Sports THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
COLD SECOND HALF DOOMS JAYHAWKS
Kansas still has no Big 12 road victories. WOMEN'S BASKETBALL 18B
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THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2009
NEW ROTATION FOR STARTING PITCHERS
Shaeffer Hall will lead the rotation and start Friday's game. BASEBALL 17B
COMMENTARY
KANSAS 72, IOWA STATE 55
PAGE 1B
Start the campaign for stars to stay here
Something about Kansas' 72-55 win over Iowa State last night got my political juices flowing again.
Haul out the ubiquitous vard signs and bumper stickers, for last night marked a call to arms for the Collins-Aldrich 2009 campaign to begin. It's time to get a little selfish in Lawrence.
Surely NBA scouts this season have discussed Sherron Collins' and Cole Aldrich's lottery prospects and, if so, they are surely aware. Any more twin 22-point nights — with 11 rebounds from Aldrich — will make the prospect of two big holes in Kansas' 2009-10 starting lineup frighteningly realistic.
Aldrich's game was a 27-minute study of resiliency. Benched early after amassing four first-half turnovers, The Man in the Plastic Mask brought the house down with a thunderning one-handed dunk seven minutes removed from seeing his team's lead shrink from 17 points to five yet again.
Sixty-one percent of the layhawks' offense came from a duo unquestionably anointed the team's leaders before the season — a billing that's of course often rewarded by default when dealing with the only two significant contributors left from the prior season.
Aldrich's performance was a more than welcome complement to Collins' usual theatrics on as anemic a night Allen Fieldhouse has seen in recent memory.
"We tried to feed him more and get him more touches," Collins said. "He's going to draw double teams. Sometimes late in games we get away from feeding. This game we kept feeding him though."
SEE MONTEMAYOR ON PAGE 5B
Sophomore center Cole Aldrich pounds fists with Travis Releford. Aldrich led the Jayhawks with 22 points and 11 rebounds during 27 minutes of play. The Jayhawks beat the Cyclones 72-55 to improve to 21-5 overall and 10-1 in the Big 12.
Weston White/KANSAN
Kansas blows past Cyclones
Aldrich and Collins step up offensive game while Marcus Morris contributes strong defense
BY CASE KEEFER ckeefer@kansan.com
The consensus is that the Jayhawks are Sherron Collins' team.
The consensus might be wrong. For the second consecutive game, Kansas relied on sophomore center Cole Aldrich — not junior guard Collins — to carry it to victory. Aldrich scored eight straight points midway through the second half to separate Kansas from Iowa State in a 72-55 victory Wednesday night. Aldrich credited his teammates for getting him the ball.
"They've done a great job the last few games throwing the ball inside," Aldrich said. "They see
that it's tough for other big guys around the league to guard us"
Aldrich scored 22 points and added 11 rebounds — his 14th double-double of the season. But it was Aldrich's timing that made the most difference against the Cyclones.
lowa State cut the Kansas lead to 43-38, the lowest it had been since the opening minute of the game, with 12:30 to play. Then, Aldrich demanded the ball.
He made a hook shot, a onehanded dunk over Iowa State guard Diante Garrett, a 17-foot jumper and two free throws in the next three minutes. While Aldrich exploded for eight points in the stretch, Iowa State went scoreless.
It made the score 51-38 and the Cyclones never trailed by less than eight again.
"Tonight was one of those games where we knew we had to keep feeding him," Collins said.
"That's going to continue for the rest of the year."
Collins had his moments, too. He finished with 22 points, six assists and two steals. But nine of his points came after Aldrich's three-minute extravaganza with the game already decided.
Ask Collins what the difference in the victory was and he'll say Aldrich, without hesitation. Collins has noticed that Aldrich has shifted into being Kansas' primary weapon when the game is tight. And Collins embraces it.
"It doesn't bother me at all." Collins said. "It helps me. It takes pressure off of me."
Against the Cyclones, Aldrich took the pressure off everyone. He
energized the layhawks when the Cyclones started to steal momentum.
Like a bumblebee intruding on a summer picnic, Iowa State wouldn't go away for the first 28 minutes of the game. Kansas flew out to a 24-7 lead behind two three-point shots from sophomore guard Brady Morningstar, but it didn't deter Iowa State.
Cyclone forward Craig Brackins, who scored 20 points with 11 rebounds, willed his team back into the game. Kansas coach Bill Self took a timeout after Brackins converted on a baseline jumper to
SEE BASKETBALL ON PAGE 4B
TRACK & FIELD
Bonds places fifth in Iowa State Classic one-mile run
Junior relay runner Lauren Bonds (right) passes off to senior Lisa Morrisey in the women's 4x800 meter relay Saturday. Kansas' relay team finished in 9:29:99 and took second place overall behind Seton Hall University.
Weston White/KANSAN
BY JASON BAKER
jbaker@kansan.com
She's one of two female athletes in Kansas history to earn All-Big 12 honors in cross country. She currently holds the school's record in the one-mile and she's the captain of the track and field distance team. Is there anything that junior Lauren Bonds can't do at this point?
Parking jokes aside, the Hutchinson junior has had quite the success this year in both the cross country and indoor track seasons. Last weekend in Ames, Iowa, at the Iowa State Classic, Bonds took fifth place in the one-mile run with a time of 4:43.74.
"I can't park," Bonds said. "If you ever see a white car that's taking up three spots, that's usually me."
That time was enough to provisionally qualify her for the NCAA Indoor Championships.
"It's probably what I felt has been my best race since I've been in college at KU." Bonds said.
Bonds said it was exciting that she took four seconds off from her previous best and wanted to continue to get faster.
"That's how our training is designed. It's kind of discouraging at the beginning of the year when other people are running much faster than me, but I just know to keep it all in perspective." Bonds said.
Bonds said that running the one mile felt more comfortable and natural for her than the 6K that she runs during the cross country season.
It was about the same time last year when Bonds provisionally qualified in a one-mile run with a time of 4:47.91.
"I feel like I got some breathing room under the mark and that feels good," Bonds said.
"I do like cross country, but I have to work very hard to be the best at it — be the best on our team at it." Bonds said.
Bonds' hard work paid off this fall season when she finished first for the team in every event. The highlight for her came this fall during the Big 12 Championships when she placed 12th overall with a time of 21:31.
At Big 12 Championships, placing in the top 15 means receiving All Big 12 honors. Bonds became the second female to get AllBig 12 honors in the University's history. The last time Kansas got AllBig 12 honors on the women's side was with Laura Lavoie in 2002.
Bonds said receiving All-Big 12
honors was a big step for her in cross country because of the competition.
"It's like we have the national champions in our conference," Bonds said. "That was really special to be in the top 15 in such a strong conference."
Running has been a part of life for Bonds and her family. Her sister Morgan ran track and cross country at Kansas State University from 2004 to 2007.
She was primarily a mid-distance runner, specifically in the 800 meter.
"She hated cross country," Bonds said of her older sister. "That was way out of her element because she's more of an 800- and 400-meter runner. I feel like I have a more positive attitude toward it than she did."
Like her sister, Bonds has become the team captain on the distance team. Bonds said it wasn't not too difficult of a job because they all worked hard.
Bonds said as captain she put on fun activities for the team to do, as well as made sure that everyone's okay.
Bonds also shares some of the responsibility with fellow teammate
"I'm kind of the go-to between the group and the coach." Bonds said. "I'm the one who usually goes 'Coach, we can't do this' or 'Coach, we're thinking of this.' That's my main job."
and sophomore Amanda Miller.
"Amanda gives me so much help," Bonds said. "She's a really good leader as well."
Although Bonds has provisionally qualified for the NCAA Indoor Championships, it doesn't guarantee her a trip to go. The NCAA takes the top 16 runners and Bonds said she's probably not up there yet.
"it's the first step to getting there. I'm going to have to run faster if I want to go." Bonds said.
Bonds will have a chance to make it official at the Big 12 Indoor Championships on Feb. 27 and 28 in College Station, Texas. Bonds said she was uncertain which event she would participate in. Bonds could either run in the 1,000 meter, the one-mile or 800-meter run and would love to make up for not going to the cross country championships last November.
"I feel like I'm right in the same place that I was in cross country," Bonds said. "I'm close, but I'm going to have to get closer. So hopefully I can do it this time."
Edited by Heather Melanson