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Sports
Uprights come down
New goalposts, recently installed by the Athletics Department, should keep postgame revelry to a minimum. PAGE 4B
The University Daily Kansan
1B
Wednesday, November 5, 2003
sports commentarv
Ryan Greene
rgreene@hansan.com
Defensive weaknesses on display
The number 512 can be good or bad in college football. It just depends on the situation.
Offensively, 512 yards in a game would be a success. But giving up an average of that much in defense, as the Jayhawks have done in their four road games has been an unwelcome sight.
It is also a reason why Kansas has gone 1-3 in those games, with the only victory coming by way of a 42-53 squeaker over the Wyoming Cowboys. If you want some juicier statistics, look at these numbers:
The defense has averaged 43 points per road game and 29 points per game in total.
Opponents have converted 57 of 132 third-down situations this season, giving Kansas the second-worst percentage against third-downs in the Big 12 Conference.
Kansas is allowing 186.3 rushing vards per game.
■ Kansas has allowed more than 100 yards rushing to each of its opponents this year except Division I-AA Jacksonville State. Four times, the opposition has had 200 or more yards on the ground.
The list of defensive shortcomings does not stop there. This is just the statistical aftermath for a defense that has been mired in a disastrous stretch.
Against Missouri on Sept. 27, Kansas' defense improved along with the rest of the program. In the 35-14 victory over the then-23rd-ranked Tigers, Kansas held Missouri to only 196 yards of total defense and all but shut down Brad Smith.
There are several reasons for the disasters in recent weeks.
But just a week later that stellar defense disappeared as the Jayhawks allowed 598 yards to Colorado in a 50-47 loss. Since then, it has vet to reappear.
Junior defensive tackle Travis Watkins has not returned from a broken foot he sustained in training camp.
Defensive linemen Monroe Weekley and Chuck Jones were mysteriously absent from last weekend's trip to College Station, Texas. The Aggies would pile up 253 rushing yards.
Eric Braem/Kansan
Coach Mark Mangino brought up his team's defensive ineptitude this week.
Sid Bachmann, who has seen the brunt of the action in Watkins' absence, has just nine tackles in nine games.
He said his team still needed to find a solid defensive scheme following Saturday's game by either playing a heavy zone or putting more guys in the box to pressure the quarterback.
When asked yesterday whether Nebraska's Jamal Lord was a true test for his pass defense, Mangino responded: "Every team with a quarterback gives us a challenge."
My goal is not to sound like an expert, but the numbers never lie. With the exception of the 42-6 massacre at Kansas State, the jayhawks other three losses have been by a combined margin of just 23 points.
Last weekend, when Texas A&M had the game in-hand, Mangino opted to pull a large portion of his defensive starters in favor of backups such as Rodney Fowler, Ronnie Amadi and Clark McCracken. The final straw by not naming a defensive player of the game for the first time all year.
Most of this season, the Jayhawks' crutch has been a dangerous arsenal of weapons on offense, but when that support is knocked from underneath them, as it was at Kansas State, a soft underbelly is exposed.
Mangino's pulling the redshirt off Adam Barmann was a shot in the dark that worked like a charm. Now, on the defensive side of the ball, it's time to see what tricks the coach has left in his bag.
Greene is a Vernon Hills, Ill., senior in journalism.
Jayhawks escape disaster
Kansas' senior forward Bryant Nash, junior forward Wayne Simien and senior forward Jeff Graves fought for a loose ball with EA Sports Anthony Evans halfway through the second half. The Jayhawks outmuscled the All-Stars for 38 rebounds yesterday. Simien and Nash led the team with seven rebounds each.
EA All-Stars fall to Hawks after surprise lead
By Joey Berlin
jberlin@kansan.com
Kansan sportwriter
Lucas Johnson enjoyed a trip to Allen Fieldhouse to go up against his old coach. But he would've enjoyed it even more had his exhibition team been able to upset one of the most renowned basketball programs in the country.
"Our job is to come in here and give them a good game, give them a good run, but we're out here to win," Johnson said last night after his EA Sports Midwest All-Stars narrowly missed an upset of Kansas, losing 91-87. "We all played major D-I ball. We have a lot of pride."
Johnson helped key the run that sent EA Sports to the locker room
Johnson, a 6-foot-8-inch forward who played for Kansas coach Bill Self from 2000 to 2002 while at Illinois, scored 11 points, pulled four rebounds and hit two three-pointers in the defeat.
SEE JOHNSON ON PAGE 6B
By Chris Wintering cwintering@kansan.com Kansan sportswriter
"It wasn't exactly what I bargained for," Self said.
It couldn't have been the way Kansas coach Bill Self pictured his first game. After handling EA Sports last year 111-94, the team staggered to a 91-87 victory this year against the All-Star team.
After being down 33-40 at halftime, Self ripped into his team at halftime in a speech that junior Wayne Simien described as motivational.
"He jumped on us pretty good at halftime," Simien said. "He was pretty calm on the bench, but when we got to the locker room the gasket came out."
Junior Michael Lee said it was what the team needed to hear.
The team made more of an effort to get the ball to its big men after Self's halftime speech, Simien and freshman David Padgett scored the team's first eight points on low-post moves to begin the second half.
"At halftime coach was upset I was not getting a lot of touches in the first half," Simien said after being held scoreless in the first half. "Early on in the
"It wasn't exactly what I bargained for."
Bill Self
Kansas men's basketball coach
second half the guys really did a great job of getting the ball inside."
Getting more points down low also translated into a much better shooting percentage in the second half. The Jayhawks only shot 41.4 percent in the first half, but followed up with 71.9 percent in the second half. Simien finished the game with 14 points and 7 rebounds. He was one of five Jayhawks in double figures.
Because of an injury to junior Keith Langford, the team was left scrambling to fill its starting lineup. When senior杰 Graves showed up five minutes late for the game, Self had to juggle his starting lineup even more. The starters ended up being Simien, Lee. Padgett, junior Aaron Miles and senior Bryant Nash. Lee said he was nervous about getting his first start at Allen Fieldhouse.
"I went up to coach when I knew when I was going to start and asked him where do I go because I have never done this before," Lee said.
After a shaky first half, Lee settled down and help put EA Sports away for good. H received the biggest cheer of the night after scoring on a spinning, off-balance layup that gave the team a 76-74 lead. It was a lead that
SEE BASKETBALL ON PAGE 6B
Mangino confident in his freshman quarterback
Freshman quarterback Adam Barmann vaded the tackle of Texas A&M tackler Scott Stickane in the first quarter of last weekend's game in College Station. The Jayhawks are preparing for this Saturday's game against Nebraska at Memorial Stadium.
By Ryan Greene
rgreene@kansan.com
Kansan sportswriter
Courtnev Kuhlen/Kansan
Mark Mangino likes to do things his way when it comes to recruiting.
Instead of selecting the players he wants in his program based on statistics, where they played their high school football or what camps and clinics they attended to hone their skills, the second-year KU coach decides to go with his instincts when recruiting players.
It was those instincts that brought freshman quarterback Adam Barmann to Kansas. The Kansas coach's philosophy is similar to that of Division-I's all-time winningest coach, Florida State's Bobby Bowden.
"Bobby Bowden wrote an essay one time about how you have 'it' or you don't have 'it,'" Mangino said. "Adam Barmann has 'it' and in just a short period of time I realized that."
That short period of time was not last Saturday, when Barmann threw for 294 yards and four touchdowns in his first collegiate start. It came two summers ago, at a satellite camp in Wichita that Kansas held for high school football prospects.
Mangino showed up in the afternoon for the usual meet-and-greet session, acknowledging those who came to the camp, and seeing if anything caught his eye. What caught his eye was a kid from a small school in Weston. Mo.
"I watched him throw, I watched him interact with the kids, and I said 'we're going to give this kid a scholarship.'" Mangino said. "It wasn't a big deal to him
that we thought a lot of him in the camp. He just figured if these guys like me, fine, and if not I'll just get in the car and go to the next camp that a university sponsors and see what they think."
Mangino spent another hour watching this small-town wonder, and made his final decision in the car on the way back to Lawrence to offer Barmann a scholarship to Kansas.
Now that his find has shown he is ready to play on the big stage, Mangino still cannot pinpoint what that 'it' is that he adored so much right off the bat.
Whether it was his 6-foot-4 frame, his precise throws or his on-field moxie, Mangino found a diamond in the rough.
That diamond is now glistening brighter than ever as the Jayhawks head into a key matchup against Nebraska this weekend at home.
The Jayhawks, who looked deflated after losing Bill Whitemore in a 42-6 drubbing at the hands of Kansas State, now bring an invigorated offense against Nebraska, who ranks second in the conference and seventh in the nation in total defense. Despite an intimidating defense
lining up across from the freshman quarterback, Mangino feels the same about Barmann's fearless attitude heading into this game as he did a week ago.
"There's nothing unique about their scheme," Mangino said. "It's nothing Adam cannot handle." Kansas Foothall Notebook
Kansas Football Notebook
■ The kicking soap opera continues — Coach Mangino announced yesterday that junior walk-on kicker Jerod Brooks will see playing time in some capacity this weekend against Nebraska. Junior kicker Johnny Beck was pulled late in the game last Saturday in an afternoon that included a missed extra point, a missed 42-yard field goal and a kickoff that sailed out of bounds. Beck is now eighth-of-14 on field goal attempts this season and has missed three extra points. Mangino said while Beck has a stronger leg, Brooks may have an edge in short-range kicking accuracy. What Mangino feels Beck needs is a fire lit under him with the pressure of another guy pushing for the starting job.
"I want to make this perfectly clear." Mangino said. "I have not lost confidence in Johnny Beck. I think he's a talented guy. I think he needs to compete for that job, and competing for the job gives you that mental edge that you need."
TALK TO SPORTS: Contact JJ Hensley and Shane Mettlen at SPORTS@KANSAN.COM
Heegans feeling the heat — After struggles on kick returns last weekend kept the Jayhawks with subpar field position, Mangino said he had made changes in both the scheme and personnel on the special teams unit. More regular starters
SEE FOOTBALL ON PAGE 4B