Volume 125 Issue 51
Tuesdayav. November 20, 2012
kansan.com
COMMENTARY
The Border War debate goes on
Or don't, they'll probably tell you sooner or later.
The Big 12 and SEC are close to agreeing to an annual basketball series beginning next season, potentially pitting all 10 Big 12 teams against the 10 best SEC schools each year. That news probably ignited an immediate hope across the state of Missouri from Tiger fans who are eager to continue the Border War.
But Kansas fans don't seem to care about continuing the century-long series with Missouri. Don't believe me? Just ask them.
Living inside the Lawrence bubble for long periods of time, experiences with Missouri fans are few and far between. But if you're in Kansas City, Mo., for this week's CBE Classic, it will be difficult to walk into a restaurant or bar without seeing fans from each school. And because there isn't a football game this Saturday or a Big 12 basketball game to argue about, the Border Cold War is all they have left.
Nothing is more unbelievable than the constant chatter about not caring. I get not wanting to play Mizzou anymore, or at least for a long time. There are plenty of good reasons from the Kansas perspective not to continue the games.
A home-and-home against Missouri takes away a home game every other year, taking money out of the Kansas basketball program's pockets.
The game meant much more for Missouri than Kansas. There was even a "KU hate week" every year leading up to the game in Columbia. The malice towards Kansas is both entertaining and worrisome at the same time. Junior point guard Phil Presley said last year that Mizzou could lose every game except the Kansas game and it would be a successful season. Anyone can understand why a school wouldn't go out of its way to help out a rival, and playing a series with Mizzou does nothing but help the Tigers, from pumping excitement into their season to guaranteeing a sellout in Mizzou arena.
Maybe Kansas officials just don't want to help out their former rival by playing a non-conference game because the benefits for the Tigers outweigh those for the Jayhawks. Or maybe it's just good old fashioned hate. Missouri left the series, not Kansas. Maybe the anger over the split will cloud any negotiations in the foreseeable future—it would be hard to blame anyone if that was the case. Major college athletics programs are full of egos and no one wants to look bad by perceivably caving to someone else's demands.
But while we wait for its return, jayhawk fans would look better by picking a side of the issue and sticking with it. Hope to play each other again or tell us the other school is dead to you and be done with it. Trying to constantly convince people of the latter looks silly, because we all know most fans are just trying to convince themselves.
I don't think anyone will ever really know the one true reason, if there is just one reason, why the Border War is dead for now.
Edited by Hannah Wise
KANSAS 78 WASHINGTON STATE 41
CLEARED THE BENCH
Kansas trounces Washington State by 37 points in Sprint Center
ETHAN PADWAY
epadway@kansan.com
Kansas City, Mo. — Kansas coach Bill Self's son, Tyler, appeared in his first career regular season game for the No. 12 ranked Jayhawks.
It was that kind of day for the team where the shots fell early and often and the defense created turnovers, allowing the walk-ons to enter the game at the end of their 78-41 victory against Washington State in their first game of the CBE Classic.
Fresh off his 25-point effort against Chattanooga, freshman guard Ben McLemore once again got the Kansas offense rolling. Fifteen seconds after tip-off, he caught a pass from senior guard Elijah Johnson on the wing, then McLemore showed off his silky-smooth shot, draining a 3-point shot to start the game.
Less than two minutes later, McLemore hit another 3-pointer, giving the Jayhawks an early eight point lead just 109 seconds into the ball game.
McLemore finished the day with 11 points, two offensive rebounds and two blocks in 24 minutes of play.
He once again showed that he was the most athletic player on the floor when he threw down a put-back dunk off a fast break miss by freshman forward Perry Ellis—a dunk where he went over his teammate, freshman forward Jamari Traylor, to score.
For the first time this season, Self played all four of his seniors in the starting lineup. The addition of senior forward Kevin Young gave the Jayhawks the early energy they were missing from the four-spot in the lineup during earlier contests.
Young was the spark with
10 rebounds in 18 minutes of play, but it was another senior, Travis Releford, who took scoring over from McLemore at the midpoint of the first half.
Releford, who had been in a shooting funk and started the season 0-11 from 3-point range, opened his day with a deep two and found his rhythm, making his first six attempts from the floor.
He finished the day leading the team with 17 points, and went 2 for 3 from outside the arc.
Kansas owned the boards against the Cougars, led by Young and senior center Jeff Withey. The 7-foot tall Withey pulled down six boards, two off the offensive glass and five blocks.
After disappointing play in his last two games, freshman forward Perry Ellis scored double-digits for the first time since the season opener. Ellis finished the day with 12 points and showed the aggressiveness on the inside that had been lacking in his last two outings. He made all eight of his free-throw attempts in the game.
Senior guard Elijah Johnson found his 3-point shot early in the game, starting the day 2 for 3 on 3-point shots but struggled down the stretch, missing his final five attempts.
Johnson did improve in his role as the primary ball handler, tying with sophomore guard Naadir Tharpe for the team lead with four assists each. Johnson ended his night with eight points.
TARA BRYANT/KANSAN
With the win, Kansas advanced to the championship game of the CBE classic against St. Louis at 8:30 p.m. at the Sprint Center in Kansas City, Mo.
- Edited by Hannah Wise
Senior forward Kevin Young tries to get past a Washington State defender on his way to the basket in Monday night's game at the Sprint Center.
FOOTBALL
Weis prepared team for wrong Iowa State quarterback
plays. But his focus on personnel may have back-fired last Saturday.
BLAKE SCHUSTER
bschuster@kansan.com
Before each game coach Charlie Weis studies the opponent learning how its roster
Weis gives a report on his opponents to kick off his weekly
press conference each Tuesday. But last week, nothing was said about Iowa State quarterback Sam Richardson. At some point, after studying the Cyclones depth chart, Weis diverted his efforts from spending time on their third-string redshirt freshman.
passes, 250 yards and four touchdowns later, Weis may be rethinking his evaluation process.
at the same time you usually get ready for the guys
CHARLEIE WIES
kansas football coach
in Kansas State's quarterback
Sam Richardson's performance
"Give the kid credit; he had a
hack of the game," Weis said, "But
Twenty-three completed
"We knew all about the kid," Weis said of Richardson on Monday's teleconference call. "We just didn't think he was going to be someone who factored into the game."
that are listed one and two on the depth chart and he wasn't in that mix."
At one and two on ISU's depth chart were Steele Jantz, who
started against Kansas, and Jared Barnett. Both had been shaky as the Cyclones lost four of their last five games before coming to Lawrence.
Appropriately, Weis prepared for either quarterback to enter on Saturday. He spent time working on disrupting ISU's schemes and getting ready to be the team with tricks up its sleeves. He wasn't prepared for everything to backfire. Instead of running the more complex offenses Weis was prepared to defend, ISU ran
What Weis said didn't backfire was the fan support. After offering to buy tickets to the game for any student that didn't have one, Weis helped pack 41,608 into Memorial Stadium. They didn't stay long.
Edited by Luke Ranker
"There were a lot more people who were at the game than would have been at the game if I didn't." Weis said of buying the tickets. "The game didn't get away from us because of the fan base. The fans were there and they were loud and they were into the game."
In what has become typical fashion for the student section, the patrons who Weis had convinced to come watch a then 1-9 team were gone by halftime, when the score was 38-17.
"They did more base stuff than they've been running," Weis said. "We didn't spend a big portion of the week working on the base offense."
basic plays to simplify the game for Richardson.
ASHLEIGH LEE/KANSAI
ASHLEIGH LEE/KANSAI Coach Charlie Weis watches his players as they warm up before the Sunflower Showdown against Kansas State University, Saturday Oct. 6, at Bill Snyder Family Stadium. The Jawhaws lost 16-56.
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