The Optimist (Abilene, Tex.), Vol. 90, No. 41, Ed. 1, Wednesday, March 6, 2002 Page: 4 of 10
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Sports
4 Wednesday March 6 2002 Optimist
Wildcats reclaim first in conference
Joel Weckerly
Sports Writer
ACU's two-game sweep over
West lexas A&M at home this
past weekend boosted not only
the team's morale but also its
Lone Star Conference South
standing.
The No. 15 Wildcats swept
the Buffaloes in a doublehead-
er 5-3 and 6-2 Friday before
Saturday's game was canceled
due to the extreme cold weath-
er. The game wont be resched-
uled but it didn't stop ACU
from improving to 14-3 overall
and 6-2 in division play. The
Cats had been tied for first
place in the division with
Eastern New Mexico but after
the Greyhounds dropped two
games last weekend ACU
moved into sole possession of
the standing.
"We're back in the driver's
seat again" said ACU Coach
Britt Bonneau. "The wins
helped us to get into the right
mindset and to get ahead in
conference."
The Buffaloes dropped to 2-
3 in LSC South play after the
losses.
ACU got a lot of help from its
pitching staff in the victories.
Senior Scott Buffington picked
up the win in game one while
senior Frankie Keller threw 10
strikeouts in the second game
to give the Cats the defensive
advantage.
"We had great pitching"
Cats drop three of four
Steve Holt
Spore Editor
The Wildcat Softball team
dropped to 4-10 overall after
losing three games and win-
ning one in the Division II
Leadoff Classic at Southwest
Park.
Because of cold weather in
the Dallas area the tourna-
ment was shortened to just
limited action Friday and one
game Sunday.
Friday the Wildcats fell 10-2
to Califomia-Davis and 17-1 to
Augustana (S.D). Head coach
Carol Tabor said the problem
against Cal-Davis was mis-
communication. "Several times we were one
out away from taking care of
Jayhawks have recipe for a title
You would think a basket-
ball coach with 382 victories
at his respective school would
have earned the respect he
deserved.
Unless your name is Roy
Williams and you coach at the
University of Kansas.
Williams and his Jayhawks
are poised to make a run in
the 2002 NCAA Tournament
and finally win the one thing
that has eluded Williams
throughout his 14 years in
Lawrence: a NCAA title.
Only two years ago
Williams and his team were
on the verge of falling from
college basketball dominance
and landing flat on their face
"worse than Dennis Miller dur-
ing a Monday Night Football
broadcast.
As one of the youngest
teams in school history the
1999-2000 team featured
three freshmen in the starting
lineup for the first time in
almost 20 years. Coach Roy
Richardson situation not just a black and white issue
The Nolan Richardson era
at the University of Arkansas
is over.
An emotional week at the
university came to an end
Friday when Arkansas bought
out the last she years of
Richardson's contract for $3
million after the outspoken
coach complained he was
treated differently because he
was black.
Gone are 389 wins at
Arkansas a vocal supporter of
the need for more black head
coaches at the NCAA Division
I level and the tenacious
brand of basketball
Richardson preached better
known as "40 Minutes of Hell"
in FayetteviUe Ark. home of
the university.
Now Richardson one of
:riV1J:riHW
Bonneau said. "Frankie pitched
great for us and our hitters did
what they needed to do to put
us ahead."
Keller was named LSC
Pitcher of the Week this week
for his outing against the
Buffaloes.
The team's pitching has
been a concern for Bonneau
throughout the past few weeks
but he said he was less con-
cerned after the WTAM wins.
"Pitching definitely im-
proved this weekend"
Bonneau said. "Frankie an-
swered a lot of our questions
this past weekend about this
pitching staff."
The teams' next six games
will be played over spring
break the first three being at
Tarleton State Friday and
Saturday. The Texans are 5-11
overall and 2-4 in the LSC
South but Bonneau said
record comparisons wouldn't
matter against a team likeTSU.
"It doesn't matter what our
records are going into those
games" Bonneau said.
"Tarleton's always a tough team
to beat and it'll be a tough
series this weekend."
ACU will play 10 games in a
span of eight days over the
break with a single game at
Lubbock Christian on Tuesday
a three-game home series with
the Colorado School of Mines
starting March 13 and a three-
BgajHX
business" Tabor said. "Those
end up being crucial mistakes
that lead to runs being scored."
In a game that didn't end
until after midnight Saturday
morning the Wildcats defeat-
ed Southwest Oklahoma State
11-2.
Sunday the Wildcats lost 8-0
to Wayne State (Neb.) despite
allowing just four hits out of
the infield.
Tabor said though the
Wildcats have lost to "beatable
teams" they are generally opti-
mistic about their goals as
team. The team still has a Lone
Star Conference Zone
Championship and a tourna
Polly wanna
column?
Josh Parrott
This is the
year Kansas
overcomes.
Williams sensing a possible
Enron-like scenario nearly
jumped ship to take over at his
alma mater North Carolina.
Then-freshmen Drew
Gooden Nick Collison and
Kirk Hinrich were all force-fed
major minutes for a Kansas
squad lacking a primary
offensive threat. Though that
team didn't reach the Sweet
16 everyone is reaping the
rewards of lessons learned
that year.
This season Gooden is
averaging more than 20 points
and 10 rebounds a game and
is arguably the best player in
the country for the best team
in the country. He is a go-to-guy
and has brought back
H
Chris Corner
Chris Smith
Arkansas
officials
were right.
the greatest coaches in the
history of the Southeastern
Conference and the old
Southwest Conference will
leave the school under a
cloud of turmoil rather than
the appropriate sendoff he
.was on track to receive.
Monday Richardson said
he was not answerable to fans
or media and complained
about news coverage by white
reporters who he said could
not relate to his struggles as a
black coach in the South.
Senior Frankie Keller delivers a pitch to a West Texas A&M
strikeouts in the game and was named pitcher of the week
game series at Southeastern
Oklahoma starting March 15.
"The week will be a good
opportunity to get a lot of peo-
ple playing time" Bonneau
said. "We'll be able to catch
at tourney
ment championship as a
reachable goals this season.
Junior ace Maurine
McWilliams suffered a mild
concussion Friday after getting
hit in the jaw with a foul ball
while walking to the team van
between games.
McWilliams should be
available to start next in the
Wildcats' game against El Paso
Community College at 6 p m.
Friday at Wells Field.
"When you play tough
teams you have to play seven
innings of solid softball" Tabor
said. "Our main focus is to stay
positive and keep our heads
up. When you get beat a lot' it
chips away at your confi-
dence." memories of a former
Jayhawk great Danny
Manning.
Both Collison and Hinrich
have established themselves
as two of the grittiest players
in the nation and the best sec-
ond and third options on any
team this side of Duke juniors
Carlos Boozer and Mike
Dunleavy. Their performance
is critical to any title hopes in
Jayhawk country.
This is the year Kansas
overcomes the ghosts of
March and rolls into Atlanta
with the goal of winning it all.
With a solid mix of seniors
players who understand their
roles and the trio of experi-
enced juniors the Jayhawks
have a recipe that would sur-
prise many come NCAA
Tournament time: Six straight
wins and an NCAA title.
Comments may be sent to Parrott at
jep00aacu edu or to the Optimist
at optimistejmc acu edu
He also said he was treated
differently than the other 17
coaches on the FayetteviUe
campus because he is
black he did not get the treat-
ment he deserved and social
life is not good for blacks at
the university.
Arkansas struggled to a 14-
14 record at the time of
Richardson's firing. Media
and fans gave a Richardson a
tough time not because he
was a black coach but
because the Razorbacks
struggled.
But instead of letting his
accomplishments speak for
themselves Richardson let
his mouth do the talking and
it cost him and the black
community. His racial com-
ments warranted or unwar
guys up on innings-pitched
and at-bats. We'll try to get our-
selves going for the second half
of conference play."
At this point Bonneau said
lie is pleased with his current
Wildcat athletes
Boston-bound
Steve Holt
Sports Writer
At week's end head
track and field coach Jon
Murray wants to have two
championship teams and
several individual champi-
ons. And he very well could.
Murray and fourteen
athletes will travel to
Boston Tor the Division II
Indoor National Cham-
pionship Friday and
Saturday. On the men's
side the Wildcats have
championship hopes in
the sprints distance and
field events.
The team's best hopes
lie in a Kenyan a Texan
and a Swede all of whom
are seeded first in their
events at nationals.
The Kenyan is John
Kemboi the defending
indoor champion in both
the 800 meters and the
mile. Kemboi is heavily
favored in both races this
weekend.
The Texan is Bay City
native Terrance Woods
who is seeded first in the
i first in the
I
high jump at
7-3 12" and
third in the
triple jump.
Woods who
is a three-
time former
national
champion in
Woods
the high jump missed all
of last season because of
ineligibility. This season
the senior returned and
promptly set an indoor
ranted offended the universi-
ty and should have been
made behind closed doors.
Richardson's agent Kevin
Scanlon said the comments
were directed toward "the
small percentage of hard-to-please
Razorback support-
ers." Regardless of his inten-
tions Arkansas officials were
right in their response to the
situation. University chancel-
lor John White said he did not
consider the matter a civil
rights issue according to
Associated Press reports.
And it wasn't. During the
last few years the Razorbacks
have not played like the
perennial powerhouse they
once were - one that won the
1994 national championship
BRADY LANE
batter in the second of two games Friday. Keller threw 10
this week for his outing against the Buffaloes.
lineup and will most likely keep
it the same for the remainder of
the season.
"It seems to be working" he
said. "All the guys have shown
that they've earned these spots
HiTMSlffll'HH'I'l
school reoord in the high
jump.
The Swede is Manuel
Brandenborn a redshirt
freshman from Eskilstuna
Sweden who has been the
dominant shot putter in
Division II this indoor sea-
son. Brandenborn's best
mark in two meets is 5B-10
34" but he could easily
break 60 feet with some
competition at nationals.
ACU's women's team
will be led by senior high
jumper Maresa
Cadienhead and freshman
pole vaulter Katie Eckley
both of whom are seeded
first in their events.
Cadienhead is all but
guaranteed to win the high
jump in which she has the
best height in the nation by
more than 5 12".
Eckley has the top vault
in the nation at 12-7 12"
and will be joined by a for-
mer national champion
Meredith Garner in the
event at nationals. Garner
is seeded third in the event.
A national champi-
onship would resume a
string of indoor and out-
door championships the
Wildcats have collected
nearly every year since
1992.
Last season was the first
in eight years that neither
the men's nor the women's
team won a team national
championship either
indoors or outdoors.
three SWC crowns and two
SEC titles under Richardson's
guidance.
This kind of success breeds
high expectations at any col-
legiate program. Richardson
along with Kentucky's Tubby
Smith represented the only
active black coaches to win
national titles in a part of the
country where black coaches
much less black players
would have been unheard of
40 years ago.
Despite this Immense
pressure both coaches con-
tinued to suaceed at schools
where basketball reigns
supreme over the rest of the
athletic programs in achieve-
ment and importance on
campus.
Arguably Richardson may
7
and I'm pretty happy with the
lineup."
The Cats' next game after
break will be at home on March
1 8 against Baker University at 7
p.m.
Sports Briefs
LSC Basketball
Honors Announced
Sophomore Melanie
Carter became just the
sixth player
in ACU wo-
men's bas-
ketball his-
tory to be
named the
Player of
B9
me iear in Carter
tne Lone
Star Conference Monday.
Senior guard Brenda
Jacoby was named to 'the
second team.
Sophomore guard Rod-
ney Lee was selected to
the LSC South Division
second team.
Carter averaged 20.5
points per game 67.9 per-
cent from the field and
3.1 blocks per game all
tops in the LSC.
Jacoby averaged a
career-high 12.8 points
and 4.8 rebounds per
game for the Wildcats in
2001-2002.
Lee was the only ACU
men's basketball player
selected to the team after
averaging 13.6 points per
game and 37.9 percent
from three point land.
Carter was a Division II
Bulletin Pre-Season all-
American. She is on pace
to score 2078 points over
four years which would
be the third-best in
Wildcat history.
courtesy of Marketing Servjces
not have received the recog-
nition he deserved at
Arkansas but in due time his
name would have been per-
manently embedded inthe
hardwood floor of Arkansas'
Bud Walton Arena just like
Duke's Mike Krzyzewski
Arizona's Lute Olsen and
Syracuse's Jim Boeheim.
Richardson's legacy as a
great coach will last forever
White said.
Undoubtedly Richardson
will be remembered as a great
coach not just a black coach
which is the way he saw it
instead of the way it was sup-
posed to be.
Comments may be sent to Smith at
ccs98dacu edu or to the Optimist
at optimistajmc acu edu
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The Optimist (Abilene, Tex.), Vol. 90, No. 41, Ed. 1, Wednesday, March 6, 2002, newspaper, March 6, 2002; Abilene, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101759/m1/4/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Abilene Christian University Library.