KANSAN.COM / THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN / WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2010 / SPORTS
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QUOTE OF THE DAY
"I always turn to the sports section first. The sports page records people's accomplishments; the front page has nothing but man's failures."
TRIVIA OF THE DAY
—14th Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Earl Warren
FACT OF THE DAY
Q: How many NFL teams are within first place of their respective divisions?
Dwayne Bowe and Jamaal Charles are the first teammates to each have 170 rushing and receiving yards combined in the same regular-season game. Against Seattle on Sunday, Bowe caught for 170 yards and Charles ran for 173.
— NFL Football Info
A: 19, the most teams in history after 12 weeks.
Three Jayhawks get conference honors
NFL Football Info
FOOTBALL
After a disappointing 3-9 season, three Jayhawks were named to the Big 12 All-Honorable mention team, KU Athletics announced Tuesday.
D. J. Beshears earned a sport as a return man, Alonso Rojas at punter, and Jake Laptad at defensive end.
Beshears, only a sophomore, set Kansas records with 35 kick returns for a combined 922 yards. Laptad finished his Jayhawk career with 21 sacks, putting him in second all-time in school history, while Rojas ended his career averaging 41.5 yards per punt.
— Kory Carpenter
COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Huskies roll as Walker scores 30 once again
ASSOCIATED PRESS
STORRS, Conn. — Kemba Walker scored 30 points and No. 7 Connecticut returned from its triumphant trip to Hawaii with a harder-than-expected 62-55 victory over New Hampshire on Tuesday night.
Shabazz Napier added 11 points for Connecticut (6-0) which was not ranked before beating Michigan State and Kentucky last week in the Maui Invitational.
The Huskies trailed the Wildcats 24-23 at halftime, and didn't take the lead for good until six minutes into the second half, in what was a close game throughout.
UConn went on a late 9-2 run to expand a 49-48 lead to 58-50.
The Huskies came into the season picked by the Big East coaches to finish 10th in the conference.
They opened some eyes when they beat Wichita State, then No. 2 Michigan State and then No. 8 Kentucky to win the Maui Invitational.
UConi hasn't lost a game in Storrs before January in 97 games, since falling 91-85 to Holy Cross in December 1973.
With the win, Connecticut improved to 113-4 against non-conference opponents from New England in the Calhoun era.
Soccer's best thrill, entertain
MORNING BREW
Acrossissant to the French is nothing more than buttered bread to the American. Put a televised soccer match in front of a European and you've got eyes glued to the screen. Do the same to an American (non-World Cup) and most are reaching for the remote.
Living in Paris this semester, I've been able to watch some of the greatest European teams during prime-time hours. Perhaps nothing I've seen was more impressive than FC Barcelona's 5-0 slaughtering against Real Madrid on Monday.
The match featured two of the most iconic names in the soccer world. There was Cristiano Ronaldo for Real Madrid, the flamboyant Portuguese striker with a carousel of both girlfriends and jukes. And there was Lionel Messi, the Argentine striker/forward who is widely regarded as the best player alive. There were several fights, 11 yellow cards and one red card. Coaches shoved. Middle fingers elevated. Cheap shots all around.
Like a spider spinning its web, Messi the wizard and his Barcelona teammates weaved the bright yellow ball through Madrid defenders with robotic precision. No movement wasted. Concise use of space and time.
"Cest dingue!" (This is crazy!) said Jacques, my host-father who was also amazed at the premier level of play.
During the match I kept asking myself: Why is it difficult for most Americans to appreciate a game that is so undeniably impressive? Why is the World Cup most Americans' only exposure to the most popular game in the world? It has to be internationally popular for a reason, right? This list had to be made.
BY MAX ROTHMAN
mrothman@kansan.com
REASONS WHY AMERICANS DON'T LOVE SOCCER
We're not the best in the world: With our three most popular sports, football, basketball and baseball, America dominates any other country. This is also most likely why we don't match up with soccer. All of our best, most freakish athletes reside on the football field, basketball court or baseball diamond. We don't raise our best young talent as soccer players, so they don't become Messi or Ronaldo. They become Lebron James or Larry Fitzgerald as we know them today.
Time zone differential/lack of airtime:
Because we're not the best in the world, many of the premier matches available for our viewing pleasure occur at night in Europe, but right in the middle of our work/ school days in the States. We can't watch them live, so we don't watch them at all.
Patriotism: Who the heck wants to root for a bunch of Europeans or South Americans anyways? (I'm kidding here, but is the rest of the United States?)
We can't use our hands: Most of us don't watch it, because most of us don't play it. And why don't we play it? Because we can't use our beloved paws. We eat just about everything with our hands, type on our computers and text our friends with our hands, and play every other sport with our
hands. This omission is too much for the average American to bear.
average American to bear.
Lack of history: Every major sport has heroic tales of the past. Examples: Wilt vs. Russell or Magic vs. Bird in basketball. Vince Lombardi or Walter "Sweetness" Payton in football. Babe Ruth or Bobby Thomson's "Shot Heard 'Round The World" in baseball. What does U.S. soccer history have? Outside of Mia Hamm's championship teams, mostly disappointment.
Verdict: Though qualifications in recent World Cups have inspired some enthusiasm for soccer in the States, it seems as if our historical playing woes and lack of widespread fan interest has no instant cure. I propose that ESPN replays UEFA (European League Soccer) matches at night. It won't feel like a replay because no one checks soccer scores (yet). Throw the NBA games with no visible defense to ESPN2 and expose the best of the best. Who knows? Maybe the next great American athlete will grow up watching UEFA on ESPN and trade in his basketball shoes for some cleats and shin guards. He'll grow up wanting to be Messi instead of Lebron. And he just might save American soccer from its current state.
— Edited by Tim Dwyer
THIS WEEK IN KANSAS ATHLETICS
TODAY
Women's Basketball
Maine
7 p.m.
Lawrence
THURSDAY
Men's Basketball
UCLA
8 p.m.
Lawrence
FRIDAY
Swimming & Diving
Georgia Invitational
All Day
Athens, Ga.
SATURDAY
Women's Basketball SMU 2 p.m. Dallas, Texas
Swimming & Diving Georgia Invitational All Day Athens, Ga.
Track & Field Bob Timmons Challenge All Day Lawrence
COLLEGE BASKETBALL
SUNDAY
Swimming & Diving Georgia Invitational All Day Athens, Ga.
No.10 Kentucky hammers Boston University
Brandon Knight scored 23 as the Wildcats bounced back from a loss
ASSOCIATED PRESS
LEXINGTON, Ky. — Brandon Knight scored 23 points and No. 10 Kentucky bounced back from its first loss of the season with a 91-57 win over Boston University on Tuesday night.
Terrence Jones added 18 points and 10 rebounds for the Wildcats (5-1), who shot 59 percent from the field and overwhelmed the Terriers (4-4) over the final 20 minutes.
Kentucky led by just seven points at halftime before opening the second half on an 18-3 run to break things open.
He urged them to communicate better on defense and share the ball on offense.
John Holland led the Terriers with 20 points but Boston U. shot just 29 percent and had no answer after the Wildcats shook off a sluggish first half with perhaps their best basketball of the season.
Kentucky coach John Calipari was on the sideline two days after the passing of his mother, Donna, who died on Sunday following a lengthy battle with cancer.
Calipari thanked everyone for their support before the game via his Twitter and Facebook accounts, saying he was sure his mother was watching from "the luxury boxes with a whole crew of UK luminaries cheering right along with her."
Calipari called his team too "selfish" following an 84-67 loss to Connecticut in the finals of the Maui Invitational, a game in which the Wildcats were dominated from nearly the opening tip.
They did that after perhaps shaking off some late jet lag from
The players honored her by sporting black socks, while Kentucky's assistants donned black suits and some fans — particularly in the student section
wore black T-shirts.
their trip.
Kentucky led just 40-33 at halftime as Boston hung around by attacking the offensive boards and harassing the Wildcats into careless turnovers.
Any hopes of pulling the upset and giving Kentucky its first losing streak under Calipari, however, evaporated during a blistering opening eight minutes to the second half.
The run started slowly with two free throws by Jones before the Wildcats really heated up. Doron Lamb hit a runner in the lane, DeAndre Liggins knocked down a three-pointer and Knight followed with a pullup jumper following a steal by Lamb.
Knight drilled a three-pointer on Kentucky's next trip before a layup by Jones and a three-pointer by Darius Miller mushroomed the lead to 57-36. Boston U. coach Patrick Chambers then received a technical foul and Jones hit a free throw, but the Wildcats were just getting started.
Kentucky's Brandon Knight shoots over Boston University's Matt Griffin Tuesday, Nov. 30, 2010. Knight had 23 points in the 91-57 Kentucky win
Josh Harrellson tipped in a miss by Jones then added a layup off a nifty no-look pass from Jones. Miller and Lamb added three-pointers and by the time Miller converted an alley-oop the Wildcats were up 70-40 and could start thinking about a showdown at North Carolina on Saturday.
It was more than enough to fend off the Terriers, who came in with notable wins over Nevada, Cornell and George Washington but were no match when Kentucky hit the gas after halftime.
A week after Calipari blasted his team for being "me first," the Wildcats had 21 assists on 32 field goals, including six by Knight.
Harrellson finished with 12 points and 11 rebounds and Lamb wound up with 13 as Kentucky knocked down 10 of 16 three-pointers.
COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Tennessee stays perfect with win
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Tobias Harris scored 21 points and
Scotty Hopson had 19 as No.13 Tennessee cruised to an 86-56 victory over Middle Tennessee State on Tuesday night.
The Vols (6-0) opened with an 8-0 run and trailed only once as Middle Tennessee (3-4) responded with a 10-0 run while shutting down the paint on the defensive end.
That's when Pearl put in a defensive lineup with John Fields, Steven Pearl and Renaldo Woolridge to pressure the Blue
Raiders' shooters, and the only basket for three minutes was a three-pointer by Hopson. Middle Tennessee wouldn't score for eight minutes.
When the Vols' shooters returned to the court they went on
a 21-0 run with five of six straight baskets coming from behind the arc. The last of the five, a shot by Trae Golden with 7:21 left in the first half, made it 29-10.
Associated Press