It's tourney time
The women's basketball team looks to defeat Oklahoma State in the first round of the Big 12 Tournament.
6B&8B
2007 PHIBPs 66 Big 12 Women's Basketball Championship Bracket
TUESDAY, MARCH 6, 2007 WWW.KANSAN.COM
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
SPORTS
2007 Philips 66 Big 12 Women's Basketball Championship Bracket
March 8, 8-10, 2007
Coca-Cola Center
Chinatown CKW-CWM
No. 2 Colorado
Game 4
Match
Game 8
No. 8 Kansas State
No. 1 Texas Tech
Game 9
Match
Game 8
3:00 p.m.
No. 3 Utah State
Game 8
3:00 p.m.
No. 1 Kansas State
No. 4 Kentucky
No. 7 Texas
Game 9
9:00 p.m.
No. 10 Missouri
Game 9
9:00 p.m.
No. 4 Oklahoma State
Game 4
8:30 p.m.
No. 11 Kansas State
Game 8
8:30 p.m.
No. 3 Denver
Games 4, 5 & 6 are by Coca-Cola
Games 8, 9 & 10 are by TAK
Edited by Joe Caponio
Robinett is an Austin, Texas senior in journalism.
PAGE 1B
So please, stop listening to these people and smell the regular season. It's been pretty special so far.
》'HORN BORN, 'HAWK BRED
Games 1.4 televised by Cox Cable
Games 6-11 televised by FXN
All Times Limited on Control and Subject to Changes
Bracket madness starts anew
Pat Forde, another ESPN writer who was among the 20 invited by the committee, wrote in his article: "NCAA staffers said that when their five-day selection marathon is done and they're driving home, they'll often hear radio commentators saying things that are so wrong they can only laugh."
BY TRAVIS ROBINETT
KANSAN COLUMNIST
@KANSAN.COM
It's March Madness, the it's alliterate month of the year. But does March really need the extra adjective? It's spring break and non-stop, single elimination basketball. The best month of the year doesn't need any more advertising.
The selection process is inexact and unpredictable. My advice is to just say no to "bracketology." The bracket you see on Selection Sunday is the only one that matters. What these self-proclaimed experts say does not make a difference.
My point? Too much emphasis is placed on March during the five-month duration of the college basketball season. This has fans drooling for bracket projections all season, but especially now. It's like the whole world of college basket球 wants to know who's in, whos out and who the No.1 seeds will be.
So the media gives into the fan's demands and pumps out "bracketologists" by the baker's dozen. By the way, a "bracketologist" is someone who believes the selection process is as an exact science and uses past trends and numbers to predict the tournament field. It's almost as if it's a new career. Using "bracket" and "prediction" in a Google search, nearly one million results turned up.
Of course in reality, these "brack etologists" don't know what they're talking about. If you'd really like to know how a bracket is made, read one of the articles written after 20 reporters were shown the inside of the selection committee's process on Feb. 7. Before then, it was unexplored territory.
The results of that day debunked a key myth that "bracketologists" still cling to; the importance of the RPI. ESPN's Andy Katz wrote in his report on the event: "The RPI was on the screen when teams were compared, but a team's RPI wasn't used in any argument that was discussed among the entire group."
Flaws are a part of the RPI, which is a computer rating system based on winning percentage and strength of schedule. The committee acknowledges this fact, but the national experts in the media won't stop talking about the importance for a team to have wins against the RPI top 50.
The committee explained how everything works to the group. Then the group became the committee for a day to make a bracket themselves.
MEN'S BASKETBALL
Wright's performance earns him top honors
BY MICHAEL PHILLIPS
The awards keep rolling in for this year's team, and Julian Wright has been the big winner so far for the layhawks.
The sophomore forward was named All-Big 12 first team by both the Big 12 coaches and The Associated Press. He also was named the co-Big 12 Player of the Week.
"He changes how teams have to play us," coach Bill Self said. "For a guy at his size to get 13 rebounds in a big game, it's very valuable. It is good to see that a guy can do so many things to impact a game and it not necessarily be all about points."
Teammate Russell Robinson said he was impressed by Wright's performance on the boards during that game.
Wright averaged 8.1 rebounds per game during the season, the most on the team.
"The most impressive thing to me about Julian is his rebounding," he said. "He's a hard worker and a great player."
"The Florida game may have spoiled us into thinking he should be doing those things on a consistent basis." Self said. "That's like saying Kevin Durant should be scoring 20 points every 12 minutes."
But he can make baskets, too. He scored a career high 33 points against Missouri and 21 points when the Jayhawks defeated then-No. 1 Florida in Las Vegas.
Wright shared the Big 12 Player of the Week award with Durant, a freshman at Texas. Wright was commended for his defensive work; he shut down Durant in the second half of their game with simple
When asked about the award, Wright made sure to acknowledge his teammates, and said that the
SEE MEN'S BASKETBALL ON PAGE 3B
Julian Wright manuevers around Kevin Durant in Saturday's game against Texas. Wright and Durant were named co-Big 12 Players of the Week.
KANSAN File Photo
KANSAN File Photo
WWOMEN'S BASKETBALL
McIntosh offers offense more options
Taylor McIntosh puts up a shot against a Missouri defender. Coach Bonnie Hendrickson will look to McIntosh to play a key role in today's Big 12 tournament match up against Oklahoma State in Oklahoma City, Okla.
Freshmen will look to guard for help today against Oklahoma State
BY CASE KEEFER
It wasn't an outstanding practice, an inspirational meeting or even a great game that coach Bonnie Henrickson points out as the moment she knew Taylor McNitosh was ready to become an offensive weapon.
No, Henrickson remembers a text message after a 78-58 loss to Nebraska from the tumor guard.
"It was a text message I got from her after I told her she did a great job," she said. "It said 'Coach, I'm trying to be the offensive post player you've been begging for in practice'."
Despite the 20-point loss, it was a turning point for the layhawks' season. McIntosh scored a then career high 16 points against the Cornhuskers. But more importantly it opened the gates for McIntosh to continue improving offensively for the rest of the season.
Entering the game, she averaged just over four points per game. Since the loss at Nebraska, McIntosh is averaging over nine points per game entering the Big 12 Conference Tournament.
"The guards used to get stuck and just throw up a three or try to get it to Shaq." McIntosh said, "But now with more pressure on her. I'm making myself more available to help on offense."
McIntosh has scored in double figures in five of Kansas' last nine games and has been a key component to its improbable four late season conference wins.
"I think she took it to heart when we were struggling so much to score inside." Henrickson said.
By being a solid fixture densely in the paint, McIntosh is one of only two jayhawks that have started every game this season. But she seldom showed much scoring ability early in the season, which often led to lopsided points in the paint margins.
However, Henrickson never doubted that McIntosh could become an efficient scorer and continued to challenge her. Henrickson noticed trends in McIntosh's shot that led to her optimism.
"When Taylor struggles offensively, it's when she is shooting not to miss it," Henrickson said. "When she shoots it to make it, she makes tough shots."
This was best evidenced by Thursday's win at Missouri. McIntosh scored a career high 17 points on 80 percent shooting from the field, connecting from many different spots on the court. The win was extra special considering when the Tigers came to Lawrence, McIntosh had one of the worst games of her season.
"Against Missouri at our place, she played without an ounce of confidence in the paint, shorted everything, and got rejected." Henrickson said, "I told her you are so much better than that and you owe yourself and your teammates a lot more than that."
McIntosh responded in Columbia and didn't let her flurry of stop points
SEE MCINTOSH ON PAGE 6B
》 BASEBALL
Players gain confidence during home games
BY ALISSA BAUER
After being empty for nearly an extra month, Kansas' Hoglund Ballpark is booked this week, playing host to four games in four days.
Because of below-freezing temperatures and poor field conditions, the North Dakota State series was cancelled earlier this season. To make up for those games, coach
Ritch Price had to find opponents to fill the gaps. The Jayhawks (9-5) face the Tabor Bluejays (5-6) this afternoon at 4 p.m. after completing their first doubleheader at home Sunday. On Wednesday, the Jayhawks play Baker.
"I think the big thing is we need to get outside," Price said. "Take pre-game BP, take infield/outfield, play against somebody else's different jersey and get the confidence level up"
The confidence level rose after completing a two-game sweep Sunday against Western Illinois. The Jayhawks out-scored the Leathernecks 21-8 but committed seven errors in the doubleheader.
"We've been pretty solid defensively and errors are going to happen," said junior shortstop Erik
Morrison was a little shaky defensively, posting two errors in the second game against Western Illinois, but he did plenty of redeeming at the plate. He enters today's game
Morrison. "It's just a matter of how we rebound from the errors and come back and keep ourselves up, keep focused and keep confident and make a plus play later on in the game and redeem yourself."
smoking hot after a 5-for-8, three RBI day on Sunday.
Sophomore catcher Buck Afenir also found his groove at home this weekend. Afenir belted a home run in each game, one of which was a grand slam to put the first game against the Leathernecks away in early innings. Like much of the
SEE BASEBALL ON PAGE 3B