what we heard
monday,december 1,2003
"I refuse to let the program gravitate into mediocrity." Nebraska athletics director Steve Pederson on the firing of football coach Frank Solich
the university daily kansan1
7A
off the bench
Women's basketball wins first of season
By Jesse Newell
jnewell@kansan.com
Kansan sportswriter
Even though the Kansas women's basketball team was out of town for the holiday break, it still had a lot to be thankful for after a strong showing at the Oregon Classic.
Kansas earned its first victory of the year, defeating Sacramento State 70-64 Saturday. Coach Marian Washington said she was also pleased with the Jayhawks' effort in a 54-51 loss Friday to the 24th-ranked Oregon Ducks.
"I felt we made tremendous improvement," Washington said. "If you look at the stats, we were only beat on the free-throw line, and that's encouraging."
Free throws were indeed the difference in the game, as Oregon connected on 18-of-29 free throws, while Kansas finished with only four out of nine attempts. Still, Kansas (1-2) gave nationally-ranked Oregon all it wanted and more in the three-point defeat.
The game featured four ties and six lead changes, with the Jayhawks taking the early advantage.
Just three minutes in, sophomore guard Kaylee Brown hit a three-pointer, giving Kansas a 7-0 lead to begin the game. In front of its home fans, Oregon battled back, taking a 26-20 lead into halftime.
Kansas trailed much of the second half, but regained the lead at the 2:10 mark, with sophomore forward Crystal Kemp connecting on a layup to make it 47-46. It would be Kansas' last lead, however, as Oregon guard Brandi Davis answered with a layup and Oregon made six free throws in the final minute to seal the victory.
Kemp paced all Jayhawks with 11 points. Sophomore forward Tamara Ransburg chipped in eight points and eight rebounds, while junior guard Aquanita Burras added eight points and seven rebounds in the loss.
"Playing on the road is a challenge in itself," Washington said. "I felt we played evenly or outperformed them on the boards and on defense."
The Jahwahks turned good play into a victory against Sacramento State.
Kansas performed well in the second
"Our momentum started to get to our head."
Tamara Ransburg
Kansas sophomore forward
half, extending a nine-point halftime advantage.
Freshman forward Lauren Ervin rebounded a missed shot by junior guard Blair Waltz and put it in for two points, giving the Jayhawks their biggest lead, a 64-44 advantage with 9:16 left.
But Kansas would struggle to hold onto that lead. The Jayhawks would not score a field goal the rest of the game, and Sacramento State took advantage with a 16-0 run in the next eight minutes. Kansas aided Sacramento State with six turnovers in the stretch, and the Hornets closed the gap to four with just more than a minute to play.
"Our momentum started to get to our head," Ransburg said. "We started to relax up 20 points and weren't really focused."
Waltz, Ransburg, and junior guard Larisha Graves all connected on their free throws to put the game out of reach.
"We played well enough to win," Washington said. "We let up at the end of the game, but those are things we are able to correct."
Ransburg led the Jayhawks with a team-high 18 points and six rebounds. Kemp added 13 points, with 11 coming in the first half. Waltz also hit double figures with 10.
Kemp and Ransburg were both named to the all-tournament team. Kansas and Oregon were the only two squads to have multiple players named to the team. The Jayhawks will compete in their first home games of the season this weekend, hosting the Holiday Inn Jayhawk Classic Dec. 6 and 7 in Allen Fieldhouse. Kansas will take on CalState Fullerton at 12:30 p.m. Saturday, with the game also being televised on Jayhawk Television. UTEP and Alabama State round out the four-team field.
—Edited by Mike Owells
Chiefs win again, title in reach
The Associated Press
SAN DIEGO — The Kansas City Chiefs came out of the holiday weekend with neither a wild-card berth nor the AFC West title.
The NFL's best team did at least get a victory over the San Diego Chargers, 28-24 yesterday, to remain on track for its first division title in six years.
Priest Holmes ran 31 times for 162 yards and two touchdowns, and Tony Gonzalez caught two touchdown passes from Trent Green to lift the Chiefs to 11-1. Kansas City capitalized on two turnovers by Doug Flutie in the final 11 minutes.
The Chiefs, the NFL's best team,
weren't able to clinch the division title
because Denver beat Oakland. And they
didn't at least get a wild-card berth because Miami beat Dallas on Thursday.
Flutie at least made the game interesting when he helped the Chargers close the deficit from two touchdowns to just four points late in the third quarter.
But he had two turnovers in the fourth quarter. The biggest came when he dropped a snap while in the shotgun formation, which was recovered by Kansas City's Gary Stills at the San Diego 27 with 11:18 to play.
After Holmes carried seven straight times, Green found Gonzalez wide open for a 3-yard touchdown pass and a 28-17 lead with 6:28 to play.
Flutie had the Chargers moving again, but was intercepted in the end zone by safety Greg Wesley with 4:07 left.
Flutie did throw an 18-yard touchdown pass to Antonio Gates as time expired, but as usual for the Chargers (2-10), it wasn't nearly enough.
Green completed 17 of 30 passes for just 155 yards, with two TDs and two interceptions, both by Quentin Jammer. Flutie was 16-of-34 for 213 yards, also with two TDs and two pickoffs. San Diego's LaDainian Tomlinson had 106 yards and one TD on 19 carries.
It was the first 10-loss season in Charger coach Marty Schottenheimer's 17 full seasons as an NFL head coach.
Kansas athletics calendar
Men's basketball at TCU, 10 p.m. at Fort Worth, Texas.
Friday
Swimming at U. of Houston at Houston, 6 p.m.
Today
Men's basketball at Stanford, 3 p.m. at Anaheim, Calif.
Saturday
Women's basketball
Swimming at Texas A&M, 1 p.m. at College Station, Texas.
Holiday Inn/Jayhawk Classic, Kansas against Cal State Fullerton, 12:30 p.m. at Allen Fieldhouse
Sunday
Women's basketball, Holiday Inn/Jayhawk Classic, TBA
Diamondbacks pitcher traded to Red Sox for $37.5 million
MLB
BOSTON — Curt Schilling is a winner, a workhorse and a fanatic about preparation.
And, even better. He isn't afraid of the New York Yankees.
The Boston Red Sox acquired the 37-year-old right-hander from the Diamondbacks after he waived his no-trade clause and agreed to a deal that guarantees him $37.5 million over the next three years.
With an option for 2007, he has four years to win a championship in Boston like he did in Arizona.
Schilling's desire to take on the Yankees has already made him a hero in Boston. The five-time All-Star also comes to town as an innings-eater and a strikeout machine who will join Pedro Martinez in one of baseball's most formidable rotations.
Boston and Arizona worked out a deal Monday to exchange Schilling for lefty Casey Fossum, righty Brandon Lyon and two minor leaguers. But Schilling wanted a contract extension before he waived the no-trade clause in his current deal.
A baseball source speaking on condition of anonymity told The Associated Press that Schilling's new contract, which folded in the $12 million he was to receive in 2004, guarantees him $12.5 million in 2005 and $13 million in 2006. It also includes a $13 million option for 2007 that could become guaranteed if Schilling meets specified performance levels, the source said.
The Associated Press
Free for All
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I am in love with number 16 on the girls soccer team. Will you marry me?
Watching Roy Williams coach North Carolina is like watching your ex-girlfriend make out with another guy.
Thanks for the pizza, Coach Self. This is a lot better than the doughnuts.
Danny Manning just gave me a pizza. How cool is that?
To the couple on the fan cam: You disgust me.
Pizza from Bill Self tastes just that much better.
Hey Bill Self and Danny Manning,
hanks for the pizza. I like you.
I also don't care for Dick Vitale.
An old man at the Fieldhouse made me turn around and walk in correctly. What grade am I in?
If we all sat in the alumni section at the basketball game they really couldn't move all of us, could they?
Kansas could produce third player of year in a row
Call it a hunch, but a gambling man might want to put some money on the trifecta.
out post-season hardware.
Yes, a Kansas post player just might take home a national player of the year award for the third-straight year. OK, it is early in the season, but junior Wayne Simien has shown the potential to be the most dominant big man in the country.
Few would argue that a healthy Simien has the physical tools to be one of the best in the game. He has shown the strength to catch the ball in traffic and finish strong. This season he's also displayed some dazzling footwork, proving he can play a finesse game as well.
Simien isn't the only big man in the country who's impressive on the court, but there are other factors that could favor Big Dub when it comes time to pass
First and foremost, he plays on a national stage. Fourteen Kansas games are on national television. The rest are available to hoops junkies nationwide who own a satellite dish and subscribe to ESPN's Full Court package. Simien already had a huge game on national television, scoring 28 points against Michigan State last week.
sports commentary
Another factor in Simien's favor is Kansas' reputation for producing great
The same type of exposure helped Nick Collison, who had 24 points and 23 rebounds versus Texas on ESPN last season, in his campaign for player of the year honors. As long as the lahayaves stay in the national rankings, their highlights, many of them featuring Simien, will be a fixture on SportsCenter.
Shane Mettlen
smetten@kansan.com
post players. Former Jayhawk coach Roy Williams gets much of the credit for that. But, the tradition of quality Jayhawk big men should live on with legendary post player Danny Manning now on Bill Self's staff and a new high-low offense that gets the ball in the hands of the big men.
Simien also has something both Drew Gooden and Collison had during their
player of the year campaigns, help on the block.
Opposing defenses couldn't double team Gooden because Collison was just as capable of hurting them. Last season, Collison played alongside Simien, when he was healthy, and Jeff Graves who was good enough to keep defenses honest.
This season Simien can dump it to Graves and freshman David Padgett if the opposing team doubles down on him. At the same time, Simien will be the focus of the Kansas offense. The Jayhawks' guards a are a strong ball-handling group, but not great shooters. This is especially true with junior Mike Lee out with a collarbone injury for 6-8 weeks.
That means the guards will look to feed Simien down low and give him an
opportunity to grab offensive rebounds when they shoot and miss from the outside.
Of course, Simien has to do his part. Continuing to average more than 20 points a game would help. Simien may be the most gifted post player to wear crimson and blue since Manning.
He has a body most NFL defensive ends would envy and has shown the ability to hit the outside jumper. So enjoy what could be another special season for a Jayhawk player. If the Leavenworth native can stay healthy, you couldn't blame him for skipping his senior season and taking his player of the year trophy to the NBA.
Mettlen is a Lucas senior in journalism and sports editor.
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