Sports THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
BASEBALL TAKES ON NORTHERN COLORADO
Kansas tries to bounce back from a bad weekend. BASEBALL19A
TUESDAY, MARCH 31, 2009
WWW.KANSAN.COM
MORNING BREW: AN EPIC LACROSSE GAME
Stephen Montemayor relives a 7-overtime thriller. MORNING BREW I 11A
KANSAS 78, NEW MEXICO 69
PAGE 12A
Jayhawks defeat Lobos on road
By surviving, Kansas returns home for semifinal matchup
BY JAYSON JENKS
jjenks@kansan.com
In the end, with ice raining down from the stands and fans erupting into a chorus of boos, Kansas' season came full circle.
WOMEN'S REWIND
Not long ago, Kansas couldn't win on the road, unable to pull out victories down the stretch of games. At one point this season, coach Bonnie Henrickson called her team soft, reduced to questioning their competitiveness after a string of disappointing and frustrating losses.
For full coverage of the women's basketball game against New Mexico, check out page 8B.
Yet, there were Henrickson and her players, standing on a basketball court far from Lawrence, basking after defeating New Mexico on the road 78-69.
"This was a good, tough, gutsy win in a tough environment and a great environment for women's basketball." Henrickson said. "I thought we had great focus and concentration."
Those descriptive words were far from Henrickson's mouth three months ago when Kansas' season appeared to be slipping away. Now, the layhawks find themselves in the semifinals of the Women's NIT.
And maybe, as Henrickson hinted at after the game, the improvement has as much to do with Kansas' off-court developments as with the fundamental steps the team has made on the basketball court.
"We talked today about how much we enjoy each other because we can laugh and make fun of each other," Henrickson said. "You have to have confidence and you have to trust people to do that. I know that sounds silly because it's not a basketball thing, but it's a chemistry thing."
Still, don't be mistaken: The Jayhawks are playing much better basketball than earlier in the season, and that trend continued last night.
Kansas held New Mexico to just 35 percent shooting, while converting 49 percent of its attempts. Late in the game, as the Lobos clawed back, the lajhawk defense provided key stops.
"We just locked down," junior forward Danielle McCray said. "Before, we just let them cut across our faces on the on-ball screens and they were just doing whatever they wanted to do."
For the first eight minutes in the second half, with the game up for grabs. McCray's right hand fell silent.
This season, McCray has piled big performance on top of big performance. But perhaps never before this season has McCray been held scoreless for so long.
After that brief stint of inactivity, McCray erupted for eight consecutive points midway through the second half. She finished with 32 points and nine rebounds.
"I'm the type that likes to be under pressure," McCray said. "I knew I had to step up for our team to win."
Yet, the fact that Kansas managed to maintain a lead without
SEE WOMEN'S ON PAGE 8A
Western White/ANSWER
Senior linebacker James Holt moves in for a sack during Kansas' Insight bowl victory in December. Holt, along with other graduating seniors will leave several key spots on the team.
Vanessa Sanchez/DAILY LOBO
Junior guard Jaince McCray leaps for a layup in the jawhawks' quarterfinal victory against the New Mexico Lobos Monday night. By virtue of the victory, Kansas gets to play at home against Illinois State on Wednesday evening.
FOOTBALL
Team works to fill key spots left by seniors
BY STEPHEN
MONTEMAYOR
smontemayor@kansan.com
Calisthenics had barely concluded before a sense of urgency could be detected from linebackers coach Bill Miller and his 10 practicing players.
"You've got to get pissed off!" he shouted among other, more colorful counsel at the start of last Friday's position drills.
Two sets of linebackers faced the other as each rotated, charging head-on, to meet the other and simulate an open-field tackle. One bad step or a head down instead of up would instantly draw Miller's ire. Face turning red, he shouted at the pair to line up again until they got it right.
Weston White/KANSAN
Wednesday's practice, scheduled for 3:30 p.m.
at Memorial Stadium, will be open to the public.
Park on the east side of the stadium and enter the southeast gates. Cameras will not be allowed. Check back all week for more spring football coverage.
If Miller and his linebackers are preparing at a more hastened pace than usual it is likely because that the unit has five months left to fill a void that hasn't existed for three years. Linebackers James Holt, Joe Mortensen and Mike Rivera have moved on, taking with them 288 tackles from a year ago.
Among this year's group are a converted fullback and running back, two players who had more than 15 tackles last year and one player who started a game in 2008.
SPRING PRACTICE
But a position that has had each
of its top players lead the team in tackles over a three-year span, as 2008's senior trio did, makes it tough for anyone else to gain much experience. Sophomore Justin Springer had a career-best eight tackles against Oklahoma before a torn ACL against Kansas State cut his season short — he won't be ready to practice until August. Junior Arist Wright finished the year with 33 tackles and started against Sam Houston State — Iowa State.
While experience is still to be gained by this unit, coach Mark Mangino has already noticed their initiative.
"One of the things right now I like about that position is the intensity and tempo that we're getting out of those kids." Mangino said. "You can see they're playing
10
at a fast tempo and we need that."
Friday's first-team linebacker corps saw walk-on freshman Steven Johnson at middle linebacker with Wright and junior Jake Schermer on each side.
Junior Angus Quigley, who moved to linebacker from running back during last December's Insight Bowl practices, continues to work with the second-team
defense as he learns a playbook — not exactly light reading.
"He's learning," Mangino said. "Our defense here is fairly complicated. That's why we've been pretty good over the years, because they give you a lot of looks."
OFFENSIVE LINE COMING TOGETHER
that has three key holes to fill. Center Ryan Cantrell and guards Adrian Mayes and Chet Hartley are now gone after starting every game in 2007 and 2008.
COMMENTARY
The only two starters remaining from 2008's offensive line are freshmen right tackle Jeff Spikes and Jeremiah Hatch, who has
Linebacker isn't the only spot
SEE FOOTBALL ON PAGE 7A
4
WNIT better for the Hawks
The women's basketball team wanted to make the NCAA tournament, not the WNIT.
But looking back on it, playing more games in the WNIT is much better for Kansas in the long run than going one-and-done in the Big Dance.
Monday, Kansas took home a 78-69 victory against New Mexico to advance to the WNIT's "Formidable Four." It'd be wrong to call it the Final Four with the women's NCAA tournament advancing to its semifinals as well.
It was the third game in the WNIT for the Jayhawks, who will play at Allen Fieldhouse on Wednesday against Illinois State. They've got a shot at winning the whole tournament Saturday if they can beat the Redbirds.
That could mean five tournament games for a team with freshman Aishah Sutherland, a freakishly athletic post who is getting better by the game, and junior Danielle McCray, a forward making sports writers look ludicrous for leaving her off one of their three All-America teams.
WOMEN'S GOLF
Jayhawks learn from difficulty of tourney
If the Jayhawks had crept into the NCAA tournament field two weeks ago, they would have likely drawn a double-digit seed
SEE GOBLE ON PAGE 8A
"We've really grown as a team that plays together and plays for each other," coach Bonnie Henrickson said.
BY HALLIE MANN
hmann@kansan.com
Cold weather and tough competition may have kept the women's golf team out of the medal ceremony for the Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic this weekend in Athens, Ga, but the team is using it as a learning experience. Coach Erin O'Neil said the team was taking the rest of this week to focus on the mistakes they made and come out with confidence at the next tournament.
"It just wasnt all quite there for us on Sunday," O'Neil said. "We didn't play as well as we would've liked but we'll work on it in practice"
O'Neil said the women got only one day to play because of the weather instead of the usual three days they spread a tournament
SFE GOLF ON PAGE 7A
---