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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
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FRIDAY,AUGUST 17,2007
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
PAGE 1B
Jayhawks Down Under
Danielle McCray and her teammates gave some attitude to their Australian competition during their 10-day trip. The women played four games in preparation for the upcoming season. The team also took some time to appreciate the foreign landscape and entertainment, including going bungee jumping.
KANSAN FILE PHOTO
Women outsource preseason competition
BY TAYLOR BERN
tbern@kansan.com
in a new environment loaded with distractions, the Kansas women's basketball team first struggled with, and then conquered, its opponents.
Now the lajhawks return to Lawrence an improved team ready for a new season.
Coach Bonnie Henrickson and the Jayhawk women returned to Kansas Wednesday after a 10-day trip to Australia, which saw them go 3-1 against a variety of Aussie competition.
The team played an admittedly bad game to start its vacation, falling to the Sydney Flames 88-54. Things improved quickly, though, and the Jayhawks won their last three games by a combined 63 points.
They outlasted Logan Blue, 78-71, and then dominated both Logan Red and the U-19 State team from Queensland 83-56 and 83-54 respectively.
"Game one, you know, we didn't come out with very good intensity and we didn't prepare ourselves like we wanted to," sophomore guard Sade Morris said.
The wake up call from that loss served as motivation in the rest of the contests for sophomore Danielle McCray.
"After that woke us up we had a talk with coach and we turned it up from there," said McCray, who led Kansas averaging 21 points per game on the trip.
Other standouts on the trip included sophomore Porscha Weddington, who averaged just more than 12 points a game, and senior Taylor McIntosh, who posted back-to-back double-digit rebound efforts.
Morris, who averaged nearly 14 points per game, enjoyed the fast pace of the games and the change in her team's attitude.
"We had to let people in Australia know who Kansas really is," she said.
Basketball wasn't the only thing the team did in Australia. At first it was hard for the players to focus on the game because of everything outside the arena.
The team got the full spectrum of sights, including the Sydney Opera House, the Great Barrier Reef and some bungee jumping.
"The snorkeling was pretty fun, seeing all the exotic fish in the Great Barrier Reef," McCray said.
While the memories of those events will last a lifetime, the work they got done on the
Results from Australia trip
Game One
In Sydney
Sydney Flames 88, Kansas 54
Leading Jayhawks
Danielle McCray – 20 points, 8 reboundes
Sade Morris – 11 points, 4 rebounds,
2 steals
Porscha Weddington – 7 points, 7 rebounds, 3 blocks
Game Two
In Brichane
in Biscayne Kansas 78, Logan Blue 71
Leading Jayhawks
McCray – 26 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists
Taylor McIntosh – 18 points, 10 rebounds
Morris – 13 points, 8 rebounds, 2 steals
Weddington – 11 points, 7 rebounds
Game Three
Game Three
In Brisbane
Kansas 83, Logan Red 56
McCray - 17 points, 8 rebounds
Weddington - 13 points, 6 rebounds
Kelly Kohn - 10 points
Mcintosh - 7 points, 13 rebounds, 7 steals
Leading Jayhawks Morris 19 points
Game Four
Leading Jayhawks
Kansas 83, Queensland 54
McCray – 21 points, 8 rebounds
Weddington – 18 points, 5 rebounds
Mclntosh – 12 points, 6 rebounds
Morris – 12 points, 2 steals
court should pay dividends when the team suits up for practice in October.
SEEBASKETBALL ON PAGE 4B
FOOTBALL
Season's schedule full of pushovers
BY ASHER FUSCO
afusco@kansan.com
To put together a college football schedule is to walk a fine line. When coaches and administrators sit down to create their team's schedule, they seek a balance between credible opponents and pushovers. Kansas' 2007 schedule has a lot of the latter.
ESPN.com put Kansas on top of its list of easiest schedules. The Sporting News ranked the Jayhawks' slate the least challenging in the Big 12 Conference. College football expert Phil Steele was a little more generous, slotting Kansas 88th on the list of most difficult schedules.
When asked about the team's 2007 calendar, coach Mark Mangino shrugged off the criticism.
2007 Kansas football schedule
DATE OPPONENT
9/1 CENTRAL MICHIGAN
9/8 SOUTHEASTERN LOUISIANA'
9/15 TOLEDO
9/22 FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL
10/6 @ KANSAS STATE
10/13 BAYLOR
10/20 @ COLORADO
10/27 @ TEXAS A&M
11/3 NEBRASKA
11/10 @ OKLAHOMA STATE
11/17 IOWA STATE
11/24 MISSOURIA
2006 RECORD
10-4, MAC Champion, won Motor City Bowl
2-9
5-7
0-12
7-6, lost Texas Bowl
4-8
2-10
9-4, lost Holiday Bowl
9-5, lost Cotton Bowl
7-6, won Independence Bowl
4-8
8-5, lost Sun Bowl
"We've had times when our schedule was the second or third toughest in the country," Mangino said. "This year, people are saying it's easier. That's easy for them to say because they don't have to coach it or play it."
Only one of Kansas' four nonconference opponents finished above .500 in 2006 and none of the teams are from Bowl Championship Series conferences.
2006 RECORD
Central Michigan, which visits Lawrence Sept. 1, presents the stiffest nonconference test. The Chippewa were a surprise success story last season when they won 10 games and captured the Mid-American Conference title. But Kansas could be catching Central Michigan at just the right time. Coach Butch Jones is new to the program and the team lost two players to the NFL Draft.
The Jayhawks other three nonconference foes are not as esteemed. Toledo defeated Kansas last season but ended with a 5-7 record. Southeastern Louisiana and Florida International struggled to a combined record of 2-21 in 2006. The first four weeks of the
NONCONFERENCE OPPONENTS' COMBINED 2006 RECORD: 17-32
TOTAL OPPONENTS' COMBINED 2006 RECORD: 67-84
*Championship Subdivision opponent
^Kansas City
season should provide easy victories but could leave the jayhawks short on experience in close games heading into the conference season.
"It's laid out to be a pretty good season," junior cornerback Aqib Talib said. "Who doesn't like to play at home? Anytime you have seven home games, it's good for your team."
A home game-heavy schedule should help the Jayhawks in their effort to earn bowl eligibility in 2007. Kansas has posted a 4-21 road record during Mangino's five-year tenure. At home during this same span the team is 20-12. On top of the home-field advantage Kansas will enjoy early in the season, the team will face one of the easiest conference schedules in the Big 12.
Because of the way the conference schedule rotates, Kansas draws Big 12 south opponents Baylor, Texas A&M and Oklahoma State instead of Texas, Oklahoma and Texas Tech. Texas A&M and Oklahoma State are upper echelon teams but missing out on Texas and Oklahoma could be a godsend for Kansas.
"As far as conference play and the way it rotates, this year folks will say it's not real tough and next year they'll say, 'Poor Kansas, look who they have to play.' That's just how the schedule goes - we have no control over that." Mangino said.
The 2007 season could be as good a chance at a postseason berth as the layhawks receive in the foreseeable future. In 2008, the team travels to South Florida and draws tougher Big 12 south opponents.
Edited by Kyle Carter
VOLLEYBALL
Teams establish conference as one of the country's toughest
BY RUSTIN DODD
rdodd@kansan.com
Bechard said that if he looked through the 11 schools in the Big 12 that field a team. Oklahoma State being the lone exception, he thought the conference had an argument as being the best.
The Pac-10 has long had the distinction of being the strongest volleyball conference in the country, a label earned by virtue of winning 13 national championships since 1981. But Kansas coach Ray Bechard is quick to add the Big 12 to the discussion of toughest volleyball conferences.
On Dec. 16, in front of a national television audience and more than 17,000 fans at the Qwest Center in Omaha, Neb., topranked Nebraska defeated No. 2 Stanford 27-30, 30-26, 28-30, 27-27 to win its third national title since 1995. The best volleyball team the Big 12 had to offer was better than the best team from the Pac-10.
Last season, a telling signal of the growing strength of Big 12 volleyball was broadcast nationwide.
Kansas should be tested again in conference play this season. In addition to Nebraska,
"I think we have 10 teams who feel like they could be an NCAA tournament team," Bechard said. "And that's not going to happen because we'll beat each other up in conference play."
That turned out to be the case last season for Kansas, which started the season 7-2 before finishing 11th in the conference with a 3-17 record. Kansas suffered on the road, finishing with 0-10 in the Big 12 on the road.
A growing success
Six Big 12 volleyball teams made the NCAA tournament in 2006;
Team Finish
Nebraska National Champions
Texas Elite Eight
Oklahoma Sweet 16
Colorado 2nd Round
Iowa State 2nd Round
Missouri 2nd Round
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Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado, Iowa State and Missouri all made it to the NCAA tournament. Kansas State and Texas A&M can also lay claim to making an NCAA tournament appearance within the last two years, advancing in 2005, which was also the last year that Kansas made the field of 64.
The increased amount of talented teams has not been lost on Bechard.
Five or six years ago, you could look at the schedule and see 5 or 6 sure wins, but now you just look at it and say, 'Hey, we have to play really well to win that match.' Bechard said.
The Division I CSTVIAVCA Presseason Coaches Poll features four Big 12 teams in the Top 25. Nebraska opens the season
SEEVOLLEYBALL ON PAGE 4B