6B SPORTS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
TUESDAY, JANUARY 29, 2008
COMMENTARY
Free throw points could make all the difference
Poor foul shooting threatens the Jayhawks' undefeated streak
A cascade of clamps, a bundle of bricks a menagerie of misses. Alliterations aside, there were many ways to describe the missed free throws of the men's basketball team early in the season. A 16-for-31 display against UMKC followed by a 19-for-33 performance against Washburn only to be capped by a 7-for-14 showing against Northern Arizona, did little to inspire confidence in one of the fundamental skills in the game of basketball. The charity stripe seemed uninterested in taking donations from the KU basketball squad, costing them points that they could not afford to give up as soon as they raised their level of competition. With teams such as Texas, Kansas State and Texas A&M eagerly awaiting their matchups with Kansas later down the schedule, improvements have to be made. Missing a point or two is enough to shatter confidence, to enrage fans and coaches alike, and most importantly, to win a game.
After the miserable display of foul shooting in their trio of warm-up games, the competition was to receive an immediate boost with a home matchup against the Arizona Wildcats.The first half came and went with the Jayhawks going into the break shooting 6-for-10 at the line and the game tied at 40. As I recall a fan questioning, how long would it take for the Hack-A-Shaq method to become a Hack-A-Hawk experiment?
In the second half and overtime, the
Jayhawks improved notably, shooting 5-of-6 in the second half and 4-of-5 in overtime. Had Kansas shot 4-for-6 instead, we might no longer be anticipating what could be a perfect season. One miss and Kansas could have lost in front of its home crowd instead of pulling off the overtime thriller.
If we still believe that free throws cannot be a difference between a victory and a loss, then we need to look no farther than the last time Keenan was in the
the time Kansas was in the national
the national championship game, losing painfully to Syracuse 81-78. This game was the last time Jayhawk greats Nick Collison and Kirk Hinrich would ever denim and blue on a college basketball court. Now, why did we lose that game? It could be because Hakim Warrick blocked Michael
Lee's last second three, and maybe it could be because the Orangemen had Carmelo Anthony. Obviously, both of those factors did not hurt Syracuse's case. But if you look at the box score, a glaring statistic stands out like an MU shirt on the KU campus: free throw shooting. Out of 30 attempts,
the jayhawks failed to make even half: a pitiful 12 makes. Forty percent. To leave 18 points on the court was almost criminal. If the jayhawks had made just sixty percent (still a mediocre number), another banner would be floating from the rafters of Allen Fieldhouse.
The Jayhawks now appear to be a team with very limited flaws. However, what will make them all the more scary is if those free throw woes that plagued them so early in the year disappear.
The lajhawks now appear to be a team with very limited flaws. With depth at all positions, stifling defense, terrific shooting and improved inside play, the Jayhawks have a legitimate argument as the number one team in the nation. However, what will make them all the more scary is if those free throw woes that plagued them so
early in the year disappear. Granted, some improvement is evident, because in a dominating performance against the Oklahoma Sooners, they shot 17-of-18 from the line. Despite a slight regression against the Tigers in a frenzy of a stadium, the Jayhawks returned to Allen Fieldhouse to shoot 14-for-18, with two of the misses coming from Sasha Kaun. However, highlighting their inconsistencies was the most recent game against Nebraska, barely making more than half of their 21 shots.
To be a complete team, they cannot only shoot foul shots well in half of the games. Kansas State will be itching for any opportunity to gain momentum in a game at home, which has been unkind to them throughout the last 20 years. If the
Jayhawks struggle from the line, the Wildcats will take the advantage. The missed foul shots against Nebraska were the difference between a 35-point victory and a 45-point victory. This will not be the case against Kansas State. The difference could be a 'W' on the schedule.
If Kansas gets to the
point where they can be confident with their foul shooting, they will have as good of a chance as Memphis to go undefeated in conference play. Looking even farther down the road, we can bet that if Kansas gets to the national title game this year and shoots its foul shots well, they have a great chance at being crowned champion. We can also bet if they shoot foul shots poorly, the KU campus will once again have to accept defeat.
Edited by Mandy Earles
>> NFL
Former co-workers face off at Superbowl
BY DAVE GOLDBERG
ASSOCIATED PRESS
One evening last March during the NFL meetings in Phoenix, a group of folks leaving a restaurant encountered Tom Coughlin and Dick Jauron dining with their wives on the outdoor terrace.
Nothing unusual about that — Jauron, Buffalo's coach, was once Coughlin's defensive coordinator in Jacksonville.
Bill Belichick wasn't there. He doesn't spend much time at owners' meetings. But if he had been present, he might have been sitting with Coughlin and Jauron, among the few NFL coaches for whom the Patriots coach has any genuine affection. Add Cleveland's Romeo Crennel and you might have the entire list of peers Belichick truly likes.
That makes next Sunday's Super Bowl almost a love fest between two men perceived to be among the NFLs least lovable coaches: Belichick and Coughlin, portrayed by television cameras and sometimes his own New York Giants players as the ultimate grumpy old man. It's more dramatic because Coughlin can keep Belichick from making history with the first 19-0 team in NFL history.
"We go way back to the '80s there at the Giants. We worked together closely, as a secondary coach and a receiver coach would. He's a good personal friend, and Judy and his family. We've spent time with them away from football, whether it was at Boston College, Jacksonville and so forth. I respect Tom. I think he's an outstanding coach and wish him well in every game but 'his one.'
"Tom and I have a good relationship." Belichck said this week.
Coughlin, reminiscing 200 or so miles away, recalled when he and Belichick would sit up late at night working on drills for Coughlin's receivers and Belichick's defensive backs.
"It was always competitive, but competitive in a way that would help our team," Coughlin said. "We developed a relationship of cooperation then. He's done an excellent, excellent job."
OK. Mutual admiration platitudes.
But there actually seems to be a sense of real camaraderie between the Super Bowl adversaries, who were together on what has to be one of the best staffs ever, the Giants of the late 1980s who beat Buffalo in the Super Bowl following the 1990 season. It was headed by Bill Parcells and included Coughlin, Belichick, Crennell; former jets and current Virginia coach Al Groh; and Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis.
Not to mention Ray Handley, who got the Giants' job when Parcells stepped down in the spring of 1991.
"I always thought both of them were going to be pretty good," Parcells quipped this week about his two former assistants, even noting that he and Belichick were on the outs for a while — "a little difference of opinion on a couple of things," is how the Tuna put it.
Belichck has been on the outs witt a lot of coaches since Week 1 this year, when one of his former proteges, the jets' Eric Mangini, turned him into the NFL for videotaping defensive signals. Belichck was fined $500,000, and the team was fined $250,000 and lost its first-round draft pick, though the Patriots still have the seventh overall, obtained from San Francisco.
The Patriots used the episode and the resentment it caused as incentive in a 16-0 regular season, now 18-0 after two playoff wins.
But the resentment among NFL coaches, which had simmered as the Patriots won Super Bowls after the 2001, 2003 and 2004 seasons, became a little more open. It was most likely reciprocal. While Belichick never says anything overtly nasty, there's an overriding feel that he disdains many of his colleagues, whom he feels aren't quite as smart as he is.
Coughlin isn't in that category
As monomaniacal about the game as the Giants coach can be, Belichick was off his radar until the final game of the regular season. The Patriots won 38-15 to complete an unbeaten season, but the Giants were bolstered for the playoffs by showing they could stay with the best. And the two coaches remained friends through Coughlin's stints with Jacksonville and now with the Giants.