BRANDON RUSH POSTER
Remember guard Brandon Rush's two seasons a Jayhawk with The Kansan's commemorative poster.
MONDAY, APRIL 30,2007 WWW.KANSAN.COM
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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
SPORTS
PAGE 1B
SOFTBALL
Amanda Sellers/KANSAN
Sophhore third baseman Val Chapple dives for second base. She was tagged out on the play by Oklahoma second baseman Savannah Long.
Oklahoma too much on Senior Day
BY EVAN KAFARAKIS
Seniors Kassie Humphreys and Nicole Washburn played their final game at Arrocha Ballpark on Sunday and had one word to describe it.
"Emotional."
In its final home series of the season, the Kansas softball team (32-19, 1-7, 7-9) split two games with No. 3 Oklahoma (49-7, 14-4).
The Jayhawks beat the Sooners 20 on Saturday for their third victory
against a ranked team this season. It was also the highest-ranked opponent they've beaten since defeating No.2 Texas last season.
The 735 fans in attendance for Sunday's game watched a 13-4 loss that might have looked one-sided, but wasn't to coach Tracy Bunge.
"I'm really pleased with the way our team has come out and played recently," she said.
The lahawks found themselves behind 2-0 after the first inning and after a six-run third inning made the
score was 8-0 in favor of the Sooners.
"A lot of teams you get down 8-0, you give up and take it home, but our kids made Oklahoma scratch and claw." Bunge said.
"Kassie didn't quite have the stuff she had yesterday." Bunge said.
Humphreys threw a two-hitter complete game, striking out six in
Saturday's victory. She said the difference between the two games was Oklahoma's patience at the plate.
"I just couldn't keep them off balance," Humphreys said.
Sophomore Valerie George came in for Humphreys and pitched three innings, allowing five runs on five hits striking out four. A blister on her right hand bothered her enough that freshman pitcher Sarah Vertelka came in the game finish the game.
SEE SOFTBALL ON PAGE 7B
FOOTBALL
Undrafted Cornish heads north to CFL
BY ASHER FUSCO
Jon Cornish will play professional football this season just not in the United States
After not being selected in this weekend's NFL Draft, Coraish, a former Kansas running back, has reportedly turned down NFL free agent offers to sign with the Calgary
Cornish
Stampeds of the Canadian Football League.
the Stampeders retained the rights to Cornish after selecting him in the second round of
last year's CFL Draft, despite the fact that he returned to play his senior season. Cornish is a native of New Westminster, British Columbia.
Cornish will begin his CFL career after the end of the spring semester so he can finish his psychology degree. CFL training camps begin in May and the regular season starts in June.
Repeated attempts to contact Cornish were unsuccessful.
Cornish was projected by some NFL Draft experts to be a sixth- or seventh-round pick. His fall off the draft board could be attributed to teams selecting lowly regarded
SEE CORNISH ON PAGE 2B
BASEBALL
Jayhawks record first Big 12 series victory
BY ALISSA BAUER
It took less than five seasons for coach Ritch Price to move up on the Kansas baseball leader board.
Entering the weekend, former Kansas coach Bobby Randall reigned with the third-most layhawk victories at 166. With Sunday's 9-4 victory in Norman, Okla., Price picked up number 167.
"I did not even know until yesterday," Price said about when his sports information director informed him of his pending achievement. Without pausing, he said he then asked "So how many more do I need to be second?" Because I know how many Floyd (Temple) has."
In addition to his personal accomplishment, Price led the jayhawks to their first Big 12 Conference series victory of the season. After a 8-0 blowout loss to Oklahoma (28-17,
"There's no doubt about it." Price said about the series victory holding more importance. "Having played six series and not being able to win one has been tough and then to come down here and take two-of-three on the road was big."
8-10) on Friday, Kansas (22-26, 8-13) rebounded in a big way, winning back-to-back games and closing out the weekend.
Starting pitchers Nich Conaway (4-3) and Wally Marciel opened the game in opposite directions. In the first three frames, Conaway flew through the Jayhawk lineup as Kansas went three, up-three down in two of the first three innings, capped off by a four-pitch third.
Meanwhile, Marcel got hit hard from the leadoff man on.
SEE BASEBALL ON PAGE 7B
Jayhawks who left school early
Wilt Chamberlain 1957-1959
Norm Cook 1973-1976
Paul Pierce 1996-1999
Drew Gooden 2000-2003
Julian Wright 2005-2007
Brandon Rush 2005-2007
MEN'S BASKETBALL
Early NBA jumps now the norm
Rush's, Wright's departures add to growing Jayhawk exit trend
BY MICHAEL PHILLIPS
What was once a rare event at Kansas could be turning into an annual event. College players first
ing school prematurely in the early '90s, although the legendary Wilt Chamberlain gave up his Jayhawk uniform early at a time when freshmen weren't even allowed to play varsity college basketball.
Former coach Roy Williams made it a point to recruit players he thought would contribute to the team for four years, so Kansas was mostly immune to the trend.
But with a new coach comes a new philosophy. Bill Self has been recruiting the nation's best players, guys who are coming to Kansas to sharpen their skills before taking the next step.
"You recruit guys that you hope are good enough to play at another level, and you hope they put themselves in a position to benefit the University." Self said.
The trend is unlikely to end with Julian Wright and Brandon Rush. Freshman Darrell Arthur will almost assuredly be a lottery pick in next year's draft, and guard Mario Chalmers may not make it past his junior season.
With a new age limit for NBA players, the days of high schoolers turning pro are gone. Now, the top players in the country are looking for schools that will accommodate their one- or two-year stay, and coaches like Self are having to change the way they recruit and handle players to adjust to the new system.
After Wright left, Self said he wasn't going to waste any time moping around, because high school players saw a fayhawk turning into an NBA lottery pick after two years at the University.
"It's not a totally bad thing," he said. "That's very attractive to some guys out there."
Kansan senior sportswriter Michael Phillips can be contacted at mphillips@ kansan.com.
Edited by Ashley Thompson
ROWING
Anna Faltermieer/KANSAN
Kansas finishes second in Big 12 Invitational
BY CATHERINE ODSON
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Kansas' first varsity four was the only Jayhawk boat to win a race at the Big 12 Invitational regatta against
Freshman rowers Kaitlin Squier, Kerri Emel and Brittany Belford row in the second novice eight race Sunday afternoon at Wyandotte County Lake during the 2007 Big 12 Invitational. The boat lost its race to Texas, but Kansas placed second overall in the meet.
The Jayhawks' first varsity four of sophomore coxswain Lexie Peterson and sophomore rowers Brooke Castrop, Hailee Jones, Abbi Huderle and Kristin Deckert jumped to an early start, but Texas stayed close for the first half of the race. Kansas started to push in the middle 1,000 meters and pulled away in the third 500 meters of the 2,000-meter race.
Texas and Kansas State on Sunday at Wyandotte County Lake in Kansas City, Kan.
"You see them and you want to go for more," she said.
Peterson said that once the team pulled away, it was motivated by the boats behind it.
SEE ROWING ON PAGE 2B
Kansas finished in 8:31.0, 10.8 seconds before Texas (8:41.8). K-State finished third in 9:29.5.
"After our start, we got into it, got relaxed and just kind of pulled in front of Texas," Peterson said.
"It was a pretty good battle between them and Texas all the way down. Texas did get us in the end, but we were second by just about less than a boat length."
ROB CATLOTH Rowing coach