scott (5), SB - McAuliff (4), CS Nelson (3);
Grimminger (2);
Olda. States 002 010 100 — 4 10 2
Kansas 000 001 002 — 3 5 0
Kansas' John Nelson (No. 5) runs down an Oklahoma State player as teammate Matt Tribble watches. The Jayhawks lost to the Cowboys yesterday in Hogland Ballpark, 4-3. Photo by Justin Kandi/KANSAN
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