THE UNIVERSITY OF HARRY KANSAN
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY B, 2008
GAME DAY
9B
KU
TIPOFF
COUNTDOWN TO TIPOFF
AT A GLANCE
Kansas was upbeat and had a good feeling after its victory over Iowa State on Saturday, but it will take more than a feeling to defeat Kansas State in Manhattan. Kansas State has lost only once at home this season and that was last week to No. 6 Baylor, which also happens to be its only Big 12 loss of the year. In practice, coach Bonnie Henrickson has been kicking her guards off the court if they don't pass the ball to Boogaard, which paid off in the Cyclone victory. It's important to pound the ball down low early in the game and get Boogaard established because the Wildcats don't match-up well with the colossal Canadian.
Will Kansas turn the ball over fewer than 20 times?
QUESTION MARK
The answer to this question determines whether or not the Jayhawks are still in the game with five minutes left. Against Iowa State, Kansas turned it over exactly 20 times but still came out victorious because Iowa State didn't capitalize on Kansas' mistakes. The Wildcats are a much more athletic team than the Cyclones and they will make the Jayhawks pay for every little mistake they make. A big key to keeping that number low for Kansas is the play of freshman guard Chakeitha Weldon. The Jayhawks need her energy off the bench but what they don't need are her frequent turnovers while running the offense.
JAYHAWKS MARCH TO BRAMLAGE Victory against lowa State gives women's team confidence
KANSAS AT KANSAS STATE 1:00 p.m., Sat., Bramlage Coliseum, Manhattan, Kan.
Kansas (13-8,2-6)
Boogaard
Krysten Boogaard, 6-foot-5 freshman center
8.9 ppg, 5.1 rpg
Kansas State doesn't have anyone on its roster taller than 6-foot-2, and that's great news for Boogaard. She's been putting up great numbers against her opposing centers recently – including All-American Courtney Paris of Oklahoma – and there's no reason she can't go for 20 points and 10 rebounds on Saturday. The only thing that can stop Boogaard right now is Boogaard.
Kansas State (15-6,7-1)
Morris
Sade Morris, 5-foot-11 sophomore guard
11.1 ppg, 4.1 rpq
Shalee Lehning 5-foot-9 junior guard
10.4 ppg, 6.4 apg
During the last two games, Morris was battling the flu as well as the opposing team, and it's hampered her playmaking ability. With a week between games she should have her health back and that's good news for Kansas. The Jahyhaws need every available player at full strength to try and take down the Wildcats.
Although Oklahoma State guard Andrea Riley and Oklahoma center Courtney Paris garner all the headlines, Lehning may be the most complete player in the Big 12. Not only does Lehning lead the conference in assists, but she also hauls down more than seven rebounds a game and is fourth in the conference with 2.4 steals. Her presence helps make the Wildcats' offense one of the most efficient in the Big 12.
Lehning
Kimberly Dietz 5-foot-9 senior guard
Chakeitha Weldon, 5-
Weldon
Kimberly Dietz 5-foot-9 senior guard
15.2 ppg, 36% 3PT
foot-7 freshman guard 2.6 pgd, 53 percent from the field
-Taylor Bern
Weldon appeared in only 10 games this season, but the impact she brings off of the bench is unmistakable. Weldon provided a spark from the point guard position that has been sorely missed in conference competition, and her playing time should increase because of it.
Kansas State relies offense by committee; four players average more than 10 points per game. Dietz is one of the most productive outside shooters in the Big 12. She ranks in the top-five in both three-pointers made and three-point shooting percentage. Kansas will have to keep Dietz out of rhythm or she could explode like when she dropped 20 points and five three-pointers in a victory against Oklahoma earlier this year.
Dietz
Danielle McCrav
Marlies Gipson 6-foot junior forward
12 ppg, 8 rpg
How important is Gipson to
Kansas State? When the forward missed the final 18 games of last season after injuring her knee, the Wildcats won only five games the rest of the way. With Gipson back in the fold, Kansas State is an entirely different team. The talented junior is averaging 2.2 blocks per contest while teaming with fellow McPherson High School teammate, sophomore forward Ashley Sweat, to form one of the best post tandems in the conference.
Gipson
Andrew Wiebe
KSU TIPOFF
AT A GLANCE
Through eight Big 12 games, the Wildcats are showing what they can do at full strength. Victories over Oklahoma State, Texas, Texas A&M and Nebraska speak volumes for the program coach Deb Patterson has built in 12 seasons in Manhattan.
Although the rivalry was lopsided in the past, the Wildcats have won 12 of the last 13 meetings. The Jayhawks look to build on last year's victory in Lawrence.
QUESTION MARK
Can Kansas State hold sophomore guard Danielle McCray in check?
Last season in Lawrence, McCray broke the Wildcat's 12-game winning streak in double-overtime by pouring in 25 points and snatching 10 rebounds. As a Kansas native, McCray understands the bragging rights on the line. Kansas State needs to keep her from replicating last season's performance to maintain dominance on their home court and keep pace in the race for the Big 12 championship.
SPORTS
Situations prove some athletes find it difficult to fulfill job of role model
ASSOCIATED PRESS
The truest thing any athlete ever said about being a role model was uttered by the worst role model ever.
Keep that in mind when the "he said, he said" dispute between Roger Clemens and his former personal trainer unfolds in Congress next week. It might help you decide whom to believe.
Mike Tyson's tailspin was just a twirl from hitting rock bottom in the middle of June 2002. He was standing in the ballroom of a Tunica, Miss., casino, shilling for the last big prizefight of his life, against Lennox Lewis three days later in nearby Memphis.
Just about every penny of Tysons purse had already been pledged to the IRS or one of his ex-wives. But as a drawing card, he was still irresistible. A busload of school kids and radio-contest winners were on hand as a backdrop. They took turns yelling questions.
"Mike, are you a role model?"
Tyson didn't think long or hard.
is public.
"I could teach you what not to do," he said, smiling broadly.
Few of us ever do so on a grand stage, however, because even fewer ever climb that high. Yet all too often, some of those who do forget an essential lesson. It used to be called a tragic flaw. Whatever out-sized desire got them there — ambition, arrogance, an insatiable appetite, the need for approval — is the same one that lands them in trouble. This week, we seemed to be a cluster.
In Nevada, a high school senior staged an elaborate recruiting ruse because he wanted to play Division I football so badly he risked being exposed in front of millions rather than face the truth all alone.
So could we all.
In the Dominican Republic, a two-year-old video showed two already famous athletes foolishly lending some glamour to a cockfight. Mets
"While he asked for the meeting, I wanted to make sure that when all the dust settles, that he fully understood that baseball players — whether they want to be or not — are role models and that children are looking at them."
pitching star Pedro Martinez and former great Juan Marichal were seen on the YouTube video serving as "soltadores" — honorary cornermen — in their nation's biggest cockfighting venue. Then they watched two birds fight to the death for sheer entertainment. It's hardly sport, even if it's legal, and never a good idea for a photo-op.
"We believe that this is significant corroboration," McNamee's lead lawyer, Earl Ward, said the day before his client dropped by Congress to give a sworn deposition.
Then there's the ever-deepening Clemens saga. Just when it appeared the dispute couldn't get any more sordid, lawyers for Brian McNamee, his former trainer, let slip word that gauze pads and syringes they said had Clemens' blood was turned over to an IRS special agent last month.
Clemens lawyer Rusty Hardin laughed at that characterization Thursday, even as his client went door-to-door along those same halls,
personally delivering the same message to a select group of lawmakers.
"McNamee really did us a great favor yesterday because it truly revealed what he's out to do — and that's to destroy Roger," Hardin added.
Exactly how Hardin built a lucrative law practice is beyond me, since he's apparently the same guy who called a news conference to defend Clemens and then played a secretly recorded phone conversation in which Clemens bullies a desperate McNamee over and over, but never gets him to change his story. In my mind, that's the second most-damning piece of evidence against Clemens, ranking just ahead of the Mitchell Report and just behind whatever evidence that McNamee, a former cop, saved from all those years ago and turned over to the feds last month.
Hardin is probably right about this much: Whatever McNamee has probably won't rise to the level of
before the TV cameras could have legal implications, the real venue will be the court of public opinion. After speaking to Clemens on Thursday, Maryland Democrat Elijah Cummings said that court might ultimately be the more important one, though, precisely because it
But while the answers Clemens and McNamee give under oath and
admissible evidence in a real court. There are chain-of-custody issues, McNamee's timing is suspicious and the fact he kept those items so long casts doubts on his motivation in the first place.
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