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Thursday, September 8, 2011
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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
PAGE 16
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Freshman forward Tana Jackson plays clos defense against a SI Edwardsville player Sunday at Allen Fieldhouse. Jackson recorded her first double-double as a Jawhawk with 10 rebounds and 11 points.
Jackson mentally overcomes knee injury
KATHLEEN GIER
kgier@kansan.com
MIKE GUNNOE/KANSAN
The first time sophomore forward Tania Jackson played without a knee brace was an accident. The Kansas womens basketball player didn't realize she was playing without it until she was alerted by a teammate during a pick-up game this summer and Jackson was shocked. She rushed to put it back on and return to the safety and assurance that the brace offered. Similar instances occurred at practices after that before she was confident enough to lose the brace on purpose.
Now, three years after tearing her
"For me it was a mental thing,it
ACL while playing for Lawrence High School, Jackson is ready to start this season with new confidence and freedom.
was never physical." Jackson said.
as never physical," Jackson said. Assistant coach Tory Verdi helped Jackson through her first season playing at Kansas. He noticed the mental strain of the
injury.
TANIA JACKSON forward
Jackson said.
"In the back of your mind, you are still thinking about that injury and I think she was battling that more than anything and then toward the end she stopped thinking about the injury," Verdi said. "After you stop thinking about that, you can start focusing on other things."
iniurv.
Once she was able to let go of the physical brace, she broke down the figurative mental brace that had been holding her back. Jackson did this by letting go, releasing control and focusing on playing her best game.
"I realized that if it tears again, it tears again, I put it all in God's hands," Jackson said.
This summer she committed time to the weight room and worked on getting more aggressive
“Last year I was pretty timid because my knee was always in my head, but I do not think about it now and I think that helps a lot,”
Since Jackson arrived on campus in the summer of 2009, she has been working with the strength and conditioning staff on proper techniques to avoid future
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as a post player.
Last season, Jackson earned 11 starts and played in all but one game as the Jayhawks went to the second round of the Women's National Invitation Tournament (NIT). She averaged 4.4 points and 3 rebounds per game while shooting 42.3 percent from the field.
As a forward, Jackson can also shoot three pointers which helps to spread the defense.
At the end of her first season with the Jayhawks, Jackson was named the Most Improved Player
"She came back strong," senor forward Aishah Sutherland said. "She improved her overall game, posting up, running, and being communicative."
Jackson was surprised by the award, but said it was a major honor especially coming off her injury.
"It signifies the hard work I have put in," Jackson said. "It is one piece to the puzzle of my career, but I am eager to do more."
Jackson is working with Verdi on getting tougher and more aggressive in the post. She is also working on bringing her game back toward the basket by practicing more face up and post up drills.
One other goal for Jackson is to become a leader as a veteran of the
team. Because of her experience watching from the sidelines, Jackson prepared herself as a vocal and emotional leader of her high school team and the role transferred to Kansas.
"I tried to be as loud as I could and as encouraging as I could, it transferred over because I sat out my freshman year and that was the only way I knew how to help," Jackson said.
Her communication transferred to the court, where she leads the pregame chant and is enthusiastic and vocal throughout the game.
"She does an unbelievable job of communicating and that covers a lot of mistakes," Verdi said. "It gets people where they need to be on the court."
Sutherland sees the good effects of this passion on and off the court.
"She gets people hyped," Sutherland said. "she makes us laugh."
Jackson is excited for the season and says her knee feels good though she still ices it after practice as a cautionary measure. She is proud to play without the brace and said it gave her new life. She is faster, stronger and more ready to play this season than ever before.
— Edited by Mandy Matney
Humanitarian Bowl. Last week in their opener, they put up 49 points against Army, a touchdown more than Kansas scored against FCS opponent McNeese State. Its top two running backs each averaged 9.9 and 7.3 yards per carry, and their quarterback, senior Chandler Harnish, threw for five touchdowns. So yeah, Northern Illinois is good. Good enough for Vegas oddsmakers to make them nearly a touchdown favorite in Memorial Stadium on Saturday.
Kansas football is still a year or two away from doing any kind of damage in whatever conference it will be in, but a 2-0 start that includes an early upset could do wonders for a young team looking to firmly remove that rearview mirror from its perch.
- Edited by Lindsey Deiter
sophomore quarterback Jordan Webb averaged more than 20 yards a completion, including three touchdown passes that were all more than 25 yards.
"I think the other thing that's going to be important for us is making sure that we have a 2-to-1 ratio when it comes to big plays," Gill said. "I'm talking about 20 yards or more that we need to be 2-to-1 ratio as far as our big plays in our favor versus them with the plus 20 yards."
Coach Turner Gill and his staff would like to see a similar effort from their team this Saturday against Northern Illinois.
Kansas ran the same amount of plays as McNeese State on Saturday, had the ball for nearly ten minutes less, and scored 18 more points than its opponent.
Offensive coordinator Chuck Long said the big plays that were present Saturday were missing from the offense last season.
JORDAN WEBB Sophomore quarterback
"Big plays are huge in college football," Long said. "It's very
opened the second possession with a 30-yard run. The fresh-
for explosive plays."
men running backs added play-
making capabilities as well.
Darrian Miller averaged 4.8
yards a carry and Tony Pierson
averaged 14.6 yards a carry.
"We feel like we have a running game that is built for explosive plays," Webb said. "We can get the 70 and 60 yarders out of the running game just as easy as the passing game."
ASHLEIGH LEE/KANSAN
Even though the run-game is full of playmakers, the receivers are without one of their top players. Senior Daymond
Freshman receiver JaCorey Shepherd, who caught three passes for 107 yards and two touchdowns in his Kansas debut, will replace Patterson with his 4.5 speed.
The newfound, ground-heavy attack is far away from the spread offense Mark Mangino ran, but that doesn't mean that a more balanced style won't provide just as many opposing defense-killing, scoring opportunities.
"When you look at steadily offenses like that in the past, they are traditionally run-play action pass teams and a lot of times they get open," receivers coach David Beaty said. "They don't have a whole lot of passes in the game, but a lot of times they count for big points. That's the direction our offense is headed in."
Edited by Jennifer DiDonato
Sophomore quarterback Jordan Webb hands the ball to freshman running back Darrian Miller. "We did exactly what we wanted to do. We ran the ball and as quarterbacks and receivers we made the plays that we needed to and that's the team we need to be," Webb said.
A
Legends of the Phog game That familiar Max Falkenstein drawl will return before college basketball season even begins.
MEN'S BASKETBALL
Falkenstein to announce
Falkenstein and his iconic voice will join Dave Armstrong in broadcasting the Legends of the Phog alumni game at 4 p.m. on Sept. 24 at Allen Fieldhouse. The
game is now officially sold out, according to Kansas Athletics.
Brian Hanni and Bud Stallworth will announce for the Jayhawk Radio Network, which will broadcast the game to the state
— KCSP (610 Sports) in Kansas City,
WIBW (580 AM) in Topeka and KLWN (1320
AM) in Lawrence.
— Max Rothman
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