Consistency lacking for Jayhawks / LJWorld.com

Archive for Thursday, December 4, 2008

December 4, 2008

Marist has received some votes. So have Hartford, South Dakota State and, yes, even North Carolina A&T.

So why has unbeaten Kansas University been ignored in the weekly college women’s basketball polls?

Kansas (4-0) owns a noteworthy victory over Iowa, but otherwise the Jayhawks have pretty much played down to the level of their competition.

“We certainly did the other day,” KU coach Bonnie Henrickson said, “because out of the gate we weren’t very good.”

Sunday against New Orleans, the Jayhawks overcame a sluggish first half to post an unimpressive 64-42 triumph over the semi-talented Privateers.

Now comes another weak sister in San Jose State, a team that finished 3-28 last season and is off to a 1-4 start this year.

Tipoff will be at 7 p.m. today in Allen Fieldhouse. Sunflower Broadband channel 6 will carry a live telecast.

Henrickson, it goes without saying, will be looking for a renewed focus from her players tonight.

“This group has to start walking the walk because we haven’t looked very mature,” she said. “The consistency hasn’t been there.”

Not that everyone performed poorly Sunday. Nicollette Smith, for instance, had 13 points and 10 rebounds — her first double-double since last year’s opener — despite missing practically an entire week of practice.

Smith, a 6-foot-2 sophomore from Tulsa, Okla., underwent surgery for a deviated septum after taking an errant elbow to the face in the opener against Sacred Heart.

“All things considered,” Henrickson said, “she didn’t look that bad.”

Smith started in place of injured Krysten Boogaard and will open again tonight. Boogaard, a 6-5 sophomore, is expected to miss her third straight game due to a stress reaction in her left femur.

Pam DeCosta, who spent eight seasons as an assistant coach at Kansas under Marian Washington, is in her second season as head coach at San Jose State, and DeCosta basically has turned the roster over by adding six freshmen and five junior-college transfers.