2B
SPORTS / FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2010 / THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN / KANSAN.COM
QUOTE OF THE DAY
"Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear - not absence of fear"
Source Unknown
FACT OF THE DAY
On Sunday in Ames, Iowa, junior Amanda Miller broke the school record in the 5,000 meter with a time of 16:27:03. It was 40 seconds better than her previous best time.
Kansas Athletics
TRIVIA OF THE DAY
Q: How many women's basketball players played a career high in minutes in Saturday's double overtime loss against Texas?
A: Five. Seniors LaCheda Jacobs and Sade Morris, sophomore Aishah Sutherland and freshmen Carolyn Davis and Monica Engelman.
Kansas Athletics
FOOTBALL
Quigley will return to play sixth season
Kansas football player Angus Quigley will return for his sixth year of eligibility after taking advantage of an NCAA waiver that permits extension of five-year eligibility under some circumstances.
The waiver of the five-year period of eligibility is designed to give student-athletes a fourth season of competition if the student-athlete has been deprived of the opportunity for more than one season due to circumstances out of his/her control.
Quigley, who switched to linebacker last season, will return as a running back under Turner Gill.
"I wasn't planning on coming back, but I love KU and I love playing football," Quigley said. "I heard about the new coaching staff and the way they were going to coach and the values they were going to instill and it interested me. I went to the first team meeting with (Gill). He is a players' coach and is respectful."
Quigley is excited about returning to his natural position at running back. He appeared in six games in 2007, rushing 17 times for 98 yards. He carried the ball 59 times for 309 yards in 11 games.
"Angus came to me in December and told me that he would like to play another year and I told him 'I would be glad to have you,'" Gill said.
— Clark Goble
MORNING BREW
Be your own bracketologist
The NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament Committee is adding a new member. And that member
is you.
You're looking at all the information about Team X, trying to determine if it deserves to be in the 64-team field.
It is ranked No. 31 in the RPL. It plays in the best conference in America and sits one game shy of a .500 conference record. Recently, it stayed with top-10 caliber teams but ultimately fell in the dying moments. Team X has one bad loss on the road by a single point.
Formulate what seed you would give Team X. Take your time,
While you're working on it, let me tell you what I would do.
I think that team is a seven seed: Dangerous for the mere fact they have played quality opponents every week in 2010. On paper, this team will dance.
Here's the problem with Team X: It lost Danielle McCray and Angel Goodrich, it's best and second-best player, to ACL injuries.
And how much does that hurt Kansas' tournament résumé, the one that looked quality enough to make the Big Dance before? Well, that's unclear.
Charlie Creme, ESPN's women's bracketologist, said the injuries will certainly be a part of Kansas' profile. The committee will evaluate how Kansas played with McCray and how it played without McCray.
"Those wins with her will be looked at with the injury in mind, certainly," Creme said. "But if they prove they can play well and win without her, it will be harder to say that those earlier wins shouldn't be given as much weight."
BYCLARK GOBLE
cgoble@kansan.com
twitter.com/clark_goble
In Creme's Feb. 15 edition of Bracketology, he placed Kansas as a 10 seed and suggested the loss of McCray could be the teams' "tournament hopes" demise". He does write that Kansas played unexpectedly well so far without McCray, but has yet to get a quality result against high-caliber teams.
Kansas will get more chances to show its merit. After a must-win game against Texas Tech Saturday, Kansas takes on four teams in the RPI top-30. That includes road visits to Baylor, an underachieving team buoyed by freshman freak Britney Griner, and Nebraska, an undefeated force.
And those who think a win is a win and a loss is a loss? Creme said how a team loses matters. Certain committee members are assigned to the Big 12 and members can glance outside of the box score.
So if Kansas falls at the buzer in Lincoln or Waco, it would still help their chances.
"Everything is looked at, including scores and how teams played, not just the results" Creme said.
Kansas likely needs two more victories to feel they have a chance and three to feel
somewhat confident, Losing to Texas Tech would steepen the climb considerably.
Nobody expected the Jayhawks to be in this position. After all, they were the coaches' preseason pick to finish second in the conference.
But they're here. And they're McCray- less.
Team X will have to prove itself to the committee.
FRIDAY YOUTURE SFSH
If you haven't seen Brittney Griner's highlights, today's the day. In a game earlier this season against Texas State, she became the second women's player ever to dunk twice in the same game.
In the game Griner also set the Baylor record for most blocks in a season. It was Baylor's 14th game.
The Jayhawks travel to Waco to take on the Bears Feb. 28, and they'll have to deal with a bear of a player in Griner down low.
Search "Brittney Griner dunks twice in the same game", enjoy and pray that sophomore Aishah Sutherland doesn't become part of a Griner poster someday.
Edited by Taylor Bern
SOFTBALL
Jayhawks need focus in Florida
BY ZACH GETZ
zgetz@kansan.com
The Kansas softball team will build on last weekend's 2-3 outing as the team gets ready for another stacked field of competition at the Lipton Invitational in Gainesville, Fla. Competitors include Florida — the national runner-up last season in the NCAA Softball Tournament — as well as undefeated Marshall, East Carolina and a Campbell team that won its league last season.
"This is kind of our mantra for the season, but we want to focus on us, focus on ourselves and focus on the little things." Coach Megan Smith said. "The games we were successful in last weekend, we executed the little things extremely well in terms of fundamentals, moving runners, making routine plays and hitting our spots."
PLAYERSTO WATCH:
Smith has said that she's not measuring success this season in wins and losses, but a good showing this weekend could give the young Jayhawks momentum to help them with the rest of the season.
Outfield/pitcher Alex Jones: In her first collegiate tournament, she hit .375 and had six runs. She also pitched six scoreless innings to Sam Houston State.
Shorts:
Sara
Ramirez: In
her opening
weekend,
Ramirez hit
.357 with
three runs
and four
RBIs
Jones
Ramirez
Pitcher Sarah Vertelka: Vertelka
started out the season with five earned runs in 2 out of 3 innings The layawhacks need her to be
Vertelka
both a team leader and a producer in the pitching circle.
WHAT TO WATCH FOR:
OFFENSE:
With the exception of the 10-0 Sam Houston victory, Kansas' offense last weekend looked stagnant at times. Kansas needs to look to its sluggers to give its defense some breathing room.
Pitching: Kansas gave up 13 earned runs and 18 total runs in 10 innings in the first two games last weekend. Kansas pitches need to step up big for the team to have a chance against the likes of Florida and Marshall.
Freshmen: The freshmen have already proved that they can produce plays. They need to continue their progression in order to get some wins from this weekend's competition.
"I don't think there will be a game this year that won't be tough for us. We're going to work really hard and treat every game as if it's a top level competitor"
QUOTES ABOUT THE GAMES THIS WEEKEND:
LIPTON INVITATIONAL
Marshall (4-0) 12:30
No. 9 Florida (4-1) 5 p.m.
Campbell (1-2-1) 3:45
p.m.
Sunday
Marshall (4-0) 10 a.m.
East Carolina (1-3) 6
Coach Megan Smith
"Sometimes you can't control the other team because they're good. You have to go in there and do what you have to do and everything else will fall into place."
Third baseman Mariah Montgomery
"I appreciate praise if I do well on the weekend, but I don't want to dwell on that because everyone has their good weekends."
Outfielder/pitcher Alex Jones
Edited by Sarah Bluvas
THIS WEEK IN KANSAS ATHLETICS
TODAY
Softball
vs. Marshall in
Gainesville, Fla., 12
p.m.
vs. Florida in
Gainesville, Fla., 5 p.m.
SATURDAY
Softball
Men's basketball vs. Colorado, 3 p.m
SUNDAY
vs. Campbell in Gainesville, Fla., 3 p.m.
vs. East Carolina in Gainesville, Fla. 6 p.m.
Softball
Marshall in Gainesville,
Fla., 10 a.m.
Tennis at Tulsa, 11 a.m.
Women's basketball at Texas Tech, 5 p.m.
Women's golf at Kiawah Island Classic, all dav
MONDAY
Baseball
vs. Eastern Michigan in Minneapolis, Minn., 5 p.m. doubleheader
TUESDAY
Baseball
Women's golf at Kiawah
Island Classic, all day
WEDNESDAY
Swimming
Women's swimming at Big 12 Championships College Station, Texas all day
THURSDAY
Women's basketball
vs. Iowa state 6:00 p.m.
Women's swimming at Big 12 Championships
College Station, Texas, all day
SCORES
NCAA Men's Basketball:
No. 5 Syracuse 75, No.10 George town 71
No. 13 Gonzaga 66, Loyola-Maramount 74
No. 14 Wisconsin 52, Minnesota 68
No.17 Vanderbilt 82, Mississippi 78
No.19 Pittsburgh 58, Marquette 51
Women's College Basketball:
No. 2 Stanford, Oregon, late
No. 5 Tennessee, Alabama
No. 7 Ohio State 83, Wisconsin 78
Please recycle this newspaper
Saturday, Feb. 20 25%OFF
all crimson & blue clothing & general books in-store and online
*Excludes sale items. See kubookstores.com for a complete list of Crimson & Blue Days.
THE OFFICIAL BOOKSTORES OF KU
KU BOOKSTORES
KANSAS UNION
BURGE UNION
EDWARDS CAMPUS
(785) 864-4640
kubookstores.com