Kansas

Who's better than the New England Patriots? Kansas. At least against the point spread. All season, we've marveled at the Patriots' demolishing the point spread week after week. The Pats are 9-1 against the line. Well, sports gambling expert R.J. Bell pointed out to us that Kansas is 10-0 against the spread. In real life, Kansas is 11-0, but its early-season game against Southeastern Louisiana wasn't on the board. Kansas won, 62-0. The Jayhawks, ranked No. 2, play No. 3 Missouri on Saturday with the obvious implication for a shot at the national championship game.

Memphis 78, UCLA 63 Star freshman Derrick Rose put on an aerial show, and Memphis flew past UCLA to reach the championship game. Rose finished with 25 points and nine rebounds, and the Tigers won their 38th game of the season, a major college basketball record. Kansas 84, UNC 66 Brandon Rush scored 25 points to lead Kansas as the Jayhawks thwarted North Carolina's furious comeback attempt. The Tar Heels rallied to within five points in the second half after falling behind 40-12 in the first, but it wasn't enough for coach Roy Williams to avoid losing to his former team.

That North Carolina should meet Kansas in the Final Four on Saturday is a matchup filled with delicious irony. It is more than Dean Smith coaching against his former assistant, Roy Williams. It is more than the two programs running mirror offenses.Smith has deep-rooted ties to Kansas. He was born in Emporia, (( Kan., 60 years ago. He played under the legendary Phog Allen at the University of Kansas in the early 1950s. He was a member of Kansas' 1952 national championship team.And when Kansas twice was coach hunting in the last decade, it was Smith's advice the Jayhawks sought.

TUCSON, Ariz. -- Pitcher Kelly Shipman won her 31st game and drove in the game's only run with a single in the sixth inning last night, as Maryland defeated Kansas, 1-0, in the second round of the NCAA Division I softball tournament.Maryland (50-21) advanced to today's third round, where it will face Region 2's top seed, Arizona, which is ranked No. 3 nationally.Shipman gave up eight hits, struck out three and walked two. Sarah Workman took the loss.

Outlook: Both these teams pulled upsets to get this far Though the Blue Devils might have had the biggest in their 79-77 shocker over Nevada-Las Vegas in the semifinals, the Jayhawks have beaten three teams -- Indiana, Arkansas and North Carolina --ranked in the top seven at the end of the regular season.Position-by-position breakdown Guards: Duke point guard Bobby Hurley continues to redeem himself for last year's championship-game nightmare against UNLV, and if Hurley has another solid game, the Blue Devils should win. Not that fellow sophomore Adonis Jordan of Kansas will be intimidated by Hurley, or the circumstances of a championship game.

What you want in a basketball team, Kansas' Mike Maddox says, the Jayhawks have got it. What you need, the Jayhawks have got it.All they're asking for, as they approach this weekend's NCAA Final Four in Indianapolis, is a little respect."

CHARLOTTE, N.C.-- Because Alonzo Jamison did what he wasn't supposed to do, Kansas did what it wasn't supposed to do, namely beat Arkansas, and the Jayhawks are going where they weren't supposed to go, namely the Final Four.Jamison, a 6-foot-6 junior forward, wasn't supposed to challenge the bigger, quicker Razorbacks. But he did, scoring 16 of his game-high 26 points in the second half to key Kansas' 93-81 win over Arkansas for the Southeast Regional championship here Saturday.He wasn't supposed to shut down Arkansas swingman Todd Day, especially after Day had notched 21 points in the first half.

That isn't a chip on Rex Walters' shoulder, it's a full-fledged inferiority complex. If the star Kansas guard held any more grudges, he would need an extra set of arms.In the last two weeks alone, Walters has chided the media for supposedly doubting the Jayhawks as they made their way through the NCAA Midwest Regional and into the Final Four. Said the miffed Walters after Kansas disposed of No. 1-ranked Indiana in the regional final last Saturday: "A lot of people have been picking against us and a lot of people have been wrong again."

DAYTON, Ohio -- Those early-season blowout losses came in handy for the Howard University basketball team last night against Kansas in the opening round of the Midwest Regional at the University of Dayton Arena.The Bison, remembering the 42-point defeat at Minnesota and a 61-point wipeout at Ohio State during a 1-9 start, showed poise for most of the first 25 minutes against the fourth-ranked, top-seeded Jayhawks.But Howard wore down in the last 15 minutes. Trailing by only 12 on three occasions in the second half, the Bison saw Kansas run away with a 100-67 victory.

LAWRENCE, Kan. -- Coppin State began a difficult, three-stop tour of the Big Eight Conference last night, and the big boys of the league showed the Eagles how the elite play the game.The fourth-ranked Kansas Jayhawks, fresh off a victory over former No. 1 Massachusetts and looking ahead to tomorrow's showdown against No. 6 Florida, showed no signs of a letdown by hammering the Eagles, 91-69, before 13,000 at Allen Fieldhouse.It was the first time Coppin State (0-3) had faced Kansas (3-0), and the Jayhawks gave the Eagles a memorable lesson.