SOONERS TRY TO KNOCK OFF TECH
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REFLECTIONS ON APPLES, PAUL RUDD AND SPORTS
SPORTS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
The first Thanksgiving Morning Brew looks into what the sports editor is thankful for. Morning Brew | 2B
WWW.KANSAN.COM
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2008
THE MORNING
BREW
PAGE1B
LEADER OF THE PACK
Younger players look to Collins
Overcoming injury and criticism, junior guard sets example to follow
BY CASE KEEFER ckeefer@kansan.com
Sherron Collins smiles a lot these days.
Collins, junior guard, might to try to hide it,
but he can't stop. The grin that stretches across
Collins' face keeps reappearing.
It comes at all different times. When Collins makes a jump shot or drives to the basket, he's not afraid to show his joy. He beams when reflecting on last year's national championship team. Ask him about his new role on this year's Kansas team and that's when his smile becomes as wide as the Sears Tower in his native Chicago is tall.
"That's just me." Collins said. "It's my personality, and I just like to smile."
And who can blame him? Collins has responsibilities for the lajwhawks that no player has possessed in nearly half a decade. For most of coach Bill Self's six-year tenure at Kansas, his teams have defined sharing success. Players took an equal amount of shots. Go-to guys filled the roster.
Not anymore. Not with this year's team. The Jayhawks don't have leaders. They have a leader. Everyone on the team knows whom to look toward when they need instruction. It's no secret who will control the game during vital possessions. Guess who.
"Sherron is the guy with us," Kansas coach Bill Self said, "It's his team. That's how I want it."
And that's how Self has gotten it thus far. Through two games, Collins is averaging more than 20 points. He's made five of his 10 three-pointers and more than half of his shots from the field.
Self only expects his numbers to increase from here. No wonder Collins is so overjoyed.
A picture of Collins' smile is immortalized in every Kansas fan's head. It even graced the cover of magazines and newspapers.
...
Collins has called that moment — when he launched the basketball into the air at the Alamo Dome in San Antonio at the end of Kansas' 75-68 national championship victory against Memphis — one of the best of his life. Collins played a key role in the game, scoring 11 points and stealing an in-bounds pass and making a three-pointer seconds later to cut the Jayhawk deficit to six with less than two minutes remaining.
In the six months after the game, Collins reflected fondly on his memories of the championship. He watched the film of the game three times. Perhaps the off-court turmoil during that
span prevented him from watching it more.
No less than two weeks after winning the championship, Collins underwent arthroscopic knee surgery. He played through the pain in his left knee all last year knowing it would have to be taken care of right away in the offseason.
While recovering from surgery and visiting his ill father in Chicago, Collins received more bad news. A Douglas Country judge ordered Collins to pay more than $75,000 by default to a woman who accused him of assault in a Jayhawker Towers elevator in June.
"I went through a lot of injuries and tough times this year," Collins said. "I think I've dealt with it pretty good and staved positive."
The district attorney cleared Collins of criminal charges later in the summer. The accuser dropped the civil case two weeks ago. Collins said he couldn't wait to forget about it and start to focus solely on basketball.
Self chastised Collins to the media. The coach openly questioned if Collins could
Even that, however, seemed difficult at the end of the summer. Collins showed up for the first day of practice before Kansas' Labor Day weekend trip to Canada for three exhibition games out of shape and overweight.
SEE MEN'S BASKETBALL ON PAGE 6B
COMMENTARY
One month after pleading to Congress for their economic lives, executives of Detroit's Big Three auto makers — GM, Ford and Chrysler — will head to Ford Field and take in the 12th annual Motor City Bowl, which they sponsor.
The layhawk will likely land in the Dec. 31 Insight Bowl which is sponsored of an information technology service provider that has seen its stock price tumble more than 78 percent in the past year and recently cut 8 percent of its workforce.
The 34-game college bowl landscape is rife with events backed by auto, banking and insurance companies that have been among the hardest hit by tough times.
Yet while it is a bit early to gauge the effects of hardships faced by sponsors, bowl games and sports marketing in general appear to remain strong.
"We've found that companies are continuing to spend more money in sports marketing each year," said Jason Booker, general manager of Jayhawk Sports Marketing/IMG College. "Sports are the only thing consumed live by mass quantities of people, making it attractive."
Michael Smith, Sports Business Journal
writer, said he expects the bowl landscape to be somewhat different in two or three years but contends that college football is as resistant as any sport in terms of dealing with economic shifts.
"If there is a company out there looking for a reasonable sponsorship buy, college football is as good a place to be as anywhere in sports marketing." Smith said. "As companies make budget cuts, college football is among the last places to go because for what you put for your money is as good as about anything."
He said the cost of sponsoring smaller, non-BCS bowl games could be insignifi-
SEE COMMENTARY ON PAGE 6B
FOOTBALL
Key players could miss Showdown
Weston White/KANSAN
Junior tailback Jack Sharp attempts to get out on one of his six runs against the Longhorns. Sharp saw limited toucher Saturday and picked up just 13 yards in Kansas' 37-7 loss.
BY B.J. RAINS
rains@kansan.com
Thankfully for coach Mark Mangino and the Kansas Jayhawks, they don't play Missouri for another nine days. Had the game been this Saturday, running back Jake Sharp and wide receiver Kerry Meier probably wouldn't have been able to play.
The extra week will definitely be needed, but the status of the two injured starters for next week's Border Showdown is anybody's guess.
"I'm hopeful." Mangino said. "I can't say that I'm confident. I hopeful they'll be back. Talking with the trainer, it's a situation where they've just got to get a lot of treatment and (see) how fast they heal up"
Meier has been banged up most of the season but appealed to injure a hamstring or quad muscle after making a catch on the first play of Saturday's 35-7 loss to Texas. He played sparingly, but wasn't effective and had just four catches for 32 yards. Sharp appeared to injure his ribs during the first half and left for the locker room soon after. He came back and tried to play in the second half, but had to call it a day soon.
"They didn't practice (Sunday)," Mangino said on the Big 12 Coaches teleconference
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SEE FOOTBALL ON PAGE 6B
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