SPORTS
INTRAMURAL MAYHEM BEGINS PAGE 7B
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
2008 FOOTBALL RECRUITING
WWW.KANSAN.COM
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2008
PAGE 3B
ALL SMILES FOR THE JAYHAWKS
Sophomore guard Kelly Kohn high-fives Katie Smith, junior guard, late in the second half of Wednesday's game against Colorado after junior guard hana Cicade made a basket and drew a drew foul with just more than two minutes left in the game. The Jawahires battled the Buffaloes 70-59 and improved to 14-9 overall and 3-7 in the Big 12.
Allen Fieldhouse turnaround
Women return favor for Buffaloes at home after falling earlier in Colorado
tbern@kansan.com
BY TAYLOR BERN
After Kansas' impressive performance in a 64-58 loss to Kansas St. on Saturday, senior Taylor McIntosh said that the way her squad was playing didn't at all resemble the team that took the court in Boulder less than a month ago.
Wednesday night the Jayhawks proved McIntosh right, converting from the free-throw line and recording a season-high nine blocks to brush off the Buffalooes for a 70-59 victory.
Everything that Kansas failed to do in its 59-41 loss in Boulder, coach Bonnie Henrickson's team did in Allen Fieldhouse.
"When they tried to make a run we answered the run," Henrickson said. "Our free throws were great and we're starting to grow up and starting to play with some more toughness."
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Junior guard Ivana Catic said, "When we were there we came out of the gate like
crazy and made a big run. Then we stopped playing and just hoped that it was going to happen for us."
There was no hoping from the Jayhawks Wednesday, just action.
To start the game Kansas fed the ball to center Krysten Boogaard down low and the freshman responded with eight
junk points. Getting Booagard the ball early has been the game plan the past few contests because Hendrickson finds that it has a calming effect on the rest of the team.
"The fact that we can go to her and she's a high-percentage offensive weapon, it gets everyone else to take a deme breath" He
deep breath," Henrickson said.
"I was just being big, using my size to create some things," McCraay said.
advantage with 14 first half points on her way to a game high 24.
Kansas (14-9, 3-7) shot nearly 58 percent from the field in the first half to take a 38-31 advantage into halftime.
"Our free throws were great and we're starting to play with some more toughness."
The extra attention paid to Boogaard allowed other players more freedom, and sophomore guard Danielle McCray took
Buffs freshman forward Brittany Spears
BONNIE HENRICKSON Kansas Women's Basketball Coach
- who played with badges to stop a bloody nose caused from incidental contact in the first half - battled to keep her team in the game. With 15:40 left she drilled a threepointer and made the score 43-41, but Kansas would go up four just a minute later and never let Colorado (13-11-2.
9) get within three again.
The Jayhawks defense was their biggest improvement from the first half to the second as they held the Buffaloes to a meager
With a 60-55 lead and the shot clock winding down, Catic - normally happy to pass the ball - attacked the rim and drew a foul on a made layup.
Catic finished with 10 points while Boogaard recorded 16 points and eight rebounds. McCray added 10 rebounds to her 24 points and said her team had made some big strides lately.
27 percent shooting.
"I knew at that point that I had to make a play" Catic said.
"We're just more mentally tough and more aggressive," McCray said. "We play together and our huddles are more tight - we just know that we have to stick together because all we have is us."
Kansas ied the game at the charity stripe where they finished 23-for-32.
Added Henrickson, "She's not going to make a play every time, but she's got a couple in her."
—Edited by Nick Mangiaracina
MEN'S BASKETBALL
Cold streak hangs over perimeter shooting
Team sputters managing to score only paint-points
BY MARK DENT
mdent@kansan.com
Their reactions to the news were almost celebratory.
Kansas had just scored 100 points in a victory against Baylor without making a three-pointer.
"Unbelievable." Kansas coach Bill Self said. "I can't imagine that."
Sherron Collins certainly wasn't bothered. "The game was going so fast we didn't realize," he said.
The inability to shoot three pointers didn't seem so amazing two days later, when the Jayhawks struggled with their outside shots again in Monday night's loss to Texas. The loss highlighted a glaring problem: Kansas has been in a shooting slump from the perimeter in its last two games.
An offense dependent on inside scoring can work as long as the post players get the ball. That didn't happen in the second half against Texas on Monday. After scoring 25 points in the first half, Darrell Arthur and Darnell Jackson only scored 10 after intermission.
The Jayhawks made zero of nine three-pointers against Baylor and four of 17 against Texas (15 percent in the two games combined). Guards Collins, Russell Robinson, Mario Chalmers and Brandon Rush have made only 27 of 66 total field goals (40 percent) in those games.
Because of their inability to shoot the ball, Kansas has done the majority of its scoring with free throws and points in the paint. Of the 169 points the Jayhawks have scored the last two games, 137 of them have come from those two areas.
The guards had to pick up the slack, and they didn't. Chalmers missed six shots, including four three-pointers. Rush and Collins each made one of three field goals. Robinson missed his only shot attempt. With the guards missing from the outside and hesitant to shoot the ball, the offense stalled. After scoring 42 points in the first half, the Jayhawks put up just 27 in the second half.
SEE BASKETBALL ON PAGE 6B
Outside Woes against Texas
FG-FGA Guard 3P-3PA
1-6 Russell Robinson 1-3
1-6 Sherron Collins 0-3
3-10 Brandon Rush 2-5
4-9 Mario Chalmers 1-5
BASEBALL
Coach sets high expectations for freshman
Tony Thompson, freshman third baseman, prepares for his first season as a jayhawk. Thompson was heavily recruited and coach Ritch Price had him as his No. 1 pick before Thomas joined the team.
Weston White/KANSAN
BY SHAWN SHROYER
shroyer@kansan.com
In the summer of 2006. Kansas coach Ritch Price made frequent trips to Nevada and his friends feared he was spending too much time at the poker tables in Las Vegas. In reality, Price never bet a dollar on those trips, but he was gambling.
Price was staking a summer's worth of travel to the Silver State on convincing his No. 1 recruit to come to Kansas. Nearly two years after Price's first trip to Reno, Nev., he can still recall it vividly.
Price first arrived in Reno to watch a showcase tournament featuring teams made up of high school juniorts from the area. In search of future Jayhawks, Price didn't have to look hard to find a player he wanted. A two-way player representing the High Desert League named Tony Thompson stole the show.
As Price remembered in a game against
"At that point in time, he was my guy," Price said. "I targeted him as the No. 1 guy on my recruiting list. He'll probably tell you I went to Reno about four times that summer to see him play in person so every time he was in a tournament he'd see a Jayhawk coach."
Price's dedication — and ability to avoid casinos on those trips to Nevada — paid off last year when Thompson signed to play baseball at Kansas. This season, Thompson is pencilled in as Kansas' start-
one University of Nevada-Reno, Thompson went 3-for-4 and hit a home run over the light tower in left field. That feat alone was enough to bring Price back to Reno a month later during a Connie Mack League tournament. In the semifinals, Thompson's team trailed by three runs with two outs in the ninth inning. But when he stepped to the plate, the bases were loaded. With one swing of the bat Thompson sent his team to the next round.
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But Thompson hardly comes off as a hot-shot recruit who's well on his way to a Major League career. He can barely believe Price put so much effort into recruiting him.
ing third baseman and could be one of the top freshmen in the Big 12, if not the nation. By the time his Kansas career is over, his name may be etched in the Kansas record book.
"Hed usually call me and tell me he was coming out and he'd wait after the game." Thompson said of Price. "It was kind of an honor to have someone come that far just to see me."
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Of course, Thompson wasn't giving any college coaches reason to stay out of Reno. As a junior, he was named first team all-state after batting .468 with 16 home runs and 53 RBI. In addition, he was 7-3 with a 2.19 ERA and 56 strikeouts that season as a pitcher for Galena High School.
SEE THOMPSON ON PAGE 6B