SPORTS
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WEDNESDAY, MARCH 9, 2005
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WWW.KANSAN.COM
▼ WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Inept ending
Despite worthy efforts by two Kansas players, Iavhawks lose to Tigers in Big 12 Tournament
BY BJ RAINS
brains@kansan.com
KANSAN SPORTWRITER
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Crystal Kemp and Erica Hallman did everything they could to win, but the rest of the lawhaws just couldn't get it done.
Kemp scored a career-high 27 points and pulled down 11 rebounds, while Hallman added 19 points and five assists in the Jayhawks' 62-57 loss to the Missouri Tigers in the opening round of the Big 12 Conference women's basketball tournament yesterday.
"I did have a career high, but we fell short of the victory," Kemp, junior forward, said. "I'd rather have two points and a win than 35 points and a loss."
Combined, Kemp and Hallman, junior guard, were 19-for-33 from the field. The rest of the Jayhawks were just 5-for-31. Only four Jayhawks scored in the loss. Senior guard Aquanita Burras scored eight points and grabbed five rebounds in 39 minutes of action.
The Jayhawks shot 51 percent from the field in the first half but managed only 25 percent in the second half.
The Jayhawks trailed by four with 13:26 to play in the game when Hallman found Kemp for a layup. Kemp was fouled on the play and hit a free throw to cut the deficit to one. On the ensuing Missouri possession, Kemp blocked a shot by Missouri junior center Christelle N'Garsanet and found Hallman, who hit a running layup and was again fouled, giving the Jayhawks the 44-43 lead.
The teams traded baskets for the next few minutes with the lead changing hands. After Hallman hit a three-point shot with just under 7 minutes remaining, the Jahawks led 55-51, their biggest lead of the second half.
When N'Garsanet hit a jumper to cut the
Jayhawk lead to two with 6:20 to go, both teams suddenly didn't score. Kansas missed its next nine shots, but didn't fall behind as the Tigers committed four straight turnovers.
Missouri junior guard LaToya Bond, who finished with 12 points, drove the lane and scored on a layup to tie the game at 55 with 2:39 to play. No one scored until Hallman was called for fouling Bond with 54 seconds remaining. Bond hit both free throws, giving the Tigers the lead.
free throws, giving Hallman drove to the hoop on the Jayhawks' next possession, but her floater rimmed out. Carlynn Savant, Missouri sophomore forward, grabbed the rebound and was fouled by Kansas freshman forward Taylor McIntosh.
Savant hit both free throws to extend the lead to 59-55. The Jayhawks pushed the ball up the floor and Hallman heaved a half-court pass to Kemp, who scored the Jayhawks' first basket in more than 6 minutes, cutting the deficit to two with 20 seconds to play.
After Savant was fouled and made one of two free throws, the Jayhawks had an opportunity to tie it with a three-point shot. Instead of going for the tie, Hallman drove the lane and her short jumper hit the rim and missed.
"We wanted to go for a two for one," Kansas coach Bonnie Henrickson said. "If we don't make the three, and then have to foul, it's back to a two-possession game. Also, we would have ran 10 or 12 seconds off of the clock, setting up a play for a three-pointer."
EeTisha Riddle, sophomore forward, hit two free throws to secure the victory for Missouri.
The Jayhawks finished the season at 12-16. Seniors Burras and Blair Waltz played their last game as Jayhawks last night.
Edited by Kim Sweet Rubenstein
Rachel Seymour/KANSAN
Crystal Kemp, junior forward, grabs hold of the ball as she blocks out Missouri's EeTisha Riddle during the first game of the Big 12 Women's Tournament in Kansas City, Mo., yesterday. Kemp finished the game with a career-high 27 points, but the jayhawks fell to the Tigers with a final score of 62-57.
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Season just a 'stepping stone'
BY BJ RAINS
brains@kansan.com
KANSAN SPORTRWITER
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — While most of Kansas fans were sleeping last night something monumental happened to two members of the Kansas women's basketball team.
“At 12:01 tonight this team becomes theirs,” coach Bonnie Henrickson said following her
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team's season-ending loss to Missouri. Henrickson· was referring to juniors Crystal Kemp, forward, and Erica Hallman, guard. "They are seniors."
Big 12 women's championship bracket on Page 2B
Yesterday Kemp and
Yesterday Kemp and Hallman gave both Henrickson and Jayhawk fans everywhere a taste of what could be a successful season for Kansas. Kemp scored a career-high 27 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, her 10th double-double of the season. Hallman scored 19 points and dished out five assists.
SEE SEASON ON PAGE 3B
▶ MEN'S BASKETBALL
Guard shrugs off his critics
BY MIRANDA LENNING
mlenning@kansan.com
KANSAN SENIOR SPORTWRITER
A late class forced J.R. Giddens to be late to the Jayhawks' 4 p.m. practice yesterday.
At 4:03 p.m., he ran barefoot into the gym, shoes in hand. He sat on a chair to lace up and was immediately surrounded by a herd of media members.
He coolly answered questions as he tied on his ankle brace and sneaker, while anxiously glancing up at his teammates warming up on the court.
The Jayhawks were forming a huddle at center court; he had to get with his team.
Suddenly, Giddens jumped out of the chair, pushed the media out of his way and ran onto the court — one shoe off, one on.
Giddens is well aware of his critics, especially in the last few months. He knows people are upset that his shots aren't consistently dropping. He knows
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his flamboyant personality is perceived as selfish.
The bracket for this weekend's Big 12 men's tournament appears on Page 2B
For a while, he listened and tried to answer the criticism. But recently, he realized that in doing that, he forgot to enjoy the game.
"I think I was trying to mold myself to what people wanted me to look like, what people wanted me to do and how people wanted me to act," Giddens said.
"I'd hit a shot or do something and people be like, 'Ah, he's selfish; he does this and he does that,' and you don't want a selfish image or an image that is negative to the team."
A Fine coaching career
SEE CRITICS ON PAGE 3B
BOWLING
Mike Fine, bowling coach, watches Zach Taylor, Silver City, N.M., junior, bowl last night at practice in the Kansas Union. Fine is leaving the University to take over the bowling program at Florida State University. He said that although he will miss the team and Lawrence, he will leave happy with what has been done with Jaybow operation and the bowling team.
Rachel Sevmour/KANSAN
BY JASON ELMQIST
jelmquist@kansan.com
KANSAN SPORTWRITER
Coach commits to Florida State, saddens bowlers
A 21-year career at the University of Kansas is coming to a close for bowling coach Mike Fine. He will begin a new chapter of his coaching career after this semester. Fine, who turned the bowling team and the Jaybowl into what it is today, will take over the coaching and recreation coordinator position at Florida State University.
Florida State approached
Fine about the position. It was previously held by a friend, Marvin Overby, who died of a heart attack last summer. After a few conversations with Florida State, Fine applied for the position and was officially named Overby's successor March 1.
Fine spent 19 of his 21 years in the Jaybowl and worked full time in the Student Union Activities office the other two years. During his tenure, Jaybowl went through extensive remodeling. The improvements included bowling upgrades such as new lanes, new ball returns and a control desk, and more setting-oriented features such as black lights and cosmic bowling.
SEE COACHING ON PAGE 3B
THE VIEW FROM PRESS ROW
Season champs deserve bids
KELLIS ROBINETT krobinett@kansan.com
Leave it to the Ivy League to show the rest of us how it's done.
While every other Division I basketball conference rewards its tournament champion with an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, the Ivy League gives its bid to the regular-season champion.
In other words, the team that most deserves to be in the Big Dance.
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that winning a conference title during the course of many weeks is a better achievement than winning a conference tournament during the span of a few days.
But for some reason, only the brainaiacs at Harvard and Yale have resisted the urge to sell out to the popularity of postseason conference tournaments.
A three- or four-day tournament doesn't prove anything. Even the worst team can get hot and make a run through its conference tournament.
In 1997, Fairfield finished the regular season with an 11-18 record but ran the table in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Tournament and snuck into the field of 64. In 1998, Prairie View A&M won the Southwestern Athletic Conference Tournament after having a 10-16 regular season record.
I don't think so. Especially
Did those teams earn the right to compete for the national championship by playing well for that brief span?
because not every conference tournament is played on a neutral court. Most small conferences rotate their postseason tournaments around their schools' home arenas, and so do some of the major conferences. Memphis, for example, is holding this year's Conference USA Tournament.
No team should get that unfair advantage while playing for something as important as a bid to the NCAA Tournament. Why do you think the NCAA Tournament holds every game, including its play-in game, on a neutral court?
Take a look at Davidson this year. This team stormed through the Southern Conference with a perfect 16-0 record. Its next closest competitor finished with a 10-6 record.
After dominating its league and winning the regular season crown by six games, there was no doubt that Davidson was the best team in the Southern Conference. Did the Wildcats need to put their postseason future on the line for three more games?
Well, Davidson had to, and it lost in the second round of its conference tournament to 9-7 North Carolina-Greensboro, which went on to lose to 10-6 Tennessee-Chattanooga in the championship game. It just happened to be played in Chattanooga, Tenn.
Davidson did something Kansas couldn't do — win at Missouri — earlier this year, but because the Southern Conference has no national respect, Davidson can only hope for an NIT bid. So, unless Davidson gets a bid, a 10-6 team will represent the conference.
SEE ROBINETT ON PAGE 3B
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