The Gators take the No.1 spot in a preseason poll after returning all five starters from last season.
Penn State football coach Joe Paterno is injured in a sideline collision with a player during a loss.
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 7,2006 WWW.KANSAN.COM
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
9A
SPORTS
PAGE 12A
SOCCER
KANSAN FILE PHOTO
The Kansas soccer team was not chosen for the second year in a row for the Women's College Cup. Early in the season the young team started off with three victories in its first four games but quickly dropped in rankings after scoring only five goals in its next eight games.
BY MARK DENT
OVERLOOKED AGAIN
Two years, two near misses.
Two years, two half masses.
For the second straight year Kansas (11-7-1, 6-4-1) was not selected for the Women's College Cup. Before this two-year drought, the Jayhawks made the tournament in 2001, 2003 and 2004.
"I wasn't expecting us to make it," Kansas coach Mark Francis said. "If it was a situation where I felt we had a legit shot then maybe I'd be disappointed."
Kansas soccer denied invitation to NCAA Women's College Cup for 2nd year
But the lajahws did have a small chance of making the tournament. With an RPI of 56 and a fourth-place finish in the Big 12, Kansas was on the bubble. Although it may have been a long shot, teams with similar résumés such as Duke and Michigan
made the tournament.
The Jayhawks defeated the Blue Devils earlier this season and finished with two more victories than the Devils' nine. Kansas also had more victories than Michigan and a better RPI.
how they pick some of the teams with a similar record as us," Francis said.
"I don't pretend to understand
The NCAAs choice to not select the Jayhawks marked the end of a rocky season. Francis had high expectations for his team early in the season but knew they were young.
The layhawks started the season with three victories in their first four games, with the only loss coming
FOOTBALL
Quarterback remains positive despite injuries, missed games
BY RYAN SCHNEIDER
Coming into the season, Kerry Meier was cool, confident and ready to get a full season of experience under his belt.
But two shoulder injuries and four missed games later, the Jayhawks quarterback is fighting the frustration that has come with missing almost as many games as he's played.
"There for a little bit I kept getting set back, but I just try to stay positive," Meter said. "My teammates helped me out a whole lot."
Meier first injured his right shoulder against Toledo in September, then re-injured it against Baylor three weeks ago. He returned from the
The 103rd Sunflower Showdown between Kansas and Kansas State will kick off at 2:30 p.m. Nov. 18 at Memorial Stadium. The game will be televised on FSN. It is the second straight season the match-up will be televised.
kickoff time
Baylor injury last weekend against Iowa State.
Meier said the decision to return
SEE MEIER ON PAGE 11A
K-State coach had to make empty promise to excite fans
>> 'HORN BORN 'HAWK BRED
BY TRAVIS ROBINETT
KANSAN SPORTS COLUMNIST
TROBINETT@KANSAN.COM
Not sure who to vote for in tomorrow's election? How about writing in Bob Huggins? The Kansas State men's basketball coach certainly talks like a politician, at least.
madness, Huggins, the new KSU coach, wanted to make an impression. So what did he do? He made an empty promise that was only in tune with what K-State fans wanted to hear. Huggins guaranteed a home victory against Kansas, something that last happened in 1983.
At Kansas State's Midnight
Huggins is either a liar or a fool. How can he guarantee a KSU victory against the pre-season No. 3-ranked team?
At least Huggins' speech did the trick. Kansas State fans are excited about basketball again.
SEE ROBINETT ON PAGE 11A
MEN'S BASKETBALL
Jayhawks seek better defense
KU takes on Emporia State tonight
BY SHAWN SHROYER
Kansas' season opener against Washburn last week brought up questions that the team hopes to answer tonight against Emporia State in Kansas' final warm-up before the regular season.
The main concern for the Jayhawks entering the season was who would step up in the frontcourt without juniors Sasha Kaun and CJ Giles. Freshman Darrell Arthur, junior Darnell Jackson and sophomore Julian Wright filled in for Kaun and Giles effectively on offense, but were ineffective in defending the low post and in collecting rebounds.
"Our transition defense isn't very good, low-post defense is bad and rebounding is bad," Kansas coach Bill Self said after the Washburn game. "We said all along our biggest concern is rebounding, low-post defense and getting where we guard better."
Arthur led all Jayhawks in scoring with 21 points and Jackson and Wright were second and third on the team with 18 points and 15 points. Kansas out-rebounded Washburn by only one for the game: 48 to 47. Also, the Ichabod big men combined for 55 of Washburn's 69 points.
One smaller concern for Kansas is its banged-up back-court, Junior guard Jeremy Case missed the Washburn game because of a pulled groin. Self said Case would be out for seven to 10 days and may not be back until the Nov. 11 game against Northern Arizona.
Still, Kansas' backcourt played well without Case, so Self's focus tonight will likely be on his players establishing an inside presence. It will be especially troubling for Self if his big men struggle against Emporia State.
The Hornets' tallest player, Ed Desir, is 6-foot-8, but he didn't
Tonight will also be Emporia State's last exhibition game after losing 87-62 to the other NCAA tournament team from Kansas — Wichita State — last Thursday.
Watson led all scorers with 19 points and dished out a game-high six assists. Desir didn't start, but led all Emporia State frontcourt players with seven points and pulled down a game-high 12 rebounds.
Poor shooting crippled the Hornets. They shot just 20.7 percent from the field in the first half and made only four of 22 three-point attempts for the game.
Emporia State coach David Moe knows it will be hard to keep up with Kansas tonight, but he is hopeful his Hornets can make the game competitive for awhile.
"I'd like to see if we can play with them for five, 10, 15 minutes," Moe said.
Expectations aren't exactly high for Emporia State as MIAA Conference coaches picked the Hornets to finish ninth out of 10 teams in the conference this season. Kansas and Emporia State last met in 2004 when the Jayhawks trounced the Hornets, 115-70. Kansas leads the all-time series 15-3.
After scouting this Kansas team, Moe couldn't help but notice the lavhawks' depth.
"I think they're definitely as talented as they've been in awhile, but talent doesn't necessarily give you a national championship." Moe said. "Guys have to sacrifice some of their own goals for the good of the team. If their guys will do that, I'm sure they'll really have a good chance of winning it."
Kansan sportswriter Shawn
Shroyer can be contacted at sshroyer@kansan.com
Edited by Aly Barland
KANSAN FILE PHOTO
The RU frontcourt played well offensively but showed some weaknesses in defense last Thursday against Wa:bhum. The Jayhawks will try to improve those weak spots in tonight's game against Emporia State.
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