THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
SPORTS
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2006
WWW.KANSAN.COM
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Junior guard benched
BY MICHAEL PHILLIPS
mphillips@kansan.com
KANSAN STAFF WRITER
PAGE 1B
A tough year for Shaquina Mosley became worse on Monday. The junior guard was suspended from the women's basketball team for an indefinite period of time.
A statement released by the
KU athletics office said only that the suspension was "at the coach's discretion." Kansas coach Bonnie Henrickson declined any further comment.
Kansas 94 - Oklahoma State 49
their commite Mosley, nick named "Shaq," was the most hyped of this year's recruiting class, coming off a season when she was named National Junior College Player of the Year at Central Arizona College. She was one of the most athletic players Mosley was suspended indefinitely on Monday for reasons not related to academics. The KU athletics office said that the suspension was "at the coach's discretion." Coach Bonnie Henrickson declined to comment.
to take the court for Kansas in some time, standing just 5-foot-6 but able to rebound over much taller players.
That athleticism has not translated to success in Division I college basketball, and Mosley has averaged just 2.7 points per game and 2.3 rebounds per game this season.
Henrickson said earlier this year that Mosley had struggled to grasp the intricacies of running the offense, a job that went to freshman guard Ivana Catic.
Mosley's lone start in Big 12 Conference play came in a 90-40 loss to Baylor. She started when Catic was benched because of poor defensive play.
In January, when the team had a week off between games, Henrickson used the extra time to talk with bench players Mosley, junior guard Sharita Smith, and freshman forward Sophronia Sallard, who the coach dubbed "the three amigos."
Sallard has made progress since then, winning a spot in the starting lineup for last Saturday's game at Missouri. Smith has seen limited minutes this season.
"They need to band together, get each other right, and demand more from each other," Hendrickson said at the time.
SEE BENCHED ON PAGE 8B
Rylan Howe/KANSAN
Sophomore forward Sasha Kaun and Oklahoma State freshman center Kenny Cooper jump for the tip-off of Monday night's game in Stillwater, Okla. The Jawhays and Cowbys went to haftime with a tied score of 23-23.
An 'ugly' victory
Jayhawks come out slow but take off in second half
BY RYAN COLIAanni
coliaanni@kansan.com
KANSAN SENIOR SPORTSWITER
STILLWATER, Okla. — Kansas did not make a jump shot for the entire first half against Oklahoma State Monday night. The Jayhawks committed 15 turnovers in the half and shot 27.3 percent.
In a game that was by no means pretty, they still found a way to win.
Kansas trailed by two points midway through the second half, but went on a 24-7 run to finish the game. Kansas still committed 20 turnovers.
It took Kansas 30 minutes to find its offensive rhythm, but it still defeated Oklahoma State 64-49.
"It was ugly ball there for a while," Kansas coach Bill Self said, "but this team needs to learn to win that way. I thought the last 10 minutes we played pretty well."
SEE VICTORY ON PAGE 4B
▼'HORN BORN, 'HAWK BRED
Team deserves to have media pay attention
TRAVIS ROBINETT
trobinett@kansan.com
This year's basketball team has been a compelling story. Kansas' traditional power struggled early to overcome its youth and rise to a 9-2 conference record.
It's now playing like a top 15 team and
It's a wonder why Kansas basketball doesn't get as much national attention as some other programs.
threatening to win the Big 12 Conference, with the NCAA tournament in sight. But Kansas has been a rare topic of conversation in the national media.
It's a wonder why Kansas basketball doesn't get as much national attention as some other programs.
I don't need to tell you about all of Kansas' accomplishments. As the third winningest program in NCAA basketball, it ranks as high as any program nationally when
winning is combined with tradition. At least KU fans like to think so.
But do you ever see Kansas' story discussed on sports talk programs like "Pardon the Interruption" or "Around the Horn?" Or do you see it as the feature of a report on "College GameDav?" Hardly.
If North Carolina were in the same position, one game behind Duke in the conference standings, the media would fall in love with the young, resilient Tar Heels. Instead, Saturday night's "SportsCenter" put Kansas on the bubble, in the same category as truly struggling teams like Kentucky, Arizona and Louisville. That's absurd.
Anyone who actually follows this season's team knows how good it is. About two weeks ago Jason Whitlock wrote in the Kansas City Star that Kansas was a legitimate national title threat. Last Monday, ESPN's Fran Fraschilla, who has broadcast a number of Kansas' games, said he thought Kansas should have been ranked because of the way it had been playing recently.
So, is this some kind of media conspiracy? Does the East Coast bias really exist? When Roy Williams left with his University of North Carolina connection, did the attention he brought to Kansas leave too? Or is this lack of notice Kansas' fault?
One reason could be that Kansas has not recently won a national championship. Other powers in college basketball like Duke, North Carolina, Kentucky and Connecticut have won multiple national titles since Kansas' last one in 1988. For Kansas to be that respected, it has to win the big one.
Another reason could be all the big upsets Kansas has been involved in since 1988. Most people see Kansas as the team that always has a chance but ruins it in the tournament, thanks to shocking victories by University of Texas at El Paso in 1992,Arizona in 1997,Rhode Island in 1998,Syracuse in 2003 and Bucknell in 2005 among others.
With the recruits he'll bring in, Kansas coach Bill Self, who should be strongly considered for national coach of the year, is about to change those perceptions and put Kansas basketball back where it belongs in the media's eyes.
Within the next 10 years, the Jayhawks will win at least two national titles. We'll see how they're perceived then.
+ Robinett is an Austin, Texas, junior in journalism. He is Kansan correspondent editor.
INTRAMURALS
Danny Friedman; Cleveland, Ohio senior is pressured by the Phi Kappa Tau defense during an intramural basketball game Sunday night in the Student Recreation and Fitness Center. Friedman's team, the Moody Maniacs, defeated the Phi Kappa Tau intramural team.
David Nofsinger/KANSAN
Moodies get maniacal in nasty win
BY HEATHER RIFFEL
hriffel@kansan.com
KANSAN SPORTSWRITER
What started off as an intramural basketball game at the Student Recreation and Fitness Center turned into a game with flaring tempers.
Physical play and disputed calls were part of the 40-32 Moody Maniacs victory against Phi Kappa Tau on Sunday night. After a while, it seemed like playing basketball wasn't important to either team.
This was evidenced in the technical foul called on the Moody Maniacs' Danny Friedman, Cleveland senior, for comments he made to the referee in
the second half.
Tyler Dall, Overland Park junior, was injured on the play leading to Friedman's technical foul when many players dove for a loose ball.
Friedman's teammates went as far as taking him out of the game so he could cool down. Friedman jawed at the referee for much of the second half.
half. Cummings said.
Play on the court became more aggressive after the scuffle. Players even tried to tackle each other at one point.
The Moody Maniacs' PJ. Cummings, Wheaton, Ill., junior, said the game became frustrating because of the officiating. As a result, neither team played the game properly in the second
Phi Kappa Tau's Travis Koehring, Wichita junior, said it was the worst officiating he had ever seen. He said both teams ended up taking their frustrations out on each other. Before Friedman's technical foul and the referees' questionable calls, there was an
"The officiating was so bad," Cummings said, "that it reminded me of Hue Hollins' phantom call on Scottie Pippen during Game Seven of the 1994 Eastern Conference Championship between the Chicago Bulls and New York Knicks that kept the Bulls from winning four championships in a row." The Knicks beat the Bulls in the 1994 conference semifinals.
actual basketball game.
Phi Kappa Tau started slowly, but Koehring and Devin Mirfasihi, Leawood freshman, made free throws to keep the team in the game when few of their shots were falling.
The Moody Maniacs' Brad Liszt, Minnetonka, Minn., junior, and Bryan Cohen, Tulsa, Okla., senior, rained three-pointers to give the Maniacs an early lead.
The Manias led 25-19 at the end of the first half.
In the tumultuous second half, neither team produced many points. After combining for 44 first half points, the two teams scored only 28 in the second half.
— Edited by Frank Tankard
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