Kansas.com: Kansas Jayhawks

Reesing falls flat, again

BLAIR KERKHOFF — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 00:08 CST

MANHATTAN —Sadly for Kansas, the Jayhawks don't have Ron Prince to kick around anymore.

The old Kansas State coach shaped a first-round draft pick in quarterback Josh Freeman and was perfect in two games against mighty Texas. But the sin that got Prince canned was losing in all three seasons to Kansas.

That streak ended Saturday with Kansas State's 17-10 triumph while another continued for the Jayhawks. They've now lost four straight and a piece of team expectation falls away with each defeat.

Jayhawk report

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 02:22 CST

First quarter

Key play: Jacob Branstetter pushed right a 30-yard field goal to squander KU's opening possession set up by Darrell Stuckey's 67-yard kickoff return to open the game.

Key stat: Minus-5. Kansas rushing yards for the quarter. The Jayhawks couldn't get the running game going, keeping their offense one-dimensional.

KU-KSU BOX SCORE

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 00:07 CST

Scoring

Kansas0 7 0 3 — 10 Kansas State0 10 7 0 — 17

Attendance—48,306.

Sunflower Showdown goes to Kansas State

KELLIS ROBINETT — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 02:23 CST

MANHATTAN — It wasn't that long ago that the Governor's Cup lived in a Kansas State trophy case on a year-round basis.

Bill Snyder was the Kansas State football coach back then, and he recalls winning the hardware so many times that the award presentations following all those victories against cross-state rival Kansas became "matter of fact" for his players.

They listened to the governor talk, posed for pictures with the trophy and moved on. There wasn't much to the celebration.

High stakes for KU-KSU

J. BRADY MCCOLLOUGH — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 03:43 CST

All week, Kansas and Kansas State players and coaches downplayed the magnitude of today's game at Snyder Family Stadium. But for evidence that the Sunflower Showdown is indeed important for gauging where each program is headed, it would be wise to remember the aftermath of last season's game:

The Jayhawks pounded the Wildcats 52-21 in Lawrence for their third straight victory over K-State, and KU players said things like "I think the tide has finally turned in favor of Kansas." A few days later, K-State athletic director Bob Krause fired coach Ron Prince, who was 0-3 against KU. Krause couldn't deny that the beating at the hands of the Jayhawks was the backbreaker for the Prince regime.

"That certainly was a factor, yeah," Krause said then.

Kansas: A seamless transition

PAUL SUELLENTROP — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 03:27 CST

The math never seems to favor point guards.

More decisions. Bigger players. Faster pace. One player to manage all that.

"It's one hell of a job for a point guard in this league," Texas A&M's Donald Sloan said.

Kansas at Kansas State statistics

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 03:33 CST

11:30 a.m. today at Snyder Family Stadium (50,000), Manhattan

Radio: KFH, 1240-AM, 98.7-FM; KFTI, 1070-AM

TV: Versus, Ch. 257

Kansas at Kansas State

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:07 CST

What's at stake

The winner could easily go on to win the Big 12 North. A K-State win keeps the Cats in prime position. A KU win has the Jayhawks back in the race if they can win out.

KU will win if...

KU goes back to basics

J. BRADY MCCOLLOUGH — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:07 CST

LAWRENCE — Maybe the most alarming reason given for the benching of Todd Reesing last week was that Kansas coach Mark Mangino feared for his quarterback's safety playing behind a struggling offensive line.

In response, Mangino has gone back to his roots this week.

"I've hung out with the linemen a little bit," Mangino said. "It's fun for me. It's kind of a throwback to the old days. I kind of remember me teaching techniques and fundamentals that I taught 10 years ago. They still apply."

kansas at Kansas state

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:07 CST

When: 11:30 a.m. Saturday

Where: Snyder Family Stadium, Manhattan

Records: KU 5-3, 1-3 Big 12; KSU 5-4, 3-2

Reesing fights unfamiliar role

J. BRADY McCOLLOUGH — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 01:18 CST

LAWRENCE — Todd Reesing has spent his whole life trying to stand out.
Down in Texas at Lake Travis High, he wore a white tuxedo and carried a cane to his junior prom. That may have worked for a night, but he always knew that success would be the long-term vehicle. He was great in school, he was great in sports, and he was great in social settings. He only knew how to achieve.
At Kansas, he has set himself apart even more. He has made something that would be hard for most — balancing the act of being a record-setting quarterback with a double-major in economics and finance — look abnormally easy.

Kansas' Johnson impresses in exhibition win over Fort Hays

J. BRADY McCOLLOUGH — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 01:48 CST

LAWRENCE | Kansas coach Bill Self was strongly considering slapping a redshirt on freshman guard Elijah Johnson – until he actually saw the kid play. In the second half of his Allen Fieldhouse game debut, a 107-68 KU exhibition victory over Fort Hays State, Johnson showed 16,300 curious others why Self has changed his tune.
KU guard Tyshawn Taylor found himself on a two-on-one with a streaking Johnson and lofted the ball to the right side of the rim. He had seen enough in practice to know that the freakishly athletic Johnson would make him look good. Seconds later, the Fieldhouse was rocking for the first time this season after Johnson elevated and flushed it home for a two-handed alley oop.
“That’s what we needed to get the crowd going,” Taylor said. “I felt it was a little dead in there.”

Mangino will shift his attention

J. BRADY McCOLLOUGH — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 01:50 CST

LAWRENCE — As college football programs have evolved, becoming bigger and bigger, a new prevailing image has formed of the modern-day head coach: He is the multimillion-dollar CEO, the steward of the ship, a man with so many big- picture responsibilities that he hardly has time to coach his team.
Kansas coach Mark Mangino does not see himself this way. He is the same coach who carried the whistle as an assistant at New Castle (Pa.) High and Youngstown State. If there is wood to be sawed, he still grabs the saw. So when asked on Tuesday about the KU defense's sudden turnaround — the unit has played well enough to win three straight games but lost all of them due to a shockingly inept offense — Mangino indicated he felt his coaching was a major factor.
"I've been down on the defensive end of the practice field since August," Mangino said. "I've spent 95 percent of my time with the defense. That's unusual for me. I'm usually about 50-50. I like to have a hand in both. I knew back in April that we had some major issues on defense, and if we didn't get the defense going, we were headed for a real disaster."

Preseason awards for Kansas duo

J. BRADY McCOLLOUGH — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 06:14 CST

LAWRENCE — For just the sixth time in the history of the Associated Press preseason All-America balloting, two basketball players from the same school were voted to the first team.
Kansas guard Sherron Collins and center Cole Aldrich, the cornerstones of the preseason No. 1 team in the country, both found out about their shared honor only minutes before Monday afternoon's practice.
"That's actually really cool," Aldrich said. "I don't even know what to say. I mean, it's a huge honor."

Competition fierce for spot in KU rotation

J. BRADY McCOLLOUGH — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 23:04 CST

LAWRENCE — How deep are the No. 1 Kansas Jayhawks? Well, KU coach Bill Self said Monday that Mario Little and Travis Releford have played very well during two-plus weeks of practice. But he also said they could redshirt this season.
Little and Releford, wing players with enough talent to start for most programs, will not play during tonight's exhibition game against Fort Hays State at Allen Fieldhouse because only first-year players are allowed to play in exhibition games and still redshirt. By sitting Little and Releford, Self will have another week to decide if they are ready to break into KU's playing rotation.
"We've got a lot of good players, and I think it's a good problem to have," Self said. "I also think this: We can't keep all our good players happy if everybody plays. But if you redshirt a couple that are (future) starters at Kansas, it's probably a pretty good trade off."

Jayhawk women open with win over Pitt State

Eagle staff — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 01:02 CST

Sophomore forward Aishah Sutherland led No. 20 Kansas with 20 points and 10 rebounds as the Jayhawks rolled to an 86-56 preseason victory over Pittsburg State at Lawrence.
Preseason Big 12 player of the year Danielle McCray added 18 points for Kansas.

Two other players scored in double figures for the Jayhawks, Krysten Boogaard (13) and Nicollette Smith (12). Redshirt freshman Angel Goodrich added 10 assists.

Kansas falls apart late in 42-21 loss to Texas Tech

J. BRADY MCCOLLOUGH — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 23:34 CDT

LUBBOCK, Texas — When Kansas wide receiver Kerry Meier joined the huddle with seven minutes left and the Jayhawks trailing by two touchdowns, he looked to his quarterback and immediately felt “confused.”

“We came out for the series and saw Kale (Pick) in the huddle,” Meier said, “and I kind of didn’t know what was going on.”

Two years ago, Meier lost the starting quarterback job to Todd Reesing. Things had gone pretty well since then, leading to a senior season overflowing with expectations for what would surely be one of the top offenses in the country. So to see the redshirt freshman Pick leading the huddle and Reesing on the sideline with his hands on his hips was alarming. Meier assumed Reesing had gotten hurt, only that wasn’t the case at all.

Jayhawk report

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 23:33 CDT

First quarter

Key play: Kansas defensive end Jeff Wheeler sacked Texas Tech quarterback Seth Doege, and KU’s Max Onyegbule recovered at the Tech 3 and ran it in for a 7-0 KU lead.

Key stat: Texas Tech ran 22 plays and gained just 32 yards.

Kansas-Texas Tech box score

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 23:31 CDT

Scoring

Kansas 7 7 7 0 — 21

Texas Tech 0 14 0 28 — 42

It's talent over tenure at Kansas

J. BRADY MCCOLLOUGH — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 02:10 CDT

LUBBOCK, Texas — For further evidence that seniority matters little to Kansas football coach Mark Mangino, check out the latest defensive depth chart, which features four freshmen in the starting lineup.

"The young guys are really talented," Mangino said. "We would have liked to bring them along a little later, but did not have that choice.

"We had some upperclassmen that we were counting on to be full-time players. Now, what we are finding is that maybe a couple of those upperclassmen are maybe more effective as part-time players."