GOING DEEP The softball team's star shortstop keeps a team mentality while earning individual honors. PAGE 6B
SPORTS
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 18,2004
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Mangino fined $5000
BY JONATHAN KEALING
jkealing at kansan.com
KANSAN SPORTSWRIVER
Kansas coach Mark Mangino's wait is finally over. Unfortunately for him, the wait was not for good news.
Yesterday evening, the Big 12 Conference office announced that Mangino would be publicly reprimanded for his comments and fines $5,000 for the remarks.
After Saturday's football game, Mangino came into the press room blaming everyone but his own team for the loss to No. 6 Texas.
"You know what this is about, don't you?" Mangino asked the assembled reporters. "BCS. That's what made a difference today in the game. That's what made a difference in the call in front of their bench. Dollar signs."
After cooling off, Mangino issued a statement publicly apologizing for his remarks and recanting them. He also called the Big 12 office Sunday and apologized.
"Coach Mangino's public statement called into question the integrity of the conference and its officials." Big 12 Commissioner Kevin Weiberg said in a statement. "To insinuate that games are called unfairly so that one member
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MANGINO
institution can prevail over another is irresponsible and completely baseless.
Weiberg cited both of Mangino's actions when explaining the Conference's decision on sanctions.
"I took into account that Mangino immediately recognized the severity of the public comments," Weiberg said. "The penalty in this situation would have been more severe if not for these prompt actions."
According to Big 12 Sports Information Director Bo Carter, the decision takes this long because the conference first solicits information from the Athletics Director, receives their opinion and makes a decision.
Perkins has stood behind Mangino from the moment he made his first comments, however he said in the statement that he was pleased Mangino had elected to apologize.
"I know he is genuinely remorseful about this entire incident. We are fortunate to have him leading our football program." Perkins said.
After practice yesterday, Mangino briefly addressed the situation.
"I accept it and the matter is closed. I'm looking forward to Missouri," Mangino said.
All week, Mangino had expressed remorse and regret over his words after the game. Mangino elected not to comment when asked if he or the institution would be paying his fine.
Football notes
After practice yesterday, Mangino announced that he was pleased with sophomore quarterback Adam Barmann's practice so far this week. Mangino said that, pending a final medical release, he expected Barmann to "at the very least" be able to serve in an emergency role.
Barmann last saw the field about a month ago in the team's 41-10 loss to Oklahoma.
— Edited by Ashley Doyle
Courtney Kublen/KANSAN
Christian Moody, junior forward, guards Washburn's Travis Robbins in the second half of Sunday night's game. Coach Bill Self announced yesterday that Moody would fill the team's fifth start-ing position in tomorrow's game.
Walking on to a starting role
BY JESSE NEWELL
jnewell@kansan.com
KANSAN SPORTWRITER
When junior forward Christian Moody came to the Kansas basketball team two years ago as a walk-on, he wasn't sure his role would be to help the team on the court.
"I knew that I wanted to be able to contribute in whatever ways I could," Moody said, "whether it be in practice or helping the team GPA."
With the announcement from coach Bill Self yesterday that Moody would start in tomorrow's game against Vermont, the 6-foot-8 forward from
Asheville, N.C., found encouragement that he has become more than just a team grade-raiser in his time at Kansas.
He has become a starter.
"I wanted to do whatever I could to be a contributing player on the team and not just a name," Moody said. "I didn't have any expectations about playing time, but I'm excited about what's happening."
Moody has become more than just a name on the roster, Self said, because of his work ethic in practice and his ability to perform multiple functions for the team.
"He can do a lot of everything; he probably a jack-of-all-trades, master-of-
Moody beat out freshmen forwards C.J. Giles, Sasha Kaun and Darnell Jackson for the starting role, because Self said Moody had the best grasp of the system with his previous experience.
none kind of guy," Self said. "Whatever you need him to do, hopefully he'll be able to come through and do it. I see that being Christian's role."
"The freshmen are coming along fine," Self said. "But they're not as ready to help us win the game right now as what Christian is in pressure situations."
Self said Moody provided the best perimeter defense of the players fighting for the final starting spot, but he
still needed to work on his running in transition and aggressiveness.
The lack of aggressiveness was evident at one point in the Washburn game Sunday, when Self pulled Moody from the game because he failed to get a rebound after boxing on a free throw.
Moody responded well after the substitution, and Self said he was pleased with the aggressiveness he saw from the forward in the second half.
Moody said he originally thought that being a walk-on would give him a disadvantage when it came to earning playing time.
SEE MOODY ON PAGE 2B
VOLLEYBALL
Longhorn player kills Jayhawks
BY BILL CROSS
bcross@kansan.com
KANSAN SPORTWRITER
The Kansas volleyball team started an offensive fireworks show last night, but No. 11 Texas finished it.
The Jawhaws hit .457 in the first set, dominating in the middle of the net, where junior middle blocker Josi Lima had seven kills on eight attempts. She had no errors, giving her a .857 hitting percentage — kills divided by attempts — as the Longhorns appeared outgunned. The Jawhaws won the first set, 30-23.
Good hitting choices and solid blocking — something that has been evasive for the Jayhawks — contributed to the team's early success last night, Kansas coach Ray Bechard said.
"We were very efficient and our blocking was aggressive," he said.
But Texas, a team with the third best attack percentage in the NCAA, quickly became the teacher at the hitting clinic. The Longhorns hit more than .430 in the next two games. They were led by senior outside hitter Mira Topic, coming off her fourth Big 12 Conference Player of the Week award of the season, a conference record. Topic became the all-time kills leader in Texas history last night as she posted a match-high 23.
After being dominated in the second and third sets, 16-30 and 11-30, the Jayhawks fought back in the third game, but Topic had eight kills, a total no Kansas player could match, and led her team to a clinching 30-25 victory.
Bechard said Texas' improved hitting in the middle of the match facilitated the momentum swing.
"Texas turned the tables on us halfway through game two and took control," he said.
The loss drops Kansas to 15-11 overall and 6-11 in the conference, good for seventh in the Big 12. In order to stay there and likely make a tournament, the team will have to defeat other teams in similar situations, including Texas Tech (9-14, 4-12) and Colorado (13-12, 8-10).
A victory against its next opponent,
No. 13 Texas A&M, would give Kansas
an advantage over either of those
teams. The Jayhawks face the Aggies at
7 p.m. Saturday at Horejsi Family
Athletics Center.
Volleyball Notes
The Big 12 Conference named seniors Jill Dorsey, Lindsey Morris, Ashley Bechard and Ashley Michaels to the academic all-conference teams, and sophomores Jamie Mathewson and Jana Correa joined them as first-time honorees.
Correa, Mathewson, Dorsey and Morris made the first team after maintaining a 3.20 or better GPA during the last two semesters. Bechard and Michaels made the all-conference second team for holding a GPA of 3.00 or better.
Thirty-seven Big 12 volleyball players constitute the first team, while the second team is comprised of 15 players. Kansas was one of five teams with six or more players honored.
Edited by Neil Mulka
KU soccer returns to nationals
BY JACK WEINSTEIN
jweinstein@kansan.com
KANSAN SPORTWRITER
Last year's women's club soccer team finished second in the nation, losing to Arizona in a double overtime shootout in the national championship game. This year's team returns nine of its 18 players to compete for the national title this week in Austin, Texas.
"We don't just go to have a good time," Kelsey McKeown, Barrington, Ill., junior said. "All our games and tournaments lead up to nationals. That's the big thing that we work for the whole year.
Working toward the national tournament isn't the only part of women's club soccer. Susie Mason, the women's soccer club president at the University of Kansas, knows exactly how much effort
goes into organizing a club sport at the collegiate level.
The Omaha senior puts everything together, including holding meetings, collecting the $125 fee that pays for uniforms and travel expenses, organizing practices and fundraisers and even chalking the fields at the Shenk Sports Complex at 23rd and Iowa streets.
"It's a lot of work to be a club sport. We didn't know this before we were officers," Mason said. "It's a lot of paperwork. You have to deal with the University constantly."
The women's club soccer team doesn't have a coach, so the decision-making falls on Mason and the other team officers.
The University matches the money the team makes from fundraisers. This
fall the women sold T-shirts to raise the money they need to compete.
Women's club soccer isn't for the casual soccer player. This team requires a commitment that includes three practices a week and travel to various tournaments during the season. Mason and Erin Leary, club vice president and Lenexa senior, try to discourage potential players that aren't willing to compete at the highest level and dedicate the necessary time to the sport.
"Club soccer is open to whoever wants to play, but the people that don't fit in well with the team playing-level wise and commitment level tend to not play." Leary said. "Everyone that's on the team is pretty competitive because they've all played soccer throughout high school."
Besides high school experience, a few
Contributed photo by Mike Poznansky
The KU women's club soccer team begins competing today for the national title in Austin, Texas. Last year, the team came in second, losing to Arizona in the championship game.
women on the team have been recruited or have played at the college level. Mason, for example, played at Division II South Dakota State her freshman year. Sam Rabine, St. Louis Park, Minn., junior, played at Winona State in Minnesota before coming to Kansas and Casey Arnold, Telluride, Col., sophomore, was recruited to play at the University of Denver, but chose not to.
"I think nearly everyone could play some level of college ball," Leary said. "Or could have, at least, when they were 18."
SEE CLUB ON PAGE 2B