8B
SPORTS
THE UNIVERSITY HAIRY KANSAN
TUESDAY FEBRUARY 30, 2007
John Dixon/ASSOCIATED PRESS
**Illinois' Chester Frazier (3) and Warren Carter (41) go after a rebound in the second half of a college basketball game against Northwestern at the Assembly Hall in Champaign, IL. On Sunday, Illinois won 48-37.**
BASKETBALL
BASKETBALL
No. 2 Tennessee defeats
No. 7 LSU in close matchu
BATON ROUGE, La. — Candace Parker had 27 points and 13 rebounds to help No. 2 Tennessee hold off seventh-ranked LSU for a 56-51 Victory Monday night.
Tennessee never trailed, but LSU tied the game at 51 on Sylvia
Fowles' free throws with 1:21 to go.
Parker put Tennessee back ahead with a free throw after she was fouled on a crucial offensive rebound. Then Shannon Bobbitt made a pair of foul shots after Sidney Spencer's seventh offensive rebound, and Tennessee's 20th, to preserve the decisive possession for the Lady Vols (25-2, 12-0 Southeastern Conference).
Bobbitt finished with 13 points, including three 3-pointers, for Tennessee, which has won eight straight since a 74-70 loss to No. 1 Duke.
Fowles had 18 points and 16 rebounds for LSU (23-5, 9-3), which has lost two straight at home since No. 3 Connecticut snapped the Lady Tigers' 43-game home winning streak that dated to February of 2004.
No.1,2 meet again
》 COLLEGE BASKETBALL
BY RALPH D. RUSSO ASSOCIATED PRESS
Wisconsin, Ohio State fight for lead in Big Ten Conference
Get ready for another 1 vs. 2 showdown in the Big Ten — this time on the hardwood.
Wisconsin was the new No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25 poll on Monday and Big Ten rival Ohio State was not far behind at No. 2.
The Badgers (26-2, 12-1), on top of the poll for the first time in school history, play the Buckeyes (24-3, 12-1) in Columbus on Sunday — just a bit more than three months after Ohio State and Michigan played a much-hyped 1 vs. 2 football game at Ohio Stadium.
Florida's 83-70 loss at Vanderbilt on Saturday snapped the Gators' 17-game winning streak and dropped them from the top spot in the media poll for the second time this season.
Wisconsin, which was No. 3 last week, leapfrogged second-ranked Ohio State to become the fourth No. 1 team this season, and 52nd different school to hold the top spot in the history of the AP poll.
For the Badgers and coach Bo Ryan, there's not much time to celebrate their new lotty status, not with a game at Michigan State on Tuesday.
So Ryan held his own 60 second celebration at home, with a big foam "We're No. 1" finger he took from his kids, a party favor and a handful of paper torn into confetti.
"I ran around with the foam finger, blowing the horn and throwing the contetti for about a minute." Ryan said with a laugh. "Then I went back into my office and watched the DVD of a very good Iowa team losing by 30 to Michigan State."
The Badgers received 35 first-place votes and 1,747 points. Ohio State got 31 first-place votes and 1,728 points. No. 3 Florida received four first-place votes and No. 4 UCLA got two.
"I'm really happy for the players and the university," Ryan said. "It says something about the work that's been put in, not just this year but over the years. That's the reward.
"It does make a great statement for the program."
For the Big Ten, it's the second time the league best known for its football has had the top two teams in the AP basketball poll. Michigan was No. 1 and Indiana No. 2 on Nov. 30, 1992.
The last time the same conference had Nos. 1 and 2 was last season, when the Big East had Connecticut at No. 1 and Villanova No. 2 in the second-to-last poll.
The last 1 vs. 2 game was also
The last 1 vs.
last season. No.
1 Duke defeated.
No. 2 Texas
97-66 at
the Meadowlands in
New Jersey on
Dec. 10, 2005.
The Blue Devils returned to the rankings at No. 18 after a one week absence, A four-game losing
Duke's Atlantic Coast Conference rival and Tobacco Road neighbor, North Carolina, slipped a spot to No. 5 after a 1-1 week. Kansas jumped three spots to No. 6.
"It's not a bunch of McDonald's All-Americans and five-star recruits. It's a bunch of guys who paid their dues."
streak ended an 11-year run in the Top 25 for Duke. The Blue Devils were ranked in 200 straight polls, the second-longest streak ever.
Alando Tucker, who has seven consecutive 20-point games and is a leading candidate for national player of the year, and the Badgers defeated Ohio State 72-69 last month in Madison.
The bottom of the rankings received a major shake-up as teams ranked 18-25 last week went 3-13.
The Badgers and Buckeyes will not only be playing for the No.1 ranking Sunday, but also for the inside track to a Big Ten regular-season title.
BO RYAN University of Wisconsin coach
Memphis, Texas A&M,
Washington State and Pittsburgh rounded out the top 10.
Vanderbilt, Texas, Louisville, BYU and Virginia also moved into the Top 25. For Louisville, which beat two ranked teams — Pittsburgh and Marquette — on the road, and BYU, it's the first time this season they been ranked. The Cougars haven't been in the Top 25 since March 1993.
But last week Duke beat Boston College on the road and Georgia Tech at home and the voters rewarded the Blue Devils.
Dropping out were Oklahoma State, Kentucky, Boston College, Indiana and Southern California.
"If there is a player who was ever responsible for his team being ranked No. 1, it's Alando Tucker," Ryan said. "If there is an MVP, it's him."
The Badgers started the season ranked ninth, dipped to
12th and have been on the rise ever since. An experienced team that starts three seniors and two juniors, Wisconsin has already set a school record for victories in a season.
"It's not a bunch of McDonald's All-Americans and five-star recruits," Ryan said. "It's a bunch of guys who paid their dues. This year has been the culmination of a lot of hard work."
The Buckeyes have been in the top 10 all season thanks to one of the best freshmen classes in the country.
NBA
Seven-footer Greg Oden leads the team in scoring (15.3) and rebounding (9.5) and is shooting 61 percent from the field with 71 blocked shots in 20 games. Fellow freshmen Mike Conley Jr. (10.1) and Daequan Cook (11.9) combine to average 22 points per game.
Rule raises concerns for college coaches
BY DOUG TUCKER
ASSOCIATED PRESS
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The new rule that says players must be at least one year removed from high school before entering the NBA is "the worst thing that's happened to college basketball since I've been coaching" says Texas tech coach Bob Knight.
In the Big 12, it might be called the Kevin Durant Rule after the Longhorn freshman who has electrified the entire country and leads the conference in both scoring and rebounding.
Instituted last year by the NBA, it means that super-talented players must wait at least a year rather than jumping into the pros right out of high school.
Many coaches have hailed this new approach as a blessing for the college game, because it lets NCAA schools showcase their abilities at least for one season.
But Knight, the winningest college coach of all time, said he deplores it.
sports."
"Because now you can have a kid come to school for a year and play basketball and he doesn't even have to go to class." Knight said Monday during the Big 12 coaches call. "He certainly doesn't have to go to class the second semester. I'm not exactly positive about the first semester. But he would not have to attend a single class the second semester to play through the whole second semester of basketball.
"That, I think, has a tremendous effect on the integrity of college
No player better exemplifies the new rule than Durant.
Amazingly quick, agile and athletic for an 18-year-old, the 6-foot-9 Durant would have been a surefire NBA lottery pick any other year. But he had to find a college to play for. He chose Texas and perhaps will be remembered as the greatest to ever wear a Longhorns uniform, even though he seems likely to vault into the NBA after a sensational freshman season.
He has been named Big 12 player of the week three times and conference rookie of the week five times. He leads the league with 24.9 points and 11.4 rebounds per game and has a good chance at being national player of the year.
Knight said he would never
have recruited Durant, although he doesn't blame Texas coach Rick Barnes for doing so. "I don't fault those that have, because it within the rules," Knight said. "But the rules are just ridiculous, the way the thing is set up."
"It's just a tremendous disservice, the way that it's structured, to the integrity of college sports."
Barnes, who did not hear what Knight said earlier on the Big 12 coaches call, said he did not recruit Durant as a one-semester student.
"All we've ever said is if we recruit a player and that player said to us. 'I'm coming to school for one year and as soon as basketball season is over with I'm dropping out of school,' we would not recruit that player," he said.
Ever think about:
"We cannot afford to jeopardize our program in that way. We want players that if they're going to come, we want them committed to a whole year academically. We tell them that's what's expected coming in."
Sara D. Davis/ASSOCIATED PRESS
- putting your analytical skills to work in finance?
- what 'financial engineering' means?
- Discover new career opportunities
- Learn about admission and degree requirements
Learn about careers in finance, for students with strong quantitative and analytical skills, at an upcoming information session for the Master of Science in Business, Finance Concentration (MSB-FIN) degree.
Miami's Latoya Cunningham, left, struggles to keep the ball from North Carolina's Rashana McCants, center, during the second half of a college basketball game in Chapel Hill, N.C., Sunday, Feb. 18, 2007. North Carolina's vory Lattia is at right. North Carolina won 93-70 over Miami.
Monday, February 26th
12:30-1:30pm
Walnut Room. 6th Floor, Kansas Union
Lunch will be served
Keep away
Can't attend? E-mail bschoolgrad@ku.edu or call 785-864-7500 for more information.
MS in Business, Finance Concentration
is accepting nominations and applications for the following
The University of Kansas
Chancellor's Student Awards Committee
graduating senior awards:
The Agnes Wright Strickland Award The Class of 1913 Award
The Agnes Wright Strickland Award The Class of 1913 Award *The Rusty Leffel Concerned Student Award
*The Rusty Leffel Concerned Student Award
*The Legel Award is not limited to graduating seniors
The Donald K. Alderson Memorial Award The Alexis F. Dillard Student Involvement Award The Caryl K. Smith Student Leader Award
Nomination and application forms are online at:
http://www.vpss.ku.edu/awards
Applications must be received by Friday, March 2, 2007, at 5:00 p.m.