BULLETS HIRE COACH
BERNIE BICKERSTAFF resigned yesterday as the Denver Nuggets' general manager to become head coach of the Washington Bullets. He served as an assistant at Washington from 1973 to 1985.
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN SPORTS
Bickerstaff, who turns 53 today, was on the sideline with head coach Dick Motta when the Bullets won the 1978 NBA title. He coached the Seattle Supersonics for five seasons before joining the Nuggets in 1990.
The Bullets have struggled despite the addition of free agents Rod Strickland and Tracy
PADRES. GREG VAUGHN REACH DEAL
Murray to a squad that already included Chris Webber, Juwan Howard and Calbert Cheaney.
The San Diego Padres announced a three-year, $15 million contract with slugger GREG VAUGHN. Vaughn had filed for $5,675,000 in arbitration
and was offered $5 million. He took the offer, saying that he wanted to stay and possibly end his career in San Diego.
RODNEY PEETE said he would come back from a serious injury and make a solid case for reclaiming the Philadelphia Eagles starting quarterback job. After starting the first five games of the season, Peete tore the patella tendon in his knee Sept. 30 during a game against the Dallas Cowboys. Unable to secure the start job in Detroit in his first six NFL seasons, Peete finally
PEETE WANTS RETURN
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 1997
NFL seasons, Peete finally
won a full-time job with the Eagles after signing as a free agent in 1995. He began that season as the backup, but took over for Randall Cunningham five games into the season and led Philadelphia to wins in nine of their final 12 games.
SECTION B
Fast BREAKS
AP Top 25
Kansas' Lynn Pride drifts through a sea of Iowa State players on her way to the basket during the Jayhawks game against the Cyclones on Saturday night in Allen Field House.
The Top 25 teams in The Associated Press college basketball poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through Feb. 9.
rank team rec pts prv
1. **Kansas (67)** 23-1 1,770 1 2
2. Wake Forest 19-2 1,669 1
3. Minnesota (4) 20-2 1,621 4
4. Kentucky 22-3 1,598 3
5. Utah 17-3 1,438 5
6. Duke 19-5 1,387 8
7. Clemson 19-4 1,323 10
8. Cincinnati 17-4 1,244 12
9. **Iowa State** 16-4 1,168 6
10. Maryland 18-5 1,127 7
11. Arizona 15-5 1,076 14
12. South Carolina 17-5 1,946 19
13. New Mexico 18-4 901 9
14. Michigan 17-6 791 13
15. Colorado 17-5 730 15
16. North Carolina 15-6 723 20
17. Louisville 18-5 606 11
18. Villanova 17-6 454 16
19. Xavier, Ohio 16-4 375 17
20. Illinois 17-6 300 —
21. Texas Tech 14-6 246 23
22. Stanford 13-6 171 18
23. Tulane 16-7 153 21
24. UCLA 13-7 144 —
25. Coll. of Charleston 21-2 141 —
Tyler Wirken / KANSAN
Other teams receiving votes: Tulsa 129, St. Joseph 102, Iowa 83, Texas 79, California 75, Georgia 75, Providence 68, Southern Cal 59, Pacific 51, Indiana 55, Boston College 42, Marquette 21, New Orleans 21, Hawaii 20, Miami 21, Ohio 19, Cleveland 19, Illinois 71, Missouri 4, West Virginia 5, N. Arizona 4, N. C. Charlotte 4, E. Michigan 5, M. Mississippi 3, Oregon 4, Oak Roberts 1.
Women's AP Top 25
The Top 25 teams in The Associated Press women's college basketball poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through Feb. 9.
rank team rec pts prv
1. Connecticut (37) 22-0 1,020 1
2. Old Dominion (3) 21-1 981 2
3. Stanford (1) 23-1 951 3
4. Louisiana Tech 21-2 881 4
5. North Carolina 20-1 862 5
6. Georgia 18-4 825 6
7. Alabama 19-4 760 7
8. Tennessee 18-7 713 9
9. Virginia 18-4 704 10
10. Florida 17-5 633 10
11. Texas 16-4 561 8
12. Vanderbilt 16-6 520 16
13. LSU 19-2 516 11
14. Kansas 17-4 446 12
15. Illinois 18-4 424 18
16. Texas Tech 14-6 392 14
17. Notre Dame 20-5 323 15
18. Duke 16-6 293 20
19. Stephen F. Austin 20-3 270 21
20. Michigan State 18-4 259 24
21. Arkansas 15-7 159 17
22. Clemson 15-7 149 19
23. Nebraska 17-3 132 —
24. Geo. Washington 17-4 73 —
25. Tulane 19-3 74 —
Other teams receiving votes: Memphis 59,
Western Kentucky 50, North Carolina St. 47,
Auburn 43, Colorado 40, Portland 33, Wisconsin
32, Southern Cal 26, San Francisco 14,
DePaul 12, Maryland 11, Antoine 10, Louisville
9, Colorado St. 8, Purdue 8, Toledo 5, Utah 4,
Hawaii 2, Oregon 1.
Skiing champion retires because of knee injuries
SESTRIERE, Italy — Marc Girardelli, the five-time overall World Cup skiing champion, has retired because of longtime knee problems.
the Austrian-born Garidelli, 33, who raced for Luxembourg, was injured in a race earlier this year, damaging one of his few healthy knee ligaments. He was advised by his doctors that he would risk serious damage with further racing.
Girardelli has 46 World Cup victories, third overall behind Ingemar Stenmark and Alberto Tomba. He has won races in five Alpine disciplines and took overall titles in 1985, 1986, 1989, 1991 and 1993.
He won 13 medals in the Olympics and worlds, four of them gold. He came close to winning an Olympic gold medal in 1992 but instead won silver medals in the giant slalom and super-G.
Women's Big 12 teams in deadlock at top spot
The Associated Press
No top-25 teams scheduled for rest of Kansas' season
By Tommy Gallagher Kansan sportswriter
With six games left in the Big 12 Conference season, there are a limited number of head-tohead games between the premiere teams in the conference.
No. 11 Texas, No. 14 Kansas and Colorado are tied for first place in the Big 12 with 8-2 conference records, but only the Buffaloes play both teams with which they are tied.
Kansas has a schedule that features no top-25 teams. However, it does play an important game at Colorado on Saturday night. The Jayhawks also have home games against Nebraska and Missouri, which defeated Kansas 68-66 last week.
Texas has three key games in a 10-day period down the stretch, all of which are at home.
The Longhorns play host on Feb. 17 to Nebraska, which is second in the Big 12 with a 7-3 conference record. Texas then has home games against No. 16 Texas Tech and Colorado.
Texas women's basketball coach Jody Conradt said she would prefer to play any other schedule than the one facing her team.
"I'm willing to change schedules with anyone," she said. "Two losses in the conference probably won't win (the Big 12) this year. If someone were to have only one loss in the next three weeks, that might be enough to win the conference."
But Kansas women's basketball coach Marian Washington might be willing to make the switch. Washington said that while every team would have tough games down the stretch, the difference in those games could be the home-court advantage.
"Road games are the biggest
challenges any team has to face," Washington said. "Texas is at home for some big games. For me, that's a big advantage to have at this point in the season."
Colorado has a home game against Kansas on Saturday and will play at Texas. The Buffaloes' other four games are against teams in the bottom half of the Big 12 standings.
Nebraska, one game behind the conference leaders with a 7-3 record, plays four of its final six games on the road. The Cornhuskers have road games at Texas and Kansas.
Texas Tech and Kansas State, the dark horses with 6-4 Big 12 records, are two games behind the conference leaders.
Conradt said no team should
be written off until after the season had ended.
"The Big 12 is a good women's basketball conference," she said. "Every team in the conference is competitive, and I think you can see that when you look at all the upsets around the conference. Anything can happen between now and then, so we just have to wait and see what happens."
Tvler Wirken / KANSAN
Forward Nick Bradford attempts to block Stevie Johnson's shot during Sunday's game at Iowa State. Kansas will play Oklahoma State at 8 p.m. tomorrow at Allen Field House.
Jayhawks remain No.1 despite injuries, loss
By Bill Petulla
Kansan sportswriter
Kansan sportswrite
They're hack.
Losses last week by two other top teams, Wake Forest and Kentucky, also helped return Kansas to the top spot in the nation. Kansas received 67 of the possible 73 first-place votes. No. 3 Minnesota earned four, and No. 4 Kentucky received two.
But in truth, the Kansas men's basketball team never went anywhere. Despite suffering its first loss of the season to Missouri on Feb. 4, the Jayhawks defeated then-No. 6 Iowa State on Sunday and remain No. 1 for the 10th consecutive week.
Kansas men's basketball coach Roy Williams reiterated his attitude concerning rankings.
"I don't care about those things," said Williams, following the 69-62 victory at Iowa State. "We can control our own emotions and not what everybody else says."
Three of Kansas' starters have suffered injuries this season. Guard Jacque Vaughn sat out 10 games with a wrist injury, and center Scot Pollard has sat out five games with an injured foot. The Jayhawks went 10-0 without Vaughn and are 4-1 without Pollard in the lineup. Senior Jerod Haase has a broken scaphoid bone in his shooting hand.
Forward Raef LaFrentz has intensified his game with the absence of Pollard. LaFrentz, who is averaging 18 points and 8.8 rebounds a game, has recorded 13 double doubles (double figures in scoring and rebounding) this season.
Some Kansas players said they wanted to make the games less tense. During the victory against Iowa State on Sunday, Vaughn said the team made the game more enjoyable.
"He's been phenomenal the last five or six games." Williams said.
"I've never been involved with a team that has had this serious type of injuries," Williams said.
He said Pollard was X-rayed Friday, and there were signs that his foot was healing on schedule. Pollard is two weeks into the expected four-week healing process.
"Hard work does pay off," Vaughn said.
"We came out. and we had fun."
Guard Jerod Haase said the accolades weren't as important if the team wasn't enjoying playing.
In other news and notes: Only the four-year members of the team — Vaughn, Haase, Pollard and B.J. Williams — have lost two consecutive games while at Kansas. Younger players, such as LaFrentz and forward Paul Pierce, have yet to lose two in a row.
"All the achievements and records are less meaningful if we don't have fun doing it," he said.
Kansas will play its first of four consecutive home games at 8:05 p.m. tomorrow against Oklahoma State.
Players skip college ball try their luck in the minors
By Harley Ratliff
Too good to be true.
Kansan sportswriter
Rolls, a third baseman from Kansas City, Kan., and Terrell, a shortstop from Blue Springs, Mo., were both selected in last spring's Major League Baseball draft.
When Kansas baseball head coach Bobby Randall signed high school stars Damian Rolls and Jimmy Terrell last April to become Jayhawks, he knew he had two good players.
Rolls was taken in the first round by the Los Angeles Dodgers. Terrell was picked in the third round by the Chicago White Sox.
"Playing professionally has always been one of his dreams," said Terrell's mother, Kate. "When he was drafted so high, it became obvious that this was the thing to do."
Given the opportunity to sign contracts and play professional baseball, both waived their college eligibility to have a shot at fulfilling their lifelong dream.
The decision came as no surprise to Randall and his staff.
4.
During recruiting, Randall knew there was the possibility that the players would be drafted.
"When I saw where they were drafted, I knew they would sign, 100 percent," Randall said. "We didn't have any illusions about that."
When they were, Randall and his staff regrouped to fill the scholarships the players left. That meant finding new recruits.
While many people their age were dealing with classes, homework and professors, Rolls and Terrell spent their first semester after high school learning the ropes of the minor leagues.
"After they signed, we had to move to plan B," Randall said. "That meant the recruiting process went further into the summer than we had hoped."
"Sure, I was a little bit upright," Rolls said. "But I get to play baseball everyday, and if you love baseball, there is nothing better."
Although each player initially struggled with the transition from high school athletics to professional baseball, Rolls and Terrell have few regrets about their decision.
Although Rolls won't be playing for Kansas, he still remains close to the program and players. Rolls has spent much of his off-season training in Lawrence.
"Eventually, I'm going to get my education," Rolls said. "But I regret not having that student body life. I've got good friends on my team, but even in the minor leagues you have to watch out for who you talk to."
"At first I wasn't used to it," Terrell said. "But it was definitely a learning experience. The hard part is that playing baseball is your job, and you get tired after a while."
"I spend a lot of time working out at Anschutz, " Rolls said. "I also know a few of the guys on the team, and occasionally I hang out in their rooms."
While his first season was rigorous, Rolls said he had enjoyed it so far.
Both players said although they were not attending the University, they would be keeping their eyes on the team.
One of Rolls' regrets is not having the opportunity to experience the social atmosphere at a big university.
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"I'm looking forward to watching the program this season," Terrell said. "They're definitely going to be a strong club in the future. Coach Randall is a terrific coach."
Rolls echoed Terrell's statements
"Coach Randall was the main reason I was going to play baseball at Kansas," Terrell said. "He is a good friend off the field, but he knows how to get down to business when he has to."
Randall said he regretted not getting Rolls and Terrell.
"The hardest part of losing those two players was that they both have great characters and great families," Randall said. "Jimmy and Damian would have made great teammates at Kansas."