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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER
Commentary
Brian
Hanni
Columnist
sportsakansan.com
BER15,2001
Guards are in top form on all sides
**Guard** (gard) *v.* To watch over or shield from danger or harm -n. Basketball stars that can score, pass and steal at will. The best of which can be found at Kansas.
OK, OK. So, I may have doctored up Webster's version just a bit, but let's face it, this year Roy Williams has quite an arsenal at his disposal. And of all positions, he's especially loaded at guard.
The Kansas men's basketball coach has both quantity and quality at the position, and even though the front-court could be the nation's best, according to ESPN.com, the difference makers this year might just come from the guard position.
This year's group of guards is filled with some great shooters and fantastic ball distributors. It also has guys with promise on the defensive side as well. This year's squad has it all, and they're lead by the complete package: Kirk Hinrich.
Kirk Hinrich. Hinrich is one of the best talents in the nation. Duke's Jason Williams and Illinois' Frank Williams are the top floor generals in the country, but after those two, I'd give the ball to Kirk any day of the week.
day of Hinrich can do it all. He can score, he can pass and he can defend. Hinrich showed flashes of all three Tuesday night when he shot 6 of 9 from the floor, grabbed three steals and had a 9-0 assist-to-turnover ratio against Fort Hays State. Hinrich made more strides this summer than any other returning jayhawk and is poised to have a big junior campaign.
Another great guard in the Kansas lineup is Jeff Boschee, who returns for his senior year and looks to play a huge role in the Jayhawk backcourt. Boschee will likely break Billy Thomas' three-point record by midseason, and if he shoots like he did Tuesday night (5-7 from three-point range) he could have it before Christmas.
Then there's Aaron Miles, the blue-chipper from Portland, Ore. Miles comes in ranked by many as the second-best recruit at point guard in the entire nation. He'll have some big shoes to fill because he's wearing Jacque Vaughn's old number, but if he continues to dazzle fans with fancy dribbling and behind-the-back passes like he has so far, claiming No. 11 as his own won't be a problem.
Starting Hinrich, Boschee and Miles definitely makes for a smaller lineup, but so far no one's complaining as the trio is finding numerous ways to score and has set up its front-court mates on plenty of occasions.
court mates on play with If Williams decides to stick with the three-guard lineup, some of the best guard talent in the nation will be on display all at once. Fortunately for Kansas though, the good play at guard doesn't stop with the starters.
First off the bench is another Jayhawk debuting in the backcourt this year, shooting guard Keith Langford. The Fort Worth, Texas, freshman gave Kansas fans a glimpse of his potential Tuesday when he put up 14 points on 6-of-6 shooting. His ability to score from both inside and out should help the Jayhaws immediately this year.
Senior Brett Ballard and freshman Michael Lee are very capable backups and help to make this unit the deepest one on the team. It's arguably Williams' best set of guards ever.
If this group plays to its potential and makes headlines in March, my guard definition might not sound so silly. This could be a defining year for Kansas basketball, but it has to start with the guards.
Hanni is a Topke senior in broadcast management.
Ready for postseason p
Soccer team will play Brigham Young today in its first-ever appearance at the NCAA tournament
By Ryan Wood Kansan sportswriter
For the first time ever, the Kansas soccer team will get a taste of the big dance — November madness, if you will.
The Jayhawks (13-6) travel to Lincoln, Neb., to take on Brigham Young in the first round of the NCAA tournament at 4:30 p.m. today Host Nebraska will take on Boston College in the other game
played in Lincoln. The two winners will meet at 7 p.m. Saturday.
After recording losing seasons every year since its 1995 debut, Kansas will finally get a share of the national spotlight.
"I think it's great," coach Mark Francis said. "We have made huge hurds this year."
This year's squad has beaten nearly every Kansas record in the book. However, even with the team's accomplishments this season, the Kansas soccer program has never won a postseason game.
ay
The team's attempt to remove that stain in the Big 12 tournament was unsuccessful, as they fell 1-0 in double overtime to Missouri. The at-large berth that the Jayhawks received Monday gave them life after the season and the missed
chance in Big 12 tournament play
Although most of the team is new to the NCAA tournament experience, three players — junior midfielder Brooke Jones, sophomore forward Lacey Woolf and junior defender Pardis Brown — participated in past tournaments for other schools.
"It's a lot different," said Jones, who transferred from Nebraska before this season. "If you lose, you're done. It's great to be here and obviously it's great for our program."
Brigham Young (13-6-1) earned an automatic bid after capturing the regular season and Mountain West Conference tournament titles. The team is making its fifth-straight appearance in the tournament.
"They play with me ve midfielders, so obviously we're goi g to have to play some defense." Jone said. "We need to keep doing what we e been doing."
Notes:
- Three other teams from the Big 12 Conference are making appearances in the NCAA tournament. Texas, Texas A&M and Nebraska are joining the Jayhawks in the 64-team bracket. Texas and Kansas are making their first appearance.
Brown hails from Salt Lake City, Utah, hometown of Brigham Young. Her father, Mansour Arizi and played soccer for the Cougars.
Rebounding hinders' Hawks
Contact Wood at 86 -485R
Despite Saturday victory, Fort Hays State snagged nearly twice as many boards as Kansas
Kansas senior center Kristin Geoffroy puts up a shot against a Houston Jaguars defender during the Jayhawks' first exhibition game last week. Geoffroy and Kansas were out rebounded by Fort Hays State on Saturday 48-30.
By Jessica Scott Kansan sportswriter
Although the season has yet to begin, the Kansas women's basketball team already recognizes that rebounding is a weak area.
Saturday afternoon against Fort Hays State, Kansas failed to use its height advantage, beginning early in the game. By halftime, Fort Hays State tallied almost twice as many rebounds as Kansas, 32-17, with the Jayhawks leading by only eight points. In the end, the Tigers won the battle of the boards 48-30, but Kansas managed to pull out the victory 72-56.
Three Jayhawk seniors contributed a team-high four rebounds each — center Nikki White, guard Kristin Geoffroy and guard K.C. Hilgenkamp. Meanwhile, two Tigers, junior forwards Selma Barbosa and Jamie Heimel, led Fort Hays State with nine rebounds each. Heiman and Barbosa are 6 feet and 6 feet 1 inch, respectively. Though Hilgenkamp is 5 feet 10 inches, White is taller than both Tigers at 6 feet 3 inches, and Geoffroy is 6 feet 6 inches.
White said she hoped the Jayhawks' difficulties off the boards wouldn't be a trend.
"We really needed to get our bodies on somebody and that's something we didn't do, get our bodies on them and push them back." White said, "I think we relied a lot on our athletic ability to jump them to get rebounds. That wasn't working and it took us too long to try and adjust."
look at too long. Kansas coach Marian Washington said she hoped to fix the rebounding problem any way she could.
"We're going to try as many different things as we can because it's got to be something that we commit to." Washington said. "We've been preaching it and we've
worked real hard on it. It will be something we work on every single day because we cannot have this kind of thing happen."
However, Washington said she was not discouraged by Saturday's performance.
that we faced and we had to work through a lot of things and I think that hopefully, we'll be a little better next time. We've got to be."
"For our kids, it gave us a real good situation," she said. "It was a good team
Contact Scott at 864-4858
Football recruiting finds new plight
Bv Brent Briggeman
Kansan sportswriter
staff.
Uncertain about their own future with the school, the coaches are being asked to convince top athletes that Kansas is the place for them. It's been a tough sell.
"I haven't seen anybody gain on it," said offensive line coach Sam Pittman, who said several recruits had been lost since the coaching change. "We're just trying to ride out the storm."
Recruiting has taken on a new challenge for the Kansas football coaching staff.
Interim coach Tom Hayes, who has been heavily involved in the recruiting
"All we can do is just try to get them to stay with us over this period and realize that it won't be long until something will be taken care of," Hayes said. "They'll have plenty of time to make their visits and make their decision."
process since arriving in Lawrence last spring, said it had been important to stay in contact with recruits and answer questions they may have along the way.
The situation became unstable when former coach Terry Allen was fired early last week with three games remaining in the season.
As the transition continues, Kansas coaches have continued to hit the recruiting trail. Last week seven different coaches attended high school games to evaluate players. Coaches watch high school and junior college tapes daily as they continue to rank players.
"The day I heard it I was like. I'm not
However, in the process, the team may be losing potential recruits.
For Kansas seniors, the change is nothing new. Senior defensive back Brandon Wier was a senior at Olute North High School when Allen was hired. Allen brought his entire coaching staff from Northern Iowa, replacing the assistants that had been recruiting Wier.
SEE RECRUITS PAGE 5A
VOL EYBALL
Agg es end
Jay nawks'
two match
win streak
The Kansas volleyball team fell 3-1 to No. 13 T xas A&M last night in College Stati on Texas, snapping the lawhayws' tw match win streak.
The Jayha kks were able to beat the Aggies 3 -25 in the third game, but were def- ated in games one, two and four, 0-18, 30-20, 30-19, respectively.
"We pla veed extremely well in game three after the break," Kansas coach Ray Bechard said. "At intermission, we talked about prolonging the match, and we did just that. We extended t he time of the match to over two h ours. There are a lot of good team s that come down here and leave t ot being able to say that."
The loss stopped Kansas all-time record again at the Aggies to 0-13 and moved the team's season record to 15-14 over 11, 5-13 in the Big 12 Conference Texas A&M improved to 20-4,13 in the Big 12.
Kansas ed early in game one, 6-4,
after a kill by sophomore outside hit-
ter Sarah Rome. The Aggies battled
back, taki ing a 9-6 lead, but Kansas
was able to tie the game at 12 points
each. Texas A&M outscored the Jay-
hawks 18 - the rest of the way, taking
game one 30-18.
Texas &M dominated most of game two The Jayhawks made a late run, cutt ing a 22-12 Aggie lead to seven po nts. But Kansas couldn't keep the momentum and fell 30-20 in the sec ond game.
game three saw the Jayhawks grab an early -2 lead. But the Aggies rallied, scor ing five straight points, taking an 8 -7 lead. Kansas responded with a fiv e point run of its own, making the sc ore 12-8. Rome smashed her 10th kill of the match, helping Kansas take a 28 -20 lead. The Jayhawks even tually w o n game three 30-25.
The ame-three victory was the first by the Jayhawks in their last eight m tches against the Aggies.
Texa A&M put the Jayhawks in a hole ea ly in game four, and Kansas could n ever recover. The Aggies led by as n any as 10 points late in the game a d clinched the match against the Jay awks.
The ayhawks' next match — Saturday
gainst Texas — will be the team's final home contest of the season.
Steve Laurenzo
NCAA BASKETBALL
No.8 Missouu 86
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Air Force 58
NCAA BASKETBALL
No.13 Michigan St.
67
No.24 Oklahoma 55
NCAA BASKETBALL
No. 10 Iowa Boston University 90 61
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