THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
SPORTS
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL | 3A 'Bleeding' against Iowa State The Jayhawks were defeated by the Cyclones after a three-game winning streak
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 2, 2011
WWW.KANSAN.COM
REVIVAL OF HOPE
After drama, victory
Chris Brenson/KMSA Senior guard Brady Morningstar takes a shot during the second half of Saturday's game against the Sooners held at Lloyd Noble Center in Norman, Okla. Morningstar had nine points and four assists in the Jayhawks' 82-70 win over Oklahoma.
Chris Bronson/KANSAN
Jayhawks winning even after pain and scandals
BY TIM DWYER
tdwyer@kansan.com
twitter.com/UDKbasketball
But today, 10 days after Texas remained unbeaten and largely unchallenged in the Big 12, Kansas is alone on top of the league, needing only one victory or one Texas loss to continue its remarkable streak.
The Jayhawks, collectively, missed 32 games because of suspension, injury or personal tragedy. They missed starters and key reserves, and they missed them in wins and both losses.
They struggled all year to stay healthy or wholesome enough to stay on the court, and just a little more than a week ago, it seemed certain that the missteps and misfortune would cost the Jayhawks their seventh straight Big 12 title.
The revival of hope in Lawrence has been triggered by Texas defeats, but the Jayhawks are playing some of their best basketball right now, led by a new face at point guard. Sophomore Elijah Johnson claimed the spot when junior guard Tyshawn Taylor was suspended and, after a pair of stellar defensive performances against Oklahoma State's Keiton Page and Oklahoma's Carl Blair, he is in sole position to have the job the rest of the way.
"Considering how we dropped the ball against Texas at home," coach Bill Self said, "it's pretty good to be in this position."
"In my mind, if we were going to play a NCAA Tournament game tomorrow," Self said, "Elijah Johnson would be our starting point guard."
Taylor, team spokesman Chris Theisen confirmed Tuesday night, will be in uniform for Wednesday's game. Theisen said that he would "not say anything about whether he'll play or not."
If Taylor doesn't play, senior Brady Morningstar's role as de facto point guard will continue — Morningstar owns the best assist-to-turnover ratio in the conference in conference play, and he'll
be one of three Jayhawk seniors to play their last game in the Fieldhouse tonight.
Mario Little will get his first start of the season, following the long established Kansas tradition. Lawrence native Brady Morningstar, the oldest senior of the bunch at 25, will move over
to start at the point for Kansas and will likely square off with Texas A&M's Khris Middleton on the defensive side of the ball. Tyrel Reed, who once wore a Kirk Hinrich Jersey to a recruiting visit at Kansas State, will play his usual role as the rock-steady two-guard. Reed is the only Jayhawk to not
miss a start this season, and Self said that Reed and Morningstar have grown to become indispensible for the Jayhaws.
"Not only have those two been great for our program," Self said, "they've been to the point where, if they don't perform well, we don't win. There have been huge
Reed struggled to choke back tears when he talked about his experience Monday.
improvements in their development since they got here."
"I just — I've loved being part of it," he said.
—Edited by Caroline Bledowski
BASEBALL
Jayhawks' patience leads to progress
BY MIKE VERNON
mvernon@kansan.com
PAGE 1B
In a pair of wins in a doubleheader with Southern Utah Tuesday afternoon at Hoglund Ballpark, Kansas baseball figured something but: Even if Jayhawks don't belt many homers or hit for many extra-base hits, they can still get guys on base and eventually across the plate.
"We work on bunting and base running. Every single day, we spend a lot of time on that," sophomore infielder Jake Marasco said. "I think that that's the way teams are going to have to go about trying to get wins."
Part of the problem for hitters across the country has been the new bats that every college player is required to hit with. These new bats don't provide nearly as much pop as the old, explosive metal bats.
"It's different," Marasco said.
"There are balls that guys have been hitting that are at the warning track that would be out by twenty feet last year."
There's been a clear adjustment
In Tuesday's first game, the Jayhawks only managed to piece together six hits, with three of those hits zipping off of Marasco's bat. With only four batters getting a hit in the squad's 2-1 win, the Jayhawks proved that patience at the plate can be a virtue.
Jimmy Waters, a senior outfielder from Council Bluffs, Iowa, hits a foul ball Tuesday afternoon against Southern Utah. Waters went to bat four times for the Jayhawks.
The Kansas batters' patience paid off in the first game, as the Thunderbirds pitchers walked six Jayhawks. And patience paid off once again in the second game, but in a more painful way. Seven Jayhawk batters were hit by pitches from Southern Utah pitcher Chase Rezack, which helped the Jayhawks cruise to a 5-1 win.
period so far for the Jayhawks, but in both wins against Southern Utah, the Jayhawk hitters have showed signs of figuring out how to score runs.
"Were trying to do a better job of working counts," Coach Ritch Price said.
As the Jayhawks start to figure it out at the plate, Price is also starting to figure things out with the lineup.
For both of Tuesday's games, Price moved senior outfielder Jimmy Waters to third in the lineup, and the streaking junior infielder Zac Elgie to the cleanup spot at fourth in the lineup.
'I needed to move (Elgie) up there, and move Jimmy up there.
SEE BASEBALL ON PAGE 2B
Strong pitching in double-header
Members of the baseball team shone in pitching and defense
COMMENTARY
Wildcats are rising from the ashes
BY COREY THIBODEAUX cthibodeaux@kansan.com
Well, he had the right idea;he just delivered it in a poor manner.
Remember when Kansas State guard Jacob Pullen said he wasn't going to play in the NIT?
"This is my last go-round."
Pullen said after the Jan. 29 loss against Kansas. "I'm not going to the NIT. I won't play basketball in the NIT. I'm saying that now. If we lose and we have to go to the NIT, I will not play."
It would have been a much cooler story had he not added that last sentence. Then we could have interpreted the statement as though he wouldn't let the team remain in the horrible funk they were in earlier this year. If he hadn't added it, people would have thought, "With Pullen's passion and confidence, the Wildcats will correct their flaws and become a legitimate NCAA contender."
The success is alarming, especially when you think about how the Kansas State season began. The Wildcats had so much promise as the preseason No. 3 team, only to lose a handful of games and their team chemistry in the process.
Just think that up until this point the Jayhawks have only played three ranked opponents. Their last two games, including tonight against Texas A&M, are both ranked, making five for the season. The Wildcats have both won and lost that many.
Kansas State is as good as in the NCAA tournament. And it is a horrifying team, capable of taking any top seed to the brink. It's not surprising how it won at Texas in a battle of Big 12 elites on Monday.
They get beat, learn defeat, then get better and hungrier for that next win. Look at how pretty the Kansas State victory résumé is: No. 24 Virginia Tech. No. 12 Gonzaga, No. 1 Kansas, No. 21 Missouri and No. 8 Texas. That's pretty good.
The Wildcats have endured their inner turmoil and vicious schedule and emerged as perhaps the most tested team in the nation.
Frank Martin pulled the Larry Izzo tactic and played the most brutal schedule you could conceive. That's how Izzo's Michigan State teams do it: The regular season is going to be demoralizing while losing to tough teams. But that experience puts the team in the Final Four year after year.
Kansas State pulled the same stunt with a season speckled with losses against, at the time, No. 1 Duke, No. 24 Florida, No. 10 Texas A&M, No. 14 Missouri and No. 6 Kansas. Those last three are the luxury of playing in the Big 12.
If you are into the Bracketology thing, Kansas State is projected as an eighth seed right now. But as they say, no one wants to play them.
After the victory against Texas Monday night, Pullen found the right words to say.
"We're a good basketball team," he said during the press conference. "Everybody wrote us off. They really just called our season down the drain and for us, it's nothing but motivation."
Edited by Caroline Bledowski