KANSAS CITY, Mo.—Nebraska coach Connie Yori says she loves Kansas City, but only up to a point.
“We had two losses last season and both were in Kansas City,” Yori said Wednesday at Big 12 media day.
The Cornhuskers, who finished 32-2, lost to Texas A&M in the Big 12 tournament and were eliminated from the NCAA tournament by Kentucky in the Kansas City Regional.
“I maybe have realized we’ve got to quit feeding our players barbecue because they must be allergic to it,” Yori said. “I’m personally a big brisket fan, but it seems that our team is not.”
———
RANGERS ROOTER: Texas A&M coach Gary Blair is a huge Texas Rangers fan.
“Next to Dallas and College Station, Kansas City is probably one of my favorite towns,” Blair said. “We are always looking for somebody for the Texas Rangers to beat and it is usually Kansas City.”
Blair added that he’s glad he could do interviews in the morning so he could go home and watch the Rangers’ ALCS game against the New York Yankees in the afternoon.
That led to questions of who are the Cliff Lee, Josh Hamilton and Bengie Molina on his Aggies squad.
Blair said point guard Sydney Colson is the Lee. “She makes things happen,” Blair said. “She is a special young lady.”
He said guard Maryann Baker is the Hamilton. “Maryann is one that will run through that wall,” Blair said. “The problem is she has run through too many of them in three years and has not been healthy. She is going to be competing to start at the ‘3’ position, bat third like Josh.”
Molina? That would be 6-foot-4 freshman Karla Gilbert. “God, he’s slow, but he can hit, don’t throw him a fastball,” Blair said. “We are not going to get (Gilbert) faster. We just need to get her quicker at getting to spots.”
———
TWEET FREAK: Iowa State coach Bill Fennelly likes Twitter, a lot.
He’s sent out more than 2,100 “tweets” since he started, and he has almost 2,300 “followers.”
“It is just something I fell into,” he said. “I really don’t know why I started doing it. I enjoy it. I think our fans like to be engaged. It has probably gotten me in trouble a few times by some of the comments I have made. None of them are malicious, but it is who I am and I like to be engaged with people on a daily basis. It is fun. My wife hates it. She thinks it is stupid.”
———
FREE THROWS: Nebraska guard Dominique Kelley showed up in a sleeveless top, revealing bulging biceps. “I can bench over 170 pounds,” she said. “I was born like this. I had these muscles when I came out of my mother’s womb. Nebraska helped me tone them up.” … Oklahoma State loses the nation’s second-leading scorer in Andrea Riley, who never passed an opportunity to shoot. She averaged 26.7 points a game, but attempted a whopping 833 field goals—326 more than anyone else on the team. Deadpanned Cowgirls guard Lakyn Garrison: “Everyone’s going to get to shoot.” …
Some seniors were asked what they wanted to do after graduation. Baylor’s Melissa Jones wants to win the lottery, Nebraska’s Kelley wants to get into coaching and Oklahoma State’s Garrison wants to go to law school. Texas A&M’s Sydney Colson prompted laughter with her response.
“I want to play overseas if I can,” she said, “or find a good man who can take care of me for the rest of my life.”
