1. ___
2B SPORTS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN THURSDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2009
QUOTE OF THE DAY
"Although golf was originally restricted to wealthy, overweight Protestants, today it's open to anybody who owns hideous clothing."
Dave Barry
FACT OF THE DAY
Both Marcus and Markieff Morris have scored a career-high 19 points this season: Marcus against Oakland Nov. 25 and Marcus against UCLA Dec. 6.
— Kansas Athletics
TRIVIA OF THE DAY
Q: Who entered Wednesday's night's game against Radford leading the team in free throw shooting?
A: Markieff Morris with 72.7 percent.
Kansas Athletics
Sham BCS selections lack merit
MORNING BREW
It doesn't take a genius to know that the BCS is flawed. Hell, pick up any sports page around this time of year, and you'll see a columnist arguing for, or more likely, against the BCS.
(Here's a hint, if someone has to argue against something, it usually isn't working. Has anybody ever had to explain the limitless merits of March Madness? Didn't think so.)
Because of the ebullient and overwhelming nature of the system's critics, I generally try to avoid chipping in my two cents on the matter. The world hardly needs another voice clamoring for a college football playoff.
This year, though, the B(C)
S did something that absolutely
threw me over the edge.
They had the opportunity to provide Boise State or TCU, two undefeated non-BCS conference schools, the chance to take on the Cincinnati Bearcats, the undefeated No. 3 team in the country, and the other would likely have taken on Tim Tebow and No. 5 Florida Gators.
No. 6—take on each other. In a rematch of last year's, wait for it. Humanitarian Bowl.
Instead, We'll see the two powerhouses—TCU is No. 4, Boise
Um. Sorry, but are you kidding? If college sports, as the NCAA preaches over and over and over...and...over..and you get the point, are about the student athletes, theyd afford these teams the opportunity to prove themselves against the top-flight competition of a BCS conference team.
Instead, this game opens the winner up to the criticisms that kept them out of the national title hunt this year (let's face it, as good as both teams were, neither was going to the title game over even a one-loss team from a power conference); that they never proved themselves against the best competition in the country.
bothers me. As a matter of fact, I think it's the most intriguing game of the entire season behind the national championship. Rather the problem lies with the long-term effects this game will have on each program.
It's not the matchup that
Say TCU wins this game. They're 14-0, they'll finish, at worst, fourth in the country, and they'll have the pride of winning the first BCS bowl in school history. These are all great things.
But next year, say TCU is heading towards the end of the season with another perfect record intact. The human voters, though they're not supposed to, will look back at the competition it faced in it bowl game. Great, they knocked off undefeated Boise, but who had that team proven itself against? Maybe it's really not that good a win.
So instead of giving TCU the benefit of the doubt, they keep it out of the top two, or top slot.
On the other hand, if TCU knocked off, say Florida, in the Sugar Bowl, the outcome in the coming year may be different. Next year, they make that run, voters look back and say that this
is the same team that knocked off Tim Tebow, who, as much as a lot of people hate him, is one of the greatest college football players of all time, and they are more likely to give the team a nod towards that top spot.
It's great that both are in the BCS — for a while it looked like even that might not happen, which would have been an absolute sham — but it's a shame they don't get the opportunity, for both the student athletes on the team now and the future of the respective programs, to take on competition beyond reproach.
Follow Tim Dwyer at twitter.
com/T _Dwyer.
Edited by Alicia Banister
NBA
Last second layup ends Cavs winning streak
winning streak.
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Mike Conley drove past Shaquille O'Neal for a layup with 3 seconds left to give the Memphis Grizzlies a 111-109 overtime victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday night.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
LeBron James, who had 43 points and 13 rebounds, took the last shot, but his 30-footer over Rudy Gay hit the front of the rim, snapping the Cavaliers' 4-game
Zach Randolph led Memphis with 32 points and 14 rebounds. O.J. Mayo scored 28, and Gay finished with 21 points. Marc Gasol had 11 points and eight rebounds.
Mo Williams had 20 points and eight assists for the Cavaliers, while O'Neal scored 16. Reserve Daniel Gibson added 13 points.
James' two free throws with 14.9 seconds left tied the game at 109. But on the ensuing possession, Conley held the ball out
front and drove to the right side of the basket, lofting it off the glass as O'Neal moved over.
The two teams were tied at 100 at the end of regulation. Gay's layup with 18 seconds left tied the game. Cleveland had the final possession, but James lost the handle on the dribble, and by the time he gathered it up, his desperation jumper was short, sending the game to overtime.
James, who has a reputation for big fourth quarters, was 5 of
13, including 1 of 5 from outside the arc, in the fourth and overtime. His driving layup with 26 seconds left gave Cleveland a 107-106 lead.
Mayo connected on a 3-pointer with 19.1 seconds left before James' two free throws tied it at 109 with 14 seconds remaining, setting up the possession that led to Conley's winning basket.
Memphis snapped a seven-game losing streak to the Cavaliers with the victory.
Cleveland led 59-48 at the half behind 22 points from James and 10 each from O'Neal.
Mo Williams and Gibson.
The Cavaliers' defensive pressure pestered the Memphis ball-handlers. Cleveland was in the middle of passing lanes and the Cavs' interior defense altered shots, leading to five early blocks, three of them by O'Neal. The Cavaliers had seven blocks on the night.
Memphis shot only 38 percent in the half compared to 49 by the Cavaliers. James' first three baskets came on dunks. He missed only one of his nine shots from the field in the half, including hitting 2 of 3 from 3-point range.
THIS WEEK IN KANSAS ATHLETICS
TODAY
Women's basketball:
vs. UMKC, 7 p.m.
FRIDAY No events scheduled
SATURDAY
DAY Men's basketball:
La Salle, 1 p.m.
Sprint City,
Kansas City, Mo.
SUNDAY
Women's basketball:
vs. Creighton,
2 p.m.
NFL
Bills defensive end's hair stirring up a discussion
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — Aaron Maybin was in the midst of discussing how his rookie season hasn't come close to meeting his objectives when the conversation switched to the Buffalo Bills defensive end's latest hairstyle.
The first-round draft pick showed off how he had shaved into his head the word "Mayhem,"one of the nicknames he picked up as a star pass rusher at Penn State last year. As colorful as it might look, Maybin acknowledged it doesn't exactly match what little disruption he's stirred up on the field in the NFL.
"Obviously not, because I'm not a starter," he said after practice Wednesday. "We'll see once I start playing a little more."
Maybin's not sure whether that additional playing time will come this season, which is quickly coming to a close.
Associated Press
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