THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN SPORTS
BASEBALL 6B Jayhawks work to pass .500 The team heads to the Coca-Cola Classic this weekend after a three-game home stand.
THURSDAY, MARCH 3, 2011
WWW.KANSAN.COM
PAGE 1B
KANSAS 64, TEXAS A&M 51
Title No.7 is heaven
Senior guard Brady Morningstar hugs Sophomore guard Elijah Johnson when Morningstar was taken out for the last time at Allen Fieldhouse. The Javhawks won the name 64-51
Mike Guinnoe/KANSAS
Mike Gunnoe/KANSAN
Jayhawks celebrate Senior Night with their seventh straight Big 12 title
BY TIM DWYER
tdwyer@kansan.com
twitter.com/UDKasketball
Thirteen may be out of reach by Self's count, but there's plenty of pride to be had in seven, which no team has accomplished since the advent of the three-point line in college basketball.
"It is amazing," Self said. "I don't think anybody's won seven in a row. And of course, they had 13, and we aren't getting 13."
The smiles were there Wednesday, just like they're supposed to be. And it seems they were a little bit wider when the Jayhawks clinched their seventh consecutive Big 12 title on the same night. It's a streak unmatched since UCLA's untouchable run of 13 consecutive Pac-10 championships, which ended in 1979.
It's supposed to be a feel-good night — Senior Night is. The seniors are supposed to have grins on their faces as they give their speech after beating some Big 12 foe. They're supposed to be able to crack jokes and get laughs, even if the jokes aren't that funny.
And talk about impressive: With this title, Self now has as many losses at Allen Fieldhouse as he does consecutive conference championships. That stat speaks to Self's unerring consistency and a primary reason why the Jayhawks are so difficult to top in conference play.
When the layhawks don't lose at home, that's eight conference wins. Go at least .500 on the road
Read more of the seniors' speeches on 3B
the best team in the conference again, and Morningstar, hesitantly, did just that.
"I mean," he said, pausing.
"Yeah."
— the worst conference record in the streak was 12-4 — and it's tough for anyone else to claim the crown.
He didn't want to say yes, it seems, because the title isn't theirs alone just yet, so the Jayhawks aren't happy. Though the Big 12 Championship trophy was in the building, and the championship t-shirts were given out to players in the locker room, there was little congratulations offered and even less pomp and circumstance.
A loss at Missouri and a Texas win at Baylor this Saturday would mean a split title with the Longhorns, the only Big 12 team the Jayhawks haven't beat this season.
"It's a pretty good accomplishment," senior guard Brady Morningstar said. "But we've still got business to take care of Saturday. We don't like sharing our titles."
Edited by Erin Wilbert
Basketball rewind on 4B-5B
"This is the best place to play in the world, believe it or not," senior guard Brady Morningstar said. "I don't think there's another place in the country, a better venue to play in, so we're spoiled with that." The Jawahars can say that.
The Jayhawks can say they are
To view more photos from Senior Night,
visit kansan.com/photos/galleries
Big 12 competition heats up as season continues
SOFTBALL
BY HANNAH WISE hwise@kansan.com
After three weekends of play in tournaments in Florida and North Carolina the Jayhawks are 14-1 and ranked number 33 in the nation, according to the USA Today Coaches Poll. The most competitive teams they have faced are the University of North Carolina and the University of Minnesota. However, Big 12 play is looming on the horizon and the majority of the teams in the past weekends are not equal competitors to what the team will face in the upcoming weeks.
The Jayhawks defeated UNC 5-4 in their season opener. At the time, the Tarheels were ranked No. 25 in the nation. Minnesota delivered the Jayhawks' only loss at 5-4 during the past weekend's tournament opener. The two teams met again in the tournament finals. Kansas came out on top in the 1-0 win.
"We played some really good softball here the last few weekends and we are going to put it to the test at UNLV," coach Megan Smith said.
This weekend the team travels to Las Vegas to face Bradley, San Jose State, UNLV, Troy and San
"We are going to focus on ourselves and that's our goal. That's what we have been doing all season and that's what we are going to do this weekend, just focus on what we need to do and hopefully it will all work out," Smith said.
"Every team in the Big 12 has great pitching. Some teams we see in the pre-conference season have maybe average pitching. So every team we are going to see is going to have stellar pitching; each game is going to be a tough one. It is going to be a fight each game and we are going to have to be prepared for that," Smith said.
Diego. After three weekends of play the team has not changed their mentality. They plan on focusing on the fundamentals and what they can control.
This weekend's competition will be some of the closest to what Big 12 play is expected to be. The biggest difference that the team will see as they approach conference play is pitching.
The team has continued to work together to pull out wins. The outfielders have not had to make many diving catches so far because of the work done by the pitching staff. This season the pitchers have been kept opponents to only 76 hits compared
Chris Bronson/KANSAN
The offense has been able to work away because the pitchers and the defense have been ending innings quickly. As a team, the Jayhawks have hit 24 home runs on the season. This weekend will be a good opportunity for the hitters to see tougher pitching and make the necessary adjustments to still bring in runs.
"It has been the same goal all year--to keep the ball down. We always say work the knees so keeping the ball down and hitting our spots. We always focus on what we need to do rather than focus on what the batter is doing." senior pitcher Allie Clark said.
to Kansas' 123 hits. The pitchers have a team average ERA of 2.11 on the season and are being led by freshman Kristin Martinez at 1.35.
Things are coming together as they should be at this point in the season. As long as the team continues to stick to the fundamentals and controlling the little aspects of the game there is no reason they should not continue to be a strong competitor and move up into the top 25 ranked teams.
Edited by Brittany Nelson
Senior pitcher Allie Clark pitches during practice Wednesday afternoon at the football practice field. The Jayhawks just won the Spartan Classic in Minnesota on Feb. 27. The Jayhawks next game will be against Bradley on March 4, part of the ULVL Elite Media Stadium Classic.
COMMENTARY
Jayhawks play ugly to beat Aggies
BY KORY CARPENTER
kcarpenter@kansan.com
Teams need games like this. Maybe not every team, but any team with national
title aspirations certainly does.
It was nearly 40 minutes of ugly, bad-shooting basketball. It was full of defense and lacked any semblance of rhythm. But don't take my word for it.
"The game had no rhythm," Bill Self said of Wednesday's 64-51 win over Texas A&M. "It was an ugly game, but that's how they needed to play to give them the best chance."
For the first three quarters of the game, questions arose. Neither team was looking great, and the slow tempo would make even Phog Allen proud. The ugliness brought back memories of last year's tournament loss. The final 10 minutes, however, answered those questions.
With the amount of talent on this Kansas roster, running with the Jayhawks isn't normally a great idea. They're "pretty," says their coach. Pretty teams win a lot of games and fill plenty of highlight reels but don't always succeed in March. Just ask last year's team. The 2010 Jayhawks entered the tournament as the overall No. 1 seed, only to be bounced by Northern Iowa, whose system can be the poster child for "pretty" killers. They held the ball, controlled the tempo and rendered the Kansas talent nearly useless. The highlight-filled careers of Sherron Collins and Cole Aldrich were gone after one ugly game. That's all it takes in March when you meet a team with that mentality.
All season, Bill Self has talked of his team's need to get stops on the defensive end when the shots weren't falling. It didn't happen for the first 29 minutes and 58 seconds against Texas A&M. But after a Kansas timeout with 10:02 left in the game, something clicked. Elijah Johnson finished an alley-oop from Marcus Morris and the defense came alive. The Jayhawks finished the game on a 21-10 run, putting the Aggies to rest and ensuring the three seniors — Mario Little, Brady Morningstar, and Tyrel Reed — ended their Allen Fieldhouse careers with a win.
"Those are tournament type games, where shots aren't falling," Tyrel Reed said. "You've got to grind them out, because you can't really get in a rhythm."
Any national champion will play at least one of these games in the tournament. It's bound to happen over a six-game stretch. Last year's "pretty" team couldn't beat an ugly team in the tournament. Will this year's version accomplish the feat if needed? Only time will tell, but Wednesday night's victory showed fans, and more importantly the players, that they are capable of it.
It wasn't appealing to the eye, but it was needed.
Edited by Erin Wilbert