Volume 124 Issue 40
kansan.com
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Kansas' admirable first-half showing against No. 3 Oklahoma was definitively encouraging, but avoiding embarrassment doesn't translate into more victories this season.
When, arguably, a team's best Big 12 performance comes in a 30-point loss at home, optimism will undoubtedly be in short supply. Last weekend, the favored Sooners rolled into the game unmotivated and disinterested in playing a team that gave up 70 points to the Cowboys just a week earlier. It seemed as if quarterback Landry Jones and the Sooners were solely set on getting wide receiver Ryan Broyles his reception record and cruising to an easy victory.
The schedule isn't doing Kansas any favors. For the seventh game in a row, the Jayhawks and their 120th-ranked defense will face an undefeated opponent. This time, No. 11 Kansas State comes to Lawrence for a game that could give Kansas more trouble than Oklahoma did.
COMMENTARY
Edited by Ben Chipman
If there is one game on the Kansas schedule that the team needs to win, this is it. Another loss like last year's 59-7 debacle, and Gill's $6 million buyout becomes a more reasonable investment for this football program.
It took a couple of improvised big plays by Kansas to wake up Oklahoma, and when the second half started. Oklahoma absolutely shut down any threat of a Jayhawk miracle.
K-State game a must-win
For Gill and his staff, this is easier said than done, as the jayhawks have failed to play effectively for an entire game thus far in conference play. Kansas needs to build off the promise it showed against Oklahoma to even have a praver at upsetting Kansas State.
Kansas State can be a whole different monster Saturday morning as coach Bill Snyder has emphasized the annual matchup with Kansas since he took over in Manhattan. Snyder holds a 15-4 record against Kansas, that including an 11-game winning streak.
At least on the offensive side of the ball, the contingent of running backs and Jordan Webb at quarterback actually put up better numbers than the Kansas State attack. The challenge Gill faces is outcoaching the man who has taken the team picked to finish eighth in conference all the way to the cusp of the BCS's top 10.
If the Jayhawks intend on competing with their in-state rival, the defense will have to play even better than it did against the Sooners. Oklahoma did not come storming out of the gates by any means, but K-State certainly could. Kansas' chances at getting a much-needed conference victory rests in the hands of coach Turner Gill and defensive coordinator Vic Shealv.
FRESH FACE
9
THARPE ON POINT
KORY CARPENTER
kcarpenter@kansan.com
Coach Bill Self and solid point-guard play go together almost as well as Self and conference championships.
Whether it was Dee Brown and Deron Williams at Illinois or Sherronn Collins and Tyshawn Taylor at Kansas, Self has proven he can work with this position. When Brewster Academy point guard Naadir Tharpe ultimately decided to play for Self at Kansas, he had plenty of fellow point guards to look at as potential role models down the line.
at any other college players that I want to take my game after.
Did he, though?
"No," Tharpe said. "Besides my brother, defensively, that was about it. I've never looked
By the looks of his 5-foot-11, 170-pound frame, he more close-laylesemble Brown than
forward Jamari Traylor and freshman guard Ben McLemore for this season. Self's possible rotation shrunk by two, meaning more potential minutes for Tharpe on the perimeter.
It's something Taylor thinks he can handle already, calling Tharpe a "true point guard," someone who can get into the lane consistently and find the open man. It's also something Tharpe is looking forward to.
"That's what I was expecting to do when I came here, is to help out the team," he said. "Because there's nothing more important to me than winning."
He experienced a whole lot of winning at Brewster Academy and the expectations at
Williams, Collins or Taylor. The four-star recruit guided Brewster to a 31-3 record and a spot in the semifinals of the National Prep Championships last season.
"He's able to pretty much get wherever he wants on the court, because he's a crafty player and he's smart."
With the announcement of the ineligibility of freshman
"He's able to pretty much get wherever he wants on the court, because he's a crafty player and he's smart," Taylor said. "I think Naadir is going to help us a lot."
Now it looks like he's tasked with backing up Taylor, who had nothing but praise for the newcomer.
TYSHAWN TAYLOR Senior guard
Kansas
Kansas are no different
It's Big 12 champion or bust for Kansas fans — regardless of Bill Self picking
Baylor to win the league or telling fans to "enjoy the process" this season, which he said wasn't just "coach speak" but actual advice.
If Tharpe can be a spark off the bench, continuing his winning ways and creating easy shots for teammates like Taylor thinks he can, that eighth straight conference championship becomes a much more distinct possibility. Who knows; maybe Tharpe falls in line with the rest of the great point guards to suit up for Self.
Edited by Laura Nightengale
MIKE GUNNOE/KANSAN
Freshman guard Naadir Tharpe warms up before scrimmaging during Late Night in the Phog on Friday. Senior guard Tyshawrt Taylor described Tharpe as a "true point guard." He could contribute immediately this season.
FOOTBALL
Throw out the records in showdown
At first glance, it's a situation that's all too familiar for Kansas fans.
MIKE VERNON mvernon@kansan.com
No. 12 Kansas State, picked to finish eighth in the Big 12 in the preseason, sits undefeated, riding the coattails of a wild and unexpected first half to its season.
With the Wildcats looming on the Jayhawks' schedule, coach Turner Gill has a second straight opportunity to save face after his team played competitively against the No. 3 Sooners on Saturday. Gill, who is fairly new to the in-state rivalry, has already seen the game's implications.
"We all know what this is all about: The big showdown here in state, so it is something that is very, very meaningful to everyone involved here at the University of Kansas, including our players," Gill said. "We excited to play this football game."
The Wildcats have come out unscathed from an early season schedule that is anything but easy. Victories at Miami and Texas Tech, along with home victories against Missouri and Baylor, give Kansas State's success credence beyond its No. 12 ranking.
The top half of Kansas State's season rings similar bells to the jayhawks' magical 2007-2008 run in in which Kansas went 12-1 and won the Orange Bowl. But the way Kansas State has conducted its unforeseen run and what's ahead in their
K-STATE'S
OPPONENTS
Eastern Kentucky
Kent State
Miami
Baylor
Missouri
Texas Tech
Kansas
Oklahoma
Oklahoma State
Texas A&M
Texas
Iowa State
season makes it a very different situation.
Aside from its second game of the season against Kent State, K-State has won all of its games by seven points or fewer. Kansas won its first six games by an average margin of 41.6 points that season. The Wildcats' upcoming schedule also casts a far more
daunting shadow than the Jay-hawks' schedule ever did during their year at the top.
Kansas State will take on four consecutive ranked teams after the Kansas game, including Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas A&M and Texas.
When it comes to this Saturday, everything that Kansas State has done before goes out the window. With an in-state rivalry that rages on — with the two schools separated by 84 miles — records, rankings and talent are often thrown out, leaving two teams to battle it out on the field.
Early in the 2007-2008 season, the Jayhawks matched up against the No. 24 Wildcats in Manhattan. The Jayhawks came out on top with a 30-24 win against the Wildcats, helping launch Kansas to its most prolific season in school history.
The Jayhawks will once again come into Saturday's game expected to lose, but at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Kansas' underdog status will not matter.
While a victory against Kansas State won't launch Kansas to the Orange Bowl, it could easily halt the downward direction the program has been spiraling in for the previous two seasons.
Edited by Jayson Jenks
KANSAN FILE PHOTO
Senior tight end Tim Biere is wrapped up by two Kansas State defenders after making a catch in the second quarter of last year's game.The Jayhawks fell to the Wildcats 59-7.
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