So he lost both games. That was definitely the worst case-scenario.
But seriously, I don’t know if it would have mattered who was the coach other than Gayla Soyez. I read a few comments on Patrick Sheltra’s story on the games last night at Friends — some thinking that it was a publicity stunt, some thinking an assistant should have been the coach. I think this still would have came up if he’d won the women’s game, although I don’t think he’s to blame for the loss. If you’re missing your head coach, no matter if it’s the men’s coach or one of the assistants taking charge, that intensity that would have been there under the head coach is going to be missing, I think.
Here’s the skinny on Joanna Pryor, the new Newman volleyball coach who got her grand introduction yesterday. I got to talk to her for a few minutes, and here are some of the highlights:
-She’s from Attica
-There was only one job in Kansas (small college, obviously) she’d consider leaving Cowley for, and she got it.
“When I saw that Newman was going Division II, I told people that was the only job I’d leave Cowley for in the state,” Pryor said. “For so long there was kind of a void in Wichita as far as Division II volleyball, because you had teams at Washburn, Hays, Emporia and so on but not here.”
Sterling women’s coach Lonnie Kruse picked up his 600th win on Saturday with a 100-55 victory at Bethel. I have nothing but admiration for Coach K and the way he handles himself, during games and off the court. It’s a testament to anybody to keep the same job for 27 years, but in coaching that’s almost impossible. And like I’ve said before, dude is a recruiting machine.
The long-awaited NAIA FB All-American team is out and in this blogger’s humble opinion, the KCAC really cleaned up, led by Friends offensive lineman Jacob Bruster’s first-team selection. That’s a nice bookend to his AFCA first-team All-American pick. I’m not saying there weren’t any snubs — mainly Friends defensive end Jordan Highley being left off both the first and second teams — but dude still made honorable mention, and that ain’t bad.
On a separate note, and before I get into the details of who made what, let me just say that when I ran into Bruster and his fiance two weeks ago at the downtown YMCA, I told him this was on the way. I’m just saying. Bruster is trying to pursue a pro career as a tight end, and I think he’s down from his playing weight of 295 to I’d guess about the 260 range. At 6-foot-5, that’s about the right size for the next level although he told me he needs to work on his speed.
So I’m back from my mid-week weekend. I went and saw “Notorious” — the Biggie biopic — Tuesday night at Northrock. I didn’t really like the way they glamorized his death and tried to make it seem like he resolved (amazingly) every conflict in his personal life right before he died. But when his mom says she wants to take his body back to Brooklyn after his funeral and somebody in the crowd plays Hypnotize … chills, dude.
But I digress.
Newman’s Rainey Nickel put on a show last week — a good enough performance to earn her Heartland Conference player of the week honors after the 5-foot-8 sophomore from Augusta hit for a career-high 28 points in a 74-61 win over Oklahoma Panhandle State last Thursday.
So the Sterling women’s basketball team has got this forward, she’s around six-feet tall, she can play outside and inside, she’s a small-town girl from Kansas and she’s really, really good … and she’s not Ashley Kraft.
The Hutch Central Christian product is the KCAC women’s player of the week after averaging 15 points, 10.5 rebounds and hitting 5 of 9 threes in wins over Tabor and Friends. She’s averaging 9.5 points and 4.2 rebounds for the first-place, No. 7 Warriors. So this begs the question: How good a recruiter is Lonnie Kruse?
I’m not surprised the Butler men beat Hutch … okay maybe a little surprised. What blows me away is that Hutch’s Darius Johnson-Odom was held to six points. SIX POINTS! Dude was leading the Jayhawk in scoring. And they lost by 26? And that’s the team that was picked to win the west? My guy at the game said the Blue Dragons seemed disinterested in this one. Hutch underperformed last year with uber-rapper/point guard/Jayhawk POY/”The Solution” Bobby Maze, who is now at Tennessee, and Ken Bowman (who signed with Maryland but isn’t on their roster) and a loss like this … not a good sign of things to come. But props to Hutch native Caleb Walker for locking down DJO and hitting for 29. Not bad when he’d only scored 38 points so far this season before the Blue Dragons came to town.
School’s not back in session yet for most of these athletes, but Roll Call definitely is.
I have to admit — I’ve been sleeping on Ottawa’s David Birch. The 6-foot-1 senior guard out of Olathe East is not only the reigning KCAC player of the year, but also seems to be shooting for a first-team All-American bid this year. He’s averaging 23.3 points, 3.63. assists and 3.81 rebounds per game and he just completed his biggest week yet — all as the Braves try to stay in the KCAC title hunt. He had 22 points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals in an 85-60 win over Bethany then capped things Saturday with a school-record 44 points to go with four steals in Ottawa’s 92-86 win over McPherson. All that makes him the KCAC player of the week.
