Sports THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
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THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2010
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PAGE 1B
Overtime again for Jayhawks
KANSAS 72,COLORADO 66
Senior guard Sherron Collins clashes into sophomore guard lyshawn Taylor following a timeout call in the Jayhawks' 72-66 overtime victory Wednesday night in Boulder, Colo. Collins led Kansas with 16 points and five assists. Kansas is now 7-0 in the Big 12.
Buffaloes stay close,but No.1 wins anyway
BY COREY THIBODEAUX
BY COREY THIBODEAUX
cthibodeaux@kansan.com
twitter.com/c_thibodeaux
BOULDER, Colo. — This is what the Big 12 conference is all about.
Kansas' 72-66 overtime victory against Colorado just goes to show how competitive this conference really is.
"That's the greatest thing we can see out of Colorado- just competing with everybody," junior center Cole Aldrich said.
After squeaking by Kansas State 81-79 in overtime Saturday, the history of Kansas at Colorado — now seven straight victories in Boulder — didn't seem like it would be this much of a contest.
Aldrich, who finished with 16 points, 16 rebounds and five blocks, said this was the type of game that got people talking about teams like Colorado.
"A lot of people watch the games and say, 'Wow. I might not hear their name all the time, but they're still a good team.'" he said.
Early on, this game was going in scripted blowout fashion.
"When you talk to the media or whoever, you've got to respect their effort," Self said to his team. "And our guys do. They get it. They respect Colorado's effort."
After the game, coach Bill Self told his team to make sure to give credit where it was due. He didn't discredit anything Colorado did, though he admitted his team didn't play its best.
The layhawks led by as many as 18 points in the first half and had a decent sized crowd cheering for them. But the Buffaloes retaliated, sparked by an 8-0 run, to bring them within four with three minutes to go in the half.
The Jayhaws went into halftime up 34-28.
The pace of the game picked up
considerably in the second half. Colorado tied the game by hitting back-to-back threes to start the half. From then on, it was a back-and-forth game.
The Jayhawks didn't do anything to separate themselves with missed free throws. Kansas went 18 out of 38 on free throws for the game. The Jayhawks also threw the ball out of bounds on multiple occasions.
On the other hand, the Buffaloes didn't take advantage of the
Jayhawks' turnovers because the Jayhawks played stout defense. The Buffalooes also missed open shots, shooting 37.5 percent for the game.
Senior guard Sherron Collins, who finished with 16 points, didn't have as many dramatic plays as he did against K-State, but the victory means the same.
in the game."
"It didn't take anything away from us," he said. "We knew we were down, but we had to play late
Up 59-58, the Jayhawks had the ball with just under a minute to go. Collins missed a floater, and after an intense scramble for the loose ball, Colorado obtained possession.
Junior guard Brady Morningstar fouled junior guard Cory Higgins on the other end, and he gave the Buffaloes their first lead in the second half with two free throws.
Collins came right back with
another floater, but this time was engulfed by two Buffalo players and drew the foul.
At the line trailing by one. Collins missed his first free throw. He tied it with the second.
With the teams tied 60-60,
Colorado took a timeout with 10.6
seconds on the clock. After the
timeout, the Buffaloes were called
for a shot clock violation. The
Jayhawks couldn't put the ball in
the basket with the two seconds left
In overtime, the Jayhawks looked like a different team. They put up seven straight points on the Buffaloes, and it was smooth sailing from there. Self said the victory was well earned.
in regulation.
"They played well," Self said. "I'm not going to say we played poorly because it doesn't give them the credit they deserve."
FOR STATS AND ANALYSIS, SEE MEN'S BASKETBALL REWIND ON PAGE 4R
Edited by Jesse Rangel
COMMENTARY
Weak recruit class is not Gill's fault
Wednesday's National Signing Day officially and finally
— ends the countless pitches from schools, commitments and decommitments from college football prospects. Hard work by coaches, sometimes recruiting players as sophomores, came to fruition Wednesday.
The problem for head coach Turner Gill and his staff is that they had a little less than two months to complete all that work
Mark Mangino resigned Dec. 3, and athletic director Lew Perkins hired Gill a week and a half later. Recruits were rightfully unsure of the program's stability, considering Kansas had never been a consistent winning program until Mangino.
BY CLARK GOBLE
cgoble@kansan.com
twitter.com/clark ooble
Defensive end Geneo Grissom, rated by the recruiting service Rivals.com as a four-star recruit, reopened his recruitment in December, citing "confusion" about the program's direction. He
about the program's direction. He has now committed to Oklahoma
Dave Clark, a cornerback who was also a four-star recruit, said in November he was "100 percent" with Kansas. He signed Wednesday with Tennessee, which recently lost its coach, Lane Kiffin, to Southern California. Others were quick to listen to other programs' pitches, and no one can estimate how many recruits who had not verbally committed before completely eliminated Kansas from contention in the wake of Mangino's investigation and resignation.
SEE COLUMN ON PAGE 3B
FOOTBALL
Improvements, victories draw recruits to KU
BY JAYSON JENKS
jjenks@kansan.com
Behind recruiting coordinator Reggie Mitchell are two large projection screens — one on each side of the room. As Mitchell talks, the screens flash selected plays from each of Kansas' 18
On the national signing day for high school recruits — a day usually filled with at least a few surprising twists
freshly signed recruits
Mitchell
- nothing unusual happened for the jayhawks.
The 18 players that had verbally committed to join coach Turner Gill did just that Wednesday. No new recruits were added.
Mitchell, the man charged with conducting much of that recruiting groundwork, appears to be a new face this season. After all, he joined Gill's staff less than a month ago.
But in fact Mitchell is making his second tour at Kansas after working as an assistant from 1988-1996. He said recruiting this time around hardly compared with his previous experiences.
"When we first got here in 1988, it was broken." Mitchell said. "If you look at the program now, I wouldn't say it's broken at all."
Mitchell joined Kansas at a time when football stood in the shadow of the basketball program.
There were no football-specific offices or facilities, nothing really to serve as visual evidence that the football program intended to move forward.
But on his first visit back to Lawrence, Mitchell walked through the Anderson Family Football Complex and understood for the first time just how much progress the program had made.
"I think it's one of the best kept secrets," Mitchell said. "When I walked into the football building, I had no clue."
The combination of new and improved training facilities and
the orange Bowl victory certainly helped reshape the perception of Kansas football — a fact that makes recruiting, and Mitchell's job, slightly easier.
In the last two weeks alone, Mitchell persuaded two players — cornerback Dexter McDonald and running back Brandon Bourbon — to switch their commitments from other schools.
Perhaps as much as any of Kansas' current signees, Bourbon's switch from Stanford to Kansas generated plenty of outside interest. But the decision also serves as an indication of Mitchell's recruiting capabilities.
SEE RECRUITS ON PAGE 3B
"He knows how to communi
It's those types of situations that have enabled Mitchell to become a successful and well-respected recruiter.
After realizing that Bourbon, who is from Potosi, Mo., wanted his family to be able to see him play, Mitchell pitched the running back on a simple idea: If he went to Kansas, his family could see every game.
Kansas' 2010
recruiting class
**** stars: 0
*** stars: 2
*** stars: 12
** stars: 4
Total Recruits: 18
Average Stars: 2.89
National Ranking: 56
Big 12 Conference Recruiting Rankings:
1. Texas
2. Oklahoma
3. Texas A&M
4. Missouri
5. Nebraska
6. Oklahoma State
7. Baylor
8. Texas Tech
9. Kansas
10. Iowa State
11. Kansas State
12. Colorado
Rivals.com