SOFTBALL: Kansas goes 4-0 at the Jayhawk Classic. SEE PAGE 3B. Tennis: Kansas knocks off two ranked teams. SEE PAGE 4B.
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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY, MARCH 11, 2002
COMMENTARY
Jeff Denton
jdenton@kansan.com
Kansas needs 6 more wins to avenge loss
No team wants to lose. But there was no better time to fall than yesterday afternoon.
Yesterday marked the first time a team had derailed the Jayhawks since mid-January.
In its first two games of the Big 12 Conference tournament, Kansas pummeled Colorado and towed with Texas Tech before facing Oklahoma—a team blessed with depth but driven with heart. No team fights, pounds and claws like Oklahoma. That's how Sooners coach Kelvin Sampson wins games. He teaches his players to fall in love with defense, to play tough without playing dirty and to fight for 40 minutes. Luckily for Kansas fans, round three between the Big 12's best may not come until the Final Four in Atlanta.
Fans anticipated a feisty game. They did not expect a crippled Kansas offense to fire its first-half shots at an orange rim the size of a clenched fist. Nothing fell for Kansas, and as the minutes passed, the points did not follow.
Kansas did not appear overconfident on Sunday. The team did not underestimate Oklahoma or crumble in front of a raucous Kemper Arena crowd that spent most of yesterday standing on its feet. Kansas just played poorly.
Missed three-pointers. Missed 12-footers. Missed layups. Missed point-blank tap-ins. At the 10-minute mark, Kansas had scored more turnovers than points, eight to seven. It was uncharacteristic of Kansas. But it came before the real season was set to begin. The NCAA rewarded Kansas with a No. 1 seed and a trip to St. Louis, where Jayhawk fanatics can nest for a Thursday-through-Saturday treat of basketball magic. But trampling through the tournament to Atlanta will not be an easy feat.
The Midwest region is loaded
No. 8-seed Stanford, a possible second-round date for Kansas, sports one of the most spectacular tandems of juniors in the country in guard Casey Jacobsen and center Curtis Borchardt.
Illinois, a preseason Final Four team, has underachieved all season. But they garnered enough respect to snag a No. 4 seed, and could be Kansas' enemy in the Sweet 16.
A team rediscovers its hunger to win after it experiences defeat. Kansas has the chance to make its latest loss its last.
No. 5-seed Florida understands how to elevate its game in March. Three starters have Final Four experience. And No. 2-seed Oregon has a deadly trio of offensive assassins: point guard Luke Ridnour, dynamic 6-foot-4 scorer Frederick Jones and floppy-haired three-point threat Luke Jackson. In terms of explosion and excitement, they are the West Coast's version of Kansas' own Gooden, Hinrich and Collison.
Six more wins and no one will remember Kansas falling to Oklahoma.
The road will not be friendly. But Kansas has the lead-car position. The basketball world expects the Jayhawks to arrive in Atlanta in early April.
Denton is a Dallas senior in journalism.
Kansas sets records, overcomes trash talk
By Doug Pacey Kansan sportswriter
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — There was a lot of trash talking going on during the Big 12 Conference Tournament.
It started Thursday when Colorado freshman center David Harrison said Kansas was "just another team" and "Oklahoma is top to bottom the best team in the conference."
The Jayhawks said they heard murmurs that they weren't the Big 12's best team even after blowout wins against Colorado (102-73) and Texas Tech (90-50).
"There's a lot of trash-talking going around the league, not by Oklahoma, but by people around the league that they're the best team in the conference," junior forward Drew Gooden said. "We just kind of took it to heart. People were saying they're tougher than us, more physical than us. Ask anybody on Oklahoma's team and it went both ways. Fact is, they won the battle."
Record Breakers
Despite scoring a seasonlow 55 points against Oklahoma, the Jayhawks set a record for most points scored in the Big 12 Conference Tournament with 247 and most field goals made (96).
Kansas also set tournament records for most rebounds (147) and most assists (67).
Freshman point guard Aaron Miles had 31 assists in the tournament, shattering
former Kansas standout Jacque Vaughn's tournament assists record of 22. Miles also set the single-game tournament record with 15 assists against Texas Tech Saturday.
Gooden pulled down 40 rebounds in three games and broke former Iowa State forward Jamahl Mosley's record of 30. Gooden also notched his 22nd double-double of the season (22 points and 15 rebounds) and broke Raef LaFrentz's single-season school record for double-doubles.
Kansas coach Roy Williams said he told Sooners coach Kelvin Sampson before the game that he thought both teams would be No. 1 seeds in the NCAA Tournament. But even after Oklahoma (27-4 overall, 16-4 in the Big 12) beat No. 1 Kansas, the Sooners were slighted in favor of Cincinnati (30-3 overall), the West's No. 1 seed, and made the No. 2 seed in the West.
Oklahoma dissed
"They won the conference tournament and they had a great, great year," Williams said. "But there are still only four regions. I think you could make a case if there were five regions. That would be perfect because I think all five teams deserve to be No. 1 and you're splitting hairs again with how they made that decision."
dpacey@kansan.com.This story was edited by Kristi Henderson.
Contact Pacey at
CHRIS BURKET/KANSAN
Junior forward Nick Collison's shot is batted away by Oklahoma sophomore center Jabahri Brown. Brown's four blocks helped hold the Jayhawks to 55 points.
No.1 seed gives little comfort
By Brent Wasko
Kansan sportswriter
There would be no celebration for the Kansas men's basketball team yesterday.
Jayhawk players, coaches and family members watched the NCAA Tournament Selection Show quietly together in an empty Kemper Arena in Kansas City, Mo. The bitter taste of defeat was still in their mouths.
Just an hour after falling to Oklahoma 64-55 in the Big 12 Conference Tournament title game, Kansas was selected as the No.1 seed in the Midwest Region of the NCAA Tournament.
"We're not going to fake and jump around for joy," junior forward Drew Gooden said. "We knew we were going to be a No.1 seed. We just lost the championship game of the Big 12 Tournament. You put those together and this is not a movie set where we jump for joy or whatever."
"I think we made some mistakes today, and if we change those things that we did improperly, then I think we will gain from it." Williams said. "The NCAA tournament gives us a new life."
Kansas coach Roy Williams said he was proud that his team received the No. 1 seed, but said he hoped his team wouldn't forget the lessons learned from the Oklahoma loss.
In the first round, the Jayhawks will face No. 16-seed Holy Cross, which qualified for the NCAA Tournament by winning the Patriot League Tournament. That game will take place on Thursday at the Edward Jones Domes in downtown
St. Louis. The tip-off time will be announced later today.
If the Jayhawks advance past Holy Cross, they will face the winner of the game between No. 8-seed Stanford and No. 9-seed Western Kentucky. They are the only No. 8 and No. 9 seeds to be ranked in the Associated Press Top 25.
"That's tough," Gooden said. "In some of the other brackets the No.2 seed doesn't even play a ranked team in the second round. It's all twists and turns and corners and bends in the bracket. Bottom line is you need to play well to advance."
Gooden said the Jayhawks were not looking ahead to the second round and are taking the Crusaders, who have an 18-14 overall record, very seriously.
"You play one game at a time in this tournament, and we're focusing on Holy Cross right now," Gooden said. "We can't come out and play like we did in the first half against Oklahoma. It's too crucial for our team to do that again."
The No. 1 seed has not been kind to Kansas teams during Williams'tenure. In 1997, the No. 1-seed Jayhawks fell to eventual-national champion Arizona 85-82 in the Sweet Sixteen. In 1998, No. 1-seed Kansas was upset by Rhode Island 80-75 in the second round.
"I'd be lying if I said it didn't bother me," Williams said. "I have a dream of winning a national championship. My buddies tell me that I'm setting myself up when I admit that, but let's play it out and see what the heck happens this year."
Contact Wasko at bwasko@kansan.com. This story was edited by Justin Guenley.
FIRST ROUND March 14 in St. Louis
vs.
vs.
STANFORD
HOLY CROSS
WESTERN KENTUCKY
Winners will play March 16 in St. Louis
Big 12 teams in the NCAA Tournament
Midwest Region
No. 1 Seed Kansas Jaywalks against
No. 16 Holy Cross on Thursday in St. Louis
No. 6 seed Texas Longhorns against
No. 11 Boston College on Friday in Dallas
East Region
No. 6 seed Texas Tech Red Raiders against No. 11 Southern Illinois on Friday in Chicago South Region
No. 7 seed Oklahoma State Cowboys against No. 10 Kent State on Thursday in Greenville, S.C.
West Bend
No. 2 seed Oklahoma Sooners against No. 15 Illinois-Chicago on Friday in Dallas No. 12 seed Missouri Tigers against No. 5 Miami (FL) on Thursday in Albuquerque, N.M.
SEE FULL BRACKET ON 6B AND 7B
Five tracksters come home All-Americans
By Matt Norton Kansan sportswriter
Five Kansas track athletes traveled to Fayetteville, Ark., this weekend for the NCAA championships. All five returned as All-Americans.
ings with 16 points.
Tennessee won the team title with 62.5 points.
Led by senior Scott Russell's national championship in the 35-pound weight throw, the Jayhawks finished eighth in the men's team stand-
Russell's winning throw of 80 feet,11 1/4 inches set a new meet record,and beat Thomas Freeman
Russell
of Manhattan College by almost six feet.
Bookman, who reset his own school mark in the preliminaries with a time of 20.93 seconds, turned in a mark of 21.12 in the final.
Sophomore Leo Bookman finished seventh in the 200 meters and junior Vadim Gvozdetskiy placed fifth in the pole vault.
For the women, senior Katy Eisenmenger ran a personal best of 4:44.84 in the preliminary heats of the mile run and qualified for the final, in which she finished ninth.
All athletes who finish among the top eight Americans at the meet earn All-American status.
Freshman Brooklyn Hann placed 10th in the preliminaries of the triple jump with a mark of 41-11 1/4, missing the finals by two centimeters.
"We're totally excited for every athlete we had at the meet," coach Stanley Redwine said. "For Scott, that's the way to end your career, so I'm really happy for him."
"To go to NCs and be second or third and now go in in ranked first and win, to finally be able to step up and win is a huge relief." Russell said.
Russell, who said he felt good but didn't throw his best, was confident he would win.
"Once I threw the 80-footer, I knew the title was mine," Russell said. "Once I had that, I tried to go for the (NCAA) record, but couldn't quite get it."
That record already belongs to Russell, who set the mark at Iowa State last month.
Russell's series of throws was the best that assistant coach Doug Reynolds had ever seen in the event, he said.
Reynolds said he wasn't worried about Russell's sub-par week of practice heading into the meet. The coaching staff had been reducing Russell's workload, and it took some time for him to adjust.
"We prepared him to be ready at nationals, not the week before nationals," Reynolds said. "His timing just had to catch up to his speed."
Assistant coach Doug Clark said his goal for Eisenmenger was to make the final and score points.
"We figured Katy ran seven mile races in the last 16 days, all faster than she had ever run before," Clark said. "So she had a great two weeks."
Redwine said each of the jumpers had a hard time adjusting to a fast runway at Arkansas' Randal Tyson Track Center. Hann almost pulled out a berth in the finals in her last jump.
"She did a great job to adjust," Red wine said. "To get All-American as a freshman is just a great thing."
Contact Norton at mnorton@kansan.com. This story was edited by Andy Gassaway.