KANSAN.COM / THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN / WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 26, 2011 / SPORTS / 11A
"Let's not do it then."
QUOTE OF THE DAY
— Green Bay Packers coach Mike McCarthy after a reporter began a question with "I don't want to revisit the Favre thing in any way."
FACT OF THE DAY
The home team and away team for the Super Bowl changes each year. This year, the NFC is the home team.
— NFL.com
TRIVIA OF THE DAY
Q: Who will sing the national anthem before this year's Super Bowl?
A: Christina Aguilera
— NFL.com
Rank is nothing but a number
WARNING: YOU MIGHT BE ANGRY WITH ME AFTER READING THIS.
MORNING BREW
Let me ask you a question. What team is currently ranked No.1 in basketball?
If you said Ohio State, you're correct. If you said The Ohio State, you are either from Ohio or a beckeyes fan.
I've seen it time and again, where fans will point with their index fingers and yell that their team is number one when a camera comes by. Every fan is guilty of it who has had the opportunity to do it. I'll admit, I've done it too, but I'm not proud of it.
The Buckeyes and their fans, in my humble opinion, are the only ones allowed to point in a camera and say they are No.1 at the moment. The current polls came out Monday with OSU ranked No.1 in both the AP and Coaches polls.
How far did Kansas fall after its loss to Texas? If you said sixth, you're right again.
I would love to have seen Kansas fans holding up two fingers and shouting "Jayhawks" instead of saying they're number one. Doing an upside down "Hook 'em Horns" would have been
enough justice. Anything but saying "we're number one" when it's further from the truth.
The next opportunity Jayhawk fans have is on Saturday against Kansas State. Now ranked number six, it would be appropriate to show six fingers. It's difficult to do because it means the use of two hands, unless you're Antonio Alfonseca, who is currently a Major League Baseball free agent. If you're asking yourself if Alfonseca has six fingers on each of his hands, you're correct again.
Sure, Kansas was number one...last year, but that doesn't mean the team won't be back, because I guarantee it will be. I just don't know when. And there are a handful of teams that could
say they are number one in their conference, but that's not fair to Ohio State, the real number one.
Kansas will get back to the promised land of being atop the national polls during the season, but that's not what matters. The number one ranking is only a bull's-eye. It's the team that everybody wants to defeat. Really, teams want to be ranked number one at the end of the season, signaling they are the national champions.
Be proud to show six fingers, because that's how many championships Kansas will have if it wins in 2011.
Edited by Sarah Gregory
Hazell helps Pirates bring losing streak to an end
SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Jeremy Hazell led a long-range Seton Hall barrage with 28 points and the Pirates stunned No. 9 Syracuse 90-68 on Tuesday night, the Orange's third straight loss.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Syracuse (18-3, 5-3 Big East) had lost two straight to top 10 conference foes, on the road at Pittsburgh a week ago and on Saturday at home to Villanova before a crowd of 33,736. In both games the Orange fell behind early — Pittsburgh scored the first 19 points of the game and Villanova hit eight 3-pointers in the first half.
That trend continued against Seton Hall (9-12, 3-6), which had lost three straight. The Pirates torched Syracuse's zone defense for seven 3s in the first half, four by Hazell, and built a 13-point halftime lead.
Seton Hall finished 10 of 17 from beyond the arc and shot 54.1 per
- - -
- - cent for the game while holding Syracuse to 5 of 21 from long range and a season-low 36.1 percent from the field.
Jordan Theodore had 19 points on 7-of-10 shooting for the Pirates. Fuquan Edwin had 13 points, Jeff Robinson 12 and Herb Pope 10.
Kris Joseph led Syracuse with 17 points. Rick Jackson had 12 points and 11 rebounds, his 14th double-double of the season. Scoop Jardine and Brandon Triche each had 11 points.
Atter their first meeting 17 days ago, a sloppy 61-56 Syracuse victory, Orange coach Jim Boeheim winced at the stat sheet. The Pirates missed all 17 3-point attempts in the first half.
It was a much different story on Tuesday, and Boeheim was wincing again. Seton Hall hit its first three from beyond the arc, two by Hazell, and led 26-15 on Theodore's 3 from the right wing with 12:07 left.
And they weren't through. In the
final 6 minutes of the half, Seton Hall slowed the pace to a crawl and the strategy paid big dividends. Hazell drained two 3s from the wing, the second at the shot clock buzzer, and Theodore followed with another — all three in a span of less than 2 minutes — to put the Pirates up 37-23 with 3:49 left.
The Pirates extended the lead to 50-30 on Hazell's steal and layup early in the second half as Syracuse missed its first six shots before Jardine finally hit a 3 from the wing at 15:31, the Orange's second in 11 tries from beyond the arc.
In its first two losses, Syracuse rallied both times, scoring 17 straight points against Pitt and pulling within four points of Villanova in the closing minutes after trailing by as many as 14. There was no rally against Seton Hall, which never allowed the Orange to get closer than 17 in the second half as the Orange faithful began leaving early, a rarity in the Carrier Dome.
No.1 OSU shoots past No.12 Purdue
ASSOCIATED PRESS
COLLEGE BASKETBALL
COLUMBUS, Ohio If this was a big test, then No.1 Ohio State aced it.
William Buford had 19 points, Jared Sullinger added 17 and No. 1 Ohio State played almost flawlessly in rolling past No. 12 Purdue 87-64 on Tuesday night.
Jon Diebler had 13 points and a career-high eight rebounds, Deshaun Thomas added 13 points, David Lighty scored 10 points and Aaron Craft had 11 points and six assists for Ohio State (21-0, 8-0 Big Ten), which ran its record to 62-4 all-time when atop the poll.
Ohio State, which shot 55 percent from the field and hit 11 of 19 3-pointers, used an 11-0 first-half run to take control and never let up.
The Buckeyes and No.4 San Diego State (20-0) are the only unbeaten teams remaining in Division I.
JaJuan Johnson had 22 points for Purdue (17-4,6-2).
The victory puts the Buckeyes up by two games in the Big Ten. After several close calls in conference play, they had yet to really blow out a team. They chose a high-profile game against a quality opponent to do just that.
Ahead by 20 points at halftime after shooting 57 percent from the field and making 6 of 9 3-pointers, they kept it up even as Purdue turned up the pressure in the second half.
Late in the shot clock, with the Boilermakers scrambling to get back in the game, the 6-foot-9 Sullinger even tossed in a 3 to the delight of a near-capacity crowd of 17,556.
THIS WEEK IN KANSAS ATHLETICS
TODAY
Men's basketball
Missouri
7 p.m.
Columbia, Mo.
THURSDAY No events scheduled
FRIDAY
Track
Jayhawk Classic
All day
Lawrence
SATURDAY
Women's basketball
Kansas state
2 p.m.
Manhattan
Men's basketball
Kansas State
6 p.m.
Lawrence
SUNDAY No events scheduled
MONDAY No events scheduled
TUESDAY
Men's basketball
Texas Tech
8 p.m.
Lubbock, Texas
NBA
Pierce leads Celtics past LeBronless Cavs
BOSTON — Paul Pierce scored 24 and Kendrick Perkins returned for the first time since injuring his knee in the NBA finals to help the Boston Celtics beat Cleveland 112-95 on Tuesday night and send the Cavaliers to their 18th consecutive loss.
Perkins, who had offseason surgery to repair his anterior cruciate ligament, had seven points and six rebounds in 16 minutes.
Ray Allen scored 18 points and Rajon Rondo had 10 assists for Boston, which bounced back from a loss to the lowly Washington Wizards.
J. J. Hickson scored 12 points with 17 rebounds for Cleveland. It was the Cavs' first time back in Boston since losing Game 6 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.
Associated Press
MEN'S BASKETBALL
Garrett walks on to Jayhawks' roster
Freshman guard Christian Garrett will be the newest addition to the Kansas men's basketball team in the 2011-12 season. Garret, a transfer from IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida, will practice with the team this Spring. "We're excited and looking forward to having Christian as a member of our basketball team."
Garrett
"He and his family notified us that this is where Christian wanted to begin
and get his
education from the University of Kansas and we think he will be a great asset."
seven assists, and 6.3 rebounds for IMG Academy. Garrett was productive playing for Belmont Shore AAU, the same AAU program center Jeff Withey played for.
A native of Los Angeles, the 6'3" guard averaged 14 points,
Garret qualified for the Top 50 at the Pangos All-American Camp and was a Top 25 pick on the Fullcourt Press All-West Camp.
— Nicolas Roesler