Hurtin' Herd
Let game day prepare you for Saturday's game against Colorado
FRIDAY, JANUARY 26, 2007 WWW.KANSAN.COM
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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
SPORTS
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KANSAS VS. COLORADO, 12:30 P.M.SATURDAY, CHANNEL 15
CONSISTENTLY IN CONSISTENT
Buffaloes' troubles only stand to worsen
BY DREW DAVISON
KANSAN COLUMNIST
DDAVISON@KANSAN.COM
Congratulations, Colorado! You have sunk below Baylor as the worst basketball program in the Big 12 Conference this season — and possibly ever.
Ricardo Patton, Colorado coach, virtually quit in October when he said he would not seek or accept a contract extension.
But what did Colorado Athletics Director Mike Bohn, a Kansas alumnus, do? Let Patton ride out what may become the worst season in Colorado basketball history.
Patton has been the Buffaloes coach for 11 years, the longest tenure of any current Big 12 coach. He had immediate success, taking the Buffs to the NCAA tournament in his first full season at the helm, 1996-1997, with the help of All-American guard Chauncey Billups.
He has taken Colorado to one other NCAA tournament and four NIT's. Yes, that sounds awful to Kansas fans, but Colorado fans should love it. Before the 1996 season, it hadn't been to an NCAA tournament since Lyndon B. Johnson was president (1969).
Nonetheless, Colorado should have fired Patton when he announced he was not going to come back next season. The team is in disarray. It lost by 14 to Missouri on Wednesday and has just one conference victory this season. Last year, the Buffaloes went a respectable 20-11, but right now they're 5-11.
Colorado's problems started in 2003 when the football recruiting scandal broke, and the entire department has yet to get back on two feet.
Basically, three years ago, the Colorado athletics department was a sinking ship going down faster than Richard Roby's NBA draft stock is now.
But Bohn, who took the AD job in 2005, has shown signs of getting the entire department back on track.
Although the football team went an abysmal 2-10 last season, Dan Hawkins has shown he can build competitive football programs. Boise State, where Hawkins was previously head coach, beat Oklahoma in this year's Festa Bowl.
But, it will take Colorado some time to rebuild its athletics department and climb out of the cellar.
The basketball team exemplifies how low a program can fall. When Patton said he was not going to coach past this season, you knew this team would be a joke. Nothing against Patton, he will land on his feet somewhere and have another coaching job next season, but the motivation level is non-existent.
Colorado has been walked over by most opponents, including Air Force (38-point spread), Texas (24-point spread), Oklahoma (24-point
SEE DAVISON ON PAGE 7B
KANSAN FILE PHOTO
Freshman forward Darrrell Arthur goes in to the Jayhawks matchup with Colorado coming off an eight-point performance against Baylor on Jan. 24. Kansas takes on the Buffaloes at 12:30 p.m. Saturday in Allen Fieldhouse.
Jayhawks look to keep focus against Big 12's worst team
BY MICHAEL PHILLIPS
On first glance, Saturday's game between Kansas and Colorado looks like a mismatch. That's because it is.
The Buffalooes enter as the Big 12's worst team, and the Jayhawks are in a four-way tie for first place in the conference.
But coach Bill Self won't be leaving anything to chance. He knows that on any night in the Big 12, upsets can happen.
"Our league is really good," he said. "It's by far the best it has been since I got here."
The Jawahaws are coming off an 82-56 thumping of Baylor on Wednesday. The team finished its Texas trip 1-1, and the team is ready to play a game at home again. The last game in Lawrence was on Jan. 15, before school was in session.
"It will feel good to have the fans there," sophomore forward Julian Wright said.
For the players, it will also be an opportunity to escape from the rough treatment they faced from the fans in Texas.
First a record student turn-out stormed the court after the Jayhawks lost to Tech, and then a group of hecklers made themselves heard in a quiet and empty arena at Baylor.
"I heard some things," sophomore guard Brandon Rush said. "You're going to lose in the first round, that's the one I was mainly hearing."
Even those fans eventually lost interest as the layhawks took a 28-point lead toward the end of the game. Rush said he began to drift off defensively, but after Self velled
at him for missing an assignment, he was able to get back into the game.
One challenge this year for the jayhawks has been protecting the lead after getting off to a fast start. Against Texas Tech the team came out blazing, taking an 8-0 lead before going flat and falling behind.
"We've got to learn to play with a lead and stay focused," Wright said. "Keep the other team from making a big run."
Wright and his teammates were able to do that on Wednesday, aided by a poor shooting performance by Baylor. The game was also an offensive renaissance for Wright, who had been struggling with his shot selection.
"I focused on making the easy play and getting the opponents to feed off of that," he said. "When you shoot the ball the way we did, it gives everybody confidence."
They have the opportunity to do that again against Colorado, which has been allowing its opponents to shoot 47 percent in conference play.
Kansas will also look to make use of the home-court advantage, which could come into play if the game gets close. That may not sound likely, but freshman forward Darrell Arthur has already learned about the dangers of conference play.
"In the Big 12, everybody's going to be coming at us real strong," he said.
Edited by Will McCullough
Kansan senior sportswriter Michael Phillips can be contacted at mphillips@kansan.com
KANSAS VS. NEBRASKA, 7 P.M. SATURDAY
Kansas needs wins Smith, Mosley contribute to defensive effort
BY CASE KEEFER
Kansas is improving.
After being dominated at home by Iowa State on Saturday, the javahaws bounced back and nearly pulled off an improbable win in Manhattan on Wednesday.
The team will have to continue the upward climb for a chance to get its first conference win in Lincoln, Neb., against the Cornhuskers on Saturday.
All the areas the Jayhawks struggled with against the Cyclones, they fixed in a 59-55 loss to the Wildcats. Despite that, Kansas now stands at 0-6 in Big 12 Conference play.
"As hard as we're fighting and working right now, there's no way we'll keep getting losses"; freshman guard Kelly Kohn said. "We're going to get a win."
Farlier in the month the Jayhawks played competitively against the Cornhuskers in Lawrence before eventually falling 63-54. For the most part, coach Bonnie Henrickson liked
what she saw out of her team in the loss.
"We did some things that gave us a chance to win," she said, "so we'll probably just tweak the game plan we had."
Kansas did against Nebraska was limit point guard Kiera Hardy's prowess. Hardy is averaging 18 points a game in Big 12 play, but against the Jayhawks, she had only 11 points on 4-for-11 shooting.
The most impressive thing
It was the dual play of senior guards Sharita Smith and Shaquina Mosley that stopped Hardy. Smith has always been primarily a defensive player but Mosley has stepped up her efforts recently. In each of the lahwawks last two games, Mosley has successfully defended the opponents' leading scoreer.
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"Shaq's got a chance to become
one of the best defenders we've had," Henrickson said.
Mosley has also been Kansas' best scorer recently. In the last three games, she has averaged a team-high 16 points.
Kohn and freshman forward Danielle McCray should team up with Mosley to provide the majority of the offense Saturday. Both Kohn and McCray scored 13 points in a tough environment against
Kansas State. They will be expected to do the same at the Devaney Center.
"What's good about these kids is they played at big AAU and high school programs," Henrickson said, "so they don't fear anything."
One player Kansas didn't contain the last time against Nebraska
SEE WIN ON PAGE 7B
Amanda Sellers/KANSAN
Shaquina Mosley, senior guard, blocks a layup from Kansas State player Claire Cogkins, senior guard, in Bramage Coliseum on Wednesday night. Kansas State scored 21 points from fast breaks against and defended Kansas 59-55.