Sports
Coach teaches strength Strength and conditioning coach Chris Dawson prepares Kansas for the upcoming football seasons. He helped the Jayhawks to their record last year. PAGE 3B
The University Daily Kansan
1B
Wednesday, March 10, 2004
Less foul trouble ahead
By Ryan Greene
greene@kansan.com
Kansan sportwriter
Junior forward Wayne Simien passed to sophomore forward Christian Moody during the game against Nebraska last Wednesday. Kansas plays in the Big 12 Tournament on Friday.
In their case many of the fouls have come on questionable calls, which brings up the obvious question: Do Graves and Padgett think the Big 12 Conference referees are out to get them?
For Kansas forwards David Padgett and Jeff Graves the only certainty this season has been foul trouble — usually early and often.
"Sometimes I do, but at the same time I think I've got to be a little smarter I guess," Graves said. "I see some of the fouls when I look at the tape and say 'that's kind of bogus,' but I just got to I guess play a little bit smarter defense."
Graves fouled out of Sunday's game at Missouri in the second half with 1:43 remaining. Of the senior's five fouls in the 84-82 Jayhawks victory, three came away from the ball and could be argued as incidental contact. But even though Graves has fouled out of four games this season and recorded four fouls in nine more contests, he has reason to be optimistic as the Jayhawks look towards the NCAA Tournament next week.
Getting away from Big 12 games means getting away from Big 12 referees. Last season, after he averaged 6.0 points and 7.0 rebounds per game in the conference season, Graves' numbers went up to 8.7 points and 9.7 rebounds per game in the NCAA Tournament. He played 27.2 minutes per game in the Big Dance compared to 21.3 per game conference season.
"They let us bang a little bit," Graves said. "I think my fouls should start decreasing here pretty soon."
In Padgett's situation, being a freshman never helps when hoping for some sympathy and leeway from the officials. Padgett has fouled out twice this season, and has had nine games with four foul's.
"I kind of expect it just because I'm a freshman," Padgett said. "I think we've had some iffy calls, but everyone gets those once in a while."
What Padgett is still learning is how to still play aggressive in while foul trouble.
David Padgett Freshman forward
Sometimes if you get two fouls early, you don't want to get three before
"I think if we get frustrated, it's only going to get worse. The refs might see that and that's just giving yourself a bad image if you just try to flip out all the time. You've just got to relax and play it through."
halftime, so you've just kind of got to watch yourself a little bit more," Padgett said. "But if you play too non-aggressively, you're going to get exposed."
And while Padgett and Graves must cope with playing under the referees' microscope, there has been no bigger pressure valve in the past two games than sophomore forward Christian Moody.
Moody played a career-high 20 minutes against Nebraska last Wednesday, scoring three points and grabbing four rebounds. Against Missouri he only saw nine minutes, but had three rebounds and a key blocked shot against Rickey Paulding.
In terms of low-post depth, this season's Kansas team could have an advantage over the squad that was last year's national runner-up. Last season, the Jayhawks had Nick Collison and Jeff Graves as their only big-time contributors while Wayne Simien was injured. Now, Kansas has Simien, Padgett and Graves complemented by Moody who has proven he can eat up quality minutes in clutch situations.
"We just know that we have a lot of depth, so it's not going to hurt us too bad," Padgett said. "I think if we get frustrated, it's only going to get worse. The refs might see that and that's just give yourself a bad image if you just try to flip out all the time. You've just got to relax and play through it."
Kansas Basketball Notebook
Simien Garners Award...Again — For the second time this season, Wayne Simien was named the Big 12 Player of
the Week. In wins last week against 54.8 percent from the field. Nebraska and Missouri, Simien averaged 22.0 points per game and shot — Edited by Robert Perkins
Baylor loss brings end to season
By Jonathan Kealing jkealing@kansan.com Kansan sportswriter
The Kansas women's basketball team ended its season yesterday with an 86-71 loss to No. 14 Baylor.
The No. 5-seeded Baylor team will meet in-state rival Texas Texas tomorrow in the second round.
The loss came in the opening round of the Big 12 Tournament.
With the win, Baylor improved to a 23-7 mark, including 11-6 in the Big 12 Conference.
No. 12-seeded Kansas ended its season with a 9-19 overall record, with a 2-15 Big 12 record. The team closed the season with10 straight losses.
Even though Kansas' record was not as successful as Baylor's, the team did have confidence going into the game.
"They know if they put two halves together, they'll win this game," Lynette Woodard, said before the game.
But Baylor came out and took a quick lead, leading by as many as seven points before Kansas could fight back.
The one-point lead was the only lead the Jayhawks would see. Baylor went on a 14-4 run, and effectively put the Jayhawks away.
With 8:15 remaining in the first half, Kansas knocked down a two-pointer to pull ahead 26-25.
By Shane Kucera
skucer@kansan.com
Kansan sportswriter
Going into half-time, the Jayhawks trailed 43-37.
Forward Crystal Kemp was kept uncharacteristically quiet in the first half.
Tribble leads 'Hawks
CEE LOSS ON PAGE 8B
sports commentary
Matt Tribble doesn't believe in luck.
Matt Tribble doesn't believe in luck. The senior, a right fielder on the Kansas baseball team, said luck has had nothing to do with his successful baseball career. Hard work and exceptional talent have earned Tribble his long list of records and honors.
Either way, the Kansas baseball team is lucky to have Tribble. As a senior at Wheaton-Warrenville South High School in Illinois, Tribble hit .477 with 10 home runs and 42 RBI. The Chicago Tribune named Tribble second-team All-State and the Daily Herald and Chicago Sun Times gave him all-area honors.
Kansan File Photo
Senior outfielder Matt Tribble congratulated junior outfielder Andy Scholl after a game at Hoglund Ballpark. Coach Ritch Price said Tribble was a pleasure to coach.
SEE TRIBBLE ON PAGE 8B
'Crazies no match for Kansas followers
Kendall Dix
hdix@kansan.com
This weekend I made my pilgrimage to the so-called biggest regular season basketball game of the year, North Carolina versus Duke.
Roy made his first trip as North Carolina's coach to what the sports media tell us is the best, loudest arena in college basketball, Cameron Indoor Stadium. I got a first-hand look at what the sports media tell us are the best, most devoted fans in college basketball, the Cameron Crazies.
I realize many readers probably felt their blood pressure rise when they read that Duke/UNC is the biggest regular season basketball game of the year. To those who believe the biggest game is Kansas/Missouri, I'm sorry. It's not.
Missouri is simply not good enough for us to have a strong national rivalry. Kansas is not eight miles down the road from Missouri. Kansas students do not live in tents outdoors for months to go to the game. ESPN does not send half of Bristol, Conn., to Lawrence to cover the game. Donald Trump has never come to the Kansas/Missouri game and I've never been offered $500 for a ticket to the Kansas/Missouri game.
Considering the media feeding frenzy and the history of exciting games, I can't dispute the grandeur of the Duke/UNC. I do, however, take exception to the reverence given to Cameron and the Crazies.
Cameron is certainly nothing to look at. It couldn't pass as a high school gymnasium in some parts of the country. The only reason it's special is that the students surround the floor, the setting is intimate and the quality of players on the court is so high.
Cameron was loud, and the fans have a zealotry for Duke reserved only for those with little in their lives besides Duke Basketball, other than differential equations and friction coefficients.
After almost running into Jay Bilas and using the restroom with Grant Hill (while wearing a Kansas jersey), I became a little star-struck.
I was impressed that each residence hall burned its customized wooden bench at a victory bonfire without ever coming close to getting out of hand.
After navigating Krzyzewskiville's well-organized tents, Beirut games and foursquare games. I started to give the Crazies a little respect.
But then I came to my senses.
SEE DIX ON PAGE 8B
Beta outplayed by Delta Chi
By Joe Bant jbant@kansan.com kansan staff writer
Every week the Kansan sports staff will highlight an intramural game of the week until the season ends. This is the first game of the series.
Editor's Note
It had five players to Delta Chi's nine. It had zero coaches to Delta Chi's one.
It was the fraternity's third string team playing the guys who were predicted to win the whole fraternity intramural basketball tournament.
Beta Theta PI knew it was in trouble even before the game started.
So Beta's players weren't exactly surprised when the final whistle blew and they had lost 72-31.
But they bore their pain with laughter and were all smiles even after the defeat.
"It was fun," said Mark Webster, Shawnee sophomore and Beta team member. "We had a good season. I was proud of our guys for at least keeping their heads up."
Webster and company came out strong, scoring the game's first basket to take a 2-0 lead. But the upset was not to be, and it was downhill from there. That was the only time it would lead in the game.
Delta Chi quickly responded, scoring the game's next 10 points and jumping out to a 21-7 lead with just over 10 minutes remaining in the half. In the next five minutes, it would extend that lead to 29-9, and walked to the bench at halftime with a more than comfortable 40-15 advantage.
Daniel Karen, Delta Chi's coach, said he knew his team had the advantage with its extra players, and he designed his game strategy with that in
Much of the time, Delta Chi did not even need to set up an offense because so many of its points came on the fast break. Its players out-rebounded Beta 25-12, and every time one of them grabbed a board, it seemed there were at least two others running down the court with numbers waiting for the outlet pass.
mind. The Plano, Texas, junior said he wanted to wear Beta down by running a fast offense and playing aggressive defense.
SEE DELTA CHI ON PAGE 8B
"We just like to run and gun," said Anthony Kahn, Delta Chi team member and Dallas, Texas, junior. "We just play well together as a team."
Kahn was on the receiving end of a few of these passes with eight points.
Delta Chi frequently turned steals into another source of quick points.
Courtney Kuhlen/Kanson
David Wise, Leawood freshman, looked for his shot under the basket during a Monday game at the Student Fitness Recreation Center. Wise and his team, Delta Chi T-1, won 72-40.
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