Thursday, March 12, 2009
This afternoon, senior guard Ivana Catic will wear white shorts, her white number three jersey top, and the pain left from Kansas’ 59-49 loss at Iowa State in the regular season finale.
“It was definitely one of our most important games,” Catic said. “To have that feeling after the game — I’m definitely going to remember that feeling going into the Nebraska game.”
Kansas vs. Nebraska
Thursday, 1:30 p.m.
Cox Convention Center
Oklahoma City
Krysten Boogaard, Sade Morris, LaChelda Jacobs and Porscha Weddington gather around coach Bonnie Henrickson during a second-half timeout in their Feb. 22 game against Iowa State University. Kansas lost to Iowa State 59-49 in the regular season finale.
When No. 8 Kansas (17-12, 6-10) plays No. 9 Nebraska (15-14, 6-10) in the first round of the Big 12 tournament at 1:30 p.m. today, Catic and her teammates will know the stakes.
If the Jayhawks want to garner serious consideration for the NCAA tournament — the team’s goal since the beginning of the season — they must win at the very least two games in Oklahoma City.
Even then, Kansas’ future is murky, left in the hands of the NCAA selection committee.
“All we know is we have to play our way into this thing and we have to beat Nebraska,” coach Bonnie Henrickson said. “There’s no sense in worrying about anything past that.”
The sheer possibility of slipping into the NCAA tournament is enough for Kansas’ players. Never in Henrickson’s five-year tenure have the Jayhawks been this close to reaching the tournament.
With that possibility, Kansas still has something to play for when many teams around the country have begun looking toward next season.
“We do have a chance to still be in the conversation to be in the NCAA tournament,” junior forward Danielle McCray said. “We all want it bad and I feel that sense of urgency.”
First, as Henrickson said, Kansas must take care of Nebraska.
The Jayhawks and Cornhuskers played twice earlier in the season, with each team winning at home. But because of a concussion junior guard Sade Morris, the team’s second leading scorer, didn’t play when Kansas lost 67-58 in Lincoln, Neb., on Jan. 21.
Facing a team for the third time though leaves little surprise — a fact the Jayhawks readily acknowledge.
“They know exactly what we’re going to do and we know exactly what they’re going to do,” Morris said. “It’s going to come down to who is getting the 50-50 balls, who’s getting extra possessions and who’s making plays. It’s definitely a gut check time and time to turn up the heat.”
Kansas has won its first round game in the Big 12 tournament the last two years, but Henrickson and the Jayhawks adamantly said they aren’t overlooking a capable Nebraska team.
After all, the Jayhawks’ postseason future begins with the Cornhuskers.
“Going to the big dance is definitely something we’ve talked about since I’ve been here,” Catic said. “But this is the first year that it is realistic to really hope and expect that we get there.”
— — Edited by Susan Melgren
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