THE UNIVERSITY DALY KANSAN
FRIDAY,APRIL 6,2007
SPORTS
3B
BASEBALL
Simpson settles at cleanup
BY SHAWN SHROYER
Brock Simpson has danced up down, in and out of the Kansas batting lineup this season. Now he might finally be focusing in on his responsibilities as the Jayhawks cleanup hitter.
The round-tripper came just four days after Kansas coach Ritch Price yanked Simpson from the series finale against Missouri in the first inning.
"He got a chance to get back in the lineup and a chance to redeem himself today and he made something positive happen," Price said.
Simpson came up to the plate in the top of the first on Sunday against Missouri and popped out to the third baseman near the foul line. Despite strong winds that made pop-ups adventurous for fielders, Simpson didn't run the play out.
When the jayhawks trotted onto the field in the bottom half of the inning, sophomore Nick Faune took Simpson's place in right field.
"Part of my job is to discipline players when they don't play the game the right way," Price said. "One thing we ask from our guys is to play hard, hustle and to respect the game. If you're not going to do that, you're
Faune had a solid game, driving in two runs in his second at-bat, but he also left four men on base.
"His spot in the lineup came up with runners in scoring, position three times on Sunday." Price said of Simpson's fourth spot in the batting order. "From my standpoint, that's being a real bad teammate, too. You put your teammate in a position to fail because you didn't play the game the right way."
However, even before the Missouri series, Simpson wasn't exactly putting up cleanup-hitter numbers.
When Kansas played Kansas State on Tuesday, Simpson's name was nowhere to be found on the lineup card.
"Obviously there wasn't a coach in America who would have played him Tuesday night," Price said.
But since returning to the starting lineup on Wednesday, Simpson appears to be refocused.
Against Kansas Wesleyan, he went 2-for-3 with a double, two RBI and a run. And in addition to his two-run home run Thursday, he reached base two more times on walks and scored a second time.
Following solid back-to-back performances, Price is hopeful that Simpson is officially on his way to becoming a reliable cleanup hitter.
Edited by Kelly Lanigan
"He has really struggled. It's been tough to watch," Price said. "He's got great talent, he's just had an awful season."
Kansan sportswriter Shawn Shroyer can be contacted at sshroyer@ kansan.com.
Texas 11, Kansas 6
Texas 102 021 050 — 11 14
1
Kansas 020 020 020 — 6 7
2
James Russell, Keith Shinberry (7) Randy Boone (8) and Preston Clark; Nick Czyz, Hiarail Garcia (7) Matt Lane (8) and Buck Afenir.
W — Russell 7-2. L — Czayz 2-5. S — None. 2B — UT: Chance Wheeless, Preston Clark, Nick Peoples, Russell Moldenhauer; KU: Kyle Murphy, Afenir. 3B — UT: Russell. HR — UT: Peoples; KU: Brock Simpson. HBP — UT: Clark; KU: Erik Morrison, Ryne Peoples
Records — Texas 27-9, 9-2
Big 12 Conference; Kansas 17-
19, 3-7.
BASEBALL (CONTINUED FROM 1B)
Anna Faltermeyer/KANSAN
"I think the fact that we put the crooked number up was frustrating," coach Price said. "If we could've held them to a one or two-spot, we've still got a chance in the ninth. But when we put the five-spot up we pretty much bury our club at that point in time."
Before that, however, Price was correct about the quality of the game.
Texas' Chance Wheeless is congratulated by teammates after scoring a run in the fifth innning of the game against Kansas on Thursday afternoon at Hooplund Ballpark.
a leadoff bean from Czyz to start the game didn't amount to anything for Longhorns, but a two-out base hit from third baseman Bradley Suttle did. The sophomore drove one to the left side to knock in the first Texas run of the afternoon.
Making a game of the 30-degree April afternoon, Texas changed the lead again in its next at bat. First baseman Chance Wheeless took a Czyz delivery to the right-center field wall for a one-out double highlighting his offense's two-run third.
The Jayhawks took it right back with a quick two-spot in the second. His first day off after 58 straight starts on Wednesday against Kansas Wesleyan did the trick for junior shortstop Erik Morrison. He led off the 'Hawks second with an infield single and scored on sophomore catcher Buck Afenir's two-run double.
Wheeless accounted for two of the nine hits Czyz surrendered. He took the loss after a solid start on Thursday, and allowed just five Longhorn runs.
"A little bit," Robby Price said of his frustration after game one. "But we've got to do a little bit more earlier in the game and capitalize when
we have the chance and just stay with them."
Kansan sportswriter Alissa Bauer can be contacted at abauer@kansan.com.
— Edited by Will McCullough
》ROWING
Seniors prepare for final meet
BY CATHERINE ODSON
The Kansas rowing team will take on Kansas State in the Kansas Cup on Saturday for Senior Day.
The first race begins at 10 a.m. The regatta will take place on the Kansas River near Burcham Park, Second and Indiana streets.
The Jayhawks won the seasonending Sunflower Showdown 14-11 last fall, but the Wildcats won last year's Kansas Cup. Kansas will race against K-State three times this spring.
"We want to get ahead and stay ahead," coach Rob Catloth said.
"It itends to go back and forth," he said. "It's not like basketball where we beat them for 20 years. It's always tight."
Catloh said the rowing rivalry didn't have a dominant team.
This weekend's competition will be the seniors' last on the Kansas River. Nine of the 10 seniors learned the sport of rowing after arriving on campus.
Senior rower Whitney Fasbender spent her freshman year as a member of the Kansas track and field team before she tried out for the rowing team. Fasbender said the learning curve helped the team avoid negative competition.
Catloth estimated the rowing team never had more than eight rowers with pre-college experience out of the 50-plus women in the program.
Fasbender said that senior rower Jelayna Da Silva, who rowed during high school in Canada, helped the new rowers understand the sport and helped them work through learning it.
"Because we all came in as beginners and learned the sport together, we became friends first and then teammates," she said.
Catloth said rowers used a combination of endurance and strength that required basketball and volleyball players to develop endurance and runners and swimmers to add strength.
Boston intended to try out for the track team before burning out the summer before her freshman year. She tried out for the rowing team instead.
Junior rower Kara Boston said the experienced rowers reassured the novice rowers and gave helpful hints.
"Everybody was learning at the same time," she said. "You could all start out fresh."
Boston, who also played volleyball, basketball and soccer in high school, said learning to row required her body to adjust to new stresses.
"You develop an athlete who has good endurance and good strength," he said.
Ardis Johnson, a coxswain who finished her eligibility last spring, rowed for three years in high school in Chattanooga. Tenn. She said working with the less-experienced
Kansas rowers tend to be athletes first and rowers second, Johnson said, and combining that with the "excellent technique" the college rowers learn helps the boats go faster and be more powerful.
rowers made her a better cossairn as she helped them learn the sport
Kansan sportswriter Catherine Odson can be contacted at codson@kansan.com.
senior dav
Edited by Trevan McGee
Ten seniors on the Kansas rowing team will compete in their last home regatta on Saturday.
Alia Bober
Jelayna Da Silva
Whitney Fasbender
Ashley Hughes
Tifanny Jeffers
Hallee Jones
LlynnAnn Laugesen
Lindsey Miles
Samira Naji
Tricia Watelle
The seniors will be recognized after the Kansas Cup is awarded.
MOORE SPORTS
Go-to post key to championship bid
it's never too early to look forward to the next basketball season, especially
ketball season, especially here in Larryville. ESPN.com has already pegged the Jayhawks as the favorites to cut down the nets next April in San Antonio.
After a few therapy sessions, I've come to grips that destiny got confused and it wasn't meant to be for the Jayhawks to win a national title in my senior year. I've moved on — kind of — and I'm ready to talk about next season.
Next year marks the 20th anniversary of Danny and the Miracles winning the national title in 1988 in Kansas City, With Danny Manning now officially an assistant coach with the team, it kind of feels like it's in the cards for the Jayhawks to be national champions next season.
Florida had Al Horford and Joakim Noah. Sean May carried North Carolina through the tournament in 2005. In 2004, Connecticut had Emeka Kafor. Syracuse had Hakeem Warrick (and his damn long arms) and Kansas had Nick Collison in 2003 — if a few more free throws had fallen for the Jayhawks, the Orangemen wouldn't even be on this list (not like I'm bitter or anything). Lonny Baxter and Chris Wilcox were the difference for Maryland in 2002. Wilcox made Drew Gooden look like a schoolgirl in the semifinals that year. And in 2001, Duke had Carlos Boozer. The list goes on and on.
Manning's Jayhawks in 1988 didn't have as much talent as the 2006-07 Jayhawks or next season's roster even if Brandon Rush goes pro, but they did have Manning, a dominant post player. And every team since then that's won a title has had a go-to guy in the post.
With some of these past champions the big men might not have been the first option, but they could at least score and demanded a double team.
The Jayhawks did not have that big man this year. It's why they could barely get up a three-pointer against UCLA. It's why all the pressure was on the guards to score. It's why they didn't make it to Atlanta and if they would have, they wouldn't have won.
For the Jayhawks to live up to the early love from ESPN.com, one of the big men has to become a go-to guy in the post.
The attributes of a go-to guy in the post: scores at least 14 points per game (maybe 12 to 13 with the depth of this team), draws doubles
teams when he gets the ball, which opens things up for perimeter shooters, and he can score with his back to the basket. The candidates: Sasha Kaun, Darnell Jackson, Darrell Arthur and incoming freshman Cole Aldrich.
Julian Wright isn't an option because he's a small forward playing power forward and he'd rather give up bowling than earn his keep in the post.
KANSAN SPORTS COLUMNIST
CJMOORE@KANSAN.COM
So who is it going to be? Well, Kaun definitely isn't the man. He's improved his game every year since he's arrived in Lawrence and he's even developed a jump hook. But Kaun is a crusher. He rebounds, he sets screens, he blocks shots, he dunks and he crushes. As for scoring from the post, he just doesn't have the skills. But still, he's a nice role player.
Darnell Jackson was the most consistent layhawk during the NCAA tournament. He understood his role better than any KU player this season. His job was to provide an emotional lift to the team by making hustle plays and the occasional thumping of his chest — his signature move. He also needed to get boards, putbacks, provide a physical presence and make the occasional open 15-footer. He did all those and more at times. But he's not a go-to guy. He's undersized and doesn't have the athletic ability to compensate, which was evident whenever he got blocked at the rim this season. Again, a great role guy; he's probably my favorite player on the team and should be the co-leader on the team along with Russell Robinson next season
Probably too soon to tell with Aldrich. But since ESPN.com thinks it's not too early to predict how next season will go, I'll take a shot with Aldrich too. I predict he'll play 10 to 15 minutes per game next season, score four to five points per game, grab some boards, block some shots and rack up the fouls.
I've seen Aldrich play twice now; once in a game last spring at the Jayhawk Invitational and last week in the McDonald's All-American game. After the Jayhawk Invitational, I left unimpressed.
Well, he was still huge, and he did look like he was a little faster in the McDonald's game. He also showed a nice 15-foot jumper and blocked some shots. He did seem winded. He's going to have to get in better shape to run with the lavwhaws.
He scored one basket, moved very slow laterally and his footwork was sloppy in the post. The thing he did best was be huge.
Aldrich is going to be a good player some day. It's probably not fair to judge a kid after seeing him play twice. It's going to take some time for Aldrich to make a difference for Kansas because he's no go to guy — at least not yet.
So that leaves Arthur. He's the most talented of the bunch. He showed flashes of greatness this year and the success of the 2007-08 Jayhawks lies squarely on his shoulders.
Arthur has the athletic ability. He has enough size to be a dominant college post player at 6-foot-9. But he doesn't have the skill-set yet. This was evident during the season but particularly evident against the Bruins. When Arthur got the ball with his back to the basket, he looked lost. Against UCLA and Southern Illinois, he'd panic and eventually force a bad shot. His one go-to move this season was a fade away jump shot. Dominant college post players don't fade away.
Arthur needs to spend this off season doing four things: work with coach Manning on his post moves, develop a strong go-to move, hit the weight room and watch hours of Nick Collison video. The key to effective post play is great foot work and no one did it better than Collison.
For Kansas to celebrate Danny and the Miracles' anniversary in style, Arthur has to be the man. He doesn't need to be Manning-esque; just a threat who wants the ball and DOESN'T FADE AWAY.
If Arthur doesn't become the go-to guy, Kansas will still win a lot of games, still win a Big 12 title and still make a deep tourney run — just no NCAA title. And if Arthur is the go-to guy, then Kansas should live up to the early hype — maybe cut down a few more nets — and I can save some money by skipping out on my therapy sessions.
Moore is a Shawnee senior in journalism.
Edited by Trevan McGee
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