Volume 124 Issue 113
kansan.com
Thursday, March 8, 2012
Ma
glas
slip
OK, so I fans a scare
Cindere thorn in the cally, and t
Earlier K in Kansas C Beach State Jayhawks' p was probal son. As for Long Beac' were offenmany turn to close the bitter.
Bucknell. Iowa and V They were ripped the fans in the Davidson v being anot
For wha not played a.k.a mid-1 outplay an
mind: Cinda
Cinderell'
who suffere
tice and neg
much of he
overcome h:
People lo
Tournamer
Cindere
out and bas
she never re
acknowledg
The Jayo historically their comp to belittle k Kansas pla Kansas is o gious bask so anythi tory would It's one thi another to
Kansas team to p' esteemed Duke, etc., Tournamei
FEATURE
--because they are more motivated and ravenous when they play teams that BCS schools.
HOW SOCIAL ANXIETY AFFECTS US AND HOW WE CAN MAKE IT GO AWAY
THE ANXIOUS MIND
// KELSEA ECKENROTH
'm sitting in a classroom with about 20 other students. The professor asks us a question. A few seconds go by, and no one speaks up. The truth is
- and no one speaks up. The truth is that I know the answer, and it's on the tip of my tongue, but every time I open my mouth to speak I can't find my voice. My stomach feels like it's full of butterflies, my body gets hot and my heart is pounding out of my chest. I'm paralyzed by my anxiety.
Finally the girl sitting a few rows in front of me answers the question with my exact thoughts. She was correct. I sit there disappointed because of my failure to simply state an answer. Why didn't I say anything? I tell myself I'll just speak up next time, but I know I won't. I never do.
This is how it's been my entire life. I've always had anxiety in the classroom and around people I don't know. I remember my sixth-grade teacher getting mad at me because he didn't understand why I never volunteered to solve our morning math problem on the white board in front of the class. I was afraid of being wrong and felt comfortable remaining invisible.
Now I'm a senior in college, and my fear of speaking in class brings down the 10 percent of my participation grade . Speaking in front of a group of people I don't know, whether it's giving a presentation or just giving an answer to a question, scares the hell out of me. This is because I have a little bit of social anxiety, which Ashley Smith, a staff psychologist
It's hard for a big name program like Kansas to get motivated to play against a mid-major team even if it's for a trip to the Final Four, as fans saw last season. Not to discredit VCU's performance against Kansas, but Kansas played its worst game of the season, shooting 35.5 percent from the court, 9.5 percent from behind the arc and a paltry 53.6 percent from the free-throw line. Statistically, Kansas was awful, but the team's effort and energy was just as bad. The Jayhawks were simply flat and lethargic. They simply overlooked and undermined Cinderella.
If Kansas played against a BCS school instead of a mid-major in last year's Elite Eight game, I firmly believe that they would have played much better and advanced to the Final Four.
The Jayhawks have what it takes to go all the way, but they also did last year. Cinderella is waiting, and Jayhawk Nation hopes that her slipper won't fit this time around.
— Edited by Tanvi Nimkar
on Kansas City and the big 12 tournament.
The Jayhawks earned the tournament's top seed for the ninth time in its 16-year existence and are looking to capture their 13th Big 12 tournament championship.
"Going into the season, a lot of people didn't have faith in us because we lost so much last year," junior guard Travis Releford said Monday afternoon. "But if you think about it, all the guys that are playing, we've been here a while. We know what coach wants and we know how to run the system."
Releford said the team has had something to prove since the beginning of the season because of doubting fans.
A head-scratching loss to Davidson in December made Bill Self question just how good his team was, but a 16-2 league record and eighth consecutive conference regular season championship re-asserted Kansas as the cream of the crop in the Big 12.
"I haven't been defending how I was at the start of the season and I feel that going into post-season that I can step it up a lot more," Releford said. "He knows that I can be that guy that can step up and stop someone on the opponent's team."
The team is 19-2 since that loss to Davidson but Self thinks the team still has room for improvement heading into postseason play.
He's stressed the importance of finding a "defensive stopper" on numerous occasions and admitted his words were a message to a few players.
Self said great defense was all about a person's mindset, not something a team can just decide to practice one week and magically get better at. He thinks Releford, junior guard Elijah Johnson and senior guard Tyshawn Taylor can all improve defensively.
But the month of march brings more than just on-court adjustments.
A
"I think distractions have
things I probably will talk about more than anything else."
"It would be great," Self said. "Because that means we won two games."
In the short term, the biggest distraction might be the talks of a possible meeting between Kansas and Missouri in the tournament championship Saturday night.
Edited by Katie James
FOLLOW THE JAYHAWKS IN THE TOURNAMENT
Use our bracket to keep track of wins and losses
PAGE 10
CHRIS NEAL/KANSAN FILE PHOTO
Junior guard Travis Releford drives into the lane during the second half of a game against Missouri earlier this season. The Jayhawks could face the Tigers again in the Big 12 Tournaments.