THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
SPORTS
can states 1 fuels to next
THURSDAY, MARCH 16, 2006
WWW.KANSAN.COM
PAGE 1B
'HORN BORN,
'HAWK BRED
TRAVIS ROBINETT
trobinett@kansan.com
Nothing certain in tourney
When you filled out your bracket, you picked Connecticut, right? That is, unless you're a homer and picked Kansas, like me. Or maybe you picked Villanova, Duke or Memphis to win it all.
No matter how good a team is, its chances are against it. Since 1979, No.1 seeds have made it to the Final Four only 43 percent of the time, have won the national title a mere 12.96 percent of the time, and have won an average of only 3.27 games per tournament, if you count the byes they received before 1985 as victories.
They aren't bad choices, considering that each, aside from Kansas, has a No. 1 seed and hypothetically the easiest road to the Final Four in Indianapolis. Just don't be too hasty.
Need an example? Look no further than the 1996-97 Jayhawks. Entering the tournament with only one loss and five future NBA players, they were by far the best team in the country. Everyone and their mother was picking Kansas that year, but it lost to Arizona in the Sweet 16.
This year will be even tougher for the favorites to win six games in a row, since college basketball has been full of parity lately.
Connecticut and Villanova lost recently in the Big East tournament, Duke lost two of its last three regular-season games and Memphis lost late in the season to the University of Alabama-Birmingham. No team in the field of 64 is invincible.
Most of the time a team's chance depends on the breaks it receives. When Kansas won the 1988 national title, if the brackets had gone according to plan, it would have faced a No. 3 seed, a No. 2 seed and then three No. 1 seeds. Instead, every team Kansas should have played was upset by a lower seed, until they played Oklahoma in the national title game.
Don't get me wrong. Connecticut, Duke, Villanova and Memphis historically have a better chance of making the Final Four and winning it all than any other team in the tournament. Just don't assume any of them are sure things.
So if you give me a chance to take the field against the four No. 1 seeds, I'll take the field.
Bobinet is an Austin, Texas.
n is an Austin, Texas junior in journalism.
MEN'S BASKETBALL
Seniors fill important role
BY RYAN COLAIAanni
colaiaanni@kansan.com
KANSAN SENIOR SPORTSWRIETER
Kansas coach Bill Self apologized to senior forward Christian Moody on Sunday just after Kansas' 80-68 victory for the Big 12 Tournament title in Dallas.
Moody had played just six minutes in the three-day tournament and did not play against Texas or Oklahoma State. Self said he was sorry that his senior captain was unable to get in for the championship game.
"He is the best kid in the world, and he said, 'Coach, I am so happy for you.' Self said.
Moody was not upset — his team had just won a Big 12 title — and despite not playing in the game, the contributions of Moody and the two other seniors were the reason it was possible.
Moody, along with guards Stephen Vinson and Jeff Hawkins, began the season playing considerable minutes.
"It's not hard to take a back seat when you know it makes the team better," Vinson said. "I have known my role for quite some time and I'm happy as long as we are winning."
Moody and Hawkins both spent time in the starting lineup earlier this season. Hawkins started the first 11
it's not hard to take a back seat when you know it makes the team better."
Stephen Vinson Kansas guard
games of the season while Moody started seven games. Hawkins lost his spot to feshman guard Mario Chalmer while Moody lost his to freshman forward Julian Wright.
"He is still an important part of the team. He will be ready when his name is called," Self said of Moody. "He has been nothing but great as far as his mind-set, his attitude, the chemistry he has with the young guys."
Moody's job at the beginning of the season was to mentor Wright. He approached Self in December and said he understood that once the young players understood the system that they were going to help the team win more games, at the expense of Moody's minutes.
"It's definitely not that hard when you see him perform it so well and the team does it so well," Moody said of Wright and the freshmen's play this season.
Moody asked Self if the coach wanted him to tutor or to beat Wright in practice. Self told him to try to do both.
"He knew that when Julian got comfortable that there were some things that he could do that Christian wasn't going to do from an athletic standpoint," Self said.
While other seniors might have become depressed with losing their starting spots to freshmen, these seniors embraced it, and without doing that, the team might have continued its struggles after starting 3-4. Instead Kansas has won 22 of their past 25 and is one of the hottest teams in the nation entering the NCAA Tournament.
"That's one of the biggest reasons we've played well — Jeff, Stephen and Christian have all accepted their roles and have been great seniors," Self said. "You can have great senior players that aren't great in the locker room, and that kind of balances things out. Or you can have seniors that maybe don't get all the glamour or score all the points, but they allow others to be as good as they can be. That's what we have in our locker room right now. These guys have been fabulous."
Edited by Timon Veach
Senior guard Stephen Vinson and senior forward Christian Moody cheer on their teammates from the sidelines during the game against Colorado on March 1. Coach Bill Self apologized to Moody for receiving little playing during the Big 12 Tournament.
Kansan file photo
Carly Pearson/KANSAN
Senior guard, Erica Hallman looks to pass around Kansas State defenders during Thursday night's game at Allen Fieldhouse. The Jayhawks take on Northern Iowa tonight at 7 in Allen Fieldhouse for the start of the WNIT.
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
'Hawks tip off WNIT
BY MICHAEL PHILLIPS
mphillips@kansan.com
KANSAN STAFF WRITER
For the Kansas women's basketball team, playing in the WNIT tonight is a good thing. It's also a bad thing. It's also somewhere in between.
The WNIT could be the start of a return to prominence for Kansas, a school that was a pioneer in women's basketball by fielding a team before the NCAA sanctioned the sport, but has fallen on hard times recently.
"These kids can say that we were part of the class that got it turned around," coach Bonnie Henrickson said. "I think they take great pride in that."
The tournament is also a disappointment. The Jayhawks started the year 12-0 and were mentioned on ESPN's Bracketology before losing nine of their next 11.
SEE WNIT ON PAGE 4B
BASEBALL
Field survives storm
BY ALISSA BAUER
abauer@kansan.com
KANSAN STAFF WRITER
Hoglund Ballpark fared well against last Sunday's storm compared to the Jayhawk Soccer Complex and Arroa Ballpark, which suffered major damage to the bleachers and the backstop.
The few minor injuries at Hoglund, mostly cosmetic, will have plenty of time to heal before Kansas' next home game on March 29 against Wichita State.
Jim Marchiony, associate athletics director, said that everything should be repaired by then and that the total cost of repairs was still being calculated.
Damages sustained to the
ballpark included: a slight sag in the left-field wall and the batter's eve — which reduces glare
"We're pretty upset," junior pitcher Sean Land said. "We used to have a bullpen tree. We had all this shade during doubleheaders and stuff. We used to take care of it, water it all the time. We don't have any shade anymore."
in center field; advertising signs and the Kansas baseball tarp blown from the new scoreboard; netting disappeared from the Kansas bullpen; an infield stripped of dirt and a tree fell.
During the storm, the team was preparing for its series finale against Clemson in South Carolina. Around 9 a.m. Sunday, Kansas coach Ritch Price said he received a call from As
sociate Athletics Director Kelly Mehrtens.
Mehtens called to tell Price that a microburst hit Lawrence and that the backstop came down. Price didn't know Mehtens was talking about the backstop Kansas uses for batting practice, not the game field's backstop.
"So we feel obviously relieved," Price said. "The fallen backstop was righted and in full use during Tuesday's practice."
Price said the coaching staff and field crew spent four hours on the field on Monday, cleaning up and laying down new infield mix.
The most visible damage to the ballpark is probably the least important.
SEE FIELD ON PAGE 4B
Randall Sanders/KANSAN
The Jayhawks meet for practice at Hoglund Ballpark on Tuesday. It was their first practice since the storm Sunday, and despite damage to the left field bullpen, the team is maintaining its regular practice schedule. Kansas does not have a game until March 29 and most of the repairs should be done by then.