Multimedia Reporting (Bradford)

Early June in Lawrence is a time when the University of Kansas’s most diligent procrastinators finally begin looking for their home in the coming academic year.

Apartment complexes welcome the scourge with deals of reduced security deposits and half off first-month rent. Landlords require current occupants to clean houses and town homes to pristine levels while touring potential future occupants.

The only place, it seems, that is not luring the university’s massive number of upperclassmen to sign 12-month leases is the university itself.

“Here’s the rub,” Kip Grosshans, associate director of Student Housing, said. “If you were a private apartment owner, I don’t think you would want the university competing with you. When we are able to buy what we bought without paying sales tax, and when we are able to buy what we bought based on state contracts, and if we are able to essentially muscle people out of the way in terms of land on the perimeter of campus, I think there would be probably be a pretty loud complaint that said the university was unfairly competing with the private business owners in town because the university was getting into their business. I don’t know that it is necessarily the reason. But our mission is student housing, and we work with the space we have.”

Martin Moore, president of the Lawrence Apartment Association, said a contingent of private owners would prefer KU doesn’t build upper-classmen apartments.

“Some complexes that are more student-oriented wouldn’t like the competition,” Moore said. “If KU is getting into the housing business, you are committing millions of dollars. To be successful, you need full occupancy. It would be a very serious undertaking. For independent owners, they have taken millions of dollars of risk. There are many complexes, and I think there are many good choices around town for KU students. I don’t think it is necessary for KU to add housing.”

Moore did add that KU should serve its own interest.

“I would expect them to do whatever they think is necessary to keep the university vibrant and necessary to their students,” Moore said. “In a business setting you have to expect competition no matter where it comes from. I don’t know. If they were tax exempt, that would be a huge advantage for the university. I don’t know what I could say, except, ‘Darn I wish they wouldn’t do that.’ But the university is great for the city, great for everyone.”

Ryan Cantrell, Shawnee, Kansas, senior, lived in McCollum Hall as a freshmen and Jayhawk Towers as a sophomore. He said he liked the space of his current duplex, but would have considered a return to campus as a senior were there university-run apartments.

“If the facilities and rent were comparable with some of the nicer places around town then I would definitely consider it if I was looking for an apartment,” Cantrell said.

Grosshans said that 75% of incoming freshmen live at KU-run housing. 15% more live at other organized housing, such as men at fraternities. Despite these big numbers, only 17-18% of the total student population lives with KU-housing.

The University of Kansas does not require new students to live on campus. Grosshans notes that most campuses have that rule, including Big 12 counterparts Colorado, Missouri and Oklahoma. They also rarely make an attempt to keep freshmen from leaving.

This year things changed, however. The Department of Student Housing started a marketing campaign aimed at bringing returning students back to the residence halls for at least one more year.

Bookmarks and postcards were sent to parents and students graced with the tagline, “Don’t just attend KU- LIVE KU!”

Posters were hung around campus with a similar message. All listed “Top Ten Reasons to Live On-Campus,” which included items such as safety, convenience, monetary savings and meal plans.

What changed? Next year, the university is taking a break from renovating buildings. With a full complement of facilities, the department decided to actively pursue current residents as future tenants with an aggressiveness that Grosshans said he hasn’t seen before in 30-plus years.

Still, the campaign was on a strict budget.

“We didn’t really know what to expect, so we decided we would spend as much as one new contract would bring us,” Grosshans said. “And we did. We kept it to around $5,000 total. We brought in 100 new contracts, so we were pretty happy with the results.”

Grosshans said that in 2005-2006, only about 400 residents returned. Currently about 880 residents have signed up for at least one more year of student housing, with about 75 of those re-upping for two years.

Most returning students will move to either Jayhawk Towers or McCollum. These are the only two University-run buildings that stay open through school breaks.

Cantrell wouldn’t return to either of those options.

“They don’t have the feel of more modern complexes,” Cantrell said. “In the Towers, the lighting is terrible, they only have one internet connection located in the living room for multiple residents, and the kitchen and bathrooms are outdated.”

Grosshans said he could see scenarios in which the university would construct upper-classmen apartment complexes in the future.

“If our mission changed, and the goal was established for us to house a larger percentage of the under graduate population, then we would have to do that,” Grosshans said. “If we wanted to house 20-25% of the students, then we would (start building). We would have to do that. That’s certainly a possibility.”

The 2007 Bill Self Camp has now concluded. Click ther image above for an audio slideshow of this year's festivities.

Bill Self’s roster swelled from 14 to 800 last week. And unlike the issues he faces as the coach of one of America’s elite basketball programs, such as fan and media pressure, the biggest obstacles he faced with increased numbers was finding enough face time for each of his new players and making sure everyone got enough ice cream.

Such is life at the Bill Self Camp. The 2007 edition, which concluded last Thursday, brought many youngsters to Lawrence looking for instruction from the famous KU coach and his players. Self was joined by high school and college coaches from around the state, as well as his current Kansas University basketball roster, and former KU players including Aaron Miles, Michael Lee, Nick Bradford and Billy Thomas.

“There is about one coach to every eight campers, which is always a good selling point,” Pittsburg middle school basketball coach Doug Banto said. “The kids have fun. They get to spend the night. They get ice cream in the dorm. All the players are around where they can autograph stuff; kids really enjoy that. All of them come around, and all of them are great at signing autographs.”

Andy Meyers, 11, Leawood, came back for a second year. He convinced three neighborhood friends to join him.

“You learn the fundamentals: passing, shooting and dribbling, and then you learn more advanced things like jab-step and how to drive on a man and the fade-away shot,” Meyers said. “And the coaches are really nice, too. I liked it because it taught me a lot of stuff in the first year and the fact that Bill Self is one of the best coaches in the country and Kansas is one of the best teams.”

The boys follow a regimented schedule while at camp. Beds are asked to be made after wakeup (“Probably the only time of the year that they do that,” Banto said). After breakfast, the campers are shipped to their respective courts. The youngest campers, starting in third grade, made way to Schwegler Elementary School. The oldest campers, in high school, practiced at Allen Fieldhouse.

After practices, campers return to their dorms. The campers are split: the youngest half stays at Naismith Hall while the older campers stay at McCollum. Lunch is then served, which gives way to free time. After dinner, campers return to their gyms for an evening of scrimmages. These games last until 10:30. It is then back to the dorms for an 11:00 bedtime.

“I got better, I think,” Will Gyori, 11, Leawood said. “I got better at shooting. I got better at looking to pass and driving. It is very fun and you learn a lot.”

Gyori was attending camp for the first time. He said he would return, and hopes to attend KU someday.

Banto said they encourage players to continue practicing when camp dismisses.

“If you don’t pick up a basketball the rest of the year, none of this will help you,” Banto said. “We give them the fundamentals, and if they choose to use it, which a lot of them do, they will become better basketball players.”

Ryan Stoskopf, 11, Leawood, said the highlight of his week was a talk from KU star point guard Sherron Collins.

“He told us to keep on playing and never let down your teammates and keep your head high,” Stoskopf said.

Banto, who has coached at the camp for eight years, said Self visited his gym three out of the four days. He said the coach plays a prominent roll in the camp that bears his name. He also said KU legend and current assistant coach Danny Manning was frequently in the gyms instructing campers.

“That is one of the big reasons (to attend the camp),” Banto said. “They can come to a good camp, they can see players that they know and have seen on TV, and sometimes they don’t know who Danny Manning is, they don’t know who Billy Thomas is, or Woodbury. They know the current ones. It’s like, what have you done for me lately? The kids can relate to the guys they have seen on TV.”

Banto has been bringing his kids to camp for the last two years. He plans to continue coaching at the camp indefinitely. He likes the experience of making friendships with other coaches and instructing young players in a fun atmosphere.

“We want them to have a nice experience,” Banto said. “For some kids, this is their one week of the whole year. Sometimes they don’t even play basketball, but they have a grandparent here (in Lawrence), so they get some time here. It is neat. It does good.”

It took Drew Gooden 25 years to realize his dream of playing in the NBA Finals. His journey took him across the country: from his hometown of Oakland, to a basketball scholarship at the University of Kansas, to NBA stops in Orlando, Memphis and Cleveland.

Once he had reached the apex of his professional existence, reporters flocked to talk to him. About his hair.

Gooden’s hairdo can best be described as mostly bald with a patch of hair on the nape of the neck. It has spawned the term vertebeard. Some call it a rat tail. Gooden himself calls it a duck tail and claims it is the height of fashion in Oakland.

Star Koya, manager of Oakland’s Hair Today Hair Tomorrow, said no patron has ever asked for the duck tail cut. She has seen it around the Bay Area, although almost exclusively by a demographic Gooden surely can’t be emulating.

“Old dudes try to wear that to look young,” Koya said.

Gooden’s barber from college, Tim “Nelly” Nelson, has a theory on the hair-don’t.

“The reason he has it was because he can’t get a good haircut!” Nelson said.

Nelson still speaks to Gooden on a weekly basis. The conversations revolve mostly around busting each other’s chops, offering Nelson ample opportunity to give his unsolicited professional advice on the hairstyle.

Nelson cut Gooden’s hair monthly in Lawrence. Nelson called the recurring cut “schoolboy.” The KU star’s hair was closely and evenly trimmed during his time in Lawrence.

Has Nelson been asked to cut the duck tail from a fan?

“Nobody wants that. Nobody!” Nelson said. “That is one of a kind.”

The son of KU legend Danny Manning agrees. Evan Manning, 14, sports a mini-afro of curly brown locks. Would he ever consider shaving his head into a Gooden-like style?

“No,” Manning said. “Absolutely not.”

Gooden takes the ribbing with good humor.

“It is drawing a lot of attention," Gooden told insidebayarea.com. “One thing I've found out is even negative publicity is good publicity. At least I had the (guts) to do it.”

Gooden asserts the attention he has received from women has been positive.

“I went from getting compliments to now being sexy," Gooden told the website.

Janine Colter, manager of the Hidden Jewel Hair Salon and Spa in Lawrence, respects Gooden’s commitment to personal style.

“I have to say as a professional that a lot of things go that used to not go,” Colter said. “But if that is how he likes it, then go Drew!”

The hair has become a national phenomenon. A search of “Drew Gooden Hair” on Google elicits 72,200 hits.

Styledash.com gives Gooden a “style foul.” Anne Metz writes, “This series I've been utterly fixated on Drew Gooden's unfortunate coiffure. How bad is it? Well, remember the butt-cut Steve Nash used to rock? Well, if you can believe it, Gooden's hair is even worse than that!”

Maybe it is a Kansas thing. Scot Pollard, a 10-year NBA veteran and former Jayhawk, spent this season as Gooden’s teammate on the Cavaliers. Pollard has at one time or another sported a Mohawk, a single ponytail and a bald head. He generally grows out mutton chop sideburns. He earned the nickname, “The Sacramento Samurai” as a member of the Kings for growing his hair out and pulling it into a rubber band before games.

Nelson does get requests for Pollard’s hairstyles.

“All the time,” Nelson said. “I did a pair of chops yesterday, actually.”

Gooden and Pollard currently have more to worry about than their respective hairstyles. The Cavs were swept 4-0 last week by the San Antonio Spurs.

The 14-month construction project of Kasold Drive is finally over. A smooth two lane road is now flanked by a wide sidewalk. The improved conditions have done nothing, however, to appease incensed home and business owners who were affected by the lengthy ordeal.

Brian Fadden, manager of Parkway Wine and Spirits, located off of Kasold, said it was difficult to quantify the business lost because of construction. He was able to observe firsthand how a customer could become deterred when trying to reach a business off Kasold.

Click on the photo for a slide show

“Last Wednesday when I went to work, I had to go all the way up to 15th and cut into this neighborhood just to get here, because by the time I realized there was no left turn, I was already committed to going north on Kasold,” Fadden said. “So I guess the obstacle is it’s a pain in the butt. Some people don’t know the back way to get here.”

Fadden said that he suspected Hyvee had called in to complain to the city after construction obstructed and sometimes blocked vehicles entrance into the store’s parking lot. Parkway has slow business during the morning and early afternoon, times when construction was the worst. Fadden said that he would have voiced complaints if construction had gone on into his peak business hours.

City Public Works Director Chuck Soules said that despite some bumps along the way, the project was a success.

“We had a couple of businesses that had some concerns about access and visibility,” Soules said. “But the contractor did a heck of a job trying to get their work done and getting everyone accommodated. You will always have people whose schedules won’t mesh with the contractor. Occasionally we had mail delivery problems, where roads were closed and the post people couldn’t deliver the mail. But we took care of that right when we heard about it.”

Soules said the project was scheduled to last until October, but the crew finished it three months ahead of schedule.

“We were happy with their work,” Soules said. “They stayed with the job and got it done. The road will be there for years and years to come. I am very happy with the quality and workmanship.”

The look of the finished product has done nothing to allay perturbed motorists who were pulled over at high frequencies throughout construction on Kasold. According to the Lawrence Journal World, 900 tickets totaling almost $170,000 were doled out. The construction zone lowered the speed limit to 20 miles per hour, down from 40.

Motorists escaping Kasold without a ticket often became frustrated as well. The road was constricted to one lane and featured bumper-to-bumper plodding during many mid-days.

Soules believes all precautions taken were appropriate.

“The speed limit we had was 20 miles per hour and we did have enforcement for the 20 miles per hour,” Soules said. “It wasn’t a problem necessarily, but that’s what everyone has been talking about. We didn’t have any accidents. No one was hurt on the job. Traffic wise, besides inconvenience for some people, there were no problems.

“With no accidents or worker injuries as a result of traffic, I think that speaks for itself. The project was very tight, as far as construction area, and the workers could have reached out and touched cars. Not having people hurt was the proof in the pudding.”

Jenny Williamson, a Lawrence resident who recently moved into town, took her two dogs on a walk down the new sidewalk along Kasold on Wednesday. Williamson lives in an apartment complex off of Kasold.

“It’s nice and wide,” Williamson said of the sidewalk, “but I prefer sidewalks in neighborhoods, not down noisy roads. I had to keep an eye on (the dogs) and make sure they didn’t get too close to the road.”

Soules was happy with the wider walking areas on Kasold.

“The city has been moving towards more pedestrian accessible community,” Soules said. “Kasold is a main street that has a connection to many areas. It’s a great improvement providing the capability for pedestrians or bicyclists.”

Williamson said she walks her dogs everyday, but would not make this sidewalk a staple of her daily routine, despite the proximity to her home.

“It wouldn’t be my preference,” Williamson said. “Occasionally, maybe.”

Patrick Huse graduated from the University in May with a degree in finance. Unsure of what to do next with his life, and spurred by an already lucrative side-career in online poker, Huse headed to Las Vegas for the summer.

The Omaha native turned a victory at a satellite, a small tournament that feeds into a larger one, into a spot at the $10,000 buy-in World Series of Poker Main Event. Huse then became the latest Internet whiz kid to take a run at the game’s most hallowed title, peaking as the tournament’s chip leader on the second day, before finishing 128th and winning $58,570.

Patrick Huse on day two of the Main Event sitting next to former WSOP champion Scottie Nguyen

Click here for a slideshow.

This year’s Main Event featured 6,358 players from around the world.

Huse came to the University as a novice in poker. He began playing competitively in cash games on the third floor of McCollum Hall. He soon began playing cash games online.

“I really enjoyed playing poker when I was in college because you can play whenever you want,” Huse said. “You don’t have any responsibilities as far as going to work.”

Huse quickly accumulated tens of thousands of dollars.

“My friends and I have all bought some crazy things,” Huse said. “We all have big screen TVs. One thing poker players are extravagant about is their computers. My computer is really expensive. It’s stupid. It’s like buying a Ferrari to drive down your neighborhood street or something like that.”

Huse said he would be responsible with the winnings from the tournament.

Garrett Beckman, a 22-year-old former University student from Garnett, has lived with Huse for the last year and stayed with him in Las Vegas. Beckman, a full-time Internet poker pro, said saving money after big wins was difficult.

“It’s very weird to know you can buy about whatever you feel like; expensive computers, TVs, electronics, cars, whatever,” Beckman said. “Sometimes it is hard to not spend a lot right after a big win. The toughest part about making money young is keeping a hold of it.”

Huse said the most intimidating aspect of the Main Event was its mystique.

“It’s kind of a surreal experience because when I started playing poker I watched the World Series telecasts,” Huse said. “So it was kind of surreal being at that tournament and playing in it, especially late when I had so many chips in front of me.”

Despite playing in his first Main Event, Huse didn’t set out with a strategy.

“Experienced players know that you can’t really have a strategy,” he said. “Obviously in tournament play you have to be really aggressive, but you just have to see who is at your table and what the players are capable of.”

“In this tournament there are so many amateurs, I just never really felt like I wasn’t one of the best players at the table.”

Huse ended day one of the Main Event with about $40,000 in chips, when the average player had about $55,000. Day two would be much more lucrative and give Huse the highlight of his tournament, courtesy of poker star Gus Hansen, nicknamed, “The Great Dane.”

“Late in the day, I had just won a really big pot and I was up to about $455,000 chips,” Huse said. “They came over the loudspeaker, and they say, ‘We have a new chip leader, his name is Gus Hansen.’ They said he had $445,000 chips and I am sitting there with $455,000 chips. Then everyone at my table was kind of like, ‘Hey we have the chip leader!’”

Day three wouldn’t prove as kind. Huse was two-outtered on two occasions, poker vernacular for when all the money is in the pot and a trailing opponent only has two cards remaining in the deck that can win the hand and beats the odds.

Huse battled back to more than $500,000 in chips early on day four. But he could not avoid misfortune when he called an all-in late in the day with pocket kings. His opponent flipped over aces, which held. Huse’s charmed run was over.

“Anyone in the world would have done what I did, so I can’t really say that I played bad,” Huse said.

This year’s event may have seemed big to Huse, but numbers were actually considerably down from a year ago. The 2006 WSOP had a field of 8,773. A first place prize of $12,000,000 was awarded to Jamie Gold. This year’s title winner, Jerry Yang, won $8.25 million.

Most blamed the declining numbers on Bill Frist-led legislation in September 2006. The Republican Senator from Tennessee attached The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 (H.R. 4411) to an anti-terrorism port security bill.

Frist’s bill did not include an outright ban on Internet gambling. Jean Holthaus, a Kansas certified gambling counselor out of Topeka, said she believes the government doesn’t have the manpower to fight that battle. The bill severely limited the way that players could fund their accounts. The new law prevented credit card companies, banks and other financial institutions from transferring money to known Internet gaming sites.

The increased difficulty caused many players to close their accounts, leading to fewer online qualifiers for the WSOP. Others just became disinterested in the game.

Some are pleased with the new measures. Holthaus believes the Internet lends itself to gambling addiction.

“A few things make it bad,” Holthaus said. “The speed is one. If you are playing poker, you get quick feedback. For an addictive personality, that can be a thing that keeps me in the action. The other thing about Internet gambling is that you don’t need a vehicle. You can do it in your dorm room or wherever.”

Huse estimated that 80 percent of the college-aged poker players he knew that had success at online poker had dropped out of school.

“That is one of the worst drawbacks of poker,” Huse said. “I know a lot of kids that have dropped out of college due to poker. My grades suffered, definitely. I graduated with an OK GPA, but I would have had a lot higher GPA if I didn’t play poker. I win $5,000 or lose $5,000 in a day and I don’t feel like doing my homework some days.”

Homework was not a major concern for Huse at the 12-day Main Event in Las Vegas.

Beckman, a full-time Internet poker pro, said he believed Huse’s laid-back demeanor helped him in the WSOP, where some players become overwhelmed by the large number of players and variances of luck.

“He is more calm and collected than most poker players I know,” Beckman said. “Patrick is an all around nice guy who will be very successful in the future.”

Huse said he would take some time off before deciding on a job. In the meantime, he will be working on his poker game and dreaming about the $8.25 million dollars that went to this year’s WSOP winner.