8A the university daily kansan
sports
thursday, november 20, 2003
Close and yet so far
Megan True/Kansan
Sophomore middle blocker Josi Lima slammed a kill past two Kansas State defenders during a 3-2 loss on Oct. 29 in the Horejsi Family Athletics Center. The Jayhawks were defeated last night 3-0 by the Nebraska Cornhuskers in Lincoln. The Cornhuskers swept the season series, ending a four-match winning streak for the Jayhawks. With the loss, Kansas fell to 18-10 overall and 10-7 in the Big 12 Conference.
football
Whittemore's shoulder heals; he plays Saturday
All speculations can be put to rest: coach Mark Mangino declared yesterday that senior quarterback Bill Whittemore his starter for Saturday's regular season finale against Iowa State.
"He is showing no signs at all of an injury," Mangino said. "He is just as sharp as he was prior to getting injured."
Whittemore has missed the team's last three games because of a shoulder injury he sustained in the first quarter of the team's Oct. 25 loss at Kansas State.
In eight contests this year, Whittemore has thrown for 1,921 yards and a school record of 15 touchdown passes.
The Jayhawks are 5-1 this season in games that Whittemore has played in their entirety.
Coach Mangino said with Whittemore's return, he had noticed a bounce in everyone's step on the practice field.
"The rest of the kids light up," Mangino said. "The spirit of the kids has come alive."
FANS: All sports need support
Ryan Greene
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 12A
The games are filled with exciting players, from the finesse of Tamara Ransburg and Crystal Kemp to the sheer talent of McDonald's All-American Lauren Ervin and playmaking guards like Erica Hallman.
The team will be much improved, but will the fan base?
Early indications after the first few games are no. The team has only averaged 474 fans for the two exhibition games.
Lew Perkins helped the women's basketball team at Connecticut become a revenue team.
The Kansas Athletics Department needs the same to survive
It's no secret that compared to the other Big 12 Conference schools, Kansas is vastly underfunded, and can use all of the revenue it can get.
Perkins started a "Pure Blue" campaign to get people to realize that if they are Kansas fans, they should support all of the sports.
I'll do Lew one better. If you don't show up to the women's basketball games, you're not a true Kansas basketball fan.
Show up for these two sports, and be better fans than Kansas fans have been before. The players and coaches deserve better.
Flaherty is a Lenexa senior in journalism.
FOOTBALL: Gordon successful
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 12A
"Coming out of high school I played both ways," Gordon said. "Tell you the truth, I was up to it, but I never thought it would actually happen."
Gordon is now another name on the list of players Mangino has coached who have found success on both sides of the football.
Previous athletes who Mangino pushed to the athletic limits include Oklahoma's Andre Woolfolk and Kansas State's Chris Canty, both of whom went on to lucrative careers in the NFL.
What Mangino said was necessary for a player to last an entire
game on both sides of the ball more than anything, except maybe athleticism, was immeasurable mental toughness.
Those strengths have made Gordon into a solid Big I2 Freshman of the Year candidate, but his three-way playing balance may sway toward defense the rest of the season. Gordon's immediate success on defense has the coach thinking
the possibility lingers that Gordon may soon become more of a fixture in defense than at his usual wide receiver slot.
"If I told you that had not crossed my mind, I'd be a liar," Mangino said Tuesday.
- Edited by Katie Bean
tendency to foul early that will keep him out of the starting lineup.
"The last thing I want to do is have a starter get two fouls in the first four minutes." Self said, "and then you're playing with two big guys the rest of the first half."
STARTERS: Self unsure of two
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 12A
In the Pittsburg State game, which Graves started, he managed to make it through the first half without fouling. In the second half he did not start and committed four fouls in the half.
Self said for the post players it didn't matter who started because, barring foul trouble, all three would play the same number of minutes.
"We've got three starters inside, but only two of them will run out there for introductions," Self said.
The one positive in having trouble deciding who will start
is that it means the team has a lot of depth.
Having good players to back them up, Self said, allowed his players to be more aggressive.
Kansas basketball notes
"One advantage with depth, and I found this out at Illinois, is that playing aggressive allows you to play everybody because people are going to foul," Self said. "But playing aggressive can certainly eliminate your depth immediately if you don't play smart or you get some cheap fouls."
Officials at North Carolina said that Tar Heel coach Roy Williams would not attend the Kansas-Michigan State game Tuesday at Allen Fieldhouse.
Williams' former player Nick Collison will have his jersey retired at halftime of the game. Collison played for Williams at Kansas from 1999-2003.
— Edited by Nikki Overfelt
GORDON: Talent not unnoticed
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 12A
on Kansas' single-season list. Gordon set a Kansas freshman record for catches in one game with nine against Texas A&M Nov. 1 and nine against Oklahoma State last Saturday.
Logan recognizes Gordon's abilities on the football field and also credits him as a positive representative of Kansas athletics.
"I think Charles has a really good relationship with the media members," Logan said. "I also think the media enjoys talking to Charles."
The main idea the department is trying to publicize with Gordon is his effectiveness playing different positions. Coach Mark Mangino said it was not common for a freshman in the Big 12 to play three positions and play them well.
He said he thought Gordon was a positive asset to the team
by boosting its rankings in punt returns, in the conference and nationally.
"Charles Gordon continues to be a bright spot for us," Mangino said.
Gordon's talent has not gone unnoticed around the conference, but his play might not be recognized by the nation. Despite the improvement by Kansas, the Jayhawks have only played on television twice this year and are not ranked in the national polls.
Logan said the lack of television exposure didn't help, but it probably didn't hurt Gordon either.
"I think people look at numbers and how well he has played," he said.
The voting for Big 12 Freshman of the Year by media members and coaches will take place during the next two weeks.
Edited by Katie Bean
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