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Kansan.com
Tuesday, January 27, 2014
Volume 128 Issue 67
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COMMENTARY Big-Shot Asia Boyd is the real MVP
Still, even in a "sixth man" role, she has logged the fifthmost minutes on the team, averaging 23.3 minutes per game.
Boyd sits third on the team in scoring, with 9.3 points per game. She is third on the squad in rebounds with 72 and tied for third in assists with 33. In addition, Boyd is just under 70 percent from the charity strike and shoots 43 percent from the floor.
But perhaps the most important player on Bonnie Henrickson's squad is not the 6-foot-3 senior out of DeSoto, Texas, but rather the senior guard out of Detroit - Asia Boyd.
In 20 games, Boyd has had her name penciled in the starting lineup only three times.
Without question, the Jayhawks' best player is senior forward Chelsea Gardner. Her 20-point and 20-rebound outing in Saturday's 65-59 win over Virginia, was a prime example of that.
But the argument that Boyd is the team's most valuable player goes farther than the stat sheets might indicate.
Prior to the team's recent winning streak of two games, the jayhawks had a five-game skid to open conference play and found themselves at the bottom of the Big 12.
That all changed in a matter of seconds—28 to be exact.
In the first half, it was "the Gardner show" as she had 10 points and hauled in eight rebounds. Still, it was not enough as Kansas trailed by four at the half.
But Kansas got its offense clicking midway through the second-half, knocking down eight consecutive shots. During that groove, Boyd had consective field goals, including a layup that put Kansas up 46-44 with nearly 10 minutes to go.
The stats may credit Gardner with the win,but it was evident that Boyd's emergence off the bench aided the comeback.
It wasn't the first time Boyd made a presence off the bench, and knowing her resume it certainly won't be the last.
It would be the lajhawks' first lead of the afternoon, and they never looked back.
Just a few days later, Kansas returned to Lawrence as they squared off against the Mountaineers.
Edited by Valerie Haag
Boyd fought viciously for a board in the last defensive possession, forcing a shot clock violation by Texas Tech down in Lubbock, Texas. Boyd and the Jayhawks had the ball with 28 seconds to go, tied at 66.
"Big-Shot" Boyd sliced and diced her way around three Red Raider defenders before laying the ball in with less than a second remaining on the game clock. The Lady Jayhawks hung on for their first conference victory of the season.
Gardner receives first weekly honor
DYLAN SHERWOOD
@dmantheman2011
Senior forward Chelsea Gardner has been named the Phillips 66 Big 12 Player of the Week for Jan. 26. This is Gardner's first weekly honor this season. Gardner was honored with this same award twice last season on Dec. 16, 2013 and Jan. 20, 2014.
Gardner scored 20 points in both conference games this past week against Texas Tech and West Virginia. She set a career-high of 20 rebounds on Saturday, surpassing her career-high of 19 which she set in 2013 against TCU. Gardner's 20 points and 20 rebounds against West Virginia marked the first Kansas player to join the 20-point-20-rebound club since Tracy Claxton did it on Nov. 21, 1981 with 36 points and 28
boards against Pacific Christian. Gardner also connected on 67 percent of her shots in the two games this past week.
Gardner's other accomplishment this season was being named to the Preseason All Big 12 team before the season started.
Gardner is not the first Jayhawk to receive weekly honors from the Big 12 this season. Freshman guard Lauren Aldridge was named Big 12 Freshman of the Week on Dec. 8, and Kansas swept weekly honors on Dec. 29 when senior guard Natalie Knight and freshman Terriell Bradley were named Player of the Week and Freshman of the Week, respectively.
Kansas (11-9, 2-5) will look to continue their winning ways traveling to Iowa State on Wednesday at 7 p.m.
Senior forward Chelsea Gardner was named Big 12 Player of the Week on Monday. Gardner received this award twice last season.
BEN LIPOWITZ/KANSAN
THE DAILY DEBATE
Should the NFL keep the Pro Bowl?
Team Irvin running back C.J. Anderson (22) of the Denver Broncos runs up field during the second half of the 2015 Pro Bowl at University of Phoenix Stadium on Sunday in Glendale, Ariz. Kansan sports writers Griffin Hughes and Nick Couzin discuss whether the NFL should keep the Pro Bowl in today's Daily Debate.
CHRISTIAN PETERSON/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Griffin Hughes
@GriffinJHughes
"YES"
The NFL Pro Bowl is a joke, and we all know it. Why it is the most viewed all-star game on TV? Because it's football. Because we're all tempted with the prospect of a true football all-star game that we'll watch it. But that won't last. Should the NFL keep the Pro Bowl? Yes.
But does it need to make serious changes? Oh, veah.
Once we realize how terrible the football actually is, we'll stop with it all together. The players can't blitz, there are no kickoffs, and the players don't even try most of the time. Half of the show is dedicated to players live-tweeting on the sideline. That's why it is crucial for the NFL to change the culture of the Pro Bowl.
The integration of the fantasy draft last year was a game-saving change, but more needs to be done, and there is absolutely no reason the NFL can't do it.
Until 2007, the NFL hosted a skills challenge prior to the Pro Bowl, and that was perfect.
Every other all-star game across American sports does that, and oftentimes those are the most fun parts of the weekend. Who doesn't look forward to the NBA Slam Dunk Contest or the MLB Home Run Derby?
The NFL should bring back the skills competition, with events such as a challenge for quarterbacks to hit targets from increasing distances, obstacle courses for skill players, strength challenges for linemen, tug-of-war, or even a five-on-five sandlot-style game. I would watch that.
Or how about a "rising stars challenge," like in the NBA? The NFL could take the seven best all-around rookies — offense or defense — and the seven best all-around sophomores and play a park-style game.
Yes, injuries are a concern, but football in and of itself is a violent sport — players can get injured during games, practices or workouts. They owe it to the fans to at least give some kind of measurable effort.
But the real issue of the Pro Bowl is something no competition or event can fix: the players clearly don't want to play in it. Players should take pride in the fact that they were selected by the fans to play in a special all-star game, and they should give 100 percent as a thank you to the fans.
At the end of the day, the NFL Pro Bowl has room to expand, and the addition of events and competitions can improve the weekend. The NFL owes it to the fans to keep the Pro Bowl, but without changes, there will be no fans left to notice that it did.
- Edited by Emma LeGault
Nick Couzin
@ncouz
"NO"
The Pro Bowl, aka the NFL All-Star game, is the weakest all-star game in any professional sport for many reasons.
The three other major sports — MLB, the NBA, and the NHL — all hold their all-star games mid-season and make them a whole weekend long with different events, including a fan-favorite Saturday night featuring the skills contests. In MLB it's the Home Run Derby, in the NBA it's the Slam Dunk Contest, and in the NHL it's the Hardest Shot competition.
The NFL has nothing like this, nothing to get the fans excited and no real way to show off NF players' skills. It could add a quarterback accuracy throw or a lineman weight pull, among other challenges.
The NFL has a rule that if
the elected Pro Bowl player doesn't want to play, he doesn't have to. In other allstar games, an athlete can't play only is if he's injured. This might not seem like a big deal, but it makes a huge difference.
For example, the AFC's seventh alternate quarterback, Andy Dalton, was in the Pro Bowl this year. Nobody wants to watch the conference's seventh-option quarterback play against the best in the league.
Dalton, the Cincinnati Bengals quarterback, had a terrible year. His team lost in the playoffs, and in a Nov. 6 primetime game against in division-rival Cleveland he threw a 2.0 passer rating. That's the fifth time since 1960 a quarterback has had a 2.0 passer rating in a game where he threw more than 30 attempted passes, according to ProFootballTalk
There is no way that an NFL quarterback who
threw a 2.0 passer rating should be in an all-star game. For the NFL to make this game better it needs to make it a weekend of events with a skills competition. It needs to make it mandatory for the players who were voted in by the fans to play so seventh alternates don't start the game, and it either needs to move the game to the midseason or the weekend after the Super Bowl.
The NFL has done one thing right, and that's moving the Pro Bowl to the location of the Super Bowl instead of Hawaii, which encourages more fans to hang around and be there for both games. However, if the NFL doesn't make some changes to the Pro Bowl, the game is going nowhere fast, and the NFL might as well get rid of it all together.
Edited by Emma LeGault
CHRISTIAN
PETERSON/ASSO-
CIATED PRESS Team Irvin wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders #10 of the Denver Broncos celebrates a third quarter touchdown during the 2015 Pro Bowl at University of Phoenix Stadium on Sunday in Glendale, Ariz.
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