THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2008
SPORTS
7B
PICK'EM Kansan sports staff forecasts this weekend's games
CASE EEEFER
KANSAN SPORTS EDITOR
CKEEFER@KANSAN.COM
TARA SMITH
ASSOCIATE SPORTS EDITOR
TSMITH@KANSAN.COM
MARK DENT
KANSAN SPORTS WRITER
MDENT@KANSAN.COM
RUSTIN DODD
Games
RUSTIN DODD
KANSAN SPORTS WRITER
RDODD@KANSAN.COM
KANSAN SPORTS COLUMNIST BJRAINS@KANSAN.COM
B. J. RAINS
Oklahoma @ Texas Tech 3 p.m. Saturday, ESPN+
Welcome to the Martin Zeno and Alan Voskuil show.
Riding high after upsetting Kansas State, Pat Knight could manage career victory number two.
Few teams can win in Lubbock when the fans actually show up
Texas @ Baylor 5 p.m. Saturday, ESPN
The Sooners lost forward Longar Longar to injury, and look what Texas Tech just did at home against K-State.
After upsetting Kansas State for Pat Knights first win, Texas Tech makes it two in a row at home.
Texas might be able to eke out a home victory despite star guard D.J. Augustin's troublesome slump, but that's not going happen when they travel up the road north to Waco.
Baylor has hit a skid but is playing everyone close, and it's hard to get wins on the road in the Big 12.
The victory against Kansas hid Texas' flaws. The Longhorns are a team in decline.
Michigan State @ Indiana 8 p.m. Saturday, ESPN
Can the Big Ten be any worse?
A huge matchup in the Big Ten will go the way of Indiana and super freshman Eric Gordon.
The only question here is which team is more overrated?
Baylor is good, but not this good.
Being at home will help, but Texas will win the battle of the guards and win a close one on the road.
Home court advantage rules. Baylor should be motivated after losing to Oklahoma State, and the Bears desperately need a signature win.
Florida @ Vanderbilt 2 p.m. Saturday
Stanford @ Arizona 2:30 p.m. Saturday, ABC
Too bad Kevin Stalling can't get in a fight with Joakim Hawk this time.
After a 40-point victory against Kentucky, Vanderbilt finds itself perched atop the college basketball world. It's hard to keep your balance up there.
Vanderbilt is undefeated at home and Florida is only 2-4 on the road.
The Wildcats need to win badly. They've struggled since getting blown out by UCLA.
Jerryd Bayless, Chase Budinger, Jawann McClellan. Yeah, this Wildcat team is better than they've been playing.
Stanford and my favorite college basketball twins. Brook and Robin Lopez, will be too much for Arizona.
The real question: Will Indian coach Kelvin Sampson still be coaching the Hoosiers after accusations of committing major NCAA violations.
Kelvin Sampson will be calling recruits and miss the opening tip. When his phone battery dies and he returns to the court, it won't matter. Michigan State wins a thriller.
Fresh off a 40-point blow-out of Kentucky, Vanderbilt should chomp down on the Gators.
I'm not sure how Florida even has a win record after losing four players to the first round of the draft, but the train slows down here. Vanderbilt keeps its storybook season alive with a big home win.
Is Stanford a legitimate top-10 team? We'll see this weekend when the seventh-ranked Cardinal travel to Tucson, Ariz., to play Arizona.
Chase Budinger goes for 25 and Jared Bayless gets to the foul line 10 times as Arizona gets back on track with the upset win.
SOFTBALL
Jayhawks open season with strong tournament victory
BY KELLY BRECKUNITCH kbreckunitch@kansan.com
The Jayhawk softball team started the season strong with a tournament victory at Central Florida. The Jayhawks won five games and lost only one.
Sophomore Vertelka won three games and didn't give up a run in the tournament. Coach Tracy Bunge said she was very pleased to see the pitching staff perform so well.
pitcher Sarah
games, scored three runs and drove in a run in her debut weekend with the Jayhawks.
"Of all things through the weekend, I was most pleasantly surprised with our pitching staff," Bunge said.
McCauley finished strong with multi-hit games in the semifinal and championship games while also scoring two runs and driving in one run.
Sophomore
"We just need to get a little bit better each and every day."
TRACY BUNGE Kansas softball coach
Bunge spoke highly of all teams in the tournament, especially Illinois State, North Carolina State and Central Florida.
"All three of those teams were good, quality teams and those were good, quality wins for us," Bunge said.
Bunge was very pleased with the offensive performances of junior third baseman Val Chapple, freshman catcher Brittany Hile and junior outfielder Dougie McCaulew.
Freshman second baseman/shortstop Kolby Fessir bunts during the softball game against Missouri Southern on Sept. 22, 2007. Kansas will play in the UNL Invitational tournament starting today with a doubleheader against Oregon and Portland State.
first baseman Amanda Jobe also did her part for the Jayhawks in the tournament, getting seven hits and driving in the winning run in the semifinal game against Illinois
Chapple came out of the weekend leading the Jayhawks in nine offensive categories, including hits, runs batted in and batting average.
Hile turned in two multi-hit
"The whole team, and especially the pitchers as a whole, proved how good we're going to be this season," Jobe said.
Bunge said she wasn't surprised by one concern that came up in the tournament team defense. She said the team had trouble just playing the ball off of the dirt because they had practiced inside for most of the season.
State.
KANSAN FILE PHOTO
"It takes a little while to adjust yourself to being outside," Bunge said.
The lajahaws have been preparing for another warm weather tournament in Las Vegas.
They will try to build on the success of the Central Florida Invitational.
to practice on dirt.
She said another problem she noticed in the Central Florida Invitational was the throwing errors.
Bunge said it hurt having to practice inside and not being able
"We just need to get a little bit better each and every day," Bunge said.
Bunge and Jobe said the team wanted to focus on continuing success of achieving their season goals in this tournament. They said the team wanted to stay aggressive on the base paths.
Bunge said that she wanted to see the offense continue it's steady output, they outscored their opponents 24 to 12 in the Central Florida tournament, and of course she wanted to see the defense put together a better weekend than last.
Bunge said all those teams were good teams and have gotten of to a good start this season. She said they would be the toughest competition for the lajwhawks.
The Jayhawks will be challenged in Las Vegas, Oregon, Brigham Young University and the host University of Nevada, Las Vegas will be competing.
Bunge said she wanted the team to get pushed by this level of competition.
Last weekend's performance did not go unnoticed. The Jayhawks received votes in the USA Today/NFCA softball poll for the first time since 2006.
"There's a lot of people in our conference and a lot of people around the country that really were not giving us the respect that we
were due," Jobe said.
Edited by Jared Duncan
The country has taken notice, and the Jayhawks can open some more eyes with a good performance at the UNLV invitational. Three teams, UNLV, Oregon and BYU, are just outside the rankings in the USA Today/NFCA softball poll. Another strong showing by the Jayhawks this weekend will garner more national attention.
Date Opponent Time
Today vs. Oregon 2 p.m.
vs. Portland State 5 p.m.
Saturday vs. BYU 11 a.m.
Sunday vs. Seton Hall 11 a.m.
vs. UNLV 1:15 p.m.