NBA UPDATE
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Houston's CHARLES BARKLEY and Karl Malone of Utah, who led their teams to undefeated records, are the NBA's Co-Players of the Week. Barkley's best game included 27 points, 17 rebounds, 12 assists and three steals when the Rockets defeated the Golden State Warriors 120-115 at San Jose, Calif., on Saturday. Malone's highlight performance also came Saturday, when he had 36 points, 15 rebounds, five assists and three steals as the jazz handed the Chicago Bulls their first loss of the season. 105-100.
SPORTS
BIG 12 FOOTBALL UPDATE
Oklahoma State running back DAVID THOMPSON, who rushed for a career-high 321 yards in the Cowboys' 37-17 win against Baylor, has been named the Big 1.2 Conference's Offensive
Player of the Week. Missouri linebacker Joe Love recorded a game-high 12 tackles (five solos) in the Tigers' 42-25 win against Kansas to claim defensive player honors.
The Kansas men's SWIMMING TEAM compete against Southwest Missouri State on Saturday, defeating the Bears 148-88. The Jayhawks won ten individual events and both
SWIMMING UPDATE
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 1996
relay events on the day and
relay events on the day raised their dual meet record to 3-1.
Individual winners
included Tyler Painter
in the 1,000-meter
freestyle, Trent Hartl
in the 200-meter free-
style, and Brian O'Mara
in the 200 IM.
Sprinters Brent Peoples and
Spinners Brent Peoples and Robert Teda finished 1-2 in the 50 and 100 free, and diver Brain Humphrey won both the one and three-meter diving events.
Take a minute to give thanks during holiday
In today's feel-good portion of the paper, I thought I'd show some gratitude toward those things that all too often go unnoticed.
Besides, the last thing I want to do is bad-mouth anyone during such a festive time of year. So in the event that your folks put you on the spot at the Thanksgiving table by asking you what you're thankful for, here'a a list of things:
*Booing* — Let's face it, if it wasn't for boos, Steve Bono's ovation at Arrowhead Stadium on Sunday would have been total silence.
The remote control — I couldn't have gotten through watching the Missouri-Kansas football game on Saturday without one.
Dreaming — Like believing that Athletic Director Bob Frederick would be able to woo Lou Holtz to coach at Kansas. Lou Holtz and Roy Williams coaching at the same school ... if I'm dreaming, unplug my alarm clock.
Jacque Vaughn — Do I really need to explain?
Monster trucks and Nascar racing — Oops,
looks like I tapped into the Kansas State list.
Second-half football — Something the Jayhawks haven't played since Nov. 2 against Iowa.State.
*Cusss words* — I couldn't have gotten through watching the Missouri-Kansas football game without using them.
Scott Whittaker — My sources tell me that this Kansas football lineman has recently been rated seventh in Tank McNamara's Sports Jerk of the Year Award. Scott is up there with the likes of Art Modell and Roberto Alomar. And I thought that no Kansas football player
was going to get any postseason recognition
*Don Williams* — See jacqueline Vaughn.
*Police* — Just imagine what life would be like without the police ... all those Nebraska football players running loose.
Die hard fans — All of you Chiefs fans can disregard this one.
Isaac Byrd — A Rolls Royce player playing for what turned out to be a Datsun team.
Choking After losing to a mediocre Michigan team on Saturday, the Ohio State football program should be given the Heimlich maneuver.
Fantasy world — The planet Iowa State football coach Dan McCarney is living on when he thinks that 2,000-yard plus rusher Troy Davis will stav at Ames to finish out his college career.
The book "Behind Every Champion ..." written by the seniors of the 1995 National Championship Nebraska football team. — Notice the elipses ... I think that the seniors want the reader to finish the title, so let me give it a try. "Behind Every Champion...is a woman-beating, drunk-driving Lawrence Phillips." Or how about "Behind Every Champion...is a crotch-grabbing deviant — Christian Peter." Maybe this is the most fitting: "Behind Every Champion ... lies the most corrupt football program west of Miami."
Mason looks to future
Coach focusing on'97 season; plans changes
By Dan Gelston
Kansan sportswriter
Next season can't start soon enough for Kansas coach Glen Mason and the rest of the Jayhawks.
But it can't start until Mason figures out what went wrong this season and what the Jayhawks (4-7) have to do to correct it.
There's plenty to fix.
"It's no secret that I have not been pleased that we haven't played better," Mason said. "When you really try to think and evaluate and explore, you're hopefully looking for answers as to why we didn't perform better. It's not any easy answer."
Missouri running back Kenyetta Williams avoids the Jayawk defense. The Jayhaws lost their final game of the season 45-25 to Missouri on Saturday.
Whatever Mason and the rest of the coaching staff were asking, the Jayhawks had a hard time understanding.
The Jayhawks finished tenth in the Big 12 Conference in total offense, eighth in scoring offense and tenth in total defense.
Kathleen Driscoll/
KANSAN
Mason said the problem wasn't with the team's effort. He said it played as hard as it did in last year's 10-2 season.
"I think it was more of a problem of execution than playing hard, " Mason said. "But it all comes back to coaching. What are you asking them to execute?"
"Our defense didn't play up to expectations this year," senior linebacker and co-captain Ronnie Ward said. "We thought we were capable of doing a lot more. We didn't play up to our potential."
Not playing up their potential plagued the Jayhawks all season. As the season got later, the Jayhawks still were under the impression that they were the 10-2 team and not one with just four victories. Senior running back June Henley said after the loss to Missouri that nobody on the team thought they would lose.
Uninspired football is the not the only difference in this season from last season.
But it really wasn't a surprise that Kansas lost. The game was Missouri's season — it was its equivalent of a bowl game. Kansas had nothing to play for and it showed. The Jayhawks looked as if they were just going through the motions and waiting for the game to end.
It's no secret judging from radio talk shows, letters to the editor and Internet chat that
"A year ago at this time I was 9-2 and I was flat worn out. I was tired," Mason said. "I don't feel a bit tired now. I'd rather be 9-2 again and tired."
Kansas fans are tired of Mason and the inability of the Jayhawks to sustain momentum from season to season.
But Mason is quick to defend his record.
"No one would doubt that this program is in better shape than
when I got here," he said
And despite being linked to nearly every coaching vacancy in the Big 10, Mason remained adamant about staying.
"Why?" he asked. "Because I like it here."
Jayhawks bid aloha to LSU
Kansas defeats Tigers 82-53; set tone from start
The Associated Press
LAHAINA, Hawaii — Sure Kansas was impressive offensively. But it was the Jayhawks' defense which made it all possible.
"We were forcing them to miss shots in the first 10 to 12 minutes," Kansas coach Roy Williams said. "After that, it was
The No. 2 Jayhawks scored the game's first 18 points last night to stomp Louisiana State 82-53, in a first-round game of the Mauli Invitational.
SCORES: See the statistics of Kansas' win. Page 8
a matter of finishing out the game and working on some things."
Jerod Haase scored 6 points, Paul Pierce 5 and Scot Pollard 4 in the opening 18-0 spurt as the Jayhawks (2-0) opened an early 25-5 lead.
Kansas dominated the Tigers (1-1) in every facet in the opening half, and the Jayhawks' swarming man-to-man defense limited LSU to 9-of-35 shooting from the field in the first 20 minutes.
"Like coach said, we wanted to set the tone early," said Ryan Robertson, who's filling in for injured point guard Jacque
Vaughn. "We got our traps and pressure going and that got us pointed in the right direction. We wanted to show we could do it."
The game was a blowout from the early moments and it only got worse for the Tigers (1-1). By halftime the Jayhawks led 45-22, and built their lead to 38 points in the second half.
LSU didn't score until more than six minutes into the game when Gene Nabors scored on a follow shot.
"It was a mature, bigger stronger team that whomped us," said LSU coach Dale Brown. "It was not a surprise. We knew it would be a learning experience. This is just a good team. We cannot beat them tomorrow
"Like coach said, we wanted to set the tone early. We got our traps and pressure going and that got us pointed in the right direction. We wanted to show we could do it."
Ryan Robertson Kansas point guard
or next week. but we might beat them when we mature."
Raef LaFrentz had 23 points to lead Kansas, which will meet the Iowa-California winner in the next round today.
Haase and Pierce added 15 points each for the Jayhawks.
Maurice Carter scored all 13 of his points in the second half for LSU, which made just 19 of 68 field-goal attempts.