Volume 124 Issue 113
kansan.com
Thursday, March 8, 2012
March's glass slippers
W When I think of March Madness, one character immediately pops to mind: Cinderella.
Cinderella was a young woman who suffered from obscurity, injustice and negligence throughout much of her life until she finally overcome her challenges.
People love the NCAA Tournament. They always enjoy seeing Cinderella knock her step-sisters out and bask in her glory because she never receives the honor and acknowledgement.
Bucknell, Bradley, Northern Iowa and Virginia Commonwealth: They were all once Cinderella who ripped the hearts out of Kansas fans in the NCAA Tournament. Davidson was one shot away from being another Cinderella.
Cinderella teams have been a thorn in the Jayhawks' side historically, and this year it's no different.
OK, so I hate giving lajahways fan a scare, but the threat is real.
Earlier Kansas lost to Davidson in Kansas City 80-74 and beat Long Beach State 88-80 in Lawrence. The Jayhawks' game against Davidson was probably the worst of the season. As for the game against the Long Beach State, the Jayhawks were offensively efficient, but too many turnovers and the inability to close the game made the victory bitter.
Kansas fans should want their team to play against nationally- esteemed teams like Kentucky, Duke, etc., in the NCAA Tournament instead of mid-majors because they are more motivated and ravenous when they play teams that BCS schools.
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.
For whatever reason, Kansas has not played well against Cinderellas, a.k.a mid-major teams. Cinderellas outplay and even outcoach Kansas.
The Jayhawks are a squad that historically played to the level of their competition. I am not trying to belittle mid-majors by saying that Kansas plays down to them, but Kansas is one of the most prestigious basketball schools in country, so anything but an impressive victory would be a disappointment. It's one thing to win a game, but it's another to win by playing well.
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
Infielder Chris Manship attempts to steal to second base during the second inning but is called out by the umpire. Manship had a first base hit earlier in the second inning.
NORTH DAKOTA 12, KANSAS 9
TYLER ROSTE/KANSAN
PITCHING PROBLEMS
ANDREW JOSEPH
ajoseph@kansan.com
Minutes after defeating Kansas 12-9 at Hoglund Ballpark, the North Dakota players were posing for pictures outside of the dugout. The Fighting Sioux (1-5) were no longer winless, and they wanted to remember their come-from-behind victory in Lawrence.
The Kansas baseball team (6-6) entered the ninth inning leading North Dakota 9-8 with the hard-throwing Tanner Poppe coming in to close out the game. Desperate for their first win of the season, the Fighting Sioux knocked around Poppe for a four-run ninth inning and secured a three-run advantage over Kansas.
Poppe (0-2) overmatched the North Dakota batters on Tuesday to earn his second save of the season, but Wednesday's outing was a far cry from a perfect ninth inning.
"I think it was a matter that we pitched Poppe on Sunday," coach Ritch Price said. "And he went back-to-back this week. That's four out of five days, and that's the first time he has done it."
North Dakota led Kansas by as much as five runs in the fourth inning before the Jayhawks chipped away and took a 9-8 lead in the eighth inning — only give it right back in the ninth. The team was unavailable to talk following the defeat, and Price was clearly disappointed after losing to a team like North Dakota.
"I'll tell you what, that's a devastating loss," Price said. "There's no doubt about that. That's a game we're expected to win, and we got off to a really bad start from a pitching standpoint."
Kansas' starting pitching had
dip into his bullpen much earlier than he had wanted. Junior pitcher Jordan Luvisi came in to relieve Morovick, but he struggled to find the plate as well. Luvisi gave up three runs on two hits, walking three batters in 1.1 innings of work.
When Luvisi left the game Kansas was trailing 8-3, and despite taking a late-game lead,
been one of the most impressive points of the early season, leading the Big 12 in ERA through three weeks. Freshman pitcher Drew Morovick was 1-0 in two previous appearances, but he struggled with his command on Wednesday. Morovick lasted 2.1 innings after surrendering five runs on five hits and walking three batters.
the early pitching struggles put the Jayhawks in too big of a hole offensively.
"Today, Morovick got off to a really good start, and then he started missing down in the zone and didn't make an adjustment," Price said. "To me, he kind of continued to nibble at the perfect pitch, and it seemed like it was one walk after another."
With a double-header against Stony Brook (5-3) scheduled for Friday, Price was forced to
The Jayhawks will look to bounce back this weekend in Minneapolis, Minn., as they take on Stony Brook and Minnesota.
Edited by Katie James
MEN'S BASKETBALL
Returning champs have room for improvement
KORY CARPENTER
With the regular season firmly in the past and another conference championship on the mantle, Kansas sets its sights on Kansas City and the Big 12 tournament.
kcarpenter@kansan.com
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-assorted Kansas as the cream of the crop in the Big i2.
With possibly the thinnest and least talented bench of Self's tenure, the margin for error was rather small all season. Fortunately for fans, injuries and prolonged slumps from key players haven't been a factor. The team is 19-2 since that loss to Davidson but Self thinks the team still has room for improvement heading into postseason play.
"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."
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.
"I think distractions have
more to do with you winning or not winning at this time of year than anything else," Self said. "Mature guys basically cut everybody off. Mature coaches cut everybody off, and that's not easy to do at all. Those are the things I probably worry about more than anything else."
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.
"It would be great," Self said. "Because that means we won two games."
Edited by Katie James
FOLLOW THE JAYHAWKS IN THE TOURNAMENT
Use our bracket to keep track of wins and losses
PAGE 10
A
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.