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Tuesday, December 5, 2006

Kansas basketball notebook

By Ryan Wood

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Practices have been mediocre to sub-par at Kansas University this season, and Bill Self knows why.

"A lot is leadership. There's a void of leadership," Self, Kansas University's coach, said after the Jayhawks' 72-62 victory over USC on Monday. "Until we step up and have one guy take charge, it'll be hit and miss. I can't do it. Our staff can't do it."

There is an obvious candidate for team leader: Russell Robinson.

"It's got to be Russell. He is the only candidate now," Self said, indicating Julian Wright also was "trying."

"Russell has the internal toughness he needs to do it. He hasn't done it. Tonight it was like he was on an island trying to survive. He's the best candidate," Self said.

Self said Robinson, who had five points, eight assists and five turnovers, "is not a quarterback yet, barking out instructions, making sure everybody is matched up after substitutions. Our guys are yearning for it, wanting it. To me Russell is Mr. Intangible."

Robinson admits leading is difficult.

"Every team I've been on the main focus is everybody holding their own, doing what they need to do," Robinson said. "I've got to figure it out. Hopefully I will soon."

He said he planned to meet with Self.

"I've got to talk to him and see exactly what he wants me to do," Robinson said. "I'm trying."

¢ Turnover trouble: USC's Taj Gibson had 11 turnovers. "That's imposs...," Brandon Rush said, stopping himself from saying the word impossible. "If I had 10, I'd say don't pass me the ball any more."

Audio clips

2006-07 Dec. 4 KU-USC Hoops

¢ Twin talk: Rodrick Stewart, the brother of USC's leading scorer in the game, Lodrick, had an assist in three minutes, all in the first half. Lodrick had 23 points in 31 minutes.

"I thought Lod played great," Self said. "I thought Rod played good when he was in there. I wish he would have played : I should have played Rodrick more."

¢ Twin talk II: Rush was asked if he could tell the difference between the Stewart twins.

"He has a fatter face," Rush said of Lodrick. "His cheeks are fatter."

¢ Bull session: Bull Stewart, the father of the Stewart twins, sat in the front row behind the Trojans' bench wearing a white sweatshirt with USC's logo on the left side of his shirt, KU's logo on the right.

He was joined by the Stewarts' high school coach, Mike Bethea of Rainier Beach High, as well as 14 other friends and family members.

"I just wanted to see a good game, and it's a good game," Bull Stewart, a former U.S. powerlifting champ who owns his own gym in Seattle, said at halftime.

"I'm proud of both of them. Lodrick had a good half (12 points). Rodrick came in and looked relaxed, confident out there. I wish he'd have played more, but that's cool."

Photo Gallery

KU vs USC

"My twin sons, Hikeem and Kadeem, keep texting me. They've been texting me the whole game, saying how excited they are," Bull said of his second set of twin sons, who are in the eighth grade back in Seattle and will attend Rainier Beach High next year.

Has Self offered the up-and-coming twins a scholarship?

"I'd probably need to play Rod a little more to do that," Self cracked.

¢ Rankings: Ranked 10th in the country, Wichita State is ahead of No. 12 KU in the AP poll for the first time since Dec. 6, 1983. At that time, the Shockers were ranked No. 14; KU was unranked. Monday marked the first time since March 27, 1988, that an in state-school was ahead of KU in the poll. K-State took a No. 20 ranking into an NCAA regional final contest against the unranked Jayhawks in Detroit.

¢ Pruitt to be back soon: USC will receive a boost when one of its top players, 6-4 junior guard Gabe Pruitt, becomes academically eligible. Pruitt was first-team all-Pac 10 a year ago.

¢ Mayo to face KU next year: KU will return the game to Los Angeles next year and compete against blue-chip prep guard O.J. Mayo, who signed with coach Tim Floyd's Trojans program in November. Mayo is a shooting guard from Cincinnati.

Check out more on KU's win over USC

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Comments

FlaHawk (anonymous) says...

Self has a good point about a leader or rather the lack of one. I am concerned, if is depending on Robinson to do this. He has come a long way the last 2+ years. He does not have much if any offensive talent, but has great hands andplays good defense. He does not appear to have the vocal "pipes" to bust anyone's butt on the floor?

The OSU/Self/half court offense does need a leader type. We had Miles and did not have aoyone (my opinion) last year either. I wonder when Self was recruiting, whether he realized the lack of leadership skills in his recruits?

Chalmers does not have it and it is way to early to think that Collings will do it. Arthur is too young and feeds off the benefits of others, so he will not step up. Julian is trying, but he himself is too inconsistent. Rush being the All-American (proclaimed) and the best talent is the logical choice. Maybe Self thought that Brandon would be the man!! We canstill pray for a miracle, but the article sounds like Self is realistic andjust hoping that Brandon does not totally fade away this year. A cpuple of really bad games and he might never come back to even last years levels as he is really struggling!

December 5, 2006 at 6:21 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

fansincewilt (anonymous) says...

I hope the young Jayhawks don't read these comments. You'd think we really knew what we were talking about. They have to learn to play through our fans. Some are extremely critical. Some go way out-of-bounds. If they do read any of these comments, I hope they learn that the fans just want to win and really don't have the answers either. We have one of the greatest coach and greatest team in the nation and still the criticism goes on. I am very thankful Bill Self chose to come to Kansas. I am glad he was rewarded with a great contract. I hope someday he is the highest paid college coach in the land.

December 5, 2006 at 7:49 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

JayCeph (anonymous) says...

I hope someday we can win the games we're supposed to and then maybe even grab a national title.

December 5, 2006 at 9:40 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

jross1972 (Joe Ross) says...

Its the coaching! Bill Self constantly--and I do mean constantly--blames the players for everything that goes wrong. How many of you have heard him take responsibility even once for underachieving teams or performances? Not me. You can say what you want to, but when I see Darrell Arthur subbing in and out of games in the final minutes on dead balls, I seriously have to question Self's judgement in certain situations. News flash: arthur is our leading scorer!!!

Coach Self is a great recruiter and I don't want to take that away from him. He is a good basketball coach, and I don't mean to imply that he's not a good fit at Kansas. But people! Is it too much to say that a Coach should create the atmosphere that fosters development? isnt that a coach's responsibility? i mean honestly! The lack of mental toughness is apalling! You don't see that with Coach K's players, or at least not often. You didn't often see it with Roy Williams' teams here at Kansas (Roy toppled mighty giants with names such as Jeff Gueldner and Pekka Markkanen). You NEVER saw it in Dean Smith's teams. The players all got the right mindset from their coach.

Repeat it: the players get the right mindset from their coach!

Again...the players get the right mindset from their coach!

Bill Self, if youre reading this: We want you at Kansas. You represent the program well. But please...PLEASE...accept responsibility for instilling the mental aspect of the game to your players.

A teacher teaches kids HOW to think. A teacher that just teaches facts does a great disservice to his students. A coach is a teacher on the court. I am not a Self hater. I respect what he has done at colleges in the NCAA. But someone HAS to say that while at Kansas, Coach has had his problems with underachieving teams. This has been an issue no matter WHO the players have been.

I love Kansas basketball, and I speak the truth only because I want to see more Ws in the win column for the Crimson and Blue. Coach Self: please coach this team! To many Jayhawk fans Basketball is life itself!

Rock Chalk from a true, die-hard fan!!!!!!
beak em hawks

December 5, 2006 at 10:49 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

tdub (anonymous) says...

jross, I'm sure BS is reading your post right now and I can't wait until we win the championship this year because of your rousing halftime speech. You're a pretty big idiot if you think you know enough to tell a top college coach how to do his job. Have you been watching the way our guys play defense since Self arrived? It's the epitomy of toughness. We lose games because, here and there, we have trouble shooting the basketball and teams that are juiced up because they're playing mighty Kansas take advantage. Nothing more. Quit reading too much into things. If you bothered to watch to Florida game, you would have saw the greatest display of mental toughness possible: a team blowing the lead at the end of the game, going down by 3 with just over a minute left in OT, and responding by winning the d@mn game. That's toughness, mental and physical, in a nutshell!

December 5, 2006 at 1:36 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

jross1972 (Joe Ross) says...

tdub:

No one is inciting anyone else to anger here except you. Reread the post. The worst kind of Jayhawk fan is a troublemaker, and I for one don't want to be accused of that.

That aside, you say on the one hand that I don't know enough about coaching to criticize the game plan. By that logic, you don't know enough to defend it! You may shy away from your soap box now...no one is noticing.

You say "If I watched the Florida game I would have seen the greatest display of mental toughness possible". You'll be happy to know I did. Im not arguing that Kansas wasn't tough there (they were), but I want what all Jayhawk fans want...some consistency!!! i want that toughness to extend to games vs. ORU and DePaul as well, and idiocy won't be mine alone if you are brazen enough to suggest it doesn't belong in these games alongside the high-profile matchups.

So what if we beat Florida, and exit the tourney this year by losing to the Billings Stampede! A heapin' helpin' of mental toughness to extend to all games, please!!!

December 5, 2006 at 2:24 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

zabudda (anonymous) says...

Watching the replay of the USC game. Man these guys can play D. They are quick and play as a team.

On the other end of the court they hesitate, pass up good shots, miss close in chippies and struggle in their half court set. Come on Brandon and Mario, make it happen.

Watching instinctive and smart players like Pete Maravich, the Big O, Isiah Thomas or Magic. It's a different game on offense. Maravich would be light years ahead of everyone, drifiting around and then bingo, he was wide open at the free throw line.

Our guys are great defensive players and athletes supreme. But basketball players? I haven't seen a lot of it yet. There are glimmers here and there and hope because of that.

December 5, 2006 at 9:04 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

tdub (anonymous) says...

jross, I never disagreed with your call for consistency. My point of contention was that KU has about 3,000 head basketball coaches, and all but one of them regularly posts on these message boards about what is wrong with the team and how to fix it. However, the one coach that knows what they're doing (at least compared to us) is Self. He has noticed the lack of consistency, and if there was an easy fix, it would have been corrected long ago. Everyone that criticizes BS suffers dilusions of grandeur for even thinking that they know more about the team than Self. Let the man do his job, cheer your hardest, and the W's will come.

December 6, 2006 at 6:41 p.m. ( | suggest removal )