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Volume 128 Issue 103
kansan.com
Tuesday, April 7, 2015
THE UNIVERSITY DAHY KANSAN
COMMENTARY
Recruiting could improve team culture
T the Kansas men's basketball team needs some new faces next
season. One of the biggest issues that the team faced this season was what looked like the lack of a winning mindset.
The easiest way to change these issues is to bring new players into the program. Seven of the top 12 recruits for next season are currently undeclared, and Kansas could use the help of a few of them.
Kansas' lack of a solid low-post big man was evident throughout most of the season and No.10 recruit Stephen Zimmerman fits that build well. Zimmerman is a 7-foot-tall left-handed center.
Bill Self is well-known for his high-low offensive mindset when it comes to big men. Landen Lucas will likely start the season at the center position, but has not yet proven his ability to effectively perform on the offensive side of the ball.
Thorne is 6-foot-11 and weighs 270 pounds. He would bring a similar skill and mindset to the Jayhawks that Black did. He is a big body down low and brings the experience of having played four years of college basketball already.In 26 minutes per game, Thorne averaged 10 points and eight reboundss.
Cheick Diallo would be the best-case scenario for Kansas at the big man position.
Zimmerman has the ability to run the floor and can finish strong at the rim. He also has an outside shot that he can continue to develop his freshman year at college. Zimmerman is considering Kansas, UNLV, Kentucky and Arizona among others
Thorne is scheduled to visit Kansas on May 1. Thorne has narrowed down his choices to three schools: Kansas, Pittsburgh and Illinois. He announced on Instagram that he will make his decision on April 25th
Dialio is the No. 11 recruit in the country at 6-foot-9. Dialio was named the McDonald's All-American Game MVP after recording 18 points and 10 rebounds. Dialio brings a similar skill set to the table that Kansas commit Carlton Bragg does
Another option for Kansas at the big man position is Mike Thorne Jr.
Whoever it is, Kansas needs help at the big man position. If Self is to continue running his high-low offense, the Jayhawks will need to improve at the position.
Thorne is a senior transferring from Charlotte, N.C. He has already graduated and, similarly to former Jayhawk Tarik Black, he will not have to sit out a year after transferring.
Edited by Miranda Davis
A QUIET VICTOR
Claudijah Lever: The award-winner you probably don't know
GRIFFIN HUGHES
@GriffinHughes
As reporters, when an athlete wins an award, our job is quite simple.
Claudijah Lever, a senior on the Kansas rowing team, won the 2015 Marlene Mawson Award for her excellence as an athlete, student and philanthropist.
We interview the athlete and he or she says, "It's an honor." We interview his or her teammates and they say, "It's the work ethic and ability that sets him or her apart." We interview the coach, who says the athlete stands out and deserves to be recognized.
And when we do all this, we sometimes lose touch with who the athlete really is. We lose touch with the fact that a person is being honored
selection to the Fall Athletic Director's and Big 12 Commissioner's Honor Roll, and she was All-Academic First Team last year. She works as a Big Sister and volunteers at Lawrence Memorial Hospital, extending her help to anyone who needs it.
This is the story of Claudidjah Lever, a senior whose effect on our community extends far beyond what she does on the water.
“[My little sister] just looks up to me. She doesn't care that I'm an athlete,” Lever said. “I do it because I want to... it gives me a warm feeling in my heart. Things that give you the most joy are free, and my helpful hand is free.”
Yes, Lever is a rower. Lever is a rower who won the 2015 Marlene Mawson Award for her excellence as an athlete, as a student and as a philanthropist. Her drive comes from her upbringing.
BEN LIPOWITZ/KANSAN
She talked about her parents, and their attitude — that if she wasn't rowing, getting good grades and working outside of school, she wasn't really doing anything.
"My dad is my motivator," she said.
"I did it for my parents," Lever said.
Lever helped lead her varsity eight boat to a third-place finish in last year's Big 12 Championship. She took her second varsity eight boat to a second-place finish at that same competition during her sophomore season.
She has been a three-time
ROB CATLOTH Kansas rowing coach
"Attitude, action, devotion and hard work... are all the things that as a coach [1] appreciate."
she still continues to learn from Lever, which can also be summed up in just one simple phrase.
"We all want to be that same way," Obrocha said.
Not only is her "helpful hand" free to the community, it's free to her teammates. Senior Brooke Thuston has been with Lever throughout her entire time at the University, and her view of her teammate can be summed up in just three words.
"She motivates me,"Thuston said.
Kenzie Obrochta is a sophomore this year. When she entered the program, Lever was well entrenched as a leader and a star on the team. Obrochta has a rowing pedigree. She is from Buffalo, where rowing is as natural to her as football is to the South. Despite rowing all her life,
Every program needs a signature athlete, one who defines the early stages of the sport through her athletic performance and her influence on her teammates and coach.
Lever has helped the veterans improve and the rookies learn.
Unfortunately, in a school where basketball is the light at the end of every day's tunnel, rowing goes unnoticed and so do the athletes.
"It's tough." Obrocha said. "People just don't know what we do. They have no idea the work we put in... [they] don't give us respect for what we do."
But Lever is a special athlete who won a special award. She represents all the athletes who get looked over by people like me when we're trying to find a story.
Attitude, action, devotion and hard work... are all the things that as a coach [1] appreciate," coach Rob Catloth said. "Do coaches have favorites? Yeah, the ones that work hard... and try to make the team better. They're [our] favorites."
You won't find a much more compelling story than Claudjah Lever. This is a story of dedication, passion, and love, not just to the sport, but to her team and her community.
Catloth hopes for a "long line" of award winners as the team gets older, and all lines
nave to start with one point.
"I don't look at her any differently [now]," Catloth said. But history always will.
History will see her as an award winner. Catloth will look at her as a leader on his best boat. Kansas rowing will look at her as the start of the rich tradition it's building.
But what Lever has done transcends opinion and history.
By being the first rower to win the Marlene Mawson Award, she's made her permanent mark on KU rowing, but she doesn't see it like that. For her, it's just one less space in the trophy cabinet.
Whether she's recognized or not, she'll continue to excel on the water, in school and change her community as she's done throughout her career.
I may try to paint her as a star but her team will always see her as, simply, Claudijah Lever.
Edited by Valerie Haag
Wayne Simien vs. Frank Mason III
FACE OF THE STREAK
WAYNE SIMIEN
PPG: 15.0
RPG: 8.3
FG%: 56
Wayne Simien earned Big 12 player of the year his senior year, as well as being named a consensus All-American. His teams at Kansas won three conference championships and went to the NCAA Tournament every year, including two appearances in the Final Four. Simien finished his career 13th all-time on the University's scoring list with 1,593 points. Simien averaged 20.3 PPG and 11.0 RPG his senior year.
FRANK MASON III
Mason surprised everyone when he became the Jayhawks' most valuable player in the 2014-15 season. Mason scored 10-plus points and recorded 2-plus assists in 21 consecutive games as the Jayhawks went 18-3. Last season, Mason led the team in minutes, assists, steals and three-point percentage while finishing in the top four in points, defensive rebounds and free throw percentage. Mason ended the year with the second-most minutes per game in a season at the University since 2009.
PPG: 9.1
RPG: 2.6
APG: 3.0
- First Team All-American in 2004-05
- Ranked 1st in the Big 12 in points per game in 2004-05
- Second Team All-Big 12 in 2014-15
- Ranked first on Kansas in minutes played in 2014-15
McLaughlin earns Big 12 Newcomer of the Week honor
Kansas baseball's Matt McLaughlin has been selected Big 12 Newcomer of the Week for his outstanding play throughout the week of March 30-April 5.
The Big 12 announced Monday that the freshman third-baseman was chosen for the award along with West Virginia junior Blake Smith for week eight of the season.
"I am absolutely thrilled for McLaughlin," head coach Ritch Price said in a KU Athletics
press release. "He is having an outstanding season both offensively and defensively, and he is well deserving of this honor."
McLaughlin earned the award for his dominance in the batter's box during last week's games. The freshman produced seven hits in 18 at bats, including three doubles and four RBs
Since beginning Big 12 play, McLaughlin ranks second among all players in the conference with a .435 batting average and tops the league in on base percentage, getting on base over 55 percent of his at bats.
As the hitting streaks of teammates Connor McKay and
Blair Beck were snapped last week. McLaughlin earned a hit in every game and currently leads the team with an eight-game hitting streak.
"When we recruited McLaughlin, we had high expectations for him becoming an impact player," Price said. "It has been a pleasure to watch his development over the course of the season."
McLaughlin will look to continue his hot streak on the diamond starting Tuesday at 6 p.m. at Hoglund Ballpark against New Mexico to begin a 10 game home-stand.
---- Kylan Whitmer
Former KU guard JoJo White to be inducted into Basketball Hall of Fame
Former Kansas Jayhawk great Jo Jo White will be the 18th Jayhawk to be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on Sept. 11 in Springfield, Mass., the hall of fame announced Monday.
White played guard for Kansas from 1965-69, and was named to The Sporting News and Converse First Team-All America in 1968. White scored 1,286 points — 29th all-time at Kansas — while shooting 42 percent from the field.
White was drafted ninth overall
in 1969 by the Boston Celtics and went on to make seven all-star teams and win two NBA Championships. He averaged 17.2 points per game, 4.9 assists and 4.0 rebounds in his 11-year career.
White is among five others who will be inducted in September, including NBA referee Dick Betetta, Kentucky coach John Calipari, former NBA forward Spencer Haywood, former NBA center Dikembe Mutombo and three-time WNBA MVP Lisa Leslie.
Both White and Haywood were part of the USA National Team which won an Olympic gold medal in 1968.
— Ben Folderstein
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