THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN SPORTS
VOLLEYBALL | 3B
2
Jayhawks to face strong D at Baylor
WEDNESDAY,OCTOBER13,2010
With a Player of the Week award and an upset over Iowa State last week, Kansas heads to Waco tonight.
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Preseason tradition serves to entertain attract new players
BY TIM DWYER
tdwyer@kansan.com
twitter.com/UDKbasketball
Come Friday, it's basketball season.
At 6:30 p.m. the doors will open for Late Night at the Phog, and the 2010-2011 Kansas basketball season will officially be under way. Freshmen guards Josh Selby and Royce Woolridge will step onto the Allen Fieldhouse court in front of 16,300 fans for the first time as lavihawks.
They can't wait.
"When Friday comes, at 6:30, oh yes, I'm going to be excited," Selby said.
Selby hasn't yet been cleared for games, so it will be fans' first, and maybe only, look at how he will fit with the team.
The team has had plenty of opportunities to play with each other. They spent the summer semester together. They've survived Bill Self's notorious boot camp. They've played countless games of pickup.
But Friday's different. Even for Brady Morningstar, a redshirt senior who will turn 25 this season, Late Night at the Phog is
something to look forward to.
"Yes," he said, throwing back his head and smiling. "I can't wait to get the season underway."
Morningstar said the team will do its traditional skit-and-dance routine, along with a scrimmage to close the night out. He wasn't sure what the seniors were going to have planned for the night though.
Late Night always serves as a big recruiting night for the Jayhawks, as well as an experience for the fans. This year is no different.
"It's big," Self said. "It's probably the biggest one we've had. It's an important weekend for us."
According to Rivals.com, the Jayhawks will have 12 potential recruits, includ-
committed to Kansas after visiting for Late Night in 2009. On his visit, the fans at Allen Fieldhouse gave a standing ovation to him and the other recruits.
The three 2011 recruits — No. 4 LeBryan Nash, No. 17 Ben McLemore and No. 76 Angelo Chol — would likely all compete for immediate playing time if they came to Kansas. Nash, in particular, is Kansas' best shot at signing a top-10 recruit in the class.
"When I came here I just saw the huge lines and all that type of stuff," Woolridge said. "I was like, 'Wow, this is real. This is amazing.' I came in here and the crowd was clapping and partying. It was just amazing, something that you'll never experience anywhere else."
"A lot of us came to Late Night, and that's mostly the main reason why most of us came here."
ing three from the class of 2011, four from the class of 2012 and five from the class of 2013.
Woolridge knows how big an influence Late Night can have. He
Less than a month later, he was
ROYCE WOOLRIDGE Freshman guard
a Jayhawk commit.
"A lot of us came to Late Night, and that's mostly the main reason why most of us came here," he said. "It's
huge recruiting night."
"I'm going to have to show off my dance moves a little bit, so I'm just excited," he said.
Now that Woolridge is part of the experience, he's looking forward to what he'll have to do.
What kind of moves does he have?
"I can't tell you. It's a secret, you're just going to have to see."
Edited by Emily McCoy
Mike Gunnoe/KANSAN
Junior guard Tyshawn Taylor speaks to the media Tuesday. "I really haven't seen that much difference. I think we're hungrier, and I think losing guys, and other guys having to step up and be leaders is something that is new to us but I think we're ready for it. We're hungry, we just want to win. We want to be better every day, so we're going to come in here and work like we want to win," said Taylor about the difference between this year's team and the one last year.
SUNFLOWER CYNICISM
Best prediction is no prediction
Scattered playing habits leave fans skeptical, hopeful
Kansas State running back Daniel Thomas crosses the goal line in front of three Kansas defenders during the Sunflower Showdown last season in Manhattan, which K-State won 17-10. The Jayhawks will host the Wildcats tomorrow evening at 6:30 p.m. at Memorial Stadium.
BY KORY CARPENTER kcarpenter@kansan.com
The 2010 Kansas football team has been consistently inconsistent. When fans expected an easy win against North Dakota State, the team lost. When fans expected an overwhelming loss to Georgia Tech, the team pulled off the upset.
Ryan Waggoner/KANSAN
When the team headed to Waco, Texas, to open up Big 12 conference play, a Kansas loss would not have been a big surprise as the Bears were home favorites. The way the team lost, however, caused many to wonder how good (or bad) this team really is.
Fans hoping to find the team's identity in Thursday night's game might need to wait another week. First of all, strange things happen on Thursday night games in college football. There's no explanation for that.
More predictable is the stress factor that the team will surely face against K-State.
That rivalry is something that the players have been preparing for. Even sophomore safety Lubbock Smith, who hails from
"I think it's a big deal for everyone on the team, not just guys from Kansas," Smith said. "We know it's a big rivalry and
UCLA, Missouri State, Central Florida and conference foe Iowa State propelled them to 4-0 and on the cusp of being in the top
Dallas, said he knows the game has a lot of magnitude.
"I think it's a big deal for everyone on the team, not just the guys from Kansas."
we all want to come out with the win and make everyone proud."
LUBBOCK SMITH Sophomore safety
25. That ended when Nebraska rolled into Manhattan last week and handed K-State a 48-13 pounding. The blowout loss landed K-State's momentum at
While Kansas has been on a roller coaster ride, Bill Snyder's Wildcats started their season as smooth as ever. Wins over
ground zero next to the Jayhawks. Thursday night's winner will gain much needed momentum while the other will be left sitting in the depths of the Big 12 cellar.
Senior running back Daniel
Thomas will be a primary challenge for the Kansas defense. Thomas has racked up 691 rushing yards and six touchdowns so far this season, and coach Turner Gill has taken notice.
"We're not going to be able to stop him," he said. "We just need to slow him down."
Slowing down the nation's eighth-leading rusher could go a long way in securing Gill's first Sunflower Showdown victory. Nebraska was able to hold Thomas to just 63 yards on the ground, which proved it could be done.
When not focused on the running attack, senior cornerback Chris Harris hopes to cause turnovers while making K-State quarterback Carson Coffman's life miserable.
"Turnovers definitely come with getting pressure on the quarterback for one," Harris said. "We also need to make him make mistakes and confuse him all game."
That goal is attainable for the Kansas defense. K-State is last in the Big 12 in passing offense and Coffman is 11th in total passing yards this year.
Redshirt freshman quarterback Jordan Webb had his own troubles in his week five start against Baylor, and the results were not pretty. His first Big 12 start ended with two interceptions and three sacks to go along with his measly 171 yards through the air. Gill said the Baylor game was definitely a setback for Webb. Against K-State, Gill
History and home-field side with fayhawks.
wants Webb and the offense to put up at least 28 points, something they've accomplished twice so far this season.
Kansas has shown it can bounce back from a tough loss and stop a powerful running attack similar to what they will see against the Wildcats.
COMMENTARY
Talent and coaching favor the Wildcats.
Kickoff is set for 6:30.
Edited by Emily McCoy
Key to KU success is in tackles
BY NICHOLAS ROESLER
newsletter@hansan.com
If a team can tackle well, then it can bring down the foundation of its opponent.
Tomorrow, Kansas will face in-state rival Kansas State, a team with a 4-1 record and the nation's eighth-leading rusher, Daniel Thomas. As coach Turner Gill outlined in a press conference on Monday, a main key to the game is tackling.
Tackling drills: Put a helmet on the ball of the runner, wrap up and power through the runner.
During the bye week, scout running backs took an extra load of hits and turf burns as first-string defensive players worked on tackling drills. This was all in an effort to have less than 10 missed tackles against K-State.
Although there are no missed tackle numbers to reference, tackling has undeniably been an issue for the Kansas defense. Opponents have run on Kansas for a total of 938 yards in the first five games, which is just 10 yards less than the total number of pass yards against the Kansas defense. Whether that is due to missed tackles or missed assignments, the rushing numbers could be cut down with better execution of small details
Tackling is not a small detail. It is the foundation of defense. With every snap of the ball, the united goal of the defense is to get the guy on the ground. And although three teams have run for more than 200 yards against the Kansas defense this year, the team has shown the singular moments where the players show they can tackle.
Kansas must do the same. In the press conference on Monday, Gill focused on the importance of intensity on defense and creating turnovers, which all will stem from the first step of tackling well. When asked if the defense is more suited to suit a run first offensive attack, Gill showed some confidence in his teams ability to stop Thomas.
Now, the Wildcats are bringing a similar challenge to town. Thomas has rushed for 691 yards this season, which is already more than half of what he rushed for throughout all of last year. The tough Nebraska defense slowed him down for his lowest rushing total in a game last week with relentless tackling and hustle.
Against Georgia Tech, a team similar to K-State in its dependence on running, senior linebacker Justin Springer had 15 tackles, including three for a loss and a sack. The Kansas defense rose up to bring down the Georgia Tech running back and quarterback in a game that defined this season for the Jayhaws.
"It might be," Gill said, "just because of what has happened here in the first four or five ball games in what our defense has shown in being able to play the run maybe a little bit better than the pass."
If the defense can wrap up the legs of Thomas, which are essentially the foundation of the K-State offense, the Jayhawks might have a chance to bring down the house in this historic rivalry.
Edited by Emily McCoy