2B
SPORTS MONDAY, MARCH 22, 2010 THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN / KANSAN.COM
QUOTE OF THE DAY
"It's a very bad thing to become accustomed to good luck."
— Publilius Syrus, a Latin writer in the 1st century
FACT OF THE DAY
Source: Kansas Athletics
Kansas only had nine assists in its 69-67 loss to Northern Iowa Saturday, a season-low.
TRIVIA OF THE DAY
Q: When was the last time Kansas used just eight players in a game?
A: Feb. 8 against Texas.
SCORES
Men's NCAA Tournament:
No.1 Syracuse 87, No.8 Gonzaga 65
No.1 Duke 68, No.8 California 58
No.2 Ohio State 75, No.10 Georgia Tech 66
No. 3 Pittsburgh 68, No. 6 Xavier 71
No.2 West Virginia 68, No.10 Missouri 59
No. 5 Michigan State 85, No. 4
Maryland 83
No. 12 Cornell 87, No. 4 Wisconsin
69
No. 5 Texas A&M 61, No. 4 Purdue 63
Women's NCAA Tournament:
No.16 Northern Iowa 44 vs.
No.1 Nebraska 83
No. 14 South Dakota State 49 vs.
No. 3 Kalahoma 62
15. St. Francis (PA) 53 vs. No.2
Ohio St. 93
No. 10 Middle Tennessee 64 No. 7 Mississippi State 68
Knowing what it's like to lose
MORNING BREW
It would have been better if the team banned us from going into that locker room.
The emotions began as Mario Little bawled while coming off the court. Sherron Collins trudged out of the arena, looking befuddled. I could only imagine what effect that 67-69 on the scoreboard had on the team.
As a journalist, you're supposed to be unbiased and objective, but Saturday the Jayhawks made that extremely difficult. I didn't want to go into the Kansas locker room, but I had to do my job.
The team spent about 15-20 minutes in the NCAA mandatory "cool down" period, but it lasted longer than usual, and expectedly so. The team representatives opened the locker room and media intruded to see most of the faces buried in towels — ashamed, bewildered, devastated.
The first victim was a sobbing Collins. It was the last game of his career and it was the worst send-off possible. When he tried to put his feelings into words, out came something so powerful. I could only fathom that amount of pain.
It was about one minute before reporters summoned enough courage to approach anyone.
"Next to my son dying, this is probably the worst thing that has happened to me in my life."
No one needed to hear any
BY COREY THIBOEAUX
thibodeaux@kansan.com
more. The message was clear: This was a moment more disheartening than any other team will go through in this tournament, and perhaps beyond.
As Cole Aldrich and Tyrel Reed were summoned to the media room, they sulked down the hall, one arm around the shoulders of the other. Watching those two walk in with teary, red eyes, you knew no one could truly comprehend how this team felt that evening. All they have now is each other to share the miserable feeling.
Now as a fan or a coach, you could easily say, "there's always next year." The Jayhawks aren't buying it right now.
With the talent this team had, with everything it proved in the regular season and the Big 12 tournament, all they look like now is a failure: a team that ruined everybody's bracket; a team that wasn't as good as advertised.
"This was our year," Tyshawn Taylor said. "This was our year to do it. We fell short"
Seeing the inner workings of this team the whole year, that locker room was hard to take in. The Jayhawks were delightful as a group. They loved to joke and they loved to compete. And covering them since August, they've said repeatedly how much they adore the fans.
So why did this have to happen to this team? What did they do to deserve this unhappy ending?
Coach Bill Self wants his team to be proud of 2009-10, but he knows it's asking a lot. They accomplished a lot in the regular season, but it's hard to find how this loss can be anything less than a disaster.
"I'm a big believer in you can't have great years unless you perform well this time of year," Self said. "But this was as close to a great year you could have and not advance in the NCAA tournament."
Edited by Jesse Rangel
CAMPUS
INTRAMURAL SPORTS
5, 6, 7, 8 p.m. CoRec Softball - Clinton Lake 1.2.3
MONDAY
5, 6 p.m. Men's Soccer - Shenk 7, 8
TUESDAY
7 p.m. CoRec Softball - Clinton Lake 1,2
5, 6 p.m. Men's Soccer - Shenk 7, 8
WEDNESDAY
5, 10 p.m. CoRec Softball - Clinton Lake 1,2
5,6 p.m.Men's Soccer - Shenk 7,8
THURSDAY
6 p.m. Men's Soccer - Shenk 7,8
M5, 8, 9 p.m. CoRec Softball - Clinton Lake 1, 2
FRIDAY
12 p.m. Men's Racquetball Doubles (Quarterfinals)
- Rec Center
12 p.m. Men's Table Tennis Doubles (Semifinals) - Rec Center
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6 p.m. Men's Soccer - Shenk 7,8
Kathleen Gier
NCAA TOURNAMENT
Turner, Buckeyes roll into Sweet 16
MILWAUKEE — Ohio State junior guard Evan Turner shook off one of the worst shooting nights of his career by coming within an assist and a rebound of his
third triple-double of the season, scoring 24 points. Second-seeded Ohio State outlasted foul- and turnover-plagued Georgia Tech for a 75-66 victory Sunday in the second round of the NCAA tournament.
Associated Press
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WEDNESDAY
No events scheduled.
THURSDAY No events scheduled.
Tennis vs. Iowa State, 2 p.m.
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Blocks West of HyVee on Clinton Parkway
Baseball
at Baylor, Waco, Texas,
6:30 p.m.
FRIDAY
2 Blocks West of HyVee on Clinton Parkway.
Track & Field at Razorback Spring Invitational, Fayetteville, Ark., all day,
SATURDAY
Track & Field
No events scheduled.
Softball
at Texas A&M, College
Station, Texas, 1 p.m.
THIS WEEK IN KANSAS ATHLETICS
TODAY
TUESDAY
TUESDAY Baseball vs. Creighton, 3 p.m.
Soccer vs. KU Men's Club Team, 2 p.m.
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