THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2007
SPORTS
7B
LOTTERY (CONTINUED FROM 1B)
ward Darnell Jackson are all ready to improve in Wright's absence.
All of Kansas' players have been doing individual workouts three days a week this fall that consist of conditioning and fundamental drills. Hewitt said individual player workouts like those were key to Georgia Tech's run in 2004. Hewitt said they gave his players confidence that they could succeed without Bosh.
It also helped that the Yellow Jackets were loaded with skillful veterans. Sophomores and juniors Jarrett Jack, Will Bynum, Luke Schenser, Marvin Lewis, B.J. Elder and Isma'il Muhammad led the team.
Kansas is definitely not short on experience. Junior guard Brandon Rush has started every game of his college career. Arthur led the team in scoring in five games as a freshman, Jackson, Kaun, Chalmers, senior guard Russell Robinson and sophomore guard Sherron Collins have all played significant roles.
"Experience is huge." Hewitt said. "The experience level was great enough that it let them have confidence at the start of the season."
But experience only goes so tar.
The players coming back have to perform, especially on the offensive end. Hewitt said replacing scoring is the most important part after losing a star player early to the draft.
The Jayhawks' balanced offense should solve that. Kansas never relied too heavily on one player last year. Although Wright practically scored at will against Missouri and Florida, he was only the team's third-leading scorer for the season. Rush and Chalmers averaged more points than him last season, and five other players averaged five or more points. Add freshmen Cole Aldrich and Tyrell Reed to the mix, and it's obvious that Kansas has plenty of scoring options.
The layhawks will have to wait at least two months before games begin to find out how they play without Wright. Early games against USC and Arizona could test Kansas. Arthur said his team doesn't need Wright to win.
"We're not really even thinking about it," Arthur said. "We're just trying to get more wins up and hopefully more big 12 Championships and National Championships."
- Edited by Kaitlyn Syring
2004, Kansas defeated Toledo 63-14, and went on to go 2-6 in Big 12 play.
WHEELER (CONTINUED FROM 1B)
Though Kansas does not have to play Oklahoma in the regular season this year and K-State has dropped off as a major competitor in the Big 12, a blowout win against a cupcake team is not a good indicator of how well Kansas will perform in Big 12 play.
Considering the Jayhawks' unimpressive 2-10 in-conference road record during the last three years and this season's road games against K-State, Colorado, Texas A&M and Oklahoma State, precise execution early in games will be crucial if Kansas expects to be a contender in the Big 12 North this year. If the offense performs as it did against Southeastern Louisiana in the first half, the Jayhawks could find themselves falling behind and continuing the trend of losing on the road.
The next two weeks, Kansas will face Toledo (0-2) and Florida International (0-2) and it will be surprising if the Jayhawks do not blow out both opponents. Before everyone gets their hopes up, the offense will need to execute better than it did in the first half against Southeastern Louisiana.
blowout history
Non-Conference Blowouts (Big 12 Record during season)
2000 (2-6)
Southern Illinois 42-0
2002 (0-8)
SW Missouri State 44-24
2003 (3-5)
UNLV 46-24
Jacksonville State 41-6
2004 (2-6)
Toledo 63-14
Anna Faltermeier/KANSAN
2005 (3-5)
Appalachian State 36-8
Louisiana Tech 34-14
2006 (3-5)
Northwestern St. 49-18
As for Mangino's decision to go for a two-point conversion in the second quarter while leading by 22 points, he should leave bad play calling to Missouri's head coach Gary Pinkel.
Edited by Rachel Bock
Sarah Leonard/KANSAN
Top Left: Kansas State's Megan Farr, left center, and Stacey Spiegelberg, right center, celebrate during the second game of the match against Kansas Wednesday night. K-State won the match after sweeping the first three games.
Top Right: Savannah Noyes, Junior right side, spikes the ball during last night's game against Kansas State in the Horejsi FamilyY Athletics Center. Kansas was 7-4 overall and 0-1 in the Big 12.
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Bottom Left: Melissa Manda, freshman libero, passes the ball towards the net. Kansas lost to Kansas State in the Big 12 opener to a sold-out crowd.
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Kansas once again played without junior Natalie Uhart. She missed her
ence, while K- State improved to 9-2 and 1-0 in the Big 12. The loss also snapped a five-match winning streak for Kansas.
VOLLEYBALL (CONTINUED FROM 1B)
Kansas fell to 7-4 in the season and 0-1 in the Big 12 conferen
Kelsey Chipman and junior Megan Farr. Thanks to Korobkova, Chipman and Farr had only one defender on them the whole night, allowing them to make 14 and 13 kills respectively.
seventh straight match after being injured against Michigan State on Aug. 31. Uhart missed all of last season with a knee injury.
"They just elevated their play and we just didn't take a big swing like we needed to."
Kansas stayed with K-State early in game one. But a Jenny lantsch kill gave K-State a 10-6 lead, as the Wildcats flirted with perfection the rest of game one and cruised to 30-20 win. K-State had 17 kills with only one error during the game.
game.
Kansas stormed back in the second game. Flavia Lino punctuated an early run with a block on
Korobkova to give Kansas an 11-5 lead. But K-State slowly climbed out of the early hole, and another Jantsch kill cut Kansas' lead to 20-16.
It was all K-State after that.
The Wildcats finished off the game with a 12-0 run to close
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RAY BECHARD Kansas coach
"They just elevated their play," Bechard said, "and we just didn't take a big swing like we needed to."
Kansas hung tough again in game three, tying the game at 16 with a Savannah
out the game
30-26.
Noyes kill. But K-State gained control after that, winning seven out of the next nine points, and then clinching the match with a 30-25 win.
"I thought we looked as physical as K-State at times tonight and that's exciting." Bechard said. "But if you can't pass the ball in this league you are going to be inconsistent and that's what we were tonight."
Edited by Rachel Bock
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