monday, december 1, 2003
sports
the university daily kansan 9A
KANSAS VS. TEXAS CHRISTIAN
TELEVISION: ESPN2, Channel 49
WHEN/WHERE: Fort Worth, Texas, 10 p.m.
HOWTHEYCOMPARE
RADIO: 1320 AM KLWN
John Nowak/Kansar
Wayne Simien received a high five from a television cameraman as he exited Allen Fieldhouse Tuesday. Simien has been perfect from the free-throw line this season.
Mike Lee maneuvered past Michigan State's Maurice Ager. Lee put up strong numbers in last week's victory against Michigan State, but will miss 6-8 weeks with a broken collarbone, which he sustained in practice.
John Nowak/Kansas
If Texas Christian's style of play looks familiar to Kansas fans tonight, there will be good reason. TCU coach Neil Dougherty took over the Horned Frogs last season after seven years at Kansas under Roy Williams. Like Williams, Dougherty favors a fast-paced, high-scoring offense.
If TCUs execution doesn't look familiar to Kansas fans, there will be good reason for that too. The Horned Frogs aren't any good. Dougherty's first TCU team finished 9-19 and allowed opponents an atrocious 80.4 points per game, easily the worst figure in Conference USA. The Frogs do put points on the board, but their No. 4 scoring ranking in C-USA lastyear was misleading. Their field goal percentage ranked ninth out of 14 teams.
This year's Frogs are 1-1 after an 87-58 victory over TexasArlington and a 74-62 defeat to Tulsa. Dougherty is using two newcomers, junior forward Aaron Curtis and freshman center Femi Ibikunle, in the starting lineup, but both players have seen limited minutes thus far and haven't made a huge impact.
If nothing else, TCU continues to be college basketball's capital for players with goofy names. In recent years, the Horned Frogs' roster featured Rebel Paulk, "Greedy" Daniels and Bingo Merriex. This year's team includes Nucleus Smith and Texas Tech transfer Marcus Shropshire.
POINT GUARD
Aaron Miles, junior, Kansas
Corey Santee, junior, TCU
Miles displayed an aggressiveness against Michigan State that he's almost never shown in his college career, seizing every opportunity he saw to take the ball to the basket. If that newfound aggressiveness and the results it produced - 17 points, 6 assists, 5-of-11 shooting - are for real, Kansas has its itself a great point guard instead of a good one. If Miles could zoom to the basket against Michigan State's defense with confidence, he shouldn't have any problem doing the same to TCU's considerably inferior schemes. Santee is the Horned Frogs' main man - he's their leading returning scorer and is tied for
ADVANTAGE: Kansas
the team lead this year with 27 points. Santee can score from anywhere on the floor and can also find open teammates and give the ball up. But Miles, as usual, will be up to the challenge defensively.
SHOTOING GUARD J.R. Giddens, freshman, Kansas
Nucleus Smith, senior, TCU
Nucleus Smith, senior, TCU the broken collarbone that Mike Lee suffered last week gives Giddens the opportunity to show what he can do with longer stretches of playing time, and there's no better game on the schedule for him to break out offensively. The game's break-neck pace will give Giddens the chance to display his vaunted athletic ability, which fans have only seen in short bursts in the Jayhawks' first two games. A few monster dunks and a couple of three-pointers aren't out of the question.
Giddens still doesn't look comfortable defensively, which could present a problem against Smith. A role player on last year's Frogs, Smith isn't a serious three-point threat but can score from inside the arc and is an excellent free-throw shooter. He also is good enough defensively to give Giddens some problems. Giddens has far more raw talent, but experience and defensive ability even this one out. Aaron Curtis might also be matched up against Giddens.
ADVANTAGE: Even
THIRD GUARD/SMALL FORWARD Keith Langford, junior, Kansas
Aaron Curtis, junior, TCU
Aaron Curtis, junior, TCU Curtis was ranked one of this year's top junior-college transfers at the shooting guard position, but he has just eight points on 3-of-11 shooting in two games. He's taking his time to get acclimated by the Division I level, as evidenced by Dougherty only using him for 15.5 minutes per game. In this type of game, a big performance from Langford is a near-guarantee.
ADVANTAGE: Kansas
POWER FORWARD Wayne Simien, junior, Kansas
Femi Ibikunle, freshman, TCU
Like Curtis, Ibikunle's been babied so far, averaging just 14 minutes per game despite starting. At 6-foot-9, 250 pounds, the Nigerian native has shown potential as a rebounder, snagging seven against Tulsa in only 15 minutes Saturday. His offensive game is nonexistent right now.
Simien's dominant 28-point performance against Michigan State served notice that he'll be Kansas' go-to guy this year. His 16-for-16 performance at the free-throw line so far is the most heartwarming item on the Kansas season stat sheet.
ADVANTAGE: Kansas
CENTER
David Padgett, freshman,
Kansas
...
Corey Valsin, junior, or Chudi Chineweze, sophomore,
TCU
The 6-foot-5 Valsin has started each of the first two games, meaning TCU starts only one player taller than 6-foot-5. You wouldn't think Dougherty could put that small a lineup on the floor against Simien. Padgett and Jeff Graves.
If Chinweze, who's 6-foot-7, keeps playing like he has early on, Dougherty will eventually have no choice but to insert him in the lineup. Coming off the bench,
he's tied with Santee for the team lead with 27 points, on 10-of-11 shooting. Most teams can find a way to work a 91 percent shooter into their starting lineup. Regardless, Padgett would still have a tremendous height advantage on Chinweze and has already shown he can run the floor well.
ADVANTAGE: Kansas
BENCH
Chinweze and 6-foot-9, 221-pound junior Marcus Sloan give the Horned Frogs some size on the bench. Sloan was impressive against Tulsa, logging seven points and six rebounds. Shropshire, a 6-foot junior, is a solid passer at the point guard position but had an ugly 1-for-11 shooting night Saturday. Freshmen forwards Blake Adams and Art Pierce and guard Neil P. Dougherty, the coach's son, all will probably see minutes.
The injury to Lee puts Kansas coach Bill Self in an interesting position; he has to decide who will get the majority of minutes at backup shooting guard now that Giddens becomes a starter. Kansas' three-point shooting, already a weakness, is even thinner without Lee unless sophomore Jeff Hawkins or freshman Jeremy Case start living up to their reputations as long-range bombers. Case didn't
play against Michigan State, but he'll probably see some meaningful minutes in this game.
Foul trouble continues to be a problem for Graves, a senior center, and it likely will remain a problem all year. But in a game this fast, it shouldn't be a factor unless he commits a couple of frustration fouls. Otherwise, he'll be underneath the bucket to grab a few of TCU's many, many misses.
ADVANTAGE: Kansas
COACHING
In two games, Self has established a fairly clear pattern of what his philosophy is regarding game tempo. Kansas runs off the opponent's missed shots and turnovers, but after a made basket, Miles will more often walk or jog the ball up the floor and initiate a half-court set play. After an up-tempo victory over Tennessee-Chattanooga and a slower, foul-laden conquest of
Michigan State, Self's team has already shown it can adapt to varying dynamics of a basketball game.
Kansas' biggest weakness other than perimeter shooting is transition defense, which Michigan State exploited by beating the Jayhawks down the floor for several easy baskets after Kansas scored. TCU has the athletic scorers to exploit that to a degree, and it'll certainly try.
It's safe to say the Horned Frogs have improved since last year, both defensively and overall; in both categories, it's hard to get any worse. Dougherty has some talent on his roster, but his team isn't nearly capable of pulling off an upset of this magnitude. Kansas' first road test of the season won't be much of a test.
ADVANTAGE: Kansas
PREDICTION: Kansas 96, TCU 74
Birkenstock 900 pairs of mail order returns
Dansko
— compiled by Joey Berlin
at 25%-60% off
Our 3rd floor Union store is now open. Our grand opening will begin at the start of next semester. While we are putting the finishing touches on our displays, we would like you to drop by and take a look.
Our mail order business has accumulated about 900 pairs of Birkenstock and Danka shoes and sandals that we cannot sell as new. We have temporarily arranged them by size in our Union store. They are dramatically marked down. Come see the deals we have in your size.
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