Volume 125 Issue 77
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY GANSAN
kansan.com
Monday, February 25, 2013
COMMENTARY
The beginnings of Kansas basketball
Nothing much has changed. That's at least what Fred Bosilevac, a retired ophthalmologist who played for the Kansas basketball team between 1936-38, said.
He's now 96 years old and lives in Kansas City, Kan., but Bosilevac still remembers his days as a Jayawk fondly, especially the endless winter nights of 1937 when he trained for legendary coach Phog Allen.
Doc Allen was a Midwest treasure who stressed the fundamentals of a game in its adolescence and Bosilevac was one of his first pupils.
"There's never going to be another coach like Phog," Boslevac said on Saturday during the 115-year celebration. "Everything was fundamentals. I remember during the Christmas time wed practice fundamentally morning, afternoon, evening during Christmas in 1937."
Kansas coach Bill Self stresses the fundamentals with his team almost 80 years later, but the game has changed quite a bit.
Free throws are no longer shot underhand and the basketball facility is not housed in Hoch Auditorium. It's now played in one of the best basketball cathedrals in the country, complete with championship banners, wooden benches and a museum that would rival any gracing the National Mall.
Allen Fieldhouse is a special place to watch basketball and it's even more special on a day like Saturday when so many of the people who have made that history possible come back.
More than anything, it gives people at Kansas time to reflect. In this age of instant analysis and gratification it's nice to take a few moments to be nostalgic.
"What an incredible job." Owens said of Self. "People don't appreciate, I think they do, but they don't how difficult it is to win or share a conference championship. I believe they'll do it again this year, but I think they have some work to do."
For instance, the 1988 National Championship team was recognized on its 25th anniversary.
Former Kansas coach Ted Owens probably put it best though. The fans might think about these teams all the time, but coaches, not so much.
After a long weekend of nostalgia, the Jayhawks move onto another place where they have a lot of history. If Saturday was any indication, look for some more magic made in Ames, Iowa tonight.
However, Kansas fans don't enjoy these wins the same way they did back in the day. For the most part, they've been spoiled by having three great coaches in a row and sometimes a small portion of the fan base show how crazed they are when it appears a team is in a time of crisis.
He produced two of the winningest coaches of all time, Adolph Rupp and Dean Smith, and spawned two great rivals that Kansas fans still enjoy to this day.
You cannot escape the influence Dr Allen had on this program. His name is on the building and he's got statue outside the building for God's sake.
"I'm sounding a little bit like Dr. Allen when I say just wait 25 years, I'll tell you who the greatest is; that's what I love about here." Owens said. "These people at Kansas, great engineers, great in the field of education, energy whatever, that's what I'm most proud of"
Edited by Elise Reuter
JEFF JACOBSON/KANSAS ATHLETICS
Junior sprinter Diamond Dixon wins in 400m run at the Big 12 tournament in Ames, Iowa. The women's team won the title for the first time in school history this weekend.
A TEAM TITLE
BEST IN THE BIG 12
Kansas women win conference championship for first time in school history
I COLIN WRIGHT
cwright@kansan.com
For the first time in school history, the Kansas women's track and field team won the Big 12 Indoor Championship, dominating its conference foes on the track and in the field.
Neither the Kansas men's nor women's track team had won a conference title since the men won the Big Eight Indoor Championship in 1983. When Texas A&M University, which had won five of the last six women's Indoor Big 12 Championships, bolted for the Southeastern Conference, it opened the door for a new team to take the title. That team was the Kansas Jayhawks.
When the women's 4x400-meter team crossed the finish line to place fourth with a time of 3 minutes, 37.73 seconds, the jayhawks knew it would be enough to keep their first place lead. It took a team effort to edge out the University of Texas, scoring 150.5 points compared to 148 for the second-place Longhorns.
The championship meet in Ames, Iowa, home of the Iowa State University Cyclones, was scheduled for Friday and Saturday, but because of the winter storm that swept through the Midwest, it was pushed back to Saturday and Sunday. That didn't matter to Kansas, though. Currently ranked fifth in the nation — the best among Big 12 schools — the women's team showed why it deserved such high praise this weekend.
On Saturday, sophomore Lindsay Vollmer won the pentathlon, scoring 4,123 points in the five events. Senior Francine Simpson took first in the long
jump, breaking the Big 12 meet record with a jump of 6.59 meters (21-7 1/2), followed closely by senior Andrea Gebuleb, who jumped 6.51 meters (21-4 1/4) for second place. Senior Alena Krechyk won the weight throw with a throw of 21.38 meters (70-1 3/4), less than one foot shy of the Big 12 record.
On the final day of action, Kansas started the day in first place and never let go. Guebelle, who continued her dominance in the triple jump, led the Jayhawks. Her jump of 13.49 meters (44-3 1/4) won first place by more than three feet. In the 60 meter dash, freshman Tianna Valentine came in second place with a time of 7.39 seconds, followed by senior Paris Daniels, who came in fourth place, a hundredth of a second behind Valentine.
Daniels was even more impressive in the 200 meters, winning with a time of 23.29 seconds, and picking up 10 key points late Sunday to help the Jayhawks, who saw their lead dwindle as Texas and Iowa State rallied but ultimately came up short.
The big winner on Sunday was none other than the Olympic Gold Medal winner, junior Diamond Dixon. After starting off the indoor season with slower times than last season, Dixon proved that she is still the best in the conference, winning the 400 meters for the second straight season with a time of 52.52 seconds. It was also Dixon who ran the anchor in the 4x400 meters relay at the end of the day on Sunday with a conference title on the line. Although the women were unable to repeat as champions in the 4x400, the fourth place finish was good enough to edge out
Texas in team points and give the Kansas women their first conference championship ever.
The Kansas women have time for more achievements this season, including at the NCAA Indoor Championships March 8 and 9 in Fayetteville, Ark. There is also an entire outdoor season, which includes another shot at a Big 12 Championship. But for one weekend in Ames, Iowa, the Jayhawk women took one of the biggest steps in Kansas track and field history as they held up the 2013 Big 12 Indoor Track and Field Championship trophy.
The Kansas men placed sixth at the Big 12 Indoor Championship,
Junior Iosh Munsch ran a personal best time of 4 minutes, 3.09 seconds in the mile run to earn third place. Senior Kyle Clemons finished third in the 400 meters with a time of 47.04 seconds.
earning 74.5 team points at the meet.
The men's team was off to a good start Friday when it dominated in the pole vault. Junior Alex Bishop won the event with a vault of 5.17 meters (16-11 1/2), edging out sophomore Casey Brown, who came in second place. Coming in a tie for third place was sophomore Regan Gilbert, who jumped the same height but with more faults.
In the 600 meters, the Jayhawks ran second and third with sophomores Michael Stigler and Kenneth McCuin, who ran 1 minute, 09.77 seconds and 1 minute, 09.88 seconds, respectively.
The men's 4x400 meter team of Stigler, Clemons, McCuin and sophomore Michael Hester missed on the league title by just 0.15 seconds, but claimed second place with a time of 3 minutes, 8.06 seconds.
Edited by Tara Bryant
MEN'S BASKETBALL
Young eager for redemption against ISU
BLAKE SCHUSTER
bschuster@kansan.com
Kevin Young has this recurring dream. The Jayhawks are in the middle of another tough contest, battling back and forth and trying to get a grip on the lead. As the clock winds down the fans all start cheering louder. They can sense the victory drawing closer.
Finally, the buzzer sounds and the fans pour onto the court like a tidal wave. Young is surrounded in the screaming madness as he tries to reach his teammates.
This is not the type of dream Young enjoys repeating. It's a nightmare, and one that he hopes won't come true Monday night at Iowa State.
Last year's 72-64 upset of then-
no. 5 Kansas in Ames, Iowa was
the first time Young had ever
experienced fans rushing the
court. Needless to say, he didn't
enjoy it as much as others have.
"The one game I want to play is Iowa State at Iowa State," Young said earlier in the year. "That loss still wakes me up at night."
With the conference race, and Bill Self's 500th career win, on the line, Young and the Jayhawks know they'll be walking into a hostile Hilton Coliseum. Perhaps it'll be more intimidating
because Iowa State is also out for revenge — and it's very possible the Cyclones emerge victorious.
When ISU visited Lawrence in January it took a furious comeback in the final minutes capped off by a Ben McLemore bankshot 3-pointer at the buzzer to propel the jayhawks to an overtime victory.
Withey did offer an inkling of optimism, saying after playing Iowa State once already that Kansas knows how to guard them. And he's not the only one who believes the Jayhawks will be more prepared.
"Everybody shoots threes," senior center Jeff Withey said. "It's really tough to play against them and it's a quick turnaround."
In large part, it's because no team in the Big 12 creates a mismatch for the Jayhawks quite like the Cyclones.
"The biggest thing to me is ball screen defense," Kansas coach Bill Self said of Monday's matchup. "How we guard their open ball screens and not put us in a situation where we have to close out from great distances."
Kansas' biggest flaw is created by Self's blueprint for his team. Because his teams are built to play inside and dominate the paint, the Jayhawks often have a
tough time against teams that can shoot from anywhere.
The Jayhawks were fortunate enough to receive a career-high 33 points from McLemore against the Cyclones. Yet focusing on defense will be the best chance Kansas has to come out of Ames with a victory.
Despite Kansas' dominance in the paint, Iowa State was able to avoid it by getting open looks away from it. Players like the Cyclones' forward Georges Niang were able to pull Withey away from the rim and create open looks in the lane.
The Cyclones launched 38 3-pointers, knocking down 14, and shot 41 percent from the field.
It was a loophole Iowa State exploited in Lawrence.
2
"Even when we're pressuring we don't pressure out as much as a lot of people do." Self said of the Jayhawks' defense. "We've got to do a much better job of that Monday."
Edited by Brian Sisk
If not, Young's nightmare may become a reality once again.
"They stormed the court on us," Young said. "We're going to do everything to make sure it doesn't happen again."
EMILY WITLER/KANSAN
Senior forward Kevin Young gets a defensive rebound during Saturday's game against Texas Christian University at Allen Fieldhouse, where the Jayhawks won 74-48. Young hopes to repeat this success in Ames tonight against the Cyclones.