2B
SPORTS THURSDAY, APRIL 8, 2010 / THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN / KANSAN.COM
OUOTE OF THE DAY
"Consistency is contrary to nature, contrary to life. The only completely consistent people are dead."
Aldous Huxley, author of "Brave NewWorld"
FACT OF THE DAY
Xavier Henry's 31 points against LaSalle was the second-highest point total for Kansas this season. Sherron Collins scored 33 points against Cornell.
Kansas Athletics
TRIVIA OF THE DAY
Q: What was Henry's lowest point total this season?
A: He scored four points against Iowa State and Kansas State in the Big 12 Tournament.
Kansas Athletics
SCORES
MLB Baseball:
Kansas City 3, Detroit 2
Colorado 4, Milwaukee 5
Philadelphia 8, Washington 4
Los Angeles (NL) 3, Pittsburgh 4
St. Louis 6, Cincinnati 3
San Francisco 10, Houston 4
Chicago (NL) 2, Atlanta 3
New York 3, Boston 1
Baltimore 3, Tampa Bay 4
Toronto 7, Texas 3
Cleveland, Chicago (AL), late
Minnesota, Los Angeles (AL), late
Seattle, Oakland, late
NBA Basketball:
NBA Basketball
New York 115, Indiana 113
Washington 94, Orlando 121
Boston 115, Toronto 104
Philadelphia 95, Miami 99
Atlanta 88, Detroit 90
Charlotte 104, New Orleans 103
Utah 96, Houston 113
New Jersey 89, Milwaukee 108
Golden State 116, Minnesota 107
Denver 98, Oklahoma City 94
Bam Memphis, Dallas 110
Tiger is good for golf ratings
MORNING BREW
After five months of absolute insanity in the life of Tiger Woods and the world of golf, things seem to be finally getting back to normal
The expectation of Woods returning to competitive golf ends today at the Masters Tournament in Augusta, Ga. He is scheduled to tee off at 12:42 p.m.
However, Woods isn't the only one returning to golf this afternoon.
Woods is involved in a highly anticipated return to golf after a self-imposed leave of absence amid allegations of infidelity. You'll be hard-pressed to find a storyline in this tournament other than him.
For me and for a lot of other casual golf fans, it also means our return to watching the sport.
The Nielsen Company compared the number of people who watched the 2007 PGA Championship when Woods was playing and the 2008 PGA Championship, which Woods missed because of knee surgery. Ratings increase dramatically when Woods is playing.
The proof is in the ratings.
The first and second rounds of the 2007 PGA Championship totaled almost 6 million viewers, compared with 1.3 million in 2008, a 78.2 percent decrease.
The more popular third and fourth
BY MAX VOGSBURGH
mvogsburgh@kansan.com
www.twitter.com/MVSports
rounds showed similar numbers.
rounds showed similar numbers. In the third and fourth rounds of the 2007 PGA Championship, roughly 9.17 million people tuned in and watched Woods win the event. Viewership dropped 57 percent in 2008 when only 3.89 million watched.
All together, Tiger Woods missed eight tournaments because of knee surgery. Only the first and second rounds of the 2008 British Open saw an increase in viewers.
These numbers would suggest huge ratings are ahead for the Masters Tournament this weekend, and the reason is Woods.
Ratings for tournaments that Wools plays in have always been high. The Official World Golf Ranking ranks him as the world's No. 1. player. A lot of people watch to cheer him on, hoping to
catch his next career defining moment.
Today will certainly be one of them.
Tiger Woods in the Masters
This will be Woods' 16th appearance in the Masters Tournament. His first appearance was in 1995 when he was an amateur and tied for 41st place. Two years later, he won the Masters in what would be the first in four eventual victories and 10 top 10 finishes at the tournament. Woods' four first place finishes at the Masters is tied for second most with Arnold Palmer. Jack Nicklaus has won the Masters six times. Last year, Woods finished in sixth place, his worst finish since 2004 when he tied for 22nd.
—Edited by Jesse Rangel
COLLEGE BASEBALL
Wichita St. holds off Oklahoma St.
STILLWATER, Okla. — Wichita State scored five times in the fifth inning to snap a 2-2 tie on the way to a 9-6 win over Oklahoma State in a rain-shortened game in Stillwater.
The Shockers added two more runs in the sixth and held off OSU as the Cowboys rallied for four runs in the seventh.
OSU falls to 17-9 with the loss while Wichita State improves to 18-9.
MLB
Associated Press
Giants complete 3-day sweep
HOUSTON — Edgar Renteria tied a career high with five hits and the San Francisco Giants broke away from the Houston Astros 10-4 Wednesday to complete a season-opening three-game sweep.
The Giants are 3-0 for the first time since 2003, when they began with a sweep at San Diego and won seven straight. Houston last started 0-3 in 2007.
It was 4-all when Juan Unibe doubled in the eighth inning and scored the go-ahead run when Sammy Gervacio (0-1) threw away a bunt. The Giants added another run in the inning, then scored four times in the ninth.
Aaron Rowand had four of the Giants' 19 hits. John Bowker had a two-run hero and Travis
Ishikawa added his first career pinch-hit home run.
Jeremy Affeldt (1-0) got the win in relief of Matt Cain, who allowed six hits and three earned runs in 6 2-3 innings.
Astros starter Brett Myers gave up a career-high 12 hits and four runs in six-plus innings in his Astros debut.
Rowand, the Giants' leadoff man, and Renteria, the No. 2 hitter, each drove in two runs.
Uribe made it 5-4 when he scooted home after Gervacio overthrew third base on a sacrifice by Eli Whiteside. Rowand had an RBI single later in the eighth.
Uribe hit an RBI double to highlight the ninth.
Pedro Feliz doubled twice for the Astros, including an RBI hit in the fourth.
The Astros scored three runs in the seventh that made it 4-4.
WOMEN'S COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Associated Press
UConn bids Tina Charles farewell
MCCLATCHY-TRIBUNE
SAN ANTONIO — Being the great baseball fan he is, Geno Auriemma knows bloops and blasts eventually look the same in the scorebook.
And after building his NCAA Division 1 record winning streak with 77 blasts, he didn't mind that 78 was essentially a Texas leaguer because it gave his program a second straight national championship Tuesday night.
"It's just hard to put into feelings," Auriemma said. "The feeling of helplessness we felt in the first half (after scoring only 12 points) and not knowing what we had left in us for the second. All I can say is, it was a real testament to my kids."
A program well-acquainted with making history made more at The Alamodome by defeating Stanford, 53-47. The Huskies are the first team to win consecutive undefeated national championships in Division I history.
UConn overcame a nine-point (19-8) first-half deficit to win the game, marking the biggest comeback for the Huskies since being down 14 against Rutgers on April 1, 2008, in the NCAA Greensboro Regional final.
But they had to fight for this one, playing much more like themselves in the second half. The first half was another story.
UConn's 12 first-half points marked the fewest number of points scored by UConn in the first half in school history. It also tied the fewest points in any half in program history — 12 second-half points vs. Rutgers (Feb. 27, 2006).
UConni's field goal percentage (32.8) was the lowest by a winning team in a national championship game. Same for its 19 field goals.
"I remember turning around at one point to my coaches and just shaking my head with this feeling that we're not going to score any more points in the game," Auri-emma said.
They did. Maya Moore scored 18 of her game-high 23 points in the second half. She scored 144 points in the tournament.
"I had been worried all year long that what happened in the
first hall was
eventually going
to happen."
A u r i e m a
said, "But that's
why Maya is a
special player."
The 2010 UConn senior class of Tina
"In some ways the teams (last year and this) were the same, with All-Americans, but in a lot of ways they were different as we leaned on Maya and Tina a lot, especially toward the end," UConn assistant Shea Ralph said. "We won this championship because of Maya Moore and Tina."
Charles, Kaili McLaren, Kalama Greene, Meghan Garder and Jacquie Fernandes ended their careers 146-6 with three Final Four appearances and two NCAA titles.
"We will miss Tina's presence the most."
But what made this team so special on the court was its stars: Charles, Moore and Greene.
Charles leaves UConn as its alltime scorer and rebounder. On Thursday, she will be the first pick
"I'm going to miss everyone so much," Gardler said. "I mean, just like being around each other. They are my family. They are my best friends. I'm going to miss them so much. I had three surrogate moms on the coaching staff and these are all my sisters. Geno was my dad."
"It's more than playing for Connecticut. It's to be a part of a family, a sisterhood that we created." Fernandes said. "It's over now, but I'm never going to forget this. Once you're a Husky you're always a Husky. Whether you play 40 or four minutes, you put in your con-
SHEA RALPH
UConn assistant coach
in the WNBA Draft by the Connecticut Sun
"We will miss. Tina's presence the most. Her leadership, in the ways she's
the glue for our team more than anything," Ralph said. "We will miss her contributions on and off the court. Just having her inside, doesn't matter what she's doing. It's just that presence."
And now with five great freshmen coming in for next season, Aurierma can begin to plot something more, like winning an eighth championship and figuring out how to win at least his first 11 games to break John Wooden's UCLA record of 88.
"People are going to expect us to win a national championship again." Auriemma said. "And that's because we've got Mava Moore.
"And I would say, 'Good. So do I.'"
THIS WEEK IN KANSAS ATHLETICS
TODAY No events scheduled.
FRIDAY
Tennis
at Missouri, 5 p.m.
Baseball at Texas, 6:05 p.m.
Track & Field at John McDonnell Invitational, Fayetteville, Ark., all day
SATURDAY
RDAT
Softball
at Baylor, 2 p.m.
Track & Field at John McDonnell Invitational, Fayetteville, Ark., all day
Soccer
vs. St. Louis, Kansas City,
Kan., 3 p.m.
Baseball at Texas, 2 p.m.
SUNDAY
Women's tennis at Colorado, 11 a.m.
Softball at Baylor, noon
Women's rowing vs. Bucknell Lewisberry, Pa., TBA
Baseball at Texas, 1 p.m.
MONDAY
Men's golf
at UMB Bank Mlzzou
Intercollegiate, Columbia,
Mo. all day
TUESDAY
Baseball at Missouri State
6:30 p.m.
WEDNESDAY
Softball vs. Nebraska 6 p.m.
Track at Kansas Relays, all day
MLB
Jim Edmonds helps Brewers notch win
MILWAUKEE — Jim Edmonds' leadoff single set up a two-run rally in the sixth inning that put Milwaukee ahead as the Brewers held off the Colorado Rockies 5-4 on Wednesday.
Edmonds, a 39-year-old former All-Star who spent last season out of baseball, made his second start in right field for Milwaukee. He went 2 for 4 with a double and scored twice.
Associated Press
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