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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
SPORTS COMMENTARY
Andy Samuelson asamuelson@kansan.com
State rivals must break monotony
The Sunflower Showdown used to be a bitter rivalry.
The games football or basketball used to matter the outcomes were in doubt, and fans were passionate about the events on the field.
The Sunflower State showdown now is nothing more than a beer-drinking revelry
The games football and basketball don't matter, not to Kansas when it comes to the pigskin or Kansas State when the round ball starts rolling, the outcomes are never in doubt, and fans are more passionate about the events taking place in the parking lot.
"As far as it being a rivalry, it should be a rivalry," said Kansas football coach Mark Mangino this week before Saturday's big game. "But we haven't kept up our end of the deal on this rivalry."
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2002
Neither has Kansas State.
A rivalry requires competition. When's the last time these schools really competed in either of college's big-time sports?
Not last year. The Wildcats whipped the Jayhawks 40-6 at KSU Stadium in football. Kansas returned the favor in basketball with a 103-68 beating at Allen Fieldhouse.
How about three years ago? Nope, same story, different storytellers. The Wildcats won 50-9 in football in Manhattan and Kansas kicked Kansas State 87-79 in basketball in Lawrence.
One has to go back nearly a decade to find the last time either school upset the other in the sport that it dominates.
Six years? No. Eight? Huh-uh.
The Wildcat hoopsters knocked off the Jayhawks 68-64 in 1994 in Lawrence. Kansas State has proceeded to lose the next 22 meetings. What's more, the Wildcats have never defeated the Jayhawks in their own gym at Bramplige Coliseum.
On Oct. 10 in 1992, the Jayhawks triumphed 31-7 in football. But it's been downhill, a face-first roll to the bottom of Mount Oread, for the team ever since. Kansas State won the last nine games by a combined score of 354-91.
But this pair of 1-70 siblings used to scrap.
There were intense battles where Jay-hawk fans or Wildcat-faithful at least knew their teams stood a chance.
During one three-year stretch in the late 1980s the two schools split in basketball twice before each won two straight games. Before that, there were cycles when Kansas State would win five in a row before Kansas responded with 10 straight.
The two met in an epic NCAA tourney's Midwest Regional final in 1988.
There have been some frenzied football games as well.
From 1978 to 1987 the two swapped victories every year until a 17-all tie in 1987.
Kansas won four of the next five games before the Wildcats made the Jayhawks their whipping boy.
The thing is this. One-sided success sucks.
If you're a Kansas fan, why would you want to freeze and watch your team get slaughtered? And if you're watching basketball in Manhattan this season, lets hope it's the women's team.
"I am sure the young guys from Kansas feel a little something extra," Kansas State football coach Bill Snyder said of his in-state players heading into the big weekend.
Yeah, that it's not quite basketball season.
Samuelson is a Wichita senior in journalism.
Kansan file photo
Reggie Duncan, Kansas junior running back, is brought down by the Kansas State defense in the 2001 Sunflower State showdown. The Jayhawks and Wildcats will meet at 1 p.m.tomorrow at Memorial Stadium for the 100th football game between the schools.
Powers of 10 in Kansas
Jayhawks to play season's 10th game against Kansas State
By John Domoney
jdomoney@kansan.com
Kansan sportswriter
The number 10 is wildly connected to tomorrow's 100th renewal of the Sunflower State showdown between Kansas and Kansas State, beginning at 1 p.m. at Memorial Stadium.
This is the 10th game of the season for the Kansas football team, which stands 2-7 overall and 0-5 in the Big 12 Conference.
K-State is looking for its 10th straight victory over the Jayhawks.
The last time Kansas defeated K-State was 10 years ago. 31-7 in Lawrence.
After becoming 2-3 for the season, the Jayhawks have lost four games in a row including Saturday's 36-12 defeat at the hands of the Missouri.
This is the second straight season that Kansas got off to a 2-7 start, and it is the first time since 1998 that the Jayhawks have been 0-5 in the Big 12.
"We haven't kept up our end of the deal on this rivalry."
Mark Mangino
Kansas football coach
Kansas coach Mark Mangino was not a part of those previous Jayhawk teams, but he is no stranger to the rivalry after serving on the Wildcat coaching staff from 1991 to 1998.
Mangino said Kansas had to make the games more competitive to intensify the rivalry.
"We haven't kept up our end of the deal on this rivalry," he said. "We've suffered several defeats, and we just haven't been able to get our constituents as excited about this games as our opponents have."
The game has lost some of its luster over the past decade because the Wildcats have dominated the series.
Since the Jayhawks last defeated the Wildcats, K-State has beaten Kansas by an average of 29.2 points per game.
The Jayhawks set a team record in that game, holding the Wildcats to -56 rushing yards.
The wide margin of victory by Kansas State has Mangino stressing the importance of narrowing the gap between the two programs.
"It's just one of those things where we've got to play better in this game," Mangino said. "We've got to play with enthusiasm in this game, and we've got to make it a ball game."
A big part of Kansas' ability to stay close with the Wildcats may hinge on the play of senior quarterback Jonas Weatherbie, whose uniform number is, surprise, 10. Weatherbie will start in place of injured junior quarterback Bill Whittimore.
Weatherbie does not bring much experience, playing in only seven games during his career and completing 3-of-10 passes for 26 yards.
Weatherbie said he knew he must be effective against the Kansas State defense, which allows 267.6 yards per game and 13.4 points per game.Both
SEE FOOTBALL ON PAGE 5B
Nash hits the court after big summer
By Jessica Scott
By Jessica Scott
jscott@kansan.com
Kansan sportswriter
DALLAS—If expectations were Halloween candy, Bryant Nash would have a mouthful of cavities.
After all the talk surrounding his offseason improvements, the Kansas junior could feast on all the preseason praise. Nash's teammates did not hesitate to name him the most improved player yesterday at the Big 12 Conference Media Day.
"I've think a lot of guys improved, but the one I've seen the most improvement in is Bryant Nash," Hinrich said. "He played on the Big 12 all star team over the summer, and I think that really helped him. He's showing a better sense of knowing how to play in our system."
Seniors Nick Collison and Kirk Hinrich both campaigned for Nash, calling him their early favorite for the summer's hardest-working Jayhawk.
Nash played six summer games in Scandinavia. He averaged 4 points and two rebounds for the undefeated team. Williams said Nash had the potential to wow Kansas fans.
"He's got to get to the boards and help us out. When he does that he's pretty spectacular because he gets way up in the air," Williams said.
"He hasn't been nearly as consistent as I would like him to be," Williams said. "He will get to the offensive board and have a tremendous slam-dunk follow and you'll say 'wow' and then the next two times he doesn't get to the board and he'll turn it over."
But Nash returns after what some think was an unproductive sophomore campaign. He scored a career-high 8 points early in the season against Pittsburg State but ended the year averaging 1 point and 3.9 minutes per game. Kansas coach Roy Williams said consistency was Nash's downfall.
With the loss of two main scorers from a year ago and a shallow depth chart, the starting five need players like Nash to have breakout seasons.
"Bryant has just got to understand the simple things — don't turn it over, don't foul, don't hurt us and you can help us by not hurting us," Williams said. "If he can get that part of it down he can be good."
Runners to compete in Big 12 tournament
Edited by Lauren Beatty
By Justin Schmidt
jschmidt@kansan.com
Kansan sportswriter
Improvement will be Kansas' theme tomorrow when the postseason begins at the Big 12 Cross Country championships in Columbia. Mo.
The men finished seventh and the women finished eighth at last year's Big 12 championships.
"That's what we're going in to do: better ourselves from last year," coach Stanley Redwine said.
This will be Kansas' first competition against many of the Big 12 teams this season, including Big 12 heavyweight Colorado. The Buffalo men have won all six previous Big 12 championships and the women have won three. The Colorado men
SEE RUNNERS ON PAGE 6B
SPORTS COMMENTARY
Columnist picks'Cats to prevail
Kansas State's rise to prominence under coach Billy Snyder has been tabbed as a "Blueprint for success."
The same cannot be said when talking about the university just 80 miles east of Manhattan.
Chris Shank
chrisshank@yahoo.com
Throughout the last ten years K-State's and KU's fortunes have went their separate ways. In fact the Cats have safely controlled every Governor's Cup game since
1993. In the last decade of dominance K-State has outspotted KU 354-91.
Here are some of the highlights.
There hasn't been many hotly contested games as of late. But the last couple of years have been enjoyable to watch, with the Jayhawk program selfdestructing.
Who can forget hapless Zac Wegner? On the second possession of the 1998 game, he was knocked out for the season by a lethal hit served up simultaneously by former lynch mob members Jeff Kelly and Travis Litton.
The list of pathetic quarterbacks to don the crimson and blue and come away empty against the "Cats over the last decade is long and lengthy. The likes of Jay Alexander, Matt Johner and Mario Kinsey join Wenger and Smith as those who were destroyed by K-State while at the helm of the Jayhawk ship.
The lynch mob found yet another Jayhawk signal-caller in their last trip to Lawrence in 2000 as well. On his first possession, quarterback Dylen Smith was strung up by former Wildcat defensive end Chris Johnson forcing Smith to fumble and knocking KU's starting signal-caller out of the game for two series.
Ah, and who can forget Chalupagate. A few weeks before the end of the 1999 season, KU's senior defensive end, Dion Rayford, pulled into the drive-thru of a Taco Bell in Lawrence wanting some food. After ordering, Rayford then attempted to jump through the drive-thru window and got stuck doing so, looking for some free tasty treats.
The stunned and scared employees then called the police and Rayford was arrested.
I heard that he was angry that an employee accused him of playing football for KU.
Arrests dealing with cheap chow don't just end there for the "Flaw on the Kaw." Former starting pot-head, I mean quarterbac't, Mario Kinsey, along with tail back Reggie Duncan stole a purse from a KU coed. Then Kinsey and Duncan attempted to order a pizza with the poor girl's credit card and were surprised to get arrested for the crime.
The coaches have not done much better at looking intelligent. Take for example Terry Allen, former KU head coach and town crier. Allen in 2000 proclaimed that he believed that KU had closed the talent gap with the 'Cats.
Later that week, a Jonathan Beasley led K-State squad, slaughtered the Jayhawks 52-13.
Current coach, Mark Mangino, tries to compare himself and his situation to Bill Snyder's when he first arrived in Manhattan. But Mangino picked up some "Sooner Swagger" and lost some class when he took the offensive coordinators job at Oklahoma.
Also, Mangino hasn't learned from his predecessor mistakes. Tuesday Mangino said, "History shows that they always play much, much better in Manhattan than they usually play on the road."
Unfortunately for the Youngstown State Penguin, Saturday will be like
SEE SHANK ON PAGE 5B
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