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MONDAY, APRIL 30, 2012
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
FOOTBALL
Spring game shows defensive improvement
ETHAN PADWAY epadway@kansan.com
In one of the Kansas football teams practices last week, sophomore linebacker Michael Reynolds had three different coaches talk to him about running the play full speed.
At the end of practice, coach Charlie Weis called him out for it, trying to explain to him that they are going after him because he is one of the few players on the team who can make that play.
Reynolds, along with fellow line-backer senior Toben Opurum, played a hybrid linebacker/defensive end position normally seen more in a 3-4 defensive scheme than in the Jayhawks' 4-3.
points per game in the NCAA Division I last season.
what his role will be in the fall. Because of Jackson's bigger build, he has the ability to play in the traditional halfback position as well as a bulkier backlack.
"I'm very comfortable with it because it gives me the chance to stand up and rush the passer and also play in coverage," Reynolds said.
Sophomore running back Tony Pierson noon's Spring Game at Memorial Stadium
COMMENTARY
Weis plays playing more versatile players at both positions because it
"He could very easily be at 230 with a couple of cheeseburgers," Wets said. "That's what were going to have to decide, what weight we want him at, but you can see he has some natural running instincts."
Weis'inf
The zero on the board beneath the white squad's name is an impressive feat, but it must be noted that the
An estimated 15,000 Jayhawk fans caught a glimpse of the new Kansas football team under the leadership of new coach Charlie Weis during the spring game Saturday.
On a day when the University honored one of its football program's most significant figures, former coach Don Fambrough, it embarked on a new era.
New quarterbacks Dayne Crist and Jake Heaps showed off their extraordinary passing ability that Kansas fans haven't seen since Tod
NCAA TOURNAMENT NO. 2 SEED
MARCH 11, 2012
Coach Bill Self signs autographs after the practice session before the NCAA Tournament match-up against Detroit
CHRIS NEAL/KANSAN
Kansas receives No.2 seed in NCAA Tournament
MAX ROTHMAN
mrothman@kansan.com
It's not what the Jayhawks were hoping for, but they'll take it.
"Should be a No. 1 seed," senior guard Tyshawn Taylor said. "But we're cool with that No. 2 seed."
The layhawks enter the 68-team NCAA Tournament as a No. 2 seed in the Midwest region. Their first matchup is on Friday against No. 15 seed Detroit of the Horizon League in Omaha, Neb. If they defeat Detroit, they will face the winner of No. 7 Saint Mary's and No. 10 Purdue.
No matter the seed for Kansas, it takes six victories to win a national championship.
Coach Bill Self said that while his team hoped for a No. 1 seed, it won't harp on what could have been. Year after the year,
the supposedly mighty always fall, so seeds are irrelevant.
"It never plays out the way that you had envisioned it." Self said.
The Jayhawks have been a No.1 seed the past two seasons, but they lost to No.9 seed Northern Iowa in 2010 and No.11 seed Virginia Commonwealth last year.
With all the prestige and national attention of a No.1 seed, so too comes the pressure of expectations.
"We kind of felt like we had to win it," Taylor said of those two teams. "I think we feel the same way this year, but I don't feel like it's on us as much."
The lahayaws weren't surprised to hear that the selection committee chose them as a No. 2 seed behind No.1 seeds Kentucky, Syracuse, North Carolina and Michigan State. Self briefed his team before the seeds
were announced.
"I told them we blew that by not perform
in Kansas City." Self said.
In Big 12 tournament semifinal at the Sprint Center in Kansas City, Mo., Kansas fell 81-72 to the Baylor Bears. Despite defeating the Bears twice by an average of 16 points this season, the Jayhawks said they were tired. They played without the vigor that usually carries them to victories.
"When we do really guard and rebound, which I think are two key elements of toughness," Self said, "our team takes a whole different dimension."
Kansas' first opponent, the Detroit Titans, started the season 9-11, but finished 13-2 en route to a Horizon League tournament championship. The Titans feature five double-digit scors and are led by Ray McCallum Jr., the son of coach Ray
McCallum Sr.
McCallum Ir., who was recruited by Self before he joined his father's team, averages 15.6 points, 4.5 rebounds and 3.9 assists per game.
"Ray is good enough to play for anybody, anywhere," Self said. "Certainly whoever guards him, Elijah or Tyshawn, will have a big challenge ahead of him."
The brackets are set. The teams are ready. And no matter the seeds, it's on. It's time for March Madness.
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"If we prepare like we want to win and we're kind of like an underdog," Taylor said, "I think it's going to be hard to beat us."
"William Faulkner was a Sigma Alpha Epsilon (SAE) Member." What other English Literature courses and assigned novels were written by fraternity men and sorority women authors?
Which KU fraternity man was founding editor of the Book of the Month Club and ran for Kansas Governor on an Anti-Klu Kux Klan Ku Platform?
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