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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY, MARCH 30, 2015
PAGE 7
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COMMENTARY Coaches need to improve late-game strategy
On Saturday, two non one seeds had prime opportunities to reach
the Final Four, but both fell inclose games after suspect coaching decisions.
First, the Arizona Wildcats nearly knocked off the favored Wisconsin Badgers, but coach Sean Miller made two crucial coaching mistakes that hurt his team's chances down the stretch.
In the first half, Wisconsin's Duje Duken scored with 50 seconds left, giving Arizona a great opportunity for a quick twoforone. Instead, the Wildcats chose to hold the ball. While they did get a basket, it was wiped out seconds later as Wisconsin's Sam Dekker scored the other way.
The same night, Notre Dame just missed out on upsetting the undefeated Kentucky Wildcats, losing by two points. Once again, it came down to coaching.
Then, despite having only 50 seconds remaining in the game, Arizona, down five, chose not to foul. Sure enough, Wisconsin graciously ran down the clock, and with 20 seconds left, Sam Dekker pulled up and drained a three that ended the game.
It would be one thing to nitpick strategies in a game that finished with a seven-point margin, but what about a game that went down to the buzzer?
With 1:14 left, Notre Dame had the ball in a tie game, with a prime two-for-one opportunity. However, the Irish ran the clock all the way down, resulting was a shot clock violation, giving Kentucky the ball in a tiegame with 34 seconds left.
Having already blown the twoforone, the Irish were essentially left with two possibilities for regulation — lose or tie. An overtime contest likely meant a loss as well.
But, there was another way for the Irish to give themselves a fighting chance: foul. With Kentucky in the 1and1, Notre Dame coach Mike Brey couldve had his team foul any of the Wildcats, including Willie CauleyStein, who came into the game at 61.7percent from the line.
While it may seem far-fetched to foul in that situation, it's commonly done overseas in European basketball. Instead, the Irish chose to play it out and Kentucky scored, ending the game. In both cases, either coach choosing to play the percentages and make the smart play over the traditional one may have resulted in a victory.
In the first two Elite Eight games, two coaches relied on traditional thinking, and in the end, both were eliminated. It's just like Brad Pitt said in the movie Moneyball: "Adapt or die."
Edited by Yu Kyung Lee
Tennis loses two matches on Texas trip
JACOB CLEMEN
@jclemn9
No. 75 Kansas suffered a pair of close defeats over the weekend to unranked North Texas and No. 62 SMU by a score of 43 in both matchups.
Kansas tennis player Alexis Czapinksi reaches to hit a backhand during her singles match against Iowa on March 2. The Jayhawks spent the weekend in Texas, where they lost their matches to both North Texas and Southern Methodist University.-
MISSY MINEAR/KANSAN
The Jayhawks had strong performances in singles play, but failed to secure the doubles point in both meetings, which eventually costed the team two non-conference matchups.
"We've got to get our doubles corrected," coach Todd Chapman said in a press release. "We gave up two doubles matches without competing the way we needed to."
Against North Texas, Kansas's top doubles pairing of freshman Alexis Czapinski and senior Maria Belen Ludueña was completely outclassed by North Texas seniors Kseniya Bardabush and Franziska Sprinkmeyer as they dropped the match 6-0.
In singles, the Jayhawks dropped their first match, creating a 2-0 hole that eventually buried Kansas.
Kansas' second doubles pairing was able to score, but freshmen Madison Harrison and Smith Hinton were unable to win their match. They fell 6-4, dropping the doubles point.
Harrison was able to come back after dropping her first set 4-6 by winning the second set 7-5 before taking the match with a 6-4 third set victory and moving the
Jayhawks to within a point difference of North Texas.
Freshman Rachel McNeely lost 75, 76 before Kansas fought North Texas to a 33 tie with wins on courts one and four. Luduena won 6-7, 6-4, 6-2, and Collins won 6-2, 6-7, 6-1.
the script was nearly the same against SMU as the Jayhawks dropped the doubles point once again before losing in the sixth and
Czapinski's 6-7, 6-1, 6-1 defeat on court six sealed Kansas' fate on the day.
final singles match.
The doubles pairing of McNeely and Collins dropped the first doubles match 6-2 before Czapinski and Luduena fell 6-3 to surrender the point.
Kansas found itself in yet another 2-0 hole after Czapinski dropped her singles match 6-4, 6-0 to kick off singles play.
Hinton and Harrison secured back-to-back wins to even things up at 2-2 and gave the Jayhawks a chance to win.
SMU and Kansas split the next two matches to set up a deciding match on court one between Ludeña, last week's hero for Kansas, and Mustang junior Hristina Dishkova. The two players battled to one 75 win apiece in the first two sets before Dishkova finished off last week's Big 12
After the pair of close matches, coach Chapman emphasized the importance of each point.
Player of the Week 64 in the third set.
"We have got to get better at the mental toughness side of things," Chapman said in a press release. "We're good enough to win these matches. We need to figure out the right mindset on every single set."
The Jayhawks fell to 69 overall and 06 on the road. Their return to action on April 4 against instate rival Kansas State will mark their return to the friendly confines of the Jayhawk Tennis Center in Lawrence where they hold a 42 record and a two-game
Kansas baseball bats buzzing from Lubbock
@KRWhitmer
KYLAN WHITMER
@KRWhitmer
Spring means baseball season, and the Kansas Jayhawks' baseball players know a thing or two about streaks.
The Jayhawks have two red-hot batters at the moment, seniors Connor McKay and Blair Beck. The two have combined for 69 hits on the season, which is over one-fourth of the Jayhawks total for the season.
Beck has been on fire as of late and is currently on a 10-game hitting streak that
dates back to March 13.
The streak has lasted throughout the series against the likes of Big Ten teams like Michigan and Iowa, as well as Missouri State; however, it was the most recent series against Texas Tech that meant the most to him.
Originating from Midland, Texas, Beck was able to extend his streak by three games in front of his family in Lubbock. Midland is just short of a two hour drive from Lubbock, allowing his family to make the trip.
"It felt really good to play in front of family, all of them
came up, and some of them bussed up from Midland. I have family from all around so it was fun playing in front of them," Beck said.
"Really have to give the guys ahead of us credit for seeing a lot of pitches and getting on for us. That just enables us to get ahead in the counts and get hits."
BLAIR BECK
Outfielder
Beck made his family proud to wear Kansas Jayhawks attire as he put together five hits throughout the series with at least one in each game.
"They got bashed a little bit about wearing it, but they were wearing the red and blue this weekend," Beck said.
As Beck sits on his 10-game hitting streak, his teammate McKay has a five game lead on him with a 15-straight game hitting streak.
McKay has been a hitting machine for almost a full month as his streak began
Left-handed pitcher Blake Weiman tries to strike out a Utah opponent on March 8. Kansas played a three-game series against Texas Tech over the weekend, grabbing a victory Friday, but losing the final two games Saturday and Sunday.
ALI DOVER/KANSAN
against Grand Canyon on March 4.
The Jayhawks currently sit just .001 behind Big 12's leader TCU in batting average, and McKay is a key reason why.
The senior has a .364 batting average through 27 games, which is good enough to make him a top three batter in the conference.
McKay has been solid at getting on base at the second spot in the line-up with nine doubles and a team-leading three triples. While McKay thrives on getting on base early in the line-up, Beck has excelled at bringing McKay along with the rest of his teammates in for runs. Beck has 20 RBIs on the season including five home runs.
"(I) really have to give the guys ahead of us credit for seeing a lot of pitches and getting on for us. That just enables us to get ahead in the counts and get hits," Beck said.
There are 29 games remaining in the Jayhawks' schedule and the two streaking hitters show no signs of slowing down. If there is anything that can be taken away from this season so far, it is that there are three certainties in life: death, taxes and Beck and McKay getting a hit.
Edited by Laura Kubicki
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