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Tuesdav. April 2, 1991 / University Daily Kansan
Championship Sidelights
KU
'Hawk fans not disappointed
Rv Karen Park
Special to the Kansan
INDIANAPOLIS — Cheers, not tears, followed the KU basketball players last night as they exited the court after a 72-46 loss to the Duke
Cheerleaders did not cry, and fans stood and chanted, "Jayhawks" and "Roy' Roy" as the third-year KU players and his players left the arena.
Cory Conklin, Westmoreland sophomore, said he was pleased with
the team's performance in the NCAA tournament.
"I think we played as hard as we could," he said. "We had a great year, and I don't think this overshadows our season."
Conklin and other KU students were not disappointed that they had traveled from Lawrence to attend the Final Four.
"It was well worth the trip," he said. "Duke executed really well, and they were just a better team this
night."
Even though Duke led 42 at 34 half time, KU faithfully still had hope that their team would come back. After all, Roy Williams and the Jayhawks came back from a 12 point half-time lead to win the second ranked Arkansas Razorbacks.
"I didn't think it was over until the last second — at least I didn't want to believe it," said Kelly Davidczyk, Chicago sophomore.
KU could not overcome the eight-
point halftime deficit and lost the game by seven points. But KU fans remained optimistic about the season and next year.
"It was sad, but we'll be back next year," said Chad Libertus, Coolidge junior.
Davidczky and several friends left Lawrence early yesterday morning and arrived in Indianapolis an hour before the championship game.
"I'm not disappointed," she said. "We're going to be here next year."
Duke revelry similar to KU's
By Sarah Davis
Kansan staff writer
Even before the Blue Devils' victory last night. Duke University students were planning to celebrate.
Last night, more than 10,000 people, decked out in their faithful Duke-blue sweatshirts and T-shirts, watched their team win the NCAA men's basketball championship on a huge projection screen inside Cameron Indoor Basketball Stadium.
Martin Bullock, a junior at Duke, said the school had many bonfire traditions. Students toss wooden benches into the flames, dance made and run through the flames, dance, and soft drinks are provided by the University.
After the game, as they did after their victory against the top-ranked University of Nevada-Las Vegas, about 20,000 students celebrated with a huge bonfire, and some took part in mocking warfare. About 10,000 rectangular gravel pit.
In anticipation of Duke's win, Bullock said he
and many of his friends looked forward to the traditional festivities.
"It's going to be a huge party," Bullock said in a telephone interview yesterday afternoon. "Everyone is pumped. The excitement is pretty high." Eric Foss, a freshman at Duke, agreed.
"I immediately after the game, everyone went crazy, yelling and screaming, and everyone started filing out to the bonfire," he said. "Saturday night kind of pales compared to this."
The post-game celebration last night at Duke mirrored that of the one at the University of Kansas. Hoards of people gathered with beer, champagne and toilet paper in hand. People climbed trees as well as friends' shoulders amid the crack and pop of fireworks.
The jubilant celebration enticed several Duke men to shed their clothes and dance naked around
“It’s unbelievable, incredible, truly amazing. I don't think words could describe it,” said Jeff Feldstein, Duke sophomore. “I'm having so much
fun. I don't know what to do. Get naked? Drink
beer? Get champagne?"
The beer-splashed crowd reveled in the thrill of victory and shouted "We're so. We did it!"
the university. The university plans to have a celebration rally at Cameron to welcome home its players.
Foss said that he was proud of the players and that Duke earned this victory.
that Duke earned his victory.
"I think we need of deserve it after nine Final Fours and no championships in the school's history," he said. "Kansas is a pretty good school, so we don't really have a rivalry with them. I don't hate Kansas."
Conversations within the past few days at Duke have centered on basketball, and that certainly
"It's just like basketball heaven," Foss said.
"When I think of Duke, I think of basketball.
Kansan reporter Joe Goose and Duke University Chronicle reporter Michael Saul contribute information to the journal.
After bumping into Kansas 'Alonzo Jamison (le), Duke's Bobby Hurley tries to keep the ball in play before stepping out of bounds.
Steve Gonzales/Special to the KANSAN
Championship isn't an excuse
Players must make up work like others
By Rick C. Honish Kansas sportswriter
"I had mono." is worse.
"My grandma died," is a popular one.
But, "I" was playing in the NCAA championship game in Indianapolis," has to be the best possible excuse for missing class.
When the Kansas basketball players return to Lawrence, they will be greeted by grateful fans and loads of academic make-up work.
Tim Allen, assistant director of student support services in the athletic department, said that basketballs miss more days than most athletes.
"The football players only miss about four or five days a year," he said. "These basketball players, they are missing a lot more."
When the Jayhaws return from Indy, they will have to make up much of the academic work they missed.
Especially during the last couple of weeks. With the pressures of NCAA tournament play and travel from victory to victory taking up most of the players' concentration and time, the players often take a back seat to their footwork.
David Shulenburger, associate vice chancellor for academic affairs, said that the University did not have an attendance policy.
"Making up school work is a matter between the faculty member and the student." he said.
Diana Prentice-Carin, assistant professor of communication studies, said that her rules for student-athlete make-up work were the same as for
anyone else who missed class.
Plenty Carlin said she had had football players, swimmers and tennis players in her classes as well as senior basketball player Kirk Wag
the athletes have one advantage over the average student, because they know in advance when they will be gone" she said.
"In some ways, though, it is more difficult for the athletes, because they come back and have to do what the rest of the class is doing as well as the other work they missed," she said.
Prentice-Carlin said she almost always got a schedule in advance that gave the dates when a student-athlete would be out of town.
"The athletes are responsible for letting me know," she said. "Advance warning usually lets me assign work ahead of time, or if it is a test, they can make it up when they get back."
get back. Prentice-Carlin said she usually gave a week to make up tests.
"These are my own policies, and they apply to all my students," she said. "They are no different for athletes than they are for someone who's grandfather has died or someone who has a musical performance."
Former high schools watch Javhawk alums
Allen said that notifying faculty was the most important part of keeping the student-professor relationship stable.
"The faculty is very cooperative about these things," he said. "In the end, it all comes down to the student and how badly he wants to succeed."
By Benjamin W. Allen
Kansan staff writer
Tom Weston, one of Mark Randall's former basketball coaches at Cherry Creek High School in Engelwood, Colo., said yesterday that many people at the high school were wishing Randall a good game.
The high schools from which each player graduated have followed the progress of their alumni and were cheering for them last night.
He said everybody at the high school was a Jayhawk fan, even though Duke used the high school's gymnasium to practice when the Blue Devils were in the Final Four last year in Denver.
"We are all just excited for Mark. Mark was the best player to come through here and made a difference in our high school. We have real affection for him."
last year in New York.
"We were forced into letting them use our gym last year," Weston said.
T. C. Hardesty, activities director at the school, said, "All the faculty members who knew Mike are rooting for him." The staff is to wear two championship rings."
Although Mike Maddox graduated before any of the students at Putnam North High School in Oklahoma City enrolled in the school, the faculty of the school is rooting for the Jay-hawks.
Richard DeVito, mayor of Clyde,
N. Y. Terry Brown's town, home,
that they had not worked out the
solution, and the town was
planning a Terry Brown day.
For other fans, the excitement of having a high school graduate in the NCAA finals has spread beyond the high school to the whole town.
Brown's former high school coach has a new nickname that shows how important Brown's presence in the finals had become to the school.
Mrs. Walters, who works in the guidance office at Clyde-Savannah High School, said, "The kids no longer call Tony Batanzon 'Coach Batanzo', they say, 'there's Terry Brown's coach.'"
Fire jumping
Students jump through fireworks sparks in celebration of the Jayhawks' trip to the championship game of the NCAA tournament. KU fans gathered in front of Wescoe Hall, recognizing the Jayhawks despite the loss to Duke last night.
KU bash covered by aura of gloom
By Patricia Rojas
Kansan staff writer
A surrealistic mood invaded the campus as silhouettes of dancing bodies were sketched under the almost-full moon, and the sound of firecrackers blended with the music of the playing bands.
At a slow, uncertain pace, as though unsure of what to expect on campus, KU fans made their way to Wescoe Hall last night after the Kansas State nunned it to lose a championship in the NCAA national championship game.
KU fans were looking for a good time.
'I feel great. It was awesome just being in the finals because everybody said we couldn't do it.' -- Andy Buller
Andy Bulle.
Parsons sophomore
Like Broeckelmann, many KU fans talked about the games the Jayhawks won in the tournament and during the regular season instead of yesterday's defeat.
"How can you not be happy," said Kurt Brouretmann, St. Louis junior. "We didn't lose. We still No. 2. I mean, for Christ's sake, we did the unbelievable. We made it where no one expected us to make it."
Mike Molina, Overland Park senior, said, "I wish we'd've won today, but we didn't, and I proud of anyone expected to go."
Two local bands, the Homestead Grays and Caribe, provided some fun for the fans who still wanted to celebrate.
From fan to fan, the comments were unbeat and encouraging.
Andy Buller, Parsons sophomore, said, "I feel great. It was awesome just being in the finals because everybody said we couldn't do it."
It seemed the fans were trying to recover the triumphant spirit that spread up and down Jayhawk Boulevard on Saturday after the 'Hawks defeated North Carolina 79-73 in the Final Four semifinal game.
The upbeat mood, however, did not last forever. About 11 p.m., a little less than an hour after the game ended, the team was in the mix of pouring beer on strangers'
Jennifer Moser, Overland Park sophomore, said, "They just got way too rough. It was OK for a while, but it got too rough."
By midnight, many students were leaving campus because they feared getting injured.
Dawn Strahan, Wichita senior, said as she was leaving. "People were throwing each other down the stairs. I was standing in the back, and I am just ready to go."