SPORTS
THOMPSON
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
SPRING FOOTBALL GAME POSTPONED
WWW.KANSAN.COM
BASEBALL TO PLAY HOME SERIES VS. TEXASTECH
PAGE 2B
FRIDAY, APRIL 11, 2008
PAGE 6B
SOFTBALL
PAGE 1B
Hawks look to rope Longhorns
BY KELLY BRECKUNITCH kbrecnkunitch@kansan.com
The University of Kansas softball team returns home this weekend to face the University of Texas Longhorns. It is the Jayhawks' first home contest in more than one week.
The team was supposed to have one last road series against Arkansas before returning to Arrocha Ballpark, but heavy rains cancelled the games. The games will not be made up.
Coach Tracy Bunge said the team didn't necessarily need to get those games for momentum or any other reason, but having them cancelled let the team focus on Texas.
"If anything, you look at it right from a coaching point of view
as they were nonconference games. It would've been nice to get them in, but by not playing them, it really allows us to turn our focus, a day earlier, to Texas," Bunge said.
team are used to, even though they await the spring weather.
"We joke that we live in the tundra," freshman right fielder Liz Kocon said.
The team comes off almost a full week without playing a game, but Bunge said that could end up helping the team.
"You go big or go home is what we always say."
"If anything, hopefully, maybe it gives us a little bit
Kocon said the team was looking forward to getting back on the field, especially against Texas.
more time for some bumps and bruises to get healed," Bunge said.
LIZ KOCON Freshman right fielder
Bunge said Kansas' goal for the Texas games was to aggressively
"It would've been nice to get them in, but by not playing them, it really allows us to turn our focus, a day earlier, to Texas."
attack pitching.
The weather looks inclement again for the weekend, but it's something that Bunge and the
TRACY BUNGE Softball coach
"Offensively, we've got to challenge ourselves to go out in both games and take it to Texas early," Bunge said.
She also said a key to winning would be
taking control of the game away from Texas, because that is when
"We have a lot of rivalry with them," said Kocon. She also said that there would be a lot of passion in the games over the weekend.
Bunge set a goal of 40 wins for her team at the beginning
of the season. Now the Jayhawks are getting deep into Big 12 play and the schedule is getting tougher.
"We don't have any patsies left on the schedule, if any," Bunge said. She still believes that the team can finish strong, though.
Kocon said the team favored the underdog role and dealt with critics overlooking it all season, but as it got deeper into conference play, it knew it had to keep up its intensity.
"You go big or go home is what we always say." Kocon said.
The Jayhawks start the tough Big 12 stretch at 1 p.m. Saturday at Arrocha Ballpark.
Edited by Jared Duncan
Sophomore second baseman Sara Ramirez gets low to field a ground ball hit by a Texas Tech batter. Ramirez threw the runner out at first for the third out of the inning. Kansas defeated the Red Raiders 1-0 Saturday afternoon at Arrocha Ballpark.
Weston White/KANSAN
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Awards night unites team for last time
BY ANDREW WIEBE awiebe@kansan.com
The University of Kansas women's basketball team got together one final time this season Thursday night to celebrate
their season, honor seniors Jamie Boyd and Taylor McIntosh and award postseason honors.
Junior guard Katie Smith, a former walk-on now on scholarship, won the Ms.
"A lot of you kids just aren't made like that anymore, and as a coach you respect that. I know her teammates respect that, too."
embodies the spirit and vision of the Kansas women's basketball program.
"There aren't many kids that would play on a scout team, running Nebraska's offense lets say, and cheer for the defense when
BONNIE HENRICKSON Kansas coach
Jayhawk award for the second consecutive year, and McIntosh and Boyd said their emotional goodbyes in a crowded Kansas Ballroom in the Kansas Union.
Coach Bonnie Henrickson said Smith's teammates recognized the selfless sacrifices the junior guard made for the University and the women's basketball program. The players voted on and chose each award winner. The Ms. Jayhawk award is given to the player that
they pick her or box her out," Henrickson said. "A lot of kids just aren't made like that anymore, and as a coach you respect that. I know her teammates respect that too."
In addition
in addition to Smith's repeat award, sophomore guard Danielle McCray, senior forward Taylor McIntosh, senior forward Jamie Boyd, junior guard Ivana Catic, sophomore forward-center Rebecca Feickert and freshman center Krysten Boogaard were all honored for their efforts this season.
It was a rare opportunity for fans to see the team outside Allen Fieldhouse and away from the competition that has defined their
careers in crimson and blue.
"Most people are just excited to see them in normal clothes and not just their basketball uniforms," Henrickson said.
Henrickson led Kansas to a 17- 16 (4-12) season in which the Jayhawks made their second postseason appearance in the WNIT in the last four seasons and recorded
an 11-2 record in nonconference play. Though the Jayhawks bolted to an 11-2 start, the rigors of the Big 12 Conference torpeded their hopes of an NCAA Tournament berth.
the goals of this group. They kind of changed the culture of how to compete. I'm just excited about their future because they are going to be really good."
She said the award ceremony was a way of honoring her team's accomplishments as well as allowing Kansas women's basketball fans to connect with the team
"Most people are just excited to see them in normal clothes and not just their basketball uniforms."
Despite falling short of their goal of participating in their first Big Dance since the 1999-2000 season, Henrickson said this team laid a solid foundation for future success.
"I'm proud of how they've grown," Henrickson said. "How they've handled themselves and
BONNIE HENRICKSON Kansas coach
and the players graduating. It's easy for fans and observers to focus on player's lives as collegiate athletes instead of as people without giving them a glance into their personal lives, Henrickson
said.
"Its hard sometimes to explain to people when you want to yell at them for not boxing out, and I do too, that you don't understand the kids," she said. "The kids are human. They are in a growing, maturation process the whole time they are here. They change
awards given
Student Athlete Activities Council Award Jamie Boyd
Lew Perkins Leadership Award
Ivana Catic
Academic Pride Award Rebecca Feickert (received award for the second straight season, 4.0 GPA)
Best 50/50 Hustle Player Danielle McCray
and they learn from each other.
ASSISTANT COACH LEAVES FOR KENTUCKY All was not rosy for Kansas on Thursday night. Assistant coach Kyra Elzy will be parting ways with HenrickKson after serving on her staff for four years at Kansas.
Elzy said she accepted a job as assistant coach at the University of Kentucky Wednesday morning.
Best Defender
Taylor McIntosh
Most Improved Player Krysten Boogaard
2008 Ms. Jayhawk Katie Smith
2008 Academic All-Big 12
Kelly Kohn, ivana Catic, Jamie
Bbyd, Yordel McIntosh
2. 求以下各式的值：(1) $x^2 + 5x + 6$；(2) $-3x - 4$；(3) $\sqrt{10} + \sqrt{2}$。
"It's a great opportunity," Elzy said. "I couldn't pass it up. As much as I've loved Kansas, the staff and these players, to be close to home where I grew up and back in the SEC, what I've known my whole career after playing at Tennessee, is just a great opportunity for me."
— Edited by Samuel Lamb
COMMENTARY
Other schools should take after Kansas, treat coaches with more class
Kansas coach Bill Self speaks at a press conference Thursday afternoon at Hadi Auditorium. Self spoke about his intent to stay with the Jayhawks for next season despite talks with the Oklahoma State athletic department.
Lisa Lipovac/KANSAN
Then reality hit. On April 1, Oklahoma State's coach Sean Sutton resigned under pressure two years and 39 wins into his five-year coaching contract with the Cowboys. When Bill Self was told of Sutton's resignation, it seemed like a cruel April Fool's Day joke. Self, then in the midst of a press conference for the Final Four was taken by surprise.
It started with rumors. T.Boone Pickens, a wealthy oil tycoon and Oklahoma State alumnus was to offer coach Bill Self a huge chunk of money to come to Stillwater and coach after this season.
"I haven't heard that it's happened," he said.
A reporter then notified him that it had happened.
There was no press conference in which Sutton announced his resignation After 17 years and 387 combined victories as a player, assistant coach and head coach, all Oklahoma State did was issue a press release saying that athletic director Mike Holder and Sutton agreed that it was in the best interests for the university that he step down. The press release ended saying that Holder would begin a search for a new coach right away.
"It has happened?" Self questioned. "Well, I hadn't heard that when I came down here. If it has been done, I feel bad for Sean, because I feel his team got better over the course of the year."
Sean Sutton's father, Eddie, who led Oklahoma State to two Final Fours and 351 victories, was disappointed. While in San Antonio for the National Championship on Monday, Sutton told the Austin American-Statesman that he was considering having his signature removed from Gallagher-Iba Arena
court as a result of his son being ousted from the coaching job at Oklahoma State.
There you have it folks. Oklahoma State was so desperate to get Bill Self that it risked ruining ties to a legendary coach that brought national recognition to its basketball program.
Does that sound like a bad breakup, or what?
To make matters worse, Oklahoma State reached a settlement with Sutton that would pay him $2.7 million over the next 10 years. Another stipulation of the settlement noted in an Associated Press article on Monday was that Sutton agreed not to make any "disparaging remarks" about the "university's board of regents, the university or any officers, employees or agents of the regents or university."
At this point in time, the Sutton family may look more fondly upon the Jayhawks. It was just last season when Eddie Sutton was honored during a halftime ceremony at Allen Fieldhouse. It was also on Senior Night in 2003 that Sutton congratulated and embraced Kirk Hinrich and Nick Collison. Though Eddie
Sutton never coached for Kansas, the Jayhawks have shown him class and respect, while Oklahoma State kicked his son to the curb.
After the events this past week, Self knows Lew Perkins has his back. There were the tough times after losing to Bucknell and Bradley in the tournament when things looked bleak. Perkins had Self's back. Now Self has won a National Championship and has the highest winning percentage of any coach in Kansas Basketball history. Perkins delivered.
79-year-old billionaire Pickens and Oklahoma State cannot give Self what Kansas and Perkins did today. Given the outcome of Sean Sutton at Oklahoma State, money was the last of Self's concerns. He deserved a contract, but also a chance to go down as one of the all-time greatest college basketball coaches.
—Edited by Jared Duncan
---
5