Volume 124 Issue 101
kansan.com
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
300 victories for baseball coach Season starts off well for Ritch Price and the team PAGE 7
COMMENTARY
FULL-COURT FRUSTRATIONS
Camping system works
Edited by Gabrielle Schock
if it's not broken, don't try to fix it.
Feb. 25 could be one of the most memorable days in the history of Allen Fieldhouse, and students should keep that in mind rather than argue over camping groups.
The Kansas basketball camping system survived a week of upheaval after a 59-57 vote decided to retain the traditional lottery system for the remainder of the season. The campers' votes shot down a tier system that supposedly gave the most dedicated 24 camping groups priority seating for the upcoming Missouri game.
I can see the reasons for implementing a tier system or an incentive for attending the lotteries, but at the same time, it goes against the very concept of a lottery.
While most college students are asleep, these camping groups showed up to Allen Fieldhouse every day at 6 a.m., but now the "Select 24" don't want to see casual campers cash in on undeserved hard work, drawing a top seat to the Missouri game. I understand the frustration, but that's just the nature of a lottery — anyone can win.
According to the KU Athletics website, the official camping rules have remained the same since at least December 2004. There have been many highly anticipated games at Allen Fieldhouse in that time, and the current camping system worked fine then. Why change it?
When the cheapest listing on StubHub.com for Saturday's game is $450 a corner ticket, there's no reason to complain about student section seats.
The way the camping operators implemented the rule is what ultimately doomed the amendment.
Had the camping incentive rule been made public knowledge from day one, then it may have passed in the re-vote. There are camping groups that camp for every game, but can't make the lotteries. Many would have found a way had they known about this rule.
Even if the incentive rule was enacted during the first lottery of the season, there was no public announcement of any kind. An official camping rules sheet hangs on the window next to the sign-up sheet, and this new rule remained absent. The Twitter page for Kansas basketball camping never acknowledged this rule until last week. The fact that the rule was kept so under wraps makes it seem selfishly motivated.
The students sometimes don't realize how lucky they are. As a blue-blood program, the demand for tickets inside Allen Fieldhouse is always high, but Kansas rewards 4,000 seats (24.5 percent) to its students at one of the best spots in the venue. Kansas could easily follow Kentucky's example, where a majority of Rupp Arena's student section is far from the action, giving the premium seats to high-paying donors.
WORK IN PROGRESS
rreshman guard, Natalie Knight, drives past her MU opponent on her way to the hoop on Saturday's game against the Tigers at Allen Fieldhouse. Knight played a total of 39 minutes in their game against Mizzou.
CLAIRE HOWARD/KANSAN
RYAN MCCARTHY rmccarthy@kansan.com
Saturday afternoon's game did not start off the way Natalie Knight envisioned.
Knight, a freshman guard from Olathe, did not attempt a shot against Missouri.
Going into halftime, the Jayhawks trailed by 15 points.
Earlier in the week, coach Bonnie Henrickson sent Knight a text message reminding her to be an aggressor on the offensive end. At halftime against the Tigers, Knight again received a reminder to be aggressive offensively, but this time it was verbal.
Knight made two crucial threepointers as a part of 10-point surge to get Kansas within striking distance of Missouri.
Unfortunately for the Jayhawks, there was never a chance to build on Knight's success. The team dropped an important game to the Tigers, extending their losing streak to three games.
"Basically everyone has to be more aggressive," Knight said. "Carolyn was basically averaging 20 points a game, so we got to make up for it somewhere and we're starting to realize that a little bit more."
Developing the offense after junior forward Carolyn Davis' knee injury continues to be a work in progress for Kansas.
"It's a lot on them because we can't change everything we have," Henrickson said. "We still need people to step up and be more aggressive."
One player who gave good minutes off the bench was sophomore forward Tania Jackson. She finished with 11 points and seven rebounds against Missouri and stepped up when freshman forward Chelsea Gardner struggled against the Tigers' front court.
"We felt like from experience standpoint, from a rivalry standpoint. She [Jackson] knew what that was going to feel like. Chelsea had no idea what that was going to feel like"Henrickson said.
Henrickson was also frustrated by the team's inability to guard Missouri. The Jayhawks allowed the Tigers to shoot 57.4 percent from the field.
"We just didn't show up to play, and with a game of that magnitude and what we had on the line, that's inexcusable," Henrickson said.
In tonight's match-up at Texas Tech against the Red Raiders, the Jayhawks will rely on Gardner and Jackson to help senior center Kierra Mallard. At 6-foot-3, Mallard draws the most attention under the basket. Currently, she's averaging 11.6 points and eight rebounds per game.
Knight said ball pressure will be kev for lavahawk victory.
Henrickson also said Knight has turned into a scoring threat on this team, especially since key veteran, junior guard Monica Engleman, hasn't played at the level Henrickson feels she's capable of.
"She has bailed us out and saved us all year. I'm just frustrated I have to ask her to do more," Henrickson said.
Another help to the layhawks is junior Angel Goodrich, who continues to play consistent at the point guard position. So far this season, Goodrich has dished out 200 assists, and she's only eight away from breaking the University's single-season record.
"I just give thanks to my teammates because I wouldn't be able to have assists if they didn't make the shots," Goodrich said.
Edited by Gabrielle Schock
TRACK AND FIELD
Geubelle sets high goals for season
MAX GOODWIN mgoodwin@kansan.com
The No. 6 ranked track and field team is tied for the highest ranking in head coach Stanley Redwine's career at Kansas. This move in the polls comes after a meet in which the 4-x-400 meter relay team reached the automatic qualification time for the NCAA Championship meet. That news may not even be the biggest reason for the recent jump of eighteen spots.
It could be junior horizontal jumper Andrea Geubelle's recent performances that earned her recognition as Big 12 Track and Field Female Athlete of the Week last week.
This is the second time that Geubelle has won the award this season. She is already a five time All-American. So far this season she has won three event titles in the triple jump and one in the long jump. The most recent victory for
Geubelle was at the Husky Classic on Feb. 11 in her home state of Washington, where the familiar settings helped her set a personal record in both the long jump and triple jump.
"Getting a PR [personal record] in both events I think just kind of proved to everybody back home that things are going good here at KU and that the school I chose is working out for me and my coach is great," Guebelle said. "Having that much support helped a lot but at the same time probably put a lot of pressure on me. And obviously coming back here (to Lawrence) and hearing I won Big 12 Athlete of the Week is awesome."
The native of University Place, Wash., is focused on winning championships in the time she has left at Kansas and has a good idea of what that would require. Oh, and there is one more
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