FOOTBALL: Mangino completes coaching staff. See page 5A. TRACK AND FIELD: Athletes ready to heat up track. See page 5A.
TALK TO US: Contact Sarah Warren or Levi Chronister at (785) 864-4858 or sports@kansan.com
SPORTS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
8A
WWW.KANSAN.COM/SPORTS
FRIDAY, JANUARY 25, 2002
COMMENTARY
Chris Wristen sports@kansan.com
Get the blues: Fight cancer, support our athletes
Most of us don't have any tests yet, some of us don't have class on Fridays and our men's basketball team is ranked No.2 in the nation.
Life as a Jayhawk is pretty good right now.
But there are also a few things that suck, like cancer and the Missouri Tigers. You can do something to fight both on Monday night when Mizzou comes to Lawrence.
You can wear a blue shirt to the game.
If you don't have a blue shirt, then you can buy one at the game. The Student Athlete Advisory Committee has sold 3,000 "Feel The Pride" shirts and will be selling the final 1,000 of them at the game for only five bucks, with one dollar from each shirt going to the American Cancer Society.
Help fight cancer and support your Jayhawks by buying a shirt. Then wear it to all of your favorite Kansas sporting events for years to come.
That's right, it's that easy. In just three steps you can make a difference. Step 1: put on a royal blue shirt. Step 2: walk to Allen Fieldhouse. Step 3: cheer at the top of your lungs. Presto! You're a superfan. You rule!
Wear the classy "Muck Fizzou" shirts if you want, or wear a homemade "*uck Mizzou*" shirt if you please; just wear blue. Leave your yellow T-shirts, gray sweatshirts and Abercrombie gear at home.
Wear a blue shirt.
Wear one because a uniform crowd looks the best on TV. Wear one because a uniform crowd looks the most intimidating to opposing teams and creates a more hostile game-day environment. Wear one because you care.
It's such a simple thing to do, but it can make a huge difference. Look at the successful support of Kansas State football and women's basketball, or every Nebraska athletics team. Armies of purple and red follow each school. They're louder and more colorful than Kansas fans at any sport except men's basketball. That needs to change.
"Our plan it to get people to wear blue to every athletic event, not just basketball or football," said Maggie Mason, a sophomore women's soccer player and one of the student-athletes heading up the campaign. "We hope to get a Nebraska-like theme started, where if you see someone in a royal blue shirt at a game then you know they're there for KU."
There's no better opportunity than Monday for Kansas fans to jump on the blue-shirt bandwagon. Missouri is coming to town.
There's no excuse not to wear blue shirts, make posters and paint your face. ESPN is broadcasting the biggest home game of the year on Big Monday, making it a prime opportunity for students to show just how rowdy it can get when corralled behind the student section's retaining walls.
The crowd has rocked this season mainly because of the student section and the camping groups, but more can be done.
Blue shirts are the answer. A sea of blue is what the Jayhawks need. It can be achieved, but only if you are proud enough to make it happen.
Wear blue for Mizzou, and show the nation just how good it is to be a Jayhawk.
Wristen is a Leawood senior in journalism.
Contact him at owristen@kansan.com.
CHBISTINA NEFF/KANSAN
MEN'S BASKETBALL
Kansas guard Aaron Miles shoots around Iowa State forward Tyray Pearson during Wednesday night's game at Iowa State. The Jayhawks play Texas A&M tomorrow in College Station, TX, at 3 p.m.
Aggies united despite losses
By Brent Wasko
Kansan sportswriter
Texas A&M's men's basketball team has had its fill of turmoil this season.
The Aggies, 8-11 overall and 2-3 in the Big 12 Conference, have battled through long losing streaks, injuries and suspensions to win two straight Big 12 contests against favored teams.
Texas A&M coach Melvin Watkins said his team was the most confident it had been all year and thought his team was playing No.2 Kansas, 16-2 overall and 5-0 in the conference, at Reed Arena at the most opportune time.
"We feel a lot better about our chances of winning," Watkins said. "We're playing better basketball. The credit goes out to the players. They have gone through a lot and worked through it."
After losing six consecutive games, the Aggies squeaked out their first Big 12 victory of the season at home on Jan. 19 against Baylor, 63-60.
Last Wednesday, Texas A&M surprised No. 24 Texas 80-74 on the road, placing Kansas in lone possession of first place in the Big 12.
Kansas coach Roy Williams said the Aggies recent success should help motivate the Jayhawks this Saturday.
"It shouldn't be difficult for our players to get concerned and for them to get ready because those wins are impressive." Williams said. "Winning breeds more winning."
Until last week, Texas A&M had little to be happy about.
On Jan. 7, Watkins suspended freshman for
ward Daryl Mason and sophomore guard Michael Gardener indefinitely for unspecified reasons.
Just three days later, the team's top rebounder, sophomore center Andy Slocum, broke his left hand in the first half of the Aggies' game against Texas Tech.
Doctors told him he could not play for six weeks, but Watkins said the recovery process had gone well.
Stocum is listed as questionable for the Kansas game.
Texas A&M's leading scorer, Bernard King, who averages 16.7 points per game, said losing teammates took a toll on the squad, but that the team had been able to overcome the adversity.
"The team is coming closer and closer together," Kings said. "Everybody's giving it their all, and we're going good now."
Since losing three members of the team to injury and suspension, the Aggies have fielded a different starting lineup almost every game. Texas A&M has 10 players who play more than 10 minutes a game.
Williams said that aspect of the team made it more challenging to prepare for the Aggies.
"I've always thought that was a good kind of team to have," he said. "You can't focus on just stopping one or two players."
Texas A&M faces Kansas at 3 p.m. tomorrow afternoon.
Contact Wasko at bwasko@kansan.com. This story was edited by Justin Henning.
By Doug Pacey
Langford set for homecoming against Aggies
Kansan sportswriter
Keith Langford went to high school less than two hours from Texas A&M, but he never really considered going to school in College Station, Texas.
The Aggies recruited him when he was in high school, but Texas' best prep basketball players like Langford, who was first-team All-State his senior year, don't go to A&M, which has had just one winning season since 1990.
"After a while it became a thing to fall back on if things didn't work out," the freshman swingman said.
Unfortunately for the Aggies (8-11 overall, 2-3 Big 12 Conference), No. 2 Kansas (16-2 overall, 5-0 Big 12) and No. 6 Oklahoma (15-2 overall, 4-1 Big 12) came calling and the basketball powerhouses ruined any chance Texas A&M had of getting the in-state prospect.
Tomorrow the Aggies will get a chance to see what they missed out on when they play the Jayhawks at 3 p.m. at Reed Arena.
Langford hasn't started a single game for the Jayhawks this season, but he's always one of the first off the bench and is averaging more than 20 minutes per
game.
He'll continue to get that much court-time if he keeps up his defensive effort, said coach Roy Williams.
Notes:
Williams said he didn't think there was anything wrong with Drew Gooden slamming the ball on the court after the win at Iowa State on Wednesday.
"If people talk about that they need to get a life...What do you want him to do, eat it?" he said. "No salt, no pepper, no mustard. I didn't know it but someone said Iowa State did it here when
they beat us. I have zero problems with it."
An in-depth article about Kansas' three-game stretch against UCLA, Oklahoma State and Oklahoma appears in this week's Sports Illustrated. SI writer Grant Wahl was given access normally not granted to reporters, something Williams said he allowed because his players liked the exposure from the magazine.
Contact Pacey at dpacey@kansan.com This story was edited by Brandon Stinnett.
Women remain optimistic as they prepare for Sooners
By Jessica Scott
Kansan sportswriter
Throughout a season filled with more downs than ups, Kansas senior guard K.C. Hilgenkamp remained adamant about keeping a positive attitude, even as her team plunges deeper into Jayhawk record books.
Kansas (5-15 overall, 0-7 Big 12 Conference) will try once again to snap its seven game losing streak, the longest in school history, tomorrow night at home against Oklahoma State (10-9, 2-4). The 'Hawks have yet to win this calendar year and their last conference win came in February 2001 against Texas A&M.
"There's some frustration, but I still come in every day and try to stay positive and keep having the attitude that we have a chance to win." Hilgenkamp said. "I'm just going to keep having that attitude for the rest of the season. I know our team is going to click one of these times, and we're going to see what it's like to win."
Hilgenkamp clicked offensively at Kansas State on Wednesday. She hit a season-high four three-pointers and ended with 18 points—the lone Jayhawk in double figures.
Oklahoma State, tabbed to finish ninth in the Big 12 Women's Basketball Coaches Preseason Poll, has lost to the Jayhawks the last 9-of-10 times the two teams have met.
Kansas coach Marian Washington joins Hilgenkamp in her optimism for tomorrow's game.
"I keep looking forward and I'm constantly challenging myself," Washington said. "It's important for me to get some of these young players on the floor to get some experience. We're going to be ok — soon."
Against K-State, five of those young players saw significant time on the court for Washinton, who received her first technical of the season Wednesday.
Kansas made several runs during that contest but was unable to close the gap, a recurring trend this season.
"The whole season, even though we haven't been winning, we've always had good runs," Hilgenkamp said.
Contact Scott at sports@kansan.com. This story was edited by Brooke Hesler.
AARON SHOWALTER/KANSAN
Senior guard Katie Hannon tries for a three-pointer during the final minutes against K-State. The women's team is currently 5-15 overall and 0-7 in the Big 12.