monday, march 15, 2004
sports
F N
the university daily kansan 5B
MADNESS: Jayhawks to face Illinois-Chicago
A touch of Irish in downtown Lawrence
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year, it will rely heavily on two factors — leadership and focus.
Eric Braem/Kansan
Kansas junior forward Wayne Simien and freshman guard J.R. Giddens look over NCAA Tournament information during a post-press conference in Hafi Auditorium yesterday. The Jayhawks enter the tourney as a four seed and will battle the University of Illinois-Chicago Thursday.
The Jayhawks enter this season's NCAA Tournament without the senior leadership that Nick Collison and Kirk Hinrich provided last March. Instead, the junior quartet of Miles, Keith Langford, Mike Lee and Wayne Simien will have to take complete ownership of the team they have stepped up to lead all year long.
"The biggest thing I take is just do whatever it takes to win," Miles said. "Last year, Nick had 19 rebounds and 31 points against Duke. That's doing whatever it takes. I haven't talked to Keith or Wayne or Mike about that, but I will talk to them about doing whatever it takes, whether we need Keith to score 30 points or Wayne to score 30 points or we need them both to get 10 or 15 rebounds. Even if it's something we don't normally do, we've got to be able to do it."
Self emphasized last night that the one thing he worried
"This time of year, the last thing you want to deal with is distractions," Self said. "All you want this time of year is for your team to give itself the best chance, and distractions can certainly keep them from doing that."
as well as keeping away as much as possible from every player's best friend — the cell phone.
Edited by Joe Hartigan
could derail his team was an enormous amount of distractions. Self said that on Monday the team would take care of its ticket and hotel situations for families, and then it will be almost a complete lock-down to keep his players' focus prime. The biggest emphasis in reducing distractions will be players learning how to tell people "no" when it comes to ticket requests
TEXAS: Free throws an obstacle for 'Hawks
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In the game's opening minutes, the Jayhaws appeared as though their offensive momentum was still present. While the Longhorns limped to a 1 for 11 start from the field, Kansas mounted an early 13-2 advantage.
Once the Longhorns settled in, they earned tough points in the paint and denied the Jayhawks' big men open looks underneath. With the Jayhawks struggling, the Longhorns took a 35-33 lead into the locker room at halftime.
"They threw a lot of bodies down low," Simien said. "It felt like a WWF match down there."
Early in the second half, a seven-minute field goal drought kept Kansas from capitalizing on Texas' offensive struggles. The Longhorns still held a 47-45 lead with 8:32 remaining when Brandon Mouton scored 10 straight points for Texas, including two three-
The biggest individual stat sheet casualty for Kansas was Simien, who followed his career-high 31-point performance against Missouri by going two for eight from the field against Texas.
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A bright spot for the Jayhawks was senior forward Jeff Graves, who tied his season-high scoring
Despite a sollen mood in the locker room following the loss, the Jayhawks strongly believe that confidence will not be an issue heading into the postseason.
pointers. Kansas was able to work itself to the free-throw line in an attempt to come back late, but the Jayhawks missed four of their next five free throw attempts. With Texas ahead 60-58 with under a minute to play, Jason Klotz took a sneaky feed from Royal Ivey. It put the Longhorns up by four, which secured the victory.
The Jayhawks were abnormally cold from beyond the threepoint arc, connecting on just four of 16 attempts. Freshman guard I.R. Giddens was just one for six
heading into the room.
"If we lose one game and deflate ourselves, then we're not a team." Giddens said. "Anywhere we go we're gonna take fans with us. We can only have five out on the court at a time."
"The tournament's the tournament," Simien said. "If we have another game like this, the 2004 season is done."
Free throws were a problem once again. Kansas made just 16 of 28 free throw attempts.
Kansas goes into the NCAA Tournament with eight losses, the most any Jawahk team has taken since the 1999-2000 season. That team entered 23-9 before losing in the second round to Duke.
total he set the night before with 14 points. He also added eight rebounds.
- Edited by Amanda Kim Stairrett
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March Special
No workshops over spring break week.
A wheel BBQ sandwich with
small side, 32 oz.Coke and a mountain of homemade fries. Special good all day, everyday.
If you are unable to attend, passwords for the free tax software will be available at the LSS office.
719 Massachusetts Street, Lawrence 841-6400
International Students, Faculty and Staff:
TAX HELP without dropping a dime Free Tax Workshops TODAY!
Monday, March 15, 1-4pm Tuesday, March 16, 1-4pm in the Budig PC Lab
Presented by:
Legal Services for Students
Room 148 Burge Union 864-5665 Jo Hardesty, Director
KANSAS ALUMNI ASSOCIATION
TRADITION
KEEPERS
Check it out
As a KU student, you can be a member of the Kansas Alumni Association. Tradition Keepers is our student level of membership specifically designed for current KU students. As a Tradition Keeper, you can enjoy many great benefits throughout the school year. The 2004-05 Tradition Keeper benefits include:
- A "Hail to Old KU" t-shirt (new design each year!)
• A collectible KU glass
- Access to the 'Hawk to 'Hawk Mentoring Program
- Free dinner during finals (fall and spring) at the Adams Alumni Center
- Calendar of fabulous campus scenes (for 2005)
- Invitations to special events and networking activities
- Membership card and key tag
- Discounts at local businesses
- And much more!
Check it off
Becoming a Tradition Keeper is simple. Just check it off online when you enroll for your optional campus fees for 2004-05.The cost is only $20 for all the great benefits listed above.