SPORTS
NO FALL BREAK FOR SOCCER PAGE 3B
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
WWW.KANSAN.COM
SETTING UP FOR VICTORY? PAGE 3B
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 10,2007
COMMENTARY
PAGE 1B
Could the KU football team be the new Mr. Right?
The Kansas football team's biggest upset of the season didn't take place on Saturday against Kansas State.
Sure, watching Aqib "Soulja Boy" Talib and company crank their way into the Top 25 was satisfying, but the football team's biggest victory of the season came on Monday. For the first time since the first Clinton Administration, the football team overshadowed the basketball team.
Well, that basketball team starts practice on Friday with its annual Late Night in the Phog. It's half spectacle, half scrimmage, and it's the first chance fans have to check out the new suad.
Remember the basketball team? The one that went to the Elite Eight last season, will most likely be ranked in the preseason top-five, and has greater expectations than Dickens.
But this year, the basketball season can wait. There another show in town, and this Saturday it's headlining at Memorial Stadium at 11:30 a.m. Leading men Todd Reesing and Talib will attempt to keep the No.20 football team undefeated against woeful Baylor. Kansas football is the biggest show in town. Can you believe it?
It doesn't matter if you've been hanging out on Wescoe Beach, inside Mrs. E's, at the Kansas Union, or in a frat house dining room. Kansas football has been the toast of every conversation this week. I actually engaged in an outrageous debate over the chain of events that needed to happen for Kansas to play in the National Championship game at the Louisiana Superdome on Jan. 7. Was there any time in the past 10 years when fans could have rationally had that conversation?
The Kansas basketball team has done nothing wrong. And within a few weeks you can probably count on most of those lunchtime football conversations turning to the status of Brandon Rush's ACL. But for now, think about this relationship analogy.
Imagine you have a girlfriend or boyfriend. We'll call this person Pat. Pat is gorgeous, has a great personality, and is always ranked in top 25 in the nation in the AP significant other poll. But Pat also has a history of letting you down at the most critical of times. And in March you feel like you can't trust Pat at all.
Now a guy or girl you've known for a long time is starting to catch your eye. We'll call this person Kelly. Kelly used to have a lot of flaws. Kelly was extremely unreliable, terrible to travel with, and just annoyingly dull. But something happened to Kelly. Kelly dropped 20 pounds, started saying all the right things, and just became fun to be around.
You can probably figure out who Pat and Kelly are. And wouldnt you at least be mildly intrigued by Kelly?
The basketball team probably doesn't have to worry about anybody actually breaking up with it, but it might have to get used to sharing the limelight and the headlines with the football team. Kansas should roll over Baylor this weekend, and if Kansas can squeak past Colorado in Boulder, Colo., on Oct. 20. Kansas would be 7-0 going into a date with Texas A&M in College Station, Texas on Oct. 27.
This could be a historical year in Lawrence. You have to go back to 1995-96 to find the last time Kansas was ranked in the AP Top 10 in football and basketball in the same school year. The Jayhawks peaked at No. 6 in football in the Oct. 28 poll, while the Kansas basketball team spent the entire season in the Top 10, including three weeks at No. 1.
Two years before that in 1992-93, Kansas won the Aloha Bowl in football and went to the Final Four in basketball.
This year has the potential to be even bigger. Kansas fans should set their sights on San Antonio. It must be fate that the Big 12 Championship game and the Final Four are both being played at the AlamoDome. There could be plenty of Rock Chalk on the River Walk in San Antonio in December and March. Is it realistic? Probably not. But is it possible? Yes, and isn't that something?
- Edited by Elizabeth Cattell
what to men's basketball WAICH BY MARK
The Injured
Junior guard Brandon Rush said he'd suit up for the Jayhawks Friday night but only for lay-up drills. He likely will not play in the scrimmage. Still, the public will have its first chance to see how Rush's surgically-repaired knee looks in a basketball setting.
Fans will also get to see sophomore forward Darrell Arthur. A stress fracture prevented Arthur from playing basketball for six weeks this summer. He's been playing since late August and will be counted on to help the fill the void made by Julian Wright's early entry to the NBA.
To fill in for Wright, Arthur will first have to outplay several teammates.
Battle of the Bruisers
The Jayhawks' front-court should be one of the best in the country this season. Arthur, Jackson, Kaun and Aldrich, will likely compete for two starting spots. The play between these four players should make for good viewing Friday night.
Fab Freshmen
Cole Aldrich just wants to touch a basketball. After two weeks of boot camp hell, the feel of leather will likely seem like heaven for the freshman center.
He may be happy that the team is finished with
Aldrich
the workouts, but that doesn't mean he
struggled.
"He's done better than I thought considering his size and how I did freshman year" senior center Sasha Kaun said. "He did a phenomenal job."
Aldrich, a McDonald's All-American, joins guard Tyreel Reed as the only freshmen on scholarship. Reed also had a good boot camp. Both players could contribute early this season and will likely get plenty of minutes in Friday night's scrimmage.
Chase Buford and Conner Teahan, the other two freshmen on the roster, are walk ons.
Real Seniors
Something was missing from the final game at Allen Fieldhouse last season — seniors.
Not one senior played for the Jayhawks last year. Now there are five. Guard Russell Robinson, guard Jeremy Case, center Sasha Kaun, guard Brad Witherspoon and forward Darnell Jackson only have one year left to play for Kansas. The presence of seniors has already changed the team's attitude.
"Guys look up to us," Robinson said, "and we appreciate that. We try to be the best example we can and they try to model us and be great basketball players with great work ethics."
And Twins
Marcus and Markieff Morris, twin power forwards from Philadelphia, are making their official visit to Kansas for Late Night.
They might do more than just visit.
Shay Wildeboor, senior editor for kansas.
Markieff
Marcus
rivals.com, said it would not be surprising if the twins committed this weekend. Marcus and Markieff are ranked as the 37th and 74th best prospects in the class of 2008 respectively. They are also considering St. John's and
- Edited by Elizabeth Cattell
BASKETBALL
'Late Night' tradition reels in recruits
BY MARK DENT
mdent@kansan.com
Missouri expects 3,000 fans to come to Mizzou Madness Friday night, and Kansas State might get 7,000 for Madness in Manhattan. The rest of the Big 12 schools don't even have an open practice Friday night to start the season.
Kansas' Late Night in the Phog is different.
the beginning of the madness
Few schools can match the fan passion and atmosphere present in Allen Fieldhouse for Late Night, making the night a valuable recruiting tool for the Jayhawks.
"After that first one, it's something else," senior guard Russell Robinson said.
Kansas may have one of the best evenings to celebrate the beginning of basketball, but it wasn't the first school to do it. No one had heard of Late Night or Midnight Madness until Lefty Dreisell came up with the idea in 1970. Most teams didn't start practicing until the afternoon of Oct.15, the first day
Kansas' Late Night tradition has been strong since the era of former coach Roy Williams. During the last years of his tenure, the Fieldhouse was nearly packed to capacity every season for the midnight scrimmage. The same has been true during
the NCAA allowed practice back then Driesell, then Maryland's coach, wanted to get a head start. He had his players run a nile at midnight, and a couple hundred fans showed up to watch. More came the next year, and it soon became a tradition.
Kansas coach Bill Self's stint.
The atmosphere sends a perfect message to recruits: 16,300 people care enough about basketball to watch a 20-minute, intra-squad scrimmage. That means Kansas has a definite advantage over schools that don't bother to put on Midnight Madness' or that don't attract many fans.
"There are very few schools out there that have kept the tradition alive," said Shay Wildeboor, senior editor for kansa.rivals.
— ESPN.com
com. "Other schools come and go with it, but they set the bar. It's a huge tool."
It helped entice freshmen Cole Aldrich and Tyre Reed. Aldrich has been to Late Night three times. Reed has been six times.
"It was real impressive having it on Fall Break and seeing it still packed full," Aldrich said. "Some schools' late night may have five or 10 thousand but when they come to Kansas, it's going to be sold out if it's a championship or a scrimmage."
Not all recruits get hooked after seeing Allen Fieldhouse at Late Night. Kyle Singler visited during Late Night last year and signed with Duke. Other big-time prospects, such as Jamal Sampson and Josh Childress, spurned Kansas for Pac-10 Conference schools after Late Night when Williams was coach.
Markieff and Marcus Morris, twin power forwards from Philadelphia, will make their official visits to Late Night this year. They'll see the capacity crowd. They'll see students carry mock KU jerseys with their names on the back.
They'll see one of the few real Late Nights.
"I think it's the best atmosphere in college basketball," Reed said. "The fans here are great. The tradition is great. Everyone here loves basketball, and you can just see it by the fan support we have."
basketball notes
—Edited by Chris Beattie
PRESEASON ALL-BIG 12
TEAM
They selected junior guard Brandon Rush and sophomore forward Darrall Arthur to the preseason All Big 12 team Tuesday. Rush tore his ACL in June and said he was only 70 percent recovered.
Big 12 coaches apparently aren't bothered by injuries.
Arthur suffered a stress fracture this summer but has been playing for nearly two months.
Junior guard Mario Chalmers and sophomore guard Sherron Collins were named
Chalmers
honorable mention selections.
THE REST OF THE BIG 12...
"We have multiple guys who deserve preseason All-Big 12 recognition, and I think it's great that we had a couple of guys land on the team with Brandon and Darrell," Kansas head coach Bill Self said in a release. "I also think Mario, Sherron, Sasha, Darnell and Russell are worth mentioning too, because I think we will be a balanced team."
Nebraska's Aleks Maric, Texas' D.J. Augustin, Baylor's Curtis Jerrells and Texas A&M's Joseph Jones were also named Preseason All Big 12. Other honorable mention candidates included Kansas State's Bill Walker and Michael Beasley. Beasley was also named Preseason Freshman of the Year. Augustin was
SAME OLD STORY
named Preseason Player of the Year, and Missouri's DeMarre Carroll was named Preseason Newcomer of the Year. Carroll transferred to Missouri from the University of Alabama-Birmingham.
Arthur was an All-Big 12 Honorable Mention selection last year and was also on the Big 12 All-Freshmen Team.
Honors are nothing new for Rush. He's been named an All-Big 12 performer his first two season and was a Wooden Award All-American last year. He was also chosen as the Big 12 Preseason CoPlayer of the Year with former Jayhawk Julian Wright last season.
Mark Dent
COLLEGE FOOTBALL Kansas State reports own rules violations to NCAA
The Associated Press reported that Kansas State has discovered a possible rules violation. K-State is cooperating with an NCAA investigation into its football program. The reported violations centered on a former university employee, three former football players and two current members of the team.
KSU Athletics Director Tim Weiser said in a conference call with reporters that the Athletics Department started investigating allegations of extra benefits and academic misconduct after they surfaced in March. He said the former employee understood the rules and deliberately broke them. Weiser said the school won't tolerate violations of NCAA rules.
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