2B
/ SPORTS / THURSDAY, JANUARY 28, 2010 / THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN / KANSAN.COM
QUOTE OF THE DAY
"It's unfortunate that we have to go steal one on the road because we dropped one at home. We had to refocus and we did, and we were able to make some plays at the end of the game to win."
— Kansas State coach Frank Martin after Kansas State's victory against Baylor Tuesday
FACT OF THE DAY
Kansas and Texas both rank in the top five nationally in scoring offense per game. The Longhorns are second with 85.2 points per game; the Jayhawks are fourth with 84.9.
TRIVIA OF THE DAY
Q: How many Big 12 men's basketball teams are currently ranked in the top 25?
A:Three, Kansas, Texas and Kansas State all are ranked in the top 13.
SCORES
NCAA Men's Basketball:
No. 3 Villanova 90, Notre Dame 72
No. 6 Texas 95, Texas Tech 83
No. 7 Duke 70, Florida State 56
No. 10 BYU 72, New Mexico 76
No. 14 Tennessee 76, No. 23 Vanderbilt 85
No. 15 Temple 64, Charlotte 74
No. 19 Connecticut 66, Providence
81
No. 24 Ohio State 65, Iowa 57
No. 25 Northern Iowa 67, Drake 51
Oklaahoma State 76, Texas A&M 69
Oklaahoma 89, Iowa State 84
NCAA Women's Basketball:
No. 3 Notre Dame 84, Providence
59
No. 4 Nebraska 89, Texas Tech 47
No. 8 Texas A&M 53, No. 16 Baylor
61
No. 10 Xavier 88, Rhode Island 60
No. 11 West Virginia 53, Seton Hall
31
No. 12 Oklahoma 56, No. 18 Iowa State 63
No. 15 G'town 45, Marquette 52
No. 20 Virginia 73, North Carolina
60
Keeping the traditions alive
MORNING BREW
Over a century after President Teddy Roosevelt said it was the greatest college chant he had ever heard, the Rock Chalk Chant remains one of many great Kansas basketball traditions
"To my knowledge the Rock Chalk Chant has been done before basketball games' start for many decades," KU Info Program Director Curtis Marsh said. "They only started doing it at the end of the games in the mid to late '90s."
BY MAX VOSBURGH vosburgh@kansan.com
Marsh, an expert on Kansas basketball traditions and history, came to Kansas as a 17-year-old freshman in 1987. In his first year at the University, Kansas won the national championship.
Marsh has stayed ever since, working various jobs at the University almost every year since he graduated. He has witnessed first hand the transformation of Kansas basketball during the past two decades. He's also been a part of it.
His camping group, Cpt. Jayhawk and the Superfans, was among the first organized student camping groups and had around 20 members for three years.
Marsh also contributed to the "Beware of the Phog," a book celebrating the 50th anniversary of Allen Fieldhouse.
Though it's been more than 20 years since Marsh first arrived at the University, many of the traditions haven't changed.
Antics behind the basket during opponents' free throws are close to the same. The egg beater, arm swing and hushing "shh" rituals were around when Marsh was a student.
Sitting down and then standing up when the opponent shoots the free throw, though, is a newer tradition. Marsh said it started about four years ago.
Traditions like throwing newspaper confetti and screaming "woo" in between the Rock Chalk Chant were also practiced when Marsh was a student over 20 years ago.
Camping for basketball games is a more recent tradition, having gone through drastic changes since it first started.
"It's my understanding that it probably started in the middle of the Larry Brown era. So the mid '80s is when camping started and it was very disorganized." Marsh said. "My assumption is that it may have started with people camping the way you
hear stories of people camping out at Best Buy waiting to get video games."
For the first several years, students camped in a field north of the Fieldhouse where the parking garage now sits. They camped 24 hours a day, seven days a week, despite the winter weather. Marsh said that in the mid '90s, University officials decided it was no longer safe or desirable to have hundreds of students waiting outside Allen Fieldhouse during the frigid conditions.
"We weren't complaining," Marsh said. "It wasn't something we desperately wanted to continue because we were sleeping in a tent in 10 degree weather. But at the same time it was a badge of honor. I can say I camped when we really camped."
- Edited by Michael Holtz
THIS WEEK IN KANSAS ATHLETICS
TODAY No events scheduled
FRIDAY
Track at Jayhawk Invitational, all day
SATURDAY
Women's tennis at Drake, 10 a.m.
Women's basketball at Missouri, 5 p.m.
Men's basketball at Kansas State, 6 p.m.
SUNDAY
SUNDAY No events scheduled
MONDAY
MONDAY No events scheduled
No events scheduled
TUESDAY
WEDNESDAY
Men's basketball at Colorado, 8 p.m.
BASEBALL
Cold might send practice inside
BY BEN WARD
bward@kansan.com
twitter.com/bm_dub
Weston White/KANSAN FILE PHOTO
Forecasts for winter weather may force the team to have tomorrow's practice, the first of the season, on the indoor facilities of the Anschutz Sports Pavilion. Because the Jayhawks will
As eager as baseball players are to get back to the baseball diamond for the first time since last fall, they might have to put their plans on hold.
Junior outfielder Brian Heere sprints towards the foul line to catch a fly ball in a game against Northern Colorado in April 2009. The team's 2010 season begins on February 19.
begin the season playing against clubs that are able to practice outdoors all-year-round, such as Sacramento State, the limitations of indoor practices could hurt them in certain areas.
Hitting and throwing won't be greatly affected by the confines of Anschutz, but nothing can simulate certain aspects of being outdoors — for example, the way a ball skips across the natural grass infield. It's far from an ideal scenario, but the Jayhawks aren't making any excuses.
"It'll be unfortunate if we're not able to play out-
as being full of high-character players and said that seeing guys logging additional hours in the gym had almost become an expected sight in the locker room.
"We're all pretty selfmotivated. We've been in on our own, without coaches, hitting and throwing."
CASEY LYTLE junior outfielder
THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS CHANCELLOR'S STUDENT AWARDS COMMITTEE is accepting nominations and applications for the following graduating senior awards:
"You always see guys doing extra work," Heere said. "I don't want to say it's become required, but it's just the kind of guys we have on the team."
The Class of 1913 Award
The Agnes Wright Strickland Award
Mandatory or not, the hard work appears to be strengthening the bonds on a team that players already
*The Rusty Leffel Concerned Student Award
- The Rusty Leffel Concerned Student Award
* The Leffel Award is not limited to graduating seniors
The Donald K. Alderson Memorial Award
The Alexis F. Dillard Student Involvement Award
The Caryl K. Smith Student Leader Award
A few members of the team said they should be able to handle practicing indoors just fine — they've been doing it all winter. Aside from individually scheduled workouts that have been taking place since the beginning of this semester, players have come in voluntarily to practice.
side", junior infielder Brian Heere said, "but we'll have to make do."
"We're all pretty self motivated." junior outfielder Casey Lytle said. "We've been in on our own, without coaches, hitting and throwing."
Heere described the roster
Nomination and application forms are online at: http://www.vpsk.nu/awards
Nominations must be received by Friday, February 12, 2010, at 5.00 p.m.
Applications must be received by Friday, February 26, 2010, at 5.00 p.m.
consider to be pretty tight-knit.
And though the weather might cost the team valuable practice hours on the field, Heere said the players are dedicated to steadily improve until the season begins Feb. 19.
"We've always had good team chemistry," Lytle said. "But when you see someone coming in when they don't have to be, that just builds on the trust we already have in one another."
"Guys are still competing with each other," Heere said. "We're definitely going to push each other to keep getting better."
Edited by Jesse Rangel
BASKETBALL
OLATHE — A Kansas girls' high school basketball coach whose blindfolded half-court shot became an Internet sensation will be going to the Final Four after all.
Joel Branstrom can't disclose where the tickets are coming from. But he said Wednesday he's been told he and his family will get tickets, lodging and transportation to Indianapolis for the NCAA men's basketball semifinal and final games in April.
Branstrom, a former University of Kansas walk-on, went along with what was supposed to be a prank last week during a pep rally at Olathe Northwest High School, where he also teaches biology.
Students who set up the prank and promised the basketball tickets were shocked when he made the blindfolded shot — especially since they didn't have any tickets.
Branstrom says the donor of the trip will be revealed soon.
Associated Press