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YOUNG FROM PAGE 8
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TRAVIS YOUNG/KANSAN FILE PHOTO
After working hard with Barstow coaching staff, Young found out that the Fresno State coaching staff would be taking another job so he took another path to San Bernardino Junior College, this time with the help of San Diego State.
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Senior forward Kevin Young celebrates after dunking during the second half of the match against Kansas State Feb. 11, 2013 at Allen Fieldhouse. Young scored 13 total points with nine rebounds for the match, contributing to Kansas' 83-62 win over the Wildcats.
At San Bernardino he passed the 31 units in spring 2011 to regain his Division 1 eligibility. He also never played for San Bernardino just the same as Barstow.
After talking with Townsend for a few minutes, Young walked back into his grandparents' house to tell his family the news.
Following his graduation from San Bernardino in 2011, Young prepared to play summer ball with the Puerto Rican national team. But, just before leaving Young received a phone call from Kansas assistant coach Kurtis Townsend.
"Right after I got off the phone I took a deep breath and walked into my grandmother's house and I was like 'Mom, dad can you come outside real quick? We need to talk about something.' Young said.
"The first thing my mom said was, 'I can't go to all those games. That's too far. I can't go out there.'"
Following the call from Townsend he renounced his commitment to San Diego State. Although it was a tough decision, Young realized he could not pass up the opportunity.
"The way I looked at it was if any coach got offered here or offered to North Carolina or Duke they wouldn't care about the players coming in," Young said. "They would take that opportunity to better themselves and better their lives. I thought Kansas was the opportunity that I could to make a better life for myself."
In his first visit, Townsend picked up Young from the airport and immediately took him to the open
gymns that Kansas has during the off-season. Townsend had spotted Young through a few coaching friends at Loyola Marymount. After seeing him play against Gonzaga, Townsend knew Young could be a guie guy for the lavahawks.
"He's really athletic. A kind of a
"I don't like him to carry the burden of us. I'm the parent. I should be doing that. It gets to him pretty well. He always wants to take that role."
That energy started early when Townsend dropped him off at the open gym the first time he saw the Fieldhouse.
high energy guy," Townsend said.
"He was a little thin so I didn't know if he would be able to convert into a four here. I didn't think he would start, but we thought he could be a guy that come off the bench."
"I just ran," Young said. "I didn't try to do anything special. It was fun and right there I knew I could fit in. After that there was no problem fitted in."
He signed shortly after that and one of the first things Young had to do was learn the offense. But he did not learn it from the coaches. It was from former players Thomas Robinson and Tyshawn Taylor.
"I think that's pretty unique," Young said. "You really don't see leaders like that. It just shows how much they love the game and how
much they dedicated to this team.
I know everyone thinks about how much they scored or how many big plays they made, but this is before we stepped on the court in our jerseys. They're sitting here running the plays and stuff"
Young has now become a leader with fellow senior Jeff Withey who have turned into a steady crew in the front court. In their spare time the two also like to challenge freshman Perry Ellis and other teammates in some Call of Duty.
ALICIA MORALES Kevin Young's mother
Since that moment Young has slowly moved up the ladder at Kansas. And although he makes a lot of importantplays, he can also
"All I know is I need to be on the same team as Perry." Young said.
make a few decisions that cause his head coach to scratch his head.
"He can make plays you can't coach and then makes plays like he's never been coached," Bill Self said after the game Saturday. "He makes the easiest plays hard and makes the hardest plays look easy."
Young acknowledges this quality. He knows he over-exerts himself to some degree, but he continues to learn from it. Most of it is due to hard work, dedication to his craft and enjoying the moment he's in right now.
With his parents separated, Young takes the responsibility of being a father figure at some points with his brother, but that's not always the case.
"I don't like him to carry the burden of us." Morales said. "I'm the parent. I should be doing that. It gets to him pretty well. He always wants to take that role."
Still Young knows he needs to set a good example for his brother to follow so that he can succeed in the same way Young has..
"I think I kind of have to be stern with him because my dad isn't around right now." Young said. "I think I have to fill his shoes and I expect him to do just as good as I did in school and when he does play basketball or baseball or whatever sport he chooses. I just got to let him know that he has to give him 110 percent every time he does something and at the same time stay focused and he's able to accomplish it."
Now, Young moves into the home stretch run of his college career. He's bounced around from school to school, had a variety of coaches, but now he has a stable situation and is in the starting rotation for one of the top teams in the country.
"It means a lot to him," Morales said. "This is what he's been yearning for. This is what he loves. He loves the stage here. He loves the teammates. This is what he always wanted."
Moments with your brother are special.
A picture in the tunnel after the game with their mother, a few signed autographs or his face gleaning on the Smile Cam during a timeout. This is what the Kansas fans will remember about Kevin Young.
The memories for brothers are the small ones. Like a salute during a game with a tap of the fro.
"It meant a lot to me to let him know he is always on my mind." Young said. "One day hopefully if he continues to do well in school he can be in my shoes right now."
Edited by Brian Sisk
Swimming and diving team has high expectations for Big 12 championship
The build up to the 2013 Big 12 swimming and diving championship has grown all season. The championship will be held Wednesday, Feb. 27 to Saturday, March 2.
sliang@kansan.com
STELLA LIANG
The Jayhawks look to finish in second place or better, which would be the best result for the team since the creation of the Big 12.
"It is a reasonable goal," Kansas head coach Clark Campbell said in a Kansas Athletics news release. "The flip side is that West Virginia, Kansas, Iowa State and TCU are all very comparable teams, so it's going to be a battle from the get go. I do think it is reasonable and it is something that we have talked about, but we have a formidable challenge ahead of us. What we have to do is go in there and have each individual reach their goal for the year and if we do that, we will do okay."
The five schools in the Big 12 with women's swimming and diving teams are Kansas, Iowa State, Texas, TCU and West Virginia. In the history of the Big 12 Championship, only three
Iowa State enters the championship with a 4-5 dual meet record and a loss against Kansas in its last meet. Texas enters with a 5-3 dual meet record. The Longhorns are coming off wins against SMU and Arizona in a double dual. TCU is 4-3, including a loss to Kansas in November. West Virginia is 3-4 in dual meets. The Mountaineers are led by Rachael Burnett. In her last meet against Ohio, Burnett finished first in the 1,650-yard freestyle, the 100-yard freestyle and the 500-yard freestyle. Burnett set a pool record in the 1,650-yard freestyle with a time of 16:59.32.
teams have taken home the title, Texas, and former conference members Texas A&M and Nebraska.
The Jayhawks enter the championship with a record of 6-4. The team had a strong performance in its last meet against Iowa State to bounce back from a hard loss to Arkansas.
Since then, the team has been preparing for the championship.
meet to allow the athletes to rest up and get ready for a big week in Austin."
"We have been tapering and getting ready for the Big 12 Championships," Campbell said. "We have been gradually cutting back the yardage and the intensity leading up to the
The team is senior-laden, led by reigning Big 12 Swimmer of the Week and captain Brooke Brull. She became the first Kansas winner of the award since Iulia Kuzhil won Jan. 12, 2011 by setting season-best times in 200-yard backstroke and 200-yard IM. She also was a member of the 400-yard freestyle relay which also set a season best time against Iowa State.
"It is going to be nice having eight seniors," Campbell said. "We will be traveling with a travel squad of 24 athletes and when you have a third of them as seniors, you have a lot of leadership potential. We are going to be leaning on our seniors quite a bit, not only for them to perform at a high level, but to help their teammates along and get everyone going in the right direction."
The Big 12 Championship starts Wednesday at the Jamail Texas Swimming Center in Austin, Texas.
- Edited by Trevor Graff
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
DANIEL PALEN/KANSAN
Senior guard Monica Engelman attempts to block a Texas guard during the Jayhawks match against Texas Tech on Sunday in Allen Fieldhouse, where the Lady Raiders defeated the Jayhawks 72-70.
Women's basketball team ready to redeem season
NATHAN FORDYCE
nfordyce@kansan.com
When the Kansas Jayhawks came back from 18 points to defeat the Iowa State Cyclones on Jan. 30, it had appeared they had found their mojo and were going on the right track through B12 play.
Over a month later, the lajayhaws stumbled off the right track and are in a whirlwind spiral despite a couple big victories between that Iowa State game and the Iowa State game they will play tonight in Ames, Iowa.
Since that game, the jayhaws went 2-3 and have lost their last two games to fall to the bottom tier of the big 12 stands. Kansas coach Bonnie Henrickson said the fall is frustrating, but the team has to figure out how to get out themselves out of their self-destruction.
"There isn't anyone who is going to get us out of it, but you can wail out in it," Henrickson said. "Be an active participant in your own rescue. Really, at the end of the day, we got ourselves into it, so we have to get ourselves out of it."
One of the main issues with the lajayhaws performance over the past month, has been their slow starts. Over their last five games, the lajayhaws averaged just over 29 points in the first half on 40.1 percent shooting.
Senior guard Monica Engelman, who is coming into the game with three straight games of 15 or more points, said she doesn't know why the team struggles to come out of games, but it's something they have to solve.
"It's the mentality you have to come into the game," Engelman
The Jayhawks have been outscored in the first half in four of their last five games, which caused the Jayhawks to try and make an improbable comeback in just about every second half. Henrickson said the way the Jayhawks start games is an effort issue.
said. "It's something we're struggling with and it's something that we have to make it as a sense of urgency to make a change."
ing into the locker room instead of their opponents.
Christofferson presents a problem because of the way she stretches the floor as an over-sized small forward. She has been shooting the lights out of the building, averaging 17.8 points while shooting 57.6 percent during her last 12 games. In her last four games, she has scored 25 or more in three of those contests.
The Cyclones (19-6, 10-5) find themselves second in the Big 12 standings. Iowa State is led by All-American candidates senior forward Chelsea Poppens and junior forward Hallie Christofferson.
"Effort is not complicated. It's something we have not brought."
BONNIE HENRICKSON Kansas women's basketball coach
"Effort is not complicated," Henrickson said. "It's something we have not brought. We have it. It might be more frustrating if we didn't have it. We choose not to start with it and be intentional about accepting it. Not owning it. You have to own your own energy. You have to own it individually then own it as a group and we have not done it."
The effort and energy has been there in the second half. In their last five games, the Jayhawks shot 45 percent, averaging almost 44 points and holding their opponents to just 40 percent shooting in the second half of the game.
Henrickson said the jaywhaks have to find a way to bring the same energy in the first half that they do after the intermission and allow themselves to feel confident head-
Kansas senior forward Carolyn Davis said Christofferson is the "head of the monster" that has to be cut off in order for the Jayhawks to have success.
Poppens on the other hand, is a force on the glass and from the floor. She's averaging 12.7 points and 9.3 rebounds and has scored in double-digits in eight straight games.
The notorious slow starts for the Jayhawks has been the story for much of the Big 12 season and Henrickson's message is simple: be an active participant in your own rescue.
"We dug ourselves a hole and we have to be the one to dig ourselves out," Henrickson said. "We have to accept responsibility for whatever you have to do individually. We can't get better as a team if individuals aren't getting better. And it's everyone. There isn't a single person in our locker room, staff included, that is doing enough."
Edited by Pat Strathman
BASEBALL
Snow forces team to cancel tournament
western and played three different teams in Arkansas to make up for the cancellation.
its non-conference match with North Dakota on Monday, March 4.
Due to the heavy snow in Lawrence on Monday night, Kansas baseball announced it has canceled its weekend tournament scheduled for Friday, Saturday and Sunday at Hoglund Ballpark. Kansas has also canceled
— Farzin Vousoughian
Kansas officials are currently working on a site for a three-game series to keep the baseball team active.
The Jayahwaks home opener is now scheduled on Thursday, March 7 against Niagara at 3 p.m.
The Jayhawks canceled a three-game series last week against North-