Roy
BILLY BUTLER MAKES HIS DEBUT
Royals outfield prospect started his first game Tuesday at Kauffman Stadium. Butler was brought to Kansas City after Ryan Shealy was placed on the 15-day disabled list.
WEDNESDAY, MAY 2, 2007WWW.KANSAN.COM
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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
SPORTS
PAGE1B
SOFTBALL
Kansas looks to repeat last year's finish
Amanda Sellers/KANSAN
Sophomore third baseman Val Chapple pulls off the bag after a force out at third. Kansas split the series with Oklahoma after a 14-4 loss on Sunday.
BY EVAN KAFARAKIS
The Kansas softball team is following a similar script to the one it has used the past two seasons.
The jayhawks (32-19-1, 7-9) travel to Wichita State (32-26, 16-8 MVC) today for a double-header with a feeling, as coach Tracy Bunge put it, of déjà vu.
"When it comes down to the end of the year we've been in the same position the last two years," Bunge said.
Heading into the Wichita State game last season the Jayhawks had a 27-24 overall record and a 6-10 in the Big 12 Conference
The team was seventh in the Big 12 at this point of the season, where the current team stands, and last year Kansas won the Big 12 Championship.
This year's team returns 10 letter winners from last year's team, which knows what it takes to repeat and improve on what it did last year.
"What you do the last 10-15 games of the year is important and our returning players understand that," Bunge said.
The Jayhawks will meet in-state rival Wichita State for the 75th time, with the Jayhawks holding a 60-14 all-time advantage against the Shockers.
The Shockers are fourth in the standings for the Missouri Valley Conference.
"We can't afford to look over this game," senior pitcher Kassie Humphreys said.
Bunge also stressed that this week was no cakewalk for the Jayhawks, who are winners of five of their last six games.
Offensively, the team is getting back into the swing of things by posting an average of almost four runs per game. Defensively, the team gives up an average of just over one run per game during vic-
SEE SOFTBALL ON PAGE 3B
PROFILE
Finding home while being away
BY SHAWN SHROYER
By the end of last June, Kyle Murphy had almost had enough with baseball.
He had hit just .153 in 58 games as Kansas' part-time center fielder and the thought of devoting his entire summer to baseball was no longer appealing. After 10 games with the Hays Larks of the Jayhawk League, Murphy packed his bags and headed back home to Beloit, Wis.
"I was playing fine, but I was just really burnt out after last year," Murphy said. "I had so much stress built up, it was almost like catching a second wind, like I was just able to relax and put things behind me."
Rather than putting up with the rigors of summer league baseball, Murphy spent the offseason working on his swing with his friend and former minor leaguer Kevin Burns and playing occasionally with a local team.
During his time away, Murphy regained confidence in his swing and learned to take a more relaxed approach to baseball. His catharsis has carried over into his senior season as he's transformed from an offensive liability to one of the most consistent hitters in Kansas' lineup. Always a weapon roaming center field, Murphy has molded himself into a promising pro prospect on pure desire.
Senior center fielder Kyle Murphy leads Kansas with 56 hits and 12 stolen bases. He is tied for the team lead with 39 runs scored and 82 total bases.
When Murphy returned to Lawrence in the fall, he found a renewed passion for baseball and had a successful season. From the onset, he decided to enjoy the little things about baseball rather than worry about statistics.
SARAH LEONARD/KANSAN
SEE MURPHY ON PAGE 3B
The Jayhawks face the Bethany Swedes, their fourth nonconference opponent this season today.
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TENNIS
Doubles team earns spot on All-Big 12
The Kansas tennis team claimed two spots on the All-Big 12 team. Junior Elizaveta Avdeeva and sophomore Edina Horvath were awarded with a spot on the All-Big 12 doubles team, and Avdeeva also registered a spot on the All-Big 12 singles team. Avdeeva and Horvath won the ITA Central Regional Tournament in October, and followed that up with a 15-7 record
BY RUSTIN DODD
this Spring. The duo also recorded a 7-4 Big 12 record at the No.
1 doubles spot,
giving them the
conference's
second-best
mark.
For the second year in a row Avdeeva gained a spot on the All-Big
Avdeeva
12 single team, Devevda,
Obnimbs, Russian, native, had a 15-
18 singles record for Jayhawks this year while competing at the No. 1 singles spot for
Kansas. This was the first time Horvath, a Budapest, Hungary, native, has been selected All-Big 12
Horvath
was selected to both teams last year as a sophomore.
COMMENTARY
Rush makes right decision to declare
BY KAYVON SARRAF
KANSAN SPORTS COLUMNIST
KSARRAF@KANSAN.COM
Much of the buzz around campus this week seems to be that Brandon Rush is making a mistake by entering the NBA draft because he is not a lock for the first round.
The fact is that Rush should keep his name in the draft even if there is a chance that he falls to the second round and loses out on a guaranteed contract.
Take a look at last year's draft, considered to be the weakest in recent memory because of the inclusion of an ineligible class due to the NBA's new age limit of 19. Last year's second-round draftees would likely not even be selected in this year's stacked draft. Of the first 13 picks in last year's second round, 11 are on NBA rosters and all of these 11 are making more than $400,000 per year. These are the players that Rush will be competing for roster spots.
NBA general managers know what Rush can bring to the table after two years as the leading scorer for a Kansas squad that receives as much national exposure as any team outside the state of North Carolina. At 6-foot-6, Rush can defend NBA wings, rebound well for his position and make open shots. This type of player will always find a spot on an NBA roster. Rush would be the safe pick when a team is faced with choosing him or an unknown international player.
Being drafted in the second round does not mean that a player has to ride the bench either. Last year's 42nd pick, former Texas Longhorn Daniel Gibson, started 16 games for the Cleveland Cavaliers and remains a key contributor to a team still contending for an NBA championship.
Looking back at the 2005 draft, we see similar results. Nine of the first 11 players drafted in the second round are on NBA rosters, with players like Monta Ellis, the 40th selection to Golden State, maintaining an important role with playoff teams.
Another year in college would likely not help Rush's draft stock a great deal. At best, he would be a late first-round pick next season. At almost 22 years old, Rush does not ooze potential like a Julian Wright does. He is already fairly polished and other than ball handling, which is not something that will magically appear in one offseason, he does not have a lot of room to improve. He would lose out on a year of NBA earning potential, valued at least $400,000.
Rush is in a different situation than those early second-round selections not on NBA rosters. Three out of the four were international players, entering the draft relatively unknown to NBA teams.
Fans sometimes fail to realize that coming back to school for another season and being the
SEE SARRAF ON PAGE 3B