Regular season ends
The women's basketball team travels to Columbia, Mo., for the second half of the Border Showdown and their last game of the 2006-2007 regular season. The Big 12 tournament starts Tuesday.
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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
SPORTS
COLLEGE ATHLETICS
BUILDING A DOUBLE THREAT
Texas is able to afford a large athletics budget thanks, in part, to Darryl K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium's 85,000 seats.
Ohio Stadium seats more than 101,000 fans, bringing in millions in revenue from just a single game.
The average attendance at Kansas' Memorial Stadium has improved in each of the last two seasons.
The Erwin Center, home to least 'basketball program, is the largest arena in the Big 12 Conference.
Value City Arena, which opened in 1998, is home to the No. 1 Ohio State Buckeyes. The arena seats more than 17,000.
With a priority points system for seats, Kansas has increased the revenue it makes off of home games at Allen Fieldhouse.
Texas indoor practice facility, known as "The Bubble," opened in 2004 at a cost of $4 million.
The Woody Hays Athletic Center houses an indoor practice field, coaches' offices and weight room.
Construction of the new football facility is one attempt Kansas is making toward putting football and basketball on equal footing.
Football schools try for basketball power while Kansas does opposite
BY MARK DENT
When Tom Hof, Ohio State's associate athletic director, found out a reporter from Lawrence had called him, he wanted to make sure he returned the call.
Hof used to be the ticket manager for the Kansas Athletics Department in the early 1980s. He gushed about how he met his wife there and how much he enjoyed living in the city.
Hof definitely misses Lawrence, but it's doubtful that he would even want to think about leaving his situation right now.
You see, Ohio State is the envy of
just about every other college in the country. The Buckeyes made it to the BCS National Championship game in football this year before losing to Florida, and the basketball team is currently ranked No.1 in the country. For the second straight season, the Buckeyes have locked up Big 10 titles in football and basketball.
Ohio State has done what few other college athletic programs have — it has built basketball and football programs that have been consistently successful.
"There's a tremendous amount of pride," Hof said. "Pretty much the entire community is proud. It's great a time to be a Buckeye."
It's a goal that Kansas has not been able to achieve, but is working toward.
TWO IN ONE
The Aggies are tied for second place with Texas and beat the Jayhawks at home last month. The Longhorns, Kansas opponent on Saturday, feature one of the nation's
In the Big 12 Conference, no team can brag of achievements quite as remarkable as Ohio State's, but two programs come close. Texas and Texas A&M, both formerly seen as football powers and nothing else, have elevated themselves to the top of the conference in basketball.
best players in freshman Kevin Durant.
They built consistently good basketball programs without compromising any of their football tradition. Texas won the national championship in 2006 and was a late season slide away from winning the Big 12 for the second season in a row last fall. A&M has been somewhat down compared to the days of Bear Bryant, but the Aggies had their best year under coach Dennis Franchione last fall.
SEE FOOTBALL ON PAGE 8A
》 WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Freshmen crucial for win against Missouri
BY ASHER FUSCO
A late season match-up between two of the worst teams in the Big 12 Conference might seem irrelevant, but Kansas coach Bonnie Hendrickson sees the importance of tonight's game at Missouri.
"We're still playing hard!" Henrickson said. "This game is potentially a great momentum builder."
Along with crucial momentum for next week's conference tournament, the winner will take home border showdown bragging rights.
Kansas lost the last time the teams met, 67-57, but the Feb. 14 game was close until the final minutes. If the Jayhawks can exact some revenge, it will be Henrickson's fourth victory against the Tigers in seven tries.
In that game, Kansas had no answer for Missouri center EeTisha Riddle. The 6-foot-3-inch forward scored 15 points, tallied 12 rebounds and dished out six assists. Kansas junior guard Taylor McIntosh got into foul trouble early and tentatively guarded Riddle for much of the contest.
"They just took control of the game early," Henrickson said. "We couldn't defend Riddle."
Riddle is the Tigers' most potent offensive weapon, but she is not the only standout the lashawks will have to deal with. Forward Carlyn Savant and guard Tiffany Brooks present tough match-ups for Kansas freshman forward Danielle McCray and freshman guard Kelly John. Savant and Brooks are averaging more than 11 points per game, and Savant is averaging eight rebounds per game.
Kansas will counter Missouri's capable offense with a group of players who have started to fulfill their potential in the past several weeks. Freshman forward Sade Morris, Kohn and McCray have become one of the best young trios in the conference.
McCray has been the most efficient Jayhawk during conference play. She makes 38 percent of her three-point attempts and scores 12 points per game. Considering senior guard Shaquina Mosley is recovering from a concussion and may not play tonight, Kohn will need to step up and put the offensive load on her shoulders.
Kohn's occasional flashes of brilliance and her sparkling shooting touch have been tempered by incon-
SEE WOMEN ON PAGE 10A
Texas center Deter Pittman defends Texas A&M forward Marlon Pompey during the Longhops 98-96 double-overtime victory Wednesday. Night Texas A&M's loss gives Kansas at least a share of the Big 12 regular season title.
Eric Gay/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Loss gives Kansas at least share of title
MEN'S BASKETBALL
BY MICHAEL PHILLIPS
The Texas Longhorns have cleared the path for Kansas to win the Big 12 title outright, but they're not expecting flowers this morning in Austin.
Texas defeated Texas A&M Wednesday night, leaving Kansas in sole possession of first place in the conference. To win the title, the lajayhaws must win their last game of the season — against the Longhorns.
The two teams face off at 11
a.m. Saturday at Allen Fieldhouse.
If Kansas loses to Texas, the two teams will tie for the conference championship. Texas A&M could then create a three-way tie by defeating Missouri later that day.
Jayhawk coach Bill Self isn't going to get caught up in the math, though.
"The good thing is, we know we have a chance to play for the league title" he said.
Kansas and Texas have yet to
SEE BASKETBALL ON PAGE 10A
>> 60 SECONDS TO GRADUATION
Support team,not gimmick
SPN's Pat Forede made an excellent point in his column Tuesday: The whole color-out is a bit trite.
This may seem like an odd position for a columnist who, for the past two weeks, has used his inches of newspaper to advocate wearing a uniform color to Kansas sporting events. My point, however, is not to advocate for one night of color coordination, my point is to advocate for Kansas fans to get behind one color.
Yes, I think Kansas fans should all wear the proper shade of blue on Saturday – the shade I've illustrated in a previous column. But more importantly, Kansas fans need to get with the picture whenever they're
BY JONATHAN KEALING
KANSAN SPORTS COLUMNIST
JKEALING@KANSAN.COM
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supporting this school.
If the Athletics Department hands out T-shirts to fans on Saturday, put it on. Typically they have shirts for senior day, but without any basketball seniors, it's hard to say what they have planned. Nonetheless, it's an
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SEE KEALING ON PAGE 10A
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