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SPORTS
1B
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
WWW.KANSAN.COM/SPORTS
Volleyball faces strong Cornhusker tradition
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2002
The Kansas volleyball squad drew first blood in their very first meeting with Nebraska. Since then, Nebraska has avenged the loss, overdoing so for the next 27 years.
By Jason Hwang
jhwang@kansan.com
Kansan sportswriter
the Hawkys who are 14-4 overall and 5-4 in the Big 12 this year, will try to end a two-match losing streak this season when they take on the No. 4 Nebraska Cornhuskers (17-1, 9-0) at 7 p.m. tonight at the Horejsi Family Athletics Center. Kansas is coming off losing two 3-0 sweeps to Missouri and Kansas State over fall break.
next 127 years.
Nebraska has won 59 consecutive Big
12 matches. The Cornhuskers are 67-1
all-time against Kansas. Nebraska has
not lost in the series since 1975 when
the Jayhawks won in their first game against
the Cornhusker.
"You can still become a better team even through this adversity," Kansas coach Ray Bechard said. "Being better is our goal, even though the wins and losses didn't work out like maybe we've hoped for."
The Cornhuskers are coming off a 3-0 sweep over Baylor at home Saturday. Not only does Nebraska lead the Big 12 in their 9-0 conference record, but they are first in several statistical categories, including team hitting percentage (.319), opponent hitting percentage (.114), blocks (3.49 per game), and service aces (2.02 per game).
Senior outside hitter Laura Pilakowski, the reigning Big 12 player of the week, leads the Cornhuskers. She is eighth in the conference averaging 3.88 kills per game. Freshman middle blocker Melissa Elmer is tied with Kansas's Michaels for first in hitting percentage (.391).
"I think a lot of teams face the Nebraska match saying 'hey, this is a no-lose situation for us,'" Bechard said. "But you face a team that's very confident that's used to being in this situation. Nothing should change about how you compete."
"I think in playing Nebraska we just have to go in there and put those two games behind us, move on and play our best game," Ashley Michaels, sophomore middle blocker said.
—Edited by Sarah Hill
Kansan File Photo
The Jayhawks will try to end a two-match losing streak when they take on No. 4 Nebraska tonight in Horesji Family Athletics Center.
The football team has incorporated a new drill into its practice workout that pits cornerbacks and safeties one-on-one against receivers to improve the secondary. Kansas' pass coverage ranks tenth in the Big 12 and has allowed an average of 227.5 yards a game.
Drills intensify for team
By Doyle Murphy
dmurphy@kansan.com
Kansan sportswriter
Kansas opponents have focused on the Jayhawk pass coverage all season. Now Kansas coach Mark Mangino has taken that spotlight to practice.
Mangino added a drill to the Jayhawks' workouts that pitted cornerbacks and safeties against receivers in one-on-one competitions to improve the secondary. To add a little heat to the battle, all players and coaches not
Mangino said the exercise was fun for the players, but it served as an invaluable learning tool for the Jayhawks' much-maligned secondary.
involved in the drill gathered along the sidelines to watch. Defensive players cheered for the secondary and offensive players for the receivers.
"We're holding those kids accountable," Mangino said. "And we're telling them by having the rest of their teammates watching that it is an important area of our game that we need to improve."
Kansas' pass coverage ranks tenth in the Big 12 conference. Through eight games this season, it has allowed an average of 227.50 yards per game. Last weekend, Texas A&M junior quarterback Dustin Long exposed the Jayhawk secondary even further. He lit up Kansas for 399 yards on 18-of-32 passing, a new Aggie record.
Part of the Jayhawks' pass protection problems against Texas A&M resulted from a defensive scheme that packed
SEE DRILLS ON PAGE 10B
Mizzou's freshman QB a threat
By John Domoney
jdomoney@kansan.com
Kansan sportswriter
Coach Mark Mangino does not have to look hard to find the strength of the Tiger offense as the Kansas football team prepares for Saturday's border war against Missouri.
Missouri's second-ranked offense in the Big 12 Conference is centered around the arms and legs of freshman
quarterback Brad Smith.
"First of all, when he's in the pocket, if he can't find his reads or there's nobody open, he has no problem pulling the ball down and flushing the
Brad Smith
Similar to the quarterback competition that Kansas had in the opening weeks of fall practice, Smith was
pocket," Mangino said. "Whatever they ask of him, Brad Smith is excellent at doing it."
Kansan File Photo
Kansas is preparing to face the second-ranked Missouri offense Saturday. Redshirt freshman Brad Smith beat out Kirk Farmer, above, for this year's starting quarterback position.
SEE TIGERS ON PAGE 10B
Tennis needs five tourney wins for championship trip
By Jonah Ballow
jballow@kansan.com
Kansan sportsswinter
Their quest begins today at the Omni Hotels ITA Central Regionals in Tulsa, Okla. The tournament runs until Sunday. Six singles players and three doubles
Members of the Kansas tennis team need five straight wins to earn a trip to the National Indoor Championships.
teams will represent Kansas.
teams will repeat, "We have great team atmosphere and we are reaching full stride," coach Kilimeny Waterman said. "Now that we have some older players they believe they can compete with the other teams in the region."
the region. The main singles draw will start tomorrow with juniors Emily Haylock and Courtney Steinbock. Both players will have to reach the finals in order to qualify
for the National Indoor Championships.
For the qualifying round, senior Kim Lorenz and freshman Christine Skoda have a tough road to the finals, needing three wins to advance. Junior Kristen Steinbock is suffering from back pain that will allow her to play only doubles.
"We have a lot of talented players but our strength is in doubles and we need to gain consistency in singles," Waterman said.
The main doubles draw will begin Friday featuring all three doubles teams for the Jayhawks. Heading the doubles teams are the Steinbock twins followed by Haylock and Brown, and Lorenz and Skoda.
Thirty-one teams will compete in the tournament with hopes of reaching the National Indoor Championships which run from Nov. 7 to 10 in Dallas, Texas.
Edited by Matt Gehrke
Joey Berlin
jberlin@kansan.com
Basketball recruit is in grave shape
team's friend
Don't be worried about Graves — be happy. If Williams is that angry, Graves must be one hell of a player.
Jeff Graves came to Kansas grotesquely overweight and that made Roy Williams mad. So mad that Williams blasted Graves at the men's basketball team's media day.
His lack of conditioning became Kansas basketball's hottest story of the offseason after he arrived this fall weighing 292 pounds, 37 pounds above his weight at Iowa Western Community College last season.
At last report, Graves was at 275 pounds and hadn't passed either of two mandatory running tests to Williams's satisfaction. On media day, Williams said Graves was "officially not a member of our team yet."
Sounds bad, right? Graves, the only scholarship member of this year's two recruits expected to play much this season, is in Williams' doghouse. But Williams' comments are also telling in a good way. He expects more out of Graves — a lot more.
One of the strangest things about coaches is the way they handle the media. When things go wrong, many coaches tend to use the press to point the finger at their stars rather than at their less effective players. It's hard to see why coaches think this is a good idea, but they do it all the time.
After the Philadelphia 76ers were eliminated from the NBA playoffs last season, coach Larry Brown made pointed remarks about the lax practice habits of superstar shooting guard Allen Iverson, ignoring the fact that without Iverson, the 76ers wouldn't have even sniffed the playoffs. That led to Iverson's infamous "We talkin' 'bout practice" press conference, in which he used that phrase about 176 times.
Conversely, coaches always have good things to say about their struggling players and "scrubs." Williams himself spent a good portion of 1998-2001 defending underachieving center Eric Chenowith in the press, as Chenowith drew the disgust of Jayhawk fans. You'll never hear Williams say anything like, "Until Michael Lee averages at least five points a game, he's officially not a member of our team."
This year, Graves is supposed to come off the bench and give Nick Collison and Wayne Simien a break from the front-court. Graves isn't just the best option for that role. He's the only option.
Without Graves, Williams doesn't have a lot of choices when Collison and Simien need a rest, unless you consider it worthwhile to have rail-thin freshman Moulaye Niang trying to post up on the opposition's power forward. Or Williams could play a four-guard offense and give up a ton of interior baskets. Even better, Collison and Simien could play all 40 minutes and wear themselves out by the fifth game of the season.
None of these options are desirable,
or even feasible. Williams needs Graves
this year, and he knows it.
If a less important player, such as freshman walk-on Christian Moody, had arrived at school overweight, chances are we wouldn't hear much about it. But Williams is airing his frustrations about Graves' conditioning because he knows Graves, who averaged 16.6 points and 8.2 rebounds per game last season, is one of this year's best junior college transfers. He has the potential to be a great player. And with almost a month left to get in shape before its first regular-season game, it's likely he'll be a huge help to the Jayhawks.
Berlin is a Leawood senior in journalism.
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