THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 23. 2006
SPORTS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN 7A
Transfer
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 12A
After taking Baty's spot in the lineup late in Saturday's game, Murphy hit his first home run in a Kansas uniform. Murphy said it was a moment he had long awaited.
"You think about that all throughout the fall and winter and you're in the cage thinking, 'Here's the pitch,' and you do all the motions, but to finally get it over and done with is exciting," Murphy said. "That's the biggest thing to get out of the way."
VITAL STATS
"It's been fun with him out in left field," Murphy said. "He's a fun guy to be there with."
Murphy has replaced Baty in the lineup four times this season. Still, Murphy said he would much rather play alongside Baty than in his place.
Coming into the season, Coach Ritch Price expected Murphy to contribute primarily with his glove and arm on defense and his speed on the base paths. Price said if Murphy had one weakness before joining the team, though, it was at the plate.
He was an all-state first team selection his senior/year high school in 2003.
- His high school team in Wisconsin, Ft. Ternry, won the state championship his sophomore year in 2001.
Patient history has been reviewed.
With a first-to-arrive, last-to-leave mentality at practice and by spending extra time working on his swing with Coach Kevin Tucker, Murphy has quickly im-
state championship the sophomore year in 2001.
*He was an assistant coach for college selection in 2004.
In addition, we will be named to the UCD World Series All-Tournament Team while at Indian Hills Community College.
- In the summer of 2004, Murphy helped the Madison Matilda to a Northwoods League title.
In his final season at Indian Hills, Murphy accumulated 13 home runs and 51 RBI while leading the team with a .444 batting average, 63 hits and 20 stolen bases.
Source: Kansas Athletics Department
pressed Price.
"During the course of time he's been with us, he may be the best outfielder I've coached in my 28 years in the game." Price said.
Baty said he was most surprised by Murphy's ability to step up as a leader in his first year on a veteran team.
Despite the strides Murphy has made on the field and in the locker room, Murphy said he hadn't fully adapted to Division I baseball as a hitter.
"The pitching, for sure, this last couple weeks has been a big adjustment," Murphy said. "Every pitcher can throw every pitch for a strike. You never see a 3-0 count curveball in junior
college, it's all fastballs down the middle."
Murphy has also been able to come off the bench and produce late in games.
In the ninth inning of the second game of the season, Murphy collected his first hit as a Jayhawk, driving in senior Gus Milner. His first home run came in the eighth inning against San Diego, and his sacrifice fly in the 11th inning on Sunday against Vanderbilt put Kansas ahead for good.
"You got to live for those situations," Murphy said. "It's a tough role to fit into, but I love it."
- Edited by Timon Veach
Schneider
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 12A
At the time, the Missouri coaching position was one of the nation's top job openings. Stewart retired after guiding the Tigers to seven NCAA Tournament appearances in his last 10 seasons, including an Elite Eight appearance in 1994.
His teams were highly ranked and consistently had a knack for knocking off ranked Kansas teams at home and on the road. In the same time period, Kansas suffered through numerous painful second-round exits, to the likes of Rhode Island and Texas-El Paso, in the tournament. Missouri would have been the perfect place for Self to continue what Stewart had spent 32
years building.
There's no doubt Missouri would be among the nation's top programs with Self at the helm. The combination of Self's ability to assemble highly ranked recruiting classes and Missouri's record of success in the 1990s would have been tough for any coach, even Roy Williams, to counter. Quite a twist of fate for the man who dreamed of returning to coach at Allen Fieldhouse after spending a year here under former coach Larry Brown.
But luckily for Kansas fans, that's not how the story ended.
Instead, Alden took a chance on a 32-year-old assistant with no previous head coaching experience. Sure, the early years with Snyder at the helm were great. In just his second season,
the 2015 Tigers were ranked as high as No. 2 in the polls and finished the season in the Elite Eight. It looked like Snyder was on his way to building a basketball power in Columbia, Mo. But that was actually the beginning of his downfall. NCAA violations and players in trouble with the law, cast a black cloud over the career of a promising, young coach.
Sure, it's easy now to laugh at prospect of Self embracing everything we hate about the Tigers, but things nearly turned out just the opposite. Instead, it could be Kansas fans looking at Missouri with envy, asking, "What if Self was our coach?"
Schneider is a Lawrence junior in journalism.
New St. Louis coach recovers from surgery
NFL
ST. LOUIS - The St. Louis Rams' newly hired defensive quality control coach, Joe Baker, is recovering after having his appendix removed, team officials
said Wednesday.
Dr. Douglas Pogue said Baker underwent an emergency appendectomy Monday night at a St. Louis hospital.
Baker was hired last week. He enters his 12th NFL season this year and was previously the secondary/safeties coach for the Green Bay Packers.
According to the Rams' Web site, the former Princeton wide receiver was with the New Orleans Saints from 2000 to 2004 Rams spokesman Duane Lewis said that Baker would not attend an annual event in Indianapolis this week to scout among 300 top college players.
The Associated Press
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Texas forward LaMarcus Aldridge shoots over Kansas State forward Tyler Hughes during the first half of Wednesday night's game in Manhattan. Texas defeated Kansas State 65-84.
Texas edges K-State
BY STEVE BRISENDINE
A touch of Irish in downtown Lawrence
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
▼ BIG 12 MEN'S BASKETBALL
MANHATTAN — Kenton Paulino went 4-for-4 from the free throw line in the final 16 seconds, and No. 7 Texas narrowly avoided its second-straight loss with a 65-64 victory over Kansas State Wednesday night.
LaMarcus Aldridge had 16 points for the Longhorns, who were coming off an 81-60 loss at Oklahoma State on Sunday.
Paulino's free throws capped
PJ. Tucker had 14 points and 12 rebounds for Texas (23-4, 11-2) and Daniel Gibson added 13 points — but both almost undid their scoring performances by missing free throws in the final minute.
an 11-point night in which he
went 8-for-8 from the line.
Kansas State (14-10, 5-8) lost to Texas at home for the first time in Jim Wooldridge's six seasons as coach.
The Wildcats, who beat then-No. 10 Texas 58-48 in Manhattan on March 6, 2004, almost pulled off another upset.
But after David Hoskins scored to cut Texas' lead to 61-60 with 3:10 to go, Kansas State didn't score again until Hoskins made a free throw with 3.7 seconds left to get within 63-61.
Tucker missed two 1-and-1 opportunities in the final minute, but Brad Buckman rebounded Tucker's second miss with 19 seconds left and passed
After Hoskins' free throw made it a two-point game, Paulino was fouled on the inbounds play and hit two free throws with 2 seconds left for a 65-16 lead. Mario Taybon hit a 3-point at the buzzer for Kansas State.
to Pauloio, who was fouled and hit both free throws for a 63-60 lead.
Lance Harris led the Wildcats with 18 points. Hoskins added 16 points and Taybron, starting for injured point guard Clent Stewart, had 12.
The Wildcats led only once, when Taybron opened the game with a 3-pointer. Harris' basket with just over 6 minutes left got Kansas State within 57-56, but they never tied it.
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