SPORTS
GOLFERS TAKE FIFTH ON HOME COURSE
Emily Powers led the Jayhawks with a first-place individual finish. WOMEN'S GOLF | 6B
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WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2008
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REASONS TO WATCH THE BIG 12
League's quarterbacks pace the nation in passing yards
BY TAYLOR BERN
tbern@kansan.com
ig 12 quarterbacks haunt opposing defensive backs' dreams more than the boogeyman.
The hype machine for the collective group of Big 12
quarterbacks started almost as soon as the final buzzer sounded on LSU's national championship last January.
Copious amounts of ink poured onto the pages of newspapers and magazines, all of it hailing this group as one of the best to ever play in one conference at one time.
In the face of all those expectations, the 2008 Big 12 quarterbacks have performed up to, if not outdone, every preseason prediction. Big 12 passers have thrown for a combined 11,837 yards this season.
"We had an inordinate number of quarterbacks who started last year and had success," Texas Tech coach Mike Leach said. "When you've got an experienced quarterback, the other guys are used to following him and responding to him. That's when you get a lot of good cohesive offenses, and the majority of teams in this league have that."
The national attention — and expectations — began building last year with the emergence of Missouri's Chase Daniel, Oklahoma's Sam Bradford and Kansas' Todd Reesing. That trio joined established quarterbacks Colt McCoy of Texas and Graham Harrell of Texas Tech to throw the conference into the spotlight.
With all five of those guys returning this season, plus incumbent quarterbacks still chucking at Colorado, Kansas State and Oklahoma State, it's no wonder so much was expected from the leading men of the Big 12.
What's surprising is that the quarterbacks have stood up to all the hype, and even more have emerged to make the conference's best position even deeper.
At least three Big 12 quarterbacks rank in the top five nationally in passing yards, passing touchdowns, completion percentage and passing efficiency.
"I've never seen anything like it," Missouri coach Gary Pinkel said. "I'm sure their numbers will settle down when we get into conference, but there are certainly some high level quarterbacks in this league."
Harrell leads the country with 1,573
yards, and Daniel has thrown 12 touchdowns with only one interception. Under center in almost every Big 12 town is a quarterback who could start nearly anywhere in the country.
Kansas State coach Ron Prince credits that to quarterbacks coming into the Big 12 with more football knowledge than they used to.
PAGE 1B
All three are currently completing at least 64 percent of their passes, and Bradford ranks second in the nation at 79 percent.
"In this part of the country, the high school coaches are doing a fantastic job of emphasizing the passing game in complex ways," Prince said. "It used to be, kids would come to college and it was the first time they were exposed to a complicated passing game."
Two years ago, freshman quarterback Josh Freeman started for the Wildcats. Last year, Oklahoma's Bradford and Colorado's Cody Hawkins did the same thing for their teams.
The funny thing is Griffin's stats make him a top-25 quarterback, but he's not even considered one of the top six in his own league.
This year, Baylor's dual threat Robert Griffin is the lone freshman gunslinger in the conference.
Moreover, the video game-type stats put up from the quarterbacks week in and week out completely overshadow the other positions on offense, such as running back.
The Big 12 boasts the fourth leading rusher in the country — Oklahoma State's Kendall Hunter at 149.7 yards per game — and last week Texas Tech's Shannon Woods ran for 108 yards and three touchdowns on 10 carries.
It's the first time a Red Raider rusher cracked 100 yards in a game since Woods scurried for 125 yards on Nov.4,2006.
— Edited by Scott R. Toland
"Lately, we've been over-dependent on the pass, which opens the running game up," Leach said. "We certainly don't mind that."
From top, Graham Harrell of Texas Tech, Chase Daniel of Missouri, Todd Reeing of Kansas, Sam Bradford of Oklahoma and McCoy McTox of Texas are among the nation's best collegiate quarterbacks.
Next up: blocking undefeated Huskers
VOLLEYBALL
Jon Goerina/KANSAN FILE PHOTO
Middle blocker Savannah Noyes gets a kill attempt blocked by Nebraska during a match in 2007. Even though Nebraska had key players graduate, this year's team is undefeated and ranked second in the country.
BY JOSH BOWE jbowe@kansan.com
Kansas will travel to Lincoln, Neb., to play second-ranked Nebraska at 7 p.m. in the Nebraska Coliseum. Coach Ray Bechard and the Jayhawks have their work cut out for them.
It's hard to imagine that a team that had its best player graduate a year ago might possibly be better this season.
But that's exactly what the Jayhawk volleyball team faces tonight.
"They're ranked second," Bechard said, "but I'm not sure there is anybody better than them."
This is an astonishing feat for Nebraska, which was ranked as low as seventh in preseason polls.
Nebraska opened the season and beat the then-Nos. 2 and 4 teams in the country, Stanford and USC.
And it lost only one set in the process.
In fact, Kansas has lost more matches than Nebraska has lost sets this season. It is that kind of domination that Bechard is preparing his team for.
"Obviously it'll be a difficult task," Bechard said. "But that's what this league is about — taking opportunities that we'll have this week to get better."
Bechard said that even with the loss of individual players such as Sarah Pavan, this is a better Nebraska team because of its overall effort and ability to be physical.
"We're playing a team that physically is gifted," Beard said. "But I think the thing that strikes me is the chemistry this year. The purpose to be the best unit they can be is more evident than it's ever
SEE VOLLEYBALL ON PAGE 6B
COMMENTARY
Perspective necessary with Arthur, Chalmers
It's been nearly six months since Mario Chalmerd drained what we now know as "the shot." Six months. That's a long time. And in that time, I've seen "the shot" more times than I can count. And you know what? It never gets old. I suspect it never will.
It's like that movie you can watch over and over again. You know how it ends, yet you clench your fists and grit your teeth as the climax pears.
Will Derrick Rose hit his free throws for Memphis? Can Sherron Collins get the ball up the court? And most of all, could it... will it...might it...go in?
That moment, and the men who created it, were celebrated Saturday at Memorial Stadium. Some, no doubt, will see it as proof that Kansas will never shake the "basketball school" stigma. After all, the 2008 national champions took to the turf at the end of a less-than-inspiring first quarter. Couldn't that be seen as upstaging the up-and-coming football program? I don't think so. If recent college sports history has taught us anything, it's that success in one money sport breeds success in the other. It's no longer enough to be just a
like that mutual championships.
To you and me, that's all well and good.
school, especially when Florida is winning dual national championships.
But for others, Michael Beasley's recent admission to having been in the room with Chalmers and Darrell Arthur adds fuel to a fire that should have burned out long ago.
The fine is, well, fine. They broke the rules, so something had to be done. And it's not as though any of them ought to be hurting for cash.
For those of you who don't know, here's the Cliffs Notes version: The three players have been fined after security discovered at the NBA rookie symposium that women were in their room, which also smelled of marijuana.
Still, some will jump at any opportunity to tear down athletes. Predictably, plenty have been only too willing to do so in this case.
I've heard cries for long-term suspensions, calls for the University to issue a formal apology, and rampant damnation of Chalmers' and Arthur's decisions to enter the draft.
Perspective, it seems, is woefully absent.
And then there's the pot. I know that Len Bias proverbial ghost still hangs over the issue of NBA substance abuse (Bias died from a cocaine overdose) and that marijuana is illegal. That said, this is the NBA. Charles Oakley, who spent 18 years in the league, estimated that 60 percent of the players toke up. No stranger to controversy himself, Josh Howard of the Dallas Mavericks last year that "everybody in the media world and in the sports world knows that NBA players do smoke marijuana".
Two men who are out of college can make their own decisions about inviting women to their rooms.
Now, I'm certainly not advocating marijuana use. I don't use it, and I'd like to imagine that newly minted millionaires could find a better way to entertain themselves.
But let's not be naive. And while we're at it,let's not exaggerate the seriousness of the incident.
Three college-age men did what a lot of college-age men do. Nothing more, nothing less.
So, given that, let's not let this define them Beasley is still freakishly good and likely to be an all-star many times over. Arthur and Chalmers, of course, have a special place in our collective sports heart. Though Mario will always be remembered as the hero, it was Arthur who hit a face-up 17-footer that started it — the comeback
and it was Arthur who had 20 and 10 against Memphis' imposing front line.
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And then there's Chalmers and the shot. Despite what some may believe, it hasn't gone up in a cloud of oddly pungent smoke.
Edited by Brenna Hawley