It was a heck of a way for sports teams at the University of Kansas, with the top-ranked KU men’s basketball team taking down No. 9 North Carolina in a blue blood battle at Allen Fieldhouse, KU football picking up a huge win over No. 17 Iowa State at Arrowhead Stadium and the KU women’s soccer team bringing home the Big 12 tournament trophy with a 1-0 win over No. 7 TCU in the conference title game.
All of that and more will be celebrated in this week’s Monday Morning Wheaties.
We’ll call this the milestone edition!
You’ve seen the tomahawks on the back of the Florida State helmets, the buckeye tree leaves on the Ohio State helmets and the paw prints on the back of the Clemson helmets.
Each Monday, we take one last look back at the week that was and hand out different amounts of the iconic breakfast cereal to the Jayhawks’ top performers.
So, be sure to come get your Monday Morning Wheaties and feel free to hit up the comments section — subscribers only for now — with any players you feel we might’ve missed.
Picture on the box
• KU senior Devin Neal – Unless you were off the grid all weekend, you surely know by now that KU running back Devin Neal moved into the top spot on the Jayhawks’ all-time rushing list over the weekend and now owns the school record for rushing yards in a career (3,951 & counting), career rushing touchdowns (43), career 100-yard games (18) and career total touchdowns (46). Neal broke June Henley’s mark of 3,841 that had stood for nearly 30 years with a 116-yard, 2-touchdown day against Iowa State on Saturday in a KU victory. Doesn’t get much better than that.
A full bowl
• Junior soccer player Lexi Watts – Let’s move to the pitch, where the KU women, seeded 6th and picked to finish in a tie for 12th in the preseason poll, completed a magical run to the Big 12 Conference tournament title with a 1-0 win over No. 7 TCU on Saturday night. Watts, who led the Jayhawks in scoring this season and scored the golden goal in a Round 2 double-overtime win over West Virginia, was named the offensive player of the tournament.
• Redshirt freshman soccer goalie Sophie Dawe – On the defensive side, goalkeeper, Dawe, who has recorded 8 shutouts this season, including 2 in the Big 12 tournament, was named the defensive player of the tournament. Not bad for her first season as a starter. KU, which has now won 8 in a row and is 13-5-4 entering the NCAA Tournament, outscored its opponents 6-2 in the four games at the tournament.
• Senior soccer player Makayla Merlo — And then there’s the midfielder who made it all happen. A transfer from CU-Colorado Springs, Merlo scored the lone goal in Saturday’s win over TCU on a penalty kick midway through the second half. After assisting on 7 goals during first 21 games of the season, Merlo picked a heck of a time to score her first goal as a Jayhawk.
Nighttime snack
• KU’s Offensive Line — Neal was the first to give the big fellas up front credit for his success, and we’ll follow his lead right here. While there have been more than a dozen linemen during Neal’s career who helped him get every one of those nearly-4,000 yards, the five guys who made it happen this year deserve some love. They are, from left to right, Bryce Cabledue, Kobe Baynes, Bryce Foster, Michael Ford Jr. and Logan Brown. Shane Bumgardner, Nolan Gorczyca and Calvin Clements also saw action this season with Neal carrying the rock. A couple of notable names from past seasons include: Mike Novitsky, Dominick Puni, Ar’maj Reed-Adams and Earl Bostick Jr.
• Senior guard Zeke Mayo – The Lawrence native and longtime Neal best friend got the weekend started on the right note with a monster game against North Carolina. Mayo, who came in off the bench, scored 21 points and added 5 rebounds and 4 assists to lead the top-ranked Jayhawks past No. 9 North Carolina, 92-89 at Allen Fieldhouse. He played 29 minutes minutes and shot 7-of-14 from the floor and 3-of-9 from 3-point range.
Drink the milk
• KU Quarterback Jalon Daniels — So much of what made Saturday’s win over Iowa State special was Neal getting the record, but make no mistake about it, Jalon Daniels was cooking. The KU QB finished 12-of-24 for 295 yards and 2 TDs through the air and added another 68 yards and a touchdown on the ground to finish with a passer rating of 180.8. This was the JD6 we all expected to see all season and Daniels said after the victory that the version of the KU offense, though still not perfect, was the one they expected to use all season, as well. We’ll see if they have it in them three more times to reach that magic number of 6 wins.
— For tickets to all KU athletic events, visit kuathletics.com
