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SPORTS
TUESDAY. FEBRUARY 28, 2006
4B THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Loss
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"It brought us back down. Winning 10 in a row, everybody was high on themselves. I think the loss brought everyone back to reality."
With the loss to Texas, Kansas fell one game out of first place. Coach Bill Self and the players said they understood that they must win out and hope that Texas stumbles in order to take the conference crown.
"We had an opportunity to put ourselves in a lot better position on Saturday and didn't make the most of it, obviously." Self said. "All we can worry about is beating Colorado. Winning the league will always be a goal of ours until we can't win it anymore."
Texas has Oklahoma and Texas A&M remaining on its schedule while Kansas has Colorado and Kansas State.
The loss to Texas likely also affected Kansas' NCAA tournament seed. Self admitted that the team has no chance of
getting a No.1 or a No.2 seed when the bracket is released in two weeks.
20 weeks. He said he wouldn't talk with the players about what seed they could be looking at.
"I think that's pretty premature," Self said. "If our whole focus right now is beating Colorado and trying to win the league, I don't think you bring stuff like that into it just yet."
Basketball notes: Julian Wright was named Big 12 Rookie of the Week for his efforts against Baylor and Texas. The freshman forward averaged 18.5 points in those two games. Wright was the third Kansas freshman to earn the honor this season. Rush and freshman guard Mario Chalmers were the others.
Kansas' loss to Texas dropped them from 16th to 18th in the Associated Press poll that was released Monday. The Jayhawks also fell from 20th to 22nd in the ESPN/USA Today coaches poll.
Edited by Frank Tankard
So I could honestly care less what happens when Texas
Chavez
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comes to Lawrence next year for the basketball game. I care about what we learned from Saturday's game. We found out how the Jayhawks stood against a very talented Texas team on the road. That's all that should matter at this point in the season.
If not for Wright, Kansas might have lost by a margin that could only have been replicated by Texas quarterback Vince Young and his National Championship football team. Wright was Kansas' only productive scorer on Saturday. He scored 18 points on a night in which only one other Jayhawk scored in double figures.
There are few young players in the nation with as much raw talent and energy as Wright.
There are few young players in the nation with as much raw talent and energy as Wright.
Chavez is a San Antonio senior in journalism.
Rox C: Curry/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Former Southern California running back Reggie Bush, left, winner of the 2005 Doak Walker Award, laughs along with Jim Swink, winner of the 2005 Pricewaterhouse Cooper's Doak Walker Legends Award, during a news conference before the Doak Walker Award Presentation Banquet Monday, Feb. 27, 2006, in Dallas.
Keeping Heisman company
Community college coach case postponed
FRAUD
WICHITA — Sentencing for former Barton County Community College basketball coach Ryan Wolf has been postponed until May 1 to give him time to testify against his colleagues in
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
a widespread investigation into financial aid for athletes.
Wolf's indictment in December 2004 was the first in a scandal that has resulted in charges against seven coaches and the athletic director and led to the firing of its president at the beela-
guered central Kansas college.
Coaches have been accused of getting athletes grants they were not qualified to receive and campus jobs that paid them for work they did not perform; of helping athletes with correspondence courses and tests; and of sending false academic credentials to other schools on the athletes' behalf.
Wolf and two fellow coaches pleaded guilty in federal court in exchange for reduced charges and their cooperation with prosecutors in the investigation.
Actions
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As she found her niche, she also raised her expectations. Her goal for this year was to make the postseason and she has been playing with the passion it will take to achieve it.
"I want to make the tournament this year, and I still think we have a chance." Brown said.
For Brown, preparation for
the tournament means spending time in the weight room building up her stamina, time on the court practicing her shot and time off the court with the other players.
The three have been together
After spending a year at Northern Oklahoma-Enid Community College in her home state of Oklahoma, Brown completed the current senior class by joining guard Hallman and forward Kemp.
for the ups and downs of a new coach, a 12-game winning streak to start the season, and then a downturn that resulted in the players being kicked out of the locker room by Henrickson.
The Jayhawks have rebounded since then and appear to be headed to the Women's National Invitational Tournament at the end of the season.
Brown said that although she was excited about leaving the
"We want to be a part of the team that gets to make it to the NCAA," she said.
egacy of being the first Kansas team to make the postseason under Henrickson, she wouldn't mind being around in a few years for the future successes.
That's about the most that she will say about the tournament, leaving most of the talking to her teammates.
caught one of her roommates,
Allig Rubino, off-guard.
Brown's soft-spokenness
While Brown was talking to a reporter, Rubino told Brown that she was "not very talkative in interviews."
That didn't seem to bother Brown, who will talk about her dog Vinnie — "crazy and cute" her relationship with the seniors
"I'm a beach person."
Happily with the seniors — "us three have a weird kind of bond, it's funny" — and her desire to leave the Midwest someday
Hallman and Kemp both credit her as a huge part of the team's success, and Henrickson said that the younger players are inspired by her work in the weight room and off the court.
Even without her vocal influence, Kaylee Brown has still found a way to put her stamp on this team.
— Edited by Gabriella Souza