THE UNIVERSITY JAIRY KANSAN
6B SPORTS WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
RY 13.2007
(CONTINUED FROM 1B)
trailing by one point, sophomore guard Ivana Caiton found Mosley underneath the basket on a desperation inbounds play. Mosley made the shot from point-blank range as time expired to wrap up an improbable victory.
The senior's improved play has not come merely in clutch situations. Since the beginning of conference play, she has been Kansas' key contributor. She has led the team in scoring with 13 points per game, while pulling down more than five rebounds per game.
The consistency of her play in recent weeks is a complete turnaround from the struggles she endured in her first season and a half at Kansas. After arriving as highly touted junior college transfer, Mosley clashed with the Kansas coaching staff and fought for playing time last season. She opened
NCAA BASKETBALL Norm Stewart recounts his coaching years
Kansan sportswriter Asher Fusco can be contacted at afusco@ kansan.com.
"Shaq is playing like I knew she could," coach Bonnie Henrickson said. "This is who we recruited. This is the kid we knew we had."
her senior season on the bench but eventually supplanted Catic as Kansas point guard.
Though the mistire against Texas Tech was a disappointment, Mosley's most recent efforts have helped push Kansas' improbable winning streak to two games. Mosley will once again have the chance to come up big in two very winnable rivalry games against Missouri and Kansas State this week.
Edited by Darla Slipke
NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark.
— Norm Stewart was named national coach of the year for 1993-94. His Missouri Tigers won 28 games, and nowadays, Stewart looks back on that season with pride.
Well, most of it.
"Arkansas slipped by us by 48." Stewart said.
Stewart spoke Monday at the Downtown Tip-Off Club, and the crowd of Razorbacks fans enjoyed his recap of that blowout in December of 93. Stewart actually sold the Hogs a bit short: the final score of that game was 120-68, a 52 point margin in one of Arkansas most impressive wins en route to the '94 national championship.
But Missouri recovered and had a good season of its own, so Stewart can joke about the Tigers' ugly visit to Favetteville.
"The officials got me again,"
he said
Stewart entertained the crowd with his dry, self-deprecating humor. He was known as "Stormin' Norman" for his animated behavior on the sidelines. On Monday, he jokingly tried to dispel that reputation.
"I was a docile guy," he said, drawing a laugh.
"I sat," Stewart added, imitating a coach dozing on the bench.
"Guys would wake me up and I'd say, 'How we doing?"
Most of the time, they were doing pretty well. Stewart won 731 games in 38 seasons, the last 32 of which were at Missouri. He took the Tigers to the NCAA tournament 16 times.
Stewart was diagnosed with early stages of colon cancer in 1989 and underwent surgery and chemotherapy. Stewart has remained active in the fight against the disease — he helped found the Coaches vs. Cancer program, an outgrowth of the American Cancer Society.
Associated Press
Self has been rewarded nationally several times, including being a finalist for the Naismith Coach of the Year Award every year from 2000 to 2003.
"I wouldn't say he's a player's coach." Robinson said, "But he definitely has a great relationship with his players and knows how to get the best out of us."
his players.
SELF (CONTINUED FROM 1B)
Of his 300 victories, 93 of them came at Kansas, which is more than he won at any other school.
Before arriving in Lawrence, he spent three years at the University of Illinois, where he won the Big Ten regular season or postseason championship every season. Two years after he left, the Fighting Illini advanced to the National Championship game.
Aside from Oral Roberts, the other stop on Self's coaching journey was at the University of Tulsa, where in 1999 and 2000 his teams won the Western Athletic Conference championship. In 2000, Tulsa advanced to the Elite Eight as a seven seed in the NCAA tournament.
Self said that he's not spending a lot of time looking back at the past 14 years, instead focusing on this year and the future.
I've been pretty fortunate to
1993-94 6-21
1994-95 10-17
1995-96 18-9
1996-97 21-7
BILL SELF'S CAREER
(300-133):
details
Tulsa (74-27)
1997-98 19-12
1998-99 23-10*
1999-00 32-5*
Oral Roberts (55-54)
Illinois (78-24)
2000-01 27·8*
2001-02 26·9*
2002-03 25·7
Kansas (93-28)
2003-04 24-9
2004-05 23-7*)
2005-06 25-8*)
2006-07 21-4
"This time of practice, as much as you want to practice, having rested bodies is as important as anything. We definitely need to
Source: Kansas Athletics
LETTING THE PLAYERS REST;
stick around this long," he said.
Kansan senior sportswriter Michael Phillips can be contacted at mphillips@kansan.com.
*Conference champion
— Edited by Joe Caponio
Selfsaves...
Coach Bill Self held his weekly press conference Monday. Here's what he had to say about...
OFFENSE:
"We're not always going to shoot 56 percent or have guys go for 33 points, but as a team think we're getting better."
THE CROWD IN BOULDER,
COLO:
"People in the western part of Kansas and Eastern Colorado have done a great job supporting us out there. On a Wednesday night I don't know if we'll have that many, but I still think we'll have a good contingent following us out there."
THE ALTITUDE IN COLORADO:
cut back in some areas. If youre going to practice, you might as well practice. You just don't practice for as long."
"I think we'll get a minimum of five, I counted them up yesterday, and I think our league will get at least five. The fifth one — who knows? But I believe Texas A&M, K-State, Texas and Oklahoma State and hopefully our team have put themselves in a good position, and Oklahoma's right there."
BIG 12 TEAMS IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT:
"It's not something we're going to make a big deal of. Most of these guys have played out there before. We have enough depth to sub out and keep guys fresh."
Red Lyon Tavern
A touch of Irish in
downtown Lawrence
944 Mass. 832-8228
BIG 12 (CONTINUED FROM 1B)
Harry Cabluck/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Texas forward Kevin Durant prepares to put the ball in play during first half action in their college basketball game Jan. 2, in Austin, Texas. The coaches in the Big 12 will have to forgive Durant for turning the league into his personal playground. He just wants to have some fun here while he can.
State's Wesley Johnson, who is second in the conference in rebounding. Colorado's Xavier Silas, Nebraska's Ryan Anderson and Baylor's Tweety Carter.
Having this many freshmen compete for conference honors was unheard of in the first year of the league. Not a single first-year player was named the Big 12 Player of the Week and only two made Honorable Mention All Big 12. This year, Durant is a lock to make First Team All Big 12, and several freshmen could make honorable mention.
College basketball analysts usually point to the NBA's new age limit as the reason for the rise of play in first-year players. But that rule only affected a few freshmen such as Durant or Ohio State's Greg Oden. The rest of the big 12s and nations top freshmen weren't good enough in high school to make the NBA leap. Baylor coach Scott Drew credits better conditioning, increased strength training and the number of summer basketball games that high school
players take part in.
"Players are more experienced and in better shape than they were 15 years ago," he said. "That combination of everything is why they've been getting more minutes."
Regardless of the reason, teams, such as Texas, that are dependent on freshmen are performing at a high level. With the game of basketball getting increasingly younger, having a large amount of freshmen contributors could become the norm. And Drew believes that would be good for the conference.
"People who have seen the Big 12 play, and especially the minutes that are young guys are getting, are seeing these aren't just role players," he said. "I think the future of the Big 12 is very bright cause it's a very young league, and success with younger players bodes well for the future."
Kansan sportswriter Mark Dent can be contacted at mdent@kansan.com.
Edited by Sharla Shivers
COLAIANNI (CONTINUED FROM 1B)
and that starts with the play of Wright and Rush.
The next few weeks leading up to the tournament will determine how far this team can go. Kansas
Those two players have to demand the ball in situations where the team is struggling. That will take pressure off Mario Chalmers, Russell Robinson and Sherron Collins. If they know that Rush and Wright want the ball and are going to get the job done, and those players would be more confident with their own games.
will be favored in every game it plays the remainder of the regular season. It needs to get victories in those games to lock up a No. 2 seed in the tournament and put itself in the running for a No. 1. If Kansas gets consistency from its players, especially Wright and Rush, a No. 1 seed and a solid run in the tournament will happen.
Colaiani is a McLean, Va., senior in journalism and political science.
Edited by Sharla Shivers
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