Got the Shaun Alexander blues? Fantasy football columnist Evan Hengel tells you who to pick up. 2B
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2006 WWW.KANSAN.COM
The Kansas volleyball team takes to the road tonight to face the Texas Tech Red Raiders. The Jayhawks have struggled in Big 12 play. 3B
BAB KAQBAB KAQBAB
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
SPORTS
PAGE 1B
ONE LOVE
Tragedies reveal lack of thorough coverage
BY MARK DENT
KANSAN COLUMNIST
MDENT@KANSAN.COM
Sam Ashaolu is okav
Don't know who Ashaoulu is?
Don't worry; you're just like the part of this country that has overlooked the near death of the Duquesne basketball player.
You see, Ashaolu was the most critically wounded of five basketball players who were shot Sept. 17 following a dance at the Pittsburgh school. He was finally upgraded from critical to serious condition over the weekend.
Ring a bell yet? No? Here's the story.
Ashaoulu, Stuard Baldonado, Kojo Mensha, Shawn James and Aaron Jackson left a Black Student Union dance early Sunday morning to find a man yelling at them for talking to his girlfriend. The players turned away to go to their dorms. The man fired shots, which struck the five men. Luckily, Mensah, James and Jackson escaped with minor injuries. Baldonado and Ashaoul ended up in the hospital, but both have recovered.
Instead of reeling over this tragedy, sports pages the last week were focused more on the comparatively insignificant story of the officiating debacle between Oklahoma and Oregon.
Apparently it's more tragic for a group of young men to lose a football game because of two questionable calls than for a group of young men to nearly lose their lives because of 12 unwarranted gunshots.
SEE DENT ON PAGE 3B
University of Oklahoma President David Boren's complaints about the loss are downright disgraceful when one thinks about what happened at Duquesne. Think it's unfair that your athletes lost one game? Well, Ashaolu would love to lose one more game. With three bullets still lodged in his head, he may never play again.
The University of Kansas community might think something like this would never happen here, but it already has.
Six years ago, former Kansas basketball player Paul Pierce was stabbed nine times at a Boston night club. He survived only because he happened to be wearing a leather coat that prevented the knife from penetrating too deep.
The media tend to dwell on athletes' negative actions, like Giddens' choice to get in a fight instead of how he could have been seriously harmed. That's why Maurice Clarett has been in the news ad nausea in recent weeks. Clarett, a former Ohio State running back, has had
Although the incident didn't happen in Lawrence, athletes have fallen victim to violence here as well.
Remember former basketball player J.R. Giddens? Giddens was allegedly provoked and stabbed by Jeremiah Creswell. His stabbing should have been considered a serious matter. Instead, Giddens' downfall became a joke. What if Jeremiah Creswell aimed his knife at Giddens' chest instead of his leg? I don't think there would be any 'Who stabbed J.R.' comments if that happened.
Looking at Giddens' example, it's really not that surprising the sports world has overlooked the Duquesne story.
VOLLEYBALL
Volleyball player's knee recovers
After nearly one year of healing, athlete adapts to playing with knee brace, sans jump serve
BY DREW DAVISON
Jana Correa remembers the day her left knee gave out, almost ending her volleyball career.
It was last season, and Correa, senior outside hitter, was in rotation one, on the right-front side of the court. She went inside to hit a ball, and she landed on her left leg, which then gave out.
"I tore my ACL in my meniscus. My meniscus flipped over, so the doctors had to go in and put the meniscus back in place," she said.
"It was on Oct. 5, when K-State was here."
It wasn't the first time, either. She tore her right ACL, during her freshman year against Oklahoma.
"It hurt really bad, really bad," she said. "I thought 'Oh my God, again.'"
After eight months of rehab, today Correa is up and kicking, leading the Jayhawk volleyball team in kills and service aces. She ranks ninth in the Big 12 with 3.96 kills per game, and is sixth in service aces.
Correa said she didn't care that much about being first statistically, as long as she was able to help lead the team to victory.
Coming off the injury, Correa now has to wear a knee brace for the entire year.
"I think at the beginning the brace makes you slower, but you get used to it," she said.
Correa said one of the negative effects from the surgery is not being able to do her usual "lump serve."
A jump serve is when the player tosses the ball up and jumps to hit the ball over the net with some top-spin.
"I used to love the jump serve,
"She's not able to do the jump serve because she misses it too much," Bechard said. "So coach said, 'You can't do that anymore.'"
Instead of the jump serve, Correa has been working on the float serve. This serve is where she stands flat-footed. The float serve has been effective against opponents, as she can direct the ball directly to the opposing teams' weakest passer.
While Correa said she does not use the jump serve because she is coming off the injury, coach Ray Bechard has a different reason.
but I haven't done it for the past three or four games," she said. "Just because I feel I have to save my knee a little bit."
Aside from the jump-serve debate, Bechard said he is pleased with how Correa has come back.
"After the K-State match, her mind wondered if shed ever be back," he said. "She's probably not the player she was prior to the injury in terms of explosiveness, but she's gained some practical experience."
Off the court, Correa, a Sau Paulo, Brazil, native, is a journalism major on the strategic communications side. She is on track to graduate in December 2007. She was in applied English for a full year, which set her back.
Coming from another country, Correa said the University provided her all the assistance she needed to adjust to the different lifestyle. Having fellow Brazilians Josi Lina and Paula Caten on the team for three years, she had a group of friends she could hang out with.
"When I got here, I did not like Lawrence," she said. "Now, I like it. I think it's a cool place."
Kansan sportswriter Drew Davison can be contacted at ddavison@kansan.com.
— Edited by Brett Bolton
Jana Correa. senior outside hitter, swats the ball over the net to Texas A&M during Wednesday night's match. The Jayhawks won the match 2-1.
Ryan McGeeney/KANSAN
BIG 12 FOOTBALL
Another year, another chance to beat Nebraska Jayhawks haven't beat Huskers at home since 1968; the problem could be psychological
BY RYAN SCHNEIDER
Mark Mangino was only 12 years old the last time Kansas won a game in Lincoln, Neb.
Now, 38 years later, his team is still searching for a way to end its ugly losing streak at Nebraska's Memorial Stadium.
Despite ending the Cornhuskers' 36-game overall winning streak in
the series in Lawrence last season. Kansas hasn't won in Lincoln since 1968. The problem may be more psychological than anything else.
Nebraska offensive linemen Chris Patrick (54) and Cornealius Fuamatu-Thomas (79) watch from the bench as Kansas defeats Nebraska last year in Lawrence. At the time, Patrick was a sophomore and Fuamatu-Thomas was a senior. On Saturday the Jayhawks will attempt to win in Lincoln for the first time since 1968.
Kansas coach Mark Mangino said a common problem with playing in Nebraska is that players talk themselves into a loss before the game even starts.
FILE PHOTO
"They say, 'Well, we're going to
go to Lincoln, they're going to have a big fan base, they're going to all be dressed in red, they're all going to be making noise," he said. "I think some people get psyched out before they get there."
It's easy to see how that could happen, though.
In Kansas' 18-gamelosing streak at Nebraska's Memorial Stadium, the Cornhuskers have outscored the Jayhawks by an average of 42-8. The Cornhuskers have failed to score at least 40 points only four times.
As usual, Saturday's game is sold out. Nebraska has sold out 268 consecutive games at Memorial Stadium, dating back to the 1962 season. The stadium was expanded in the offseason, bringing capacity to nearly 82,000. On game day, Memorial Stadium
Correction
Monday's edition of The University Daily Kansan contained an error, Adam Barmann threw for 273 yards in Saturday's game against South Florida, but it was not a career-high. Barmann had 310 passing yards his sophomore season against Toledo.
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would be the third largest city in Nebraska. Only Omaha and Lincoln have a bigger population.
offense may work with various ways to audible play calls at the line of scrimmage.
Mangino said there's no reason for his team to fear Nebraska's notorious red-clad fans.
Senior quarterback Adam Barmann knows about the noise level from experience. He started in Kansas' 14-8 loss in Lincoln two years ago and said the noise made it difficult to change plays at the line.
He said the team would not change its preparations this week in practice just because of the reputation of the environment.
"All they can do is scream, holler and cheer. They're not allowed to do anything else," he said.
The only potential changes this week would be on offense. Because of the crowd noise, the
"It is loud up there," Barmann said. "It's probably one of the loudest stadiums, college or pro. You can never really prepare for a place like Lincoln."
SEE SCHNEIDER ON PAGE 3B
Players of the Week
Each week, coach Mark Mangino and his staff select players of the week on offense, defense and special teams. The selections are announced on Tuesday afternoon. This week's winners were:
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