Sports
Back in action Senior quarterback Bill Whittemore will start for the Kansas football team Saturday against Iowa State in his final contest at Memorial Stadium.PAGE8A
sports commentary
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Ine University Daily Kansan
Thursday, November 20, 2003
Kevin Flaherty kflaherty@kansan.com
Real fans support all sports
As basketball season kicks into full gear tomorrow, two teams not coached by Bill Self need fan support.
Three years ago, Kansas had bowl potential. The Jayhawks were 4-3 going into the last four games of the season, including winnable games against Texas Tech and at Iowa State. The week before the Tech game, former coach Terry Allen pleaded with Kansas fans to come out and show its support in helping Kansas reach a bowl. Do you remember that game?
Chances are that you don't. The listed attendance was 26,000, and the actual attendance was even less. To fill half of a stadium for a game with bowl implications is pathetic. To finish the story, Kansas played its butt off and lost by six when a last-second pass from the 22-yard line fell incomplete. That team went on to drop the rest of its games and finish with a 4-7 record.
Maybe there are excuses for the bad attendance. Most of the current KU population wasn't yet on campus in the fall of 2000. Maybe there was just something else that the students, alumni and KU fans had to do. Whatever the case, the fans just didn't show.
Now, KU fans have a opportunity at redemption. On Saturday, Kansas will take on the Iowa State Cyclones at Memorial Stadium, bowl eligibility on the line. The Oklahoma State game in Stillwater was a tough loss for the Hawks, but with a victory over Iowa State, they will still stand a chance at a bowl game with a 6-6 record.
The potential exists for a full house. Against Missouri, a sellout crowd of Kansas fans packed into Memorial and actually made the stadium a noticeable homefield advantage. That was a rivalry game. The game was important, and some Kansas fans would rather see the team go 1-11 with a victory over Missouri that 11-1 with a loss to the dreaded Tigers.
But in this case, the Jayhawks have already defeated Missouri, and if they beat Iowa State, a bowl could loom in the near future.
It's also senior day, and fans should show support for a senior class that includes one of the best quarterbacks in Kansas history.
The football team may need help, but it's not the only team begging for fan support. What's sad about this队 is that Kansas fans are known supporters of its sport.
Women's basketball coach Marian Washington has to contend with the notion that there's only room for one basketball team in the heart of KU fans.
Last season, the attendance was abysmal as the Jayhawks averaged 1,248 fans per home game. That factor is especially appalling when one considers that for several of those games, there were more opposing fans than there were Kansas fans.
From watching men's basketball, everyone in the nation knows that people in Kansas have the ability to be great basketball fans. At every game there are 16,300 fans packed to the rafters, making it the best home venue in college basketball. Even more watch the game from at home because they can't get tickets.
Maybe people didn't come out for women's games because the team struggled. But fans weren't packing the seats when coach Washington was leading the Jayhawks to consecutive Sweet Sixteens.
SEE FANS ON PAGE 8A
The last two years have been tough for Kansas. But last year's team showed potential, and this year's team could be one of the strongest women's basketball teams in the past ten years. They go two deep at every position with talented players that could make a run into the NCAA Tournament.
Kansas soccer ready for UCLA
By Nikki Nugent
mnugent@kansan.com
Kansan sportswriter
The Kansas soccer team didn't go to California to see Disney Land.
Kansas coach Mark Francis said the team might have some time for sightseeing,but not much.
After arriving yesterday in Los Angeles, the team went to lunch and then straight to practice and to study game film.
Senior defender Maggie Mason said this year's team had a different feel compared to the teams of the last three years.
"We're willing to work hard for each other no matter what,"Mason said. "There's just a diehard dedication to each other."
Kansas has had the most successful season in program history and will try to continue that success against UCLA.
The No. 13 Jayhawks take on the four-seeded Bruins at 9 p.m. tomorrow at
Drake Stadium in Los Angeles.
The match will be the first-ever meeting between the two teams.
The No. 16 -ranked Jayhawks are 18-5-1 on the season. The team advanced to the Sweet Sixteen round of the NCAA Tournament with a 3-1 victory over Illinois State in the first round and a 2-0 victory over Missouri in the second round.
The two victories were Kansas' first ever in the NCAA Tournament.
The No. 2 Bruins are 18-1-3 on the season. They host the third round after 20 victories over San Diego and Pepperdine in the first and second rounds.
The Bruins finished in first place in the Pacific 10 Conference. Amid a nine-game winning streak, UCLA defeated Oregon 3-2 in double overtime to secure the conference championship.
UCLA is no stranger to the NCAA Tournament. The Bruins have made it to at least the third round of the tournament for four years straight. They were knocked out in the third round last season, and the Jayhawks want to make it two years in a row.
Mason said that UCLA might disregard Kansas because the Jayhawks were new to the tournament scene and had not established themselves as a respected soccer program.
"It's their loss if they look past us because we have nothing to lose," she said.
Scoring may be difficult for the Jay-hawks. The Bruins have posted 13 shutouts on the season, but Kansas' defense has been almost as strong with 11 shutouts.
The winner of tomorrow's match will advance to the Elite Eight to face the winner of the Penn State-A&M match.
After shaving Francis' head when the team advanced to the Sweet Sixteen, junior forward Monica Brothers jokingly has her sights set on assistant coach Donna Holyman
"Donna's next," she said. "Donna's shaving her head."
-Edited by Jonathan Reeder
Senior defender Maggie Mason held possession for Kansas during its second-round NCAA Tournament matchup against Missouri. Mason is one of three seniors on this year's team.
John Nowak/Kansan
Player's versatility opens eyes
By Ryan Greene rgreene@kansan.com Kansan sportswriter
Whether it comes after Saturday's regular season finale or following a December bowl game, no one on the Kansas football team will deserve a vacation more than Charles Gordon.
This season, the redshirt has added responsibility upon responsibility to the load he catries on the shoulders of his 5-foot-11-inch, 165-pound frame.
What makes Gordon's improbable rise from freshman no-name to budding superstar even more impressive is that he has been successful in every task the coaching staff has asked of him to this point.
Gordon's original duty this season was to be the Ivahawks' third wide receiver.
He has responded by becoming the team's leading receiver, with a school freshman record of 50 receptions. His 50 grabs also rank 12th in the Big 12 Conference and first among conference fresheme
On special teams, Gordon has averaged 13.5 yards per punt return, ranking him sixth in the conference and 17th in the nation.
And two weeks ago, with a banged up and struggling defensive backfield. Mangino asked Gordon to be a three-way performer by playing defensive back.
Gordon showed his natural ability last Saturday at Oklahoma State by recording three tackles, breaking up a potentially huge Cowboy pass play and recording his first collegiate quarterback sack.
At Carson High School in Santa Monica, Calif., Gordon established himself as a two-way star. Gordon lettered in basketball and baseball as well, but he established football as his fortie as a senior and Ocean League Player of the Year.
SEE FOOTBALL ON PAGE 8A
Freshman wide receiver Charles Gordon outran the Missouri defense for 61 yards on a punt return in the first quarter.
Eric Braam/Kansan
Freshman deserving of honors
By John Domoney jdomoney@kansan.com Kansan staff writer
Attention Big 12 Conference media members: The University of Kansas Athletics Department would like to introduce you to Charles Gordon.
The department sent out an e-mail yesterday to Big 12 football writers promoting Gordon for Freshman of the Year honors.
As a first-year performer from Carson, Calif., Gordon has starred on a 5-6 Jayhawks squad that is looking to defeat Iowa State on Saturday to become bowl-eligible.
Gordon has played a large part in Kansas' success as a three-way performer. Recruited as a wide receiver, the 5-foot-11-inch speedster has excelled as a punt returner and recently on the defensive side of the ball as a cornerback.
The department's e-mail featured a picture of Gordon with the slogan "No flash in the pan."
"We just want people to know that Charles will be a pound for a while," said Mason Logan, Kansas football sports information director.
With only 11 games played in his career at Kansas, Gordon has already made his mark in the Kansas football record books.
He has 50 catches for 624 yards this season, which set a new school record for freshmen receivers at Kansas.
The catches also rank fourth all-time
SEE GORDON ON PAGE 8A
Basketball starters still uncertain
By Chris Wintering
cwintering@kansan.com
Kansan sportwriter
After two exhibition games, the question of starters for the Kansas men's basketball team is still not answered.
"I don't know exactly how we'll go on Friday, but five of those guys will start," Self said yesterday.
At his weekly press conference, coach Bill Self said that it would be a combination of senior Jeff Graves, juniors Keith Langford, Mike Lee, Aaron Miles and Wayne Simien, sophomore Jeff Hawkins and freshman David Padgett.
Langford, Miles and Simien have been established as starters. That leaves one perimeter and one post position open for competition.
That doesn't answer much.
The perimeter position will either be Lee or Hawkins, Self said, and the
post starter will be Graves or Padgett. All four started one of the two exhibition games.
At guard, Self said that both Lee and Hawkins were playing well in practice, which was making his decision difficult.
"I think they're playing with more confidence right now than they had since I've been coaching them," Self said. "Especially Michael, Michael is really starting to turn the corner."
Last Friday, ESPN's Andy Katz reported that Hawkins was the other perimeter starter. Self said that starting Hawkins was an option, but nothing was definite.
Padgett has been the most impressive player during the exhibition season in the post, Self said. However, Graves is a senior and has played in pressure situations before. Self said it might be Graves'
Senior forward Jeff Graves listened to assistant coach Joe Dooley during yesterday's practice at Allen Fieldhouse. Freshmen center David Padgett and Graves will battle for a starting position.
SEE STARTERS ON PAGE 8A
Jared Soares/Kansas
TALK TO SPORTS: Contact JJ Hensley and Shane Mettler at SPORTS@KANSAN.COM