Sports THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
BIG 12 TOURNAMENT FIELD TAKING SHAPE
Quarterfinals matchups are set in Oklahoma City. BIG 12 TOURNAMENT | 7B
THURSDAY, MARCH 12, 2009
KANSAS FACES BAYLOR FOR TRIP TO SEMIFINAL
WWW.KANSAN.COM
Jayhawks play ninth-seed Bears in early game in OKC. GAMEDAY 10B
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BY CASE KEEFER ckeefer@kansan.com
The players were still wearing their Big 12 Champions T-shirts. The net they cut down was still dangling from Sherron Collins' neck.
The Kansas locker room was in celebration mode after the lajahwys won the Big 12 Conference championship outright after an 83-73 victory against Texas on Saturday. But Kansas coach Bill Self had a serious message to deliver to his team.
"You can't take a good year away from this team," Self told the Jayhawks. "But in order for it to be a great year or a special year, we've got to play really well from this point forward."
That begins at 11:30 this morning when Kansas takes on Baylor in a big 12 tournament quarterfinal at the Ford Center in Oklahoma City. The winner will advance to the semifinals and play the winner
of the quarterfinal between Kansas State and Texas at 6 p.m. Friday.
For Baylor, the Big 12 tournament is a fight for survival. The Bears, who finished ninth in the Big 12, will not make the NCAA tournament unless they can rally and win three more games in Oklahoma City. Kansas' motivation is less urgent.
"For us personally, we're going down there to try to have a successful weekend," Self said, "get better and prepare for the NCAA tournament."
Kansas is also hoping to boost its resume for the NCAA tournament selection committee. In order to increase its chances at the "special year" Self talked about, Kansas wants two things. The highest possible NCAA tournament seed and a sub-regional assignment to play in Kansas City, Mo., at the Sprint Center.
Kansas City is one of eight host cities — Minneapolis, Dayton, Ohio, Boise, Idaho, Portland, Philadelphia.
Greensboro, N.C., and Miami are the others — for the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament. Forget that Kansas went only 1-2 at Sprint Center this season — Collins, a junior guard, says the building still presents an advantage.
"It's our backyard. I think wed have a majority of fans there," Collins said. "It would just be another great atmosphere for us. It won't feel like a road game or a tourney game. It would probably feel like a home game."
Memphis, the No. 4 team in the nation, will most likely wind up in Kansas City because it's the first-round location closest to its campus. That leaves one spot at Sprint Center for either Kansas or Oklahoma.
Teams with a top-four seed receive geographical consideration for the NCAA tournament. The problem is a site can only host two top-seeded teams, and one spot in Kansas City appears to be accounted for.
Whichever team has more success in the Big 12 tournament between the Sooners and the Jayhawks will likely be awarded the final slot.
"We hurt ourselves against Texas Tech to call it like it is." Self said.
"From the national or seeding standpoint, we may have dropped a line or something if it came out now. We need to go have a really big Big 12 tournament to give us the best chance to get to Kansas City."
According to bracket projections, Self is correct about last week's 85-64 defeat to Texas Tech costing the Jayhawks. Before the game, Kansas still had an outside chance at a No.1 seed in the tournament.
Now, CBSSports.com projects the layhawks as a No. 3 seed, playing in Minneapolis. ESPN.com's bracketology has Kansas receiving its desired position, a No. 2 seed in Kansas City.
Kansas is also set on earning
a No. 2 seed in addition to landing close to home. Self remembers first-round losses as a No. 3 seed and a No. 4 seed in 2005 and 2006, respectively. Anything higher than a No. 2 seed would be a let-down.
"You've got to get a good seed in the tourney," Collins said. "I know how tough it is to be one of those lower seeds and you run into a good team real early and things happen."
As fun as it is to discuss NCAA tournament scenarios, sophomore center Cole Aldrich is focused. He said he knew if the layhawks faltered in the Big 12 tournament, Self's idea of a "special year" would be harder to accomplish.
"We're going to start playing our best ball here in the next three games and bringing it in the tournament," Aldrich said. "These next possibly nine games are where everything is meant."
- Edited by Andrew Wiebe
BASEBALL
Jayhawks shut out Shockers
Robby Price had to sprint for his first home run this season, an inside the park job.
BY JOSH BOWE
jbowe@kansan.com
Price's fourth-inning home run cleared the right-field wall and ignited Kansas to an 8-0 victory against Wichita State (6-6) Wednesday night at Hoglund Ballpark.
Price, a junior second baseman, could get used to this jogging business.
SEE BASEBALL ON PAGE 9B
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Jayhawks to face capable Cornhuskers
Ryan McGeeney/KANSAN
BY JAYSON JENKS
jjenk@kansan.com
This afternoon, senior guarо Ivana Catic will wear white shorts, her white number three jersey top, and the pain left from Kansas' 59-49 loss at Iowa State in the regular season finale.
"It it definitely one of our most important games," Catic said. "To have that feeling after the game — I'm definitely going to remember that feeling going into the Nebraska game."
When No. 8 Kansas (17-12,
6-10) plays No. 9 Nebraska (15-14,
6-10) in the first round of the Big
12 tournament at 1:30 p.m. today.
Catic and her teammates will know
the stakes. If the Jayhawks want to
garner serious consideration for
the NCAA tournament they must win at the very least two games in Oklahoma City.
Even then, Kansas' future is
Rylah McInchon RANKAS
Krysten Boogard, Sade Morris, Lachelda Jacobs and Porscha Weddinggather around coach Bonnie Hickerson during a second-half timeout in their Feb. 22 game against Iowa State University. Kansas lost to Iowa State F-59 in the regular season finale.
today
Kansas vs. Nebraska 1:30 p.m.
Cox Convention Center
1
murky, left in the hands of the NCAA selection committee.
"All we know is we have to play our way into this thing and we have to beat Nebraska", coach Bonnie Henrickson said. "There's no sense in worrying about anything past that."
The sheer possibility of slipping into the NCAA tournament is enough for Kansas' players. Never in Henrickson's five-year tenure have the layhawks been this close to reaching the tournament.
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With that possibility, Kansas still has something to play for when many teams around the country have begun looking toward next
season
"We do have a chance to still be in the conversation to be in the NCAA tournament," junior forward Danielle McCray said. "We all want it bad and I feel that sense of urgency."
First, as Henrickson said, Kansas must take care of Nebraska. The Jayhawks and Cornhuskers played twice earlier in the season, with each team winning at home. But
SEEBASKETBALL ON PAGE 3B
COMMENTARY
McClinton hopes for draft pick in April
BY STEPHEN MONTEMAYOR
.smontemayor@kansan.com
A familiar face returned to Anschutz Sports Pavilion late Tuesday morning.
Among the 11 former lajvahay football players auditioning for NFL scouts, one stood out. Decked in a sweat suit, lightly jogging and stretching before his 40-yard dash, james McClinton was on campus once more.
A fixture on Kansas' defensive line during a career capped by an Orange Bowl victory, McClinton arrived at Tuesday's pro day looking for a second chance.
Kansas' meteoric 2007 had its ups and downs for McClinton. He began the year as a holy terror for opposing backfields with 26 tackles through the first five games. A nagging leg injury hampered output afterwards but he still earned an Associated Press Second Team All-America distinction.
NFL scouts called four players from that 2007 squad the following April — the most since 1996. McClinton was not one of them. See, pro scouts have body issues — only it's not their own bodies that keep them up at night and needing counseling.
Instead, a prospect's Under Armour-clad frame can send a scout into a mad euphoria. Conversely, defensive tackles like M.Clinton — 6 feet 1 inch, 285 pounds — often find themselves cast off, avoided by a plaque
A seizure before the East-West Shrine Game — attended by dozens of pro scouts — and an unsavory combine performance dashed McClinton's 2008 draft hopes. That's why McClinton joined this year's seniors in hopes of making one last push for a pro roster.
Before Tuesday's evaluations, he also served as a student assistant coach for the 2008 season.
"I picked up some more coaching and understood more about offenses and defenses and why certain ones are ran," McClinton said. "This year really helped me. People are telling me I'm underrated as a defensive lineman."
Reached by phone last week, coach Mark Mangino told me hed like to see McClinton make it in the NFL and offered an assessment of his chances.
"He's an outstanding football player," Mangino said. "He's not really big but is especially quick and athletic. Whatever team gets him will have a powerful kid with a huge work ethic."
And so we wait. Again. And for the majority of us who don't fret over fast-twitch muscle fibers or Wonderlic tests, we sit and wait with nothing but hope. McClinton's draft day prospects are slim, but as Lloyd Christmas in "Dumb and Dumber" eloquently waxed: "So you're telling me there's a chance!"
So why not hope again? Why not ignore the so-called draft gurus (one of whom still had the Chiefs drafting Mark Sanchez after the Matt Cassel trade)? And if McClinton doesn't get called this April, why stop hoping?
"If I get drafted it's a blessing. If not, I could still get picked up in free agency. I'm not worried," he said.
Edited by Heather Melanson