TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2004
SPORTS
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BY JESSE NEWELL
jnewell@kansan.com
KANAN SPORTSWITTER
At the conclusion of his team's Labor Day exhibition trip, Kansas coach Bill Seid said the only negative was senior guard Keith Langford recovering from an injured knee.
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"I thought he looked like old Keith tonight," Self said.
After Langford's performance against Emporia State Sunday, Self was relieved to find out that he in fact had nothing to worry about at all.
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Langford scored 15 points on 7 of 10 shooting, showing no ill effects from the injury that kept him out of the final game in Canada.
In just 16 minutes of play, the 6-foot-4 guard showed flashes of what has made him a preseason All-Big 12 First Team selection. Langford displayed his quickness off the dribble and good leaping ability, both of which Kansas fans and coaches have come to appreciate from the Fort Worth, Texas, native.
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Self said he could see a change in Langford in the practices leading up to the first game.
"The last two or three days you could see a different Keith," Self said. "He's feeling better now, and he's testing his knee."
Langford played with the injury at the end of last season, receiving surgery after Kansas' loss in the Elite Eight to Georgia Tech.
The guard has never fully recovered from the injury until now going through weeks of rehabilitation before the season began.
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Self said Langford has also had to deal with the injury from a psychological aspect, relearning to trust that he will not get injured again.
"Sometimes when you have a surgery, even though structurally you're fine, mentally every time you get a bump you're nervous about being hurt," Self said. "I think he's working through all that."
Langford was part of an overall impressive shooting night for the lavihawks.
Kansas made an astounding 46 of 73 shots from the floor for 63 percent and also connected on 7 of 11 three-point attempts for 64 percent.
This included a pair of threes from senior forward Wayne Simien, who has been working on his range in the offseason, and one from junior forward Christian Moody.
"We shot well tonight," Langford said, "but we're not going to go too crazy after one game."
self said this year's squad had the potential to be a better shooting team, partly because of the addition of shooters such as freshman guards Alex Galindo and Russell Robinson and partly because of better execution in offensive sets.
"I think the key to us shooting it better will be if we share the ball like we did tonight." Self said after Sunday's game. "We had a lot of guys making the extra pass. Shots become easier when you're wide open."
Edited by Johanna M.
Maska
Rvlan Howe/KANSAN
Keith Langford, senior guard, drives past Deshawn Anderson, senior guard, during the second half of Sunday's exhibition game against Emporia State. Langford scored 15 points in 20 minutes against the Hornets.
KU players less likely to bolt to NBA
BY JONATHAN KEALING
jkealeng@kansan.com
KANSAN SWITSPORTER
They just don't want to leave.
Paul Pierce left after his junior year in 1998 and Drew Gooden left after his junior year in 2002.
Seniors Wayne Simien, Keith Langford, Mike Lee and Aaron Miles hope to end their college careers by cutting down the nets in St. Louis in April.
They just don't want to leave. Since Danny Manning spent four full seasons at the Kansas playing basketball, just two players have left the program before finishing their eligibility, Chris Theisen, assistant athletics director for media relations, said.
That's two out of about 70 scholarship players who have come to Kansas since Manning's 1984 class.
Among those seniors who probably could have left, but chose not to, are Jacque Vaughn, Raef LaFrentz, Nick Collison and the current Big 12 Preseason Player of the Year, Wayne Simien.
"Kansas has been spoiled in that way," coach Bill Self said.
Trying to determine why they stay a somewhat difficult task.
Theories differ widely and include the idea that Kansas is just so magical — that one comes mostly from fans — to the way that Kansas coaches recruit
Regardless of why, Kansas seems to be an anomaly in the current NCAA basketball world.
players — that one comes mostly from players.
"You've got lottery picks that stayed all four years," Self said. "That doesn't happen very often."
Consider this: In last year's draft, of the top ten players drafted, just three had completed their college eligibility.
Of the remaining three, two were out of high school, including the No.1 overall, one played a year in college, one had two years in college and three had three years of college play.
"We're very fortunate to have these four guys," Seif said. "But in my personal opinion I think it's wise that they stayed."
Simien was considered the most likely candidate back, but also returning were seniors Aaron Miles, Mike Lee and Keith Langford. Sophomore J.R. Giddens was also widely viewed as a possible NBA draft pick, but he chose to return.
Simien had no second thoughts about his decision.
much consideration of making that jump," he said.
"Definitely glad that I returned. There really wasn't too
For Simien, the decision to stick around wasn't so much about improving his draft stock, but more about how much he loved being a lashawk.
"I feel that the relationships I've built over the last three, going on four years, and the great atmosphere, as far as being on campus, and the love and respect our program gets year-in and year-out is hard to leave," Simien said.
Langford said he believed the
way his coaches went about recruiting had a lot to do with why so many Kansas players stay.
"When Coach recruited us, he didn't talk about preparing us for the NBA," Langford said.
Instead, both former coach Roy Williams and Self focused on creating a top-notch player.
"Coach said that only two guys have left early. I think we've shown that guys can stick around and graduate and be successful." Simien said.
- Edited by Steve Vockrodt
kansan.com The student newspaper of the University of Kansas Front Page News Sports Arts Opinion Extra the student perspective
THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS DEPARTMENT OF THEATRE & FILM UNIVERSITY THEATRE PRESENTS William
This production is an Associate Entry in the 2005 Kennedy Center/American College Theatre Festival.
Reserved seat tickets are on sale in the KU Ticket Offices University Theatre, 846-3922, and Lied Center, 846-ARTS, and on-line at lutheatre.com; public $16, senior citizens and KU faculty/staff $15, and all students $10; both VISA and Mastercard are accepted for phone orders. This production is partially furnished by Coffee Fee; for additional information please also provided by the Kansas Arts Commission, a state agency, and the National Endowment for the Arts, a national agency.
Director; Jack B. Wright
Scenic & Lighting Designer; Jennifer Luck
Costume Designer; Robbie Jones
Fight Director; D.C. Wright
Choreographer, Movement Coach &
Assistant Fight Director; Leslie Bennett
7:30 P.M
NOVEMBER 12,13,18,19,20,2004
2:30 P.M.
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2004
CRAFTON-PREYER THEATRE
Speak Your Mind Online poll weekly at kansan.com
THE TRUTH IS...
BIGGER IS BEAUTIFULLER.
JIMMY JOHN'S
SOMEBODY'S GOTTA STRONG FOR THE TRUTH, AND SEEING
HOW our SANDWICHES are A SEXY 2 INCHES BIGGER
THAN THE COMPETITION'S. IT MIGHT AS WELL BE US.
1983
LET THE TRUTH BE KNOWN.
SERIOUS SANDWICH DELIVERY
1447 W.23RD ST.
838-3737
922 MASSACHUSETTS ST.
841-0011
Don't miss Sweden's leading chamber orchestra ...
Sunday, November 14, 2010 P
Camerata Sweden
Sunday November 14 - 2:00 p.m.
- Program: Mendelssohn's String Quartet in F minor, Op. 80; Anders Eliasson's Violin Concerto; Alan Hovhannes "Vibration Painting"; and Beethoven's String Quartet, Op. 95.
Alvin Ailey
American
Dance Theater
Tuesday, November 16 - 7:30 p.m.
JUDITH JAMISON
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
Masazumi Chaya,
ASSOCIATE
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
Presented in conjunction with the Kansas City Friends of Alvin Alley.
National Sponsor Morgan Stanley
J L Mechanic Jc / Photo by Andrew Ecles
Hal Holbrook in Mark Twain Tonight!
Saturday, November 20 - 7:30 p.m.
"Uproariously funny." — Life Magazine
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Related Education Lecture:
day. November 20, 11:00 a.m. - Noon
Mark Tousain and the Lecture Circuit by Susan K. Harris, KU Professor Lied Center, Oldfather Dance Studio (o-sponsored by KU Hall Center for the Humanities)
usbank
For Tickets Call: 785.864.2787
Buy On-Line
TDD: 785.864.2777
ticketmaster
(816) 351-9300
(816) 351-9310
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