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SPORTS
WWW.KANSAN.COM/SPORTS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
1B
MONDAY, MARCH 10, 2003
SPORTS COMMENTARY
Ryan Wood rwood@kansan.com
KU football now claims city's best backfield
Today, the Kansas football program begins preparation for another dismal season with the start of spring practices. For 14 days this month and trickling into next month, about 80 football players will look to improve about 1 million percent to compete in the Big 12 next fall.
But before practices even begin, the Jayhawks can take comfort in knowing they no longer have fierce competition within city limits.
Fric Braem/Kansan
Yeah, that's right. The city limits.
short too many times.
The Jayhawks went 2-10, producing their worst record in 14 years. They won zero Big 12 games. They'll go down this school year as the most terrible sports team at the University of Kansas — by far.
The 2002 Kansas football team fell short too many times.
But covering the play of both Kansas and Lawrence's two high school football teams last fall —Lawrence High and Free State High—led me to observe the most glaring, humiliating and hilarious truth pertaining to football in Lawrence.
Kansas had Clark Green (average), Dan Coke (below average) and Reggie Duncan for a few plays last fall.
Lawrence High School, meanwhile, had super speedster Chris Fulton and big, bruising Brandon McAnderson behind its quarterback — who, ironically, was Tommy Mangino, Kansas coach Mark Mangino's son.
McAnderson rushed for 1,789 yards and 25 touchdowns for Lawrence High last fall. Fulton racked up 1,340 yards and 17 touchdowns.
The Lawrence High School running back tandem was better than the University of Kansas'.
Really, the only thing stopping either of them from even more ridiculous statistics was one another. Without Fulton, McAnderson would have carried the ball more and probably gotten 2,000 yards. Without McAnderson, Fulton could have flirted with two thousand.
It's true. I couldn't make this up.
It's pretty embarrassing when an NCAA Division I-A university is outdone by the local high school.
Fortunately for Kansas fans, Mangino knows that if you can't beat them, you'd better join them.
Late threes wrap up title
Mangino watched his son hand off to the LHS backfield every Friday night in the fall. He liked what he saw. So he grabbed McAnderson, a 6-foot, 220-pound horse, and gave him one of the 3 million scholarships the football program is allowed to give out.
Their styles of play were strikingly contrasting, yet equally effective. And both were superior to any running back on Kansas' roster.
Mangino may have implied that he saw more running back talent on Friday nights than Saturdays when he announced that McAnderson had signed his letter-of-intent.
Sure, today marks the first of Kansas football's 14 spring practices. But they've already made remarkable strides. Thanks to the graduation of McAnderson and Fulton from Lawrence High, Kansas can finally lay claim to the best running back corps in the city of Lawrence.
Fulton, meanwhile, is headed to Butler County Community College and could very well end up in the Division I A ranks in a couple of years.
"I thought Brandon McAnderson was a no-brainer for us," Mangino said.
"Aaron's shot was pure luck," Kansas coach Roy Williams said after the game. "I've never seen a shot go in the basket harder in my entire life."
Wood is a Lee's Summit, Mo., senior in journalism.
Congratulations, Jayhawks.
Although Kansas' players and coaches couldn't stop talking about Miles' improbable basket, the shot left the hostile Tiger crowd speechless.
common with a shot put than a jump shot, but that didn't stop it from finding the bottom of the net.
To Kansas sophomore guard Michael Lee, the shot was an indication of divine intervention.
"When it went in," Lee said, "I said 'Somebody else wants us to win.'"
Trailing by three points with a 1:21 to play, Kansas' sophomore point guard hit what he, and about everyone else on the team, described as a lucky, but vital three-pointer to tie the score at 74 points.
Nick Collison, senior forward, searches for a pass option after diving for a loose ball with Missouri junior forward Travon Bryant. Collison finished the game with 20 points and 10 rebounds as Kansas beat the Tigers 79-74 yesterday.
By Doyle Murphy
dmurphy@kansan.com
Kansan sportswinter
Missouri fans, roused by a 7-2 Tiger run and the possibility of a victory against a top-10 team, had come to its feet.
COLUMBIA, Mo. - For a Jayhawk fan, it doesn't get much better than this.
Sixth-ranked Kansas (24-6 overall, 14-2 Big 12 Conference) clinched its second consecutive league title and stole a thriller.79-74, from rival Missouri (18-9, 9-7), spoiling the Tigers' final home game of the season.
It was a great day to be a Jayhawk. Just ask Aaron Miles.
The straight-on 21-footer had more in
SEE THREES ON PAGE 3B
Kansas sophomore guard Aaron Miles guides the ball around Missouri junior guard Ricky Clemons in the first half. Miles knocked down an off-balance three-pointer with 1:21 left in the game and as the shot clock expired. The bucket tied the score at 74. A three-pointer from Kirk Hinrich gave Kansas a 77-74 lead.
Eric Braem/Kansan
Late heroics give victory to Kansas
By John Domoney
jdomoney@kansan.com
Kansan sportswriter
COLUMBIA, Mo.—Aaron Miles said he was lucky, Kirk Hinrich said he was confident. Either way both Kansas guards hit key three-pointers with under a minute and a half remaining in yesterday's 79-74 Kansas victory over rival Missouri.
Coming into yesterday's regular season finale at the Hearnes Center in Columbia, Mo., Kansas was eighth in three-point field goal percentage in the Big 12 Conference. But the Jayhawks overcame a 38-28 advantage in points in the paint with 6-of-14 shooting beyond the are including two three-pointers that put the finishing touches on the Big 12 title.
With Kansas trailing Missouri 74-71 with 1:21 to go on the game clock, Miles caught a pass with the shot clock running down and Missouri guard Ricky Clemons in his face.
Miles let go a line drive three-point attempt that barely skipped over the front rim and slipped through the net to knot the score at 74-74.
Kansas coach Roy Williams described the shot as a "two-hand sinkerball."
Miles told reporters after the game that he would be lying if he called the shot anything other than lucky.
"I was trying to throw it on the rim so somebody could get a rebound," Miles said.
After Tiger forward Rickey Paulding misfired on a jump shot, Hinrich grabbed the rebound and Kansas called a timeout to diagram a shot for
the lead.
Hinrich told Williams in the huddle that he would hit the next shot he would attempt.
It looked as if Hinirch would not get the chance to take that shot after Nick Collison air balled a shot from the corner, but Michael Lee grabbed the rebound with the shot clock near expiration and found Hinrich.
Hinrich responded with a 25-foot three-pointer, giving Kansas a 77-74 lead.
"As soon as I caught it, I saw I had the room and when I shot it, I knew it was going in," Hinrich said.
The Tigers never recovered from Kansas' clutch shots.
"It's the first time since I've been here that we've caught a break like that," said Hinrich of the two late three-three pointers.
While the three-point shot won the game for Kansas in the end, shots from beyond the arc got Missouri back in the game after the Tigers trailed 38-31 at halftime.
During a four-minute stretch in the second half. Clemons scored nine of the Tigers' 11 points to erase the Kansas lead.
Clemons led the Tiger attack with 16 second-half points on the heels of a 4-of-4 three-point barrage that gave Missouri a 74-71 lead at the 1:56 mark in the second half.
Hireme to make the mark of our team," guard Keith Langford said. "We kept our poise."
The three-pointers by Miles and Hinrich made the difference in the end.
— Edited by Brandon Gay
No.17 Kansas keeps rolling with sweep
By Daniel Berk
dberk@kansan.com
Kansan sportswriter
a long time.
The No. 17 Jayhawks won two more games this weekend against Western Michigan, 7-2 and 16-7, to complete a series sweep and improve their record to 16-4.
The Kansas baseball team knows that people are waiting for them to return to earth and start losing a few games. But it seems intent on making skeptics wait for a long time.
The team continued to be led by a quartet of upperclassmen in seniors Casey Spanish and Kevin Wheeler and juniors Ryan Baty and Matt Tribble. Spanish, Tribble and Wheeler are all batting better than .400, while Baty is hitting .363.
Tribble extended his hitting streak to 19 games in Friday's victory with a double in the bottom of the eighth. He then set the school record of 20 during Saturday's victory, by crushing a home run in the bottom of the first inning that cleared the scoreboard in right field.
Wheeler started Friday's game and pitched six innings, allowing only two runs and six hits. He earned the win and improved to 3-0 on the season.
"I was down in the count, and he gave me a curveball, and luckily it got out of here," Tribble said. "I have been waiting the past two or three games to get a hit in my last at-bat."
Spanish and senior catcher Sean Flynn each went 3-for-4 on the day and each tallied an RBI.
Coach Ritch Price said he's been happy with the way Spanish has been playing.
playing.
"He has been real fun to watch," Price said. "If you look at his numbers for before this season, he has basically underachieved. He is a very bright and articulate young man and his confidence just continues to grow, and I think right now he is playing as good as he can play."
In Friday's game the team also continued to get solid contributions from its top two relief pitchers, junior Brandon Johnson and Chris Smart. The duo combined
for three scoreless innings and allowed only two hits between the two of them.
only when wrestlers Saturday's game saw the Jayhawks score early and often as they routed the Broncos 16-7 in 30-degree weather.
Junior Josh Duran started the game for Kansas and pitched six innings allowing three hits and four runs. The win improved Duran's record to 2-1.
Kansas manufactured four runs in the first inning, two coming off of Trible's record setting home run. The Jayhawks then added one run in each inning until the fifth, when they managed to score six while sending 11 guys to the plate.
Price was happy with both the team's hitting and pitching on the series.
Spanish later added a home run in the seventh inning for two more runs and the Jayhawks would tag on one more run in the eighth to close out the scoring.
"I thought we did an unbelievable job today," Price said. "To swing the bats this good in the weather is real nice."
Edited by Ryan Wood
Eric Braem/Kansar
Eric Braun/Kansas Sophomore infielder Ritchie Price makes a play during Kansas' 16-7 victory over Western Michigan on Saturday.