8A the university daily kansan
sports
monday, november 10, 2003
EXHIBITION:
Team excited about playing first game
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 12A
Included in those who will get the chance to play more minutes will be three junior-college transfers.
Guards Kaylee Brown, Larisha Graves and forward Kandis Bonner will all make their Jaya hawk debits
"We're all ready for actual competition in real
The team benefitted from extra days of practice during a Blair Waltz junior guard
Labor Day trip to Monterrey, Mexico.
During the stay, Kansas went 4-0 in games against its opponents and was able to make strides on the court.
"We were helped more than we could even understand," junior guard Blair Waltz said. "It prepared us for the coaching philosophies and how hard we'd have to work to be the team we want to be."
The squad, featuring players from both the Czech Republic and the United States, visits Kansas on the fourth game of an eight-game basketball tour.
The Jayhawks will get their first test against Sparta Praha, a team based out of Prague, Czech Republic.
Washington said the Travelers would be a good test for the Jayhawks.
The injuries will cause a shuffle in the lineup for Kansas. Two of the starting roles will be determined at game time.
Waltz will start at guard, while sophomores Crystal Kemp and Tamara Ransburg will fill the two forward positions.
All three players occupied the starting lineup a year ago.
Waltz said the Jayhawks were looking forward to facing new competition.
"We're all ready for actual competition in real games," Waltz said. "We've been scrimmaging each other for three weeks, and we're excited to get back on the court in front of our fans again."
- Edited by Ashley Marriott
Volleyball wins in Texas
By Mike Norris
mnorris@kansan.com
Kansan sportswriter
Led by senior Sarah Rome's 23 kills, Kansas defeats Texas 3-2 and pulls off its first-ever sweep of the Longhorns in a season
Trailing 2-0, the Kansas volleyball team rallied to win three straight games for its first-ever victory at Texas on Saturday. It also marked the first time the Jayhawks have swept the Longhorns in a single season.
Kansas used a balanced attack with four starters notching double-digit kills. Kansas coach Ray Bechard was proud of the team effort.
"I have never seen this team play as well as they did in this final hour," Bechard said. "We had great results and did something no Jayhawk team has ever done in Austin. We can't let up and are excited to get back home and play at Horejsi Wednesday."
Kansas (16-9 overall, 8-6 Big 12 Conference) has been playing close. five-game matches for the past two weeks.
After Texas won the first two games, 30-28 and 30-26, it looked like the match would be a quick one.
"I have never seen this team play as well as they did in this final hour."
Ray Bechard Kansas coach
The 'Hawks came out in game three as if the match were tied and took a commanding 10-2 lead.
After increasing the lead to 21-5, Bechard rested some of the starters and the team went on to win 30-16.
The Jayhawks started game four right where they left off in game three. Sophomore setter Andi Rozum used her jump serve effectively to help Kansas to an early 10-4 lead. The lead increased to 19-10, with the teams trading points until the Jayhawks won 30-21, forcing a fifth game.
The Longhorns refused to go quietly in game five as the teams played to a 4-4 tie.
Playing five games was nothing new for the Jayhawks. Their last four matches had been decided in five games, including a 3-2 victory
against Texas in Lawrence on Oct. 22.
Kansas then strung together four consecutive points to take an 8-4 lead as the teams switched sides of the net.
Texas (11-12, 6-8) pulled to within one at 8-7, but would no closer as Kansas ended on an 7-2 run to win the game 15-9, and the match 3-2.
Senior outside hitter Sarah Rome led all Jayhawks with 23 kills and junior libero Jill Dorsey had a team-high 14 digs in the victory.
Last week's Big 12 Player of the Week, Bethany Howden, had a match-high 24 kills for the Longhorns, but it wasn't enough to top the Ivahawks.
Kansas hosts the Oklahoma Sooners at 7 p.m. Wednesday in the Horejsi Family Athletics Center.
The Jayhawks defeated the Sooners 3-0 on Oct. 11, but still trail the all-time series 20-38.
—Edited by Michael Owells
Ashley Michaels returned a hit from Texas during an Oct. 22 game at the Horejsi Family Athletics Center in Lawrence. Kansas defeated Texas, 3-2 on Saturday in Austin, Texas.
Freshmen players Nick Bahe, Omar Wilkes, David Padgett, J.R. Giddens and Jeremy Case posed for a photo during Media Day. Coach Bill Self said the newcomers would play a crucial role in the Jayhawks' success this season.
Eric Braem/Kansan
Freshman class boosts team
By Chris Wintering
cwintering@kansan.com
Kansan sportswriter
With Kirk Hinrich and Nick Collison on NBA squads this season, Kansas will look to a variety of players to aid in the team's return to a third-straight Final Four.
Juniors Aaron Miles, Keith Langford and Wayne Simien are obvious candidates, as is senior forward Jeff Graves after his performance in the NCAA tournament last season.
But according to coach Bill Self, the freshman class of David Padgett, JR Giddens, Jeremy Case and Omar Wilkes will have to contribute for this year's team to be good.
In the team's first preseason game against EA Sports last week, Padgett's 16 points were second-most on the team, next to Aaron Miles' 18.
Padgett's three rebounds, two blocks and two steals left some making comparisons to Collision.
"Well, he's not ready to be Nick but I will say this, he has a chance to be a great, great player in time." Self said. "He works extremely hard. He's got great hands, he has great feet. He runs well, but he is still just 18 years old."
"There's no better place to play in America, and that's what I found out tonight."
David Padgett Freshman center
After the game, Padgett said he was nervous being a starter for his first game but happy to be playing in front of the Allen Fieldhouse crowd, even if the game was closer than expected.
"There's no better place to play in America, and that's what I found out tonight," Padgett said. "I'm just glad we got the win. I wasn't going out there trying to score a lot; I was just trying to do anything I could to help us win."
Self was impressed with Padgett before his performance against EA Sports, calling the 6-foot-11 center the most pleasant surprise of the off-season.
"He only knows one speed and he has it in fifth gear every possession." Self said.
Case also received a lot of attention after his performance in the team's preseason pickup games, but his teammate Langford said pickup games were not
the best way to gauge a player's game.
"I'm not going to say I hate pickup games; it's always good to play basketball, but you get people come in there and watch pickup games and a guy hit a couple threes and he's the greatest ever," he said. "I want to see you in a real game. I know you can do it against EA Sports. I want to see it against Michigan State."
Both Giddens and Padgett were McDonald's High School All-Americans, and Case and Wilkes were both highly-ranked recruits.
Langford said that while this class was talented on paper, what the group did in the past doesn't matter.
"I think that group is more talented than my freshman year when we all came in, but how they progress and how they play is what I'm concerned about," he said. "I'm not concerned what All-Star teams they played on and stuff like that. That has no reference."
Self said that despite being inexperienced, all four newcomers would have a chance to be among the top nine or 10 players on the team.
—Edited by Abby Sidesinger
Goalpost celebration posters spur Missouri controversy
The Associated Press
COLUMBIA, Mo.-- Two stores operated by the University of Missouri have stopped selling a poster of fans tearing down the goal posts at Faurot Field after the athletic department said the poster might promote unruly fan behavior.
Mario Moccia, senior associate athletic director, said the department also has asked the university's licensing department to try to stop sales of the poster elsewhere.
The poster frames a photograph taken minutes after Missouri's win over Nebraska on Oct. 11, the first time the Tigers had beaten a Nebraska football team since 1978.
"We specifically have been very public in saying this is not acceptable behavior."
Mario Moccia
Senior associate athletic director
Hundreds of elated fans rushed
the football field and removed both goal posts.
Titled "Victory," the poster shows the teetering goal posts of the north end zone amid a swarming mass of fans.
"We specifically have been very public in saying this is not acceptable behavior," Moccia said.
Michelle Froese, a spokeswoman for the University Bookstore on the Columbia campus, said the outlet sold about 250 of the posters for $9.95 each.
The stadium scoreboard shows the final score, 41-24, in the background.
It also was being sold at Mizzou Connection, the Missouri-run merchandise store in Creve Coeur, but it too has stopped sales.
"Our assumption was since it was approved by the university it was acceptable." Froese said.
Although Froese said that athletic department officials did not specifically ask the bookstore to stop selling the poster, "I think it was a position by the athletic department that they weren't supportive of the poster. It wasn't worth it to us to continue to carry it."
MathisJones Communications LLC in Eureka.
The poster is distributed by
William Mathis, a professional photographer, took the photograph and designed the poster.
He said he plans to talk to Missouri officials and then decide whether to continue distributing the poster.
"My feeling is you go 30 years you don't beat them at home, and if kids show enthusiasm and run out on the field, it's a moment in history," Mathis said.
Mathis said he took the poster to Missouri's licensing department three days after the game
The bookstore was the only Columbia retailer selling the poster, Mathis said, although another store, Tiger Spirit, has been given an allotment of 50 posters to sell.
Mathis said he was told by the officials at the Columbia store that they would wait until he and Missouri discussed the problem before selling any more of the posters.
and was given a license to sell it the next day.
The department also directed him to the bookstore to begin selling the poster, he said.