EVENTS
 Sportsman of the Year
 Heisman Trophy
 Swimsuit 2001

CNNSI.com GROUP
 Sports Illustrated
 Life of Reilly
 Television
 SI Women
 SI for Kids
 Press Room
 TBS/TNT Sports
 CNN Languages

COMMERCE
 SI Customer Service
 SI Media Kits
 Get into College
 Sports Memorabilia
 TeamStore

Hell Week

After a trying week, Kansas center Eric Chenowith looks to have an 'unbelievable' summer

Eric Chenowith Senior C, Kansas 8.6 ppg, 5.6 rpg, 1.6 bpg

We couldn't wait until Midnight Madness to catch up with college basketball's premier players, so we decided to track them down during summer break. Check back here each week to find out whether your favorite hoopster has been bulking up, barbecuing or perfecting his turnaround J.

By Carl Bialik, CNNSI.com

The last week in June got off to a tragic start for Eric Chenowith, and then it only got worse. "Some of the most solid things in my life were getting flipped around: my friendships, my coach and my basketball career," he says. On Sunday, June 25, the Kansas senior was working at coach Roy Williams' basketball camp in Lawrence when he got a devastating call: Ryan Ferguson, his close friend and classmate at Villa Park (Calif.) High School, had died that morning.

Chenowith will look to recapture his form from the '98-99 campaign, when he averaged 13.5 points and 9.1 boards. John Biever

Two days later Chenowith flew home to Orange, Calif. to attend Ferguson's funeral. Seeing his friends coming together helped ease some of his sorrow. But, on his drive back from the service, he received a message on his cell phone. "It was from my girlfriend's dad," Chenowith says. "He said [Kansas] Coach [Roy Williams] might be leaving. He kind of said it in terms where he was going for sure. I just started breaking down and crying again. I was a basket case."

The phone message referred, of course, to the rumor that Williams would take the North Carolina coaching post vacated by Bill Guthridge, who officially announced his retirement on June 30. The morning of Guthridge's announcement, Chenowith talked on the phone with Jayhawks assistants Joe Holladay and Ben Miller, and after those conversations, he was convinced that Williams would return to Kansas. The following Monday Chenowith spoke to Williams before the coach left on vacation. "I was really, really comfortable then," Chenowith says. "I didn't think he was going to leave at all." Chenowith's teammates weren't concerned, either. "Everyone was like, 'it's just media speculation,'" he says. On Thursday, July 6, Williams eased his players' minds by opening his media conference in the Kansas football press room with the statement, "I'm staying."

Hearing those two words brought great relief to Chenowith, who is coming off a junior year he calls "extremely disappointing." Early-season back spasms were chief among the factors that caused Chenowith's points and rebounds per game to slip from 13.5 and 9.1 his sophomore year to 8.6 and 5.6, respectively. By the end of the season, the Playboy Preseason All-American was coming off the bench.

While Chenowith was home in California for Ferguson's funeral, he watched the NBA draft on television and thought about what might have been had his performance last year had been stronger. "Deep down, I knew I was better than some of those guys -- most of those guys," Chenowith says of this year's class of draftees. Last fall the 7' 1" center had been projected by some as a lottery pick if he were to leave school early. Instead, Chenowith's junior campaign ended up leaving him frustrated and concerned.

Quotables On starting his own rock band: "It's always been a dream. I love live music, I love going to live concerts." On his guitar playing: "I've played since last spring break. I'm not very good at all." On his post-basketball plans: "Raise a family and run a church. Maybe coach high school basketball." On why college players should be paid a monthly stipend: "It's only logical. The NCAA claims it's nonprofit. But it gets 50,000 people at the Final Four, paying 60 bucks a ticket. That's a lot of money and none of it goes back to the players. I understand we get a college education, which is wonderful, and I would never trade it in for anything. But it doesn't seem right."

At the close of the season, Chenowith met with the Kansas coaching staff to work out a game plan for this summer. "I have a chance to be a lottery pick this year, so I'm going to do all I can to have an unbelievable summer," he says. "I'm working hard. My summer's revolved around basketball. I haven't really relaxed much." That's a slight understatement. For the first month after classes ended, Chenowith, at home in Orange, Calif., lifted in the mornings and worked out on the court in the afternoons, including an hour a day with former NBA player Bob Thornton. In mid-June, Chenowith returned to Lawrence to work the two week-long sessions at Williams' basketball camp. "I'd work camp all morning, lift weights in the afternoon and then come back at 10:00 p.m. and play pickup games," he says. Chenowith will spend the next few weeks at a pair of minicamps run by Portland Trail Blazers assistant coach Tim Grgurich; then on Aug. 13 he'll move on to Pete Newell's Big Man Camp in Honolulu.

Chenowith denies that this plan of attack is a response to the heat he took last summer for attending eight Dave Matthews Band concerts. "I went to a couple of concerts," says. "But it wasn't like I was touring with the band, like everybody said. That was totally false." He does admit, however, that this time last year he wasn't dedicating as much time to hoops. "Instead of splitting [the day] into two separate workouts, I would try to get it all done at the same time," he says. "There wasn't as much energy put into it."

This time around, Chenowith is expending extra effort on the court. That, plus knowing his coach will be back for another season have combined to lift Chenowith out of his rut. And after his week from hell, it can only get better.

Copyright © 2001 CNN/Sports Illustrated An AOL Time Warner Company. All Rights Reserved. Terms under which this service is provided to you. Read our privacy guidelines.