WILDCATS HIRING
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN SPORTS
Tennessee finished the season 11-16 and was 36-47 in the three years since O'Neill was hired. Northwestern went 7-22 this season and
KEVIN O'NEILL left Tennessee yesterday to become basketball coach at Northwestern. Tennessee officials held a late-night meeting with O'Neil on Monday in an unsuccessful effort to keep him from leaving. Tennessee finished the season 11-4 and went
has won only five Big Ten games in the last three years.
D'Neill was paid $375,000 a year at Tennessee—plus income from summer camps — after getting a $30,000 raise last year. His compensation package could exceed $500,000 annually at Northwestern.
GEORGE FOREMAN TO FIGHT AGAIN
GEORGE FOREMAN, 48; will defend the World Boxing Union heavyweight title against Lou Savarese on April 26 in Atlantic City, N.J.
Foreman stopped Michael Moorer in November 1994 to gain the WBA and IBF titles, but he was stripped of the crowns after refusing to face mandatory opponents.
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 12, 1997
PHILLIPS JAILED
St. Louis Rams running back LAWRENCE PHILLIPS was sentenced to 30 days in jail yesterday for violating his Nebraska probation.
Phillips was on probation for beating his former girlfriend and damaging a building in the September 1995 assault. He violated his probation when
Lawrence Phillips
he was arrested for drunken driving last summer in California
last summer in California.
Lancaster County Judge Jack B. Lindner revoked Phillips' probation yesterday and sentenced him on both counts stemming from the assault of then-University of Nebraska basketball player Kate McEwen. The assault occurred while Phillips played for Nebraska. Lindner said the two sentences of 30 days should run at the same time.
SECTION B
Football player to transfer hopes to play close to home
Cleve Roberts, a sophomore offensive lineman on the Jayhawk football team, is leaving the University.
Roberts, a 6-foot-6-inch, 300-pounder, started all but one game in his two years at Kansas.
Roberts said that he does not know where he will go next, but that he decided to transfer when former Kansas coach Glen Mason and offensive coordinator Pat Ruel left Kansas.
Mason became the head coach at Minnesota and Ruel is not employed.
Roberts said that his transfer had nothing to do with the new coach Terry Allen. He said that Allen seemed like a good coach, but that Ruel was a close friend, and he did not want to be at Kansas if Ruel was no longer coaching.
Roberts, who is originally from Louisiana, also said that he was homesick for the South and would like to attend school there.
Roberts started in 22 games for the Jayhaws.
Women's soccer team hires Wake Forest coach
Last season, Wake Forest earned a No. 20 national ranking and reached the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Soccer Tournament.
Dan Magner, who for the last two seasons was an assistant coach at Wake Forest University, has been named the new head Kansas women's soccer coach.
Kansas just completed its second season.
"Dan was an integral part of Wake Forest's success in reaching the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament in that program's third year," said Amy Perko, Kansas associate athletics director. "His experience in building a program will be a great asset to our young program."
Magner is replacing former Kansas coach Lori Walker, who resigned in January to become the head soccer coach at Ohio State.
Prior to working for the Demon Deacons, Magner served as head coach at Lafayette College for three years. He also was head coach at Wheaton College in Chicago.
Fifteen teams participated in the two-day, par-72 tournament, sponsored by Louisiana State.
Magner will begin his duties on Monday.
Before coaching, Magner played soccer at Eastern Nazarene College in Quincy, Maine, where he graduated in 1985.
The Kansas men's golf team finished 13th at the Louisiana Classics at Oakbourne Country Club in Lafayette, La.
Kansas short stop, Paul Evans attempts to tag Missouri left fielder, Bey Slemour. Kansas scored another victory by beating Missouri 6-5. The men will play at 3 p.m. today in Hoglund-Maupin Stadium.
The Jayhawks posted a three round team total of 911, which was the second worst total of the season for Kansas.
Men's golf places 13th at two-day tournament
Kansas finished ahead of two Big 12 Conference foes. Colorado and Texas Tech finished 14th and 15th.
The tournament was won by Arkansas State, who clinched the title with a one stroke victory against Mississippi State.
The Jayhawks were led by Ryan Vermeer, who shot a three round total of 225 to finish in 29th place. Chris Thompson shot rounds of 77, 76 and 74 for a total of 227 and a 44th place finish.
The 13th place finish was the first time in six tournaments that Kansas did not finish in the top 10.
the other Kansas finishers were Brad Davis, who finished in 56th place with a three round total of 229; Kit Grove, who shot a 230 for a 59th place finish and Dustin Anderson shot a 247 total and finished in 81st place.
-Kansan staff report
Kansas strikes out Mizzou
By Harley V. Ratliff Kansan sportswriter
With the help of a ninth-inning rally, the Jayhawks beat the Missouri Tigers 6-5 yesterday at Hochland-Maupin Stadium.
The victory extended the Kansas
minimum honor to seven states.
The victory extended the Kansas winning streak to seven games. The Jayhawks (13-5, 4-2) fell behind early as Kansas starter Tim Lyons (1-0) struggled with his control. The senior pitcher opened the inning by getting Tiger leadoff man Matt Nivens out, but he walked the next two Missouri batters. After Kansas catcher Josh Diminnick lost a Lyons' pitch in the dirt. Tiger cleanup hitter Ryan Fry singled in a run to give the Tigers a 1-1 lead.
The Jayhawks struck back in the bottom of the second inning.
Rightfielder Les Walrond led off the inning with a double. First baseman Nick Frank followed with a double that scored Walrond from second base. The Jayhawks took a 2-1 lead when Frank scored on an errant Tiger throw to first base.
The Kansas lead, however, was short-lived.
Missouri tied the score one inning later when Tiger second baseman Torre Tyson hit a home run over the left field wall.
After the home run, Lyons mowed through the next three innings.
The Missouri batters finally knocked Lyons out of the game in the seventh inning.
seemingly put the game out of reach by hitting a three-run home run. Niven's shot gave Missouri a 5-2 lead.
Tiger centerfielder Matt Nivens
Still, Kansas head coach Bobby Randall said he knew the game wasn't finished.
"I was confident that we could come back," Randall said. "We had been hitting the ball well all game."
Kansas cut the Tiger lead to two when pinch runner Kevin Nannini scored on second baseman Joe Demarco's ground ball. The heroes, however, were still to come.
After Aric Peters (2-1), who had replaced Corson in an innerting earlier, kept the Tigers scoreleast in the ninth, the Jawhaves' bats awoke.
Dimmick opened the inning by hitting a home run over the scoreboard in right field. Dimmick's hit both closed the Tiger lead and turned theide in the Jayhawks' favor.
"Josh's home run was an emotional burst—for both teams," Randall said.
comeback by doubling in the winning runs.
Dinnick said he was trying to get a hit, but once he made contact, he was sure the ball was leaving the vard.
Rightfielder Les Walgrd followed the home run by drawing a walk. Aaron Wilmes put the Jayhawks within a run, when he singled, which scored Walgrd. Andy Juday finished the Tigers and the
"It was the guys in front of me that gave me a chance," Judy said.
"It was typical pressure. I just relaxed and tried to do what I do in batting practice."
Kansas will try to duplicate yes-
terdy's success when the Jay-hawks finish the Missouri series at 3 p.m. today at Hoglund-Maupin Stadium.
Men's tennis loses meet
Kansan sportswriter
By Andy Rohrback
On a perfect day for tennis, with the Big 12 Conference lead on the line, Texas slipped past the Kansas men's tennis team 4-3 yesterday.
The Jayhawks entered the match after opening conference play with consecutive 5-2 victories against Oklahoma and Oklahoma State.
Yesterday's meet saw countless upsets and lead changes, including Fernando Sierra and Luis Uribe's loss to Texas' Jack Brasington and Allen Eric, 9-8, in doubles. The match was deadlocked at eight games apiece, which forced a tiebreaker. Sierra and Uribe held a 5-2 lead in the tiebreaker game, but Brasington and Allen charged back to win the tiebreaker 7-5.
"Those are the ones that hurt the
Enrique Aboroa, the No. 1. singles player for Kansas, returns a shot during a match against Texas. Aboroa won his match 6-4 7-6 7-5, but Kansas lost the duel 4-3 yesterday in Lawrence.
most, the close ones," Sierra said. "We could have won this one."
Kansas' No. 1 doubles team, Enrique Abaroa and Xavier Avila, overcame a brief slump and won their match 8-4. Before the Texas meet, Abaroa and Avila had lost of their last 5 matches.
At the No. 3 doubles spot, Trent Tucker and Jeff Ern lost 8-1.
Losing the doubles point put added pressure on the Jayhawks, Kansas coach Mark Riley said.
"We hurt ourselves early, and it caught us," he said. "We're capable of winning after losing the doubles point. We proved that at Fresno, but we've got to win some doubles points."
In singles competition, Kansas and Texas traded matches, with Kansas winning the No. 1, 3, and 5 matches and Texas picking up the rest. At the No. 5 spot, sophomore Trent Tucker won his fifth consecutive match.
Tucker's teammates call him "the stal man" because he knows everyone's stats. However, he didn't know of his streak until after he won the match.
"I don't really know how I'm doing," he said.
Abaro picked up the first set 6-4, and took a 6-5 lead in the second. His opponent, Paul Martin, came back to win the second set 7-6.
The No. 1 and No. 2 singles matches were the longest. With Texas ahead 3-2, Abaroa and Avila found themselves in the spotlight, but on separate courts.
Meanwhile, Avila split the first sets with Texas' B.J. Stearns 4-6, 6-3. The final set saw Stearns take a 4-3 lead on Avila. Abaroa, after trading sets with his opponents, put together a 5-4 lead.
"There were too many ups and downs," Abaroa said. "He's a good player when he's down. He came on with good shots on important points."
Avila kept his match close, tying the score 5-5 in the third set. Stearns won the next game, earning a 6-5 advantage. Avila's last return landed just out of bounds, handing Stearns the match and Texas the 4-3 victory.
Abaroa won his third set 7-5.
Riley said the meet resembled a duel between conference powerhouses.
"When you have chances, you have to take advantage of them," he said. "I wanted to put some pressure on Texas, and we didn't."
Bv Bill Petulla
Fans figure odds of NCAA tournament
Kansan sportswriter
Presumably just for entertainment purposes.
Far be it for the University Daily Kansan to endorse any type of illegal activity, but several KU students are partaking in NCAA Tournament pools.
KU Police Sgt. Chris Keary said the tournament brackets were considered gambling, a breach of Kansas law. "Our policy is the state law." Keary said. "It is a viola-
"Our policy is the state law," Keary said. "It is a violation of state law to place a bet."
Despite the risk, some students are taking their chances.
An Edina, Minn., senior, who asked to remain unnamed, said he was in a pool more for the enjoyment than the wagering.
"I'm in one that costs five dollars," he said. "I just fill it out for fun to make the less interesting game more intriguing."
He said those who placed in the top three spots would win money. He expected 40 people to participate in the pool, making the total prize money $200.
Las Vegas oddsmaker Danny Sheridan has given the Kansas men's basketball team the best chance of winning the national championship with 2:1 odds in favor of Jayhawks accomplishing the feat. He has also predicted the Jayhawks as a 34-point favorite against Jackson State in Thursday's game at 11:25 a.m. in Memphis, Tenn.
Although Todd Sperry, Shawnee junior, would neither confirm nor deny that he was engaged in a tournament pool, he did give some predictions for the Final Four.
"It's going to be Kansas and North Carolina for sure," Sperry said. "The talented UCLA and Utah are going to overcome the top rated teams in their bracket."
Along with Sperry's projections, several Kansan staff members submitted their Final Four selections for print. See if you can find a common thread in these picks.
Sports editor Spencer Duncan: Kansas, Kentucky,
North Carolina and UCLA
Associate sports editor Gina Thornburg: Kansas, Kentucky, North Carolina and UCLA
Sports reporter Tommy Gallagher: Kansas, Kentucky,
North Carolina and UCLA.
Sports reporter Adam Herschman: Kansas, Kentucky,
South Carolina and Minnesota
Sports reporter Matt Woodruff: Kansas, Kentucky, North Carolina and UCLA
North Carolina and UCLA
Staff reporter Ann Marchand: Kansas, Utah, North
Carolina
Staff reporter Kevin Bates: Kansas, Utah, Cincinnati and North Carolina
Staff reporter Emily Vrabac: Kansas, Wake Forest,
Clemson, North Carolina
.