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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
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MEN TO PLAY IN SWEET SIXTEEN PAGE 6B
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
FRIDAY, MARCH 28, 2008
PAGE1B
'Hawks lose 58-54
Jason Chiou/The State News
Michigan State pulls victory despite last-minute goal by Kansas
Michigan State guard Brittney Thomas guards sophomore forward Danielle McCray while seeking to pass during the second half on Thursday at Breslin Center in East Lansing, Mich. The Spartans defeated the Jayhawks 58-54 and has been eliminated from the WNIT Tournament.
CASH KRUTH THE STATE NEWS
As the final buzzer sounded to signal the end of the Kansas women's basketball, team's season, it was a bittersweet moment for senior forward Taylor McIntosh.
On one hand, the 58-54 loss to host Michigan State in the third round of the WNIT ended her collegiate career. But, on the other, the extra postseason games gained her teammates experience for the remainder of their careers.
"I was disappointed because obviously it wasn't our best performance," said McIntosh, who grabbed 11 rebounds and scored four points in her final game as a Jayhawk. "But, at the same time, a lot of teams don't get to reach the postseason so I'm happy I got some postseason play, and especially for my teammates so they have some for next year."
The young Jayhawks gained plenty of experience in Thursday's game against the Spartans, and trailed Michigan State by two heading into halftime.
The game remained close in the early minutes of the second half, and got even closer when sophomore guard Danielle McCray drove to the lane for a lay-up to put the Jayhawks up 43-42 with 7:30 remaining. McCray nearly recorded a triple-double on the game, leading all scorers with 18 points, while also grabbing nine rebounds and getting eight steals.
"In the second half it was our turnovers," said head coach Bonnie Henrickson of what caused the Spartans to extend their lead. "It had nothing to do if it was a (man-to-man defense), nothing to do if it was zone, they just capitalized on our turnovers."
After two successful Kansas free throws, the Spartans again picked off a Jayhawk pass, and this time Keane nailed a three at the top of the key to expand the lead to five.
McCray's basket was the last lead of the game for the Jayhawks, who saw things unravel from there. With 4:24 left, Michigan State's Kalisha Keane picked off a pass and found guard Mandy Piechowski in the corner for a three-pointer to give the Spartans a 47-43 lead.
Kansas had 22 turnovers in the game, and tried to make up for their earlier mistakes as time was winding down. With just over two minutes remaining, McCray drove the lane and had her shot blocked out of bounds with one second left on the shot clock.
On the inbound pass, McCray got the ball and was fouled and made both to bring Kansas within three. Any momentum that was gained was quickly lost, however, as an offensive foul on sophomore
forward Porscha Weddington turned the ball back over to the Spartans.
The Spartans iced the game from the free throw line, and despite a last-second three-pointer by McCray, the Jayhawks' ended their season with a 17-16 record.
Freshman center Krysten Boogaard had ten points for the Jayhawks, while Michigan State was led by 16 points from Allyssa DeHaan, and ten points a piece from Brittney Thomas and Keane.
While Henrickson said, from a coaching standpoint, it was nice to get the extra practice time in, McIntosh said the felling of being left out of the NCAA Tournament should drive her teammates.
Henrickson and McIntosh both agreed the extra practice time and workouts will help the young Jayhawks, who have only two seniors on the team, in the coming
years.
"Physically, and maybe more so emotionally too," said McIntosh of the positives of playing in the WNIT. "just to know how it feels to not get where you want to get, and to use that as motivation for the offseason toward next year."
Edited by Samuel Lamb
MEN'S BASKETBALL
Self strives to make first trip to Final Four
Jon Goering/KANSAN
Kansas coach Bill Self acknowledges the Jayhawk fans after cutting the net down in celebration of the team's Big 12 Tournament championship March 16. In five years at Kansas, Self has a 138-32 record but has yet to advance past the Elite Eight.
Four trips to Elite Eight leave coach with higher hopes
BY MARK DENT
mdent@kansan.com
In most ways, a coach would be crazy if he didn't want to be mentioned in the same breath as John Chaney and Gene Keady, Chaney, a former Temple coach, and Keady, who used to be in charge at Purdue, won more than 1,200 games combined.
Coach Bill Self can't wait until no one associates him with those two men. Chaney and Keady, for all their accomplishments, are regarded as the best coaches to never make a Final Four. Self hasn't made one yet either.
He's come close plenty of times. Self has been to the Elite Eight with Tulsa and Illinois and twice with Kansas. In three out of four of those trips, his team was the higher seed and failed to move on.
"I hate to say it," graduate assistant Michael Lee said about making the Final Four, "but it is a big deal for him."
If the Jayhawks win against Villanova tonight, Self will be in the Elite Eight for the fifth time. Kansas will be favored to win, and you can bet that fans will blame him if the Jayhawks lose. They'll say Roy is better. They'll call the season a waste. Some may call for his job.
He's won more than 80 percent of his games in four plus years as coach and directed the team to four Big 12 regular season titles and three Big 12 Tournament championships. But Self hasn't made the Final Four.
"Our fans may not agree with this," Self said, "but we're 33 and 3. We've won the league. We've won the league tournament. We're in the Sweet 16. We've had a good year."
"But in order to make it a special year," Self said, "we need to play well this weekend."
Self's been in search of that magical weekend for years.
MARCH 26.2000
Tulsa's Eric Coley was the typical Self player: He cared about toughness and defense. That season, his senior year, he became the Western Athletic Conference's all-time leader in steals.
"He was a cowboy," then Tulsa assistant coach John Phillips said. "He took pride in the defensive end - similar to Brandon Rush, minus the shot."
COMMENTARY
In the tournament, Coley helped
SEE SELF ON PAGE 3B
Coincidence too much to ignore
It was March 27,1988 when No.6 seed Kansas defeated No.4 seed Kansas State 7158 advancing to the Final Four.The game was held in the Pontiac Silverdome, located in the suburbs of Detroit,in front of 31,632 fans.A crowd of that size at the time was one of the highest attended NCAA regional games.
Year of coincidences?
Eight days later, Danny Manning and the Miracles would go on to defeat No. 1 seed Oklahoma 83-79, giving Kansas its first national championship since 1952.
Coincidentally, Kansas will play its first NCAA tournament game in the Motor City since 1988 tonight. Though this season's Jayhawks are 33-3 and the 1988 National Championship team was 23-11 going into the Sweet Sixteen, there are a number of coincidences between these two teams. Whether you are the superstitious type, the gambling type or just like useless trivia, there are too many coincidences to go
unnoticed.
Aside from playing in Michigan, the Jayhawks will also be playing in a dome tonight in front of a record crowd. With 55,000 of 72,818 tickets sold as of Sunday for the Midwest Regional games this weekend the previous record of 42,519 has already been broken.
Like the 1988 team, Kansas had to play in the state of Nebraska in the first weekend of the tournament. The Jayhawks defeated No.11 seed Xavier 85-72 in the first round and No.14 Murray State 61-58 in the second round in Lincoln 20 years ago. Prior to this year's tournament, the 1988 team was the only Jayhawk team to travel to both Nebraska and Michigan in the same regional.
As witnessed this past weekend, the Midwest Regional had five higher seeds upset by lower seeds. In 1988, a lower seeded team defeated a higher seeded team five times in the Midwest Regional including the upset of No. 2 seed Pittsburg, the Big East's highest seeded team. This past Sunday, the Big East's highest seeded team, No. 2 Georgetown, lost.
Another coincidence that some Jayhawk fans may have overlooked is Baylor's tournament appearance. In 1988 Baylor made the tournament as a No. 8 seed. Until this year Baylor has not made another tournament appearance.
In 1988, Larry Brown was in his fifth
Lastly, though the 2007-2008 layhawks do not have Danny Manning in their lineup averaging 24.8 points and 9 rebounds per game as he did in the 1987-1988 season, Manning is again with the team. In his first year as an assistant coach, Manning has helped with the improvement of Kansas' big men. Senior forward Darnell Jackson has become a star for Kansas, while sophomore Darrell Arthur has turned into Kansas' leading scorer.
year of coaching. Though the Jayhawks struggled throughout the regular season that season, this was solely Larry Brown's team. Brown did not have as balanced a team as Bill Self does this season, he had then senior Danny Manning and a recruiting class of his own working together to win a string of six games in the tournament. Similarly, Bill Self is in his fifth year of coaching and has his own recruiting class playing just the way he wants them to going into this weekend.
Every year, fans and media will question whether this year will be the big year. Based on similarities between 1988 and 2008, this would certainly seem to be the year. All things aside, these coincidences obviously have no impact on what happens on the court this weekend. With the Jayhawks in Michigan just as they were 20 years ago, Kansas fans are hoping for one more coincidence: a national championship.
Edited by Russel Davies
SWIMMING & DIVING
BY TAYLOR MICHEL NYE
Herrmann
tnye@kansan.com
The spotlight was on Danielle Herrmann as she represented the University on Kansas swimming and diving team at the NCAA championships during spring break.
Herrmann, a junior, was the Jayhawks sole representative at the NCAA
Swimming and Diving Championships in Columbus, Ohio. She earned the chance to compete in the championships after breaking a KU record and placing third in the Big 12 Championship earlier this month in the 200- yard individual medley
"Danielle had a great collegiate season," Coach Clark Campbell said. "She is well respected throughout the swimming community because of how much she has improved since high school."
Herrmann also competed in the 200- yard breaststroke and the 100 breaststroke.
"She came into her second NCAA meet with a lot more confidence and she raced a lot better than last year," Clark said. "We were especially happy with her 100-yard breast time."
Herrmann improved her KU record time in the 100 breaststroke, finishing 22nd in that event. She finished 34th in the 200
individual medley and 39th in the 200 breaststroke.
"It was a great way to finish my season," Herrmann said. "I started the season slow, but I ended up right where I wanted to be"
Freshman Erin Mertz led the Jayhawks with her seventh place finishes in the platform, one-meter and three-meter diving events.
After that Herrmann and junior Maria Mayriovich swam in the Ohio State Longcourse meet. Mayriovich scored personal bests in the 50- and 100-yard medley events. Hermann picked up a personal best in the 200 individual medley.
Several divers competed in the NCAA Zone D Diving Championships at the University of Houston campus before spring break.
"Erin finished her incredible season with a wonderful meet," junior Hannah McMacken said. "It has been so much fun watching her this season."
McMacken, sophomore Meghan Proehl and senior Jenny Roberts also competed in Houston. Proehl's best finish was 14th in the platform event while Roberts' was 14th on the three-meter board and McMacken placed 14th on the one-meter board.
ESPN2 will air 90 minutes of tape-delayed coverage of the swimming and diving championships, today, at 1 p.m.
- Edited by Patrick De Oliveira