sports
KANSAN.COM/SPORTS | MONDAY, FEB. 13, 2017
Josh Jackson's heroics save the day for Kansas
▶ BRIAN MINI @brianminimum
in a back and forth game, with senior guard Frank Mason III on the bench for the final shot, freshman guard Josh Jackson took the reins for No. 3 Kansas against Texas Tech.
With five seconds left in a tied game, Jackson took advantage of senior center Landen Lucas' pick and was fouled on an otherwise-unobstructed path to the basket.
Mason fouled out with 3:05 in the game after only playing 26 minutes. He ended the game with just 12 points, five rebounds and no assists.
"We got 26 minutes from him before he fouled out," Self said. "He wasn't himself and that was pretty obvious."
The other player who struggled with fouls was Lucas with four, although Lucas did contribute 13 points on 5-of-7 shooting and an important off-the-ball play
the floor.
Kansas was outrebounded 38-32, but the Jayhawks were able to keep it close because of their 40 percent three-point shooting.
Kansas shot 49 percent for the game, while Texas Tech shot 48 percent.
"We couldn't guard them and they couldn't guard us," Self said.
One reason Kansas was able to keep the game close was the lack of turnovers. The game was relatively
SCHOOL OF LOVE
Chemistry 101: How college students first fall in love
KANSAN.COM
Illustration by Roxy Townsend
▶ OMAR SANCHEZ
@OhMySanchez
A slight flirty tilt of the head when they talk; a smile when they walk in the room; mimicking the way they sit; they may not even know it yet, but this non-verbal dance between two college students are signs they might be falling for each other.
Across campus, and beyond, this exchange is happening. While it may seem like a sudden rush of emotion, University experts say falling in love in college involves a gradual process of building chemistry, whether the couple is aware of it or not.
"You can be very sexually involved with someone, but once you get to know them, you will develop more of a companionate love," Parnia Haj-Mohamadi, a doctoral student in social psychology at the University said. "Where it's more than just a sexual desire for your partner, you accept the person and then your self concepts merge. You essentially become one person."
Mohamadi is one of a group of University researchers at Gillath Lab that takes a look behind the curtain at what makes a close and intimate relationship.
Mohamadi is currently working on a dissertation on how people in relationships resist looking for alternative partners. Before couples get to that stage, Mohamadi said a potential partner goes through the rules of attraction in order for someone to begin to have feelings. The two pillars of these rules are proximity and similarity.
"What's most interesting is that a lot of college students, they attend parties and go to bars and they really engage in these shared experiences with other people," she said. "So for example, if they go to the same sports event and they are both showing the same interest in the team or they're both watching a movie together and they are laughing together, whenever they engaged in these similar behaviors, it really shows that shared experiences create closeness between people. They then really like them because they understand them on a different level, which makes them feel like they are much closer."
That spark the two feel
when they are together, Mohami said, is built on being able to openly share personal interests.
When you first fall in love with someone, there are very high levels of a few chemicals in the brain."
Omri Gillath Professor and researcher
"We tend to be into people who share the same interests as us, the same music preferences, political orientation, and there's been substantial amount of research suggesting that we prefer those who
are similar to us even on our levels of attraction," Mohamadi said.
Author and professor at the University of Maryland Charles Stangor describes this dynamic of similarity in his book "Principles of Social Psychology." Stangor is a charter fellow at the Association for Psychological Sciences, and he suggests physical attraction becomes of less importance once someone has feelings, and instead, they will consistently "share their important values and beliefs over time" with the other mate.
communicate frequently, without fear of reprisal, and in an accepting and empathetic manner."
Being able to express yourself freely leads to what Stangton calls reciprocal self-disclosure, which he defines as "the tendency to
ning to look long term.
But in order to get to self-disclosure, potential partners don't have to agree on everything. In a 2001 study done at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Jody L. Davis and Caryl E. Rusbult look into "attitude alignment," where two people in close relationships will knowingly and even unknowingly adapt and adopt attitudes to create a symmetry between the two that will create an even stronger bond. Once a person interested starts to open up to values that are different than the previous relationship, it is a sign that they are begin-
During this period of time when someone is falling in love there is also a neurological process taking place. Omri Gillath, associate professor of psychology and researcher behind Gillath Lab said there has been research using fMRI technology that shows chemicals and neurotransmitters begin to change at the sight of the partner.
"There's actually a process of habituation," he said. "So, when you first fall in love with someone, there are very high levels of a few chemicals in the brain."
This includes the hormone oxytocin, Gillath said. Mohamadi added that once one starts to feel these chemicals during regular interactions with the other, they will begin to seek this out more and more.
These neurological studies are also a starting point for understanding falling out of love in a college relationship. When a partner feels a chemical imbalance, areas of the brain signal to the body that they no longer feeling that same rush and even in some cases, they begin to feel a level of suffering.
To maintain that relationship after the initial feeling of falling in love, Mohamadi said one must pay attention to their foundation of trust.
"Having a secure attachment style leads to the most beneficial outcome," she said. "Not worrying if they are going to leave you, showing great emotion and intimacy, these are very important in a successful relationship."
the action, too.
Few things were similar to Kansas' other games. Senior guard Frank Mason III actually played significantly fewer minutes than normal, as he fouled out after playing 26 minutes. However, if you had watched a single second of the game, you'd know that the day offered no rest for Mason. Mason recovered an initially slow performance by ending up with 12 points and five rebounds.
Despite the flipped script, Kansas heads back to Lawrence to take on the West Virginia Mountaineers with an 80-79 win in hand. For once, Mason wasn't out of this world. Jackson compensated — because some-
with 31 and sinking the game-winning free throw.
Kansas still allowed the opponent's big man a career day. Texas Tech's Zach Smith finished with 21 points and 10 rebounds. Kansas had a tough day on the boards, losing the rebound battle to Texas Tech.
Kansas' bench still lagged behind the production of the starters, though it ultimately didn't affect which team won. Sophomore forward Carlton Bragg Jr. replaced senior center Landen Lucas for 12 minutes and recorded two points and two rebounds. Freshman forward Mitch Lightfoot's audition as backup big was successful, but it looks to be over now that Bragg is back
Jayhawks: simply keeping pace. Kansas shot an outstanding 49 percent from the field on the day and shot 40 percent from three.
The Jayhawks survived the trap game, and that's more than a lot of the leading teams in the nation this season can say for themselves.
From Pop Warner leagues through college football, it makes sense why there are cheerleaders. For younger kids, it's an after-school activity, and like any other extracurricular it's just a way to stay busy once classes end.
In college, where school spirit is a major part of the aura of the game, cheerleaders serve an important purpose by executing their namesake duty. But when it comes to the NFL, where the pomp and circumstance is almost nonexistent compared to the college game, there's no good reason to have cheerleaders in this day and age.
Let's not be naive, the obvious reason most of these teams maintain cheerleading
New Orleans Saints for their Saintsations cheerleading team, while the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders have their own TV show on CMT.
Ignoring the financial implications for the NFL (because frankly the league isn't going to suffer if its franchises no longer operate cheerleading teams), there's no legitimate reason why you need to supply sex appeal on the sidelines every Sunday in the fall. No fans are going to games just to see cheerleaders, and if there are, they may need to reevaluate some priorities and discover the internet.
Considering the needlessness of actual cheerleading in the NFL, along with the blatant and equally unnesc-
for years. It doesn't make sense to perpetually underpay cheerleaders and have nasty lawsuits pop up frequently when the problem could be solved by accepting the minuscule financial implications and clear PR benefits of ending cheerleading league-wide.
The NFL has enough headaches to deal with, the last thing it needs is another lawsuit from disgruntled employees. Once this lawsuit is resolved, it's in the league's best interest to stop employing cheerleaders. The NFL doesn't even need to worry about the fans in this case (not that it often does); we probably won't even notice the cheerleaders are gone, let alone actively miss them.
+