Friday, January 18, 2008

Mayer

Mayer: Jayhawks compare favorably

By Bill Mayer

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KU looks forward to Columbia trip

History is against KU when an undefeated Kansas basketball team travels to play an unranked Missouri team in Columbia. Despite that, the Jayhawks are looking forward to the trip.

Jayhawks scout UNC

Some members of the KU men's basketball game choose to watch fellow undefeated North Carolina on Wednesday night rather than their next opponent, the Missouri Tigers.

Audio clips

2007-08 Jan. 17 KU men's basketball press conference

You take a basketball team with the vast proclivities of Kansas, which includes a senior quarterback the caliber of Russell Robinson, and, mercy sakes, you just might have yourself a national collegiate champion.

North Carolina? UCLA? KU without any new injuries is clearly on a par with both of them, and these three are clearly the pick of the 2008 litter, Memphis with its softer schedule be damned.

RussRob is like that miraculous uncle who can fix anything around the house, from the sewer and plumbing up to and including the roof. He just has the touch.

Check the statistical charts, and Russell may not be a leader in anything, although he has a notable presence in most categories. He has that knack of seeing what's needed and producing it. If Mario Chalmers or Sherron Collins are having bad nights, Russell's performance compensates.

You need to cover an opposing hot-shot, Robinson at 6-foot-1 can handle guys taller or shorter and often get them talking to themselves, like, "What the hell can I do?!!" Robinson is one of those grease-cups you fit anywhere on the engine with good results.

A lot of qualified people consider KU's triumvirate the best backcourt crew in the country. If they ain't, they're among 'em. You add junior Brandon Rush, then senior Rod Stewart as a second wingman, and the picture further brightens. If Rush continues to surge, sheds his perimeter waltz tuxedo and goes blue-collar enough to get to the foul line maybe 8-10 times a game, a lot of foes will fold.

Don't sell freshman Tyrel Reed short. He's green but supremely talented and has the mentality to develop as a mainstay the way RussRob has over three-plus seasons.

We haven't even touched on KU's bigs - seniors Darnell Jackson and Sasha Kaun, sophomore Darrell Arthur and freshman Cole Aldrich. You think coach Bill Self would trade this quartet for any four frontliners Carolina or UCLA might offer? Doubt it.

Carolina features Tyler Hansbrough, a bona fide Tasmanian Devil who's always snarling and clawing in there somewhere. No Jayhawk is at his level yet. But Roy Williams's four-deep bigs have no more potential than Self's. UCLA has a phenomenal 6-10 freshman in Kevin Love who has amazing smarts as well as skills. No KU "big" can do quite all he can. But from one to four, KU can match up even if the Bruins have Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, honest.

As for UCLA's skilled and burly Love, he may not be around for more than a year while KU's Aldrich, at 6-11 and also with tremendous potential, is going to make a big name for himself, probably a lot sooner than some think. Aldrich hasn't had the paternal micro-management as a high schooler that Love had, but Cole's blessed with a lot of goodies even if he looks a little crude now and then.

These Kansas guys can win it all, and with the holdovers like Aldrich, Reed, Brady Morningstar, hopefully Chalmers and Arthur and new signees, the cupboard will be anything but bare for 2008-09.

Only regret I have for all this Final Four and national title talk about Kansas '08 is that we overlook the supreme importance of winning another outright Big 12 title. You can be derailed quickly in the NCAA; that league title is something you can treasure and reflect on forever because it represents superiority over the people you live with.

Beauty is, Self and his staff see the picture and keep their players focused on what's vitally important as it becomes so, like Missouri Saturday at Columbia. Right now, Big 12 success is the priority.

Comments

jaybate (anonymous) says...

Bill, you misused "proclivities" in the lead. According to Merriam Webster Online, proclivity means "...an inclination toward something, especially: a strong inherent inclination toward something objectionable." Frankly, you never mention any proclivities in the story after you refer to vast ones in the lead.

Get your want-to back.

We need all Jayhawks at their best, if we are to avenge the the '57 national championship loss to UNC by beating Roy's Tarholes in 2008.

I repeat: all Jayhawks have to play their roles and fulfill their individual obligations to the ghosts of Phog Allen and Henry Iba haunting the Field House as I write this to you.

Hank: See, Forrest, I told you. If you would just give my boy Bill a chance, he would restore KU to the pinnacle of college basketball.

Phog: Don't gloat, Henry. There's still half a season to play. (pause) But I truly am grateful to that boy of yours. Merging your game with mine and filtering them through Eddie and Larry, why, even I will concede that your boy Bill has taken the game to a new high. That much I'll admit right now."

Hank: You don't have to say it, Forrest. I know that '57 season still eats at you. I know you still blame yourself for Wilton not winning that ring. But we're going to take care of that this year, Forrest, you'll see.

Phog: I hope so, Henry, I truly hope so. But this is not just about me and KU. This is about restoring the natural order to college basketball. This is about restoring the grace of the game. We started coaching the game the way it was meant to be played out here on the Great Plains, Henry. It still irks me when I think of that Eastern trash and those Tobacco road red necks laying claim to Jimmy's game. Its not right.

Hank: Don't get yourself too worked up, Forrest. Like I said, my boy Bill can take care of this. He's the best now, might even turn out to be better than you and me. (pause) Of course, if KU had hired my boy Eddie, this would have all been taken care of long ago.

Phog: Ah, don't needle me, Henry, I was just starting to feel better. (clears his throat) Rrrrr-rock, Chaaaaaaalk, JaaaaaaayHawk, gooooooo, Kaaaaaaay Uuuuuuuuu! Ah, that always does the trick. It still feels great to say it, even as a ghost.

January 18, 2008 at 6:39 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

jcepp (anonymous) says...

Bill:

When you were a boy, how far did you have to walk to school, barefoot in the snow?

Uphill wasn't it? Both ways?

Where else would the Alzhiemerian ramblings of a pathetic old fool qualify as a column?

The Lawrence Journal World, yesterdays' news tomorrow.

January 18, 2008 at 7:35 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

tis4tim (anonymous) says...

Mentioned "supreme" twice. Must have been working over a pizza at the time.

January 18, 2008 at 8:03 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

justanotherfan (anonymous) says...

How does he dismiss Memphis because of a "softer" schedule. The teams Memphis has played so far are the toughest non-con schedule among the four. Their conference is weak, but they have already shown their merit in a tough non con. Maybe Bill just missed those games. Some of them were on late.

I will agree with him that those four teams are ahead of everyone else. It will be tough for all four to get to San Antonio (no four #1s have ever made it to the FF), but each team has reasons to think that they will be the one to rise to the top.

January 18, 2008 at 8:34 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

Brock (anonymous) says...

Bill, don't wait around for Arthur's return next season.

January 18, 2008 at 8:51 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

JayCeph (anonymous) says...

Pretty cool article on USAToday's site about top NCAA hoops destinations... guess which one got a nice lead-in image/write up:

http://www.usatoday.com/travel/destin...

January 18, 2008 at 9:13 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

phogphan (anonymous) says...

I for one thought this was a pretty interesting read. Nice work Bill

January 18, 2008 at 9:25 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

txrockchalk (anonymous) says...

I agree with phogphan, nice article.

Another good link, JayCeph. Oddly, I don't see the Dean Smith Center on that list. Hmmm...

Brock, you forgot to sign your post, so I almost didn't know whose it was ;)

January 18, 2008 at 10:26 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

JBurtin (anonymous) says...

I'm with justanotherfan on this one. Memphis doesn't have the tough conference schedule to go through, but so far they seem like they have gelled and beaten their tough opponents more soundly than KU.

That being said, KU has just started gelling in the last few games and if they were to repeat any of their non-con games I think they would win them by more at this point. Rush is being more aggressive as promised, he's starting to look a lot like Salim Stoudemire did at Arizona a few years ago. He looks like he's playing in slow motion, yet his defender is always trying to catch up. The rest of the team seems to be feeding off of his confidence and swagger. They're starting to become one of those teams that makes it all look easy.

I think we may be in for a Memphis and KU championship game. North Carolina looks pretty darn good, but not national championship good, and UCLA doesn't have a prayer of beating us again, our players would love nothing more than a chance to beat them into the ground.

January 18, 2008 at 2:09 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

jasonhoh (anonymous) says...

Jaybate: you critique Mayer, then write that lunacy? I just have to scratch my head and say "WOW."

You sure are pretty proud of yourself.

January 18, 2008 at 2:18 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

Yahweh (anonymous) says...

I will rag on Bill as much as anyone, but overall I thought this article wasn't horrible. Yes, it used archaic slang. Yes, it had tangents that didn't really get anywhere or make sense. He did a good job, however, of staying away from his lengthy diatribes about today's youth or how much brighter the sun was in 1955. Overall he made sense and overall it was well written.

January 18, 2008 at 4:03 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

actorman (anonymous) says...

Jason, you're crazy. I for one thought this was one of Jaybate's best items ever. I LOVE the conversation between Phog and Henry. Nice job, jaybate.

January 18, 2008 at 7:36 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

ralsterKUMed95 (anonymous) says...

Jaybate, you have a creative mind. I liked the ghost conversation between Phog and Henry--anyone's got to think they are taking notice of this squad. Someone could make that conversation a pretty good TV skit to air in the pre-game in the NCAA title game, eh? A national championship would ice it for the ages, and the ghosts would be proud. What has me believing is the improvement and purpose we have seen out of the team since the winter break. The FT shooting, the rebounding, DJack leading the scoring (wow!), and now an aggressive Rush. What conference team can match this? for 40min? I guarantee you UCLA does not want to play this KU team for more than a couple of reasons. UNC cannot, just cannot contend with our half-court offense--they do NOT have the disciplined half court defense, and have never had that. And their runnin' atheletes vs. our defense: advantage KU (big advantage). Frankly, there isnt a team out there like KU right now. Some say Memphis, but I need to see them more to judge.
What I do know is Bill Self is going pretty far up on that pedestal for me. Keep it up, guys!

January 19, 2008 at 12:22 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

actorman (anonymous) says...

Great idea, ralster. How about if you or jaybate send it to KU sports information with the suggestion. They might take you up on it. It would be nice to not let jaybate's idea disappear in the dustbin of history.

January 19, 2008 at 11:24 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

ralsterKUMed95 (anonymous) says...

Jaybate, I agree with actorman--and its your brainchild: We get into late March, you ought to get the 'Phog/Iba ghost skit' to some network or ESPN or whoever will do the Champ game. Seriously, they should eat up something like that, especially with all the 'beware of the phog' mysticism in the Fieldhouse...what a way ALSO to educate the country about all the links in college bball that go back to KU. When you can show lineages to UNC, OSU, KY, etc...people will take notice, and maybe respect KU more. Obviously, winning the national championship will do ALOT to erase the Syracuse loss, the UCLA loss, and the 2 x 1st round upsets.

January 19, 2008 at 1:33 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

jaybate (anonymous) says...

Actorman and Ralster,

Thanks for the kind words.

January 19, 2008 at 6:56 p.m. ( | suggest removal )