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WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2011
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Players need to buy into defensive mindset
Max Mikulecky/KANSAN
Sophomore guard Charlicia "CeCe" Harper talks with a reporter during Tuesday's media day in Allen Fieldhouse. Harper's jersey number changed from 42 last season to 24 for the 2011-12 season.
KATHLEEN GIER
kzter@kansan.com
Last season, the Kansas women's basketball team finished two wins short of reaching the NCAA Tournament. Junior forward Carolyn Davis led the Big 12 in field goal percentage and junior guard Angel Goodrich led in assists.
Last place finishes in field goal percentage and opponent field goal percentage in the conference slowed down the Jayhawks. Coach Bonnie Henrickson said that the defense is still a weak spot for the team.
"It is arguably the worst defensive team I have put on the court here," Henrickson said. "There is no excuse. We are long, we are athletic. We have to develop the toughness it takes and the discipline and buy in and commit."
Henrickson compared the commitment to defense to a relationship.
I want them to fall in love and marry it and don't want them to add it on their Facebook or follow it on "Twitter," Henrickson said.
Goodrich said that the team needs to stick together and reaffirmed its commitment to defense.
"We may have the offensive side, but the one thing to get to where we want to go is the defensive side," Goodrich said. "That is a big goal for us right now."
The Jayhawks return four starters, including Davis and Goodrich, and seven letter winners. This season, they also added five freshmen.
Junior guard Monica Engelman said that the team is looking to finally change its postseason fortune this season.
"Collectively, we all want
Henrickson compared the environment at practice to Danielle McCray's final season at Kansas. The Jayhawks had just come off of a WNIT Finals appearance and were ranked second in the conference to begin that season. Henrickson said that this team has the same kind of excitement
something special," Engelman said. "People are going to be pushing themselves and bringing something and hopefully getting different results than what we have had."
and high expectations.
Henrickson said that the team will succeed this season if it improves on its defense.
"I am excited about where we are going." Henrickson said. "If we clean that up and we are as good as I know we can be and they buy into that and we have wedding bells on that end of the floor, we've got a chance to be really good."
Edited by C.J. Matson
FOOTBALL
Sooners strive for perfection, not looking at Jayhawk faults
ASSOCIATED PRESS
NORMAN, Okla. — Coach Bob Stoops' Oklahoma teams have never struggled to avoid a let-down following the Red River Rivalry. He doesn't want to start now.
Stoops is 12-0 in games immediately after Texas, and he isn't putting too much into the latest blowout in the series.
"It just means we've got to keep getting better." Stoops said Tuesday.
After mummeling then-No. 11 Texas 55-17 on Saturday, the third-ranked Sooners (5-0, 2-0 Big 12) must prepare this week to face a Kansas (2-3, 0-2) team that has the worst defense in the nation after a 70-28 loss at No. 6 Oklahoma State last week.
It's the type of game that could easily fail to get the attention of Oklahoma's players, particularly after they made such a resounding statement in a rivalry game that's anticipated all year long.
But the Sooners have already been through this situation once this season. After winning at then-No. 5 Florida State, Oklahoma didn't maintain its intensity and had its worst week of practice. That carried over into the first half against Missouri, when the Sooners found themselves trailing at home for the first time in 21 games and had to rally from an 11-point deficit to win.
"I believe we're past that. I think they learned a good lesson a few weeks ago, just about doing the work and being very businesslike in how we prepare and approach the game." Stoops said.
"I believe they understand that the really good teams — the championship-type teams — get better through the year, and that's what we have to do this week," he said.
Instead of focusing on what's been going wrong for Kansas, which ranks last in the Bowl Subdivision with 49.4 points and 556 yards allowed per game, Stoops wants his players trying to move closer to perfection
"The they see the tape. I'm not going to detail it with all of us, but there's a lot we can do better, and we need to," Stoops said. "The players see that, so they're aware of it."
Stoops has said he wants to see better blocking from linemen and on the perimeter in the Sooners' run game, which got a 64-yard touchdown run from Dominique Whaley but only 22 yards on the 18 remaining carries against Texas.
The return of running back Brennan Clay, who was splitting time with Whaley before spraining his shoulder two weeks ago, could help that. Stoops said Clay "should" be back this week to face the Jayhawks.
Stoops said he has also noticed breakdowns in pass coverage and communication on defense.
And for the fifth time in the past 13 games, the Sooners gave up a kickoff return for a touchdown — the most in the BCS.
We watched film on Texas, what a good win it was. But we watched and there's a lot more that we need to get better at," offensive lineman Stephen Good said.
"Just seeing that is definitely motivating us to keep pushing forward and not to relax."
Defensive coordinator Brent Veinables called the week leading up to the Missouri game a "prime example" of what can happen if a team has a lape. Missouri got out to a 14-3 lead in the first nine minutes before the Sooners came back to life and scored 28 straight points.
"That's to take nothing away from Missouri, but it doesn't take much to get off." Venables said.
Despite rallying for a 38-28 victory, Oklahoma still hasn't shaken off the perception of that game. LSU passed the Sooners to take over the No.1 ranking that week, and Alabama leapfrogged them the following week.
Even walloping Texas wasn't enough to bump the Sooners back up in the rankings.
"After the Missouri game, we had to bounce back. We had to make a statement, let everyone know we had a bad game that week," nickel back Tony Jefferson said. "But we bounced back and played two good games."
CROSS COUNTRY
Runners earn honor for personal bests
"I'm really surprised but honored.
Freshman Brendan Soucie and junior Devin Wiegers both ran personal record times on Saturday at the Haskell Invitational in Lawrence. For that, they were honored as the men and women's Big 12 runners of the week on Tuesday, an achievement as the result of hard work, coaching and focus.
at the same time," Wiegers said. She said she knew that the Haskell Invitational determined if she would take the trip to Wisconsin for the Adidas Invitational this weekend. She finished in second place in the 5k with a time of 19:20:00.
"Those two ran great races on Saturday and I couldn't be happier they are getting recognized for their efforts," coach Stanley Redwine said.
In the men's 8k race, Brendan Soucie finished fourth with a time
of 26:21:21. He also hopes to run at the Adidas Invitational, which will consist of the top 12 runners on the team. Now he has something positive to take with him either way.
"We had been working up to that Haskell meet for awhile so it felt really good to have a solid race," Souci said. "It's a great honor and I think a lot of credit needs to go to my coaches and teammates."
-Max Goodwin