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Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Gary Bedore’s KU basketball notebook

By Gary Bedore

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Finals week halts KU games

Finals week on the hill means no KU basketball games to look forward to until Saturday.

Little off to fast start

Kansas University basketball signee Mario Little is averaging 15.9 points per game off 59.2 percent shooting for 14-0 Chipola (Fla.) Community College.

The 6-foot-5 guard/forward has made 42.9 percent of his three-pointers. He also averages 4.9 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game.

Next up

KU's next opponent, Ohio University, takes a 5-2 record into tonight's game at Maryland. The Bobcats, who have lost to Holy Cross and Temple and defeated New Mexico State, Cornell, St. Francis, St. Bonaventure and Delaware, meet KU at 4 p.m., Saturday, at Sprint Center, then head to Honolulu for the Rainbow Classic and an opening round game against St. John's.

Giles eligible

C.J. Giles, who was kicked off KU's team first semester last year, is eligible to play in games at Oregon State now that second semester has started.

The 6-11 Giles is expected to provide a boost to an OSU team off to a 4-3 start.

"If he ever puts it all together, he'll be one of the best big men in the Pac-10," KU coach Bill Self told the Oregonian newspaper.

Giles averaged 4.9 points and 3.9 rebounds per game in his two seasons at KU. He's currently on a diversion program to avoid conviction on a misdemeanor battery citation that led to his dismissal from KU's team.

"Everybody likes C.J. It just kind of got away from him," Self said. "I think he's in a good spot. I would love see him do well. No matter what happens, I will always pull for him."

Oregon State coach Jay John was criticized by some Oregon media members for giving Giles a scholarship.

"I still fundamentally believe that whatever that line is where you go from deserving a second chance to, 'You blew all your chances,' wherever that arbitrary line is, in my view, he hadn't gone on the other side," John said. "Certainly I took a lot of heat on that, but I also felt that we had an infrastructure where things could work.

"Obviously, we are excited about adding a player with his ability to the mix for the rest of the season," John added. "He is an outstanding talent who should give us a very strong presence on both ends of the floor."

Comments

  1. lee3022 (anonymous) says…

    Coach Self seems to design the offense and defense to suit the skills he has available. What we run next year will still be a high-low but that can mean a number of things in the way it is executed. We apparently have some really good athletes and ballers coming in who can bring their own brand of success. A dominant post presence is not what we have had the past two years and Cole brings it. Most of us hoped Sasha would be that as well but you have to catch the ball to score in the post. Now Sasha brings really good defense and others can provide the offense - especially now that DJack is blowing up. Cole can provide himself more opportunities this year as his defense improves and, to use Coach's term, the game slows down a bit for him. We all hope that is by the league opener or soon thereafter.

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  2. danimal33 (anonymous) says…

    I haven't seen Little play yet, but I'm guessing he is like a hybrid mix between Mario Chalmers and Brandon Rush. Coming from a winning program like Chipola, he should be able to make an instant impact for us next year and be able to pick up some of the slack when Brandon leaves. He may be the best pickup Self gets in the 2008 class.

    Rock Chalk!

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  3. Timmay97 (anonymous) says…

    I just love the fact that Little seems to have that "swingman" mentality. Can drive, can shoot, can rebound and can defend. It sounds as if Releford might be the same way.

    I'm telling you.....KU needs that one dominant low post presence that can score and defend. Maybe Aldrich will turn into that in the future, but after this year.....I'm a little nervous about our post players.

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  4. Jmerhawk (anonymous) says…

    I'm sure Self is aware that we will need big men in the immediate future since we are loosing two and possibly a third (DA). Cole is a grat prospect if he can work on the intangibles... he already seems to be. Has anyone else noticed how he always seems to be around the rim for the follow in?... He always keeps the ball high on put-backs? Hawk nation will be just fine.

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  5. jross1972 (Joe Ross) says…

    Saturdays game is at the Sprint Center. I think Ill always be nostalgic for Kemper, site of our last crowning.

    CJ still has legal goings-on. I bet you a dollar to a doughnut he wont be missing his court dates, though. Hopefully he's learned that he's got to put his legal issues to bed. Ive always agreed with Coach, that we should wish CJ well.

    Hopefully Little will be Big for us next year, in the aftermath of an impending mass exodus the likes of which have not been seen since Biblical times.

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  6. kcmostwanted (anonymous) says…

    Mario Little went to JUCO for one reason: he was ineligible at a D1 school... obviously he had D1 talent because most of the Big 10 schools were trying to recruit him out of HS. He should be a talented player and seems to have a little bit of "Chicago" I'll take over mentality that Sherron has and Julian had (49% of the time).

    And best wishes to CJ..
    if he could stay out of trouble and live up to his potential he'll be a very fun player to watch

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  7. KEITHMILES05 (anonymous) says…

    Lost in the entire banter of Giles is the fact he has a baby in Lawrence who he can very rarely see. If only he'd been somewhat smarter than room temp IQ he would still be a Jayhawk. This little kid is going to miss his pops because his pops was stupid.

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    2010 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament bracket results Points: 22 Final picks: KU / UK / Duke / KSU Check out KEITHMILES05’s bracket »

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  9. ChicagoJHawk (anonymous) says…

    I'm really pumped to see Mario Little play, and also the Morris twins. I have no doubt that our freshman will be good but it will take some time for them to develop, as is the case for most freshman. Little on the other hand has the juco experience & will be ready to go right away. We really need somebody like that next year, especially with all the seniors leaving & possibly a few others leaving for the NBA.

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  10. Lebowski (anonymous) says…

    Lee3022, you seem very respectful in your discussion, so please read this (if you do) knowing I mean this in a positive light... no intended disrespect.

    We have so many fans who tend to blow way out of proportion the difference between one player and another. You say "you have to catch the ball to score in the post". Well I guess you're talking about those passes that hit him in the hands and bounce away. HE gets the turnover for those if it was a good pass... and he has fewer TO's per minute than every other KU big man, and has had very little problem lately. He's had issues in the past, but he's been doing a much better job with that lately.

    And then you go a little further... you say "others can provide the offense".. and that "DJack" is blowing up." The difference in their productivity is simply not that night and day. If you're going to say that DJack is "blowing up", then you can't accurately say that Sasha is any kind of dissappointment. The blowing up thing is slightly exaggerated, what if you look at his game-by-game numbers.... and then say those numbers belonged to LaFrentz or Collison. We'd all be saying "What's wrong with Raef & Nick this year?" He's drastically improved, but "blowing up", in my opinion, would be going for close 20 & 10 a game. He's not even on pace for that if he averaged 30 minutes a game.

    Now Sasha, he's not missing all the entry passes you think he is. Once someone gets it in their head, they see it once and say "See, told you... he can't catch a pass".. or he misses a bunny and it's "See, he can't shoot for squat!". Never mind that I don't have enough fingers and toes to count how many bunnies and dunks that Rush, Mario and DA have missed. But in some people's mind, they get very convicted in their criticism, and one mistake is enough to totally justify to themselves why they feel the way they do. I certainly don't think people do it on purpose. But it almost becomes irrelevant how much he improves at his weaknesses, anything short of perfection.. and he's still going to draw criticism, even if he's doing it better, or at least more efficiently than everyone else. I'm really proud of DJack and really like to watch him play. But he's not a superhero and he's been making some mistakes out there, too. But we're all a little better about overlooking those.

    Again, I'm not trying to say anyone is wrong for having their opinion, I only am making desperate efforts to get some fans to see the good things in players instead of dwelling so much on the bad.

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  11. jross1972 (Joe Ross) says…

    as long as I live, i will never get tired of seeing this:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8laAlp...

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