Sports
The University Daily Kansan
Kansas heads to regionals The Kansas cross country teams travel to Stillwater, Okla., tomorrow to compete in the Midwest Regional Championships. PAGE 8A
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Kansas controls own fate
Friday, November 14, 2003
Senior running back Clark Green dodged a defender in last weekend's defeat against Nebraska. The Jayhavks square off against the Oklahoma State Cowboys on the road tomorrow afternoon.
Jared Soares/Kansar
By Ryan Greene
rgreene@kansan.com
Kansas sportwriter
Some fans believe the Jayhawks' best chance for their sixth victory will be next weekend when they host Iowa State. While many Jayhawk supporters just want the team to focus on staying healthy this weekend, coach Mark Mangino said his team's objective would not change.
Lingering in the back of the players' minds is the 55-20 smackdown the Cowboys laid on them a year ago. Kansas' biggest difficulty that day was containing Oklahoma State All-American receiver, senior Rashaun Woods. Woods had seven catches for 171 yards and three first-half touchdowns in that game. Kansas' defense is improved from 2002, but Woods will be just as much of a focus this time around.
The Kansas football team is looking to halt its three-game losing streak and salvage a season that at one point had high expectations this weekend at Oklahoma State.
The Jayhawks control their own destiny at the moment. With a record of 5-5 Kansas must win one of its two remaining contests to become bowl eligible for the first time since 1995.
"He's big, tall and fast. He's going to play on Sundays," Mangino said. "We have to have a good plan and can't let him break the game open. We have to find a way, but we aren't going to stop him. We just can't let him put on a clinic out there."
Those responsible for slowing down Woods will be senior cornerback Remuise Johnson and freshmen John Randle and Charles Gordon. Randle and Gordon's insertion into the defensive depth chart last week was a surprise move. Mangino lauded both of their abilities to stick with receivers, but now they must learn to make plays as well. Johnson, who faced Woods a year ago, will return to the starting lineup this week after missing the Nebraska game because of an injury.
The other hurdle the Jayhawks must jump this weekend is getting their offense back to normal. All season, Kansas has had one of the nation's most potent offensive attacks, but freshman quarterback Adam Barmann saw his first legitimate struggles last weekend against Nebraska. Despite
SEE FOOTBALL ON PAGE 8A
Volleyball sets sights on double milestone
By Mike Norris
mnorris@kansan.com
Kansan sportswriter
Tomorrow night's match at Iowa State could potentially be one of the most historic in Kansas volleyball history.
Another Big 12 Conference victory would be the fourth in a row, which would set a team record. It would also give coach Ray Bechard his 100th victory at Kansas, putting him one behind Bob Stanclift for third all-time in coaching victories at Kansas.
"It would be more important to get our 10th win in the conference." Bechard said.
Bechard did finally admit 100 victories would be a good milestone to reach. But victories aren't anything new to the coach. He had 716 of them in 13 years at Barton County Community College and made 10 trips to the NICAA final four.
Despite the Cyclones sitting toward the bottom of the Big 12, Bechard doesn't expect an easy match.
The Jayhawks are just 4-5 on the road, but in their last match away from Lawrence they defeated the Texas Longhorns 3-2.
"Iowa State is playing at a much higher level at home than they are on the road," he said.
VOLLEYBALL RECRUITING NOTES
The Jayhawks signed two recruits from Missouri on Wednesday and one from Kansas yesterday.
Tessa Jones, a high-school All-American from Lee's Summit, Mo., and Kristin Buehler, Parkville, Mo., signed on Wednesday.
Courtney Kuhlon/Kansan
Jones, a 6-foot outside hitter, holds the high school record for most kills in a career in the state of Missouri.
Jill Dorsey, junior libero, bumped during the third game of Wednesday's victory against Oklahoma. If Kansas wins tomorrow night's match against Iowa State, it will set a record by winning its fourth consecutive conference game.
Buehler, who also plays with the Kansas City Power club team, is a two-
SEE VOLLEYBALL ON PAGE 8A
Jayhawks to defend relax'in exhibition
By Jesse Newell
jnewell@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
The wait is over for Kansas freshman Lauren Ervin.
The 6-foot-4 forward, ranked the No.2 prospect in the nation by recruiting analysts, will see her first action as a Jayhawk when Kansas concludes its exhibition schedule against St. Louis Goldstar at 2 p.m. Sunday in Allen Fieldhouse.
Ervin, a McDonald's All-American, who is expected to give the Jayhawks an offensive punch this season, was held out of Kansas' 92-66 victory against Sparta Praha Monday because of a jammed thumb.
"It's just a matter of trying to improve," Washington said. "Sunday, we'd like to see our defense to be stronger. We just want to approach every single opportunity that way."
The Jayhawks stepped up their defense in the second half against Sparta Praha. After allowing 59 points in the first 20 minutes, Kansas held the Basketball Travelers to just 8-of-29 shooting and 27 points in the second half.
Kansas didn't seem to miss Ervin's offense against Sparta Praha, but coach Marian Washington said she was more concerned with the Jayhawks' progress on the defensive side of the ball.
sports commentary
"As a team, we need to go out and communicate a little better on defense," sophomore forward Crystal Kemp said. "The coaches had told us what was going to happen, but I think once we saw it, it just seemed a little different."
Now in the fourth week of practices, Washington said the team was still working
"It's been an early challenge for us to try to get our system in place so that they all work together." Washington said, "And that's going to come."
Kansas' next opponent St. Louis Goldstar is a Midwest-based team comprised of former college basketball players. Eleven of the team's 16 players competed at Missouri colleges.
St. Louis Goldstar (0-6) will games against UMKC and Missouri Western before meeting Kansas.
to learn the staff's coaching philosophies.
The Jayhawks will again be without the services of guards Aquanita Burras
SEE BASKETBALL ON PAGE BA
Jared Soares/Kansar
Sophomore forward Crystal Kemp scored 23 points against Sparta Praha Monday night. She said she expected the Jayhawks to be more relaxed during this weekend's exhibition game against St Louis at 2 p.m. Sunday in Allen Fieldhouse.
Keith Langford sports@kansan.com
Basketball looking to improve
Now all of you who think the basketball team needs to get better before next Friday comes, sav ave. "Ave."
Once again it is Friday. So that means it's time for this week's props. Shout outs go to the track team, both men and women, and to the baseball team, even though some of you are Red Sox fans.
It's no secret that we have things to work on. I have to get in a lot better shape and continue to work on timing issues.
As far as the team goes, we still have to get used to playing with one another. Sure, someone can say we've been practicing for a couple of weeks. But there is a difference between practice and a game where for so long guys have beat up on each other competing for starting positions. It hits you that this is still your teammate and you have to be on the same page. It will definitely be different once there is a solidified starting lineup.
I don't really think role defining needs to be determined by a coach. Guys get to a certain point in basketball where they know what they can and can't do. Keep in mind, we still don't know the whole offensive and defensive scheme. So when people bring up the issues of threepoint shooting or where's the rest of the scoring coming from, keep in mind guys still are learning. It probably wouldn't make much sense to run around freelancing, jacking up threes when you're playing against a team that has post men the same height as J.R. Giddens and me.
So could we have played better? Yes. Could it have been a lot worse? Definitely. I do know that we have to be ready to play next Friday. Tennessee-Chattanooga had two guys score 25 points or more in its game, so next Friday is no cake walk. Oh yeah, Jeff Hawkins and Jeremy Case both celebrated birthdays last week. Ladies give them a belated kiss or something. I almost forgot, if you're going to call the Free for All, please make it funny. Holla.
*Langford is a Fort Worth, Texas, junior in journalism.* He is a guard on the basketball team.
I was definitely happy to be back playing with the team. I really tried to penetrate and move around a lot to make sure I wouldn't have any problems. Our trainer, Bill Cowgill, aka Cheddar Bill, has been so patient and worked with me 100 percent.
Three high school recruits make it official with Hawks
Being back in the Fieldhouse and playing was so much fun. I can't believe how spoiled we are. Looking around before the starting lineups were announced, I thought that it's not necessarily the players who make Kansas basketball what it is. Sure that has something to do with it, but the fans make it so important. They make it something to be proud of. Maybe coach Self says it best. Before the game Tuesday night, he said we owed it to everybody to play our hearts out. I believe that's the truth.
The Kansas men's basketball program officially signed three recruits to national letters of intent yesterday.
I don't know if this is the year for exhibition teams or what. Just look around college basketball. We struggled. Syracuse and Michigan State each dropped a game to the Globetrotters. There aren't too many teams the Globetrotters can't beat though. Oklahoma dropped a game to Athletes First.
Darmell Jackson, Alexander Kaun and Russell Robinson are all highly touted by Web sites and recruiters.
Jackson is a 8-foot-8 power forward from Oklahoma City. He posted 20 points and 12 rebounds per game last year.
Kaun is a 6-11 native of Siberia, Russia. He is ranked as the 23rd best player in the nation by Rivals.com.
Robinson is a 6-1 guard from New York who tallied 18 points, six rebounds, four assists and four steals per game last season.
TALK TO SPORTS: Contact JJ Hensley and Shane Mettlen at SFORTS@KANSAN.COM
— Kansas staff reports
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