THE UNIVERSITY DANLY KANSAN
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 26, 2008
SPORTS
3B
COMMENTARY
Surprises in Midwest
Villanova stands in Kansas' way for trip to Final Four
As soon as Selection Sunday passed, four teams appeared in the majority of brackets submitted for the Midwest's Sweet 16 according to Yahoo and Facebook brackets. Kansas, along with Clemson, Wisconsin and Georgetown, had become the popular picks, with the occasional guesses of Vanderbilt, USC or Kansas State.
Now, about a week later, the Sweet 16 has been determined, with the upstart pair of Wildcats in Villanova and Davidson, the pride of the Big
Ten, Wisconsin, and the favorite, Kansas. While this foursome is filled with surprises, it will in no way be a cakewalk to the Final Four for the Jayhawks.
Many thought Villanova was undeserving of a spot in the Big Dance, taking away a spot that should have gone to Arizona State or Virginia Tech. As the lowest atlarge berth, they matched up with the Clemson Tigers; a squad that beat Duke and threatened Tyler Hansbrough and North Carolina three times this year. They were a reason why many pundits labeled the ACC the best conference, as a main criticism had been the lack of depth outside of Duke and North Carolina. And in the first half, Clemson was up by as many as eighteen.
Kansas is the favored team to make it to the Final Four from the Midwest Region.
However, whatever halftime speech Clemson coach Oliver Purnell made most likely found itself in the trash, and Villanova came back for the unprecedented upset. They stuck to their game plan, which had come under scrutiny in the first half, and won the game by making foul shots, allowing no easy baskets and relying on star player Scottie Reynolds. They then rode that momentum into a game against Siena, in which Villanova never trailed.
Villanova is a guard-oriented offense under coach Jay Wright,
just as they were two years ago when they ran the well-publicized four-guard offense with future pros Kyle Lowry and Randy Foye. That year they were a No.1 seed and lost in the Elite Eight to eventual champion Florida.
to come by.
A fivegame losing streak including a loss to Rutgers and a 20-point blowout against St. Joseph's
reflected this, as did earlier losses to programs such as North Carolina State and DePaul. As they collected themselves as a team, they added victories against Pittsburgh, Connecticut and West Virginia to their resumes, and they lost by one in an extremely controversial game against Georgetown in which a touch foul 70 feet from the basket was called with 0.1 seconds remaining, leading to Georgetown's winning free throws.
Since digging a 36-18 hole against Clemson in the first round,
Villanova has outscored its opponents by a total of 36 points. The Wildcats have found their identity in their renewed strong guard play and their
24 consecutive games, the best streak in the NCAA. Though at times the Big Ten appeared to be a conference where interesting and high-scoring basketball went to die, it was still a competitive major conference. Wisconsin's defense is its claim to fame, holding offenses like Indiana to 49 points and Michigan State to 42. The Badgers shut down Kansas State's pride and joy, Michael Beasley, in the second half, most likely ending Beasley's short yet dominating NCAA career. They have also won 12 in a row and own an early season victory over Texas.
Meanwhile, Davidson has been compared to George Mason as an underdog who could make a run to the Final Four. Their decorated star Stephen Curry looks like a 15-year-old, but as soon as you underestimate him, he scores 30.
As a team that starts no one over 6-foot-8, they held Georgetown's giant, Roy Hibbert, to six points and caused him to foul out. Not only can they score at will, as evidenced by 47 points tallied in the second half, but during a 10-minute stretch in the second half, they held Georgetown to four points. They are not new to playing accomplished teams either, for although their conference opponents were not exactly stimulating, they played Duke, North Carolina, and UCLA respectably early in the year.
Any Kansas fan who believes a ticket to the Final Four is virtually punched will be biting their
Since trailing 36-18 to Clemson in the first round, Villanova has outscored its opponents by a total of 36 points.
defense. Reynolds is playing like an All-American as a sophomore and they found the ability to calm a hot Siena team, which ran over Vanderbilt like a Hummer over a possum.
Looking ahead to potential Elite Eight matchups sees two looming teams in Wisconsin and Davidson. Wisconsin won the Big Ten, and Davidson has won
fingernails during the next one or two games. The teams are talented and itch to beat the favorite. I recommend waiting before buying a ticket to San Antonio and realizing that although Kansas is the favorite to come out of the Midwest, this team should not be complacent. After all, stranger things than a Kansas loss have happened already in the first weekend.
- Edited by Daniel Reyes
BY JOSH BOWE jbowe@kansan.com
》 WOMEN'S GOLF
Aussie adjusts to KU life
Formosthigh school seniors, picking a college includes a lot of trips, visits and meetings. For freshman
Grace Thirty, phone calls, letters and videos were her tools for choosing a school.
"For me,
I didn't come
for a visit,"
Thiry said.
"I just liked
Thiry
the sound of the program and the coaches there"
Thiry is from Victoria, Australia, where she attended Mount St. Joseph's High School before venturing across the Pacific Ocean to Kansas. For Thiry, it made more sense to be able to attend a school while being able to play the sport she loves. She found this love as a member of KU's women's golf team.
"She's a great girl," Coach Erin O'Neal said. "It was a big risk for her, to come without seeing campus in person, but I knew she was a good player."
"There's no opportunity (in Australia) for golf and school together, you either go to school, or play golf," Thiry said.
Finishing 7th, 20th and 24th in three tournaments this year proved Thiry as the second most consistent Jayhawk, behind sophomore Emily Powers.
Without Thiry being able to see the campus in person, O'Neal said
she recruited Thiry by using videos of campus and of Thiry herself to examine her swing.
O'Neal said she understood the switch from high school to college was a great one, with even more pressure on Thiry because she is from another country.
"Plenty of times kids are good in high school then come to college and just don't have it," O'Neal said. "But she's been able to jump right in and contribute."
Thiry said she also understood that adapting to a new country and culture was difficult but said that she took it one step at a time.
"A lot of people are so into foot-
sat over here." Thiry said. "But it's not too different from home, Kansas is a good second home."
Being able to speak the same language here is also a huge help for Thiry, which cannot be said for her two other
international teammates, freshman Meghna Bal, from New Delhi, and sophomore Camilla Svensson, from Gothenburg, Sweden. But the international trio still rely on each other throughout the season.
O'Neal said she also saw the bond.
"It definitely helps to have international students other than me here, were all in the same boat," Thiry said.
"Growing up, it was just individual, but now in college it's a team, so it's a different experience to get used to."
O'Neal said. "They lean on each other for support."
"They can relate to each other."
Not only has Thiry had to adjust to the new culture, but also the sporadic Kansas weather.
"She's used to 100 degree temperatures, and now it can be 5 (degrees here sometimes), O'Neal said.
"I started when I was around 10," Thiry said. "At first, I went to junior clinics, then I played with my dad and sister."
As for golf, Thiry's father got her started into the game.
This is also the first time Thiry has been apart of an actual golf team.
GRACE THIRY Victoria, Australia, freshman
"Growing up, it was just individual, but now in college it's a team, so it's a different experience to get used to," Thiry said.
The adjustment of going to school and classes is going smoothly as well. She is getting more adjusted to her
MLB
teammates and now she has people in Kansas she can rely on.
"It makes it so much easier once you're acquainted with teammates," Thiry said. "So many familiar faces there to help for you." Whether it's putting birdies in the hole, or just getting to class, this Jayhawk from down under seems to be standing up well.
Edited by Matt Hirschfeld
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Players struggle during spring training
Brandon Webb and Roy Halladay probably wouldn't mind another spring training tuneup, if there was any time left.
Both former Cy Young Award winners struggled through their final exhibition starts, while the Chicago Cubs added Reed Johnson to their outfield Tuesday and the Chicago White Sox settled on Joe Crede at third base.
Hours before, the regular season began in Japan, where the Boston Red Sox started their World Series title defense with an extra-inning victory over Oakland in the earliest major league opener ever.
Back in Florida and Arizona, several top pitchers prepared for their opening-day outings — and not all of them looked sharp.
Webb allowed seven runs — five earned — and 10 hits while throwing two wild pitches in 4-1-3 innings of the Diamondbacks' 9-8 loss to the Los Angeles Angels in Tucson, Ariz.
"Honestly, I'm not where I want to be. Definitely not in midseason form by any means," Webb said.
The 2006 NL Cy Young Award winner, Webb has an 8.50 ERA through 18 innings this spring.
Hallady was betrayed by bad defense and his own mistakes while giving up 10 runs, four earned, in
a horrible fifth inning. Tampa Bay went on to beat the Blue Jays 10-0 in Dunedin, Fla.
The Rays' first 10 batters scored in the fifth on six hits and five Toronto errors three by second baseman John Tolisano.
"It's baseball, it happens." Halladay said. "I just didn't change speeds very good once things started going. I thought my location was good, but I didn't mix pitches very well."
Halladay, the 2003 AL Cy Young Award winner, never made it through the fifth. He gave up nine hits in all while walking one and striking out three on 76 pitches, 51 strikes, in four-plus innings.
basketball notebook
Ford Field
This is just the second weekend of the tournament, but the atmosphere of Detroit's Ford Field will make the games seem like a Final Four. The basketball court is going to be placed at the 50-yard line of the stadium, where the Detroit Lions play football. More than 50,000 fans are expected to be able to attend.
That kind of atmosphere could be daunting to some players but not to Brandon Rush. He didn't even know they were playing at Ford Field. He thought they were playing at the Palace of Auburn Hills, the arena where they lost to Bradley in 2006.
"I didn't know that." Rush said about the football stadium. "I can't wait."
Feeling fine
Rodrick Stewart was holed up in his hotel room during the Kansas, UNLV game on Saturday because of tonsillitis. He's practicing now and feeling much better. Stewart said he started feeling sick last Thursday, and it just got worse after KU's opening round game against Portland State. He spent Friday and Saturday night cramping and sweating.
Sherron Collins is also closer to feeling like his old self. He collided with Stewart during a practice last week and bumped his left knee. Kansas coach Bill Self held him out of practice on Friday, but Collins has been practicing so far this week.
Scottie does know
Villanova's Scottie Reynolds knows how to do just about everything on the basketball court. The sophomore guard leads the team in points and assists and averages 3.1 rebounds a game. He scored 40 points against Connecticut last year as a freshman. Self compared him to Texas' D.J. Augustin because Reynolds always has the ball in his hands. Russell Robinson had the pleasure of guarding Augustin twice this season, and he knows that Reynolds will provide a similar challenge.
"He's unorthodox," Robinson said, "but he can get a shot off anytime he wants. He can shoot it and drive it. He's slow but quick in the same sense."
Ouch, this cut could still
hurt.
Villanova coach Jay Wright also coached the USA Basketball Team in the Pan American games this summer. You might recall that guards Mario Chalmers and Sherron Collins were invited to try out. They didn't make the final cut. Self said Wright didn't personally make the cut. A committee made the final decisions. That doesn't mean Chalmers and Collins won't have a little revenge on their minds Friday night against Wright's team.
"They'll be motivated maybe because he was coaching the team," Self said, "but he wasn't the person who had the final say in them not making the team."
MARCH MADNESS
This is the time in the NCAA tournament when basketball fans love to root for those double-digit-seeded underdogs and all those fuzzy stories that come along with those stunning — and bracket busting — upsetts.
VILLANOVA, Pa. (AP) _ Quick,
try to find Davidson on a map.
Name Western Kentucky's conference.
Despite doubts, Villanova ready to take on Kansas
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Then there's 12th-seeded Villanova.
From the Big East. The 1985 national champions. And in the round of 16 for the third time in
Shawn Shroyer
Nope,notatall. Turns out,event the Wildcats (22-12) are a bit surprised to be playing top-seeded Kansas (33-3) in the Midwest Regional semifinals in Detroit on Friday. The Wildcats suffered through a miserable five-game losing streak, lost a game to Georgetown with 0.1 seconds on the clock, have no seniors and fretted that a .500 conference record might keep them out of the
"Just because more people know who we are, doesn't mean people aren't surprised we're here," said Wildcats guard Corey Fisher.
four years.
Doesn't exactly have that "Hooers" feel, does it?
While upstart schools like tiny 10th-seed Davidson (in North Carolina) and No. 12 seed Western Kentucky (of the Sun Belt) received triumphant homecomings, some in the Philadelphia area like to thumb their nose at Villanova because it plays in the ritzy suburban area known as the Main Line.
All that mattered at Tuesday's practice was that the Wildcats were
65-team field.
Waiting for them are the Jayhawks, a program the Wildcats beat three years ago to launch their climb back to national prominence. Villanova beat then-No. 2 and undefeated Kansas by 21 points on Jan. 22, 2005.
"Everybody thinks we're not that good; we had no seniors, no leadership," Fisher said. "Now look. We're in the Sweet 16."
still playing. It's not 'Ova, Nova.
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