8B SPORTS
THE UNIVERSITY DARBY KANSAN
MONDAY, MARCH 3. 2008
SENIORS (CONTINUED FROM 1B)
"It's an unheralded class," Kansas coach Bill Self said. "A lot of guys get more attention but this has just been a fabulous class."
The only way they can improve their legacy is with a fourth consecutive Big 12 regular season title and a run to the Final Four.
"We have a team to do it if we play to our potential," Robinson said. "I want to enjoy each moment, live it up and when all is said and done, have no regrets."
For now, they'll have to enjoy one final night at the Fieldhouse. After tonight, Jackson will never throw down an alley-oop again in front
of 16,300 Jayhawk fans. Kaun will never tosa a baby-hook over his right shoulder. Stewart will never sky for a highlight reel jam. Case will never pop another three-pointer. Robinson will never hear the serenade of New York, New York.
Note:
It's their last night, and they want to win.
"All the coaches and players," Self said, "need to get in and make sure these guys go out in style."
Walk-on Brad Witherspoon will not be honored tonight in the ceremony before the game or with a speech afterwards. Self said Witherspoon was technically not a senior. He still has to be a student-teacher next year before he can graduate.
Darnell Jackson
Career averages: 6.6 ppg,
4.8 rpg
Best known for: Strength and fierce attitude
Memorable moment: Jackson was in the middle of the best game of his career
lier this season at Boston College when he started crying before
the second half started. He was thinking about his grandmother.Jackson finished the game with 25 points, a career high, and Kansas dominated.
Sasha Kaun
Career averages: 6.1 ppg, 3.9 rpg
Best known for: Strength and one of the best accents of all time
Memorable moment: At one point in his career, Kaun was dominant. He
25 points
and
pulled
down 16
rebounds
in the
6first
game
of his sophomore season. The performance ended up being a tease, but he has grown into a solid reserve.
Career averages: 1.8 ppg, 0.5 rpg,
Best known for: Three-point shooting
Jeremy Case
Memorable moment: Back when Kansas struggled in
for a lift. He scored 10 and 11 points in back-to-back games against Northern Colorado and New Orleans.
Russell Robinson
the early part of the 2005- 2006 season, the team could count on Case
Freshman of the Week award when he scored four points
Memorable moment: Robinson earned ESPN.com's
Career Averages: 7.0 ppg,
3.7 apg
Best known for: Toughness
points
in the final 28 seconds of a close victory against South Carolina his freshman season.
game.The shot lifted Kansas to a four-point victory. Stewart also had a career-high seven rebounds.
Take advantage of this limited time offer and enroll today!
"I just talked to him a lot about, 'You got to be yourself, you can't worry about the comparisons people are going to make between you and your dad,' Sutton recalled saying to Knight. "You got to be Pat Knight. There's only one Bob Knight. You got to understand that."
Pat will take his father's seat on the bench tonight at Allen
Best known for: HODS
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Oklahoma State coach Sean Sutton knows what it's like to take over for your dad. He replaced his father, Eddie, at Oklahoma State during the 2005-2006 season. So when the phone rang, and Pat Knight was on the other line, Sean Sutton offered some helpful advice.
Rodrick Stewart
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Career Averages: 2.5 ppg, 1.6 rpg
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Nope, Pat Knight isn't his father. But when Pat Knight took over for his father on Feb. 5, after Bob Knight resigned, people couldn't help but compare father and son.
Memorable moment: He found Mario Chalmers open for a late three-pointer at Southern California in his homecoming
BIG 12 BASKETBALL
Fieldhouse. He's two days removed from the biggest victory of his young coaching career — an 83-80 upset victory against Texas in Lubbock, Texas.
said.
"I loved the University, and I think we can really keep building on something special here." Knight
But when Knight moved to Lubbock seven years ago to join his dad's coaching staff, the town, the people, it all felt too comfortable.
Knight and Sutton aren't the only sons who have taken over a program from their dad. In fact, it's happening quite regularly. Tony Bennett replaced his
Pat Knight's father wouldn't be caught dead in a bar. After his first game at Texas Tech, Pat Knight took his whole staff out for beers.
BY RUSTIN DODD
dodd@kansan.com
said. "That's what changed my mind."
GMAT | GRE | LSAT | MCAT | PCAT
DAT | OAT | TOEFL
He didn't always plan to take over for his dad, Knight says.
Pat Knight isn't his father. He's not Bob Knight, one of the most successful and controversial coaches in college basketball history. Pat Knight's father coached for 42 years and won more than 900 games. Pat is a 37-year-old, first-time head coach, who is only seven games into his coaching career.
Texas Tech brings new game, same legacy Pat Knight joins father-to-son basketball program takeovers
father, Dick, at Washington State. Keno Davis replaced his father, Tom, at Drake. Both Bennett and Davis have their teams in the Top 25 polls this season.
Knight said he knew there would be critics. People screamed nepotism — that Knight was only there because of his dad. Knight didn't worry about those people.
Knight said he talked regularly with Sutton. Sometimes he asks him questions about succeeding his father. Other times, they just talk basketball.
"I kid Sean. I tell him he's my Yoda, and I'm his Luke Skywalker." Knight said. "He's my iedi-master to get all the information."
He also still talks with his father.
Knight said he could have taken a different rout. He could have gone to a smaller school, become a head coach
PAT KNIGHT Texas Tech coach
Knight is 4-3 in this season. The Red Raiders are young, small and gritty.
"I thought, 'Why should I worry about what people think?' Knight
"I kid Sean. I tell him he's my Yoda, and I'm his Luke Skywalker. He's my Jedi-master to get all the information."
He also talks with his father. "He's around," Knight said. "He's always going to be a sounding board for myself."
and worked his way up the coaching ladder. That rout would have been safer, but he said he was ready for this challenge.
"How many guys at 37 would love to be a Big 12 coach?" Knight asked. "I just don't think I would have been able to live with myself if I would have taken a different route."
— Edited by Katherine Loech
BASEBALL
Kansas beats Iowa 9-5; team improves hitting
BY SHAWN SHROYER
shroyer@kansan.com
In Kansas' Music City Classic finale against Iowa on Sunday, the hitting virus spread to Land's team-mates while junior left-hander Sam Freeman (2-0) kept it from spreading to the Hawkeyes.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - After a 4-for-5, two home run game on Saturday, Kansas junior first baseman Preston Land remarked that hitting was contagious.
Riding a five-run second inning, Kansas (4-5) left Nashville, Tenn., with a 9-5 victory against Iowa (3-3), which entered Sunday unbeaten in the Music City Classic.
"When you're struggling scoring runs, and you leave runners at third
base, the next thing you know, it puts pressure on you the next time you have runners in scoring position," Kansas coach Ritch Price said. "To break out early like that, I think allowed everybody to relax and we swung the bats pretty good."
A day after pounding out 13 hits, the Jayhawk bats were still hot early Sunday afternoon.
With two on and one out in the second inning, freshman third baseman Tony Thompson came to the plate. Earlier in the weekend, Thompson said he wanted to put a dent in the 30-foot wall looming in left field at Hawkins Field. Facing Iowa right-hander Steve Turnbull (0-1), Thompson did just that, smacking a single off the wall and driving in Kansas' first run.
"There were plenty of dents in it
already, so I was just hoping to add one to it," Thompson said. "I got it."
Junior center fielder Nick Faunce, who led Kansas with four hits Sunday, hit a high pop fly over second baseman Justin Toole's head that right fielder Kyle Riffel should have taken. Instead, Toole lunged for it and missed. Riffel then picked up the ball and overthrew his cutoff man at second base, allowing two runs to score.
With the bases loaded later in the inning, Kansas capitalized on two Hawkeye errors to extend the rally.
By the time Iowa nailed down the third out of the inning, Freeman had a 5-0 lead to work with.
Freeman was strong on the mound for Kansas, allowing only one run through the first four innings, but Iowa got to him in the fifth.
Iowa first baseman Wes Freie started the inning with a walk. The next batter, left fielder Kurtis Muller, sent a ball to the gap between left and center field, plating Freie.
Muller took himself out of scoring position, getting caught stealing by Kansas senior catcher Ryne Price, but Iowa shortstop Kevin Hoef used his speed to create the Hawkeyes' next scoring opportunity.
After beating out an infield single, Hoef stole second base. Two batters later, Hoef scored on a single by center fielder Caleb Curry.
Iowa put another runner on base, but Freeman got out of the inning with his third strikeout of the game and called it a day. In five innings, he held Iowa to three runs, despite
"I feel really good about the progress we made this week," Price said. "I just complimented our team on the maturity we've shown. We made progress with the bat, our starting pitching was good every game, and our bullpen was solid."
"I'm not the ace; I was just lucky enough to come out with a victory today." Freeman said. "I've got a lot of stuff I need to work on. My slider's kind of flat right now, and I was up in the zone a lot today."
allowing eight hits and a walk.
The lasting impression Kansas left at the end of the weekend was how much its bats had improved since Friday. In the last two games of the weekend - after being held to one run on three hits Friday - the Kansas offense combined for 21 runs and 25 hits. Against Iowa, seven of Kansas' starting nine recorded hits.
Iowa made it interesting, loading the bases on junior closer Paul Smyth in the ninth. But Smyth managed to retire the next three batters and seal the victory for Kansas.
More importantly, he left with Kansas still on top, 8-3, and himself in line for victory. But even with back-to-back victories to start the season, Freeman isn't letting the success get to his head.
Edited by Jessica Sain-Baird
baseball notes
MILESTONE WATCH
Senior Ryne Price moved Into a tie for fifth place on Kansas' career home runs list, hitting his 25th in the third inning. The home run, Price's first of the season, moved him past fellow senior Erik Morrison and put him just four home runs behind former Jayhawk Travis Metcalf for the all-time record.
INJURY UPDATES
Junior catcher Buck Afenir sat out Saturday and Sunday's games after pulling his hamstring legging out a triple Friday night.
Junior left-hander Andy Marks was shut down from throwing over the weekend. Marks, who is recovering from a torn labrum in his throwing shoulder, couldn't finish his bulpen session last weekend, so Price postponed his bullpens until the team returned from Nashville.
.