Sports
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The University Daily Kansan
The football team's victory over Baylor put an exclamation point on the week's homecoming celebration. PAGE 8A
sports commentary
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Monday, October 20, 2003
Shane Mettlen smettten@hansan.com
Jayhawks Wildcats not true arch rivals
It was a great weekend for Kansas sports fans. Basketball coach Bill Self rejuvenated Late Night, a tradition that had grown stale in recent years. The football team notched its fifth victory of the season, something it hasn't done since 1999. And the volleyball team swept Iowa State in front of a sold-out crowd.
There was so much energy on the campus this weekend that it shouldn't be difficult to carry it over into this weekend's match-up against arch-rival Kansas State.
State. It wouldn't be difficult, that is, if Kansas State actually was an arch rival. The truth is Missouri is Kansas' rival and the Sunflower Showdown hasn't been up to par with the Border War in a long time.
That's because the key component to rivalry is competition and the Jayhawks haven't been competitive with the Wildcats on the football field since 1993, when Kansas State squeaked by Kansas 10-9 in Manhattan.
K-State hasn't exactly done its part to keep the rivalry alive either. Kansas has emerged victorious the last 24 times the teams have met in men's basketball.
The two schools haven't been fiercely competitive in football or basketball in nearly a decade. In general, Kansas fans are resigned to the fact their team probably won't beat K-State in football and Wildcat supporters have come to accept losing in men's basketball.
In basketball, K-State coach Jim Wooldridge signed the Wildcat's best recruiting class in years. Kansas State is a long way from putting together the kind of program that Kansas has, but with improved talent it's not unbelievable to think that K-State could pull off an upset or two this year. Perhaps the Wildcats can even beat the Jayhawks in their own Bramlage Coliseum for the first time ever.
The level of interest in the Sunflower Showdown is certainly not as high as it should be. Once again, this year the football game won't be shown live on television. How many games featuring intrastate, intra-BCS conference teams aren't on TV somewhere?
But that could all change in the years to come. Football coach Mark Mangino has Kansas on the rise and with K-State in the middle of its second average season in three years, the Wildcats don't have quite the dominant program they did when Mangino and Bob and Mike Stoops, now at Oklahoma, assisted coach Bill Snyder in the 1990s. Throw in the crazy conspiracy theory that some Wildcat fans have about Mangino and the Stoops brothers throwing the Big 12 Conference championship game in 1998 and the intensity should pick up.
Yet it's that competitiveness combined with a pure contempt that makes real rivalries like Kansas and Missouri, Michigan and Ohio State or North Carolina and Duke so compelling. And it's those rivalries that spark interest in college sports in general.
Both schools are making strides, but neither has done their part to renew the rivalry yet. But if the Jayhawks can get out of Manhattan with a victory on Saturday maybe we can call the Sunflower Showdown a rivalry once again.
Even a match-up between a mediocre basketball program and a horrible one made it on ESPN 2 last winter when Virginia took on Virginia Tech. That's because the intensity level of the rivalry in the Old Dominion State dwarfs what we have here in Kansas.
Mettlen is a Lucas senior in journalism and sports editor.
Defense leads' Hawks
Baylor's Aaron Karas, junior quarterback, fumbled the ball after being sacked by Brandon Perkins, sophomore linebacker, in the fourth quarter. Kansas defeated Baylor 28-21.
By Ryan Greene rgreene@kansan.com Kansan sportswriter
Courtney Kuhlen/Kansan
After falling 50-47 at Colorado in a shootout last weekend, the Kansas football team tried a defensive approach against Baylor.
Surprisingly, for a young defense, it worked in a game where bone-jarring hits outnumbered completed passes.
After the game stayed tight for nearly three quarters, the Kansas offense efficiently pulled away from the Bears for a 28-21 victory.
The Jayhawks more importantly have now improved to 5-2 on the season and are right in the thick of things in the North division of the Big 12 Conference.
"We did have somewhat of a hangover in the first half, yet our kids found a way to fight, and compete, and win the game," coach Mark Mangino said. "A year ago, we wouldn't have won today. We would have let Colorado beat us twice."
On a day when the Jayhawks were riddled with penalty upon penalty, disrupting their offensive momentum, their most consistent drive was their first of the game.
the game.
Off the opening kick, Kansas was able to move efficiently downfield by mixing short pass routes as well as tough runs right through the middle. Sophomore tailback Clark Green got his team flying with a 17-yard touchdown run that capped a 61-yard drive that ate 4:51 off the clock.
After the Jayhawks impressed the Bears with a finely-executed possession, both offenses were taken out of their comfort zones and mired in a low-scoring, defensive affair they had not seen much of this season.
The next time Kansas got the ball, punter Curtis Ansel's kick was blocked by Baylor's Michael Boyd, and recovered in the endzone by James Todd to not only tie the game at 7-7, but also continue Kansas special teams difficulties.
"We got the field goal unit squared away, at least for today, and now I'll work on the punting unit this week," Mangino said. "That's my fault. There's no excuse for getting a punt blocked, and that's two
weeks in a row."
weeks in a row.
Both offenses then began to trade unsuccessful possessions. For each
defense, it was a confidence builder the behind. coming off of high-scoring affairs a week ago, but mistakes, again, bit Kansas in
SEE FOOTBALL ON PAGE 7A
Former champions honored
Frie:Braam/Kansan
Chris Piper, Mark Randall, Marvin Mattox, Lincoln Minor, Milt Newton and Danny Manning watched video highlights from their 1988 championship season in Allen Fieldhouse Saturday. Former coach Larry Brown skipped coaching the Detroit Pistons' exhibition game to be honored by Belfast and Kansas basketball fans.
By Chris Wintering
cwintering@kansan.com
Kansan sportswriter
The start of basketball season was a little different at this year's Late Night in the Phog. Not just because coach Bill Self was replacing Roy Williams or because of the court's new paint scheme. The big difference came in the return of the men's basketball 1988 National Championship team.
"The focus is on what those guys accomplished rather than on us acting silly like we have in the past," junior Wayne Simien said.
Just hours before the event, at the team's media day, Self echoed Simien's thoughts about Late Night.
"The biggest thing about tonight is not about our players or coaches. I think it's about the 1988 team coming back and the sacrifices so many of those guys have made to get back here," Self said. "It's going to be a lot of fun and the fans will enjoy it."
The event marked coach Larry Brown's first opportunity to speak at Allen Fieldhouse since the championship season. Brown left the Jayhawks to coach the San Antonio Spurs after that year. He was one of many team members that made sacrifices to get to the event.
"They really want to be here. In coach Brown's case, he has never had the opportunity to really thank the Kansas fans for everything they have done for him," Self said before the event. "This will be a great opportunity for him to do that."
Before the team's introduction, a video that highlighted the team's 1988 season played on temporary video screens. The crowd cheered the Jayhawks and bounced other teams during the video.
Brown, now the coach of the NBA's Detroit Pistons, missed an exhibition game to attend Late Night.
"I spent five of the greatest years of my life in this building," he told the crowd. "There in no better place to coach, there is no better place to go to school, and there is no better place to play. I think it's because of you people here."
When the team was announced at half court, Brown took the opportunity to thank the fans.
"Fifteen years ago when we played here we had goosebumps because of the love you showed," Newton said. "And today we still have goosebumps. You all made this a special place to play. You guys set the standard."
Milt Newton, member of the 1988 team,
also thanked the crowd for its support.
At media day, junior point guard Aaron Miles said he was excited to have the championship team in attendance.
"They've done something that none
of us have done yet." Miles said. "They passed that tradition down to us and we hope to continue it."
Simien is a native of Leavenworth and a lifelong Jayhawk fan, but does not remember much of the championship.
"I was in diapers when they won." Simlin said.
Kansas Basketball Notes
The men's basketball team will begin walk-on tryouts at 8 p.m. today at Allen Fieldhouse.
Any KU student interested in participating should show up tonight ready to play with the following items: proof of health insurance and proof of a physical exam taken within the past year. Students can receive physical exams at Watkins Memorial Health Center on campus.
— Edited by Andy Marso
Scrimmage shows team good,bad
Kansas forward Wayne Simien gave Jayhawk fans at Late Night in the Phog an early sign that his surgically repaired shoulder is ready for action.
Simien scored 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting and pulled down six rebounds to lead the White team to a 37-32 victory over the Blue team in the men's basketball team's annual midnight scrimmage.
Projected as a candidate for All-American honors if he can stay healthy, Simien set the tone for the White team by hitting a wide-open three-pointer 15 seconds into the 20-minute scrimmage.
He later logged an assist, a blocked shot and a steal.
Freshman guard Omar Wilkes also impressed offensively for the White team, knocking down all four of his shots and scoring nine points.
As is often the case with early scrim- mages, players looked rusty at times. The teams combined for 16 turnovers, many on bad passes.
Senior center Jeff Graves, looking trimmer than last year when he battled a conditioning problem, stood out for the Blue team.
Graves grabbed a game-high eight rebounds and led the Blue squad with eight points.
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Just a 58 percent free-throw shooter last season, Graves hit both of his attempts from the line.
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Joey Berlin
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