3 the university daily kansan
sports
fridav. february 20, 2004
MEN'S BASKETBALL Stanford still undefeated as it wins against USC
LOS ANGELES — Stanford survived another threat to its perfect season.
Josh Childress scored a career-high 36 points and the top-ranked Cardinal rallied from a 13-point first-half deficit to beat Southern California 76-67 last night for its school-record 22nd consecutive victory.
Stanford (13-0) clinched a share of its fourth Pac-10 title in six years with three weeks remaining in the regular season.
But perfection has been harder
to maintain recently. The Cardinal came from 19 points down and won at Oregon on Jan. 31, then Nick Robinson hit a buzzerbeating 3-pointer to hold off Arizona on Feb. 7.
USC (10-13, 5-9) threatened until the final minutes after Stanford blew an 11-point lead in the second half. The Trojans tied it for the final time at 65 on a basket by Jeff McMillan.
But Childress hit a 3-pointer and scored another basket for a 70-65 lead. The Trojans, who had been solid from the free-throw line earlier in the game, made just 2-of-5 in the final 1:15 when they trailed by three.
game's final six points to end USC's upset hopes.
Rob Little added 20 points for Stanford
The Trojans (10-13, 5-9) have lost seven of their last nine games.
McMillan led USC with 21 points — one off his career high. Rory O'Neil added 14, and Desmon Farmer scored 11, all in the first half when he carried the Trojans.
The Associated Press
USC started the game strongly, playing aggressive defense and getting hands in the faces of Stanford's shooters. Childress was the Cardinal's only offensive threat in the first half, when he had 18 points.
VICTORY: Loss against Cyclones spurs Jayhawks on
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Sunday at Nebraska for a lack of commitment.
Graves played 17 minutes against Baylor Wednesday, registering six points and seven rebounds.
His numbers, which were both above his season average, added a jolt to the Kansas cause. Now the Jayhawks, who all appeared to be on the same page Wednesday, said they must be focused from here on out.
not, then they don't need to play." Langford said. "We're going to make it real tough for anyone coming in here the rest of the season. It's getting down to nut-cracking time."
here on our out.
If somebody on our team is
Edited by Donovan Atkinson
'HAWKS: Loss of confidence leads to skepticism
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of her last six games, and averages almost 16 points per game.
Williams, who is 5-foot-2, also manages to pull down the second most boards on the team, 5.6 per game.
For the Jayhawks, a reenergized Ransburg has led the team.
Part of this renewed effort may be due to a decision she and interim head coach Lynette Woodard have made.
Ransburg, who averages 8.5 points per game for the season, has recorded games of 19 and 15 points of late.
In the last two games, Nichelle Roberts has started in front of Ransburg. Ransburg said it gave her an opportunity to see the game, and decided where she would contribute most.
Whenever she is asked if she thinks she's ready to start again, she responds very simply.
"I don't want to," she said.
The Kansas team, which appeared to be very promising when it entered the season, appears to have lost some confidence of late.
When talking about victory, they seem to use a large does of skepticism.
"It's a possibility, but I'm not going to say we're not, and I'm not going to say we are," Ransburg said. "We're just going to have to be ready to play."
— Edited by Guillaume Doane
Kanean Filenphoto
Junior Aquanita Burras passed the ball into teammate Larisha Graves tuesday night at Allen Field house.The KU women's basketball team lost to Iowa State 73-58. The Lady Jayhawks take on Texas A&M Saturday night at 8 in Allen Fieldhouse.
Smiley guarded hordes of plastic bats, which covered plastic yellow pegs that would define the fields' imprecise parameters.
Inside, Overton kept everything needed for last week's game.
CRUMPETS: Players with Wiffle Ball bats slug it out
At both ends of the field, Overton arranged four pegs as a makeshift goal. If Smiley crossed the first two pegs of the invisible box, it counted as one point. The team would get two points if Smiley rolled through all four goal pegs.
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These aren't generally the same people you'd see playing a pick-up game of football or basketball in someone's back yard. They aren't necessarily the same people you'd catch watching a game of football or basketball.
"I don't think we have anyone who has been a serious athlete at anytime, ever." Overton said.
So playing the game is simple: run after the ball, swing the wiffle ball bat as hard as you can (or throw it at the ball — also allowed), then dive, slide and do whatever it takes to squeeze Smiley past the goalie. The first team to 10 points wins.
During the game Sunday, Hambleton stood helpless in goal while her team "Crazy Patterns are Annoying" this week — jostled the ball at the other end of the field.
The only real rule: don't touch the ball with your hands or feet on purpose. If you do, the other team gets a free shot on the goalie — and stopping Smiley can be harder than it looks.
There are also secondary rules the players seem to innately understand. Don't try to hit someone with the bat. Don't tackle anyone. If you do tackle someone or bash someone's glasses in with your bat, apologize. Then keep playing.
But crumpets isn't just about the rules, or the equipment or the hectic and violent pace of the game. It's about the players, comprised chiefly of Overton's friends and new converts who have been introduced to the game at the University.
Though they lack a certain pedigree, the crumpet regulars run, jump and dive with the same passion as any other athlete. They fling themselves across the ill-defined crumpeting field, lunging after the ball, screaming and hurling their bats across the Fieldhouse lawn.
"A lot of players take it like a real sport, and some are very good at it," Overton said.
Amanda Kim Stairrett/Kansan
Katie Heil, Omaha, Neb., senior, prepared to block a shot by Greg Boege, University of Missouri at Kansas City student, during a match of field crumpets Sunday afternoon in front of Allen Fieldhouse. Robbie Overton, Leawood senior, invented crumpets
"Score! For Christ's sake, score," she said.
Hambleton screamed. She pounded her orange bat against the damp ground.
Hambleton had stood at one end of the field for what seemed like forever. She stopped millions of shots,
but she needed to run, to see action.
but she needed to, to seize it,
"I couldn't stand it anymore," she said after the match. "I had to go commando."
That's what crumpteteers call a goalie out of goal, "going commando." Hambleton sprinted downfield and, bat readied, looked to blast Smiley toward the goal.
Before the game, Hambleton pulled her bat out and showed it to the rest of the players.
"Did you see what Robbie got me for Valentine's Day?" she said. "My very own crumpets bat!"
She waved it around in the air, the new, thick plastic clean and undented.
"Well, it's not the only thing he got me," she said, "but it's the best."
In 1996, a bored Overton, his friend Michael Nolan and Overton's two younger sisters wanted to play a game.
So they played. They pounded the birdie over the net with orange Wiffle Ball bats, lofting it back and forth to each other.
They had a net, Wiffle Ball bats, a badminton birdie, and they were bored.
It was fun. It was unpredictable and crazy, never knowing what direction the little birdie would go.
And they called the game crumpets, the most ridiculous name for anything they could think of.
"It was the funniest way to describe the game. At the time, we thought it was hilarious," Overton said.
Then they realized: They were playing badminton. They did not want to play badminton. If they had, they would have skipped on the fat orange Wifte Ball bats.
So, sometime during the next year, Overton changed the game, using the same principal equipment (a plastic bat), but adopting new rules and the general feel of field hockey.
They officially named it Field Crumpets, and Overton played with high school friends in front vards until his graduation in 2000.
Then, as players moved on to college, the game went with them. Some took the game to Aimes, Iowa. Others started a league in thica, N.Y., at Cornell University, where the game still thrives.
But in Lawrence, it took some time for Overton to revive crumpets. As the music education major found more and more free time, he managed to talk some some friends into trying the game.
Two years ago, they moved the weekly matches to the fieldhouse lawn, where they now play.
***
For as lightly as Overton says he takes crumpets, he harbors some lofty plans for the game.
Next year, Overton will ask Student Senate for funding, to help provide better equipment, uniforms and possibly road trip to play against the New York club.
With the monetary support, he said the game should continue to grow—if Overton and the crumpet regulars can continue to recruit new players.
"The only time I ever really feel silly is when I first explain it to people." Overton said.
The more people that understand it, the less silly it feels, Overton said. Strength in numbers helps.
Try telling a stranger that you play with little kid's Wiffle Ball bats and a happy-face ball in public every Sunday.
But then there's the feeling of blasting Smiley through the back of an invisible goal for the game-winning two points while people around scream "Princess Carriage!" and you stand, arms raised
a crumpeteer and victorious.
Edited by Robert Perkins
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