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The University Daily Kansan
Who was named Most Valuable Player of Super Bowls I and II?
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Sports
SEE PAGE 2B
Inside: Five Jayhawks were named to the 2000 Academic All-Big 12 volleyball team.
SEE PAGE 3B
inside: Missouri hired Toledo's Gary Pinkel as its new football coach, replacing the fired Larry Smith.
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 1. 2000
For comments, contact Melinda Weaver or Jason Walker at 864-4858 or e-mail sports@kansan.com WWW.KANSAN.COM/SPORTS
SEE PAGE 5B
Kansas adds 'ugly' win to record
Sophomore forward Drew Gooden dunks against Illinois State in the second half last night. The Jayhawks won their seventh straight game in Allen Fieldhouse, 80-61. Photo by Jusin Schmidt/KANSAN
By Michael Rigg
By Michael Rigg
sports@kanson.com
Kansas sportwriter
Aesthetically, it wasn't much to write home about. But a victory is a victory, and the Jayhawks will take last night's 80-61 victory against Illinois State.
"Obviously, we've got to get better, but it's still a win," said sophomore point guard Kirk Hinrich. "It still goes in the right column."
Still, the Jayhawks were left with a bad taste in their mouths after the 19-point victory.
Kansas was outrebounded and outhustled in the first half, routinely beaten on defense and lacked the overall intensity they will need later in the season.
"It was pretty ugly," said Kansas coach Roy Williams. "We did not have the attention, and we were not focused. It was like we weren't out there."
In the first half, the Jayhawks played the undefeated heavyweight toying with the scrappy challenger.
The Redbirds surprised the 16,100 gathered by matching the Jayhawks shot for shot, and nothing that Williams did to help wake his team up—including playing seldom used junior guards Lewis Harrison and Brett Ballard — seemed to work.
The Jayhawks turned the ball over nine times in the opening half, were outbounded 26-21 and led the underdog Redbirds by just eight points at the break even though Illinois State was shooting 26 percent.
"Illinois State's a good team," Hinrich said. "But we just had a lack of concentration and effort out there. It was just, well, blah."
Williams successfully shook the cobwebbs off the Jayhawks at halftime in a steaming halftime speech.
"Coach was upset," said junior for ward Jeff Carey. "He had every reason to be. He said some things, and he said them loud."
The high audibility of Williams' halftime talk sparked an early second-half run that transformed the eight-point lead into a 19-point bulge.
The run was sparked by sophomore forward Drew Gooden, who tallied 12 second half points and gave the Jayhawks their first sign of life with 11 minutes remaining.
The game swung in Kansas' favor by a baseline dunk, which was sprung loose when Gooden juked Redbird forward Cedric Knight with a shoulder fake.
Gooden finished the contest with a game-high 17 points.
After his dunk, Illinois State called timeout. As Gooden ran to the bench, he pumped his fists, waved his arms and did what else was necessary to spark some life into the flat-lining Jayhawks.
"We had to pump up the intensity," he said. "And somebody had to go out there and show some kind of emotion. I was probably the most wild guy on the team so I just tried to go out there and do it."
Senior center Eric Chenowith and senior forwards Kenny Gregory and Luke Axtell each chipped in 11 points. They were the only other Javahws to score in double-digits.
I told the guys we won tonight because we were more gifted." Williams said. "In our previous games, I told them we won because we were more gifted, but we also did some good things. I think we took a step backwards."
More information
For more news and photos from last night's Kansas victory.
See page 6B and www.kansas.com
The next step Kansas takes will be away from Allen Fieldhouse. The Jayhawks play at 12th-ranked Wake Forest on Thursday.
Kansas Game Notes
The Jayhawks will head to Tobacco Road nursing several injuries. Leading scorer Kenny Gregory has been hampered by foot pain, and Williams nearly kept him out of last night's starting lineup. He will not practice today.
Freshman guard Mario Kinsey, who missed Kansas' last two games while recovering from leg surgery, played 11 minutes last night in his return. He will miss today's practice.
Axett is still recovering from a sprained ankle, but Williams said he should be close to 100 percent for Kansas' game against the Demon Deacons.
After Gooden's highlight-reel dunk in the second half, the Jayhawks took the court with only three players.
"It was just stupidity," Williams said. "In the 13 years I've coached here, whenever somebody goes off, it's because somebody else comes in for them. With Luke Axtell and Drew Gooden, nobody came in for them, but they stayed off."
Kansas took a timeout to rectify the problem.
With the victory, the Jayhawks finished with an unblemished November record. The last time Kansas lost in November was 1990.
Home classic features three opponents
Edited by Warisa Chulindra
By Zac Hunter
sports@kansan.com
Kansan sportswriter
When the tournament has your name in the title, you should probably win it.
That's what the Kansas (4-1) women's basketball team is banking on when it plays host to the KU Credit Union Classic tonight and tomorrow at Allen Fieldhouse.
Coach Marian Washington gave the players Wednesday off to relax and watch some film.
The 'Hawks are taking on Eastern Illinois (2-2) in the first round at 7:05 tonight, while Minnesota and St. Joseph get the classic started at 5 p.m.
But studying up on their opponents wouldn't be the key to victory, she said.
we have to constantly work to get the five players comfortable with what we are doing," Washington said.
"I get this express package, and I take it (the tape) home and there is nothing on it." Washington said.
Even if the 'Hawks were relying heavily on game film, that wouldn't be the best idea. Kansas gets film on its opponents from other schools, and sometimes there are some slight problems with the tapes.
But she was able to acquire a tape of one half of the Tennessee/ Illinois
See page 38
game, which seemed to be enough. The Jayhawks rallied from being down by six at halftime to beat the No. 24 Fighting Illini 73-60 on Tuesday.
More information For more news and stats about this weekend's KU Credit Union Jayhawk Classic,
"The thing we tried to do in this game was to try not to worry about Illinois as much as just concentrate on ourselves." Washington said.
Although Kansas will be concentrating on itself, it can't afford to overlook Eastern Illinois.
The Panthers are coming off an emotional victory against Indiana State, a team that had beaten them eight straight times.
Eastern Illinois runs a three-guard lineup, which is just fine with the 'Hawks, considering the way they handled Illinois' three guards on Tuesday.
Kansas kept the Illini's leading scorer, Allison Curtin, covered, keeping her to just seven points in the game, and zero in the second half.
"Part of it was that we really gritted it out on defense down the stretch," said senior guard Jennifer Jackson.
Jackson helped to lead the charge.
"The thing we tried to do in this game was try not to worry about Illinois as much as just concentrate on ourselves."
Marian Washington
women's basketball coach
She played with a huge shiner under her left eye Jackson acquired in Sunday's game against Louisiana-Monroe when she collided with an opponent.
However, Jackson got the best of the deal. The Louisiana-Monroe player suffered a broken jaw and a split lip.
The 'Hawks will need the same type of defensive intensity they showed against Illinois to beat Eastern Illinois and advance to the championship game, which will be played at 3:05 p.m. tomorrow.
"I've been telling my mama I was hard-headed for years, but she doesn't believe me," Jackson said with a smile.
The consolation game of the classic, which will feature the losers of Friday's games, is set for noon.
Junior guard Selena Scott outmaneuvers an Illinois guard to make a successful shot on the basket. The lady Jayhawks play Eastern Illinois tonight at 7:30 at Allen Fieldhouse. Photo by Craig Bennett/KANSAN
Edited by John Audlehelm
National title possible if Sooners win cat fight
By Allan Davis
But that was seven weeks ago.
sports@kansan.com
Kansan sportswriter
No. 1 Oklahoma, the Big 12 Conference South Division champion, is one win away from playing for its first national title since 1985.
The Dr. Pepper Big 12 Conference championship game will be played at 7 p.m. tomorrow at 79,451-seal Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Mo. ABC will broadcast the game.
All the Sooners have to do is beat Big 12 North Division champion Kansas State, something they have already done once this season.
But that isn't the case.
If the Sooners (11-0, 8-0 *Ble 12*) are able to defeat the Wildcats (10-2, 6-2) tomorrow, they are guaranteed a spot in the Bowl.
On Oct. 14, in Manhattan, the Soonars beat the Wildcats 4:31, embarrassing the highly-regarded K-State defense.
More information
Read more about Big 12 football.
See page 5B
Championship/Series national title game. If will be played Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2001 at the FedEx Orange Bowl in Miami.
Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops said his team was prepared to play the Wildcats and wouldn't be looking past them — thinking about the national championship game.
"I just think it's exciting," he said. "It's another game to play. We're fired up about if I don't have my part of setting up the BCS game, so I'm not going to worry about it. Let's go so play and have fun with it."
Stoops said he didn't think beating the same team twice in one season would be hard to do
"I don't believe it is," he said. "I don't know why it has to be. This game has nothing to do with the last one, I know this. We'll be extremely confident. We went into their place and handled the situation."
Last Saturday, Josh Heupel and the Sooner offense had — for them — a poor game in Oklahoma's 12-7 victory in its regular season finale against Oklahoma State in Stillwater, Okla.
The offense put only 10 points on the board, and the Sooners had to rely on the defense to save the victory in the warning minutes.
Heupel, the All-Big 12 first-team quarterback, completed 19 of 36 passes for a career, low 154 yards and also threw two interceptions.
The Soonera had come into the game averaging 43 points and 452 yards per game. The 12 points were their fewest in 26 games, and they gained only 309 yards, a season low.
But that was last week.
BIG 12 CHAMPIONSHIP
Kansas State versus Oklahoma
When: 7 p.m. tomorrow
Where: Arrowhead Stadium, Kansas City, Mo.
TV/Radio: ABC (Channels 9 and 12);
WHRU(R) AMI
Latest line: Oklahoma by 2
Sports Columnist
The Wildcats didn't play last week, so -Edited by Kathryn Moore
they have had two weeks to prepare for the Seesaw
However, K-State coach Bill Snyder, while declining to divulge his game plan, said he didn't anticipate making a lot of alterations.
"I don't think we could make a lot wholesale changes defensively," he said. "We have to do what we do. But I do know this — whatever it is — we certainly have to do it better. Josh completed 78 percent of his passes. We had a very difficult time. We're going to have to be a heck of a lot better."
Shawn Linenberger
sports@kansan.com
BCS numbers don't add up; playoff system makes sense
College football playoffs? Ha, who needs playoffs?
Who cares if No. 3 Miami beat No. 2 Florida State?
We have the Bowl Championship Series, which ensures No. 1 plays No. 2, no questions asked.
The BCS, with its brilliant calculations of numerous polls and strength of schedule, is the Grand Poobah of college football.
Obviously head-to-head competition isn't as important as statistics.
It shouldn't matter that the NFL, every other NCAA division, the junior college level and the high school level have them.
The Orange, Rose, Sugar and Flesta bowls are supposed to be elite bowls. But aside from the national championship, the other three don't seem particularly elite.
The Sugar Bowl will probably pit No. 3 Miami (The Hurricanes are No. 2 in the coaches' poll) and No. 7 Florida.
The Fiesta should pit No. 5 Virginia Tech against No. 11 Notre Dame, which has its own network, NBC, to broadcast its games.
The Rose Bowl will have its traditional Big 10-Pac 10 conference showdown with No.14 Purdue and No.4 Washington. The Boilermakers are No.14 in the coaches' poll, but not the BCS, which includes the nation's top 15.
The obvious rundown after No. 1 vs. No.
2 wc old be 3 vs. 8, 4 vs. 7 and 5 vs. 6, but of course, that would be too easy.
The Pac-10 is threatening to pull out of its BCS contract if Oregon State, a Pac-10 member, doesn't get into a BCS bowl.
The Rose Bowl has to match up the champions of the Big 10 and Pac-10, and Notre Dame looks more appealing to Fiesta Bowl representatives than Cinderella Oregon State, the No. 6 team in both polls.
This isn't the first time the Pac-10 has faced being snubbed, because No. 5 UCLA was bypassed in the 1997 Sugar Bowl for No. 9 Ohio State. Fellow Pac-10 school Arizona was the only at-large selection in recent years, when the Wildcats played in the 1994 Fiesta Bowl.
But it is possible.
Replace the dead space of December with playoff games, and presto, a playoff system. Either eight or 16 teams would make the playoffs, with today's lesser bowls serving as consolation prizes to teams not making the cut. And the cut would be selected by a committee, much like college basketball.
Some deserving teams might miss the boat, but it's better than the BCS.
With all the commotion, a playoff system is the obvious choice. Coaches complain that a playoff would make the season too long, etc.
Do it possible?
Yeah, it will probably never happen, but maybe someone will see this proposal and encourage the NCAA to consider it.
First, knock the season down to 10 games. Early season games would count toward the 10 games and conference championships would be eliminated. A Kansas State victory against Oklahoma tomorrow would illustrate ending conference title games.
so, in the spirit of Christmas, I give you this tribute to the BCS, to the tune of Jingle Bells :
Ah-hem ...
To Miami we shall go,
For this year's game;
The BCS rakes in the dough,
The Pac-10 thinks it's lame.
A questionable No. 2 team,
Notre Dame prob'ly earned a spot;
Big-name teams get big-name bowls
Oregon State deserves a shot.
Chorus
Chorus
Oh BCS BCS
Oh, B-C-S, B-C-S.
Your calculations we should toss;
It involves too much fuzzy math,
And the 'Canes have just one loss. Hey!
(Repeat chorus, fade out)
14
&
And so I offered you this simple song. You could also sing it in early January — unless you're a Florida State fan.
Lennberger is in Washington, Kan., member in Journalism.