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TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2008
PAGE 18
A step in the wrong direction
Hawks go 4-3 late in season after 22-0 start
A shocked and distraught coaching staff prepares for the long road home in the second half of Saturday's game at Oklahoma State. The Jayhawks lost by one point. Self attributed the loss to focusing too much on the future.
Jon Goering/KANSAN
BY RUSTIN DODD
rdodd@kansan.com
Everyone seems to have a prescription to cure Kansas' basketball struggles—including the players.
"We just have to stay tough-minded," senior guard Russell Robinson said. "Stay focused on the game and do what we need to do to contribute to the team."
Senior forward Darnell Jackson thinks the Jayhawk need to get on the same page.
"You have to know your role every game," Jackson said. "You cannot come into one game and not know what to do. Everyone has to bring something to the table."
Kansas players have solutions, but still some wonder: What is the matter with Kansas?
The Jayhawks—once seemingly unbeatable at 20-0—have stumbled to a 4-3 record in their last seven games.
The swagger displayed so prominently in every early season blowout seems to have vanished into the Allen Fieldhouse "bhoh"
Bill Self said he sees this every year. Topranked college basketball teams always seem to get caught looking ahead to March and the NCAA tournament.
If that's the reason for Kansas' shocking 61-60 loss to Oklahoma State on Saturday, Kansas coach Bill Self is not happy about it.
"It really is a sad commentary if it's occurring with us." Self said.
For one, Kansas is aiming for a fourth consecutive regular season title—one that seemed guaranteed a month ago. But after Kansas' loss to Oklahoma State, the Jayhawks find themselves looking up at Texas in the Big 12 standings. The Jayhawks, at 9-3, are one game behind the 10-2 Longhorns.
"Right now there are a lot of teams where the regular season doesn't mean much," Self said. "But to us it means a ton. We are playing for an opportunity to win a league championship."
"I got a list," Self said.
But as Kansas tries to refocus, Self admitted Monday that Kansas' weaknesses have been magnified during the last few weeks.
That list includes defensive breakdowns, closing out games and committing turnovers—problems that were on full display against Oklahoma State.
"The reason we are not playing near as well right now is strictly intangibles," Self said. "Things that have nothing to do with
putting the ball in the basket. It has a lot to do with the mindset of putting the ball in the basket."
A prime intangible is confidence and Jackson said the Jayhawks' confidence had lowered.
"I think we are still confident, but not at the level where we used to be at the beginning of the season," Jackson said.
With their confidence shaken, sophomore Darrell Arthur said he saw only one solution.
"We have to go back into the gym and get back to work." Arthur said.
Edited by Nick Mangiaracina
jayhawks add top recruit
Kansas added another commitment to its 2008 recruiting class. Point-guard Tyrone Appleton, who is playing this year at Midland Community College in Midland, Texas, committed to Kansas Monday. Appleton, a 6-foot-3 point guard, chose Kansas over Kentucky and Iowa State.With the addition of Appleton—the third ranked JUCO player in the country-Kansas will now boast a six-person recruiting class for next season—including four high school seniors and two junior college players.
The others include:
Mario Little - 6-5, 210, G/F, Chicago, III.
(Chipola (Fla.) CC)
(Chipola (Fla.) CC)
Marcus Morris - 6-8, 220, F, Philadelphia, Pa.
(Prep Charter HS/APEX Academy (N.J.)
(Prep Charter HS/APEX Academy (N.J.)
Markieff Morris - 6-10, 230, F/C, Philadelphia,
Pa. (Prep Charter HS/APEX Academy (N.J.))
Travis Leeford - 6-5, G/F, Roeland Park. (Miege HS)
Quintrell Thomas -6-8, 235; F, Elizabeth, N.J.
(St. Patrick HS)
Appleton
BASEBALL
Shorter season leaves no room for makeup games
Rescheduling hard, as athletes can only miss 10 school days
BY SHAWN SHROYER
shroyer@kansan.com
With the baseball season finally underway, teams will begin to feel the effects of the universal start date imposed by the NCAA.
The rule forced teams to wait three extra weeks to play their first games, condensing schools' 56-game schedules into a much tighter time frame of 12 weeks, rather than 15. One of the biggest differences coaches anticipate is greater significance on midweek games.
As always, teams must win most midweek games if they hope to reach the NCAA tournament. However, teams will need to play their midweek games as scheduled or risk having to drop them from their schedules. Given three fewer weeks of wiggle room to reschedule rainouts, coaches are keeping their fingers crossed for a dry spring.
"Those games are as important as the weekend series are at the end of the season if you're going to win 40 times and get an NCAA tournament berth," Kansas coach Ritch Price said at last week's Kansas Baseball Media Day.
Kansas plays its first midweek game Wednesday at Arkansas. Later this season Kansas also plays at Missouri State, at No. 20 Wichita State and at Kauffman Stadium against No. 5 Missouri. Three other times Kansas will play Tuesday-Wednesday midweek series between weekend series.
"Basically, there is none." Price said. "If you lose a Tuesday-Wednesday game, your only alternative would be to play that on a Thursday before a conference series and I don't see many people doing that."
Given the distance Kansas will have to
Further restricting Price's scheduling flexibility is Kansas' 10-day missed class policy. The policy restricts players from missing more than 10 days of class for games and Kansas has already filled the 10-day limit on its schedule.
travel for some midweek games and the short time between some weekend and midweek series, few gaps exist to reschedule games in the event of rainstouts.
Judging by last week's Big 12 Coaches Teleconference, Price isn't the only Big 12 coach feeling pressed for scheduling freedom. Among others, Baylor coach Steve Smith—who wasn't opposed to the rule change—said scheduling conflicts could have been avoided if the end of the season had been pushed back.
Smith said, "The vast majority still support it—that the end of the season would be pushed back a couple of weeks. The NCAA board of directors slammed the door on that immediately and the thing was too far down the legislative pipeline to really go back and reverse track. Nobody ever intended to cram 56 games into the weeks that we've got."
Edited by Nick Mangiaracina
COMMENTARY
The defeat pulled Kansas and its fans one rung down on the Big 12 Conference standings ladder and a step behind Texas in the race for the conference title. Throw in two potentially tough road games at Iowa State and Texas A&M, and for Kansas diehards the rest of the season could be as unpleasant as a trip to the dentist.
Jayhawk fans should celebrate Tourney time
As days go, Saturday wasn't a great one for Kansas basketball. The Jayhawks slogged through a foul-filled disaster of a loss at Oklahoma State with the deaths of family members of two players tugging at their focus.
Don't be too quick to fret: Even if the Jayhawks don't draw a No.1 seed come tourney time, there's plenty to smile about across college basketball.
Around the nation, there are under-the-adradar teams building their résumés and prepping for NCAA tournament runs. Oral Roberts University, at 15-1 in the Summit League, is a team Kansas might not want to face in late March. Does the name Marchello Vealy ring a bell? Drake captured the Missouri Valley Conference regular season crown on the small shoulders of point guard Adam Emmenecker, a former walk-on.
Out on the left coast, Saint Mary's has usurped the title of the West's best midmajor from Gonzaga. On the other side of the country, North Carolina A&T's basketball team isn't very good, but the atmosphere inside the Corbett Sports Center is great - it's
known as "the Crunest Gym in America" for a reason. Visit YouTube to find out why
How about that Michael Beasley guy? The Kansas State forward isn't held in the highest regard among Kansas fans, and he didn't quite live up to his guarantee of a 50-point showing last week at Nebraska, but he is downright special. In less than a week, Allen Fieldhouse will play host to Beasley, Bill Walker and their motive crew of offensively-challenged teammates. Don't miss this one because Beasley is better than Kevin Durant.
There's no better place to find charismatic players, coaches and analysts than college basketball. ESPN's sometimes grating and always over-the-top announcer Dick Vitale is back from throat surgery, and the world is better off with him sitting courtside. Admit it, you missed the guy.
It's hard not to love Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl. He's at the helm of the top team in the nation, unafraid to shout, frequently flaits about with rabid enthusiasm during games, has appeared shirttail and painted in public, and looks his best when he's sweating through an orange suit. Pearl is truly all that is man.
Need another reason to look forward to Saturday? ESPN is bringing its traveling circus, College GameDay, to Lawrence. Wake up from your Saturday-morning stupor early enough and you can head over to Allen Fieldhouse to hoist hilarious signs behind analysts Rece Davis, Digger Phelps, Jay Bilas and Hubert Davis. Also, Erin Andrews usually works as the courtside reporter for ESPN's game of the week. That seems like ample reason to get to bed early on Friday.
Looking past February's finish should make any college basketball fan giddy, if not euphoric. Conference tournaments are on the horizon: the Big East and its oodles of teams at Madison Square Garden, the Missouri Valley under the arch in Saint
countdowns
1 Day until conference tournaments begin with the Big South, Horizon and Ohio Valley
23 Days until the NCAA tournament begins
4 Days until Kansas vs. Kansas State at Allen Fieldhouse
Days until the National Championship
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19 Days until Selection Sunday
Next, it's on to Selection Sunday (the best day on the sports calendar) and true March Madness. This year, the tournament gets off to its start during spring break, meaning students won't even have to skip class to take in the opening round action.
Even if Kansas finishes its season on a sour note, even if Oral Roberts becomes this year's Bradley or Bucknell, cherish college basketball. Rejoice for the absence of steroid scandals and the lack of bowl-season silliness. Strap yourself in and prepare to savor the next month — it's guaranteed to fly by all too fast.
Louis, and the Big 12 squarely in Kansas' backyard, Kansas City.
— Edited by Katherine Loeck
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