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Thursday, February 15, 2007

Valentine’s Day massacre

Jayhawks rout CU, forge tie

By Gary Bedore

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Boulder, Colo. — Brandon Rush nearly jumped out of his seat on the team bus as it chugged down Highway 36 from Denver to Boulder early Tuesday night.

"Coach (Bill) Self was sitting there and made a loud noise. He said, 'Aaah.' I kind of figured out what it was," Rush, Kansas University's sophomore guard/forward, said Wednesday after the Jayhawks' 75-46 rout of Colorado at Coors Events Center.

That was the sound of Self receiving a text message that Texas A&M had fallen at home to Texas Tech, meaning a KU win over Colorado would propel the Jayhawks (22-4 overall, 9-2 Big 12) into a tie for first place with the Aggies in the Big 12 race.

"I was paying attention. I got some updates on my phone, but I didn't know Tech won until that," Rush said.

The Jayhawks left little doubt they'd erase the half-game deficit in the league standings Wednesday, using the nine-point, four-assist, three-steal, 18-minute first-half effort of Russell Robinson to grab a 38-22 lead at the break.

Robinson wound up with a

season-high 14 points, while Darrell Arthur had 11 and Sasha Kaun 10 as the Jayhawks tied for the biggest road victory in the Self era. KU also beat TCU by 29 in Dallas in Self's first season.

"We were coming back on the bus, and we found out we could be tied if we beat Colorado," Kaun said after scoring all his points in the second half.

Photo Gallery

KU vs. Colorado

"It's a good feeling to be back in first place, but we have a lot of games left to play."

Self, however, cautioned the Jayhawks couldn't afford to get overconfident with Saturday's home game with Nebraska and Monday's trip to Kansas State looming.

"We are happy to be tied. You can make a case that our season starts now," Self added after his Jayhawks improved to 11-3 in league road games the past two seasons. "Nebraska is playing great, then Manhattan. We need to build off this and keep moving forward."

The Jayhawks rewarded a large contingent of fans - at least half the 6,608 spectators were KU supporters - with a blowout victory. The fans who braved a snowstorm were treated to a vicious second-half dunk off a lob from Robinson, as well as the intense 11-rebound effort by Darnell Jackson.

They serenaded the Jayhawks with the "Rock Chalk Chant" the final two minutes.

"It's amazing to me. We probably had 3,000 to 4,000 here," Self said. "It amazes me people will drive that far in this weather. At the hotel, we had people who drove in yesterday because they were afraid I-70 would be closed."

Self said junior guard Robinson was the one who set a dominant tone early on a night Richard Roby (seven points, 23 minutes) didn't start because of what coach Ricardo Patton cited as recent attitude problems.

Go figure

47.6

KU's field-goal shooting percentage

27.3

Colorado's field-goal shooting percentage

9

Buffaloes who played

9

Buffaloes who had at least one turnover (CU had 18 total)

30

Field goals by the Jayhawks

22

Assists by the Jayhawks (KU had 14 assists on 15 field goals in the first half)

7

Points scored by CU's Richard Roby

30

Points scored by Roby in the teams' last meeting

"Russell was great defensively. He has several steals (five)," Self said. "We weren't great offensively by any means, but did a good job scoring in transition early and defended them the entire night."

Indeed, KU held the Buffs to its lowest total in a KU-CU game since 1993, when CU scored 51 in Boulder. CU's 46-point outing was its lowest of the season. The Buffs also had 46 against Air Force.

"Darnell would have had a great game if he made his free throws," Self said of Jackson, who had four points off 2-of-6 shooting, but missed all five of his charity tries to go with the 11 rebounds and two blocks.

"It was good to see him play well, Shady (Arthur, seven rebounds, 11 points) get involved and Sasha play well the second half.

"Julian (Wright, eight points), Brandon (Rush, seven points), Mario (Chalmers, seven points) and Sherron (Collins, seven points) all scored their seven or so."

KU now will prepare for its game against Nebraska, set for a 3 p.m. start Saturday at Allen Fieldhouse. Texas A&M will travel to Oklahoma on Saturday.

"I didn't think it's happen," Self said of A&M losing at home Tuesday. "It's a crazy sport. Anything can happen, especially in our league."

KU vs. Colorado

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Comments

fabio (anonymous) says...

And DOWN the stretch they come!

February 15, 2007 at 1:17 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

actorman (anonymous) says...

Indeed, KU held the Buffs to its lowest total in a KU-CU game since 1993, when CU scored 51 in Boulder
_________________________________________________________________

Last I checked, 46 is lower than 51. So how far back do we go 'til the last time CU scored THAT little against KU?

Great defense the entire game. Even though the offense was a little shaky at times, to win by 29 on the road is fantastic. This team just keeps rolling along. Another month-and-a-half of this and no one beats them!

February 15, 2007 at 2:50 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

Brock (anonymous) says...

Colorado is just plain awful. I am glad that our bigs - especially Jackson, Arthur, and Kaun - redeemed themselves after CU embarassed them at AFH three weeks ago.

Brock

February 15, 2007 at 6:28 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

jhawker137 (anonymous) says...

You have to go back to 1976, when KU held CU to 49 points @ Boulder.
What a game, what a game!!!!
Let's see if we can keep this momentum on into the tournament and get this monkey off out backs, and win damn it WIN!!!!!!

February 15, 2007 at 7:06 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

isolve4x (anonymous) says...

Grow up djkc28. Just because you're thinking that doesn't mean you have to say it.

February 15, 2007 at 7:55 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

jpstrayer (anonymous) says...

Just a minor nit pick...but if Boulder is north of Denver, wouldn't that mean they Jayhawks went up highway 36???

North isn't down from south on any of my maps.

February 15, 2007 at 8:12 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

kylecisnum1 (anonymous) says...

make free throws!!! good win though.

February 15, 2007 at 8:36 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

justanotherfan (anonymous) says...

Has anyone noticed that the Hawks continue to put the pedal to the metal in the last three games. They have blown these last several games open and suffocated opponents. Looking good!

February 15, 2007 at 8:43 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

Jayhawk86 (anonymous) says...

Good win Hawks, keep it going!

On another note, What if Jackson had been in at the end of the a&m game? I guess my point is, that all of the critics that jumped all over Coach Self for having Sasha in the game, prolly could not have predicted that Jackson would be an 0-5 free throw shooter in any game. It's a strange game sometimes, and you can never really predict what will happen. I think our Coaches do a great job and will will always put us into position to win, Our players just need to carry out their plan.

February 15, 2007 at 9:01 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

wwwalsh (anonymous) says...

I was at the game last night and to say the crowd was at least 50/50 is an understatement. It was at least 80% KU fans - which was great.

February 15, 2007 at 9:23 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

vmwskywalk (anonymous) says...

A 45 min. drive ended up being a 2 1/2 hour drive to Boulder last night. I could understand if many Hawk fans decided not to go to the game. Yet we still had more fans there than the locals for CU, and most of the CU fans left at the half. Way to go folks. We should be proud.

February 15, 2007 at 9:26 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

Lebowski (anonymous) says...

What's important is, KU could have came out and went through the motions and won this game ugly. But they played with a lot of energy, were out of control at times, but cleaned it up a lot in the second half and did what they were supposed to.

We can't take that for granted, because KU hasn't always been real good at doing that. (playing with energy against a bad team)

February 15, 2007 at 9:40 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

LAJayhawk5 (anonymous) says...

Great to hear the chant like that last night. Would be furious if I were a CU booster.

"KU has been responsible for seven of the top 10 crowds in Coors Events Center history and 13 of the top 25."

Suck it, Buffs.

February 15, 2007 at 9:48 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

JayCeph (anonymous) says...

This is the type of win that I have been waiting for. KU is starting to show signs of being consistently good. They have been applying pressure where they want to and have controlled the tempo of the game over the past three contests.

I agree with Lebowski. They could've just gone through the motions and squeeked out a 10 point win but they didn't do that at all. They crushed a team they were supposed to crush. That is how its done. Nice work, Hawks!

Now, let's see how we handle the Huskers at home on Saturday.

(Incidentally, I know people keep saying that A&M has a rougher end to the Big XII schedule than KU but both teams have to play OU and Texas while A&M has to play OkSt as well. Not a big difference if you ask me...)

February 15, 2007 at 10:06 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

kellermi25 (anonymous) says...

Great game KU!!! but my comment doesn't really have to do with our game. I was just at the espn website and all over it was articles about Duke and how they're back to their dominance and how one win again boston college a team we dismantaled and where they let BC come back to within 6 points puts them in the elite teams this year. I hate DUKE i hate the ACC and I hate North Carolina. Can anyone tell me how one win like that makes them the greatest team in the land now? sorry i just couldnt reply to the collumn on espn so i came here.

February 15, 2007 at 10:18 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

brooksmd (anonymous) says...

jpstrayer....Having lived in Denver area I was thinking the same thing. How can you go down to Boulder when it is northwest of Denver? And it is higher by 150' also. And kellermi25 I agree. It was sickening how ESPN played up the Duke win. Oh well.

February 15, 2007 at 11:04 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

fabio (anonymous) says...

Go Tar Heels-duck fuke

February 15, 2007 at 11:29 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

BigTrav (anonymous) says...

Duke hasn't been this bad in a long time, that's why their getting a lot of attention and ESPN played up the victory. Of course it's not the kind of attention you really want as a major division I powerhouse! (Negative) It's a proven fact that the Big XII will never get the national attention that the east does.

I'm a diehard KU fan first and foremost, so I don't care for Duke or North Carolina, much like everyone else, but I'm also a huge fan of college basketball and march madness. During rivalry week I watched the Duke vs. North Carolina game and to be honest with you, I think it's the biggest rivalry in college basketball. Two of the best division I programs that play in the same conference that have a storied program that always have a legitimate shot at winning a national championship. I only wish KU had a rivalry that could match that one.

KU may have not played their best offensive game of the year, but it was nice to see a little more offense out of RR and Kaun. The more guys we have improving their games, the deeper we'll go in the tournament. Even though Rush was relatively quite, I felt like most of his shot selection was pretty good and if he's got his feet set, it's almost automatic. I felt as a whole team, they showed good contribution out of a good majority of their players.

On another note, is it me or does it seem like KU has been getting a ton of alley oop slams over the last 4 or 5 games?

February 15, 2007 at 11:31 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

cojhawx (anonymous) says...

jpstrayer - Boulder is northwest of Denver, but... as you travel to Boulder on 36 you do literally go "down" into Boulder . Not sure if you have traveled that road, but I do on a daily basis.
It feels very good to be sporting my Jayhwak attire today in Boulder!!

February 15, 2007 at 12:15 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

milehighhawker (anonymous) says...

I feel something is getting a little overlooked. The contribution that Rush made to the game last night was far greater than stuffing the stat sheet. Does anyone remember the first game how he was ripped by all of you at how his defense was subpar and Roby went off for 30. He held Roby to 7 points and 4 of those were against Robinson, and the other 3 were on a break away layup fouled by Chalmers.
rush shut out roby last night. Brandon did not let him score a single point when he was guarding him. He tried to take him off the dribble, run him through screens, and all sorts of things and BR didn't miss a beat, was on his heals all night long. If he brings that intensity on defense every game, I don't care if he doesn't score a point, we will make it to the Final 4. That was an amazing job last night and I for one want to start giving credit where credit is due. Great job Brandon, you got your revenge!

February 15, 2007 at 12:46 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

Leprechaunking13 (anonymous) says...

They have a lot of alley oops in every game! Or they try to, it's kinda funny we have developed somewhat of a killer instinct, until the starters think they should be on the bench the rest of the game and just play around with the other team trying to see who can get the biggest highlight dunk, or who can be on ESPNs top 10 of the night. I laugh at it when it's like last nights game, it's like a cat toying with a mouse before it bites into it's throat.

February 15, 2007 at 12:47 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

Lebowski (anonymous) says...

Milehigh... I don't think it's really fair to say "all of you". There may have been some, but I don't remember a lot(let alone "all") criticizing Rush's D

Roby scored 30 because he can make some very difficult shots. He's been taking difficult shots all year... hence the horrendous FG%. KU was unfortunate enough to have him actually make some of them the first time around. Like you, I didn't think that had much to do with Rush's defense.

February 15, 2007 at 1:01 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

BorderRat (anonymous) says...

wwwalsh, I agree it was far more than 50-50. The only CU section was where the students were sitting and they were almost cleared out with 5 minutes left in the game. Coors Event Center=Allen Fieldhouse West. I think the nasty weather only prevented more JHawk fans from making the trip. Only took me 3 hours from South Denver...well worth the drive.

February 15, 2007 at 1:06 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

brahl (anonymous) says...

Roby only played 23 minutes, didn't start, all sorts of attitude problems with that kid, that's why he didn't score that much.

Aside from that, it is good that we blew these bitches out on the road because this was truly a game where we would normally get lazy. Nebraska will be a similar type game. Maric will be thirsty for points after we spanked him last time. Another blowout will finally lead me to believe that we are gaining some consistency.

It all starts on the defensive end...

February 15, 2007 at 1:35 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

brahl (anonymous) says...

also...We sucked ass on the free throws. We should all remember all the free throws we missed against Syracuse in the championship games years ago, that could definitely end up being a downfall in hard fought, foul ridden tourney games.

Bill did an amazing job of getting our guys to rebound after the last CU game, lets see if he can do the same for our free throws after this game

February 15, 2007 at 1:39 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

bmcmich1 (anonymous) says...

Bramlage=Allen West,

Coors Event Center=Allen Fieldhouse Rocky Mountain!

February 15, 2007 at 1:40 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

bswen (anonymous) says...

Bramlage=Allen West
Coors Events Center=Bramlage West

February 15, 2007 at 1:59 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

CasperCorps (anonymous) says...

What a sweet situation Self has himself in. Not that any of our players are ready for the league but if we do lose one, we have all kinds of guys who can step up and score. Like he said, nobody knows who the leading scorer will be on any given night. There has been many years where,if just that one player would of stayed we would have won it all that year.(best examples are Pierce and Gooden, had they stayed our teams would have been scary good) Now no matter if kids decide to stay or go, its not quite that big of a blow to the program... Yes we would miss the other contributions such as defense and rebounding from some of the players but its a lot easier for a coach to teach these things than offense..........
One thing I wonder is if the players know who is going to be the go to guy before the game... Do the coaches say " Today we are going to try to get Russel Robinson the ball because he has the best mismatch" or " Sherron you have the green light tonight" It seems that we have a different leading scorer every game and I wonder if its by design or if it just happens to turn out that way. If its by design, its genius, cause opposing teams have no clue who to put there best defender on... Good game and as always......Rockem Hawks..!

February 15, 2007 at 3:28 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

kutravis (anonymous) says...

i like our chances! only 24 days until selection sunday!

February 15, 2007 at 3:37 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

GIHAWK (anonymous) says...

DJ needs to change his shooting form at the line. It kinda looks like Shaq's...

February 15, 2007 at 4:30 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

Lebowski (anonymous) says...

I like your comments Casper. And that is a really good thought provoking question about why it's someone different every night.

Earlier in the season, Self called "balance" our greatest strength AND our greatest weakness.

Balance is a strength in that a defense doesn't know who to key on, and that if someone goes down with an injury or foul trouble, you still have an equally capable backup. Or if they just plain struggle, you have someone else who can ignite the team that won't.

It was really a weakness in that players would rely on the stars around them too much. No one wanted to be that "selfish" player, because all their teammates are so good. So they were standing around watching, to a degree.

What I believe I am seeing (maybe I'm just HOPING??) is... our balance is getting stronger. First it was Julian, then Darrell, then Mario, then Brandon, then Sherron, then maybe any two of them. It was ZERO or ONE guy stepping up at a time. Lately, it's turning into 3 or 4 or more guys stepping up at a time. Or who knows, maybe it's everybody? You can have 10 guys totally show up focused and intense and play their tails off and play well. Not all 10 of those guys are going to put up big numbers. The ball can't bounce everybody's way all the time. And defenses fluctuate, players' confidence fluctuates, and sometimes players end up on the bench in foul trouble.

Too often, people can look at a guy's low numbers and say "where was he tonight?" Maybe he was altering shots, maybe he was setting screens, maybe he was drawing double-teams. Maybe he was getting hacked. Maybe he was outmatched, and it is quite possible that he played like crap. Maybe he didn't eat his wheaties. Who knows? All I know, is the stats don't tell you the whole story. I see some KU players struggling to be consistent. But I don't see anyone half-assing it out there right now. No one's standing around waiting for someone else to do something.

To answer the question, I think it's a lot of defenses not being able to key on one guy, which is really capitalized on because our guys are so unselfish. At times, they may be a little too unselfish.

February 15, 2007 at 4:31 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

CasperCorps (anonymous) says...

Thanks Lebowski good points...

February 15, 2007 at 4:46 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

killjoy (anonymous) says...

I think KSU has started the mourning early.

http://why.kstatesports.com/blackout/

February 15, 2007 at 7:35 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

speedy (anonymous) says...

i,ll explain about going down to boulder tom.
i also explain why duke/n.c. is not the greatest rivary. tune in am.

February 15, 2007 at 8:35 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

jaybate (anonymous) says...

KU's philosophy remains attack the weakest link in any given situation. Some nights the weakest link means one guy gets to go off, another night its another.

Add in that some nights even when Player A's facing the weakest link, his shooting may be off, or he gets in foul trouble, or he's just not there mentally, and then you get tactical defaults to players with the next weakest link; this yields even more unpredictability in who will be the scorer.

Next, KU does have alot of players who can score under the right circumstances. They just don't have many who can go out every game and cram it down the other guy's throat no matter what the match-up is.

February 15, 2007 at 8:50 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

notabandwagonfan (anonymous) says...

finally, i post with no jaybate or jross! God I love it!!!!!!

February 15, 2007 at 8:51 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

jaybate (anonymous) says...

Finally, Self is still tinkering with this team. He has to be one of the most tireless tinkers I've ever seen.

Early on, while Kaun was injured, Self kind of gave Chalmers, RR and Rush passes, while he juggled Wright, Shady, and Darnell and tried to teach these guys how to not only play the 4 but the 5 positions also. At the time there was a chance that Kaun might not heal. Remember also, this team was supposed to have two fives of Kaun and Giles. Wright, Shady and Jackson were supposed to be the 4s with Wright probably spelling Rush, when he wasn't playing 4. Otherwise at this time, Self was asking Rush not to worry about scoring and just cover up all the defensive and rebounding mistakes of the tweeners trying to learn to play bigs. Scoring chores increasingly fell to Chalmers and Wright. Self was also churning lots of guys in and out to see what Collins, Stewart and Case had? He even took a quick peek at Morningstar.

February 15, 2007 at 8:53 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

jaybate (anonymous) says...

When Kaun came back, Self spent awhile easing him back in. During this period, we saw Self begin to work over RR about leadership. He was making RR take the heat for all the growing pain problems the team was having. He started ragging on Wright a little about too much French pastry and Shady threw him this weird curve ball of wanting to be a sub. Self went along, but before Self could really start hammering the sheet metal on this team, Jackson hurt his back and he was back to hiding big men from foul problems. So: the inveterate tinkerer began to lean on Rush to forge his steel at least a little. Even though Rush was practically playing 4 positions at once on defense and rebounding for 3 for awhile, and doing great at it, Self decided to rain on him about not scoring much. Self road him pretty hard about that, but really didn't give him the ball alot more until Kaun was fully integrated. Let's see how your mind handles THAT, Brandon.

With Kaun fully integrated, then Self ran the offense through Rush for several games, making Rush double the number of shots he was taking and challenging him publicly to be man enough to step up and be our go to guy. Rush responded, even though he was in a shooting slump. Talk about putting a guy under pressure! He's in a shooting slump, so Self tells him to be the go to guy! The more I watch Self the more I think he is all about putting guys under pressure until they nearly crack and then backing off so they can regroup and feel even stronger and more confident aftewards. Regardess, it was during this period that Self finally got off RR's back, and RR, who's game had nearly cracked apart under Self's challenging, quickly began to recompose and actually improve--as I said, nothing like a coach getting off your back to help you get back on your game. During this period Self was actually kind of giving all the bigs a pass.

February 15, 2007 at 8:54 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

jaybate (anonymous) says...

Next, Self started ragging on Mario and easing Collins into the line up. Mario wasn't doing anything wrong. He wasn't being a jerk. He wasn't making mistakes. He was scoring well. He was defending well. And he was a master stripper maybe exceeded only by Jo Jo White in KU history. But Self went to work on him psychologically. He taunted him. He criticised him. He said he didn't want to be KU's go to guy even as Self was routing the offense into Rush's hands. Let's see you hand THAT, Mario. No matter what Mario did it wasn't good enough. If he did good, well, it was expected. If he had a really good game, Self talked about how good other players were doing. Eventually Mario began to crack under the pressure. Only unlike the street wise RR, who knows all about what Self is up to, or the sensitive, youngest brother Rush, who basically just dummies up and backs off, Mario, the son of a military guy, if I recall correctly, Mario, he gets his righteousness up. He's already been playing out of position for Self the last year and this one. He's already been doing more for the team without getting any real strokes for it than any other player. And finally he flares up and gets angry. Does Self pull back? Of course not. He taunts him more. Not because it would make him play better being angry--it wouldn't--but because that was his weakness--his righteousness and his temperSelf stuck the needle in even deeper. Eventually Mario is to the point that he's having shouting matches and stare downs with Self in the games for no real reason whatsoever other than Self is trying to toughen up a weakness in Mario that Mario doesn't even know he has, and he's trying to use Mario as the whipping boy to try to force the other players to try to do better to get their beloved Mario out of the coach's dog house. And all the while Collins is getting all this coach luv. Gee, what a coincidence. By this time, Mario, Mr. Consistent, the man who brings it every night, the guy everyone knew was Mr. Dependable, can't hit the broad side of a barn and can't stand in a huddle without getting into a bull ape chest thumping match with his needling coach, suddenly Mario finds the needles withdrawn. Next weak link!

February 15, 2007 at 8:54 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

jaybate (anonymous) says...

It was around this time that the big men were taken to the needle parlor of Coach Bill Self. Not all at once. Kaun got a pass, because Self had to have him defending the pivot, even if he could do little else. And as Self was taking Chalmers apart piece by piece, he needed Rush to do some scoring and he couldn't very well have Rush go back to playing defense for all the bigs. Kaun had to defend and he couldn't very well do that with a needle in his brain, now could he? So it was Wright and Shady who got the biopsy next. Wright and Arthur, the guys who rose up as some kind of combinations of Superman and Valkyries in the Florida game when Self asked them to, and who Self had basically let muddle their ways along while he tinkered with other parts of the team, Wright and Arthur who are two of the most talented tweeners Kansas has ever had, well, suddenly Wright makes the game too hard. Wright doesn't rebound. Wright who Self used to encourage to make these incredible super human moves that Wright naturally made suddenly finds his coach daring him to make the easy play, daring him to come down to earth and see if he can really cut in a man to man struggle with one arm tied behind his back. Are you man enough to play, Julian, without your god given abilities, Self challenged? Talk about paradoxing someone! Eventually Julian got to the point where he didn't know whether to defecate or stand up either. Eventually this phenomenal athlete, this paragon of sunny disposition and bright intellect, was to the point where he could not even get a rebound. He could hardly score at times. Hell, Jackson was substituted for him. Poor Julian. No...not time for the needle to come out yet. He was too good. He had too much upside. His ceiling was too high. His talent was going to take him a long long ways and he was going to run into some mean muthahs along the way. He had to be mentally toughened. Someone had to start for him even though he was our best big man even through all the needling. Then Self let up and moved on to Arthur.

February 15, 2007 at 8:56 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

jaybate (anonymous) says...

Arthur couldn't really take much needling. He had been needling himself. He had pulled himself out of the line up. Self had to stick the needle into him to get him to pull his own needle out! Darrell quit getting any coach luv. Darrell scored and coach talked about defense. Darrell played defense and coach talked about fouls. Darrell held down his fouls and Coach talked about mental mistakes. Darrell made fewer mistakes and coach took away his minutes! See Darrell, this is real needling, this is real pain. You may THINK you are hard on you, but you ain't seen hard, Darrell. Hard is no matter what you do its wrong and not enough. Hard is having all the talent in the world, having proved you can play against Al Horford and Joaquim Pony Tail, and then having some guy say, you're one of the softies. Yeah, and your incredible gifts don't take my eyes off the fact that you haven't got one single defensive fundamental, whether or not the stinkin' NBA wants you. Darrell, are you man enough to go through the eye of a needle, because that's what I've put up for you. You want to be a sub, okay, sit over there on the pine and figure out how to go through the eye of a needle for awhile as a sub. It hurts just as much.

And while Wright and Arthur are getting the treatment, Darnell Jackson, who Self knows has no back left and has been touched by more tragedy than any ten people, well, Self looks him square in the eye and says the big men are soft. He might as well have called Darnell a girlie man and given him a tutu. Darnell is a proud man even as a youngster. Darnell, who's back probably is not one bit better and probably won't get one whit better this season, basically tells his pain neurons to take a hike and self hypnotizes himself with pride and challenged manhood to go out and get rebounds for Self. So Self says, nope, its not gonna be that easy big fella. I know you can barely get out of bed. I know you lost most everyone who meant anything to you. I know you take enormous pride in doing your best. But you missed your FTs. Can you stand it? Can you take the needle too? And of course nothing is better for a person who is suffering than to treat them just like someone who's doing the job and is okay, because it gives him his self respect back that the pain and suffering can take away. And Jackson responds. And the whole team looks at this guy with half a body left and they see Self saying everybody on this team gets the treatment...no matter what...its part of being a man....part of being on this team...part of making you all tough enough to find the other teams weak links and break them and toughen up all our weak links so they can't be broken come tourney time.

February 15, 2007 at 8:56 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

jaybate (anonymous) says...

And then finally, its Kaun's turn. Kaun, who grew up in a country that collapsed, Kaun who grew up without a Dad, Kaun who came half way around the world to try to play a new game, Kaun who had to learn a language, Kaun who hardly ever gets to see his momma, Kaun who blew a wheel and managed to play back through it, Kaun who can't shoot a free throw if his life depended on it, Kaun gets left in an incredibly important game, a game where any other coach would have pulled him, as much to shield him from missing as to make the FT, Kaun gets purposely left in the game to confront him with his achilles heel. Kaun has to shoot his free throws like a man. Kaun has to find out what it really feels like to be a lousy free throw shooter. Why? Because its one of KU's weak links and it has to be strengthened. If he's going to crack because of it, it has to be now and not later. And he cracks and does the coach shield him? Nope. Self says maybe he shouldn't even have been in there. Coach says this is on you Kaun. Are you man enough? And just to show how tough Kaun has to be, how much he has to go through, he takes the big man, really the fire and will of this team even though he's quiet and looks scared about half the time, the big man with the court presense that this team so badly needs, Self waits a game or two and says, go sit down, girlie man, we need you to play, Kaun, we need you to make plays. We don't need a girlie man. And then after a chance to feel what its like to be in the dog house in front of an entire arena and infront of your teammates, he says go back in and the big man performs like a Russian locomotive powering his way to rebounds and points finesse be damned.

February 15, 2007 at 8:57 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

jaybate (anonymous) says...

God help whoever's next.

Is Self going to start on Case and Morningstar for not sitting on the bench correctly?

Is it any surprise that guys like Padgett and Downs bolted? Or that Giddens and Giles finally were given up on? Were any of them willing to go through what Self requires to toughen up every weak link?

This is no ordinary coach.

Every team is a chain with this guy.

Every player is a link in the chain.

He coaches his players to find the weakest link in an opponent and break it.

He insists on tempering every link on his team so it won't break.

No wonder the coach that replaced Self at Illinois got so far with Self's team. The links had all been toughened already.

I still don't love 70 possesion take what they give us ball, but if you have to play it, Bill Self is the guy to play it with.

I'm beginning to wonder if KU lost in the first round the last two years, because Self was more interested in finishing toughening the links than winning. Really good cooks will make company wait until the stew is ready. Maybe he's been trying to get the stew ready.

I have a feeling that 25 days from now, this stew may be ready, missing natural two guard or not, short a backup for Rush, or not, without a genuine offensive threat at the five, or not.

This is going to be one tough chain.

.

February 15, 2007 at 8:57 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

isolve4x (anonymous) says...

notabandwagonfan,
I'd say you spoke too soon. way too soon! Man, are we ALL payin' for THAT one or WHAT?! Damn, jaybate! You need to find a publisher for THAT blog! Is your wife DEAF? I'd bet her ears hurt all the time!!! How the heck do you keep a job?! ramble, ramble, ramble! blah, blah, blah!

February 15, 2007 at 10:23 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

jaybate (anonymous) says...

live the model, but break the mold, isolve4f(x). ;-)

February 15, 2007 at 10:49 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

jaybate (anonymous) says...

Early NCAA Tourney Prediction:

Big East and ACC will get an absurd # number of bids (Both 7 each) to cover the television markets needed to max ad revenues, then do very poorly. Both conferences, especially the ACC, are ridiculously overrated, as we learn each time UNC loses another game to a lightweight.

February 15, 2007 at 11:38 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

notabandwagonfan (anonymous) says...

yes i did. My apologies to however had to read that!

February 16, 2007 at 6:08 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

BigTrav (anonymous) says...

Okay, seriously, I think those posts were a little overkill. I like your insight as of late jaybate, but c'mon man, short and sweet and more people might take the time to read it. Nothing wrong with sharing your thoughts and opinions but I'm pretty sure most of the people on here aren't going to take the time to read all of that. I read most of it however and agreed with a good majority of it. I think overall, in clutch situations, I would rather see Rush or Collins taking the high pressure shots. Self is hard nosed on his players, and he'll get 110% out of all of them every night out for the most part, if he doesn't, they'll be on the bench. I just think Rush and Collins are two players that aren't phased by anything.

February 16, 2007 at 8:46 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

actorman (anonymous) says...

Well said, BigTrav.

Jaybate, I like a lot of what you have to say and you express yourself very well. But it's like you've taken things to a whole new level lately, and it's gotten to the point where I'll read maybe the first two parts and skip the rest. Please try to at least give us somewhat of a condensed version. I think you harm your cause by being so verbose.

February 17, 2007 at 4:01 a.m. ( | suggest removal )