KANSAN.COM / THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN / MONDAY, MARCH 7, 2011 / SPORTS / 11A
QUOTE OF THE DAY
"Mick Jagger is in better shape than far too many NBA players. It's up in the air whether the same can be said of Keith Richards."
Bill Walton
FACT OF THE DAY
Marcus and Markieff Morris both increased their career rebound totals to 602 and are now tied with Brandon Rush for 24th place on the all-time KU list.
Kansas Athletics
TRIVIA OF THE DAY
Q: In Big 12 conference play, what is senior Brad Morningstar's assist to turnover ratio?
CBS mishandles game coverage
A: 60-14
Kansas Athletics
MORNING BREW
Until Saturday, I always held CBS' sports coverage in high regard. Their NCAA Tournament coverage is sensational, and it's refreshing to hear the voices of announcers who don't work for ESPN. But CBS messed up during the Kansas-Missouri game, plain and simple.
BY GEOFFREY CALVERT
gcalvert@kansan.com
When CBS switched away from the Kansas game during the under-four minute timeout, I was speechless. I didn't think any network had the audacity to pull such a disrespectful stunt like that. Why couldn't CBS have kept the Kansas-Missouri game as the primary game in Kansas and Missouri and switched all other markets to the Michigan game? It makes perfect sense and would have satisfied all parties.
ESPN does a much better job of handling situations like these. There have been plenty of Big Mondays on ESPN where the first game of the night, the Big East Conference game, runs late, so viewers are forced to miss the beginning of the Big 12 Conference game, the second leg of the doubleheader. When this happens, at least ESPN puts the score of the new game at the top of the screen so viewers are informed. I'd much prefer to see the end of a good game than the beginning of a different game. But CBS didn't even put the Kansas score at the top of the screen, or have a split screen showing both games.
I understand that CBS probably had contractual obligations to switch to the beginning of the Michigan State-Michigan game, but quite frankly, I don't care. This is about customer service, and CBS dropped the ball. I wanted to watch the end of a game involving my school, which happens to be No. 2 in the nation, playing its rival, whom I can't stand, for the outright conference title. But I guess the beginning of a game between Michigan State (17-12) and Michigan (18-12) was more important, despite the fact that we live more than 750 miles from Ann Arbor, Mich., where the game was being played.
Would it have caused such an uproar to keep the Kansas game on through completion? I can't really believe that most of the country favored the switch. Granted, the Kansas game was sloppy and far from beautiful, but it was still no worse than a typical Big
Ten Conference game. Additionally, Kansas and Missouri are both going to the NCAA tournament, while there is a strong possibility that neither Michigan nor Michigan State will be selected.
While CBS certainly has a fine sports package, and I'm looking forward to watching the NCAA Tournament on its family of stations, I cannot help but feel uneasy about CBS' dedication to its viewers after what I witnessed on Saturday. Instead of celebrating the final minutes of Kansas clinching another outright title and handing our rival its first home loss of the year, I sat steaming on my couch while I was subjected to a game between two teams that are the definition of mediocrity.
— Edited by Amanda Sorell
THIS WEEK IN KANSAS ATHLETICS
TODAY
Men's Golf
Louisiana Classic
All day
Lafayette, La.
TUESDAY
TUESDAY
Women's Basketball
Big 12 Championship
11 a.m.
Kansas City, Mo.
Baseball
vs. North Dakota
3 p.m.
Lawrence
Men's Golf Louisiana Classic All day Lafayette, La.
WEDNESDAY Baseball
vs. North Dakota
3 p.m.
Lawrence
Women's tennis
UMKC
3 p.m.
Lawrence
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NCAA Top 25 Weekend Roundup
COLLEGE BASKETBALI
Saturday's games:
2 Kansas 70 (29-2,14-2 Big 12)
4 Duke 67 #13 North Carolina 81
(27-4, 13-3 ACC) (24-6, 14-2 ACC)
24 Missouri 66 (22-9, 8-8 Big 12)
6 Purdue 65 Iowa 67 (25-6,14-4 Big Ten) (11-19,4-14 Big Ten)
7 Texas 60 Baylor 54 (25-6, 13-3 Big 12) (18-12, 7-9 Big 12)
11 Louisville 70 West Virginia 72 (23-8, 12-6 Big East) (20-10, 11-7 Big East)
14 Florida 86 #21 Vanderbilt 76 (24-6, 13-3 SEC) (21-9, 9-7 SEC)
17 Georgetown 47 Cincinnati 69
(21-9, 10-8 Big East) (24-7, 11-7 Big East)
25 Utah St 72 Louisiana Tech 30 (28-3, 15-1 WAC) (12-20, 2-14 WAC)
Georgia St 45 #25 George Mason 68 (12-19, 6-12 CAA) (26-5, 16-2 CAA)
Wyoming 78 #3 BYU 102 (10-20, 3-13 MWC) (28-3, 14-2 MWC)
19 Villanova 50 #5 Pittsburgh 60 (21-10, 9-9 Big East) (27-4, 15-3 Big East)
Colorado St 48 #9 San Diego St 66 (19-11, 9-7 MWC) (29-2, 14-2 MWC)
South Florida 56 #15 St. John's 72 (9-22, 3-15 Big East) (20-10, 12-6 Big East)
8 Notre Dame 70 #16 Connecticut 67 (25-5, 14-4 Big East) (21-9, 9-9 Big East)
Oregon 82 #18 Arizona 90 (14-16,7-11 Pac-10) (25-6,14-4 Pac-10)
DePaul 59 #12 Syracuse 107 (7-23, 1-17 Big East) (25-6, 12-6 Big East)
Texas Tech 54 #24 Texas A&M 66
(13-18, 5-11 Big 12) (23-7, 10-6 Big 12)
23 Kentucky 64 Tennessee 58 (22-8, 10-6 SEC) (18-13, 8-8 SEC)
10 Wisconsin 65 #1 Ohio St 93 (23-7, 13-5 Big Ten) (29-2, 16-2 Big Ten)
Sunday's games:
VCU 79 #25 George Mason 63 (23-10, 12-6 CAA) (26-6, 16-2 CAA)
Kansas has not been able to get into any kind of hitting rhythm all season, and this weekend was no different. Thursday and Friday, against UC Riverside and Cal-State Bakersfield, the Jayhawks were unable to provide any run support.
Coach Ritch Price attributes part of the hitting problems to the youth of the Jayhawks lineup. He said even a large portion of the juniors this year weren't huge contributors to last year's team.
A reason why the Jayhawks haven't been able to put many runs on the board is because of the high number of runners they've left stranded on the base paths.
"We have so many inexperienced guys hitting in the impact parts of our order," Price said when asked why the bats had been so inconsistent.
The Jayhawks' hitting inconsistencies continued to plague their weekend, as they dropped three out of four games in the Coca-Cola Classic.
BASEBALL
Thursday in a 10 inning 2-1 loss to UC Riverside, the Jayhawks marooned five players on the base paths. Friday, in another dismal batting performance in a 12-0 loss to Cal State Bakersfield, the Jayhawks
"We've got to start producing for our pitchers," senior outfielder Jimmy Waters said.
Baseball team goes 1-3 in weekend Coca-Cola Classic
BY MIKE VERNON
mvernon@kansan.com
Even in their better batting performances on Saturday and Sunday, the Jayhawks could not break their habit of stranding runners on the base paths. Saturday, in a 3-4 loss to No.7 Arizona State, the Jayhawks left six runners on base, and in Sunday's 4-1 victory over Air Force, the batters also stranded six Jayhawks on base.
Price once again pointed to their youth to explain for their inability to score runs once they had runners on base. Price said he believed that more game experience would be able to help guy's make some needed adjustments.
write the Thursday loss to UC Riverside and the Friday loss to Cal State Bakersfield didn't go as planned, things did start to turn around for the Jayhawks in their last two games in Surprise, Ariz.
left seven potential runs on base.
"The last two games they put good bats on the ball, squared them up, and put the球 in play a lot more," senior pitcher Wally Marciel
"The most obvious [adjustment] is that you get more breaking balls with runners in scoring position, and that's something we're continuing to struggle with," Price said.
In the weekend's biggest game for the Jayhawks, they put up seven hits for three runs off Arizona State's starting pitcher Kramer Champlin. Sophomore center Alex DeLeon contributed in the fourth inning, by hitting a homerun that knocked in three to give the Jayhawks a brief lead over the Sun Devils. The lead only lasted an inning, but it was the first encouraging sign in a weekend that had previously been disappointing.
The Jayhawks followed their improved performance with another outing that was even better in their win over Air Force. The Jayhawks helped out Marcel and freshman pitcher Colton Murray's great outing on the mounds with eight hits at the plate for four runs.
The Jayhawks finished the weekend with a 5-6 record, which is certainly not where they were hoping they'd be, but Price came away with a positive feeling about the direction in which the team is headed.
"We made progress," Price said. "Were still not where we want to be, but we made progress."
- Edited by Samantha Collins
said.