THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2012
PAGE 9B
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
TYLER ROSTE/KANSAN
Ready for the real deal
Senior Angel Goodrich drives the ball downcourt in the first half of Sunday's game. The Jayhawks crushed Fort Hays State on Sunday 88-43, Goodrich contributed an outstanding 21 points.
NATHAN FORDYCE
nfordyce@kansan.com
Following two exhibition games against Washburn and Fort Hays State, the nationally ranked Kansas Jayhawks women's basketball team is excited to play a game that actually matters as it prepares to take on the Idaho State Bengals on Sunday at Allen Fieldhouse.
Senior point guard and captain Angel Goodrich, who was named preseason second-team All-Big 12 after she averaged 14 points per game and a nation-leading 7.4 assists per game, said she is excited to play meaningful games.
"I'm really excited," Goodrich said. "I wish the first two were real games, but that really helped us because it allowed us to see what we needed to work on still. That just makes us even more excited for this first game."
Through the first month of practice and the two exhibition games, the focus has been on the defensive side of the court.
"From the first exhibition to the second game, you can see the transition to being more aggressive being on the ball," senior guard Monica Engelman said. "It's been the same focus point that we need more pressure on the ball and be more aggressive."
Idaho State is coming off a 24-8 record where it won the Big Sky Conference and went to the NCAA tournament, where it lost in the first round to the Miami Hurricanes. The Bengals bring back four starters including senior guard Kaela Oakes. Last season, Oakes averaged 11.3 points, 2.7 rebounds and 2.6 assists a game for the Bengals.
Kansas coach Bonnie Henrickson said the Bengals run a lot of screens and play really well together, but if the Jayhawks can create on-the-ball pressure, it could make it difficult for Oakes to create something off of the screen.
Getting on-the-ball pressure has been stressed by Henrickson and the Jayhawks realize that they need maintain a level of focus because there is a lot going on when facing
a screening team.
"They screen a lot, so we just have to be able to see the ball and see them." Goodrich said. "Communication is a big thing."
Along with the on-the-ball defense, the Jayhawks have been working on crashing the boards as a team and not just let one or two players try for the rebound.
"We can't have only two people going for a rebound and expect them to get a rebound," Goodrich said. "Especially on the offensive end, which gives us a second
But as the Jayhawks continue to prepare and practice what they need to do, it's the excitement of the 2012-2013 season that has the team having a bounce to them.
"I think playing an actual game that is going to count, that's what's amping us up a little bit. Getting us ready for the season," Engelman said.
Edited by Ryan McCarthy
FOOTBALL
Darrell Royal dead at 88
ASSOCIATED PRESS
AUSTIN, Texas — A son of Depression-era Oklahoma, Darrell Royal came to Texas to take over a sleeping giant of a football program. Over 20 years, his folksy approach to sports and life, his inventive wishbone offense and a victory in the "Game of the Century" — where a U.S. president declared his team national champion — made him an icon of college football.
Royal, who won two national championships and turned the Longhorns into a national power, died early Wednesday at age 88 of complications from cardiovascular disease, school spokesman Bill Little said. Royal also suffered from Alzheimer's disease.
Royal didn't have a single losing season in his 23 years as a head coach at Texas, Mississippi State and Washington. Known for their stout defenses and punishing running attacks, his Texas teams boasted a 167-47-5 record from 1957-1976, the best mark in the nation over that period.
"It was fun," Royal told The Associated Press in 2007. "All the days I was coaching at Texas, I knew this would be my last coaching job. I knew it when I got here."
It almost didn't happen. Royal wasn't 'Texas' first choice.
Texas was coming off a 1-9 season in 1956 — still the worst in program history — and wanted a high-profile coach to turn things around. The Longhorns were rebounded by Georgia Tech's Bobby Dodd and Michigan State's Duffy Daugherty, but both coaches encouraged Texas to hire the 32-year-old Royal, who was lying in bed the night he got the call summoning him to Austin.
"Edith, this is it, this is the University of Texas," Royal told his wife.
Royal led the Longhorns to a 6-3-1 record in his first season, but he was so sickened by Mississippi's 39-7 thrashing of his team in the Sugar Bowl that he gave away the commemorative bowl watch he received.
Under Royal, Texas won 11 Southwest Conference titles, 10 Cotton Bowl championships and national championships in 1963 and 1969, going 11-0 each time. The Longhorns also won a share of the 1970 national title, earning him a national stature that rivaled that of Alabama's Paul "Bear" Bryant and Ohio State's Woody Hayes. Royal was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1983.
A public memorial ceremony is scheduled for noon Tuesday at the Frank Erwin Center basketball arena. Royal will be buried at the Texas State Cemetery in Austin, an honor typically reserved for
MACK BROWN Texas coach
On Saturday, the Longhorns will honor Royal at their home game against Iowa State by wearing "DKR" stickers on their helmets and by lining up in the wishbone formation, which Royal used to such great success, for their first offensive snap.
"Today is a very sad day. I lost a wonderful friend, a mentor, a confidant and my hero. College football lost maybe its best ever and the world lost a great man," current Texas coach Mack Brown said Wednesday. "His counsel and friendship meant a lot to me before I came to Texas, but it's been my guiding light for my 15 years here."
the state's military and political leaders.
As a player at Oklahoma, Royal was a standout quarterback, defensive back and punter, and he credited hard work and luck for his success on the field and later as a coach. He had a self-deprecating style and a knack for delivering
pithy quotes — or "Royalisms" — about his team and opponents.
"Football doesn't build character, it eliminates the weak ones," was one of Royal's famous lines.
"Iuck is, when, preparation
"He was a guy who was so strong and so determined and so direct about things," said former Texas quarterback James Street. "He was that way to the very end."
Royal and assistant Emory Ballard changed the football landscape in 1968 with the development of the wishbone, which features a fullback lined up behind the quarterback and a step in front of two other backs.
"Luck is when preparation meets opportunity." was another.
The innovation nearly flopped. After a tie and loss in the first two games that season, a frustrated Royal inserted backup Street to take over.
"Coach Royal grabbed me and he looked for a minute as if he were having second thoughts about putting me in. Then he looked me straight in the eye and said, 'Hell, you can't do any worse. Get in there,'" Street said
Texas won its next 30 games. Soon, rival Oklahoma and other schools started using the wishbone as well.
The national title season in 1969 included what was dubbed the "Game of the Century," a come-from-behind, 15-14 victory by the top-ranked Longhorns over No.2 Arkansas to cap the regular season.
Royal was among the first football coaches in the nation to hire an academic counselor — sometimes referred to as a "brain coach" in that era — to ensure athletes went on to graduate.
Royal is survived by his wife, Edith, and a son, Mack. The couple had two other children, daughter Marian, who died in 1973, and son David, who died in 1982.
"The University of Oklahoma joins the rest of the nation in cel- ebrating the life's work of Darrell Royal," said Oklahoma athletic director Joe Castiglione. "We've truly lost an icon — a champion, an innovator and an educator"