SPORTS
SOFTBALL TEAM WINS 3, LOSES 2 DURING WEEKEND
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
EXPERIENCE KEY FOR BASEBALL
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WWW.KANSAN.COM
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2008
KANSAS 69, COLORADO 45
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Team plays for a fieldhouse full of legends
BY MARK DENT
mdent@kansan.com
Larry drown watched some ugly basketball at KU's practice on Thursday.
Balls flew everywhere. Shots missed badly.
No one looked sharp.
"We were ugh," Kansas coach Bill Self said.
After a few minutes, Self called a huddle to see what was wrong and asked the players if they were nervous because Brown was there. Every one of them raised his hand.
"You don't want to give him any bad breath about you," jackson said.
Darnell Jackson admitted to trying too hard.
Thursday might have the team left a better impression on Brown Saturday. Kansas (24-2, 9-2) beat Colorado 69-45 with a dominant defensive performance at Allen Fieldhouse in front of Brown and more than 200 former players, coaches, and managers who were there for the 110 year reunion.
All the former Jayhawks had to sit
through a game that was bogged down by long possessions and a lack of fast breaks, not typical KU basketball, but that's what Self wanted. When the team prepared for the Buffaloes, he stressed that the players use patience on defense.
The patience allowed the jayhawks to control the game. Colorado had just 31 points with five minutes left in the second half. Self estimated that they forced the Buffaloes to shoot with less than 10 seconds left on the shot clock 40 times.
"We picked a good day to have average energy level," Self said, "because if you're really into it big
Patience is key to beating Colorado. The Buffaloes use a Princeton-style offense that works best when the players can get open on backdoor cuts and screens. If Kansas came out with its usual aggressiveness and tried to anticipate passes, CU players would've had an easier time cutting into the lane.
for his task. The keys to defending perimeter players, he said
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"We picked a good day to have average energy level because if you're really into it big time that's when they play the best."
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were staying in front, not letting them cut behind and denying passes.
By Saturday Arthur was ready. He guarded Roby for nearly all of his 21 minutes and held him to two points on 1-of-11 field goals. Arthur was tired but pleased with his effort.
Darrell Arthur made sure his man, Richard Roby, didn't play his best. Arthur, who at 6-foot-9 usually defends in the post, had the job of stopping Roby, a 6-foot-6 swinger and Colorado's lead scorer.
time that's when they play the best."
"It kind of wears you down because they play the whole shot clock, and it was tough to get out and run," he said. "But I thought we did a good job with it."
Having Arthur as a defensive stopper
BILL SELF Kansas coach
as a defensive stopper for smaller players will be a major benefit for Kansas. Several Big 12 teams use smaller line-ups, including Kansas State, which beat the Jayhawks earlier this year partially because of the play of Bill Walker, an undersized forward.
"There are a lot of teams playing small," Arthur said. "We've been playing a lot of small
guys lately, and it's kind of tough guarding them and learning the principles of guarding a perimeter player."
"He told us to have no wasted days. If you're feeling bad or your stomach hurts, you have to go in there and push yourself."
The victory against Colorado helped lessen some of the pain from the Texas loss on Monday and fixed some of Kansas' errors. The Jayhawks, who were outmuscled on the boards Monday, outbounded Colorado by 14. They also made 7-of-14 three-pointers after going 4-of-26 in their last two games.
The experience was new for Arthur. He had rarely guarded smaller forwards in games. Fortunately, he was familiar with defending on the perimeter in practice. All week, Arthur guarded Brandon Rush to prepare
Kansas doesn't play for another week. Self said the time off would help his team rest and also calm down the fans who were getting worried after last week's loss to Texas.
DARNELL JACKSON
Senior forward
"We still have the second-best record in the country," he said. "Something that's bad sometimes gets blown out of proportion. Losing isn't acceptable but certainly it's part of life in the game of college basketball. It was good to get back and hopefully we can get our swagger back."
Jackson said that can happen soon if they stay focused, and because of Brown, he's more motivated than ever to do that. Brown gave Jackson and the rest of the team a message at Thursday's practice, and Jackson took it to heart.
"He told us to have no wasted days," Jackson said. "If you're feeling bad or your stomach hurts, you have to go in there and push yourself."
Edited by Sasha Roe
Jon Goering/KANSAN
Sophomore forward Darrell Arthur jumps to stop a drive to the basket by Colorado guard Richard Roby during the second half. Kansas held Roby to two points on 1-for-11 shooting. Roby came in to the game averaging over 17 points per game.
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Jon Goering/KANSAN
Freshman guard Chakeitha Weldon and sophomore guard LaChelda Jacobs lead the Jayhawks off the court following their 62-61 victory against Nebraska. Kansas improved to 15-9 overall and 4-7 in the Big 12. The Hawks had four players in double-fouries in scoring for the game.
Jayhawks win 62-61 with final free throw by McCray
With 1.4 seconds left on the clock and the score tied at 61-61, sophomore guard Danielle McCray stepped to the free-throw line with the game in her hands and a peculiar thought on her mind.
BY TAYLOR BERN tbern@kansan.com
"I was thinking more about how to miss the second shot than make the first one," McCray said.
Indeed, there was no reason to worry about the first shot as
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up 62-
16. After
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bricked
the second,
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@ KANSAN.COM
Cray calmly bur-
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Nebraska, which was out of time-outs, grabbed the ball and desperately threw it the length of the court.
The ball failed to reach even the freethrow line and the Javahawks escaped with
a dramatic victory, their third win in the last
COMMENTARY
Kansas could advance to tournament
If you weren't one of the 6,122 fans who supported breast cancer research by attending the women's basketball team's thrilling 62-61 victory against Nebraska on Sunday, you may have missed the game that will save their season.
By defeating the Cornhuskers on a Danielle McCray free throw with 1.4 seconds left in the game, the Jayhawks kept alive an opportunity at being one of the 64 teams called on Selection Monday four weeks from today.
With the victory, Kansas now has won two in a row and three of their last four games to improve to 15-9 overall and 4-7 in Big 12 play.
"We've talked about trying to win 20 all year," coach Bonnie Henrickson said. "Based on what we did in non-conference that would be 8-8 in the league, and 8-8 has gotten every team in historically every year the Big 12 has been in existence," she said, referring to the NCAA tournament.
For the Jayhawks to get to 8-8 in the Big 12, they would have to keep the hot streak alive and finish 4-1 in the remaining five games in the regular season. Henrickson said the team could get in with a 7-9 record if they had "the right combination of seven wins," but it's obvious that the goal remains the same 8-8 mark from the beginning of the season.
"That's what we've been talking about a lot lately here," said sophomore guard Daniel'e McCray. "Whoever shows up that night is
The Jayhawks' schedule is favorable the rest of the way for a run at the tournament. Victory 16 could come Wednesday night at Texas Tech, a team that is only 2-9 in conference play and sits below the Jayhawks in the standings. Although Texas Tech is 10-4 at home, it has struggled recently and should be a team the Jayhawks can defeat.
going to win. There's no given team that's going to win each game or the conference or things like that. We're looking for number 20, which means in the short-term, we're looking for number 16."
You could make an argument that all five remaining games are winnable games, but the likelihood of the Jayhawks running the table is very slim. Winning three, or even four, of the five, however, is a very realistic goal.
Kansas then travels to play Missouri, the league's last-place team at 1-9, on Saturday afternoon. Both are winable games and would put Kansas back in the thick of the conversation for one of those NCAA bids at 17-7 and 6-7 in league play.
Jon Goering/KANSAN
"We've got nothing to lose right now," said sophomore guard LaChelda Jacobs. "Our goal is definitely the NCAA tournament, and we just have to keep this momentum going. Winning this game was huge."
Nicollette Smith, freshman forward, drives between two Nebraska defenders for a layup during the second half of yesterday's game at Allen Fieldhouse. The Jayhawks won 62-1 in the last seconds of the game.
And it may not be a surprise that the Jayhawk's three biggest crowds of the season have all seen Jayhawk victories. The 6,122 fans who watched Sunday's thriller were a season high, and the 4,912 who watched Kansas beat Missouri last month were among the Jayhawks' second big-
"It's one at a time right now, it's survive and
guest crowd of the season. If the Jayhawks can get a big crowd for next Wednesday's home game against Texas, they might take one step closer to reaching the final 64.
Two weeks ago, Kansas sat at 1-6 and in last place of the Big 12 conference. Now, just a short time later, the NCAA tournament is once again a realistic and attainable goal.
"It's one at a time right now, it's survive and advance," Henrickson said. "That the most important thing right now, we're trying to get
number 16.9
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Edited by Jessica Sain-Baird
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