Volume 124 Issue 136
kansan.com
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
COMMENTARY
I know that the team thinks Sunday's win over Texas A&M was no fluke, and Austin will be the place to prove it.
Brew: Stanley Cup playoffs frenzy It's all about game deciding overtimes PAGE 6
Through 15 home games, the Longhorns have an ERA of 1.46 and are 11-4 at home overall. We often hear about the importance of riding momentum from a win, but it really doesn't get bigger than this weekend for Kansas. If the Jayhawks can sweep the Longhorns in Texas, Price's young team will find themselves, amazingly, back in Big 12 Tournament contention.
Edited by Bre Roach
ball team sits at the exact spot they were expected to be in the standings: last place.
Crucial time to improve
With 12 conference games left in the season, the Kansas base-
Kansas is coming off a 5-3 victory over second-ranked Texas A&M. This was a win that ended an embarrassing eight-game losing streak, which had the team playing tight with every pitch. The Jayhawks finally put together the performance that coach Ritch Price had been waiting for.
Now, a 13-23 overall record and 3-9 mark in the Big 12 is not impressive to say the least, but if there is any hope of the Jayhawks turning around their season, it all starts with this week.
Junior pitcher Thomas Taylor shut down the conference's second-best offense for seven innings. Kansas' last-place offense finally woke up, frustrating Texas A&M with their clutch hitting and patience at the plate.
Kansas' dismai play on the road has been a recurring theme this season. The Jayhawks are 3-12 on the road and haven't won an away game since March 10. As bad as Kansas plays away from home, 23rd-ranked Texas is that great at home.
Baseball is a sport where, on any given day, any team can win. And the Jayhawks have learned just how difficult it is to win in the Big 12. Although a single ballgame doesn't hold the significance of a conference win in football or basketball, a win like this can do wonders for a young team.
NOW OR NEVER
Senior catcher James Stanfield described the final moments of Kansas' victory over Texas A&M as a weight vest dropping to the ground. The mere pressure of ending a losing streak is lifted from this team, and now that the Jayhawks have beaten a nationally elite team, there should be a very confident ballclub heading into this week.
The opportunity to turn the season around is there, but the Jayhawks have to perform like they did Sunday against the Aggies. Kansas will head into the weekend on its first three-game winning streak since the opening week of the season, but they will be in for a challenge in Austin, Texas.
Right handed pitcher Frank Duncan throws a pitch in Friday nights game versus the Texas A&M Aggies. The Jayhawks ended the three game series 1-2 at the end of the weekend.
TYLER ROSTEKANSAN
ANDREW JOSEPH
ajoseph@kansan.com
Now that the losing streak has ended, the Kansas baseball team (13-23, 3-9 Big 12) will look to stay in the win column against a pair of NAIA schools from Kansas.
The Jayhawks host Baker University 6 p.m. Tuesday at Hoglund Ballpark followed by the University of St. Mary on Wednesday night. Kansas defeated No. 2 Texas A&M 5-3 on Sunday, a statement victory that ended an eight-game skid for Kansas.
The Jayhawks' more experienced players stood out in the weekend's series with the Aggies, but coach Ritch Price thinks the early week games are important opportunities for the younger players.
"We use these as developmental games," Price said. "I'll get to play some of my younger guys that I quite frankly haven't gotten a chance to play as much as I would have liked."
Freshman pitcher Robert Kahana is scheduled to start on Tuesday against Baker. In his first season with Kansas, Kahana is already one of the Jayhawks' most versatile pitchers,
appearing in 46.1 innings - from the bulpen and as a starter - with a 2-1 record and 3.30 ERA.
Price also plans to give freshman catcher Nate Arnold more playing time this week. Perfect Game USA named Arnold as the No. 4 high school prospect out of Kansas, but it has been difficult for him to get on the field, playing behind senior James Stanfield and junior Alex DeLeon. Arnold singled in one of his two plate appearances, and Stanfield thinks that young players can carry this momentum into the weekend.
"We have so much momentum
in our dugout right now, and then going into two midweek games. We have to keep it going." Stanfield said.
Baker competes in the Heart of America Athletic Conference, and the Wildcats have lost four of their last six ballgames. Baker enters Tuesday's game with a 23-20 overall record and 11-7 mark in HAAC competition.
St. Mary is coming off a double-header sweep of Friends University, but the Spires have struggled for much of the season. St. Mary competes in the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference and holds a
14-24 mark on the season. The Jayhawks are the only Division I school the Spires are scheduled to play all season.
Despite the difference in level of talent, the Jayhawks cannot afford a letdown heading into the weekend's series against No. 23 Texas.
"This is a crucial point in our season," junior infielder Jordan Dreiling said. "This could be the time when everything turns around from here on out, so we're looking to head into those two games and leave with two wins."
- Edited by Jeff Karr
Head coaches Bonnie Henrickson (left) and Pat Summitt (right) hug briefly before Saturday's NCAA Women's Regional Semifinals at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines, Iowa. The two worked together in the late '80s at Summit's summer basketball camps in Tennessee.
Coaches with a storied past
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
RYAN MCCARTHY
rmccarthy@kansan.com
It was the summer of 1987, Bonnie Henrickson just wrapped up her first year as a graduate assistant at Western Illinois University.
TARA BRYANT/KANSAN
With nothing more than a determination to work, Henrickson took advantage of WIU head coach Kelly Hill's connection to Tennessee assistant Holly Warlick from their time together at Nebraska.
Hill put in a call to the Lady Vols to see if Henrickson could help out with the annual Pat Summitt Basketball Camp.
Knowing no one, Henrickson picked up her things from Macomb, Ill., and drove to Knoxville to work as a camp counselor.
Henrickson remained quiet and composed all week, but then lunch time came around one day and people were looking for someone to do Dana Carvey's Saturday Night Live "Church Lady" sketch for the skit part of the camp.
"Bonnie comes across as a little stoic until you get to know her," former long-time Tennessee assistant and current assistant coach for the WNBAs Indiana Fever Mickie DeMoss said. "When she did the 'Church Lady,' we just all fell out. We all said, 'Bonnie is doing that.'"
Henrickson completed the skit decked out in a wig and dress picked out by some other camp workers. It became one of the funniest sketches of the week.
"I just remember that she was hysterical," former team manager and current Tennessee Assistant
AD for Compliance and Operations for Todd Dooley said. "Her personality and her sense of humor always had something easy to say or do."
Dooley was working the camp at the same time as Henrickson.
What Henrickson appreciates more than a few laughs was her priceless networking and eventual friendships that she made with many of the coaches.
Henrickson faced off against then and current Tennessee
legendary head coach Pat Summitt in Kansas' Sweet 16 game on March 24.
Throughout the years, Henrickson has been fortunate to get to know Summitt in small increments.
She's sat in on dinners where some of the coaching elite discussed the growth of women's basketball and the development of the game, among other subjects.
"There's so much seriousness
and it's so competitive, but you can appreciate people when you're sitting next to them and laugh and share stories," Henrickson said.
Summitt is the standard for women's basketball. Eight National Championships. 18 Final Fours. 20 All-Americans.
And that doesn't even include all the charity work that she's done to grow the women's bas-
SEE COACHES PAGE 6
MEN'S BASKETBALL
Freshman guard says he will transfer from Kansas
Freshman Merv Lindsay will transfer from Kansas, KU Athletics confirmed Monday afternoon. Lindsay, a 6-foot-7 guard from Moreno Valley, Calif., averaged 15 points and 10.2 reebounds per game as a senior at Canyon Springs High School two seasons ago.
"Merv and I met last week about his situation and the opportunities he has here," coach Bill Self said. "He has decided it is in his best interest to look elsewhere to have an opportunity for more playing time."
"With the support of coach Self, me and my family have decided to transfer at the end of the semester to seek more playing time. Now I plan to sit down and look at options."
He was known in high school for his length and three-point shooting prowess and was a three-time All-League selection, but was not ranked by Rivals.com. He committed to Kansas last June, also holding a scholarship offer from Marquette.
He recorded season-highs with nine points and eight minutes in the Dec. 29 victory over Howard in Allen Fieldhouse.
It is not yet known where Lindsay will transfer.
"Merv is not a good young man, he is a terrific young man," Self said. "He has done well in school and he has impacted our program on the practice court and in the locker room in a very positive way. We're going to do everything we can to support and assist him. He's leaving here with a great taste in his mouth as we are with him. At this time he is at square one and we're just looking into it, but he has been granted his release."
"I will never forget my freshman year at Kansas, going to the Final Four and winning a conference championship," Lindsay said. "I was fortunate to learn under a great coach in coach Self and his staff. Being a part of such a great tradition and contributing to that tradition will always mean a lot to me. I love all my teammates, coaches and all the Kansas fans for their support this past year."
Kory Carpenter