SPORTS
VOLLEYBALL SPLITS MATCHES
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
PAGE 8B
15
WWW.KANSAN.COM
SOCCER FALLS TO 3-9-3 OVERALL
MONDAY, OCTOBER 15. 2007
PAGE 8B
MEN'S BASKETBALL
PAGE1B
ITHAS BEGUN
Sarah Leonard/KAHSA
Sasha Kaun, senior center, attempts to swat a shot put up by Darnell Jackson, senior forward. Kansas returns four of its starters and is chosen by conference head coaches as the preseason favorite to win the Big 12 Conference Title.
BY MARK DENT
mdent@kansan.com
Scott Yingling's camping group arrived at Allen Fieldhouse almost 12 hours before "Late Night in the Phog" started to earn the second place in line.
The long wait didn't bother Yingling, a 2007 graduate from Atlanta. He's been to every Late Night since 1999, but he had to see this one.
"You have to be able to say you're here for Late Night the year we win it all," Yingling said. "We will win it all this year."
He's not the only one with expectations.
Fans, media and opposing coaches are predicting Big 12 titles and Final Fours for this season's team — just like they do every year. Kansas coach Bill Self and the players said the team didn't worry about the expectations — just like they say every year.
"It's not going to be different at all," junior guard Brandon Rush said. "It's all the same old stories. We just have to come out and play focused."
Big 12 coaches completed a seemingly annual tradition last Thursday when they chose Kansas as the preseason pick to win the conference. It's the eighth time in the 11-year history of the Big 12 they've put Kansas at the top.
Basketball analysts agree with the coaches. The Jayhawks are Big 12 champions and ranked in at least the top 10 in season preview magazines such as Athlon, Lindy's and the Sporting News.
Kansas is one of the top teams for a reason. Julian Wright, the No. 14 overall pick in last June's NBA draft, is the only player not returning to last season's 33-5 Big 12 Champion and Elite Eight team.
Six seniors are back to lead this year's team: Jeremy Case, Rodrick Stewart, Russell Robinson, Sasha Kaun, Darnell Jackson and Brad Witherspoon. They are the first legitimate group of seniors since the class of 2005 of Wayne Simien, Michael Lee, Aaron Miles and Keith Langford.
Rush, Kansas' leading scorer the last two years, withdrew from the NBA Draft and joins sophomore forward Darrell Arthur as a preseason All-Big 12 first team selection.
"In certain situations, there's no doubt we can be better because we can play through our post men more this year than we did last year," Self said. "Last year, the number of
baskets we scored legitimate low-post points with guys' backs to the basket was minimal. The way we scored was guards breaking everybody down and big guys benefiting from the breakdown. Against UCLA, we didn't throw the ball to Shady and have him get us two points. I think we'll be better at that."
But questions still remain. Rush won't play until early December because of an ACL tear. Sophomore guard Sherron Collins' numbers faded toward the end of last season. Wright's absence could leave the Jayhawks thin on the inside unless other players step up.
Those are some of the reasons Self doesn't want expectations for his team to get out of hand. A college basketball preview on Sportsillustrated.com, which stated that "anything less than a Final Four with this group will be a colossal disappointment," especially bothered Self.
"How can it be a colossal disappointment if you have 10 teams they sav are supposed to
be in the Final Four?" Self asked. "That's not how athletics works. Will we be disappointed? Yes. But I will guarantee the sun will come up the next day. That's not colossal."
Self's players have the same who-cares opinion about the expectations. They're used to dealing with them every year, and this year is no different.
"We can't expect anything," he said. "We can't say, 'Hey they picked us Big 12 champs, and we're going to be Big 12 champs.' You have to go out and work and get it. Going back two years, we can learn from our mistakes. Knowing we had a great season last year, we have to go out this year and learn from things we lacked at the end and hopefully be even better."
Kaun just hopes this season has a happier ending.
Late Night Recap
Edited by Chris Beattie
RED VS. BLUE
For whatever it's worth — "not much" according to Kansas coach Bill Self — the Red team defeated the Blue team 44-34 in the scrimmage Friday night. Senior guard Jeremy Case scored 12 for the Red and sophomore guard Sherron Collins led the Blue with 13.
RED-CARPET TREATMENT
The night had a red carpet theme with players from the men's and women's teams arriving in limos outside Allen Fieldhouse. Danni Boatwright, best known as the winner of Survivor: Guatemala, interviewed some of the players as they walked in. But she made one mistake. Boatwright called junior guard Ivana Catic "Taylor." Oops. The next player to walk by? The real Taylor, senior guard Taylor McIntosh.
SIMPLY THE BEST
Kansas football coach Mark Mangino made an announcement calling KU fans the best in the Big 12. "We have to pull
together for everyone, not just football and basketball" he said. Self returned the favor a few minutes later. "The best thing that can happen to our school is football is good," he said. "We're happy about that:
KARAOKE NIGHT
The men's players, dressed in black suits and sunglasses, tried to sing popular songs with their version of the Singing Bee. The four freshmen, Cole Aldrich, Chase Buford, Tyrell Reed and Conner Teahan, were the most memorable. Their rendition of Bon Jovil's "Living on a Prayer" earned them the No. 7 spot on SportsCenter's Top 10 plays. But the best performance belonged to Russell Robinson. He sang Frank Sinatra's "New York, New York."
SIMIEN SIGHTING
Former Jayhawk Wayne Simien recorded a video announcement for the fans where he stood with his wife and newborn daughter. He said the team needed to "shoot past expectations and bring home the national title."
Mark Dent
COMMENTARY
Year could make history
C
Students who stuck around for fal break this past weekend to attend Late Night in the Phog on Friday and the game against Baylor on Saturday were around to witness something about as common as a mountain lion sighting on Mt. Oread. For the first time in Big 12 history, they saw a chance for the football and men's basketball teams to both finish atop of the Big 12 in the same year.
For fans, the football team's No. 15 ranking and 6-0 (2-0 Big 12) record may seem too good to be true. Before every game, some fans probably wonder when NBC Dateline's Chris Hanson will come out and tell everyone the show is over.
Not even Mother Nature could stop the football team from moving to No. 1 in the Big 12 conference standings. Two inclement weather delays and six hours after the game's scheduled start, Kansas made its mark as the only undefeated team in the Big 12. A college football season where only six of 120 FBS teams remain undefeated is plenty enough reason for fans to be happy about Kansas.
After the football team's 58-10 victory against Baylor on Saturday, an excited fan ran around the parking lot of Memorial Stadium shouting, "Be happy! It's Ok! We won!"
left for the NBA draft, junior guard Brandon Rush tore his ACL and sophomore forward Darrell Arthur suffered a stress fracture.
Then there is the men's basketball team, which is always expected to do well, but a number of pre-season indicators have led many to believe it would not live up to its 2006-2007 season. Forward Julian Wright
But talking to Brandon Rush, or "Dr. Rush" as coach Bill Self referred to his star athlete during media day Friday, would leave you convinced he is healthy and ready to play right at this moment. While this may not be the case, he should be back around Dec. 1, which is before Big 12 conference play and the date his doctor set for his recovery.
Watching Darrell Arthur in the 20-minute scrimmage during Late Night in the Phog, you would never know he was injured. According to Bill Self, Arthur is the team's most matured player, whose presence will be much needed in the frontcourt after the loss of Julian Wright.
And this year's team has seniors. Russell Robinson, Sasha Kaun, Darnell Jackson, Jeremy Case, Rodrick Stewart and Brad Witherspoon will lead the Jayhawks for the 2007-2008 season. Bill Self commented on Friday during media day that Russell Robinson was the most consistent player on the team.
The football team is halfway through its season and the basketball team is just less than a month away from its first game. Now, it may be too soon to crown the football and men's basketball teams champions of the Big 12, but there is reason to believe in both teams after this weekend. Overall though, it is certainly a great time to be a jayhawk fan.
Not forgetting the talent of junior guard Mario Chalmers and sophomore guard Sherron Collins, it's no wonder Kansas was ranked No.1 in the Big 12 Coaches poll, and near the top of every sports publication's preseason honors and polls.
Edited by Kaitlyn Syring
Jamie Boyd, senior forward, runs onto the court prior to the women's basketball scrimmage during Late Night in the Pho. The women's basketball team performed skits and then scrimmaged each other in a 12-minute game.
Dance, scrimmage entertain crowd
Anna Faltermeler/KANSAN
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
The Kansas women's basketball team re-introduced itself to Jayhawk fans with a stylish entrance, snappy dance moves and a competitive 12 minutes of basketball.
BY TAYLOR BERN
tbern@kansan.com
Last season, seven freshmen got their first taste of kU basketball at Late Night. This year, six of those players return, and five of them come back with significant minutes logged in their first campaign.
Late Night in the Phog has as much to do with pageantry and showmanship as it does basketball, and Friday evening fans at Allen Fieldhouse got their share of all three.
Those players are expected to lead this team to the NCAA tournament. But before any of that can happen, they had to have their first practice. And before they had their first practice, they had to dance.
DANCE, THEN SCRIMMAGE
The women lavishly entered Allen Fieldhouse, strolling down a red carpet in formal attire, but they changed quickly and put on an entertaining show for the crowd.
First were the freshmen and sophomores, who put on a dancing step show. After them came the juniors and seniors, who used everything from trash cans to basketballs for their rendition of the percussion group STOMP
The most important part came last, though, when the Jayhawks suited up and took the court for a 12-minute intra-squad scrimmage.
Junior guard Ivana Catic was a perfect 3-for-3 from the field, including two three-pointers, to lead all scorers with eight points and to help her white team edge the blue team, 18-17.
PRESEASON AWARDS
Eleven of the 13 players who saw action scored a point, but the most impressive
That play exemplified what McIntosh brings to the team and what coach Bonnie Henrickson expects of her.
scorer with 10.5 points per game. She also averaged 4.8 rebounds a contest.
Henrickson said she needed "to fly around, knock balls down, get on the floor for loose balls and do all the little dirty things a lot of players don't want to do, because that can be contagious."
play of the scrimmage was senior guard Taylor McIntosh's hustle after a loose ball that ended with her diving over the scorer's table.
McCray is the Jayhawks top returning
Sophomore guard Danielle McCray was named to the Preseason Honorable Mention list by Big 12 coaches on Wednesday. She was the only Kansas player to be named to a preseason watch list.
WELCOME TO THE SHOW
Forwards Krysten Boogaard and Nicollette Smith and guard Chakeitha Weldon played for the first time in a Jayhawk uniform at Late Night.
Three freshmen were introduced to Kansas basketball Friday evening.
All three should factor into the Jayhawk game plan with specific roles, but shouldn't have the same pressures as those of last year's freshman group because of this team's experience.
Edited by Chris Beattie
FOR MORE COVERAGE SEE 8B