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KANSAS 00
KANSAS 15
FRIDAY,MARCH 16,2007
WWW.KANSAN.COM
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
SPORTS
PAGE 1B
KANSAS VS. NIAGARA, 6:10 TONIGHT, CBS
Preparation time
Sherron Collins pauses before he moves past an obstacle set up for a drill during open practice Thursday afternoon. The Jayhawks tip off against the Niagara Eagles at 6 p.m. tonight.
Amanda Sellers/KANSAN
Steven Colbert three Big 12 teams make Final Four
BY MICHAEL PHILLIPS
CHICAGO — The Jayhawks practiced twice on Thursday. The afternoon shoot-around at the United Center was open to the public, but they also practiced privately at a local high school earlier in the day.
The earlier session was the more intense of the two, as the coaches focused on drills they thought would help prepare the players for Niagara.
"There were lots of picks, lots of getting through screens and stuff like that," freshman forward Darrell Arthur said. "Also a lot of boxing out, because they are averaging 15 offensive rebounds per game."
Who's up next?
The Purple Eagles have an advantage at the forward position because their big men can shoot three-pointers as well as rebound. That puts most of the defensive focus for tonight's game on the Jayhawk forwards, who will have to do some running.
"It changes the post defense, because you have to think like a guard now," Arthur said. "There's going to be a lot of screens up there."
Injury update:
The Jayhawks defecated the Wildcats in Kentucky last January.
"I would like to play Kentucky," he said. "Just so they can get a shot at us again."
If the Jayhaws win tonight, they will face the winner of the Kentucky-Villanova game, which will take place 30 minutes after the Kansas game ends. After being neutral on the subject all week, sophomore guard Brandon Rush expressed a rooting interest on Thursday.
"I'm 100 percent right now," he said. "I had a good practice
Freshman forward Darrell Arthur is ready to play after receiving treatment all week for injuries he sustained last week at the Big 12 Tournament.
Wednesday and another good one ["Thursday"]."
Junior center Sasha Kaun isn't quite as lucky. He's still healing from a bruised back he suffered on Sunday and will start the game, but he may not play his usual allotment of minutes.
"It's feeling a lot better compared to the last practice," he said. "We'll see how it goes. As long as I don't get hit, I should be fine. It's just a bad bruise."
Homecoming for Julian:
Sophomore forward Julian Wright
and freshman guard Sherron Collins are returning to their hometown this week, but they aren't going to their mom's house for home cooking. They're describing the weekend as "a business trip" and are making an
SEE BASKETBALL ON PAGE 8B
》 TENNIS
Kansan native stands out on tennis squad
BY RUSTIN DODD
A young girl from Salina stood sweaty and exhausted after a long day of playing tennis at the Sunflower State Games in Lawrence.
There was one thing Stephanie Smith did not want to do. She did not want to watch more tennis.
But, after some gentle prod ing from her father, Larry, Smith found herself sitting courtside later that day, her eyes locked in on the University of Kansas tennis team in action.
Fast-forward nearly 10 years, and there is Smith, again locked in on a University of Kansas tennis match. Except this time Smith is on the court, rallying to carry Kansas to a 4-3 victory over Utah. From the sideline, Larry Smith watches his daughter.
"My dad would drag me to KU tennis matches," a smiling Smith said. "I didn't always want to go."
Stephanie Smith is a junior on the Kansas tennis team, and, as a native Kansan, she is a rarity. There is a distinct international flavor in college tennis. International players
Home court advantage
dominate most Division 1 rosters.
"It's always the place I wanted to play," Smith said. "My parents both went to K-State, so it was a little different to want to come to KU, but it's always where I wanted to play tennis."
The lajahwaks are a prime example. The team features three players from Russia and two from Hungary. Only Smith and junior Lauren Hommell hail from the United States. Smith said that beating the odds and making the lineup has been a "dream come true."
"We have to leave town a lot to go shopping," Smith said. "You can't even find a good place to go shopping."
"She's definitely a Kansas girl and wanted to be a lajahawk. She wanted to stay close to home and this has been a good fit for her," she said.
In the central Kansas town of Salina grabbing a famous Cozy Inn hamburger is about as good as it gets.
Coach Amy Hall-Holt echoed Smith's thoughts.
Following through
But Salina does have one distinctive trait. This city is obsessed with
"She's probably the best girls tennis player that I've seen come through Central," said Danny Struble, a 2005 graduate and former tennis player for Salina Central. "I mean, we had the Boys State Champion tennis team and she could beat all the guys on that team."
Lisa Lipovac/KANSAN
Smith left her own mark on Salina athletics by placing second three times in the 5A State Championships, playing for Salina Central High School.
Of the seven women that make up the tennis team, junior Stephanie Smith is the only one from Kansas. Smith is from Salina, where she graduated from Salina Central.
sports. Nearly 10,000 people flock to watch Salina Central play Salina South in football, a match-up that Dallas Cowboys cornerback Terrence Newman and current Kansas running back lake Sharp both participated in during their high school years in Salina.
Break point
Smith found that growing up in Salina posed a few problems for a young tennis player trying to stay competitive in the fanatical world of youth tennis.
During her freshman season, Smith won nine singles matches and led the team with a .500 winning percentage. Smith followed that up with an 8-6 singles record her sophomore year and was named to the First Team Academic All Big 12.
"Being from Salina, I had to go to a lot of different towns," Smith said. "We didn't have indoor courts in Salina until the middle of my high school career. I would have to travel at least an hour to play indoors in the winter."
SEE TENNIS ON PAGE 3B
》 BASEBALL
No.8 Aggies want revenge
KU faces Texas A&M this weekend
BY ALISSA BAUER
"It's just one of those things," junior shortstop Erik Morrison said Wednesday after Kansas lost to Wichita State, 18-3. "You get beat pretty bad, it's almost like you walk in tomorrow like you've never played the game. We pick up where we left off before this game started. We just believe in each other and know that we've got what it takes to get it done. If we go out there and keep our confidence up, we'll be fine."
Two days after a pair of blowouts, a victory and a defeat, Kansas begins its search for a happy medium tonight in College Station, Texas.
The weekend series against the No. 8 Aggies (18-2) marks the first time the layhawks (12-9) have opened their Big 12 Conference season on Texas A&M turf, Olsen Field has proven to be quite the advantage for the Aggies, who began the season unranked.
Although Texas &M has a commanding hold on the series record at 35-13, last season it was all Kansas. The Aggies were the last regular-season opponent the Jayhawks faced. Their sweeping of the Aggies kicked off the eight-game winning streak that resulted
Since then, the Aggies have won 15 of their 16 games, losing only their second game of the season to the defending College World Series champions, No. 5 Oregon State. No. 14 Arizona State was
Texas A&M is 16-1 at home and has not left the friendly confines of College Station since Feb. 11, when the team wrapped up the three-day Houston College Classic at Minute Maid Park.
Numbers like that could be dangerous for a Kansas pitching staff whose ERA is almost a run higher at 3.69 than A&M's staff at 2.75, but are exactly what the Aggies are hoping for if they are to redeem last year's performance against the Jayhawks.
On Sunday, junior outfielder Ben Feltner went 3-for-3 with an RBI in the series finale. The Temple Junior College transfer will be a new and dangerous face for Kansas. Feltner's .375 batting average is second only to Aggie giant Blake Stouffer.
Stouffer, junior third baseman,
last week's co-Big 12 Player of
the Week, he leads the Aggies in
batting average (.429), triples (3),
home runs (3) and RBI (28).
The Aggies have the uppe- hand on the Jayhawks heading into the weekend Texas A&M swept Florida last weekend. Relentless for the duration of the weekend, the Aggies outscored the Gators 26-7 in the three-game set.
SEE BASEBALL ON PAGE 3B
Last season, the Jayhawks swept the Aggies. The baseball team heads to College Station, Texas, to play Texas A&M today and Saturday.
KANSAN FILE PHOTO
》FOOTBALL
Offensive overhaul Mangino revamps Kansas'system
BY ASHER FUSCO
Fans will in ences in the Kansas offense when the team holds its first open practice at 3:40 p.m. today at the practice fields south of Allen Fieldhouse.
ll notice some differ-
no stranger to Kansas, having spent the 2003 and 2004 seasons as the offensive line coach and run-game
"There are things we like that are going to stay. But we've added some wrinkles that we're excited about."
MARK MANGINO Football coach
improvements over last year's inconsistent offense.
"In the pass game there is some major restructuring." Mangino said. "There are definitely changes in the offense."
The renovation started when offensive coordinator Ed Warinner was hired in January. Warinner is
coordinator. Most recently, Warinner wored k at Illinois. Because of his familiarity with Kansas offensive system, the transition has been smooth for Warinner and the rest of the
coaching staff.
Mangino said the most externally noticeable changes may be the addition of a few new passing routes and offensive formations, with the most widespread changes
SEE FOOTBALL ON PAGE 3B
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