SPORTS
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2005
PAGE 1B
WOMEN'S BASKETBALI
Ladies' night
WWW.KANSAN.COM
Seniors prepare for final home game
BY PAUL BRAND
pbrand@kansan.com
KANSAN SPORTWRITER
Playing a home game against a top-10 team that sits atop the Big 12 Conference should make tonight's game with No. 6 Baylor the most memorable of the season.
For at least two other Jayhawks, though, the showdown will represent something much more significant.
To seniors Aquanita Burras and Blair Waltz, tonight will embody the grandest of finales: Senior Night.
Baylor enters the game with a 21-3 record and an 11-2 mark in the Big 12.
As the conference's top team comes to Lawrence, emotions will run high for Burras and Waltz, who will play the final game of their college careers at 7 tonight in Allen Fieldhouse.
Although the attempt might prove to be impossible, Burras said she would try to put aside the sentimental aspect and focus on the business at hand.
"Even though it's senior night, I can't get my emotions up high and get too pumped up," Burras said.
Following her freshman year at Central Arizona Community College during the 2001-02 season, Burras transferred to Kansas for her remaining three years of eligibility and has found a home in the Jayhawk starting lineup. She has been a mainstay since
her arrival, and tonight's match-up will be her 82nd consecutive start.
Kansas coach Bonnie Henrickson said Burras made an immediate name for herself during the early stages of the season.
"She's been a defensive leader since we got here," Henrickson said. "I told her the first week of practice that she might be the best on-ball defender I've ever coached."
Burras leads the team in steals and sets the defensive tone on a team that has held every Big 12 opponent under its scoring average.
Henrickson credits both Burras and Waltz with showing the type of leadership expected from seasoned seniors, especially during a transitional period in the program.
"They might have different roles, but both have important roles," Henrickson said. "Both, from day one, have bought in and have tried to say the right thing and do the right thing in the face of all of this change."
Although Burras has faced only the prospect of adapting to a new system, Waltz has found herself in an entirely different scenario than her previous three years.
In her first three seasons as a
Jayhawk, the guard/forward averaged 17 starts a season. This season she has started only two games.
"How she has handled it speaks volumes to how she'll handle adversity the rest of her life." Henrickson said.
Waltz is the only four-year senior on Kansas' roster, but has not received a great degree of media attention because of her diminished playing role on this year's squad. Still, Henrickson heaps praise on the work ethic of the 6-foot Leawood native.
"Blair isn't in the stories a lot in terms of minutes, but that kid comes right every day to work hard," Henrickson said. "You can't discount or under-appreciate a lady like that."
Bouncing off a 67-53 victory against Nebraska, the Kansas seniors will try to fuse their emotion with 'budding confidence to pull off the upset.
Standing in their way are the Baylor Bears, who have won eight straight games. *
Even though Henrickson's team, 12-12 (5-8 Big 12), may seem vastly over-matched on paper, the coach said she knew that anything could happen with this team and at home.
"We're foolish enough to think we've got a chance every single night," Henrickson said. "Certainly to have the opponent to play at home will be a great opportunity for us."
— Edited by Austin Caster
KANSAN FILE PHOTO
Senior guard Aquanita Burras, goes for a layup Feb. 16 against Texas Tech. Burras is one of the only two seniors on the team that will play toright in the Senior's Night game against Baylor.
▼'HORN BORN, 'HAWK BRED
TRAVIS ROBINETT
trobinett@kansan.com
For Kansas schedule helps seed
Despite the men's basketball team losing three in a row, there are two reasons to keep the faith: It is not March, and the Jayhawks have played a tough strength of schedule.
After getting flak from the national media for a soft nonconference schedule and falling in the polls for winning games that were too close, the teams the lavhawks faced are making noise.
Vermont, St. Joseph's, Nevada, Pacific, Louisiana-Lafayette, Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Kentucky are leading in their conferences and are on pace for automatic NCAA Tournament bids. South Carolina, Georgia Tech and Villanova are on the bubble, and will make it to the tournament if they have strong finishes. TCU, with a 16-10 record, is a likely participant in the NIT.
The jayhawks' nonconference schedule is a big reason they top the RPI and strength of schedule rankings, according to http://www.kenpom.com, an RPI site updated daily. To rank teams, RPI, the Ratings Per Index ranking system, takes one-fourth winning percentage, plus one-half strength of schedule, plus one-fourth opponents' strength of schedule. In the formula, strength of schedule is the average winning percentage of opponents. New this season, the RPI factors in the location of games. Road victories and home losses count as 1.4, while home games won and road losses count as .6. Last year, every game counted as 1. The NCAA Tournament committee takes a good look at RPI before making its selections.
Coach Bill Self said he expected Kansas' nonconference schedule to boost its seeding on selection Sunday.
"If you are ranked number one in the RPI, you should get a pretty good seeding in the tournament," he said.
SEE ROBINETT ON PAGE 3B
V MEN'S BASKETBALL
Guard reflects on losses
BY KELLI ROBINETT
krobinett@kansan.com
KANSAN SPORTWRITER
The reason Kansas lost at Oklahoma on Monday was clear to sohomore guard I.R. Giddens.
"We didn't come out and play as hard as we could, we didn't have any of this," Giddens said while pointing to his chest. "No heart. That's why we lost."
The Jayhawks fell behind by as many as 19 points in the first half and appeared to be completely outmaned by the Sooners.
The team's poor start was surprising, considering it was coming off back-to-back losses and needed to win the game to stay atop the Big 12 Conference standings.
"We knew they were going to be at home and come out with a lot of intensity," Giddens said. "We didn't match that intensity."
The loss is especially painful for Giddens because he is from Oklahoma City, Okla. A break-out game, in front of family and close
Rylan Howe/KANSAN
Kansas sophomore guard J.R. Giddens drives along the baseline past Oklahoma freshman guard David Godbold. Giddens made a team-high seven rebounds at Monday night's game.
friends, could have done wonders for his confidence following his failed attempts at three-pointers in games against Texas Tech and Iowa State.
Though Giddens had an improved game, scoring nine points that included a clutch three-pointer to pull Kansas within one point in the second half, Kansas was never able to get over the hump.
Giddens said erasing a double-digit lead showed some heart, and the team showed toughness in victories against Georgia Tech and Kentucky earlier this year. He said the Jayhawks would recapture that kind of effort in upcoming games.
In fact, he guaranteed it.
"I think we're a tough team, we're just going through some things right now," he said. "We're not done. The Jayhawks aren't done. You can figure LR. Giddens right there."
Kansas players and coaches agreed with Giddens. All indicated that there was time to bounce back.
The Jayhawks have not given maximum effort in several games this year, nearly every game has gone down to the wire.
In home games against Nebraska and Texas A&M, Kansas squeaked by with narrow victories, and there
seemed to be no reason to panic. Now that the Jayhawks have lost three straight close games, maybe they will follow Giddens' advice and show the heart needed to get back on track.
"We've been in this position before," senior guard Keith Langford said. "This team has always responded to adversity well, and this time we're going to have to respond to it again. Luckily there are other games to play and we'll just have to focus on where we need to be."
Kansas coach Bill Self agreed, and said even though Kansas was playing its worst basketball of the year, there was more than enough time to improve.
"I think we're a ways off." Self said. "We've had some bad games and some bad halves, but we normally bounce back and play pretty well the next game. This is the worst 48-hour period we've had. We can get it back, but we need to get on the practice floor a lot before Sunday."
- Edited by Megan Claus
BIKING
Shop lets students make repairs
BY CALEB REGAN
cregan@hansu.com
KANSAN SPORTWRITER
Outdoor Pursuits offers tools, space for bike maintenance
Editor's note: This is a regular series that profiles recreational activities in which students take part. If you hunt, fish, climb rocks, go canoeing or are an expert spelunker, The University Daily Kansan would like to share your story and perhaps take part. Please contact Caleb Regan by calling the Kansan
sports desk at 864-4858 or by e-mailing him at cregon@kansan.com
Anyone at the University of Kansas who pursues mountain biking as a hobby, and especially those who ride at Clinton Lake, will tell you that biking on the trails around Lawrence causes serious wear and tear to any bike.
To help serious bikers, the Outdoor Pursuits program at the Student Recreation Fitness Center now offers a self-service bike shop downstairs in the outdoor rental division.
Every spring and fall, hundreds of students head out to trails with
The recreation center opened up its self-service bike repair shop this fall. The center equips all students who have a valid KUID with more than $2,000 in tools, vices and other equipment needed to repair any bike. There is a truing stand (used to mount wheels to check the alignment and balance of a wheel), a vice for inverting a bike to work on it and
mountain bikes of every quality to enjoy the trails at Clinton Lake or along the Wakarusa River. But before and during every season, those same students spend maintenance money that they can save if they know how to perform repairs on their own.
all combinations of wrenches and other tools one might use to perform common repairs.
Whether it's a street model 10-speed or an advanced model made to endure the wear and tear caused by logs, ramps, rocks or braking while rolling downhill at break-neck speed, the repair shop offers bikers the opportunity to make repairs for free.
One catch is the shop offers no consultation. Students are provided with all the equipment, but the rest is up to the owner of the bike. Bike parts must be bought and brought in to the shop.
SEE REPAIRS ON PAGE 3B
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