KANSAN.COM / THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN / FRIDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2010 / SPORTS/
QUOTE OF THE DAY
"The one nice thing about sports is that they prove men do have emotions and are not afraid to show them."
- Writer Jane O'Reilly
FACT OF THE DAY
The 126 points scored by the women's basketball team is the most in team history.
Kansas Athletics
Q: How many Jayhawks are in the top 10 of John Hollinger's PER scale?
TRIVIA OF THE DAY
A: Marcus Morris is No.4 in the country and Thomas Robinson is in eighth.
WASHINGTON President Barack Obama says FIFA made the "wrong decision" in awarding the 2022 World Cup to Qatar over the United States.
Obama disappointed by World Cup choices
Kansas Athletics
FIFA
The U.S. Soccer Federation spent millions of dollars on its bid. Former President Bill Clinton was highly involved in the process and participated in the closing presentation. Those pushing the U.S. bid hoped that bringing the World Cup back to America for the first time since 1994 would boost the slow but steady growth of soccer in the U.S.
Associated Press
Player died from re-injury of brain
H. S. FOOTBALL
SPRING HILL, Kan. — A coroner report says a 17-yearold Kansas high school football player who died recently had a previous head injury that had not healed.
A subdural hematoma is a bleeding between two layers of tissue between the brain and the skull.
Michael Handler, deputy Johnson County coroner, told The Kansas City Star that Spring Hill football player Nathan Stiles died from a rebleed of a subdural hematoma he sustained in a game earlier in the season.
Associated Press
Tony Stark doesn't have this technology.
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Gill deserves more time at KU
MORNING BREW
Can't count how many times I heard Kansas fans say, "Well, basketball season is just around the corner," this football season.
To me that's no consolation. Football is my sport. I enjoy basketball and probably get into the game as much as any other Kansas-worshipping student, but football is where my passion lies.
Kansas doesn't have a quarterback. Our former- starting quarterback — Kale Pick — now plays wide receiver. And one of our wide receivers — Bradley McDougald — now plays on defense. We have two players — Quinn Mecham and Jordan Webb — with strengths and weaknesses, neither quite ready to fill the shoes of a college quarterback for a season.
That's why this year's season, for me, was so heart-breaking. Kansas won only three games and while there may have been some positives, from a fan's perspective, I'm heading into next season with a lot of unanswered questions.
The person most fans are going to blame for all of this is coach Turn Gill. But is that really fair? He's only been here a year and he has a strong enough track record that he deserves a few more years.
He turned around a really bad team in Buffalo. Gill coached that team to its first winning season ever in his third year with them. In addition, in 2008, the school won its first conference championship and went to its first bowl game. Sure the Mid-American Conference was down that year, but I don't think that should take away from what Gill
BY SAMANTHA ANDERSON
sanderson@kansan.com
was able to accomplish.
It's not only that, however; Gill has surrounded himself with a great coaching staff. Have they all forgotten how to coach, too?
Chuck Long, the offensive coordinator and quarterback coach, was a Heisman trophy runner-up and spent seven years in the NFL. But does that transfer to being a good coach? He spent three years as Iowa State's special teams coach. In 1999, he went to Oklahoma, where he spent two years as a quarterback coach, and in 2002, he was promoted to offensive coordinator. While he was with Oklahoma, the team won a national championship and went to a bowl game every year, winning the Rose Bowl and the Cotton Bowl.
While defensive coordinator Carl Torbush's history is a little different, it's impressive all the same. His coaching career began at Carter High School in Knoxville, Tenn. His first college coaching job was from 1976-1979 at Southeastern Louisiana. He's had experience as a head coach and defensive coordinator. In 1996, while he was with North Carolina, he
So what is it that the football team needs? Kansas fans everywhere hope that the answer is simple: time. And maybe that's it. Gill was hired to recruit and he will need time to do that. The question is whether or not Gill will even get the chance. There will be a lot of pressure on him when the new athletics director is selected. That director could want to put his own football program in place. And while getting rid of Gill would be expensive for the school, it is still a possibility.
was named defensive coordinator of the year. He's been a part of 11 bowl teams and While he was at Alabama, his defense was ranked thid in the NCAA.
1, for one, still think Gill deserves a chance at Kansas.
Edited by Dana Meredith
LPGA
Unlikely leaders steal the spotlight
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ORLANDO, Fla. — Two South Koreans atop the leaderboard at the LPGA Tour Championship came as no surprise. They just weren't the two everybody expected.
Stealing the spotlight from two others vying for a historic player of the year honor. Amy Yang and Seon Hwa Lee each shot a 5-under 67 on Thursday to share the clubhouse lead when the opening round was called for darkness.
No pressure on them
"This week is good," Hwa Lee said, smiling.
The bigger challenge falls on their two more acclaimed countrywomen.
Jiyai Shin and Na Yeon Choi are in contention to become the first South Korean to take home the LPGA's player of the year award, a huge honor in a golf-crazed country that sent swarms of media to cover them this week. But Shin (77) and Choi (73) each got off to a disappointing start, leaving them well off the pace.
Julieta Granada finished two shots off the lead on a chilly day at Grand Cypress Golf Club that had many players wearing earmuffs and winter hats with temperatures dipping into the
low 40s just before dawn.
There were four players three shots off the pace.
"I just tried to make par every hole because the fairways, the rough
Choi and Shin also are the only players in the running for the money title. So far Choi has earned $1,814,558 for a $34,790 lead over Shin.
The chilly conditions, by Florida standards, made greens firm and fast. But it was the course, a Jack Nicklaus-design that was renovated between 2007-08 with more undulating greens, that really made things difficult.
American Cristie Kerr (71), Yani Tseng (75) of Taiwan and Ai Miyazato (80) of Japan — the only others who could win the player of the year award — all struggled in the conditions. Choi was 4 under through 12 holes, but she gave back five shots over the next three holes.
the year now that they are retired.
That leaves five in the field with an opportunity to take home the tour's top honor and — along with Suzann Pettersen — perhaps the No. 1 world ranking.
"I don't think it was one bad shot," Choi said. "I feel like I left some shots out there. Luckily, we're all so close and still have a chance."
Even some of the more seasoned pros couldn't believe the course bears Nicklaus' name.
are longer and thicker, and the greens are fast and slope a lot," Yang said. "I just tried to play safely."
This year's season-ending event doesn't have the usual script.
So far, none of them has seized the moment.
For the first time in a decade,
Lorena Ochoa and Annika
Sorenstam won't win player of
"He must have been having
AMY YANG South Korean golfer
"I just tried to make par every hole because the fairways, the rough are longer and thicker ..."
a very bad day," quipped Laura Davies, who shot an opening 70. "Someone went mental on the greens."
The LPGA Tour Championship is applying the same format it used last season, cutting to the lowest 70 scores and ties after 36 holes and an additional cut after 54 holes to the lowest 30 players and ties. That makes the margin for error even slimmer.
much time to make a push.
The field doesn't have
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BIG 12 FOOTBALL
Cornhuskers and Cowboys have six each on All-Big 12 team
ASSOCIATED PRESS
IRVING, Texas — Nebraska and Oklahoma State dominated the All-Big 12 team released Thursday by The Associated Press with six players each.
Oklahoma State quarterback Brandon Weeden, receiver Justin Blackmon, running back Kendall Hunter and lineman Levy
For No. 10 Nebraska, lineman Jared Crick, linebacker Lavonte David and defensive backs Prince Amukamara and Eric Hagg were chosen from a defense that's fifth-best in the country, allowing 291.2 yards per game. The Cornhuskers have the nation's second-best defense against the pass.
Adcock were selected from an Oklahoma State offense that's averaging 537.6 yards per game, second-best in the country.
sen.
The Cornhuskers will face No. 13 Oklahoma in the conference championship Saturday night at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
Crick and David were unanimous picks. Offensive line man Ricky Henry and kicker Alex Henery also were chosen from Nebraska,
Blackmon Hunter and Adcock were
unanimous selections. Blackmon leads the nation in receiving with 154.8 yards per game and Hunter is sixth in rushing at 126.3.
Weeden, a 27-year-old former minor-league baseball player, is second in the country in yards passing per game with 336.4. He's 16th in passer rating, tops in the conference.
The Cornhuskers will face No. 13 Oklahoma in the conference championship Saturday night at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Oklahoma tied Oklahoma State and No. 19 Texas A&M for the South title, and advanced on a tiebreaker based on the BCS standings.
Linebacker Orie Lemon and punter Quinn Sharp round out the honorees from No. 16 Oklahoma State. Lemon was unanimous; Sharp and Blackmon were the only sophomores cho-
The Sooners had four first-teamers — two on offense, two on defense.
the North division champions.
James' performance silences Cleveland
NBA
CLEVELAND — Suddenly, the boos were gone, the chants forgot. LeBron James took the ball hard to the basket on a fast break
Everyone was braced for Cleveland spilling hate at ' James and on the Heat on Thursday night. And they tried in the Heat's easy 118-90 win. Signs, Boos. Chants. A group of eight fans wearing T-shirts that spelled, "B-e-t-r-a-y e-d"
— how many times had that move started fireworks for these fans?
— and threw it down. And was fouled.
But now, as James sank the foul shot in what would be his 24-point third quarter, another, stranger noise came from these fans. One, if not of tribute, then of defeat.
As the night moved on, as the score tilted as much as 38 points in favor of the Heat, as the chants and boos faded to nothing by the end, the storyline changed from how excited Cleveland fans were to hate their lost hero to how well the Heat answered this big night.
How about that moment of
It sat there in the dead arena air, not moving, as the Heat celebrated their way to an easy victory.
silence Cleveland gave LeBron,
huh?
Cleveland couldn't score, couldn't rebound and certainly couldn't defend James (38 points through three quarters) or Dwyane Wade (22 points through three quartes).
The Cleveland fans? They slumped out into the winter air.
THIS WEEK IN KANSAS ATHLETICS
TODAY
FRIDAY
Swimming & Diving
Georgia Invitational
All Day
Athens, Ga.
Volleyball
NCAA First and Second
Rounds
TBA
Campus Sites
SATURDAY
Women's Basketball SMU 2 p.m. Dallas, Texas
Volleyball NCAA First and Second Rounds TBA Campus Sites
Swimming & Diving Georgia Invitational All day Athens, Ga.
Track & Field
Bob Timmons Challenge
All day
Lawrence
SUNDAY
Swimming & Diving Georgia Invitational All day Athens, Ga.
TUESDAY
Men's Basketball
Memphis
6 p.m.
Madison Square Garden,
New York
THURSDAY
Women's Basketball
Michigan
6 p.m.
Ann Arbor, Mich.
ROWING
Team announces four new members
Kansas rowing released the names of four new student-athletes yesterday. Erin Brogan, Angelica Flores, Andrea Joyce and Abbie Watson will all join the rowing program for the 2011-12 season, according to a press release.
"We are very excited to welcome these outstanding young women to the KU rowing team and the Jayhawk family," said coach Rob Catloth in the release. They will play a critical role in the future success of our program."
Brogan began her rowing career with the junior crew at Haddonfield Memorial High School in New Jersey. She played multiple sports and her size and strength she's 6-foot-1 should make her an asset on the team.
Flores is from Santiago Mexico. In high school, she competed as a member of the Mexican junior national team.
Joyce was a standout rower at Holland High School in Tulsa, Okla. She also played basketball.
Watson attended Oak Ridge High School in Oak Ridge, Tenn., and participated for the past five years in the Atomic Rowing Club. With her strong fundamental rowing skills, she has the potential to be an immediate team factor.
— Lauren Newman