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Sports THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Preparing for the passes Defensive backs will have to step up against Texas Tech .FOOTBALL | 9B
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2009
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FANTASTIC FIVE
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Soccer seniors Julie Hanley, Estelle Johnson, Monica Dolinsky, Shannon McCabe, and Kim Boyer will celebrate Senior Day on Friday. This game, a make or break game against Missouri, could be their last game of the season.
Jerry Wang/KANSA
Fun-loving seniors face final game
Jayhawks must win on Senior Day to make postseason
BY JOEL PETTERSON jpetterson@kansan.com
This Friday is Senior Day for Kansas, and it will be a little more serious than the fun-loving seniors would prefer. The team needs a victory against Missouri and a loss from either Baylor or Texas Tech to advance to the Big
It's hard to decide what the soccer team's seniors will be most remembered for: their extraordinary talent or their dance moves.
Follow Joel Petterson at twitter.com/j_petter.
12 Tournament.
"It's not just Senior Day, but it's also the game that potentially makes or breaks our season," senior Monica Dolinsky said.
But don't expect Dolinsky and her four senior classmates to be too somber — it just wouldn't be their style.
"We play so much better when we're having fun," senior Estelle Johnson said.
Playing well and having fun has defined this class since they arrived as freshmen. All five— Dolinsky, Johnson, and their
classmates Kim Boyer, Julie Hanley, and Shannon McCabe—were talented enough to play significantly in their first year, and since then they've become the core of the team.
"It's been a very good group for us," coach Mark Francis said. "We knew they had that potential, and they all improved since they've been here."
During their careers, the seniors have earned weekly and All-Big 12 honors, they've been recognized by national publications and their names sit near the top of multiple Kansas career statistics lists. But the seniors would rather reminisce about pre-game dances and botched hair dye jobs than discuse records and statistics.
"We'll remember all the road
trips and all the stupid dances and all the dumb things we always did," Hanley said.
Adventures ranging from sharing dorm rooms as freshmen to a team trip to Brazil last year have helped to make the group inseparable. You now share a friendship that transcends just sports.
"You can't really put our relationships into words," Dolinsky said.
Hanley agreed.
"I t sounds so stupid, and everyone says it, but they're like sisters," Hanley said. "I just don't think you get that everywhere at all the other programs."
This year, the relationship shared by the five seniors has shaped the dynamic of the entire team. From the beginning of the season, the seniors focused on
including every player regardless of playing time or class. Francis said that attitude has allowed the team's underclassmen to flourish
"They've done a great job of integrating them in, and obviously those guys have contributed a lot," he said. "I think the seniors have had a lot to do with that."
Junior Caitlin Noble said the tight-knit atmosphere set by the seniors has motivated the team all year.
"Our team has the most team chemistry I've ever seen through out club or high school," she said. "We do what we do for each other, and they're huge role models."
Despite a great team dynamic, the season hasn't turned out
SEE SOCCER ON PAGE 4B
MEN'S BASKETBALL
Current team drawing comparisons to National Championship squad
BY COREY THIBODEAUX cthibodeaux@kansan.com
Coach Bill Self says that if the 2008 team matched up against this year's team, the winner would be obvious.
Though the two teams are drawing comparisons, the 2008 team, Self said, was battle-tested and hungry from being upset the previous two years. In 2006, Kansas was the fourth seed in the NCAA Tournament and lost in the first round to Bradley. The next year, as a No.1 seed, the Jayhawks lost to the second-seeded UCLA Bruins in the Elite Eight.
"This team is not ready to beat that team," he said. "It would not even be a contest as of today."
"This team basically didn't operate last year in a pressured situation as much because I really felt like everybody was happy with their performance last year," Self said. "The team before was driven to do better."
To excel this season, junior guard
Follow Corey
Thibodeaux at
twitter.com/
c_thibodeaux.
Tyrel Reed said, this team will have to rely on its youth, something the championship team did not rely heavily upon.
of seniors — six guys who had been with Coach Self for four years," Reed said. "They knew the system and been through the ups and downs of playing college basketball. This year we've got some young guys
"The 2008 team had a deep group
"This team is not ready to beat that team. It would not even be a contest as of today."
BILL SELF Men's basketball coach
Projecting the starting lineup for the 2009-10 team shows the how much younger the layhawks are this year. They are looking at a possible lineup of Cole Aldrich, Sherron Collins, Tyshawn Taylor, Marcus Morris and Xavier Henry — one senior, one junior, two sophomores and a freshman.
The starting lineup of the 2008 team consisted of Mario Chalmers, Russell Robinson, Brandon Rush.
Darnell Jackson and Darrell Arthur — two seniors, two juniors and one sophomore.
and some old guys. I think we just have a good mix."
The main disparities between the two teams besides age, Self said, are the athleticism, size and depth.
"I don't know if this team is quite as athletic and as fast," he said "but this team may be bigger. I think this team is probably deeper which doesn't
always translate to positive things because obviously we can only play so many guys."
PAGE 1B
SEE COMPARISON ON PAGE 4B
Weston White/KANSAN FILE PHOTO
Junior center Cole Aldrich grabs an offensive rebound against Nebraska last season in Allen Fieldhouse. Aldrich likely will be one of the older starters on this year's team, which is has more younger players than the 2008 National Championship team.
COMMENTARY
Football known to flourish in obscurity
Kansas has lost back-to-back games. Its defense, although not as porous as it was
against Iowa State and Southern Miss, still yields too easily. Veterans are dropping on the depth chart, giving way to younger, less experienced players. The offense, once thought an unstoppable juggernaut, can't score at all early, or much thereafter. Todd Reesing hardly looks like a guy who, just weeks ago, was thought a dark horse Heisman candidate. Jake Sharp is still hurting, and so is the running game. At least the kicker is playing well.
Kansas then faced South Florida early the following season, at which time both teams were ranked. Of course, Kansas blew a sizable lead, then fell just short with its comeback attempt. Kansas proceeded to recover and ascend the rankings, but then dropped back-to-back games — including a lopsided defeat at the hands of Texas Tech in Lawrence. On the verge of a good-but-not-great season, Kansas pulled out a classic victory against Missouri, then doubled-up Minnesota in the Insight Bowl.
The Orange Bowl-winning squad, of course, rose from obscurity to pull off shocker after shocker. The nation waited for Kansas to falter, and only when the national spotlight began to burn brightest, against Missouri, did Kansas lose. Then the expectations vanished and the Jayhawks surprised Virginia Tech.
This year began with reasonably high hopes, which have quickly dissipated. Expectations of a conference title, if there ever were any, are gone now. Even prospects of winning the Big 12 North look increasingly bleak. And a potential BCS bowl trip? That's funny. Kansas isn't even ranked anymore. It is completely and totally off the national radar.
Amidst this litany of problems, the Jayhawks head to Lubbock, Texas. There, they will be tasked with shutting down one of the most prolific passing offenses in the nation on its home turf. Granted, Texas Tech looked entirely vulnerable against Texas A&M last week, but that's just all the more reason for Mike Leach to come out guns blazing. An ever-changing Jayhawk secondary will find itself in that imposing line of fire. There's no reason to believe it'll fare even remotely well. So Kansas' offense will, almost without a doubt, need to score in spades. Which, given recent events, doesn't seem as likely as it once did.
Basically, this all boils down to one rather simple fact: There's no sound reason to expect that Kansas will win Saturday. Honestly, there's more evidence to suggest that the Jayhawks might get blown out.
And, believe it or not, that's the good news. For the first time in a while, Kansas gets to return to the role of the underdog, where it's apparently much more comfortable. At least that appears to be the case, especially if previous years are any indication.
And given the Jayhawks' performance thus far, that's precisely where they belong. But that's not a bad thing. It's in that state of anonymity they seem to play their best.
- Edited by Sarah Kellv
V