2B THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
SPORTS
MONDAY, JANUARY 23, 2006
ATHLETICS
CALENDAR
FOOTBALL
FOOTBALL Football practice times announced
Kansas football coach Mark Mangino announced that March 11 will mark the start of spring practice.
Practices will be open to the public on March 12 and April 1
The March 12 practice will be at Anschutz Pavilion, a location and time for the April 1 practice have not been announced.
The Annual Spring Scrimmage and Alumni game will be played on April 14. Kickoff is set for 5 p.m. for the Alumni game and 7 p.m. for the Spring Scrimmage, both at Memorial Stadium.
— Drew Davison
SOFTBALL
Big 12 coaches make softball predictions
The Big 12 Conference coaches picked the University of Kansas softball team to finish seventh in the conference this season.
The softball team will have eight letterwinners returning to the field, including senior pitcher Serena Settlemier and junior pitcher Kassie Humphreys. The Jayhawks will also return three All-Big 12 selections in senior outfielder Heather Stanley and senior infielders Jessica Moppin and Destiny Frankenstein.
Kansas went 9-8 in the conference to grasp onto sixth place. Its overall record was 31-24. The team also made an appearance in the NCAA Regional game in Athens, Ga.
Jonathan Anderson
Second place for team after individual efforts
BY EVAN KAFARAKIS
ekafarakis@kansan.com
KANSAN SPORTWRITER
TRACK
The Kansas men's and wom
The Nanen's track and field teams placed second in the annual KU/KSU/MU Triangular at the Anschutz Sports Pavilion.
Kansas coach Stanley Redwine said the team was closing the gap with Kansas State the team
Battle also won the men's shot put event. With the victories, he already qualified in the weight
It felt good to come out here and compete strong. We just need to take one meet at a time and we will continue to improve."
The Wildcats men's and women's teams earned a total of 265 points. The Jayhawks garnered 240.5 points and the Tigers placed third with a score of 212.5.
that hoisted the Jug, the trophy awarded to the winning team, Friday for the eighth straight year.
The meet began with the men's weight throw, which spotlighted Kansas senior Sheldon Battle, who won the event.
*Hopefully I can stay consistent with my technique and can
▼ THE COLUMN
continue to compete well," Battle said.
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throw and the shot put events for the NCAA Indoor Championships, which will take place in Fayetteville, Ark., in March.
Battle won his second event in two weeks, after taking home the weight throw and shot put title last week in the Arkansas Invitational.
Going into his final weight throw, Battle already had won the event. That didn't stop him
from landing the best throw of the meet.
"Sheldon Battle certainly impressed me today," Redwine said.
Bacchus placed in the top three in four events and won the
Redwine also said that senior Charisse Bacchus had impressed him that day.
women's long jump with a leap of 19-11.00. She finished second in both the 60-meter dash and 60-meter hurdles.
"It was great competing in front of the home crowd," Bacchus said.
Records were set throughout the night.
Senior Tiffany Cherry won the 60-meter dash in a time of 7.55, .08 seconds faster than the meet record.
Senior Aaron Thompson broke two meet records in the 60-meter dash and in the 60-meter hurdles.
"It felt good to come out here and compete strong. We just need to take one meet at a time and we will continue to improve," Thompson said.
"We're definitely happy with where we are and we need to continue to get better," Redwine said.
The Jayhawks will be home again on Saturday at Anschutz Sports Pavilion, where they will play host to the Jayhawk Invitational.
David Noffsinger/KANSAN
Edited by Lindsey Gold
Charisse Bacchus, senior long jumper, takes first with a jump of 19 feet and 11 inches. Bacchus also placed second in the 60-meter dash and 60-meter hurdles.
The funny thing about KU basketball, now that football season is over, is the attitude of many students and fans. It always seems to change dramatically from game to game.
Listen up, you fickle fans: It's a young team after all
One moment, after an ugly home loss against Kansas State and another on the road against Missouri, the town sank into a near depression. Most talk of the team began with the letters NIT.
Then less than a week later, everyone was hugs and giggles after Kansas' 96-54 blowout of Nebraska Saturday.
That is the main difference with basketball at the University compared to all other sports. The fans are quick to reverse their opinion. It's either feast or famine. Sometimes I feel bad for the
BY JIMMY CHAVEZ ichavez@kansan.com
SPORTS COLUMN coaches and the players. It seems like neither can ever truly please the fans.
Fans and students seem to think the 2002 or 2003 Jayhawks will just walk onto the court. I get the feeling that though they don't admit it, they expect Kirk Hinrich, Nick Collison, Drew Gooden or even Roy Williams to walk through the door. This attitude is ridiculous and needs to be overcome.
Sometimes I wonder if coach Bill Self has any regrets about coming to Kansas. Basketball minds such as Jerry Tarkanian, Rick Majerus and Jay Bilas have each recently called Self one of America's best young coaches. Several schools would sacrifice their first-born to hire a coach with Self's respectability.
NFL
Ironically, Self doesn't seem to command the same respect as he gets outside of Lawrence. In fact, Self resembles Texas football coach Mack Brown.
Year after year Self has had fantastic recruiting classes and has produced teams that won a lot of games. But, because of missed opportunities in games here and there, Self has received criticism. The resemblance to the criticism Brown had endured through the years is almost eerie.
Of course, people who frequent talk radio and message boards are the most brutal, but it isn't only Self. Before winning the national championship three weeks ago, Brown, like Self, had to hear criticism of many of his players. In Self's case, he's dealing with mostly freshmen and sophomores who are trying to find their niche at Kansas. At the same time, they have to please the fans night in and night out by pretending to be among the likes of Duke and Connecticut.
That doesn't mean that they won't join those elite ranks again one day, but the key words are "one day." This team is young. It's not nearly as bad as some people say, and it's not as good as others
Strange match-up set for Super Bowl XL
After that, Self and his players might begin traveling down the same road Brown and his players did this year. If they find the same fortune at the end of that road, then they will receive an abundance of praise and a few well-deserved apologies as well.
like to think. It is a very young team that is looking to find a happy medium, and once it does it will give fans their first real excitement in nearly three years. If all holds true, this team will make the NCAA Basketball Tournament this season and then proceed to win at least a few more games than it did in last year's visit.
BY DAVE GOLDBERG
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
SEATTLE - The contrasts between the Steelers and the Seahawks make this a fascinating Super Bowl matchup.
Going into its sixth championship game, Pittsburgh would seem like a seasoned contender. Seattle, by contrast, is untested. The Seahawks are going for the first time in their 30-year history and last week won their first playoff game in 21 years.
The Seahawks entered the playoffs as the NFC's top-seeded team. The Steelers were the last seed in the AFC, the first sixth-seed ever to make it to the big game.
♣ Chavez is a San Antonio senior in journalism.
est footnote: Pittsburgh running back Jeremy Bettis will get to play his first Super Bowl in his hometown, a fitting conclusion to a 13-year career.
And look for other subplots: the coaching similarities, the Seahawks' outstanding rookie linebackers — and a close, hard fought game.
The way these teams are playing now make that seem like a real possibility: Seattle's 34-14 victory over Carolina in the NFC title game Sunday was its 13th win in 14 games. And Pittsburgh's 34-17 win in Denver was its seventh in a row.
playoff games as a rookie last season, has only one in three postseason games this year and has thrown for three touchdowns.
"I'm seeing things a lot bet ter and really understanding the team," said Roethlisberger.
Seattle's Matt Hasselbeck, who had lost his first two playoff games as a starter, has also blossomed in these playoffs. He was 20-of-28 for 219 yards and two touchdowns Sunday.
Pittsburgh's Ben Roethilberger, who had five interceptions in two
day what it can do Sunday by shutting down the league's hottest postseason QB, the Panthers' Jake Delhomme.
There's one sure human-inter
And the defense? The Steelers have been traditionally known for it and were all over Denver's Jake Plummer on Sunday. But Seattle's defense, overshadowed by the NFL's highest-scoring offense in the regular season, showed Sun-
Overall, they shut out the Carolina offense — Smith's 59-yard punt return was the only score until the game was out of hand.
The coaches are another even match. Seattle's Mike Holmgren and Pittsburgh's Bill Cowher both became head coaches in 1992, and are the league's two longest-tenured in that position.
TENNIS
Holmgren won one Super Bow with the Packers and lost another Cowher's Steelers lost the 1996 Super Bowl to Dallas and are 2-4 in AFC title games, but they've been to six in the past 12 years.
Tennis team opens season
The Kansas tennis team opened its season on Sunday with a victory against Ball State and a loss against Indiana.
Even though the Jayhawks fall 2- to the Hoosiers, they still had solid showings from freshman Ksenia Bukina and sophomore Elizabeth Avdeeva, who went a combined 4-0 in singles competition.
Kansas had no problem with Ball State, sweeping it 7-0. Senior Christine Skoda, Junior Brittany Brown, sophomore Lauren Hommell and freshman Yuliana Svistum provided additional victories against Ball State in singles competition.
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