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The Greene Room

The Greene Room Live: Day two in KC

By Ryan Greene
March 14, 2008 | 11 comments

The Greene Room Live: Day one in KC

9:52 p.m.: With the way the KU players carried themselves in the locker room after the game, something tells me they never truly even thought - even down five at halftime - that they'd lose this game.

Teams struggling to start postseason play, well, that's normal. Just ask Baylor. But I'm still scratching my head at how KU did just that in the first half Friday, especially considering how solid they'd been in the final four games of the regular season. Whatever the case, the Jayhawks won, and if history tells us anything, it's that there's a better than good chance they'll fire all over the place to start tomorrow's game.

No one is gonna need it more, though, than Darrell Arthur. Poor kid was just 0-for-1 from the floor in the first half. The 0-fer wasn't the most intriguing part - it was the one attempt. With the opening stuff out of the way, lets get on with it...

Notes

-KU's 22 first half points were a season low, and the Jayhawks trailed at the break for just the fourth time all year. In those games, they're 2-2.

-The five-point halftime deficit was the largest so far this season.

-KU now has seven straight wins in the league tournament.

Nuggets

-The Jayhawks are using one of hockey locker rooms in the Sprint Center. It's massive, complete with huge, plush locker stalls in which players can lean back into and practically disappear. Also, the locker room features a separate conference room, beige carpet throughout, a massive plasma screen TV and minimal cell phone reception (that might have just been me. I don't have one of those fancy iPhones like most of the players do).

-Russell Robinson remains the team's most consistent good quote of the season.

-That's really it. Sorry.

Numbers

-The Jayhawks did dominate in one area all night - the boards. KU outrebounded NU 34-24.

-Four more steals for Mario Chalmers will place him in second on the all-time KU list, surpassing Aaron Miles. He'd still be 71 behind Darnell Valentine for first. The junior had three swipes Friday night.

-Darrell Arthur may have struggled from the floor (1-for-4), but he was the lone Jayhawk to be perfect from the line (4-for-4).

-Russell Robinson had the night's most complete line: three points, four rebounds, five assists, two steals, one turnover. Chalmers would have taken the honor if it weren't for six giveaways.

Talk to you tomorrow, bright and early (by Saturday standards).

8:08 p.m.: I understand letting out some frustration at the end of an overall frustrating night, but Sherron Collins' technical foul was not only earned, but completely pointless. He not only instigated it against a walking-away Ade Dagunduro, but did so twice. But it's nothing more than a moot point now, with the win well in hand.

Be back after postgame interviews with notes, nuggets and numbers...

7:43 p.m.: How reminiscent is this game of last year's Big 12 quarterfinal between KU and Oklahoma? That should be the lone wake-up scare the Jayhawks need for awhile in this postseason. If not, tomorrow's foe - be it K-State or A&M - is much more formidable.

Sherron Collins is still the key tonight. He has just nine points, but all of his buckets have come at times when a boost was needed, and without his six points in the first half, KU could have had a much deeper hole to dig out of. Sasha Kaun deserves some mention, too. He's taken it to Maric whenever he's wanted on the offensive end, and his touch on that baby hook is right on tonight.

7:05 p.m.: If I ever need a shrink, I'm hiring Kevin Romary. Any KU fan would think the same right now, because I'm sure you're all flipping out at the halftime box score KU strung together. As you maybe should.

But Kevin had a soothing explanation: Nebraska's feeling good, already won a game here, has no reason not to be playing hard, Kansas just maybe didn't expect it, all that sort of stuff. (Imagine hearing it in the easy Midwestern tone, too)

So now that you're sufficiently calmed, here's what KU needs to do right away. And, I really don't think it's rocket surgery - GET THE BALL TO DARRELL ARTHUR.

What's worked best in this four-game roll the Jayhawks have been on? Moving the offense through the sophomore forward. He had two points (both from the line) on 0-for-1 shooting in the first half. That's right. One shot. One shot. That's not enough, plain and simple. In recent games, when the offense has worked through him, everything else falls into place by osmosis.

KU's going to make it's run to start the second half. Bank on that. But nothing says Nebraska has to give way. If the Huskers are still in it with 7-8 minutes left, watch out.

Here's some numbers from the first half...

-Darrell Arthur took one shot. Yes, I said it again. Let it soak in. The blame there isn't just on him, though.

-KU had just five assists to 12 turnovers. Nebraska gave it away just seven times.

-The Jayhawks were just 8-of-17 from the floor. Nebraska was 10-of-25, and 6-of-12 from three-point range.

6:50 p.m.: You could now honestly debate which foul was more painful for KU fans between Arthur's fifth against Eaton at OSU or Darnell Jackson's on Cookie Miller right now on a throw-away three attempt with the shot clock on its final second.

Darnell deserves some credit tonight, as he's been KU's only real presence inside of eight feet from the rim. Arthur has yet to score.

6:37 p.m.: The Nebraska pep band, along with bringing the Hawaiian shirts, continues with the sheer genius. A dry erase board allows multiple sign ideas during the game. The current words? "Hey Pat Riley. You need Maric."

Actually, I think Riley probably wants the guy in the next game. You'll never convince me there wasn't that thought somewhere behind shutting down Dwyane Wade the rest of the year.

And how about Ade Dagunduro? Ryan Wood provided the stat that he scored a combined seven points in the two January meetings. I remember he missed a lot of time with horrible foul trouble on Jan. 12 in Lincoln. Don't remember much from Jan. 26. He's pretty symbolic of how this team is playing right now - hard. That's the best word for it. I can never say it enough.

It's definitely messing with KU's psyche right now, in my opinion.

6:26 p.m.: Well, given the way the Jayhawks have looked offensively through 8:53 of play tonight, I can already see a Bill Self 'energy level' comment coming in the postgame press conference. At least that's my assessment, because this Nebraska team is playing much harder than it did in two January meetings, no longer intimidated. They've won a game in this building and have nothing to lose right now. They're NIT-bound at the worst, and their only way into the Big Dance is with an undefeated weekend.

Sherron's a good candidate, as always, to bring up that 'energy level,' and his three before the second TV timeout showed that.

5:48 p.m.: Like I said earlier, probably not much to look too deep into in this game. Looking for other points of discussion, I got an answer to a question which sprung into my head last night - Why, oh why, does the Nebraska pep band wear Hawaiian shirts?

The student member of the band I first asked said: 'Because we're from Nebraska.'

Of course. How stupid of me to even ask. What was I thinking.

The real reason was provided by band director Doug Bush. It's an inside joke which came into play about three years ago, when a big deal was made out of the fact that the region in which Lincoln is located is the second-furthest destination in the world from an ocean (the furthest, he said, being somewhere in Mongolia). Plus, it's a way to stand out, he said, from the standard polo. That makes the KU pep band look pretty corporate down the court in its matching blue Adidas garb across the board.

Yes, this game needs to get started already.

9:31 a.m.: Well, we're not quite back in KCMO yet, as the caravan is heading back that way about 3 p.m. from Lawrence, but why not start off the day with some left over Day 1 observations from the Sprint Center/Power & Light District/College Basketball Experience.

-I would expect ticket prices for tonight on the streets to be outrageous. Three of the four biggest fan bases to show up Thursday - Missouri, Iowa State and Baylor - will all be looking to get their money back. If you're a KU fan hoping to scalp, might want to save your money for Saturday's Sunflower Showdown III (Yes, I'm predicting it. It'll be the second-greatest three-quel in recent memory. We all know what's No. 1, despite the uncomfortable ending to that montage).

-Again, parking suggestion: Park in the garage behind Municipal Auditorium for 10 bucks. It's a four-block walk, easy in and easy out. Plus you get to meet the Pepsi Max dude we talked about yesterday.

-My favorite feature of the Sprint Center I forgot to mention Thursday? There's a QuikTrip on the concourse. A former co-worker, Dan Smith, got me hooked on that place when I used to live in KCMO, the 99-cent 20 oz. coffee and the breakfast sandwiches became a staple. Didn't, however, check the gas prices on the concourse yesterday. I'll get right back with that this afternoon.

-I like Doc Sadler. He's a fun guy to watch coach, I think. He's animated when need be, he never sits down (always walking or crouching) and he appears to have great lines of communication with his players. From all media accounts in Lincoln, too, he's as easy a coach to work with in terms of covering the team as you'll find in the country. Almost too friendly. His good nature has rubbed off on his team, as the Huskers appear to have bought in to what he's dishing. They've won five of their last seven, finished a respectable 7-9 in league play, will be in the NIT at the worst and should be competitive with KU today (though I'm sticking with yesterday's prediction of 87-70, Jayhawks). I think he'd do well at a bigger program. A couple more solid years at Nebraska (credit him for having recruited as much talent as he has to the Big 12's toughest program to recruit to), and he's on his way, I'd have to believe.

-I'm itching to get back to KC Live! across the street from the Sprint Center in the Power & Light District. Should we be done soon enough tonight, I'm getting a Miller Lite over there for sure. If we bump into each other, say hey.

-I'd also say I'm itching to get back to the College Basketball Experience, but I'm not so sure my hands could handle it anymore. Ryan Wood and I put on a dazzling aerial display in the 9-foot rim cage, and a pull-up in effort to slap the backboard took its toll on my palm. Darn pent-up aggression. A video of said excursion exists, and it will be on YouTube once work slows down enough to have time to post it. So get ready for the revolution (Again, if you haven't been to the CBE, make sure to cut out at least a half-hour to go in there and have some fun while you're down at the tournament. And wear gym shoes. Trust me.)

-Bold prediction of the day: All four teams which had a bye yesterday will advance to Saturday, making for a solid weekend in the Sprint. The only game I'd say which could come close to an upset would be Texas-Oklahoma State, given how close the two played last weekend on the Longhorns' home floor. It'll be close again on a neutral floor, but Texas is the type of team that's due to blow up and score 95 at some point soon, given the recent offensive inconsistencies, especially with Abrams and Atchley. Prediction: Texas 84, OSU 77

*Colorado came so close to melting down yesterday it was almost painful to watch. I'm still completely miffed at how CU can get chances for the last shot at the end of both regulation and the first overtime and not put the ball in Richard Roby's hand on either occasion. It'll take one heck of an effort to even be in a position to win again today. But who knows, the Buffs beat the Soooners by 14 a little over a month ago in Boulder. Prediction: OU 61, CU 53 (Day's biggest snoozer)

*KU will beat Nebraska by double-digits, but expect a much harder style of play from the Huskers than in the first two meetings. They played vicious in terms of physicality last night. Prediction: KU 87, NU 70

*As for K-State and Texas A&M, Mike Beasley is absolutely gonna go off this weekend. I'm just feeling it. He's dangerous to anyone anywhere in the land, but on a neutral floor? I say he scores at least 40 tonight (can you tell I'm a big Beasley fan yet?). A&M will probably be without DeAndre Jordan (not that it's mattered lately), and the account of Jordan's Thursday in KC in friend of the program Jeff Martin's blog leads me to believe that. Prediction: K-State 80, A&M 66

-One more prediction before folding the laundry: Baylor is still going to get into the tournament, even though I think yesterday should have cost them dearly. What could be a big controversy would be if A&M were to upset the 'Cats tonight and get passed over still for a bid in favor of Baylor. Wouldn't be surprised if that happens, but lets cross that bridge should the Aggies show up.

Talk to you later on from KCMO.

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