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THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2007
FOOTBALL
PAGE1B
MEN'S BASKETBALL
Shutout not an indicator for Big 12 performance
After the Southeastern Louisiana game, many fans may believe Kansas is primed for the Big 12 title game. For the second week in a row, the football team has blown out another cupcake team.
While beating a team 62-0 may sound impressive, Southeastern Louisiana is about as competitive of an opponent as Free State High School. Just to give you an idea of how bad Southeastern Louisiana was, another cupcake team Kansas played last season, Northwestern State, defeated the team 87-27 in 2003. When the Jayhawks played Northwestern St., they won 49-18.
While the defeat may be impressive on paper, the first half was rather disappointing for the Jayhawk offense. Before the Kansas special teams and defense completely sucked the heart and soul out of Southeastern Louisiana, the Kansas offense looked average at best.
The first two offensive series were poorly executed, resulting in senior Kyle Tucker punting the ball away. It was not until the defense forced a safety and junior wide receiver Marcus Herford returned a kickoff for a touchdown that Southeastern Louisiana finally let up and the momentum of the game went Kansas' way.
For instance, after Kansas' most recent shutout against Southern Illinois in 2000, it lost its first two Big 12 games against Oklahoma and Kansas State. Similarly, in
In addition to the sub-par offensive performance in the first two drives of the game, there was a very questionable coaching call on behalf of Kansas coach Mark Mangino in the second quarter. After junior cornerback Aqib Talib recorded his second offensive touchdown of the season, Mangino decided it would be a good idea to go for a two-point conversion after the Jayhawks already led 22-0.
While everyone would agree after two games that Kansas seems to have improved since last season, the competition, especially this past weekend against Southeastern Louisiana, is nowhere near the Big 12's level of competition. Historically, Kansas has been known to rough up a couple of cupcake teams in non-conference play, then to go into Big 12 play and end up in the bottom of the Big 12 standings.
Some of you may say, well, why be so critical of the Jayhawks after they won by 62 points and recorded their first shutout since 2000?
SEE LOTTERY ON PAGE 7B
BY MARK DENT
mdent@kansan.com
eorgia Tech basketball coach Paul Hewitt remember excitedly watching the nation's No. 3 team on ESPN early in the 2003-2004 season. Each glimpse of
the ranked team made him realize his team could still compete despite unexpectedly losing his best player, Chris Bosh, to the NBA Draft that summer.
"I told them, "if that's the third best team in the country." Hewitt said, "then we can win this whole thing."
the year. The New Orleans Hornets selected him with the 14th overall pick.
Last year, Wright did almost everything for the Jayhawks. He scored 12 points per game. He led the team in rebounds. He passed as well as any big man in recent school history. Kansas won two regular season and two postseason conference
They almost did.
"We're going to miss him,but we have big men who can fill his shoes."
The Yellow Jackets lost to Connecticut in the 2003-2004 national championship. Kansas can look to Georgia Tech as a model for how to move on after losing a star player early to the NBA Draft.
Kansas' star player is Julian Wright. Wright left after his sophomore season despite promising held return throughout
MARIO CHALMERS Junior guard
championships during his two years.
Wright also energized Allen Fieldhouse crowds with fancy passes and highlight-reel dunks. His personality and bowling skills made him a fan favorite.
Chalmers said senior center Sasha Kaun, freshman center Cole Aldrich, sophomore forward Darrell Arthur and senior for-
We're going to make up nine for it," junior guard Mario Chalmers said. "We're going to miss him, but we have big men who can fill his shoes."
Still, the Jayhawks aren't too concerned.
we're going to make
SEE LOTTERY ON PAGE 7B
Coping with Lottery Losses
Georgia Tech and Kansas aren't the only teams that have dealt with losing players early to the NBA Draft. Here are some recent examples of teams that either succeeded or failed after losing a star to the NBA.
THE GOOD
UCLA 2006-2007 — After making the national championship game in 2006, point guard Jordan Farmar left the Bruins as a sophomore. Darren Collison made UCLA fans forget about Farmar quickly. He helped lead the Bruins to the 2007 Final Four.
Florida 2005-2006 — Neither the AP nor the USA Today poll had the Gators ranked in the preseason Top 25 after their leading scorsers Matt Walsh and Anthony Roberson entered the NBA Draft as Juniors. Sophomores Joakim Noah, Corey Brewer, Taurean Green and Al Horford grew up quickly as Florida won its first of two consecutive national titles.
Duke 1999-2000 Two sophomores and a freshman left the Blue Devils after their
national runner-up performance in 1999. A young team led by Jason Williams and Shane Battier rebounded from an 0-2 start to become a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
THE BAD
Louisiana State 2006-2007 — Shot blocker extraordinaire Tyrus Thomas left after just one season for the Tigers. Still, LSU was ranked in most presaemon Top 10 polls because Glen Davis and other veterans were returning. The Tigers flopped and didn't even make the N.J.T.
Wake Forest 2005-2006 — Chris Paul helped guide the Demon Deacons to an ACC Championship and Sweet 16 in two years. After Paul left as a sophomore, Wake Forest won three ACC games the next season.
Georgia Tech The Yellow Jackets haven't always come back strong after losing a star player. Stephon Marbury was the catalyst of Tech's 1996 ACC Championship team as a freshman. Marbury went pro, and the Yellow Jackets struggled for the next four years.
VOLLEYBALL
KSU's accuracy, strength proves fatal in Big 12 debut
Savannah Noyes, junior middle blocker, right, and Brittany Williams, sophomore middle blocker, left, block against a Kansas State hitter during the second match of the game against K-State Wednesday night.
BY RUSTIN DODD
rdodd@kansan.com
Anna Faltermieer/KANSAN
- rdodd@kansan.com
Last year, Natalya Korobkova was in Russia playing for St. Siberian Tech. This year, the junior transfer is showing why her presence might make Kansas State one of the best in the Big 12.
Kansas had no answer for Korobkova and the rest of the K-State offense, as the Jayhawks fell 3-0 (30-20, 30-21, 30-25) to No. 19 K-State in Kansas' Big 12 conference opener. Korobkova had nine kills and four aces for the Wildcats, but Kansas coach Ray Bechard said that it was the things you couldn't see that made the K-State junior special.
"You have to pay a certain amount of attention to her," Bechard said. "And that's why some other players are living a pretty good life right now."
Those other players are sophomore
SEE VOLLEYBALL ON PAGE 78
volleyball notes
NOYES ON OFFENSE
FULL HOUSE
A capacity crowd of 1,300 people packeo the Horesi Family Athletics Center to give Kansas its first home sell-out of the season. A large student section was also animated throughout the match. "Obviously, the atmosphere was right for us to make some things happen," Bechard said. "But Kansas State has played this year at Hawaii in front of 6,000 so I don't think it was a big issue for them."
Junior Savannah Noyes led the way for Kansas with 11 kills in only 20 attempts. Seniors Emily Brown and Brittany Williams also picked up six kills each. Brown also led Kansas with 22 assists.
while freshman Melissa Manda had 14 digs in her Big 12 debut.
THEY FORGOT THEIR POWER
TOWELS
While Kansas State was nearly perfect, the K-State fans were not. Despite the urging from K-State football coach Ron Prince and starting quarterback Josh Freeman on a promotional video that has turned into an internet sensation, not one K-State fan brought a power-towel to the game. Just for clarification, a power-towel is a small purple towel that the K-State athletic department handed out to students before the football season.
— Rustin Dodd