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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2007 PAGE 1B
COMMENTARY
Illustration by Max RinkeU/KANSAN
Crazy season proves why BCS system must change
With the Big 12 Conference, Atlantic Coast Conference and Southeastern Conference championships this weekend as well as several regular season games for the Pacific-10 and Big East conferences, the Bowl Championship Series is set for more dramatic changes. Since the first BCS standings came out on Oct. 14, there has been no consistency about who should rightfully play for the National Championship. After a crazy college football season, no team except Hawaii, ranked No. 12 in the BCS, is undefeated.
There is still no clear-cut picture of who is the best team in the nation. Right now, the No. 1 team in the BCS standings is Missouri, which is a three-point underdog for its Big 12 Championship game against Oklahoma. Last week, it was LSU, and the week before that, Ohio State. After this weekend, there could be yet another team ranked No. 1 in the BCS. If you look at the rest of the teams who may receive BCS bowl bids, there is one giant cluster of teams with only one or two losses. With this in mind, the BCS should be renamed the Bowl Cluster@#%!. Series.
The BCS is like no other post-season challenge in all of college sports. It places the top Division I-FBS teams in various exhibition matches around the country. There's no tournament where the nation gets to see the best teams triumphantly rise above the rest.
That's right, the Bowl Cluster@#%! Series. You may recognize the characters after the word "cluster" as comic book-style cursing. If not, they signify a word that starts with the letter "F".
There is a set of BCS selection policies and procedures to make certain that only the best teams get a chance to play in a BCS bowl game. If you read these policies and procedures, which are listed on www.bcsfootball.org, you get a feel for how screwed up the postseason in Division I-FBS is compared with those of every other sport and with the lower divisions in college football. Another alternative for the name Bowl Championship Series could be simply the Bowl Series. There is no true championship in the BCS, so calling it the BS would justify what it really is.
The BCS procedures and policies are drawn out as part of preserving the bowl tradition. Some people involved with college football do not want to change the controversial postseason, but many people are getting fed up with the system. It's the same thing every year. Some of the nation's top teams are
snubbed from playing in a deserved bowl game.
In 1998, Kansas State went 11-1, with its only loss coming against Texas A&M in the big 12 Championship. But because of the loss, the Wildcats had to play in the lowly Holiday Bowl. In 2003, No. 1 ranked USC was left out of the National Championship game altogether. The following year, four teams finished undefeated: Oklahoma, USC, Auburn and Utah. Only Oklahoma and USC got to play for the championship.
Sports writers Dan Wetzel of Yahoo! Sports and Gene Wojciechowski of ESPN.com have brought up the idea of a playoff system. When the first BCS standings came out, I wrote a column with a perfectly logical solution for a tournament system, as well.
This year, fans around the country are already debating which teams most deserve BCS bowl bids and which teams should play for the National Championship. Just about every sports publication has some sort of bowl predictions. After this weekend though, the final BCS standings will be released, and there will without a doubt be much controversy over who gets picked to go to which bowl games.
—Edited by Chris Beattie
football notebook
Will it be Missouri and West Virginia in the National Championship, or will it be Ohio State and West Virginia? Will Kansas even go to a BCS bowl game at all?
If Oklahoma beats Missouri, will Missouri drop to the Holiday Bowl just as Kansas State did in 1998? Will LSU or USC receive enough attention if they win this weekend that they somehow rise to No. 1 and No. 2 in the BCS standings? Will Hawaii go to a BCS bowl game, or perhaps Illinois or Boston College? Who knows anything? The answer is no one. The best bet would be to work towards getting rid of the Bowl Cluster@#%! Series in future years and switch to a playoff system. If every other college sport does it, why can't the highest division in college football do it?
MORE AWARDS POSSIBLE
Kansas defensive coordinator Bill Young is a finalist for the Broyles Award, which is given to college football's best assistant coach. The 2007 Kansas defense
is ranked seventh against the run, 12th in pass efficiency defense and 14th in total defense. The Jayhawks rank fourth in the nation with 20 interceptions and 11th in tackles-for-loss with 115. Young, in his fifth
Young
MEN'S BASKETBALL
year at Kansas, will travel to Orlando for a Dec. 6th ceremony if he is selected. A pair of Jayhawk players are also in the running for postseason recognition. Junior cornerback Qaib Talib is a finalist for the Bronko Nagurski Trophy, given to the nation's top defensive player. Junior offensive tackle Anthony Collins is one
of three finalists for the Outland Trophy, awarded to the best interior lineman in the country.
Mangino
Kansas coach Mark Mangino shared Associated Press Big 12 Coach of the Year honors with Missouri's Gary Pinkel. Mangino and Pinkel authored similar turnarounds in 2007. Mangino's lav
MANGINO, PINKE SHARE AP
BIG 12 COACH OF THE YEAR
hawks finished 6-6 in 2006 and 11-1 this season and Pinkel's Tigers jumped from 8-last year to 11-1 so far this season. Missouri and Kansas are both headed to bowls later this season, and each has a chance at earning a BCS Bowl bid.
- Asher Fusco
Jackson shows off tweaked shooting skills
Sarah Leonard/KANSAN
Rodrick Stewart, senior guard, powers up through a foul during last night's 87-49 victory against Florida Atlantic in Allen Fieldhouse. Stewart finished the game with a career-high eight assists. The Jayhawks play USC on Fox at 1 p.m. on Sunday.
First season start proves progress in long range jumpshots
BY MARK DENT mdent@kansan.com
Darnell Jackson emphasized that he wasn't turning into a three-point specialist. It just appeared that way when he drilled his second career three-pointer - on three career attempts - in the second half of Kansas' 87-49 victory against Florida Atlantic.
On his first three-pointer last week against Northern Arizona, Jackson fired up a shot from the corner as the shot clock wound down. Last night, Jackson received the ball in transition and swished a three-pointer from the top of the key. Plenty of time remained on the shot clock this time, and Kansas coach Bill Self was fine with Jackson shooting it.
"Ive said all along he's a good shooter," Self said. "He doesn't need to fall in love with that shot, but he certainly a good shooter. I trust his shot."
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Self even said Jackson, senior forward, had the best shot of any Kansas big man he had coached since former All-American Wayne Simien. He probably wouldn't have said that Jackson's freshman year.
Back then, Jackson's shot was a work in progress at best. He rarely shot the ball at Midwest City High School in Oklahoma City. His job was to bang down low and leave the
paint only after his team scored or missed a shot. The rare use of his jumper left him with a flat shooting stroke that he's gradually given more arch to during his four years at Kansas.
Assistant coach Danny Manning has especially helped Jackson home his shot. At practice, Manning guards the big men and sticks his hands up to force them to shoot the ball over him. Jackson, who averages 11.2 points per game on 63 percent shooting, has to add more elevation to his shot when he fires the ball over Manning's lanky 6-foot-10 frame.
"He always tells me to get it up," Jackson said. "Put some arch under it. I've been working on that a lot."
“It's good to know he can hit that shot, but that's not what we're going to go.” Case said. “We're going to go with him on the block beasting somebody. It's a bonus when he hits that shot, but we have to get him inside”
Jackson said he could make the team better by consistently shooting well from the outside. If he can hit the long range jumpshot, defenses will have to respect him and leave more space for other post players to operate inside. Senior guard Jeremy Case said the guards needed to get the ball inside more often to Jackson and the other big men.
Jackson's rebounding game could use some improvement. He only had two against the
Owls and is averaging 5.3 per game for the season. Although Kansas won easily by using a 13-0 run in the first half and a 23-3 run in the second half, Self said his team's rebounding problems hadn't been solved yet. Kansas outrebounded Florida Atlantic 37 to 32.
Jackson said Self put him in the starting lineup Wednesday night because he wanted to shuffle the big men around and see who played better starting and who played better coming off the bench. Jackson, whose humble attitude could make a monk seem prideful, could care less if he starts or makes a bunch of three-pointers.
If Jackson wants to keep starting or playing big minutes, he'll need to step up his production on the boards. Sasha Kaun, senior center and the player Jackson replaced in the starting lineup, grabbed seven rebounds in 16 minutes. Self said Kaun played much better than he did against Arizona, when he only had two rebounds in 25 minutes.
He wants to help the team win.
"If I come off the bench or start, I still have to do my job," Jackson said. "It doesn't feel any different. If I went out there and had a bad game, wed go back to Sasha. And if he was better at starting, wed just leave it at that."
Edited by Meghan Murphy
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