Sports
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Former Jayhawks go pro
Several Kansas players see success at next level of play. BASEBALL | 7B
WWW.KANSAN.COM
WEDNESDAY, MAY 5, 2010
PAGE 1B
SOFTBALL
Softball senior leaves legacy in community service
BY ZACH GETZ
zgetz@kansan.com
While attending a KU softball camp her senior year of high school, senior outfielder Ally Stanton was mistaken for a middle school camper.
"They thought I was some prodigy 14-year-old," Stanton said.
After the coaching staff realized Stanton was actually a prospect, they offered her a walk-on position. Living in St. Louis and coming from Mizzou country, she got teased when she broke the news to her peers.
"I got razzed a lot and took some heat for becoming a Jayhawk," Stanton said.
At the end of her first year, she
started to receive a scholarship. Through her four years at Kansas, coaches moved Stanton all around, having her fill in wherever needed.
Outfielder Ally Stanton
Major: Strategic Communications
Ferrell in Drag
"Ive played every role on this team," Stanton said. "I've been a starter. I've been a defensive specialist where I come in for the last few innings. I've been a pinch-hitter and I've been a pinch-runner. I've been someone who's pretty much not going to see any time on the field, and has to stay positive on the bench."
This celebrity would play me in a movie: Will Ferrell in Dragg
If I was stranded on an island, I would want this with me. Lifetime supply of cereal
The best thing about KU: Awesome athletic
This season, with Stanton not seeing much playing time, first-year coach Megan Smith said Stanton had still been one of the most supportive teammates any one could find.
department and huge support system
This person has had the most influence on my life: My mom, who battled two types of cancer and is not completely healthy
"It's always difficult when you're
not in the lineup and you want to be," Smith said. "You can either be negative and pull people down, or be positive and pull people up. She has definitely taken the positive route."
Though past players have told
her she'll miss the game, Stanton said her body may be looking forward to the rest.
"My arm is telling me I need to stop, and my hips are telling me I need to stop." Stanton said. "But I'm never going to be ready to just
hang up my cleats."
Stanton said that her career involved a lot of ups and downs, but that she had been excited to be a part of the new softball regime at Kansas.
"I couldn't ask for a better senior year," Stanton said. "I'm proud to be a member of this softball team, and what I've accomplished on the field and off the field."
Off the field she has done a lot. She spends much of her time with the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, a group of KU student athletes that helps with community service events and other programs, such as the Special Olympics.
One of the projects she helped spearhead was a recycling pick-up for the football team's Gatorade
Read about the team's upcoming match on PAGE 10B
bottles.
"It's little projects like that, which as a regular student you wouldn't have access to get done," Stanton said.
SAAC has been a big part of her life on the softball team, Stanton said.
"It's a huge part of what I'll look back on as my experience here," Stanton said.
PULL TO THE LEAD
SEE SOFTBALL ON PAGE 3B
Members of Kansas' Second Varsity Four team compete in the Kansas Cup at Wyandotte County Lake April 3. The team joined Conference USA Monday to gain automatic qualifying for the NCAA Championship. Kansas will compete in Conference USA's South-Central regional championship May 15 and 16.
Weston White/KANSAN FILE PHOTO
Kansas rowing joins new conference
BY ETHAN PADWAY epadway@kansan.com
The rowing team announced Monday that it has joined Conference USA as an affiliate member and will compete in the first Conference USA championship at the South-Central regional championship May 15 and 16.
Rowing will not have it until at least 2013 because in order for a conference to be eligible for automatic qualifying it will need to have at least six members and have held two conference
Rowing is the only NCAA team sport that does not currently have automatic qualifying for the NCAA Championship.
Fellow Big 12 schools Kansas State, Oklahoma and Texas will also join the new conference as affiliate members.
championships.
They will be joined in the new conference by two SEC schools, Tennessee and Alabama, and three Conference USA schools, Tulsa, SMU, and Central Florida.
The Big 12 will continue to have its own rowing championship every year in addition to the new Conference USA championship.
But with only four schools it would not have been eligible for an NCAA automatic bid before joining Conference USA.
Coach Rob Catloth said the
move to Conference USA would benefit recruiting because it gave the team the chance to accomplish automatic qualifying.
Joining Conference USA will make it easier for the Jayhawks to compete for a NCAA title, if they can win the automatic qualifier.
is a great opportunity for our program. The ultimate goal is to reach the NCAA Championships, and competing in the Conference USA Championship is a step in that direction." Athletics Director Lew Perkins said in a press release.
"Our participation in the Conference USA Championship
-Edited by Kirsten Hudson
COMMENTARY
NCAA should stop expanding and stick with traditional tournament
Congratulations to the NCAA for not completely messing up the best thing in college sports — the NCAA basketball tournament
The NCAA has decided against the proposed expansion to a 96-team field. Instead it is adding only three additional slots, making a 68-team field, to appease the lower-level conferences. Thankfully, the NCAA is keeping the tournament relatively the same — so far.
A commission will meet in Indianapolis in two weeks to
BY NICOLAS ROESLER
nroesler@kansan.com
twitter.com/nroesler8
discuss the possible restructuring of the tournament because of the new 68-team field. But this
meeting is a waste of time. There is only one option; to keep the tournament in its traditionally popular form.
Expanding the field to 68 teams doesn't require breaking up the current successful format. Essentially, there would just be a play-in game in each bracket similar to the opening round game played between the 64th and 65th teams in years past.
Any other proposals to change the overall design of the tournament would simply be fixing something that isn't broken.
The expansion seemed inevitable because of the increasing talent in lower-level conferences across the country, and the business dilemma that was facing the NCAA.
The NCAAS contract with CBS ended after the 2010 season and there was a question of whether the contract would be taken over by ESPN. But a lucrative deal with CBS-Turner may have saved the tournament's current format.
CBS Turner signed a deal giving the NCAA $10.8 billion over the next 14 years. For now
The NCAA cannot let college basketball follow in the footsteps of the bowl system in college football, which recently added 35 bowls games so more programs could have further success in their seasons. Sure, that might fill
CBS-Turner is sticking with a 68 team tournament, but it isn't known whether it will keep this format past 2011. NCAA interim president Jim Isch has refused to say whether the NCAA tournament would stick with this 68 team structure beyond next year.
My advice to the NCAA commission is to leave the basketball tournament alone. Don't get carried away chasing more money. You'll only lose viewers.
the gap of generosity deep in the their hearts, but who really wants to watch two 6- teams play against each other in the Dallas Football Classic? The change wasn't about more entertainment; it was about more money.
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Edited by Katie Blankenau