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Sports THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Team's NCAA hopes linger
Jayhawks face four ranked foes before season's end VOLLEYBALL | 5B
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 13,2009
Opener tests expectations Highly anticipated team starts season. WOMENS BASKETBALL | 1B
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LEAVING A GOOD IMPRESSION
Senior receiver Kerry Meier cuts past a tackler last Saturday against Kansas State. Kansas' seniors will attempt to finish strong in their last home game Saturday after losing the last four games.
PAGE 1B
Weston White/KANSAN
Making good on Senior Day
BY JAYSON JENKS jjenks@kansan.com
Somewhere in Kansas' football facility near Memorial Stadium — on a nondescript white board — there's a quote written by linebackers coach Bill Miller.
Sometimes it takes hundreds of words to summarize the ups and downs of a football season. Other times, a simple sentence seems to do the job. He wrote, "Nothing is sadder than what could have been."
Miller's quote strikes the heart of Kansas football, offering a perfect description of a rather surprising
- and admittedly disappointing
- season to this point.
The Jayhawks entered this year with hopes of winning the Big 12
North. And with a talented corps of returning senior starters that goal certainly seemed obtainable.
Instead, Kansas' players enter Senior Day against Nebraska tomorrow with a four-game losing streak clinging to their backs.
But Saturday also marks the final time Kansas' highly productive — and highly successful — senior class will suit up inside Memorial Stadium.
"We felt like this was one of our more talented teams we've had overall," senior linebacker Angus Quigley said. "It's the most speed we've had on defense. We felt like our offense was potent. That was our goal all season. That's what we felt like we were capable of doing."
"Things just don't always work out like you want them to. We've
had some rough stretches, and we're still in one."
Before the season, the general consensus was that the game against
likely decide the winner of the Big 12 North
For Nebraska, the game still carries plenty of weight in that category. For Kansas, the game is simply another crack
stopping the bleeding.
"It's tough because nobody, wants to go out their senior year losing four in a row," Quigley said. "Losing the first one was bad. But four? We don't even
"If it was a fairy tale, we would have won all four of those last games."
know what to say."
Kansas' seniors joined the team at a time when the football program was still mostly considered
DARRELL STUCKEY Senior safety
an afterthought in the conference's big picture.
The Jayhawks missed a bowl game with a 6-6 record in 2006 — what was then the first or second season for Kansas' seniors
But then the 2007 season rolled around and many of the current seniors played a significant role in lifting the program to its first BCS bowl game.
Two years later, the names of those seniors now fill the school's
record books.
"We've had so much success here," senior safety Darrell Stuckey said. "We've literally almost broken every KU record in our era. We can't sit here and think this is a fairy tale or a fantasy. If it was a fairy tale, we would have won all four of those last games."
Now, rather than zeroing in on the North title this Saturday, Kansas' attention will instead be on earning one more victory in order to become eligible for a bowl game.
It certainly has been a drastic transformation.
Kansas won its first five games, and the offense piled up big
SEE FOOTBALL ON PAGE 5B
BASKETBALL
Freshman forward Thomas Robinson takes off for a dunk Tuesday night against Pittsburg State. Jayhawks will take on the Hofstra Pride for the first time at 7 tonight at Allen Fieldhouse.
Weston White/KANSAN
Kansas readies to face Hofstra, test skills and live up to top ranking
"I think those two exhibition games kind of got us a little bit more prepared for Hofstra and we're looking forward to it," junior Guard Tyrel Reed said.
BY COREY THIBODEAUX
In its first game of meaningful play, Kansas will try to improve off its 27-8 team from a year ago and prove its No.1 ranking is not a fluke.
cthibodeaux@kansan.com
The Jayhawks look to win their 37 consecutive home opener tonight when they play host to Hofstra at 7 p.m.
Kansas comes off a two-game exhibition stint where it out-scored its opponents with a 48.5 scoring margin of victory.
Hofstra went 21-11 last year, but did not play any exhibition games to prepare for this season. The Pride has never played the Jayhawks nor has it ever played against a top ranked opponent.
Kansas coach Bill Self said
Hofstra's Charles Jenkins, Colonial Athletics Association Preseason Co-Player of the Year, will give them a good test with his versatility and strength. Overall, Hofstra had a lot of turnover from last year's team, but they have experience, returning five letter winners and two starters.
"They have a ton of newcomers." Self said. "But they do return five players who played an awful lot of minutes."
the players think the pre-season was a good way to get into the
Starting the season against an experienced Hofstra team tonight and Memphis on Tuesday will help the Jayhawks quickly gauge their
SHERRON COLLINS Senior guard
Not to take anything away from the last two teams we played, but they were warm-up games for us and the real show starts Friday."
"The next couple games coming up are going to be people who test us."
flow of the season. Markieff Morris said he does not know much about his opponent yet, but the team is good enough to beat any opponent.
"I feel like if we play like we've been playing," he said. "Then I think we can do good against anybody.
"The next couple games coming up are going to be people who test us," Collins said. "We have to find out where we're at and find our identity."
talent, senior guard Sherron Collins said.
SEE BASKETBALL ON PAGE 5B
The preseason did however expose a lot of strengths as well
Three freshmen — Xavier Henry, Thomas Robinson and Elijah Johnson — proved themselves worthy to be part of the rotation, taking the slack off of Collins and junior center Cole Aldrich.
COMMENTARY
For Collins example and points are a way to lead
BY MAX VOSBURGH
mvosburgh@kansan.com
Exhibition games are over and the Kansas men's basketball season finally starts
tactical season finally starts tonight. Consider all the exciting things that a fan of the team has to look forward to this year.
After being ranked pre-season No. 1 by the Associated Press and USA TODAY coaches' polls, a national championship is on the minds of a lot of people.
Senior guard Sherron Collins will have the opportunity to again lead the jayhaws, but in a different way. With the influx of freshman talent, he may still lead with points, but more than anything, he must now lead by example.
More than anything this year, I'm looking forward to watching Collins, or "the General," because watching him run a team on the court is like watching a general command his troops during battle
With the freshmen additions of guard Xavier Henry, forward Thomas Robinson and guard Elijah Johnson, Collins' scoring could decrease slightly from last year, which is good because what made the 2008 championship team so incredible was that it did not have one major scorer—no one scored something like 20 or 30 points per game. Instead, five or six players would score in double digits. Even if the game plan of the opposing team is to stop Collins there are still other players like Tyshawn Taylor, Cole Aldrich and Henry, to pick up the slack. That being said, Collins will still probably be the leading scorer most games. This is, after all, his team. That's why he is the General, On the floor, he is a leader. He is working hard every play and setting examples for the younger players. In close games, those players will be looking to get the experienced veteran the ball to score.
If Collins can manage to keep up his habit of scoring, this year could be special for him, too. He currently has 1,330 points, which is No.25 in Kansas' career history. Last year, he averaged 18.9 points. If he manages to average 15.8 points per game this year, he will finish as one of the top five career scorers. Just to put things in perspective, Collins would have to average 52.3 points per game this year to pass KU alum and current assistant coach, Danny Manning, and become the all-time leader in career points at the University.
Besides watching Collins, it will be exciting to see the role that the Kansas freshmen play on the team this year. Will forward Xavier Henry live up to the hype that surrounded him when he was recruited?
Besides the freshmen, how many of these Jayhawks will be playing in the NBA some day, and how many will have their numbers will be hung in the rafters of Allen Fieldhouse? These questions directly depend on Collins' performance. This is his team. It is up to him to set an example for the freshmen this year, to continue to be the general of this team.
So as you are watching Kansas play this year just stop and take a second to appreciate what you are seeing, because it is likely Collins will have his number honored and you will be able to say you saw him play.
Edited by Jacob Muselmann