---
---
Sports THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN MONDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2008
Jayhawks fight for final spot Kansas will play Texas Tech for a place in the Big 12 Tournament. SOCCER | 3B
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2009
WWW.KANSAN.COM
Kick The Kansan in football
Go to promos.kansan.com/kickthekansan or e-mail at thewave@kansan.com
SINKING FEELING
Junior receiver Dezmon Briscoe keeps his head to the turf as Texas Tech celebrates after recovering a fumble for a touchdown during the fourth quarter. Kansas gave up 28 points during the fourth quarter in a 42-21 loss
Jayhawks disheartened with play
Offense continued to struggle against a tough Texas Tech
BY JAYSON JENKS
PAGE 1B
jjenks@kansan.com
The senior quarterback with the flair for the dramatic, the one who led Kansas to an Orange Bowl victory and who has delivered in the clutch countless times before was benched.
LUBBOCK, TEXAS — Todd Reeing's senior campaign — the final go-around for one of Kansas' biggest playmakers of all time — has struck an abrupt and rather unexpected road block.
Yes, on the plains of Texas and in front of a less-than-capacity crowd, Reesing stood on the sideline while freshman Kale Pick jogged to take his place for the final seven minutes of a 42-21 loss that completely unraveled in the
Follow Jayson
Jenks at twitter.
com/JaysonJenks
fourth quarter.
"He was not able to get anything moving — or at least consistently," coach Mark Mangino said. "We just felt like, 'Give Kale Pick a shot.'"
The decision left Reesing and his teammates somewhat surprised.
"I was, I'm not gonna lie," Reesing said. "At that point we were two possessions down, but by no means was the game over. It's not my decision obviously. I gave them a reason."
Still, when senior wide receiver Kerry Meier joined Kansas' huddle in the fourth quarter and didn't see the No. 5 jersey, he was admittedly startled.
"I was kind of confused at first," Meier said. "I thought they had pulled him because he got banged
or hit one of those plays. He was getting hit quite a bit throughout the whole game. Then we come out for a series and I see Kale in the huddle. I didn't know what was going on."
Reesing's mistakes have always been tolerated, simply justified as an important part of the quarterback's home-run mentality. Without it, teammates and coaches said, Reesing couldn't compete at his highest level.
And it all became part of Reesing's easy-to-root-for persona — the one fans latched and held on to after Rees-
Yet for the third consecutive game, Reesing produced costly miscues, which resulted in points for Kansas' opponents. On top
of that, Reeing struggled to find receivers and couldn't effectively move the offense throughout the game.
ing led Kansas to a comeback victory against Colorado in his first game in 2006.
This time Mangino simply decided enough was enough.
"I'm at a loss for words to understand what has happened the last two weeks." Reeing said.
"It's not the way we play football at Kansas. It's not how we do things here."
MARK MANGINO Kansas coach
ing against a white wall in a
tiny makeshift interview room, Reesing admitted that he suffered a groin injury against Colorado that has continued to nag him.
As Reeing noted after the game, though, he wasn't replaced because of an injury, which he said
didn't hinder his performance. Instead, it was his less-than-average performance that kept him planted on the sideline.
pointing finish. But the burden of the loss is not Reesing's alone.
True, Reesing's tale is undoubtedly the headline and most prominent story from Saturday's disap
Far from it, in fact.
"If it was just him. I would have taken him out of the game a long time ago and put Kale Pick in," Mangino said. "But it's not just him. You've got receivers, veteran guys, dropping passes all over the field. And I don't like it. It's not the way we play football at Kansas. It's not how we do things here."
Kansas' offense — the unit expected to carry the Jayhawks this year — struggled as a whole from start to finish on Saturday.
Reeing completed 20 of 35 passes for just 181 yards. He also had two fumbles.
Junior wide receiver Dezmon Briscoe had an uncharacteristic number of drops and the usually sure-handed Meier fumbled deep in Kansas territory, setting up a Texas Tech touchdown.
Kansas lost four fumbles in the game.
SEE FOOTBALL ON PAGE 4B
COMMENTARY
Season's original hopes are dashed
BY STEPHEN MONTEMAYOR
montemayor@marsan.com
Down by two scores with more than seven minutes left in the game, Todd Reesing — the quarterback of myriad miraculous comebacks — was benched.
Let that simmer for a moment.
Let that simmer for a moment. Freshman quarterback Kale Pick supplanted the man who floated the game-winner in the snow at Arrowhead Stadium a year ago in the Border Showdown. Nearly every notable school passing record stood on the sideline, helmet unnapped and pulled above his forehead.
Joining Reesing on the bench were the expectations of what the culmination of the respective careers from one of the program's more distinguished senior classes would entail.
Texas Tech 42, Kansas 21.
The quarterback who engineered a historic 12-1 Orange Bowl season as a sophomore, the senior wide receiver who humbly accepted being replaced as signal caller and the junior pass catcher who seemed a lock for an NFL roster spot were among those who again were humbled and at times embarrassed.
Kansas' preseason slogan "History Awaits" may need amending as hopes of a Big 12 North title—and higher aspirations—are all but history.
That's not to say flashes of the magic we've come to expect weren't still there Saturday. The
SEE COLUMN ON PAGE 5B
Follow Stephen Montemayer at twitter.com/smontemayer.
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Sutherland breaks out to guide Kansas to 86-56 victory
In Sunday's game against Pittsburg State, sophomore point guard rockets to center stage
BY MAX ROTHMAN
mrothman@kansan.com
Someone forgot to tell Aishah Sutherland that this was Danielle McCray's team.
the wiry forward had a coming out party in yesterday's opening exhibition game against Pittsburg State, tallying 20 points and nine rebounds in the first half alone. The sophomore showcased her premier athleticism right off the bat, dominating the paint with powerful lay-ups and forceful rebounding. She ran wild in transitions, leading to easy baskets on the other end. With senior guard Sade Morris benched because of foul trouble, Sutherland and senior guard and forward Danielle McCray displayed an unstoppable inside-outside tandem.
"It causes the guards to suck in and try to get something inside," M. Gray said.
Sutherland's dominance leaves opposing defenses with a troubling question.
Follow Max Rothman at twitter.com/ maxrothman
and Sade to go double?" coach Bonnie Henrickson said.
But the game didn't start as smoothly as the 86-56 final score implies. The first exhibition game of the year for Kansas women's basketball justly fit its title. Each team kicked off the contest sloppily, with basketballs soaring out of bounds as if they were magnetically repellent from the players' hands. Contact-heavy fouls were frequent and jump shots clunked off of an unforgiving rim. The opening four minutes of the game were polluted with 11 total turnovers (eight from Pittsburg State, three from Kansas). But the chaos cooled down and
Once the defense is drawn to Sutherland, in other words, it's bombs away for McCray and Morris.
"Are you gonna leave Danielle
In her first ten minutes of play, Sutherland went six for six from the field and two for two from the stripe. She collected five rebounds. She had no turnovers and only one foul. Pittsburg State simply had no answer for the 6-foot-2 slasher with twisting tree branches for arms.
Read more about women's basketball on page 8B.
Sutherland took over.
The only time Sutherland showed any shyness on the floor was after she snagged a rebound from a McCray miss. As she swiveled her body and soared towards the hoop for the put-back, Sutherland's trademark white headband popped off her head and to the floor and her shot was blocked.
"She just outperformed everybody at her position," Henrickson said.
Ryan Waggoner/KANSM
Senior guard Daniel McCray dribbles upcourt after a steal in the season. In their season,
theer 20 ranked hawks defeated Pittsburgh State, 86-56.
Co-captain Nicollette Smith provided a gritty and versatile spark off the bench, spreading the floor with her range and finishing with 12 points and 8 rebounds.
Redshirt freshman point guard Angel Goodrich showed flashes of brilliance with 10 assists but was also bitten by the turnover bug. If the clairvoyant passer can take care of the ball, she will continue to feed the bevy of scorers that Henrickson has at her disposal.
"She sees things that most players don't," Henrickson said. "The post players benefited the most from how Angel can play."
Ryan Waggoner/KANSAN
"There's just something about my headband," Sutherland said later.
"It spaces people," Henrickson said. "What's good about Nic and Aishah is that they don't play alike."
McCray and center Krysten Boogaard took over in the second half, scoring 21 of the first 23 Kansas points.
But its the two new pieces. Goo-
kily and Sutherland, that can ful-
fll.
ly configure the five piece puzzle.
1
"This a team thats got to recognize to get up and push and be athletic in transition."
Henrickson said
—Edited by Brenna M. T. Daldorh