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SPORTS
1B
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
WWW.KANSAN.COM/SPORTS
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24. 2002
Bill Whittemore, junior quarterback, looks for an open man downfield early in the third quarter. Whittemore completed 18 passes for 188 yards and one touchdown.
Football needs consistent play
Mangino wants team to show brilliance throughout games
By John Domoney
jdomoney@kansan.com
Kansan sportswriter
The buzzword around the Kansas football practice fields this week is "consistency."
Through four games this season, the Jayhawks have yet to string together four quality quarters of productive football on either the offensive or defensive side of the ball.
This is reflected in Kansas' 1-3 record, in which its lone victory came against Division I-AA Southwest Missouri State.
State. The Jayhawk coaches and players know that for them to win against a Division I-A school they must be able to play well the entire game and not just for a quarter or a half.
Kansas limited the Falcons to only 15 total first quarter yards Saturday against Bowling Green.. The Jayhawk offense, however, couldn't capitalize because it didn't score in the first quarter.
"We need to find a way to get that consistency that we're looking for because I believe we're a very capable team," said coach Mark Mangino in yesterday's Big 12 teleconference.
Mangino said his offense's inability to open up an early commanding lead or Bowling Green was partly because i could not put together a solid drive.
"On offense there are signs of brilliance and then moments when we are just not productive at all." Mangino said.
One area the Jayhawk offense wasn't productive in was the running game, anchored by freshman running back Clark Green.
Against Southwest Missouri State. Green amassed 131 yards on 24 carries. He was limited to 56 yards on 18 carries against Bowling Green.
The Kansas team was outgained on the ground as the Jayhawks rushed for 89 total yards in last Saturday's game compared to 350 yards for the Falcons.
In its four games this year, Kansas averages 107 yards per game on the ground compared to 271 yards for the opponent.
So far the passing game has overshadowed Kansas' running attack largely because of the emergence of junior quarterback Bill Whittemore.
Mangino said he viewed Whittemore and Green as the players he could build his offense around. He also said he was pleased with the improvement of the wide receivers but that the unit needed to work on meeting Whittemore's passes.
"On two or three of those routes our receivers just slowed down and started looking for the ball," Mangino said. "They need to continue their routes and get the leverage they need and trust that the quarterback is going to get the ball there."
As a team, Kansas is looking to continue to build on progress gained through game experience and during practice.
SEE FOOTBALL ON PAGE 6P
Fall wins may spring softball team in real season
By Steve Schmidt
sschmidt@kansan.com
Kansan sportswriter
Although the Kansas softball team doesn't officially begin its season until February, it never hurts to start a winning trend in fall exhibition games.
The Jayhawks did just that, winning three of five games in the Fall Husker Classic in Lincoln, Neb., during the weekend. Kansas made it all the way to the tournament championship game Sunday before falling 4-0 to host and Big 12 nemesis Nebraska.
"I think we did well for being such a young team," junior pitcher Kara Pierce said. "By playing Nebraska, we realized we got some things to work for the spring."
things to work for the spring Kansas batters could only watch as Nebraska pitcher Peaches James struck out eight Jayhawks in seven innings of work.
Kansas reached the final round behind a 4-0 shutout of Oklahoma City University with Pierce striking out 13.
On Saturday the team won its first two tournament games, defeating Colorado State 4-2 and Oklahoma City4-0. Sophomore pitcher Serena Settlemier recorded 12 strikeouts in the second game.
SEE SOFTBALL ON PAGE 6B
Tennis team plays tough wins key matches at Tulsa
by Jonah Ballow
jballow@kansan.com
Kansan Sports Writer
Emily Haylock began her tennis season with a bang.
"I felt pretty good during the matches," she said. "I was able to keep the ball in play and let her make mistakes."
Haylock, junior, won both her singles and doubles matches Friday at the 10th Annual Tulsa Women's Tennis Hurricane Invitational.
Haylock cruised past Texas-Arlington's Anete Rozkalne, 6-0, 7-5 and then teamed with sophomore Paige Brown and defeated Jitka Vetrovcova and Katherine Warren, 8-3.
Freshman Christian Skoda had no trouble getting past Warren in a 6-1, 6-1 victory.
The Jayhawks dominated Texas- Arlington's doubles teams and won all three doubles matches.
Saturday was rough for Kansas.
Only Junior Courtney Steinbock won a singles match. She topped Southwest Missouri State's Marta Rubina 6-2, 6-1. Brown and Haylock earned their second doubles victory of the tournament by defeating Rubina and Laura Alvarez 8-3.
Sunday Haylock won her second singles match of the tournament, defeating Tulsa's Mariana Barrios 6-1. 6-1. The rest of the Kansas tennis team struggled in its singles matches.
struggled in its single match. Steinbock to Tulsa's Alicia Pilay in straight sets, 6-2, 6-2. Brown took the first set in a match with Aleksandra Durska but was unable to close the match, losing 5-7, 6-0, 6-0.
The Jayhawks will next play in the Indiana Invitational Oct. 4-6 in Bloomington, Ind.
Haylock said she was not worried about the early struggles for the team.
KU freshmen Luke Trammell lines up a putt on the 9th hole. The Jayhawks hosted this year's KU Invitational at Alvamar Golf & Country Club
"We have really good chemistry," she said. "We just need to play more matches during practice to help us get ready for the longer three set matches."
Golfers aim for Invitational title
By Ryan Greene rgreene@kansan.com Kansan sportswriter
After a two-year hiatus, the Kansas Invitational has returned to the Alvamar Golf & Country Club, and the Jayhawks are coming into today's final round with a strong showing yesterday.
Kansas is in third place as a team after two rounds of play yesterday with a score of 580. The four-over-par total is 16 strokes behind Baylor and one stroke
behind Wichita State.
Freshman Pete Krsnich,competing as an individual,and senior Chris Marshall are in the top five heading into today's action. Krsnich is third,with a score of 140,and Marshall is tied for fourth at 142.
Marshall said he didn't play as well as he normally did.
he hanked.
"I made a lot of pars but could not get the ball to drop on some birdie putts," Marshall said.
The team starts today with a chance of
capturing its second successive Kansas Invitational title, but coach Ross Randall said the team could have ended Monday on more solidly.
"I was disappointed that the guys finished poorly each round," Randall said. "The last couple of holes I think we probably lost five or six shots."
Along with Marshall, other Jayhawks competing for the team are junior Tyler Hall, sophomore Andrew Price, and
SEE GOLF ON PG 6B
Jayhawk basketball plays with weaker bench team this season
The Kansas men's basketball team is almost everyone's preseason No.1 pick this year, and for good reason. The Jayhawks are starting five features, three good sophomores and two All-American candidates.
One overlooked facet of Kansas' run to the Final Four last year was the masterful way Roy Williams used his bench players. Williams rotated Wayne Simien, Keith Langford and Jeff Carey in-and-out of the lineup with perfection, keeping everyone on the floor fresh. Despite its fast-paced offensive attack, rarely did Kansas look tired. Williams didn't have a lot of options on his bench, but he had quality players and he used them well.
But almost no one is mentioning a problem that could plague this Jayhawk team in its toughest games: the bench.
Langford and Simien, both outstanding as freshmen, are now starters, and Carey is gone. So is Brett Ballard, who took what significant minutes were left. That leaves—not much.
The Jayhawks have forward Jeff Graves, a transfer from Iowa Western Community College. Graves is the only bench player who Williams can count on to contribute. The 6-foot-7, 275-pound Graves averaged 16.8 points per game last year. He will be a player.
He'll have do an even better job this year, because his bench won't have quantity or quality.
Then there's point guard Jeff Hawkins, who has been talked up more than any redshirt freshman in recent memory. People talk about Hawkins like he's a secret weapon, but it's hard not to be skeptical. First, Hawkins played high school ball in Kansas City,
Joey Berlin
jberlin@kansan.com
Kansas. That doesn't mean Hawkins can't be a contributor, but it does mean he faced inferior competition in high school.
Second, how good can Hawkins be if he redshirted? Kansas didn't have any point guards off the bench last year other than Ballard, but Hawkins redshirted anyway. That's not a good sign. Still, let's assume Hawkins is good enough to play regularly. That's two useful bench players.
This is where it gets really scary, Bryant Nash? In two years of limited action, Nash has shown great athletic gifts—speed, jumping ability—and looked clueless knowing how to use those gifts in a basketball game.
Despite his problems, Nash is Kansas' best bet to be a surprise contributor this season. In many ways, he resembles Nick Bradford, another small forward of similar size who started horribly but worked hard on his game and scrapped his way to usefulness. If Nash can just reach Bradford's level of contribution, he would help immensely.
But Nash, currently out with a broken thumb, isn't guaranteed to improve, and that's about where the hope for a strong bench ends. Michael Lee, sophomore guard, showed flashes of shooting ability last year but was rarely allowed to touch the ball. Moulaye Niang, a freshman for-
Having a weak bench isn't the end of the world. On paper, Kansas' starting five are the best in the country. Even if the Jayhawks get little production from their backups, they're still national title contenders and Big 12 Conference favorites. They'll still pound Emporia State.
State.
But in close games, starters get tired, especially while running a full-court offense. Starters also get in foul trouble. And it's best not to think about the possibility of a long-term injury to any starter, which could cripple Kansas in the NCAA Tournament.
If Williams still finds himself without a national championship next April, he may wish he had just one more quality bench player.
Berlin is a Leawood senior in journalism.
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