WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 2. 2005
BASKETBALL PREVIEW
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN 11C
Trans-Atlantic teammates
Michael Philips
mphillips@kansan.com
KANSAN SPORTSWITER
In the spring we still need a post player. We've known about Marija, but she didn't come over to the United States. Our people say she's very talented, she can help us, but she's not doing anything until the spring. So we talk all year, and we're getting to the point where she has to make her visit. So I ask her, "Do you want to come visit?"
"Yes. I do."
"When can you come visit?"
"I can't. With my club team, I can't get away. There's just no way I can do that."
"Marija, how are you going to make a decision on where to go to school if you don't visit?"
"Well, no, I must play with Irvana."
"Well, Ivana is coming to Kansas."
"Yes?"
"Are you coming to Kansas?"
"Yes."
So we get her from the airport in August a couple days before class starts and that was her first time in the United States.
When coach Bonnie Henrickson said she would travel to find the best basketball players available for her team, she wasn't kidding.
Freshmen Ivana Catic and Marija Zinic both came to Kansas from the European nation of
Serbia.
Catic has been in the United States longer; she played high school basketball in West Virginia.
The two are roommates this year, and say that having the other person around has made the move to Division 1 basketball easier.
"We have played together before, so we know each other both on and off the court." Zinic said.
Henrickson will be relying on Ivana, a point guard, to make an immediate impact this year. Last year's team had no true point guard.
"Ivana understands setting an offense." Henrickson said. "If you asked the kids who could control the offense, right now they would say Ivana."
She has also established herself as a vocal presence on the court, barking out instructions and directing traffic during practices. That's something that last year's point guard, senior Erica Hallman, struggled to do during the season.
"That's all you would say about us early last year, we had no continuity, no flow," Henrickson said. "Ivana is already better than Erica was a year ago, and she should be, because that's her true position."
Ivana will also receive help from junior Shaquina Mosley, who can play the point guard position as well. Having two point guards will allow the team to push the ball and create plays on every possession.
Marija will play at the forward position and provide much
needed backup to returning players Jamie Boyd and Crystal Kemp.
Her shooting ability allows her more range than a typical player at the position.
"She can knock down a 15-foot jump shot, and she can pass," Henrickson said. "When we've got Crystal low, and she's in the game, you will have to guard her."
Henrickson also complimented the conditioning work done by both players, saying they have worked hard during the offseason to prepare for the higher level of basketball they will be playing.
While recruiting Ivana to come play at Kansas, Henrickson immediately noticed something different about her.
"When she walked into the room, she lit up the room for me," Henrickson said. "I was excited she was in the room. I sat there and thought, 'I'm supposed to do this for you.'"
Marija has played the last few years on a club team in Serbia, and said her teammates at Kansas played much faster than she was used to. She will be ready for the long Big 12 schedule, though, because her club team played a schedule that was much longer than other teams in the area.
There will be another difference for her, too.
"College basketball here is more popular," she said. "Nobody wants to see women's basketball back in Serbia."
"Ivana understands setting an offense. If you asked the kids who could control the offense, right now they would say Ivana."
Jared Soares/KANSAN
Edited by Patrick Ross
Bonnie Henrickson Kansas women's basketball coach
KU players Ivan Catic, left, and Maria Zinic, right, wait in line to have their pictures taken during Media Day The two freshmen are both from Serbia.
Big 12
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3C
Texas A&M
Billy Gillispie's first year as the coach of the Texas A&M Aggies was a huge success.
The Aggies were the most improved team in the nation, going from 7-21 to 21-10 and earning a berth to the N.I.T tournament.
The Aggies are picked to finish sixth in the Big 12, which would be an even larger improvement from last season.
The Aggies however, will be without guard Antoine Wright, who led the team in scoring last year. Gillispie said it is Wright's
leadership that the team will miss the most.
"He was the best leader on the team and the hardest worker on our team and those are the things that while it is very different to replace 17 or 18 points a game, it is even harder to work into that," he said. "Right now that is missing."
Sophomore Joseph Jones and Junior point guard Acie Law will return to lead the Aggies.
Texas
R a n k e d
number two
in the preseason
ESPN/USA Today poll and first in the preseason Big 12 conference poll, the Longhorns are the favorites to win the conference. With the return of guard
P. J. Tucker, Brad Buckman and Daniel Gibson, the Longhorns are loaded in the back court. The three combined to average more than 40 points per game last year.
Coach Rick Barnes said the Longhorns aren't distracted by the high expectatations.
"I really think we should do what Mack Brown does and play 15 games and then rank them," Barnes said of the school's football coaches philosophy.
The Longhorns will also have the services of sophomore guard LaMarcus Aldridge, who was injured last season.
The loss of guard Royal Ivey makes defense the only potential defenciency for the Long-horns.
"It's going to be hard to
get somebody to play the role that Royal did," Barnes said. "They're a couple different guys on the team that can do that. Dion Dowell can do that and Craig Winder can do that. We have to have some guys that really want to take on the challenge of guarding the opponent's best player."
Bavlor
Scott Drew might be in the worst coaching situation in college basketball.
but he certainly has the best attitude. The head coach of the Baylor Bears, whose season will not start until January 11, 2006 because of a complicated suspension, is optimistic that this
The head coach of the Baylor Bears, whose season will not start until January 11.2006 because of a complicated suspension, is optimistic that this season will mark the end of the turmoil in Waco.
season will mark the end of the turmoil in Waco.
"It's been great seeing the transformation of the team in the first two years from the standpoint of the group of individuals that we have been able to coach," he said. "Those two years really said a lot about the pride we have and about how hard they have played and how the represented Baylor well. We
need those kinds of players to rebuild this program."
Drew said the Bears will practice everyday and they have worked with strength coaches in the NBA to figure out the best strategy to get the players ready to play without being able to participate in a game. He said they will treat it like a normal season-with some special accommodations.