KANSAN.COM / THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN / MONDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2010 / SPORTS
7B
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Knee injury ends McCray's season
BY MAX ROTHMAN
mrothman@kansan.com
twitter.com/maxrotthman
One of the best who ever donned the crimson and blue ended her career prematurely. Senior guard Danielle McCray tore the ACL in her left knee during Thursday afternoon's practice and will miss the remainder of the 2009-10 season.
McCray suffered the injury in
the first 15 minutes of practice during a four-on-four drill the team runs regularly. The drill was low in contact, but McCray, untouched, fell to the floor and let out a piercing scream.
McCray
"She's a very strong person," freshman guard Monica Engelman said. "To hear her in pain like that was overwhelming."
"She faked the screen and went baseline for a shot. That's something that I would do," McCray said.
Engelman replaced McCray in the starting lineup Sunday and looked the part of a talented impersonator.
As Engelman was scoring, McCray was acting as scribe. Knee braced and eyes peeled, McCray sat in between a row of assistant coaches and scribbled notes of observation.
"I was making sure that at every media timeout I had something to say." McCray said.
McCray said that she wanted to divert the attention from her injury and fill a new role as teacher.
"Moping around isn't going to change the outcome of anything," McCray said. "I have a new mindset. I have to help my teammates out."
Already carrying the team on her shoulders, senior guard Sade Morris must now lead Kansas without her sharp shooting teammate and dear friend.
"It hurts," Morris said. "I thought
about senior day. That's what you wait for."
The crushing news is something that this team has dealt with before. In a 70-68 loss against Oklahoma State on Jan. 12th, freshman guard Angel Goodrich tore the ACL in her right knee and ended her season. She tore the ACL in her left knee during a preseason practice last year and ended her true freshman season, forcing her to red-shirt.
"Me and Angel had an hour conversation last night," McCray said. "We think it's going to make us love the game even more. You never know how much you miss something until it is taken from you."
Goodrich will return as a sophomore next year. As a senior, McCray's career at Kansas has come to an end. However Henrickson feels that there is more to come from her fallen star.
"She's going to be okay," Kansas Coach Bonnie Henrickson said. "She's going to be drafted and play professionally."
By numbers alone, McCray will be considered one of the greatest players in Kansas women's basketball history. She ranks in the top 10 in school history in 10 different categories. In 116 games, she scored 1,934 points (4th all time in school history). The second team preseason All-American averaged 19.8 points and 7.2 rebounds per game this season.
"I've heard from a lot of people," McCray said. "Facebook inbox full. Phone calls and text messages. I told my mom that I didn't think that I was that important. You really don't know until something happens. It's cool how many people care about you."
With the two significant injuries, Kansas is surely handicapped in skill and depth. However, the Jayhawks can also rally around the injuries to ignite a fire as they did Sunday.
"That's what I love about this team," McCray said. "It makes them fight even harder."
- Edited by Kristen Liszewski
NFL
Saints march out with title
ASSOCIATED PRESS
MIAMI, Fla. — The ultimate underdogs, they ain't. Not anymore. The Saints are Super Bowl champions now.
Who Dat? Try Drew Brees,
Sean Payton and a team that has
reversed its embarrassing past,
carrying an entire city to the top
with it.
Put away those paper bags forever.
Brees and the Saints rallied to upset Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts 31-17 Sunday night in one of pro football's most thrilling title games.
"We just believed in ourselves and we knew that we had an entire city and maybe an entire country behind us," said Brees, the game's MVP. "What can I say?"
But not something many expected from these descendants of the hapless Aints, who were 5-point underdogs.
"Four years ago
I tried to imagine what this moment would be like for a long time, and it's better than expected."
Brees tied a Super Bowl record with 32 completions, the last a 2-yard slant to Jeremy Shockey for the winning points with 5:42 remaining. He was 32 for 39 for 288 yards.
Four years ago who ever thought this would be happening when 85 percent of the city was under water from (Hurricane) Katrina?" Brees said. "Most people not knowing if New Orleans would ever come back or if the organization and the team would come back. ... This is the culmination of that belief and that faith."
A surprise onside kick sparked the Saints' second-half comeback. Their 25th-ranked defense made several key stops, and Tracy
Porter's 74-yard interception return on a pass from Manning clinched it.
Manning tried to give chase, but was blocked by a New Orleans defender and fell awkwardly as the cornerback raced by. The four-time NFL MVP forlornly walked to the sideline as the Big Easy celebrations began.
"We knew that we had an entire city and maybe an entire country behind us."
"It's time for the Saints to celebrate," he said. " their field and it's their championship."
DREW BREES
Saints quaterback
An NFL also-ran for much of their 43 years, the Saints' football renaissance, led by Brees and Payton, climaxed with Shockey's touchdown and Lance Moore's 2-point conversion catch, originally ruled incomplete but overturned on Payton's challenge.
Porter's pick, just as dramatic as his interception of Brett Favre's
pass to force overtime in the NFC title game, was the game's only turnover. It's one Manning will forever regret.
The Saints (16-3) won three postseason games this winter after winning only two in the previous 42 years. They beat Arizona, Minnesota, and
"We weren't the Aims." Porter said. "We were a team of destiny, a team that can make big plays."
Indianapolis (16-3) — all division winners — for their first title, scoring 107 points and allowing only 59.
The championship came 4½ years after Katrina ravaged New Orleans, making the Saints nomads for the 2005 season. There even was some doubt they would return, but the NFL refused to abandon the city. The Superdome was repaired and the Saints won the NFC South in '06, their first season with Brees and Payton.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees holds the Vince Lombardi Trophy Sunday after the Super Bowl in Miami. The Saints defeated the Indianapolis Colts 31-17.
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