10A
Trivia question
who was the Green Bay Packer nicknamed "the Golden Boy" who broke don Hutson's record for most points in a season in 1960?
The University Daily Kansan
Sports
See answer on page 7A
SEE PAGE 9A
Inside: The volleyball team did not make the Big 12 Conference tournament but holds a positive outlook.
Inside: Kansas moved to No.2 in the Associated Press poll, 157 points behind Duke for first. SEE PAGE 7A
SEE PAGE 7A
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 2009 For comments, contact Melinda Weaver or Jason Walker at 864-4858 or e-mail sports@kansan.com WWW.KANSAN.COM
Coach's ire ignites rally for Jayhawks
By Michael Rigg
sports@kansan.com
Kansan sportswriter
With his heavily favored Jayhawks leading Middle Tennessee State last night by just four points in the final six minutes of the first half. Kansas coach Roy Williams decided to throw in the towel.
Not literally, but when Williams threw a hand towel in disguist at his Jayhawks, he sparked a 16-4 run sandwiched around halftime, which would erase the tension in a 92-66 Kansas victory.
"He was not disappointed in our effort, and our offense wasn't very good at all," said sophomore point guard Kirk Hinrich.
The narrow first-half lead had as much to do with Kansas' lack of execution as the Blue Raiders' overachieving. The sloppy Jayhawks (6-0) committed 12 first-half turnovers and had problems running the plays Williams called in from the sideline.
"One of the things we've talked about was executing whatever was called, both offensively and defensively," Williams said. "You're going to have mistakes in a game. But when you start
we are going to have mistakes in a playing in the kinds of games were going to play down the line, you've got to be disciplined enough to do what we're supposed to do."
Senior forward Luke Axtell said his team responded well to the toulot toss.
More information
For more on last night's game.
See page 7A
For more photos.
Visit www.kansan.com
Williams would calm down in time to see his team put away the Blue Raiders with, once again, timely scoring and a hefty rebound advantage. After leading by 17 at the intermission, the Jayhawks would stretch their lead to as large as 33 points, thanks, in part, to a run sparked by junior guard Jeff Boschee and sophomore forward Nick Collison and a rebound total that nearly doubled that of the Blue Raiders.
"He's not just going to get mad about nothing." Axtell said. "But we came back in the second half, and we were able to execute."
Middle Tennessee State coach Randy Wiel said he wasn't surprised by the Jawhaws' balanced attack.
The Jayhawks relied on a balanced scoring attack all seven Jayhawks that played more than 18 minutes wound up with double-digit point totals.
"If you get down in the game, Kansas will put it away," said Wiel, whose team lost to the Jayhawks for the second consecutive year. "Some teams let you back in the game, but Kansas is a much more mature team than what I saw last year. The only way you can beat them is to play above their level, which is very hard to do."
Kansas has defeated its last four opponents by at least 25 points. The last time the 'Hawks ran off such a blowout streak was in 1997 when Kansas started the streak by drilling George Washington by 29 points and finished the hot streak by demolishing Brown 107-49.
Nick Collison, sophomore forward, shoots over a Middle Tennessee State player at Allen Fieldhouse. The Jayhawks won last night's game 92-66. Photo by Justin Schmidt/KANSAN
Edited by Sara Nutt
Game to test injury-riddled women's team
sports@kansan.com
Kansan sportswriter
By Zac Hunter
After suffering its first loss of the season on Saturday and finishing third in the Lady Blazer Classic in Birmingham, Ala., the Kansas women's basketball team has a chance at redemption against Illinois at 7:05 tonight in Allen Fieldhouse.
But that may be easier said than done. The 'Hawks, 3-1, returned to Lawrence battered and bruised after playing three games in six days on the road.
Two starters, senior guard Jennifer Jackson and junior center Nikki White, suffered injuries to their faces in the past
week.
Jackson went head-to-head with a Louisiana-Monroe player in the Jayhawks' win in the consolation game of the Classic on Sunday. The collision sent Jackson to the bench for the rest of the game, even though she wanted to get back in it.
Jackson said that such collisions came with the territory.
"We had a little bit of a collision, and a black eye is no big deal," she said.
Jackson had X-rays yesterday morning that revealed no broken bones. She said her vision was close to 100 percent. She was kept out of contact drills in yesterday's practice but said she would be ready to go tonight.
More information For more on tonight's match-up. Sea page 7A For a statistical breakdown of the match-up. Sea page 6A
White's injury was much stranger. Washington said that the team was doing transition work before Saturday's loss against Alabama-Birmingham when senior forward Jaclyn Johnson caught the ball, spun and caught White right in the nose with an elbow. The elbow broke White's nose and spit the bridge open.
said the Jayhawks played well, going 2-1 on the road trip.
Despite those two injuries. Washington
"With all that, they did a pretty good job." Washington said. "But trying to get ready for this next game is going to be a big challenge."
Washington said White continued to have headaches and was questionable for tonight's game. Without White in the middle, the 'Hawks will have to depend on juniors Kristin Geoffroy and Dalchon Brown.
Geoffroy has averaged eight points in just 18 minutes per game this season and will see her playing time increase dramatically. Brown will likely come off the bench.
Club members earn belts, learn art of tae kwon do
- Edited by Shawn Hutchinson
By Michael Sudhalter
The Kansas Tae Kwon Do Club combines competitive and recreational elements of an ancient Eastern sport three times a week at Robinson Center.
Kansan sportswriter
The club, which has 30 members, competes in three tae kwon do tournaments a semester. The group traveled to Kansas City, Mo.; St. Joseph, Mo.; and Omaha, Neb., for competitions in sparring and forms categories.
Sparring entails fights between competitors, and forms are prearranged fight sequences.
The judges are responsible for rating the forms competitors on the categories of control, efficiency, intensity, power and technique.
Shaun Boyd, Kansas City, Kan., junior and club president, attributed the popularity of the martial art to modern American culture.
Six club members won events at the most recent meet in St. Joseph.
"The stuff we do is more of what you would see in the movies," Boyd said. "It is more feet than hands."
Tae Kwon Do Club member Daniel Wong, Wichita senior, practices kicks with Dean Royal (left), Lawrence resident. This is Wang's third year in the club. Photo by Selena Jabara/KANSAN
Boyd said he welcomed the challenge of tae kwon do compared to other.difficult martial arts forms.
"I've been doing tae kwon do since I was 12, and it
is a pretty hard martial art." Bovd said.
Sports Columnist
"A belt is just a belt," Boyd said. "My goal is to make myself better."
Even though Boyd has the elite status of being a second-degree black belt, he said the belt alone did not speak for his martial art standing.
Boyd said he planned on increasing his belt status by taking more tests, but he wanted to learn as much as he could about the sport, regardless of his belt status.
Amy Kuhn, Coldwater senior, is in her third year with the club. She competes with the team in its tournaments, and said she had grown to appreciate the club while earning a brown belt.
Other members of the club said they enjoyed the competition but also found other benefits to the club.
"It is a really good stress reliever, a great form of exercise and a way to improve self-defense," Kuhn said.
The University also offers a one-credit elective course in tae kwon do, which often serves as a gateway for members who join the club.
— Edited by Warisa Chulindra
Shawn Hutchinson
sports@kansan.com
Battlebots may be a menace to society and freshmen
True or False: I have watched the television show *BattleRots*.
True or False: After watching the show, I have thought about building and assembling my own BattleBot.
Sorry for the little exam two weeks before finals, but I just had to find out exactly what level this whole BattleBots craze has ascended to.
If you haven't seen the show or didn't even know it existed, let me get you up to speed before I move on. BattleBots is on every Wednesday night on Comedy Central, and they replay it every Saturday afternoon.
The gist of the show is that two robots, which usually have all kinds of metal spikes sticking out from them, duke it out in an enclosed ring while two less-than-normal guys operate the robots with remote controls behind a glass window.
So it's easy to see why this show is such a hit.
Meanwhile, scantily clad ladies are routinely shown in the crowd holding up signs with the names of their favorite robots, while the rest of the crowd is made up of guys you would normally see at a Star Trek convention.
Think about it. If people are actually watching this show on a regular basis, it won't be long before they begin to think that they can build and assemble their own BattleBot.
Well, "hit" may be stretching it, but Comedy Central seems to be sticking with it. I've watched the show on a couple of occasions and came away terribly vexed. Is it supposed to be funny? Is it supposed to be serious? Will this show soon cause the downfall of civilization?
It's human nature. You see a mechanical robot that whips around a seveninch spike in a circular motion at an alarming speed, and automatically you want to figure out how you can build one. too.
This worries me. Just think about what would happen if this craze suddenly spread like wildfire around campus. Imagine that some poor freshman kid is walking home south from Watson Library. At the same time, two seniors are walking north toward Watson Library, all the while testing out their recently constructed robot, equipped with 14 miniature chainsaws. Yeah, that scenario has front page of the Kansan written all over it.
So, for the safety of those on campus and for the well-being of all freshmen, I have taken the liberty to look up some safety guidelines on the official BattleBot Web site. The site warns readers that, "Building BattleBots is dangerous. Don't build them or operate them unless you are qualified to do so, or supervised by a qualified adult."
Intriguingly, I witnessed a 10-year-old boy operating a BattleBot during Saturday's show, and I must say the adult looked less than qualified.
Terribly vexed, indeed.
In all honesty, the official BattleBots Web site spent a great deal of time delving into other safety specifics. I didn't really put a lot of time and effort into reading those particular specifics, but I'm sure all the basics were there
— don't stick your eye into any metal spikes, don't control your BattleBot while in the nude, don't stare directly at your BattleBot, don't let your child ride on your BattleBot for more than three minutes unattended.
Laugh all you want. Go ahead. Build and operate your own BattleBot. What do I care? But believe me, it's all fun and games until somebody loses a toe.
Nutchinson is an Overland Park coeditor in journalism.
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