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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
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QUOTE OF THE DAY
"Nobody can take a play off. We're only as strong as our weakest link. We're going get beat if somebody doesn't play, because everybody on their team plays. Everybody rebounds."
Coach Bonnie Henrickson on New Mexico
FACT OF THE DAY
Kansas and New Mexico played just once before last night's meeting in the WNIT quarterfinals. The Jayhawks defeated the Lobos 61-58 in Lawrence on Jan. 25, 1980.
TRIVIA OF THE DAY
Q: What is the latest date in the season that the women's basketball team has played?
A: March 30. Last night's game in New Mexico was the latest spring game the team has ever played. The previous late game was March 27, 2008, when Kansas lost at Michigan State in the second round of the WNIT.
Virginia, Maryland make history
COMMENTARY
Seven overtimes. Eighty-five minutes. A coach who ran out of things to say.
Virginia's top-ranked men's lacrosse team outlasted No. 9 Maryland 10-9 in a seven-overtime thriller Saturday — history's longest Division I lacrosse game.
After his team rallied from three goals down late in regulation and withstood more than 30 extra minutes of play, Virginia coach Dom Starssia had a simple request of his offensive coordinator: Let them play.
Virginia didn't bother calling any more timeouts once the ball was in its offensive end. Actually, Starsia told reporters afterward that he had simply run out of things to say. Instead, in the first minute of the seventh overtime, junior midfielder Brian Carroll whipped a left-handed shot that finally, mercifully, hit the inside net of the goal.
What makes this story even more remarkable is how close it became to not being much more than a box score. See, nine seconds into the first overtime Maryland notched an apparent
But a mistaken whistle from a referee, who thought Maryland had called for a timeout, negated the goal and altered the course of events sevenfold.
game-winner that seemed to end Virginia's undefeated streak.
Men's lacrosse is played at Kansas as a club sport. The Jayhawks compete in the Men's Collegiate Lacrosse Association, a national organization of nonNCAA college lacrosse programs. The MCLAs Web site, www.MCLA.us, describes itself as operating in the United States and Canada with 213 teams in two divisions across 10 conferences.
The team's next home game is against Missouri at 2 p.m. on April 11 at the Shenk Sport Complex.
JAYHAWK LACROSSE
MARCH SADNESS
REQUIRED READING
For those not quite ready to revisit a NCAA tournament now devoid of crimson and blue, let's stick with today's topic in our latest required reading.
Titled "Spin Right and Shoot Lett." John McPhee's March 23 essay in the New Yorker is a perfectly crafted account of lacrosse for novices and seasoned fans alike.
McPhee illustrates the vast parallels between America's original pastime and its siblings: basketball, soccer, hockey and water polo.
larms Naismith — the father of hoops — played lacrosse a decade prior to inventing the sport we all get mad about this time of year.
Also duly noted is hockey legend Wayne Gretzky's obsession with lacrosse and football great Jim Brown — considered by many the greatest modern lacrosse player — being a lacrosse player who played football and not the reverse.
Those seeking further details
of the game's strategy and the intricacies of the equipment — today's sticks are made of patented aluminum alloys, weapon grade titanium and various other elements — will be well served giving this essay a look.
And who knows, maybe any more essays and epic overtime battles may find the uninitiated lacrosse fans mirroring McPhee's Irish cabdriver.
Escorting the writer to a game, the driver picks McPhee's brain on all there is to know about the sport. Upon arrival, he adds that he's like to stay around and watch.
— Edited by Carly Halvorson
COLLEGE BASKETBALL
ASSOCIATED PRES
North Carolina forward Tyler Hansbrough stretches out for a layup against Oklahoma's Blake Griffin in the Tar Heels' victory Sunday. The two frontcourt stars were the top owl-etters for the Associated Press All-America team.
All-America team revealed
Oklahoma's Griffin leads honored few, becoming unanimous choice
JIM O'CONNELL Associated Press
Blake Griffin and Tyler Hansbrough spent a lot of time together on the court last weekend and were back together Monday as the top vote-getters on The Associated Press All-America team.
Griffin, the sophomore forward from Oklahoma who led the nation in rebounding, was the only unanimous selection for the team. Hansbrough, the consensus player of the year last season as a junior, repeated as a first-teamer the day after the Tar Heels beat the Sooners 72-60 to advance to the Final Four.
Griffin, who averaged 21 points and 14.3 rebounds while shooting 63.5 percent from the field, became college basketball's image for toughness when he returned from a concussion only to drive headlong onto the scoreer's table.
Joining them on the team were players from schools with little All-America history, sophomores Deluan Blair of Pittsburgh, James Harden of Arizona State and junior Stephen Curry of Davidson.
He received 71 first-team votes and 335 points from the same national media panel that selects the weekly Top 25. Balloting was done before the NCAA tournament.
"Those are some of my favor-
Hansbrough, a unanimous pick
"When Coach (Jeff) Capel started recruiting me, he talked to me a lot about changing the culture of this program and getting it back to a place where guys like Wayman Tisdale and Stacey King and those guys came to play," said Griffin, a native of Oklahoma City. "It's definitely an honor."
NFL
Griffin, the Big 12 player of the year, is the third Oklahoma player to be selected and the first since Stacey King in 1989. Wayman Tisdale of the Sooners was a three-time All-America from 1983-85.
last season along with Kansas State's Michael Beasley, got 50 first-team votes and 304 points. This is the fourth straight season the 6-foot-9 forward received All-America recognition. He was a third team pick as a freshman and was on the second team after his sophomore season.
Blair is Pittsburgh's second first-teamer, joining Don Hennon in 1958. Curry, who led the nation in scoring, is Davidson's second as well. Fred Hetzel was Davidson's first first-teamer in 1965.
Hansbrough, who is in his second straight Final Four with the Tar Heels, is the third North Carolina player to repeat. He joins Phil Ford (1977-78) and Michael Jordan (1983-84).
"That's pretty big. That's total," the 6-7, 265-pound sophomore said when told he made the team. "I worked hard, and the hard work paid off. It's pretty cool just to be up there with those guys and to be talked about."
Harden is Arizona State's first AP All-America.
League reveals teams' preseason schedules
weekend of Aug. 13-17. Dates and times for each game will be announced later.
ite Carolina players. To be up there with them — that's special." Hansbrough said. "I never dreamed of that when I came here"
Harden, who received 290 points, was the Pac-10 player of the year after a sophomore season that saw him average 20.8 points. 5.5 rebounds and 4.4 assists in 35.8 minutes. He led the Sun Devils to their first NCAA bid since 2003 as they posted consecutive 20-win seasons for the first time in 28 years.
Blair, who was third in the voting with 294 points, averaged 15.6 points and 12.2 rebounds, was the only postseason All-America player not to be on the preseason team. One of the best offensive rebounders in recent years, Blair became a fan favorite when he was often caught smiling during games.
COURTS NASCAR driver testifies at IRL driver's tax trial
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City Chiefs open their first preseason under new head coach Todd Haley with a home game against the Houston Texans.
The Chiefs will close the four-game preseason against the Rams at St. Louis in the annual Governor's Cup game. Kansas City won last year's contest 21-17 at Arrowhead Stadium.
"There have been a lot of great players in this program and to be the first to get this is quite an accomplishment," Harden said adding it's all part of making the Sun Devils a national program. "That's the reason I came here, to help get the respect, and hopefully we can keep it up."
The schedule announced Monday by the NFL also has Kansas City at Minnesota in the second week of exhibition play, followed by a home game against the Seattle Seahawks.
The three-time Sprint Cup champion testified Monday as a character witness for Michigan attorney Alan Miller. Miller is charged along with Castroneves and the driver's sister with conspiring to help Castroneves evade U.S. taxes on about 55.5 million from 1999 to 2004.
MIAMI — NASCAR race driver Jimmy Johnson has testified in Miami federal court in the Helio Castroneves tax evasion case.
Preseason play begins the
Associated Press
THIS WEEK IN KANSAS ATHLETICS
TODAY
Baseball
Northern Colorado,
3 p.m.
Lawrence
Men's Golf
Western
Intercollegiate
All Day
Santa Cruz, Calif.
WEDNESDAY
Baseball
Northern Colorado,
3 p.m.
Lawrence
Softball
Missouri, 4 p.m.
Lawrence
Softball
Missouri, 6 p.m.
Lawrence
FRIDAY
Women's Tennis
Baylor, 6 p.m.
Waco, Texas
Baseball
Baylor, 6 p.m.
Lawrence
SATURDAY
Baseball Baylor, 2 p.m. Lawrence
Softball
Texas Tech, 2 p.m.
Lubbock, Texas
Women's Soccer
Marquette, TBA
St. Louis, Mo.
Women's Rowing Texas, TBA Kansas City, Kan.
Track
Arizona Invitational,
All Day
Tucson, Ariz.
Women's Soccer
Saint Louis, TBA
St. Louis, Mo.
KANSAS ATHLETICS
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