SPORTS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL AT IOWASTATEUNIVERSITY
WWW.KANSAN.COM
PAGE 7B
SOFTBALL TEAM EARNS VICTORIES
FRIDAY,FEBRUARY 29,2008
MEN'S BASKETBALL
PAGE 2B
PAGE1B
Toughness guaranteed in rivalry
BY MARK DENT
mdent@kansan.com
Brandon Rush had the opportunity to add a little extra flavor to an already deliciouslooking in-state rivalry after Wednesday night's Iowa State game.
"I'm not like that," junior guard Rush said. "But we're going to bring it."
He could've pulled a Michael Beasley - mentioned Africa, mentioned a rec center, guaranteed a victory. He sealed his lips instead.
It was probably for the best that Rush didn't guarantee anything. No one from either team would've been smart to promise a victory, because they're both struggling.
"The way I look at it," Kansas coach Bill Self said, "you have a couple teams who really need a win."
Saturday's 8 p.m. game matches two teams who were playing much better in January.
Back then, Kansas State's young team was just starting to jell under coach Frank Martin. Kansas had been rolling opponents for a month. K-State won that game, but the Jayhawks, despite their recent struggles, should fare better on Saturday.
This time around, there's no 25-game Manhattan winning streak on their minds and no perfect record to keep intact. All of that took a toll on Kansas the first game. Senior guard Russell Robinson remembers feeling extra nerves.
"Believe it or not, that put pressure on us," Robinson said of the streaks. "This time around we're just trying to get back to the
level we're capable of."
The loss to Kansas State was cathartic but also negative. They didn't have as much pressure from being undefeated, but the Jayhawks felt a hangover for a while. Like Robinson said, they haven't quite been at the same level. That was evident in the two defeats Kansas sustained after losing to the Wildcats. The Jayhawks played sluggishly. They didn't rebound or shoot. No player could step into the role of a consistent scorer.
Wednesday night against Iowa State, Self and the players said some of those problems were solved. They've now-realized they can come back from losses. It just took a while to adjust to the feeling of losing.
"We're a tougher team by far because we understand that we can be beat," sophomore guard Sherron Collins said. "Anybody can beat anybody. We have a whole different mindset."
Because of that new attitude the Jayhawks discovered Wednesday night, they aren't searching for a victory as desperately as their neighbors to the west. The Wildcats should be out for blood just as much as they were a month ago.
Back on Jan. 30, no team hungered for a victory against Kansas more than the Wildcats. Angry fans turned Bramlage Coliseum into an electric, dysfunctional house of contempt, cheering more against Kansas than for their own team. The players responded with a streak of intensity and toughness that the Jayhawks couldn't match.
K-State wanted to win then to end the streak. Now they want to win to end another
streak, one that dates back to 1996. That was the last year the Wildcats made the NCAA Tournament. When the fans stormed the court after beating Kansas and lifted freshman forwards Beasley and Bill Walker up on their shoulders, postseason glory seemed like a guarantee. It doesn't anymore.
Since then, the Wildcats have fallen far from their perch atop the conference and are losers of four of their last five games. K-State is on the bubble for the NCAA Tournament, and a victory at Kansas would likely put them on solid footing for a bid.
Oh, they'll be energized all right, and the Jayhawks better be too, if they want to win. The guards will have to do a better job on freshman guard Jacob Pullen. Sophomore forward Darrell Arthur will have to stay out of four trouble and guard Walker better from the three-point line.
More than anything, Kansas will have to play smarter down the stretch. KU's experience didn't shine through in the second half against Kansas State. A younger team outhustled and out-executed the Jayhawks during the most important part of the game.
Rush didn't want to guarantee a victory, but Self at least promised they wouldn't be lacking energy or toughness when they have to battle the Wildcats in a game that both teams really need to win.
"I think that our guys will be as excited as they've been all year," Self said. "I would be totally disappointed if it wasn't a great effort game for us."
Edited by Russell Davies
Mindv Ricketts/KANSAI
Michael Beasley, KSU freshman forward, boxes out against senior center Sasha Kaun in the teams' first meeting.
KSU Preview
Beasley guarding
Kansas coach Bill Self said the Jayhawks would talk more Thursday night about how they would defend K-State superstar Michael Beasley. He wouldn't specify if Kansas would play zone but dropped a few hints.
"I've seen teams play box and one and he gets 30. I've seen teams play man to man and he gets 40. What you have to do is what works best for your team."
Gameday ritual
Self said it wasn't healthy for his team to sit around and watch basketball on TV all day before a late night game like the one on Saturday. He thinks it could affect the performance of Kansas and Kansas State in a negative way. Russell Robinson disagreed. "On days where we play live, I watch TV all day," he said. "It helps you relax." Robinson will likely kick his couch not habit
Robinson will likely kick his couch potato habit slightly on Saturday. He doesn't like to watch when Kansas is featured all day.
》 SPORTS FANS
Lisa Lipovac/KANSAN
*Students find ways to pass the time while camping out inside Fieldhouse yesterday afternoon for seats to this Saturday's basketball game against Kansas State. All camping groups must have at least one camper present at all times when camping or the group loses its spot in line.*
Campers show devotion to the Jayhawks
Scattered around the northwest lobby of Allen Fieldhouse, students sit waiting. Some are lying on air mattresses, some are sitting in camping chairs and others are just leaning against the concrete walls of the Fieldhouse. Laptops, iPods or books keep students occupied in the dimly lit lobby.
Some students have been camping since Feb. 17. All students who have gathered in the lobby of Allen Fieldhouse have come together with their sights set on one thing: Kansas basketball.
Kansas basketball campers are some of the most die-hard Jayhawk fans you will ever find. When referring to the basketball team, these fans are personally invested in their beloved Jayhawks and refer to them as "we." Their knowledge of Kansas basketball and its opponents would seem beyond belief for a casual fan.
Take, for instance, Naomi Wilfred, Boston sophomore. Wilfred, who was camping out Sunday, can tell you just what she thinks about freshman standout Michael Beasley
"I think it's ridiculous Michael Beasley can put down 44 points against Baylor and still lose," Wilfred said. "I think he's phenomenal, but he's not as good as Kevin Durant."
"It doesn't look like we want to win that bad," said Chris Miller, Omaha, Neb., freshman. "It just doesn't look like we're playing hard enough."
Some students will offer an explanation of Kansas' performance as of late.
Others just plain don't like Kansas State. "I hate 'em," said Don Atkinson, Overland Park sophomore.
SEE WHEELER ON PAGE 7B
TRACK AND FIELD
Team competes for title
BY DANNY NORDSTROM
dnordstrom@kansan.com
Sprint and hurdles coach Elisha Brewer's advice is simple. This weekend at the Big 12 Track and Field Championships in Lincoln, Neb., she will tell her athletes to "bring it."
Brewer elaborated on her simple, yet powerful, message. "You're prepared," she said. "You're ready to perform your best and know that your best is good enough. Bring it."
Today and tomorrow, the 10th-ranked women and 28th-ranked men will battle for the Big 12 title. The Jayhawks will look to better their sixth place men's finish and seventhe place women's finish in 2007. To do this, Kansas will bring three defending Big 12 indoor champions as well as 30 Jayhawks who are ranked in the top 10 in the conference.
A week off from competition should give the team plenty of rest and time to prepare for the conference championships. Senior paultar Libby Harmon commented on the much-needed resting time.
"It's more mental rest because competition is very mentally demanding," she said. "It's nice to relax and take your mind away from track for a weekend and get refreshed for the Big 12s."
Harmon, who placed 7th in the outdoor conference championships last year, is extremely excited to compete this weekend.
"The Big 12 Conference is a power house," she said. "It is one of the most stacked conferences in the country. It's an exciting
atmosphere."
One lajayhaw who has never experienced the exciting atmosphere that the Big 12 Championships bring is Missouri Baptist University transfer Nickesha Anderson. The junior sprinter posted this year's fastest 200-meter time in the world at her last competition and is looking to better it.
She discussed how her recent performance put pressure on her to do well this weekend.
Brewer feels that Anderson will do very well at the Big 12s. "When it comes down to it, she knows how to get it done," she said to
"I have to realize that everybody is coming after me," she said. "It's going to be hard and I'm going to kick it start to finish. I'm going to bring everything that I have."
While Anderson has never been to the Big 12 Championships, senior pole vaulter Kate Sultanova definitely has. The defending women's indoor pole vault Big 12 champion currently has the highest women's vault in the country. She commented on what the atmosphere at the conference championship was like.
"There's just more pressure," she said.
"I'ts a battle. You go there and even if you're ranked number one it doesn't mean that you're going to win."
In her last meet at Arkansas, Sultanova began using a taller and thicker pole that would give her more spring and ultimately send her higher. The bigger pole requires more strength and technical skill, but is a step that Sultanova is willing to take in order to defend her title.
SEE TRACK ON PAGE 2B
BASEBALL
BY SHAWN SHROYER
shroyer@kansan.com
shroyer@kansan.com
To say the Kansas baseball team is off to a slower start than usual would be an under-statement.
Never before under coach Ritch Price, and not since 1999, have the Jayhawks started a season 2-4, where they now sit heading into this weekend's Music City Classic in Nashville. Tenn.
Although Kansas has struggled primarily at the plate, Price is counting on his pitching staff to reverse the team's fortune. This weekend, that responsibility will fall on the shoulders of junior left-handers Nick Czyz (0-1) and Sam Freeman (1-0) and sophomore lefty Shaeffer Hall (0-0).
"The big thing is we need to continue to pitch well," Price said. "Nick Czyz did not give us a quality outing in his last performance and neither did Shaefer Hall. We're counting on both of those guys taking a step forward and giving us a quality out."
Against Hawaii-Hilo last weekend, Czyz
Czyz will throw today against the No. 7 Vanderbilt Commodores (3-1), who will send out sophomore left-handler Mike Minor (1-0). Minor, a $13^{th}$ round draft pick out of high school, was stellar in his first start of the season. Facing the defending National Champion Oregon State Beavers, he allowed just one run on five hits in six innings, while striking out six and earning the victory.
and Hall combined to allow nine runs in 7.2 innings, striking out just four, but walking just as many. Freeman, on the other hand, salvaged the final game of the Hawaii-Hilo series, striking out four in six innings, allowing just two runs en route to victory.
However, during their victory against the Beavers, the Commodore offense took a devastating blow, losing All-American third baseman, junior Pedro Alvarez for six weeks to a broken hand. Vanderbilt, with five.300 hitters in the lineup, is carrying on in his absence.
Hall will throw tomorrow against Xavier (1-2) and senior right-hander Michael Lucas (0-0), who should prove less formidable than Minor. Lucas struggled in Xavier's only victory of the Coca-Cola Classic last weekend against Fairfield. In 3.2 innings, he allowed seven runs on nine hits and a walk, netting a lofty 17.18 ERA.
Offensively, senior left fielder Robbie Kelley and sophomore first baseman Zac Richard lead the Musketeers. Each hit a home run last weekend and is batting .500 and .462, respectively.
Freeman will anchor the rotation once again, this time against Iowa (1-2) and junior right-hander Steve Turnbull (0-0) will pitch on Sunday. Turnbull did Lucas one better last weekend, fetching a 18.00 ERA after surrendering six earned runs in three innings against Notre Dame on six hits and two walks.
The Hawkeye offense is led by senior center fielder Caleb Curry. Through three games, Curry is batting .692 with five RBIs and has yet to be caught in five steal attempts.
Contrasting how hot Curry has been is how cold the Kansas lineup has been through six games, particularly the upperclassmen.
Only junior center fielder Nick Faunce,
.462, and junior catcher Baku Afenir, 400,
.478.
"The guys that are struggling out of the gate are the same guys who are the proven hiters on our team, who have been successful before and are going to hit", Price said.
are hitting above .275 for Kansas. Last year's leading hitter, senior left fielder John Allman, is hitting just 211. Senior right fielder Ryne Price, who led the Jayhawks in home runs last year, is hitting .150 with just one extra-base hit.
Price's only explanation is that his players aren't yet up to game speed. Price said his players, after hitting in cages all preseason and facing slower pitchers in Hawaii, were now trying to catch up to faster Division I pitchers.
If they don't catch up soon, they may find themselves flirting with the 2-9 start the 1999 Jawhaws got off to.
As a team, Kansas has struck out 56 times while compiling just 47 hits. Wednesday against Arkansas, Kansas struck out 16 times and had only four hits.
However, Nashville has a way of bringing out the best in the Jayhawks. Plus, they have a reputation to protect.
Junior left-hander Andy Marks had a setback on Wednesday in his recovery from a torn labrum in his throwing shoulder. "He wasn't able to finish his bullpen, so he'll get in and see our trainer and get evaluated," Price said. "We'll see where we go from there.
Injury update
Andy Marks
"I think it's one of those things where they tell you, you're going to go forward and you're going to go backward. That's part of the rehab process."
"We've won that tournament the last two times we've been there," Price said," so we're not ducking them."
—Edited by Russell Davies