SPORTS MANGINO ANNOUNCES SEEKING MEDICAL TESTS THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN PAGE 2B SPOTLIGHT WWW.KANSAN.COM TUESDAY, JANUARY 29, 2008 PAGE1B Weston White/KANSAN Weston White/KAMSA Travis Reelford, a basketball signee from Bishop Miege High School, will begin at the University this fall. Reelford is the 37th-ranked high school basketball player in the country according to Scout.com, a national recruiting Web site. Relishing the road to KU hoops BY RUSTIN DODD dodd@kansan.com Overland Park — Rick Zych stood near the mid-court circle of a small, worn gymnasium on Thursday afternoon. The coach of the Bishop Miege High School team raised his head and gazed at the collection of eyes surrounding him. "We're leaving at four, and were in red," Zych said, preparing his Stags — the No. 2 ranked team in the city — for their Friday night game against Blue Valley Northwest High School. Among the collage of fresh young faces, Travis Releford intently focused on Zych's every word. At 6-foot-5 and 190 pounds, Releford's body rose above the rest of his teammates. "Please don't recognize their crowd," Zych added. "When you're number two in the city, you've got a target on your back." Hes the star of this Bishop Miege team. He's the player that draws strangers to suburban high school gyms just to get an opportunity to see what all the Releford fuss is about. He's the player that is supposed to be the "next great player" to come out of Kansas City. The next Anthony Peeler. The next Tyronn Lue. The next Brandon Rush. On Nov. 15, Releford signed a national letter of intent to play basketball at the University of Kansas. Since signing with the Jayhawks, the spotlight on Releford has only intensified. But for Releford, who is a little less than four months away from his high school graduation, all the attention is nothing new. HANDLING THE SPOTLIGHT It started when Releford was a freshman at Central Senior High School in Kansas City, Mo. Releford was lighting up scoreboards, and his cell phone was lighting up with messages from college coaches. For most Kansas fans, Releford is the most recognizable face in the Jayhawks' 2008 recruiting class. That's what happens when you go to high school less than 40 miles from Lawrence. Releford said he's just happy to finally know where he's going to be playing college basketball. More importantly, Releford doesn't have to deal with the recruitment process anymore. "Day after day, in class I'd get texts from different colleges, it bothered me a lot." Releford said. "I'm glad it's over, I've been waiting for it to be over from the get-go." Reelford said. "Because, once I got in the spotlight of being good and ranked, colleges would call everyday. It got annoying." One day, Missouri was calling, the next day, Oklahoma. North Carolina showed Releford: up close Name: Travis Releford Hometown: Kansas City, Mo. High School: Bishop Miege Position: Guard Favorite NBA player: Kobe Bryant National Recruiting Rankings: 37th (Scout.com) 70th (Rivals.com) interest, too. But Kansas was the first school to offer Releford a scholarship. “There were other choices, but he was going to go with KU all the way,” Releford's mother, Venita Vann, said. It didn't hurt that Telefer grew up cheering on the Crimson and Blue. "My grandma, she worked with some people that were big KU fans," Releford said. "We would always go to her job, and I was always around KU things and people who liked KU. I looked at them on TV and saw that they were a good team." Releford left behind Central High School after his freshman season and moved across the state line to Bishop Miege. For Releford, the distractions at Central — the fights, the metal detectors, the crime — were just too much. Releford averaged 19.6 points per game SEE RELEFORD ON PAGE 4B 》 BASEBALL Kansan File Photo Sophomore outfielder John Allman slides home and scores on Preston Land's double in the fifth inning against North Dakota State at Hoglund Ballpark. The team begins practice Friday with six starting position players from last year. Last season's experience pushes team to improve BY SHAWN SHROYER sshroyer@kansan.com When Nick Faunce looks across the locker room at his teammates, he sees one thing: experience. "Everybody's risen to the occasion at some point," Faune, a junior outfielder, said. "We'll all be able to handle the pressure that comes along with the season and the environments we're in." Kansas' increase in experience is perhaps the biggest difference with this year's roster from a season ago. Just last season, Kansas was the youngest team in the Big 12 with really only one senior contributor. On the flip side, Kansas had one freshman and two sophomores in its lineup on a regular basis, as well as one freshman and three sophomores who combined to pitch 55 percent of the team's total innings. Kansas' young players showed 11 one-run losses and a 28-30 record—the team's first losing season since 2002. While the jayhawks have gotten past the disappointment of last season, it remains a motivating factor coming into this season. "Just talking to guys in the locker room, we kid around about it, but then we're like, 'No, we can't have a year if we had last year. We've got to lock it up, get down to business and get back to where we were,' junior first baseman Preston Land said." With Friday set as the national start date for teams to begin practices, Kansas enters the season with the kind of experience it lacked in 2007. Kansas returns six starting position players from last season, as well as nearly its entire pitching staff. But even little turnover from last season hasn't stopped coach Ritch Price from shuf fling his deck. INTHE FIELD Sophomore Robby Price moved from third base to second base in the fall, which coach Price said is a "more natural position" for Robby. Filling in for Robby at third base will be freshman wunderkind Tony Thompson who, at 6-foot-5, 220 pounds, is expected to be an imposing force in the Kansas lineup. In center field, Faunce is in line to replace Kyle Murphy, who was drafted by the Texas Rangers following his senior season. "Nick Faunce won the job in the fall." Price said. "He did not enter the fall as the No. 1 guy on our depth chart and at the end of the fall that's where he positioned himself!" Although he wasn't the favorite to replace Murphy coming into the fall, Faurice said he felt like last season was a precursor to him claiming a starting spot this season. "I've been in a lot of games, pinch running and doing some late defense work last year, so I don't really feel like I'm getting thrown into a whole new situation." Faure said. "I was kind of eased into it by my previous years." But both Price and Faune acknowledged that the competition for center field would continue this spring. Price said if Faune should struggle, senior John Allman could shift from left field to center field, which would open up left field for either Senior Casey Larson or freshman Brian Heere. On the opposite side of the outfield, senior Ryne Price has moved to right field after leading the team with 19 errors at second base in 2007. Coach Price said Ryan, who was a catch- SEE BASEBALL ON PAGE 4B COMMENTARY Michael Beasley dominates the game as Kansas State's one-man show A look at Michael Beasley makes it easy to forget about last year's Big 12 player of the year, Kevin Durant. After all, this year's Big 12 freshman phenom is practically the perfect post player. Beasley's mountainous upper body and sturdy legs have "NBA future" written all over them. The Kansas State forward can rebound — his 12.7 rebounds per game are best in the Big 12. He can defend — his 1.8 blocks per game are third in the conference. Beasley can score in a variety of ways — he's scoring 26 points per game and shooting 38 percent from three-point range. "Some guys just know how to score, some guys just know how to use their body better than others — to initiate contact, get to the free throw line — and he's really good with either hand around the basket," Self said. "He's a terrific prospect, one of the best prospects that college basketball has seen in many, many years." Kansas coach Bill Self, who has proven to be an exceptional evaluator of basketball talent, is a Beasley believer. But to merely glance at Beasley's gauoy stat line and rugged physique and declare Kansas State on par with teams such as Kansas and Memphis would be an egregious oversight. Sure, Beasley dominates Kansas State's Michael Beasley takes a shot over Iowa State's Craig Brackins (21) in the second half of their college basketball game Saturday in Manhattan. The Jayhawks will travel to Manhattan to face the Wildcats tomorrow. the game, but he dominates because he has to. No other player on his team is willing — or perhaps able — to play at an elite level. There is Clent Stewart, the point guard who has twice as many turnovers as steals. There is Jacob Pullen, the freshman guard who is shooting an unimpressive 24 percent from beyond the arc (he's attempted nearly as many three-pointers as Mario Chalmers has). There is Blake Young, who is just cracking 33 percent from the field this year. Bill Walker, Kansas State forward, is a nice all-around player, but his 46 percent field goal shooting and 6-foot-6 frame don't stack up as well at the power forward position as they did when he played on the perimeter. Besides Beasley and Walker, the names on the Wildcat roster just don't pass the smell test. Take a look at the bench, and things ASSOCIATED PRESS start to get very ugly. Andre Gilbert, the Wildcats' top wing reserve, has made 29 percent of his three-pointers. Post backups Ron Anderson and Darren Kent aren't threats to scoring or blocking. freshmen juggernauts Standing in stark contrast to Kansas State's one-man show is Kansas' dangerous, multi-pronged attack. Darrell Arthur doesn't post Beasley-esque numbers because he doesn't need to; Darnell Jackson helps him clean the boards and fill the stat sheet. Beasley plays nearly 30 minutes per game. Neither Jackson nor Arthur plays more than 25 minutes per game because Kansas coach Bill Self has a capable reinforcement in the form of defender-extradinaire Sasha Kaun. The Jayhawk backcourt is exceptionally balanced, very talented and quietly productive. Mario Chalmers can seemingly shoot from anywhere (48 percent on three-pointers), Brandon Rush isn't too shabby himself (44 percent) and how about Russell Robinson's defense? Robinson and Chalmers have 98 steals combined to help the Jayhawks to the best steal-per-possession figure in the nation. Kansas has backcourt reserves in spades. Sherron Collins, who would start at about 330 of the nation's 341 Division-I programs, is only playing 22 minutes per game and is on his way back to full health. Comparing college basketball's most sensational freshman of the last two years
FG%3PG%MinutesBlocksSteals
Kevin Durant (2006-2007)47%40%35.91.91.9
Michael Beasley (2007-2008)56%38%29.61.71.3
Rebounds Points 11.1 25.8 12.7 25.3 Rodrick Stewart, who was once a starter at USC, has emerged as a good defender and decent offensive option. If Kansas State's roster was ripe wtn McDonald's All-Americans, Beasley wouldn't be taking 35 percent of his team's shots or racking up ridiculous rebounding numbers. If the Jayhawks pieced together a patchwork bunch around a single star, Arthur's statistics might look a little better. But a cast of ultra-talented players willing to fill modest roles is what makes a conference champion — Kansas fans have seen that up close each of the last two years. Make no mistake about it Michael Beasley will be the best player on the floor Wednesday night. But he won't be playing for the better team. } — Edited by Katherine Loeck 17