Sports
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Changing positions Freshman football players John Randle and Charles Gordon are starting to play positions on both offense and defense. PAGE 6A
The University Daily Kansan
10A
Tuesday, November 11, 2003
sports commentary
Joey Berlin
jberlin@kansan.com
Exhibition contests deceiving for Kansas
After the Kansas men's basketball team nearly lost to the EA Sports Midwest All-Stars last Tuesday, fans started to worry. Some members of the media jumped all over the Jayhawks' performance under new coach Bill Self, including a writer who referred to the 91-87 victory as "almost one of the biggest embarrassments in the program's recent history."
The real embarrassment is that anyone is losing sleep over an exhibition game. These games simply don't mean much.
One night after barely losing to Kansas, the same EA Sports team went to Lubbock, Texas, where the Texas Tech Red Raiders blasted it 100-61. No analysts are picking Texas Tech to finish anywhere near the top of the Big 12 Conference.
The night after that, the All-Stars faced another predicted Big 12 also-ran Kansas State, and won fairly easily, 79-67.
From this chain of events, we can conclude one of two things:
1) Technology is an unstopable juggernaut that will shock analysts everywhere and contend for the national title, while Kansas will be lucky to finish in the Big 12's upper half. Or...
2) Exhibition games tell us little or nothing about how the season will go.
Which sounds more reasonable to you?
Despite that, some people are allowing themselves to get freaked out over one exhibition game against a solid group of former college players.
You can tell some things from an exhibition game the same as you can in any other game. You can see that David Padgett has good touch and runs the floor well, and that Bryant Nash is trying to play with the reckless abandon that Self wants out of him. You can see that, while Self's team may not run as much as Roy Williams' did, it will still run; the 'Hawks took 61 shots against EA Sports, in line with last year's average of nearly 63 shots per game.
but as far as actual performance, most of what you see in exhibition games is deceptive garbage, a group of events that can create both false hope and false despair.
Wayne Simien isn't going to go an entire half without scoring often. Aaron Miles isn't going to hit 8 of 10 shots and score 18 points every game. Kansas three-point defense isn't going to be so bad that the opponent will routinely bomb in 16 three-pointers.
If the 'Hawks' performance against EA Sports seems like it has any real predictive power, look at last year when Kansas started its exhibition season by matching up against the EA Sports East team. The 'Hawks looked sloppy and ragged, turning the ball over 22 times, but they won 111-94, so nobody cared. Six real games later, the Jayhawks were 3-3. Thirty-two games after that, Kansas was the national runner-up.
So, what did Kansas fans learn from last year's exhibition? Nothing. Against EA Sports, last year's Jayhawks looked neither like a 3-3 team nor a Final Four team, yet they turned out to be both of those.
Maybe this young, Williams-recruited team will struggle with Self's style of coaching and offense and stumble early in the season. Maybe the Jayhawks will find their groove immediately and put together an early season run en route to another Final Four. Regardless of what happens, last week's game and tonight's matchup with Pittsburg State don't give us much of a glimpse into the future.
If Kansas doesn't beat Pittsburg State by 60 tonight, don't predict doom for Sell or his team. Just enjoy Kansas exhibition games for what they are — sold-out scrimmages.
Berlin is a Leawood senior in journalism.
Soccer team awarded NCAA berth
Jeff Jacobson/KUAC
Members of the Kansas soccer team reacted to a televised announcement that they had been selected for the NCAA Tournament yesterday. The Jayhawks will take on Illinois State in the tournament's first round Friday in Columbia, Mo.
By Nikki Nugent
nnugent@kansan.com
Kansan sportswriter
As Miller sat in her economics class yesterday, her teammates were gathered around a television watching the 2003 NCAA Soccer Tournament selection show. Miller nervously awaited news from freshman teammate Lacy Novak.
Kansas goalkeeper Meghan Miller couldn't eat all day and her stomach hurt like never before.
"I had my phone on vibrate," she said, "and Novak was going to text me with the results."
The selection show started at 3:00 p.m., but when 3:20 rolled around and Miller still hadn't heard from Novak, she began to worry.
"I was like 'uh-oh, something's wrong. We didn't get in," Miller said.
But as her class let out Miller got the call and the news that her team had received a tournament berth.
The No 16 Jayawhaws (16-5-1) will make their second-event NCAA Tournament appearance in Columbia, Mo, at 4p.m. Friday.
appearance in Oklahoma State in the first round. The Redbirds are 11-5-3 on the season and received an automatic bid for winning the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament last weekend.
Sixteen of the 64 NCAA Tournament teams received a national seeding, including Kansas, which got a 13 seed.
Nationally seeded teams are supposed to host teams for the tournament, but the NCAA chose Missouri as a host site because of Kansas' lack of facilities. SuperTarget Field, the Jayhawks' home does not have lights for night games and only seats 1,000 fans.
Kansas coach Mark Francis said he didn't mind playing at Missouri. He said the Jayhawks had already won there once this season and Missouri's close proximity also made for a short road trip for the team and fans.
SEE SOCCER ON PAGE 6A
Junior guard Blair Waltz lunged for a loose ball against Sparta Praha guard Darina Misurova in the first half of last night's exhibition game. Waltz had three defensive rebounds and four assists in the Jayhawks' 92-66 victory.
By Jesse Newell
jnewell@kansan.com
Kansan sportwriter
Women's basketball team victorious
The Kansas women's basketball team was unsure what to expect from the Czech Republic's Sparta Praha.
Exchanging gifts before the game, the Jayhawks accepted Beethoven CDs from their foreign competitors. In the first half, they also received a competitive game.
In its first home exhibition of the season, Kansas was able to take control in the final 20 minutes and earn a 92-66 exhibition victory last night at Allen Fieldhouse.
Kansas showed an impressive offensive performance in the first half, scoring 54 points, but was unable to effectively
keep Sparta Praha off the board, as much of the half remained close.
The Jayhawks led by just five points with about six minutes left in the first half before extending the lead to 15 by halftime.
"Everybody's working well with the offense," forward Crystal Kemp said. "We're not all perfect with it yet, but it's something that's going to come throughout the season."
The Jayhawks came out gunning in the second half. After a Lucie Kysilkova three, Kansas raned off 16 consecutive points, capped by an Erica Hallman three-pointer and a Kaylee Brown 18-foot jump shot from the right side. Kandis Bonner and Tamara Ransburg led the team during the run, contributing four points each.
As Kansas led by as much as 32 points down the stretch, coach Marian Washington took two timeouts in the final five minutes to refocus her defense.
Sparta Praha suffered from foul trouble early, committing seven fouls in the first four minutes. The Jayhawks attempted 27 shots from the free-throw line in the first half, converting on 15 tries.
"Obviously we've got work to do," Washington said. "Those are good signs for us because everything we felt hurt us in this game are correctable."
Kemp dominated inside, scoring a game-high 23 points. In just 14 minutes of play in the first half, she logged 17 points and four rebounds.
"It was just a lot easier for me to go out
there aggressive knowing that they weren't really focusing in on me," Kemp said.
In her first game, Brown added 15 points, connecting on three of her four three-point attempts in the game. Sophomore forward Ransburg also hit double figures with 13.
Junior-college transfers Bonner and Larisha Graves made a positive impact, with Bonner grabbing seven rebounds and Graves giving out six assists.
The Iayhawks conclude the exhibition portion of their schedule Sunday with a against St. Louis Goldstar. The regular season opens Nov. 21 at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.
— Edited by Ehren Meditz
Exhibition shows surprises
By Chris Wintering
cwintering@kansan.com
Kansan sportwriter
"I thought the idea was to try to get your team better, and from that standpoint I was really glad EA Sports shot it so well because it forced us to play in the hole," Self said. "I wouldn't have wanted to lose the game, but we can draw from that game in the future."
Kansas basketball coach Bill Self doesn't think it is time to panic. While Kansas didn't look too sharp against EA Sports last week, it was just an exhibition game.
As Kansas prepares for the Pittsburgh State Gorillas today, Self said his team's goal was to continue to get better during the exhibition season, but close games didn't worry Self.
"I like for guys to play when the collar is tight a little bit," no said. "If anvihing
with the young kids, that allows them to prepare for regular season games."
Self said Hawkins' decision-making was the most pleasant surprise against EA Sports. The coach's ideal situation was for Hawkins to play off-guard and serve as junior Aaron Miles' primary backup at the point.
The way his team came from behind to win against EA Sports was one of the positives of the game, Self said. He also mentioned the play of sophomore guard Jeff Hawkins as one of the highlights from the game.
"The biggest thing is, he's active, he creates havoc, things happen when he's out there. At least they did the first exhibition game," Self said. "He's shown in practice that he can do a lot of different things, and he's going to play. He has to be in our rotation and get some minutes."
Miles agreed with Self that Hawkins
was a great player and would be one of kev contributors this year.
"I think he's going to help us out a lot," Miles said. "God forbid I go down, I know my boy Jeff will do the same things I do, if not better."
Freshman center David Padgett is another player who has possibly earned a starting job with his performance against EA Sports. Self said that Padgett impressed him every day, and that the Jayhawks' high-low offense was tailor-made for the big man from Reno, Nev.
Self said with the post players, Padgett, senior forward Jeff Graves and junior forward Wayne Simien, it didn't matter who started because all three would be playing the same amount of minutes.
"We've got three starters inside, but only two of them will run out there for introductions." Self said.
SEE EXHIBITION ON PAGE 6A
Men's basketball coach Bill Self said he appreciated sophomore guard Jeff Hawkins' abilities in practice and in last week's exhibition game against the EA Sports All-Stars. Kansas takes on Pittsburgh at 7 a.m. in Allen Fieldhouse.
TALK TO SPORTS: Contact JJ Hensley and Shane Mettlen at SPORTS@KANSAN.COM
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