2B
SPORTS
THE UNIVERSITY HARRY KANSAN MONDAY, AUGUST 24, 2009
QUOTE OF THE DAY
"Ten seconds to go, we're thinking we're national champs, all of a sudden a kid makes a shot, and we're not."
— Kentucky coach John Calipari after his Memphis Tigers lost the 2008 national title game.
Calipari is the 13th all-time winningest Division I head coach with a 445-140 (.761) record after 17 years coaching.
FACT OF THE DAY
UKAthletics.com
TRIVIA OF THE DAY
Q Where did Calipari begin his college basketball coaching career?
A: At Kansas, from 1982-85, as an assistant coach.
UKAthletics.com
TONIGHT ON THE KICKOFF
The Kickoff on JKHJ 90.7 FM will feature David Lawrence, football analyst
for the Jayhawk Radio Network, tonight from 6 to 7 p.m. The show will also be broadcast on www.KJHK.org.
Stephen Montemayor
LEGAL
LEGAL Court rules Florida State cheating records public
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A court ruling that documents concerning academic cheating at Florida State University are public records will "rip the heart out of the NCAA," one of the organization's top officials said.
Circuit Judge John Cooper will reconvene a hearing Friday that will decide the remaining issues, including whether to put the documents' release on hold pending appeal.
The Associated Press and other media organizations filed a public records lawsuit against Florida State, its law firm and the NCAA seeking access to documents on the NCAA's plan to strip the school of wins in 10 sports.
MORNING BREW
Associated Press
NCAA should punish Calipari, fix rules
There are a couple of things the recently unearthed crimes of the Memphis Tigers bring to light.
First, former Memphis coach John Calipari is obviously a brilliant coach and an even better recruiter, but his moral compass is leading him in the wrong direction. It's time to see some sort of action taken against him.
Second, it emphasizes that the NCAA's current one-and-done policy for basketball is a joke. I have a hard time finding any redeeming qualities in forcing a player to attend school for one year. It's crazy.
As I'm sure you've heard, the Tigers will be forced to vacate all their record 38 victories from the 2007-2008 season, in which they advanced to the national championship game, only to fall to a certain team from the Midwest. The NCAA levied this punishment after it was revealed that a player
later discovered to be Memphis point guard Derrick Rose - falsified an SAT score in order to qualify for school.
So, back to the revelations. Calipari is, like I said earlier, a brilliant coach. No one gets to two Final Fours with two different mid-majors without being excellent at what he does. But, if we're being technical, he's never been to a Final Four. He was stripped of both of his appearances because of NCAA rules violations.
The crazy part is, though, that Calipari hasn't seen any punishment directed his way. When justice came down at Massachusetts, where his first Final Four was stripped because star center Marcus Camby had improper dealings with an agent, Calipari escaped to Memphis and saw no repercussions.
Now, he's escaped Memphis and will see no action taken against
him at his new job at Kentucky. Admittedly, there is no precedent of a coach being punished instead of the school, but in this instance there is a recurring problem, and no one has stepped up to the table to do anything about it. I say suspend Calipari. Kick him out of college basketball for an entire year. Twice he has been a part of something so wrong and immoral that a team of 13 kids that busted their butts for an entire season now have nothing in the record books to show for it. The punishment, once, would fit the crime.
On the other hand, there's Derrick Rose. Rose, though he did cheat and deserves some sort of penalty, was more a victim of the ridiculous rule that forces basketball players to come to school for one year. He never wanted to be a student. He could've left high school for the NBA and been the same level of star that he was last year when he was named the NBAs rookie of the year. Some guys just have it. Besides that, what does one year of school even do?
I say they should do it like
Follow Kansan writer Tim Dwyer at twitter.com/timdwyer
baseball. In baseball, players are allowed to go to the pros straight out of high school. Because so many prospects never see the major leagues, teams will often pay for the college education of their high school draft picks. This is why Kansas basketball guard C.J. Henry is not a scholarship athlete — the New York Yankees are picking up the tab.
If a baseball player does decide to go to college, however, they must go for three years — long enough to get an actual education.
MONDAY YOUTUBE SESH
It takes quite a bit for a guy riding a bike to impress me. Even trials riders — a.k.a. the guys that do the fancy tricks — don't really blow me away.
But check out what Danny
Usually.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
MacAskill, a trials rider from Dunvegan, Scotland, can do on a bike. It defies gravity, physics and logic. It just shouldn't be possible. You'll see what I mean when he rides across the top of a wrought iron fence at the start of the clip. Then it gets cooler.
Type "Danny MacAskill Inspired" into your YouTube search and prepare to have your jaw dropped.
Edited by Nick Gerik
Gators voted No.1 by heavy margin
BY RALPH D. RUSSO
Associated Press
NEW YORK - As Tim Tebow and the Florida Gators prepare to make a run at their third national title in the last four seasons, the defending champions have already made some history.
Florida is No. 1 in The Associated Press' preseason Top 25 released Saturday, followed by Texas, Oklahoma, Southern California and Alabama.
But the Gators are in a class by themselves, the most overwhelming preseason No.1 in the history of the media poll.
Florida received 58 of the 60 first-place votes, or 96.7 percent. Texas got the other first-place votes.
Those Trojans got 62 of 65 first place votes — and didn't play for
the national title.
The previous highest percentage of first-place votes for the AP preseason poll, which started in 1950, was 95.4 percent for USC in 2007.
Ten preseason No.1s have won the national championship. If the Gators can become the 11th,they will have put together one of the great runs in college football history.
Only one program since 1950 can claim three national championships in four years; Nebraska won it all it 1994 and 1995, then earned a split title in 1997.
With expectations soaring in Gainesville, Fla., coach Urban Meyer has been on a mission to keep his team's eyes on the small prizes — to heck with history.
"There's a lot of guys getting patted on the back and being told how good they are." Meyer said in a recent telephone interview. "Their only focus is on survival to the next day and working hard in practice.
"I don't want them to even think about that kind of stuff. Our goal is to get to Atlanta" for the Southeastern Conference championship game.
Flicking it
Adam Buhler/KANSAN
Associated Press
Two pitches, two approaches, one piece of history.
Axl Brammer, Overland Park junior, flicks a flying disc around Drew Anderson, Manhattan sophomore, Thursday afternoon at the Robinson playing fields. The Intramural Ultimate Frisbee team was practicing to draw attention to its top-notch team, which went to Nationals last year. The team will practice again at the Robinson Playing Fields on Tuesday at 4 p.m. and regular practices will begin next Thursday at the ShenK Sports Complex. For more information about the team, check out its website at www.horrorontals.com.
BY JOHN MARSHALL
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — After seeing a curveball on the first pitch of his previous at-bat, Michael Cuddyer was looking for something soft. He got it and hit it out. Next at-bat, Cuddyer saw a pitch and reacted to it. Same result.
Twins defeat Royals 10-3 in KC
Cuddyer homered twice in Minnesota's eight-run seventh inning and Denand Span added a three-run triple, helping the Twins turn a close game into a 10-3 rout over the Kansas City Royals on Sunday.
MLB
A pitching duel between Twins starter Carl Pavano and Brian Bannister turned ugly in a hurry in the seventh, when Cuddyer hit the first pitch for a homer, then added a two-run shot that put the Twins up 9-1. Playing his sixth straight game in place of Justin Morneau (ear infection), Cuddyer became the first Twins player to hit
two homers in an inning and the first in the majors since Boston's David Ortiz did it against Texas last August.
"A very special day and a very special scenario that happened," Cuddyer said after going deep twice in an inning for the first time on any level. "It was a pretty cool day."
And an important one for the Twins.
Pavano pitched seven solid innings, Orlando Cabrera drove in two runs and the Twins had 14 hits — every starter at least one — to sweep a road series
"A very special day and a very special scenario that happened. It was a pretty cool day."
for the first time since taking three games from San Diego from June 24-26, 2008. After a 2-7 start to August, Minnesota went 5-2 on its latest road trip, scoring 23 runs in three games against the Royals to keep pace with the AL Central-
leading Tigers.
MICHAEL CUDDYER
Twins right fielder
Pavano (11-9) was sharp after a shaky outing against Texas on Tuesday, allowing two runs and
"We knew that we had to start winning games and winning series," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "To come in here and play like this, the guys stepped up."
eight hits in his seven innings. Bannister (7-10) wasn't bad, either, matching Pavano most of the way.
Then came the seventh.
Brendan Harris followed Cuddyer's homer with a double and scored on Delmon Young's single, chasing Bannister.
give chasing bartiste. In came Kyle Farnsworth - and things got really ugly.
Carlos Gomez reached on an infield single after shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt was pulled out of position on a hit-and-run.
AUDITION UNIVERSITY DANCE COMPANY
Monday, August 24th
7:00 pm
Studio 242
Robinson Center
NO SOLO MATERIAL REQUIRED
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