2B SPORTS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THURSDAY DECEMBER 3, 2009
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2009
QUOTE OF THE DAY
"Nobody in football should be called a genius. A genius is a guy like Norman Einstein."
Joe Theismann
FACT OF THE DAY
Kansas has had four different women's basketball players score 20 or more points in a game this season: Danielle McCray, Sade Morris, Krysten Boogard and Aishah Sutherland.
Kansas Athletics
TRIVIA OF THE DAY
Q: Which is the only player to accomplish that feat more than once?
A: McCray. She scored 27 points against Oral Roberts, 23 against Xavier and 20 against Iowa.
- Kansas Athletics
SWIMMING & DIVING Team prepares for fall season's biggest test
With approaching finals hovering on the minds of students, swimming coach Clark Campbell is worried about another kind of test: this weekend's UVA Invitational.
"We look at this as our midterm exam since this concludes our fall season," Campbell said. "This will set us up for our final exam, which is the Big 12 Tournament and NCAAs."
"We've come a long way for such a young team," Campbell said. "We've got a lot to learn and the girls have done a good job of buying in."
When asked what grade his team deserves so far, Campbell said "a solid B."
The invite, a championshipstyle format with preliminary rounds on Thursday and Friday and final rounds on Saturday, will include Kansas and Virginia along with men's and women's squads from Washington and Lee, American and West Chester. It is also the last meet Kansas will compete in before winter break.
"This weekend will give us a chance to see where we are before we completely focus on training," Campbell said. "It's a long season and we're focused on the process to get to where we want to be."
Christian Lucero
COLLEGE FOOTBALL Pittsburg State coach announces retirement
Longtime Pittsburg State University football coach and athletic director Chuck Broyles has announced he is retiring as football coach.
Broyles has coached the Gorillas for 20 years and has been athletic director since 1996.
Associated Press
MORNING BREW
Expectations set high for Xavier
Let's face it, Carmelo Anthony's name might as well be a swear word in Lawrence, the way it sets people off.
More surprising, though, was the context.
So when Bill Self brought up the once-wunderkind that dropped the Jayhawks in the 2003 National Championship game in his Tuesday press conference, it was a bit surprising.
He was talking about Xavier Henry, and whether or not too much pressure might be heaped onto the superfrosh, who's leading the team in scoring.
"I guess you could use him too much, to the point where maybe they're not quite ready to carry the bulk of the program on their shoulders," Self said. "But there are exceptions. I don't think that bothered Carmelo very much, or Pervis Ellison or a lot of the great ones. I think Xavier is definitely in that class."
Anthony, as I mentioned, is well-known around here. Ellison
probably isn't, but the two share an impressive distinction. Since the NCAA tournament expanded to 64 teams more than 20 years ago, they're the only two freshmen to win Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four, and both led their teams to a National Championship.
I'm not saying Henry can't do that, and I'm certainly not saying Kansas doesn't have the ability to win the title this year, but isn't it a little early to heap that kind of praise on Henry? Not to mention, isn't that the exact type of expectations that Self should shy away from putting on Henry?
Carmelo was a superlatively talented player, and there was no question about him being
the number one option on that Syracuse team, but even if Jim Boeheim thought Anthony had the talent to be the MOP, he didn't utter a word about it to the press, because he knew, as Self does, that we of the press love to jump on comparisons like this.
Henry does have one thing Anthony never has (including his days in Denver, poor guy) and that's an exceptional supporting cast. There's no need to heap pressure and expectations on Henry because, even if he underperforms, then the Jayhawks can slide Marcus Morris to the small forward and start his twin at the power forward with losing barely a step. Or bump sniper Tyrel Reed into the starting lineup and get a consistent eight to 10 points from him. Or once the break comes along, start Brady Morningstar — after all, he's the guy who led the team in minutes last year.
Here's the thing. Does Henry have that type of potential? Yes. But it's still potential. He played
well against four teams that are easily forgotten, and just all right against the agitating defense of Memphis, the first really solid team the Layhawks faced. They won't face another until Michigan comes to Lawrence Dec. 19.
So hold out for a while. X-Man could, and probably will, anoint Bill Self a prophet in the coming months. But until then, let him play without the weight of expectations like that.
Freshmen have enough on their plate. Especially ones who are leading the No.1 team in the country in scoring.
Edited by Alicia Banister
NFL
Mentor and pupil to reunite on field
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Matt Casser fires a pass against the San Diego Chargers on Sunday. Casser had Josh McDaniels help him when he came to the NFL.
ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Josh McDaniels and Matt Cassel will catch up with each other this weekend, nine months after the idea of a reunion was first raised, changing the course of both men's careers.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
McDaniels tutored Cassel, who went 10-5 as the starter in New England last season after Tom Brady went down in the opener with a season-ending injury.
That deal disintegrated once Cutler learned the Broncos were shopping him around without so much as a courtesy call to let
McDaniels liked the young quarterback so much that after he became head coach in Denver, he spoke with his former boss, Bill Belichick, about a three-way deal that would have brought Cassel to the Broncos and sent interception-prone Pro Bowl passer Jay Cutler to Tampa Bay.
him know, and the Patriots traded Cassel to Kansas City instead.
The drama in Denver was only beginning.
Six weeks later, after Cutter refused to answer the team owner's phone calls and
McDaniels refused to make nice during a meeting with his disgruntled quarterback, Cutler was traded to the Chicago Bears for Kyle Orton and a bevy of draft picks.
watching ESPN like you were and saying, 'How in the heck did my name get thrown in here?'" Cassel said Wednesday in a conference call with Denver media.
Heading into their reunion at Kansas City on Sunday, the Broncos (7-4) have surpassed low expectations and the Chiefs (3-8) haven't.
Still, the Broncos aren't exactly settled at quarterback. Even if Orton leads them into the playoffs, a long-term commitment to him is no sure thing. He's in the final year of his contract and could very well find himself bolting the Broncos next winter.
"It was crazy because I was
No matter who's under center for Denver next season, the only time McDaniels and Cassel will be on the field together is for their twice annual meetings in the AFC West, a constant reminder of what might have been.
"He's very bright, mobile, athletic, a big kid and he is a good leader."
"It's going to be a little bit different defending him rather than
JOSH MCDANIELS Denver Broncos coach
being on the other side of it, which I've been on in the last four years". McDaniels said. "Difficult preparation, can do things with his legs, can beat you with his arm and his legs, which is unique to a few quarterbacks
in this league and he certainly is one of them."
"I've never looked back," Cassel said. "You can't do that. I just look forward and I love where I'm at, I'm happy where I'm at and I think there's a lot of great things to come here in Kansas City."
Cassel might have had an easier time in Denver, where he would have at least been familiar with the coach and his system.
McDaniels, whose team beat Brady and the Patriots 20-17 in
overtime on Oct. 11, gushed about Cassel this week.
"He's very bright, mobile, athletic, a big kid and he is a good leader," McDaniels said. "I'm sure you can see the way the team responds to him in Kansas City and the way he plays. He always plays very hard. He's always going to be ready to go and he does a lot for their team and their offense."
Cassel returned the praise, saying McDaniels, whom he called "a great, great teacher," helped him become an NFL quarterback
"He's had a major influence on my career," Cassel said.
McDaniels insists he's happy Cassel got financial security — a six-year deal that guarantees him $28 million — and a chance to start, even if it's not in Denver.
despite not having started since high school.
Both men said their relationship never was strained because of Cassel's name getting dragged into the drama in Denver.
THIS WEEK IN KANSAS ATHLETICS
TODAY
Women's basketball vs. UCLA, 7 p.m.
FRIDAY
Swimming UVA Invitational, all day, Charlottesville, Va.
SATURDAY
Swimming
UVA Invitational,
all day,
Charlottesville, Va
Track
Bob Timmons
Challenge,
all day
Swimming
UVA Invitational,
all day.
Charlottesville, Va.
SUNDAY
Women's basketball vs. Northern Colorado, 1 p.m.
Men's basketball at UCLA, 4:30 p.m.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL McCoy named AP Big 12 offensive player of year
AUSTIN, Texas — In a year the rest of the Big 12's high-powered offenses stalled, Colt McCoy kept Texas moving.
The senior quarterback kept the No. 3 Longhorns on track for possible Big 12 and national championships, notched new records on his career resume and again is among the top contenders for the Heisman Trophy.
And with his team preparing to meet No. 21 Nebraska in the Big 12 championship game, McCoy on Wednesday was named The Associated Press Big 12 offensive player of the year for the second year in a row.
Nebraska defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh is the defensive player of the year.
The awards were selected by a panel of 20 newspaper reporters who regularly cover the Big 12 in the league's seven states.
"The league is so strong and has so many great players that it's pretty humbling to be named the player of the year," McCoy said. "That said, its definitely a team award and is a tribute to all of my teammates and coaches here. I couldn't do it by myself."
After a 2008 season in which Big 12 quarterbacks seemed to set records every week and Oklahoma's Sam Bradford won the Heisman Trophy, McCoy found himself all alone in the spotlight in 2009.
Associated Press
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