4B SPORTS
1
COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Season will include unpredictable results
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2007
RY MARK DFN7
BY MARK DENT
KANSAN SPORTS COLUMNIST
MDENT@KANSAN.COM
One of the wildest college football seasons is still a long way from the end.
Kansas is having its best season in a century.
Who cares about basketball, right?
Well, good news. This college basketball season should be just as exciting as the current race for the BCS title game, Joakim Noah, Al Horford, Tauren Green and Corey Brewer are gone, and not a second too soon for every non-Florida college basketball fan.
With Florida's reign at the top finished, youth could be the key this year. Memphis' Derrick Rose, UCLA's Kevin Love, Duke's Kyle Singler and Indiana's Eric Gordon are all freshmen who could lead their team to the top. Kansas State's Michael Beasley and Kentucky's Patrick Patterson will be excellent, too.
The national title should be up for grabs just like in football. North Carolina, UCLA and Memphis are early favorites but so were USC, Florida and LSU in football.
Anything could happen.
THE TOP 10 TEAMS (AND A 10-WORD DESCRIPTION FOR EACH)
1. Memphis — Freshman Derrick Rose makes this Elite Eight team the favorite.
2. Kansas — Three little guards will keep Kansas good until Rush returns.
3. UCLA — Jordan Farmar's early departure didn't matter; neither will Arron Afalalo's.
ly criticize David Padgett?
5. North Carolina — Last team not named Florida to win a national title.
4. Louisville — Why did Kansas students have to constant-
6. Duke — Sorry all Blue Devil haters. Last year was a fluke.
7. Georgetown — Hoyas would be No. 1 if Jeff Green was back.
8. Indiana — I'd hate to see coach Kelvin Sampson's cell phone bill.
9. Arizona — The Wildcats will return to prominence after two bad years.
10. Marquette — Eagles have three guards better than Kansas' three little guards.
The rest (In order):
Washington State, Kansas State,
Tennessee, Kentucky, Texas
A&M, Southern Illinois, Florida,
Villanova, Oregon, Davidson,
Gonzaga, North Carolina State,
Texas, Washington, St. Johns.
ALL-AMERICANS
Stephen Curry, Davidson
Michael Beasley, Kansas State
Tyler Hansbrough, North
Carolina
Chris Lofton, Tennessee
Chris Douglas-Roberts,
Memphis
ALL GREASY TEENAGER
TEAM (GUYS WHO ARE
READY TO BREAKOUT)
Chase Budinger, Arizona—Luckily for Budinger, the Wildcats' me-first duo of Marcus Williams and Mustafa Shakur, is gone, and he can make Arizona successful aain.
Josh Carter, Texas A&M— This smooth shooter will be the Aggies' new go-to-guy. He's very similar to Brandon Rush.
Stephen Curry, Davidson— Well, he can't really break out in terms of achievements because he already led the Southern Conference in scoring. But this year, he'll actually get national
Darrell Arthur, Kansas — If Arthur demands the ball enough in the post, there's no reason he won't average 18 points per game.
attention.
Scottie Reynolds, Villanova — Bet you didn't know he had the highest-scoring game of any freshman last year, including Kevin Durant, Reynolds scored 40 against Connecticut.
ALL ERIC CHENOWITH TEAM (MOST OVERRATED PLAYERS)
Roy Hibbert, Georgetown — Too much of a stiff to be dominant. He definitely doesn't have a future in the NBA.
Greg Paulus, Duke — Paulus turns the ball over way too much. He needs to fix that problem to make the Blue Devils a Final Four contender.
Richard Roby, Colorado— Shouldn't he have left for the NBA and not been selected two years ago?
OJ, Mayo, USC — The kid had his own Web site as a seventh grader. He's the Paris Hilton of college basketball; way over-hyped with minimal skill.
Bobby Frasor, North Carolina—Frasor's not a bad player, but he was a McDonald's All-American in 2005. Based on his high school credentials, he's underachieved.
A.J. Price, Connecticut — Sure,
it was two years ago but this one
is too good. Police arrested
and charged Price with larceny for
stealing computers from women's
ALL O.J. SIMPSON TEAM
(GUYS WHO HAVE RUN
AFOUL OF THE LAW)
basketball players' dorm rooms.
Josh Heytvelt, Gonzaga — Police caught him with "psychedelic mushrooms" last spring.
Darryl Butterfield, Missouri — After appearing in Kansas City for Big 12 Media Day last month, Butterfield returned to Columbia, Mo., where his girlfriend accused him of hitting her in the face.
The entire Alabama-Birmingham team - Five players were arrested at a night club in September for arguing and fighting amongst themselves.
Levance Fields, Pittsburgh — Police said Fields tried to grab an officer's handgun outside a night club in September. He had to be subdued with a stun gun.
ALL RAND MCNALLY
Tyler Smith, Tennessee from Iowa
C. J. Giles, Oregon State from Kansas
TEAM (GUYS WHO HAVE TRAVELED ALL OVER, TRANSFERS)
Snawn Taggart, Memphis from Iowa State
Eric Boateng, Arizona State from Duke
ALL T.J.WHATLEY TEAM (BEST LOOKS)
DeMarre Carroll, Missouri from Vanderbilt
TRANSFERS)
Chase Budinger, Arizona— The female Goldilocks.
Bill Walker, Kansas State Who says the jheri curl is out?
Drew Lavender, Xavier — Hard not to look good when you can dominate at 5-foot-7.
Sasha Kaun, Kansas — My favorite episode of "Saved by the Bell" is when Kelly gets a crush on Sasha. Oops, I mean Screech.
Greivis Vasquez, Maryland—He might be the first college basketball player to rock the pencil-thin mustache.
ALL ROBITUSSIN (SLEEPER TEAMS)
St. Joseph's Kansas State Georgia Tech Villanova Georgia
ALL MITCHELL AND NESS TEAM (COOLEST ABOVE)
JERSEYS TO WEAR)
George Goode, Louisville
Dionte Christmas, Temple
Shagari Alleyne, Manhattan
Pierre Marie Altidor-
sespedes, Marshall
Patrick Patterson, Kentucky
ALL GOD SHAMMGOD TEAM (BEST NAMES)
Edited by Meghan Murphy
Papa Dia, SMU
Bishop Wheatley, Tulsa
Rockwell Moody, St. Joseph's
Dallas Lauderdale, Ohio State
Hillary Hale, St. Bonaventure
NFL
Suspension to keep 'Pacman'out of playoffs
BY TERESA M. WALKER ASSOCIATED PRESS
Jones had met with the commissioner last week in New York, pleading for some leniency and an early return. But the cornerback, whose biggest community service was buying wrestling tickets for Atlanta students to watch him at a pay-per-view event last month, didn't convince Goodell.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) NFL commissioner Roger Goodell told Titans cornerback Adam "Pacman" Jones in April to sit out the 2007 season. On Tuesday, the commissioner informed Jones he still hasn't changed his mind.
The commissioner told Jones his suspension will last through this season, which would include the playoffs, if the Titans (6-2) qualify.
Attorney Wortrick Robinson said Jones received a letter from the NFL notifying him of the commissioner's decision earlier Tuesday. They planned to talk further Tuesday night and a formal statement may follow Wednesday.
Goodell had promised Jones' case would be reviewed after Tennessee's 10th game of the season. He met with Jones last Friday — two days before the Titans' eighth game. But the Titans, who have replaced their best defensive player, had been expecting the suspension to stand.
The suspension followed a Las Vegas strip club fight Feb. 19 in which police accused Jones of inciting a fight inside that led to a triple shooting outside that left one man paralyzed.
Jones was arrested on two fety counts of coercion in June after dropping an appeal of his NFL punishment. Jones said in interviews since his suspension that he felt he was being treated unfairly and that the punishment was harsh.
To keep himself busy, he signed a contract with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling. But the Titans got an injunction that limited his physical contact to prevent any injuries. Jones' contract ended recently with TNA, and the Nashville-based company did not renew the deal.
BOWMAN (CONTINUED FROM 1B)
now, just six months later, he's back on the gridiron and making more heads turn. Texas coach Mack Brown took notice last week, when Bowman gained 108 yards and caught one touchdown pass against his team.
"Bowman was blocking our linebackers. He's tough, he's fast, I bet he's 230 pounds. He's just an amazing player." Brown said. "He has to be as good as any receiver in the country."
Bowman currently ranks tenth in the nation for receiving, with 101 yards per game. His total against the Jayhawks last year was nearly triple his current average.
Adarius Bowman
2007 season (through nine gam. as) at a glance
57 receptions
910 receiving yards
16 yards per reception
7 touchdowns
for him.
"The main thing is to try to keep him from getting the ball." Kansas junior linebacker James Holt said. "We know that he's going to make plays but it comes down to how we are going to bounce back after he makes a play."
The Kansas pass defense has plenty of experience patching up errors on the fly. Last week, the Jayhawks allowed 266 first-half passing yards to Nebraska before buckling down and intercepting four passes in the second half. Kansas coaches said
He scored all four of his touchdowns in the second half of the game at Memorial Stadium. Kansas defensive coordinator Bill Young said the Cowboys kept running the same plays because the Jayhawks couldn't stop them.
Sophomore safety Darrell Stuckey said the Kansas secondary wouldn't make the same mistakes as last year and that they were ready for the Adarius Bowman challenge.
"A lot of it was our lack of assignments and getting to where we needed to be," Stuckey said. "It was a lack of our knowledge of the game as a whole. It's a knowledge we have now. We have a whole new demeanor now. We are a different team. We can look back at that and learn from it."
Kansas failed to bounce back when Bowman struck last season.
Edited by Rachel Bock
halftime adjustments implemented by the coaching staff and put into action by the players spurred the quick turnaround. The success of the 2007 Kansas defense has made at least one Jayhawks' memory of 2006 a bit fogger.
"We're not measuring ourselves by last year," coach Mark Mangino said. "That's history and we've learned from that. We got over that in January and we've been looking at 2007 the whole time."
FOOTBALL (CONTINUED FROM 1B)
Betting lines are a perception, and the perception of the Dallas Cowboys is very good these days. That's obvious from the fact that they are 1-point favorites at the Meadowlands on Sunday against the Giants,
NFL
Cowboys enjoy success named 1-point favorite
Edited by Meghan Murphy
who have won six in a row and are a game behind them in the NFC East. It's probably justified against a team whose last five victories have been over opponents with a current combined of 13-36 record. On the other hand, past New York teams have often failed to win games against teams they're supposed to beat. This will probably have little resemblance
to the first meeting on the first Sunday night of the season. Dallas won that game 45-35, then the Giants went on to allow 35 points in a loss to Green Bay the next week. In the six wins since, they've allowed 79 points, or one point less than in the first two.
Associated Press
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