Volume 124 Issue 44
kansan.com
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
COMMENTARY
Missouri will regret Big12 exit
Missouri looks to be well on its way to joining the Southeastern Conference. Although the SEC offers stability and financial security, Missouri will regret leaving the Big 12 when all's said and done.
Can you blame Missouri for getting hypnotized by the bright, glamorous lights of the SEC? To be fair, this is the conference that has won the last five BCS National Championships and sends more players to the NFL than any other conference.
But let's be realistic; Missouri is not Alabama, LSU or Florida. Missouri is a football program that did not start seeing consistent success until 2003 and as much as Missouri wants to believe that it can compete for SEC titles, the Tigers have never won an outright Big 8 or Big 12 title. Missouri's lone Big 8 championship was a shared title with Nebraska in 1969.
Kansas fans know better than most about the difficulties of sustaining success in football. The 2008 Orange Bowl win over Virginia Tech seems like a distant memory considering the current state of the football program. The upgraded competition on a weekly basis in the SEC could ultimately send the Tigers to bottom-feeder status along with Vanderbilt and Ole Miss.
Missouri has to consider that much of its success is due to head coach Gary Pinkel's recruiting prowess in Texas. Missouri's football team currently has 35 players on roster from Texas, but Pinkel can expect that pipeline to shrink considerably if the school moves to the SEC.
Yes, the Aggies will provide the SEC with a Texas school, but merely Texas &AM's presence in the SEC is not reassuring to families that want to see their sons play annually. Texas A&M is expected to be in the SEC West Division, while Missouri will reportedly join the SEC East. As a result, it could be years until the Tigers ever step foot in College Station.
Missouri will also regret turning its back on the 120-year rivalry series with Kansas. It's been well-documented that the Kansas-Missouri rivalry will end if Missouri leaves the Big 12, and the Tigers will find themselves lacking a true rival in the SEC.
Not only do long-standing, heated rivalries excite fans, but it also provides a financial boost to the rival universities and communities. Though it rarely gets the national attention of the Red River Rivalry or Michigan-Ohio State, the KU-MU rivalry is one of the most intense and culturally significant rivalries in the country. It is unfortunate that Missouri is so willing to throw that away.
In a conference built on the foundation of tradition, Missouri will lack exactly that in the SEC.
Edited by Ben Chipman
REFORMING A PROGRAM
STAYING DETERMINED
MIKE VERNON
mvernon@kansan.com
In Turner Gill's four years as the head coach at Buffalo, he had one winning season. So the impressive numbers on Gill's résumé as a head coach when Kansas hired him was not his overall record with the Bulls, but the impressive turnaround he oversaw of a program that rivals.com called one of the three or four worst programs in the nation when he took over.
The thinking at Kansas when Gill was hired was that he could achieve similar success in Lawrence. That he could prevent the free fall of a program that had been at a peak just two years before.
And when Gill was asked during Monday's Big 12 Media Teleconference to compare his experience rebuilding at Kansas to what he experienced at Buffalo, he shed a little bit of light on the two very difficult situations.
"Well I think there are a little bit of some similarities, in that were still trying to find ways to continue to get our players to execute and understand what we're trying to get accomplished offensively and defensively." Gill said.
Yet the improvement in his Buffalo teams between his first and second year was substantial. He took a team that went 8-49 under its previous coach, Jim Hoffer, and led them to a five-in second season. Even in 2006, Gill's first year at Buffalo, his 2-10 team set a record for the most points scored in a season at Buffalo since it had become a Division I program in 1999.
His second year showed clear improvement and Gill was named the Mid-American Conference Coach of the Year. In his third season, the Bulls went 8-5 and defeated No. 12 Ball State to win the MAC Championship and go to Buffalo's first ever bowl game.
So while Gill said there are some similarities between his
Buffalo years and his two thus far at Kansas, the improvement Buffalo showed on the field during Gill's first two seasons with the Bulls has not been similar to what Kansas has showed in his first season and a half playing home games at Memorial Stadium.
"I think we've made some improvement on the offensive side, some improvement on special teams, but defense unfortunately has been the biggest area where we have just not been able to make that improvement." Gill said.
And with Kansas athletic director Sheaon Zenger's recent comments saying that the team's recent performance is not one that any Kansas fan, alumni, player, coach or administrator should accept, it may turn out to be those defensive struggles that end Gill's tenure at Kansas.
His defense is on pace to record the most points allowed in one season. In the Jayhawks' seven games this season, they have been outscored by a total of 142 points, and even Gill said the 59-21 loss to No. 12 Kansas State was a step in the wrong direction.
But the Jayhawks have also played the toughest schedule in the nation, making it difficult for much improvement to be seen. It can be difficult to tell what direction a program is moving in when every team it's faced is undefeated, like the Jayhawks have.
Gill said losing defensive coordinator Carl Torbush has been part of the reason the defense has not been able to improve as quickly as anticipated. At Buffalo, Gill had ample time to change things around for the better, and it remains to be seen whether Gill will get that time at Kansas.
MIKE GUNNOE/KANSAN
"It's a process and I feel very confident still that we're going to get some things done," Gill said. "It's just going to take some time to be able to move forward."
Coach Turner Gill watches as senior tight end Time Beire pulls in a reception against Kansas State. The Jayhawks lost the game and are now 2-5 for the season, yet team members remain optimistic.
Edited by Sarah Champ
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Junior captain ready to lead team
Junior guard Monica Engelman lays the ball up during a scrimmage Friday at Allen Fieldhouse. Engelman is expected to be a key leader for this year's team.
MIKE GIINNOF/KANSAN
KATHLEEN GIER
kgier@kansan.com
Almost every top 10 list from the 2010-2011 Kansas women's basketball season features junior guard Monica Engelman. She led the team in three point percentage, was second in scoring and second in steals. Engelman became a staple on the court for the Jayhawks, starting in all 34 games last season.
This year, she enters the season as an experienced veteran for the Jayhawks and serves as one of the team's three captains.
Coach Bonnie Henrickson said that she has come to count on Engelman for consistency since her freshman year when Engelman filled in for the injured Daniel McCray.
"She got thrown into the fire when Danielle went down Monica's freshman year," Henrickson said. "She went from eight or nine minutes to playing 30 minutes a game so she was probably a little more prepared for her sophomore year because of that experience."
Engelman said she appreciates the opportunity to have played so many games and she
values the experience that she gained.
"Coming into my junior year, I have something to look back on," Engelman said. "I know what I should be able to do and I have confidence."
Engelman logged 1,114 minutes of play last season which ranks seventh in program history behind names like Lynette Woodard, McCray and Lynn Pride who all played professionally after graduating from Kansas. In the 67 games she has played at Kansas she has started 47 of them and played more than 30 minutes in 29 of them.
She has also scored more than 10 points in 33 of her games and has led the team 11 times in scoring.
Engelman had to step up last season as a sophomore and show that she could handle the pressure of leading the team when point guard Angel Goodrick sat out nine games with another knee injury.
"It gave her) the responsibility and the sense of urgency that she had because she couldn't make any mistakes," Henrickson said. "From that standpoint it has allowed her to learn and to grow and from
a confidence standpoint as well," Henrickson said.
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Engelman faces a new challenge this year, but it comes from the court itself. The three-point line, where Engelman finds success, was moved back one foot to match-up with the men's line. This poses a unique test for her league leading three point percentage in conference play.
She ranks tenth all time in three-point percentage after shooting 39.5 percent from behind the arch and in conference play improved her statistics to shoot 43.1 percent.
"I think I already was shooting where the new line is at but my toes were on the line so I have to take a step back," Engelman said. "It changes the game and makes it more challenging."
In addition to adjusting her shot, Engelman is working on broadening her range and changing her game style.
"I think I have proven that I can shoot the ball, but to grow my game I need to put the ball on the floor," Engelman said.
— Edited by Ben Chipman
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