NBA
The Phoenix Suns fired coach Paul Westphal yesterday and replaced him with former coach Cotton Fitzsimmons. Page 6.
SPORTS
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 17.1996
KANSAS BASKETBALL
SECTION B
Positives stand out at Kansas
Too often sports columnists are looked upon as angry fans which use their 14 inches of space in the paper to vent frustration.
That's not true. Well, not always.
So, in an attempt to spruce up our image — at least for today — I'll focus on positive aspects of Kansas athletics.
And now, from the home office at Stauffer-Flint Hall, "The Top 10 People and Things We Can Be Proud of at Kansas."
10. Student-Athletes Stellar grades from men's basketball guards
and Jerod Hasse grab the headlines. But stand-outs like volleyball player Jenny Larson, football players Darrin Simmons and Jim Moore and women's basket球 guard Angle Halbleib also excel in the classroom.
ASSOCIATE
SPORTS
EDITOR
Craizies at Duke — we've got the best basketball fans right here.
9. Kansas Basketball Fans Forget the Cameron
8. The Rock Chalk Chant Even Dick Vitale, Kansas' public enemy No. 1, agrees there is no better college cheer in America.
7. The Kansas Spirit Squad Although many readers may look at this as a self-serving ranking, don't jump to conclusions. The Spirit Squad works hard and has received some impressive awards in the last several years. The Crimson Girls won the 1994 National College Competition in 1994. The cheerleaders also placed first in the 1995 National Competition.
The squads also raise funds for their traveling expenses and receive little scholarship money.
6. Glen Mason He might not be the most popular guy in Lawrence, but he has injected life into a Kansas football program that spent years digging for a pulse. Do you math — 43-47-1 in eight years with Mason, 33-51-6 in the eight years prior to Mason.
5. Bob Frederick The good doctor has played a huge part in building Kansas athletics into a major powerhouse. Three years ago, under Frederick's reign, Kansas set an unprecedented feat by winning a bowl game, playing in the Final Four and making the College World Series.
4. Karen Schonewise This Kansas volleyball coach is a model of professionalism on and off the court. In her playing days, she was a two-time All-American at Nebraska, winning the Honda-Broderick Award — college volleyball's equivalent to the Helsman Trophy. And even after all of the brainless questions asked by a wet-behind-the-ears Kansan reporter last season, she never lost her cool.
3. Roy Williams What can I say about the man that hasn't already been said? After reaching the pinnacle of college basketball, the Kansas empire crumbled like a house of cards before leaving Roy the heir to Larry Brown and NCAA sanctions. Williams has brought back respect, pride and honor to a Kansas basketball program that could have gone the other way.
2. Betsy Stephenson Whether you are at a packed men's basketball game or a sparse volleyball match, you'll find her cheering. Although she is among the brass as assistant athletic director, she'll always return your call and treats everyone with the same warmth and respect.
1. Marian Washington No person has done more for a single sport at Kansas or maybe all of America. She put a once nearly non-existent Jayhawk women's basketball program on the map.
Washington first put the whistle around her neck before many of us were born. Back then, she coached a women's basketball team that rarely stayed in hotels and had its results posted on the women's society pages.
So walk proud, Jayhawk fans. You've got a lot of reasons to hold your heads high.
What's more, she has done it all with little praise and fanfare.
'Hawks failing at the foul line
But Jayhawks often receive more attempts
By Jenni Carlson
Kansas sportswriter
After missing two free throws late in the first half of Monday's game, T.J. Pugh clenched his fists and grit his teeth.
But the freshman forward wasn't the only one suffering at the line.
Kansan sportswriter
In defeating Saint Peter's 85-71, the No. 4 Kansas men's basketball team hit only 27 of its 46 free-throw attempts. That dropped the Jayhawks' season average to 63.4 percent, compared with 65.3 percent at the same time last season.
"I'm getting sick, frankly, about how we're shooting our free throws," Kansas coach Roy Williams said after the game.
"But I don't want to start getting letters with solutions to our free-throw shooting. This team shoots a lot of free throws, probably more than a lot of others, and I don't need letters about it."
The Jayhawks concur with their coach, saying that they have shot hundreds of free throws, especially during winter break.
Kansas sophomore guard Billy Thomas said the team often combined running and free-throw shooting in practice.
"We've practiced enough to make these shots, but they're just not falling," Thomas said. "The concentration is not there."
That weakness stood out during the first half against Saint Peter's The Peacocks got into early foul trouble, picking up their seventh team foul with 16:25 left in the half and putting the Jayhawks into the one-and-one. Less than five minutes later, Kansas got the two-shot bonus when Saint Peter's committed its 10th personal foul.
Kansas hit only 13 of its 24 free-throw attempts in the first half.
"We weren't capitalizing on the fouls in the first half." Thomas said.
But free-throw woes weren't a problem only on Monday night. Of the Jayhawks who have shot at least 10 free throws, freshman guard Ryan Robertson is the only one to shoot at least 80 percent.
He was the designated free-throw shooter Monday after referees whistled Saint Peter's for three technical fouls. Robertson hit 5 of 6, which were the same numbers turned in by junior guard Jerod Hase. Possibly the only other bright spot from the free-throw line was Thomas' perfect 3-of-3 performance.
Robertson believes that everyone on the team has the capability to shoot free throws well.
I think it's just a matter of having the guts — stepping up there and knowing you're going to make it." Robertson said. "Sometimes it is a little contagious when we start missing a few free throws."
A case in point is Kansas' 15-of-28 performance against Oklahoma State. But the Jayhawks followed that 53.6-percent outby hitting 73.7 percent of their free throws against Florida.
The Jayhawks' performance from the line has equated into a sixth-place ranking in the Big Eight Conference.
HARRING
Kansas may close that gap on the conference leaders by building on the end of
MANNING
TON
RESIGNS:
Colorado
men's basketball
ball coach Joe
Harrington
abruptly quit
his job last
night.
FREDERICK
FREDERICK
INJURED:
Kansas athletic director Bob Frederick suffered a broken kneecap while ice skating.
the Saint Peter's victory. The Jayhawks hit 9 of 12 from the line during the final 3:08.
"By other people making shots, hopefully it will rub off the other way — the good way," Robertson said.
Scores & More, Page 2.
Matt Flickner / KAN$AN
Free throw shooting has been difficult this season for Kansas junior center Scot Pollard and the rest of the No. 4 Jawhacks, Kansas' free throw average now sits at 63.4 percent, compared to 65.3 percent this time last season.
Last-minute losses drive Jayhawks to win
Kansas coach says past problems help team get stronger
By Evan Blackwell Kansan sportswriter
The Kansas women's basketball team has tested that theory this season. The Jayhawks have a 10-6 record, having battled back from some close, emotional losses.
Sometimes a team's darkest moments can help it to pull together and become stronger.
The list brings back painful memories to many of the Jayhawks. A 65-58 overtime loss to Iowa on Dec. 3, a
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
75-72 loss to them-No. 7 Penn State on Dec. 16, and a 60-59 loss to Big Eight Conference rival Colorado on Jan. 5.
The Jayhawks held a one-point lead on two occasions in the last 30 seconds against Colorado. Kansas lost on two free throws with less than a second left.
All three of the losses were games the Jayhawks seemed to have within their grasp. Kansas held a 72-59 lead over Penn State with three minutes to play.
Kansas women's basketball coach Marian Washington said the Colorado loss was especially tough because the players had worked so
hard.
"We played really aggressively on defense," Washington said. "It could have some either way."
Despite these setbacks, the Jayhawks have turned their season around in Big Eight play since the Colorado loss.
"Those games showed us where we stood, what we needed to work on, and what we needed to do to improve," senior guard Charisse Sampson said.
Junior guard Tamecka Dixon said the main area the team needed to work on was defense.
They stand in second place with a 3-1 conference record.
"Our defense has really picked up in the last two or three weeks," Dixon said.
Kansas has played five games in the month of January and given up 70 or more points only twice in that span.
This past Sunday, the Jayhawks rode their aggressive play on the defensive end to their biggest win of the season, a 75-51 triumph over Iowa State.
Dixon said the early losses also showed the Jayhawks how to deal with pressure situations late in the game.
Junior forward Jennifer Trapp said the lessons Kansas took from those games would continue to payoff down the stretch.
"We've been through every situation you could possibly go through," Trapp said. "This must be preparing us for a later time."
"We're playing with more confidence now in those situations," she said.
"I think character really surfaces when you have to work yourself through some disappointments," Washington said.
Washington said the team deserved all the credit for turning the season around.
Sampson said there was one sentiment that has kept the Jayhawks' season alive.
Washington also said she did not regret playing such a rigorous non-conference schedule.
"I think you have to have the tough games in order to get your team mentally stronger," she said.
"All we have is each other," she said.
Spring sports look toward conference domination
By Dan Gelston
Kansan sportswriter
Before the curtain comes down for good on the final year of Big Eight Conference play, there is still one more act left.
The following Kansas athletes and a new coach are the ones to keep an eye on this spring. They will play pivotal roles in determining their teams' success.
This spring semester could be one of the more exciting in recent Kansas history. Nearly all of the teams have legitimate chances at winning their conferences and advancing to national postseason play.
For men's tennis player Enrique Abaroa, it would be hard to imagine that there is still much to accomplish on the tennis courts. He is a former French Open champion on the junior circuit, and last year as a freshman at Kansas he was an All-American, advancing to
ANALYSIS
the NCAA tournament. He should be the No.1 player on the team, which is going for its fourth consecutive Big Eight title.
Opposing Big Eight women's tennis teams had better run and take cover from the Kansas women's tennis team's newest star, Junior Kyle Hunt from New Castle, Australia will begin her first year at Kansas after transferring from North Carolina State University.
"Kyle Hunt has an opportunity to win the NCAA tournament," he said. "She can really do some damage in the national scene. She's made a quite an impact."
Kansas women's tennis coach Chuck Merzbacher is excited about coaching such a talent.
Mandy Munsch helped the women's golf team pull off a better-than-expected finish in
Her work ethic, as well as great talent,
im impressed coach Jerry Waugh.
the fall by placing in the top 25 in all five of her matches. Munsch, a freshman, is proving her dedication to the team even in the winter cold.
"She's out practicing in the cold and wind. Not all of the players are doing that," Waugh said. "I was pleasantly surprised at the success she had in the fall. She had a very successful high school career at Hays, and I look forward to having her in the next three years."
The Kansas baseball team put it together 40-win seasons in 1992 and 1993, with the latter year ending in a first-ever trip to the College World Series. But last year ended in disappointment. There was a losing record, 24-38, and the sudden resignation of coach Dave Bingham. Bingham was replaced by Bobby Randall, who was coach at Iowa State for 11 years.
Randall will try to reverse the fortunes of a team that many have picked to finish at the bottom of the Big Eight.
"The guys on the field are going to win the games, not me," he said.
Coming from a successful tennis family has helped the Kansas women's tennis team's newest recruit, freshman Kris Sell. She strengthens a team that has won four consecutive Big Eight championships and is the oldson favorite to win this year.
"She has a very, very promising future," Merzbacher said. "Kris has the talent and the mentality to be a success."
Success for the Kansas softball team also depends on another freshman, although the pressure for Sarah Workman far exceeds any other athlete. Highly touted before her arrival, she played impressively in the fall season, compiling an 11-0 record and 0.47 era helping Kansas go undefeated in the fall.
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