MONDAY, DECEMBER 5.2005
SPORTS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN 11A
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ATHLETICS CALENDAR
Men's basketball vs. Saint Joseph's, Jimmy V Classic, 6 p.m., New York
TUESDAY
WEDNESDAY
- Women's basketball vs. UMKC, 7 p.m., Alen Fieldhouse
SATURDAY
Men's basketball vs. California, 11 p.m., Kemper Arena, Kansas City, Mo.
AP TOP 25
The Top 25 teams in The Associated Press college football poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through Dec. 3, total points based on 25 points for a first-place vote through one point for a 25th-place vote, and previous ranking:
| | Record | Pts. | Pvs. |
| :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- |
| 1. Southern Cal (56) | 12-0 | 1,616 | 1 |
| **2. Texas (9)** | **12-0** | **1,569** | **2** |
| 3. Penn St. | 10-1 | 1,483 | 4 |
| 4. Ohio St. | 9-2 | 1,375 | 6 |
| 5. Notre Dame | 9-2 | 1,327 | 7 |
| 6. Oregon | 10-1 | 1,241 | 8 |
| 7. Auburn | 9-2 | 1,221 | 9 |
| 8. Georgia | 10-2 | 1,202 | 13 |
| 9. Miami | 9-2 | 1,098 | 10 |
| 10. LSU | 10-2 | 1,028 | 3 |
| 11. West Virginia | 10-1 | 991 | 12 |
| 12. Virginia Tech | 10-2 | 943 | 5 |
| 13. Alabama | 9-2 | 813 | 14 |
| 14. TCU | 10-1 | 790 | 15 |
| 15. Louisville | 9-2 | 644 | 16 |
| 16. Florida | 8-3 | 588 | 17 |
| 17. UCLA | 9-2 | 542 | 11 |
| **18. Texas Tech** | **9-2** | **533** | **18** |
| 19. Boston College | 8-3 | 410 | 19 |
| 20. Michigan | 7-4 | 377 | 20 |
| 21. Wisconsin | 9-3 | 325 | 21 |
| 22. Florida St. | 8-4 | 296 | _ |
| 23. Clemson | 7-4 | 240 | 22 |
| 24. Georgia Tech | 7-4 | 189 | 24 |
| 25. Iowa | 7-4 | 86 | 25 |
Others receiving votes: Oklahoma 66, South Carolina 56, Boise St. 22, Fresno St. 18, Nevada 8, California 5, Northwestern 4, UTEP 4, Minnesota 3, Nebraska 3, Toledo 3, Tulsa 3, Iowa St. 2, Navy 1.
Bowl foe has offense
FOOTBALL
BY DANIEL BERK
dberk@kansan.com
KANSAN SPORTS WRITER
The Kansas football team has just less than three weeks to learn about the University of Houston, its Dec. 23 opponent in the Fort Worth Bowl.
It's a good thing they have that much time, because Jayhawk football coach Mark Mangino and his players aren't familiar with the Cougars.
"I think they run an empty backfield a lot and throw the ball," senior linebacker Banks Floodman said. "But I'm not even sure about that. We'll start watching film on them tomorrow and start preparing for what they bring."
Houston features junior quarterback Kevin Kolb, who ranks seventh in passing yards among active NCAA quarterbacks. Kolb threw for 3.043 yards and 19 touchdowns for a solid junior season.
Houston has a potent offensive attack, also boasting a 1,000-yard rusher in senior running back Ryan Gilbert. Gilbert tallied 1,050 yards on the season with eight touchdowns.
Houston will enter the game with a 6-5 record. The Cougars started the season slowly but have since rebounded and are 5-3 in their last eight games. Houston's season started with a 38-24 home loss to No. 6 Oregon. The team closed out its season last weekend with a 35-18 home victory against Rice.
The biggest victory for Houston this season came on the road
against Tulsa.
Tulsa captured the Conference USA championship, but Houston was able to defeat Tulsa 30-23. In the game, Kolb threw for 276 yards and one touchdown. Gilbert ran for 134 yards and two touchdowns.
"I know they are a fine football team." Mangino said. "I haven't looked at tape yet, but we'll start this week. We know they are a formidable opponent."
Art Briles is in his third season as coach at Houston and is 10-14 overall. Houston is 6-6 all time at Texas Christian's Amon G. Carter Stadium in Fort Worth, Texas.
Houston and Texas Christian met regularly when TCU was still a member of Conference USA.
Edited by Jonathan Kealing
Basketball
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 12A
Notes:
- Chalmers injured his toe in Kansas' loss to Nevada on Thursday. He sat out most of the second half of the game after suffering the injury, but played 21 minutes on Saturday. Self said there wasn't that could be done to treat the toe.
"I guess just put a band-aid on it or something," Self said, chuckling.
♥ The Jayhawks distributed the ball effectively on Saturday. As a team, it dished out 25 assists.
"To have 25 assists on 29 baskets, we are definitely sharing the ball well." Self said.
- Edited by Nate Karlin
Chavez
Then came Saturday night. As the game started, it looked as if fans filled about 15.000 of the fieldhouse's 16.300 capacity.
Some may say the team's 2-3 record, at the time, had something to do with that. But if that's true, then the fans now look worse. That would indicate that the same bandwagon jumpers that are constantly tearing down goalposts after football victories are making their presence felt at basketball games as well.
Especially when you consider that this team is right where most people think they should be. The players are struggling right now because they're playing their ages some nights. But they will continue to improve and will be much
better going into March than last year's team.
You could say the only fears that should be felt right now are the ones that Kansas' once-envied basketball fans may be losing that remarkable quality that receives national praise year after year.
Then the fans will all be saying how they knew the team would be good. Most are saying that but some are already pressing the panic button three weeks before Christmas and admitting fears of the NIT. This fear clearly won't happen because of the team's incredible talent.
But then again, you could also say that Kansas is now a football school.
Chavez is a San Antonio senior in journalism.
Just a thought.
Tone set early in easy victory
BY RYAN COLIAanni
rcoliaanni@kansan.com
KANSAN STAFF WRITER
Kansas got off to a quick start against Western Illinois and scored 17 points in the first five minutes, propelling the Jayhawks to an easy 29-point victory.
The team thought it was important to get off to a quick start after the narrow loss to Nevada last week.
The tone was set on the first possession of the game after sophomore center CJ Giles tapped the opening tip to senior guard Jeff Hawkins. Hawkins then fed it back to Giles for a dunk just seconds into the game.
"We have to take pride in what we are doing and come out with a little more energy," senior guard Stephen Vinson said.
"When we lose a tough game like that — especially against a top 20 team — where we are close, neck and neck almost the whole game, it's real important to try and come out the next game and get a victory," freshman guard Micah Downs said.
▼ MEN'S BASKETBALL 86'S)
Kansas basketball coach Bill Self said the team's 25 assists on 29 baskets showed they were sharing the basketball.
Building the comfortable lead gave Self the opportunity to try different players he said he would not have utilized in close games.
"Coaches sometimes don't have confidence to do certain things in tight games because they basically go with what they know," Self said. "Tonight putting guys on the bench for an extended period of time is maybe not something I would have done if it had been a tight game."
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Vinson played 21 minutes and had four assists and no turnovers.
"We are the type of team that we should have a lot of different guys scoring." Vinson said. "We have to share the ball a lot better than we have been."
The passing came from virtually everyone. Many of the passes were spectacular and came from Vinson, Chalmers and Hawkins and led to alley-oop dunks.
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