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Friday, January 18, 2008

Robinson ‘dreaming’ of shot at Tar Heels

By Gary Bedore

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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.

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.

Missouri shooting for new bird?

A bill proposed in the Missouri Senate would make the Kansas Jayhawk the official game bird of the "Show Me" state.

Audio clips

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

Reader poll

Who do you think should be ranked No. 1 in the land?

  • North Carolina 8% 189 votes
  • Memphis 4% 106 votes
  • Kansas 86% 1945 votes

2240 total votes.

Not about to leave his cozy apartment on a bitterly cold, snowy Wednesday evening, Russell Robinson chose to watch a marquee college basketball game on TV.

Not a Big 12 battle between Missouri and Iowa State, but an ACC clash between No. 1 North Carolina and upset-minded Georgia Tech in Atlanta.

"That was definitely a nailbiter," Robinson, Kansas University's senior guard, said of Carolina's 83-82 victory, one that will keep the Tar Heels ahead of No. 2 Memphis and No. 3 KU in the polls. "That was a tough one to watch."

"Tough" because Robinson and his KU teammates naturally hope to ascend to No. 1 sooner rather than later.

"They do get a lot of national attention. I'm not going to lie about that," Robinson said of the Heels. "I wish we could have a little bit of it. I talked to a reporter the other day. He said the only way you can tell who is better is if the game is played (between KU and UNC). We've got to handle our business and hopefully that game will be played."

Robinson said he's been "dreaming of it (KU-UNC) for a while now. We've got the tools to do it this year. We've got to take it one game at a time. Hopefully the end result (is) we'll be on top."

Senior Darnell Jackson also had his TV tuned into UNC-Tech.

"I was rooting for Georgia Tech to pull a victory out. It didn't happen that way." I can't predict the future," Jackson said of a KU-UNC meeting in the NCAA Tournament. "If it happens, it happens. I think it'd be a great game."

¢ Antlers on prowl? It's the week of the KU-Missouri game in Columbia (7 p.m., Saturday), which means the Jayhawks can expect some phone calls from students in MU's cheering section, The Antlers.

"I've been getting some weird numbers (appearing on cellphone)," Robinson said. "I don't know the area code out there, but I'm sure they are (calling). I'm not good at answering the phone for family and friends. I'm not going to worry about answering the phone from The Antlers. I will not let anything distract me from the game."

Freshman Cole Aldrich said he was looking forward to seeing The Antlers in action.

"I've been told they'll find out things that possibly you didn't even know about," Aldrich said. "People yelling at you, saying obscene things makes the game even more fun."

Aldrich remembers getting heckled while playing for Jefferson High in Bloomington, Minn.

"One time one kid had a big ol' Halloween afro. He gets on another kid's shoulders. He's about 7-2 now. He says, 'Aldrich, c'mon I want to play some 1-on-1.' It was always a fun thing having fans heckle you."

¢ MU viewer: KU coach Bill Self, who has to devise a game plan, tuned into ISU's 72-67 victory over MU in Ames, Iowa.

"I thought it was a typical Big 12 game ... and we'll have a lot of them," Self said. "Both teams played well enough to win."

¢ Juco recruit: Tyrone Appleton, a 6-3 sophomore guard from Midland (Texas) Community College told Rivals.com he will attend next Saturday's KU-Nebraska game as part of an official recruiting trip. Appleton is considering KU, Kentucky, Texas and Iowa State. The Gary, Ind., native originally committed to West Virginia before heading to junior college. He's averaging just under 13 points a game with six assists and four steals.

¢ Twins snowed out: KU practiced at 7 a.m. Thursday to allow Self to travel to Philadelphia to watch future KU players Marcus and Markieff Morris play for APEX Academies. The contest was called because of bad weather.

¢ One of the best: Self was asked if this was his best KU team: "I would say on this date it is. We'll see how it plays out. Certainly this could be as good a team as I've ever had."

¢ Rush 'better prepared' for pros: Self on what pro scouts must think of junior Brandon Rush 7 1/2 months after ACL surgery: "If I was in their shoes I would be more impressed with him this year than last because he's taken another step to show his maturity, responsibility, work ethic and natural athletic ability. A lot depends who comes out (for draft) and all that stuff. I think he's better prepared to be a better pro today than he was at this point last year."

¢ Good break: KU accomplished a lot during break between semesters. "I do think we got better. I really appreciate our guys' attitudes ... not very often are college students excited for school to start. I bet our guys are excited. Being a month away from friends and family, I'm sure it becomes quite monotonous, hanging around me all the time."

"He's right about that," Jackson said. "Having practice every day, seeing coach Self walk in the gym. He's jacked up, ready to go, yelling all the time. Now class has started it gives us a little break. We can worry about class and worry about coach Self later."

¢ Football revisited: Will KU be trying to atone for the Jayahwks' loss to MU in football?

"We've got school pride going," Robinson said. "I watched that game (36-28 MU win in K.C.). It was tough to watch. We've got to do something, try to get payback. We've got to go out and handle business against a good team. I'm expecting the best Missouri team I've seen."

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Comments

tis4tim (anonymous) says...

"I think [Rush] is better prepared to be a better pro today than he was at this point last year."

And if we win it all, you can add "knows what it takes to be a champion" to his resume.

I wouldn't call the Antlers a "cheering section" at all. They long ago crossed the line from good-natured pranksters to ill-spirited muck rakers. What a sorry existence one must have to spend all your time worrying about finding the cell phone numbers for KU players in order to prank call them in a world with caller-ID.

I hope KU smokes MU by at least 30.

January 18, 2008 at 7:55 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

4ever_jhawk (anonymous) says...

I like that coach is taking a look at the juco players. You can't beat bringing in mature players. That's another reason I'm pumped to see the Morris twins. The extra year at prep school should prove beneficial next year. You know the saying, "The best thing about a freshman is that next year they're a sophomore." The Morris twins should be about a freshman-and-a-half.

January 18, 2008 at 8:05 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

ChiJayhawk21 (anonymous) says...

Kansas has won 31 of their last 32 games... amazing! Coach Self has this team playing great ball. Let's not worry about UNC and what Coach Roy's boy's are doing. Hopefully we will play them in the championship game and finally win one!

January 18, 2008 at 8:21 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

sevenyearhawk (anonymous) says...

You're not the *only* one " 'dreaming' of a shot at Tar Heels," bad boy!!!!

January 18, 2008 at 8:57 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

BCRavenJHawkfan (anonymous) says...

Starting with this game Saturday, KU will have to ratchet up the focus. From this point on every team KU faces will have a bulls eye on the Jayhawk players.

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

Kirk (anonymous) says...

Wow. I wish the tarheels were making news saying they can't wait to play the jayhawks.

January 18, 2008 at 9:04 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

honk4tad (anonymous) says...

Awesome article, Gary. Only not. Are you sure it's not just you who's 'dreaming' of a match up with UNC? I mean, it's probably been awhile since you've given Roy an HJ and all.

January 18, 2008 at 9:04 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

JayCeph (anonymous) says...

How is this even remotely close to being an accurate statement?

"We're talking about three of the four (Texas being the fourth) corners of barbecue," said Jim Early, CEO of the North Carolina Barbecue Society and a firm believer that Carolina is finer in both arenas. "We're not only the cradle of 'cue, we started basketball."

Read the whole article here...
http://www.kansascity.com/sports/stor...

January 18, 2008 at 9:37 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

txrockchalk (anonymous) says...

Nice article, JayCeph. It appears Mr. Early is sadly misinformed on both topics. Where in North Carolina did basketball start, pray tell?

sevenyear -

Would you be okay with us beating the Tar Heels in the National Championship with Self as our head coach? :)

January 18, 2008 at 10:02 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

TtownHawk (anonymous) says...

"We're talking about three of the four (Texas being the fourth) corners of barbecue," said Jim Early, CEO of the North Carolina Barbecue Society and a firm believer that Carolina is finer in both arenas. "We're not only the cradle of 'cue, we started basketball."

wow this guy is a quack. everyone knows we started basketball here. James Naismith, the inventor of basketball was our first coach. Their "greatest" coach, Dean Smith is from Topeka, and played at KU. I mean c'mon! don't spread lies and call them truths, especially when you know they aren't true. Heck, Adolf Rupp from Kentucky has KU ties. all these big time programs need to be thanking us for what we've given them.

January 18, 2008 at 10:04 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

Lebowski (anonymous) says...

I agree 4ever... even with freshmen, you're only going to have a good player for 2 or 3 years anyway, so there are less cons to bringing in a juco than there were in the 80's and 90's. Now the only thing about a juco-transfer that concerns me is the obvious... they're not usually a bonafide "blue-chip" prospect if they went to juco to begin with. There's other reasons though... either they had no exposure, they started playing late, they had personal issues or they were poor students in school.

January 18, 2008 at 10:14 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

d_prowess (anonymous) says...

Can someone tell me why they are called "antlers"?

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

bswen (anonymous) says...

Actually, James Naismith invented basketball while working as a PE teacher at the YMCA International Training School in Springfield, Mass in 1891. It wasn't until 1898 that he moved to Lawrence to teach at KU and become our first basketball coach. So, TtownHawk, we were certainly on the cutting edge, and the inventor of the game was our first coach, but the game was first played in Massachusetts.

Doesn't change the fact that that UNC fan is way dumb.

January 18, 2008 at 10:39 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

kylecisnum1 (anonymous) says...

anyone know why this game is on espnu? hopefully espn+ picks this game up as well because i dont know anyone who actually has espnu! if they dont it looks like im going to buffalo wild wings to watch it :(

January 18, 2008 at 10:41 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

5DecadeHawk (anonymous) says...

MU students can't read, so they have to go by pictures.

Most Satan images have horns.

Therefore the evil racists at MU call themselves Antlers. It's an evil cult thing.

I have no documentation of this, but you can't deny the logic.

January 18, 2008 at 10:43 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

justanotherfan (anonymous) says...

Saying that bbq is a North Carolina thing, or a Memphis thing, or a Texas thing is downright heresay! Bbq begins, slow cooks, marinates, and ends in Kansas City. I feel so strongly about this that I refuse to eat bbq further than 20 miles outside of Kansas City.

As for basketball, there are so many places that have a claim to hoops origins, Kansas among them. I don't think you can identify a true home to hoops because there area always going to be other places that have a legitimate argument.

January 18, 2008 at 10:53 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

sdoyel (anonymous) says...

Appleton originally committed to Virginia Tech didn't he???? Not West Virginia.

January 18, 2008 at 11:28 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

LAJayhawk5 (anonymous) says...

Missoura fans eat dirt and are (generally) ignorant people that have a hard time reading.

suck it, trash!!!!!!!!!!!!

January 18, 2008 at 11:31 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

kataboom (anonymous) says...

@ Jayceph:

i cant believe that nc hillbilly said they started basketball! if anyone started basketball, kansas has way more room to talk about starting b-ball than unc!

what is in the water down there????

January 18, 2008 at 12:01 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

sevenyearhawk (anonymous) says...

tex,

now that would definitely improve my opinion of Coach Self!! :D

January 18, 2008 at 12:14 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

Lebowski (anonymous) says...

Okay... now while I fully plan on waiting to do an early statistical look at the guys' progress.... but just a glance gives me one glaring thing I think has made a huge difference in why KU is playing better.

As always... I'm looking at per 30 minute averages... and I'll break it down like this 1) = first 7 games (up to and including the USC game... 2) = last 8 non-conf games C) the two conference games.

Robinson
1) 37.5%fg, 29.6%3pt, 66.6%ft 4.1 ast 2.8 to 1.8 stl
2) 41.2%fg, 34.8%3pt, 73.1%ft 6.0 ast 2.0 to 3.5 stl
c) 50.0%fg, 33.3%3pt, 66.7%ft, 4.9 ast 1.8 to 2.4 stl

Chalmers
1) 55.2%fg, 48.3%3pt, 65.2%ft 4.8 ast 2.2 to 2.4 stl
2) 54.9%fg, 48.1%3pt, 75.0%ft 5.3 ast 1.7 to 4.2 stl
c) 57.0%fg, 37.5%3pt, 100%ft 5.3 ast 1.5 to 1.5 stl

Just one glance at the ast/to and stl numbers tells you how much more these two are making happen while their turnover numbers are going down.

January 18, 2008 at 12:31 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

actorman (anonymous) says...

Chalmers' stats are truly amazing! If he keeps up with those stats, I don't see how anyone can deny that he deserves to be an All-American. I mean, how many GUARDS shoot 55% for the season? It's practically unheard of, even in the days when people could actually shoot consistently. Then you add in his steals and assist-to-turnover ratio, and I defy anyone to come up with a guard who's having a better season.

As for your question, kyle, I've been wondering about that myself. I finally read something that makes sense to me: once in a while ESPN puts a big game on ESPNU in the hopes that irate fans will put enough pressure on the cable companies to add ESPNU to their lineup. Of course that means that fans like you and I get screwed, but since when has ESPN (not to mention Comcast, etc.) ever cared about that?

January 18, 2008 at 1:27 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

digitalkookie (anonymous) says...

LAJayhawk5...welcome back to the show!!!!

i have been going through withdrawals given the absence of your "suck it" lists...

January 18, 2008 at 1:35 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

kylecisnum1 (anonymous) says...

sounds a lot like the NFL network to me actorman... this is ridiculous! i can understand in other parts of the country but in the kansas or missouri? come on!

January 18, 2008 at 3:13 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

JayCeph (anonymous) says...

For those of you that happen to get MetroSports in the KC area but do not have ESPNU, they will air a tape delay of the game starting at 9:00pm.

On TimeWarner, that is channel 30. For the rest of you, I have nothing.

January 18, 2008 at 3:16 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

txrockchalk (anonymous) says...

JayCeph -

What if I have ESPNU and no MetroSports? Then what do I do?

January 18, 2008 at 3:35 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

JayCeph (anonymous) says...

You are one of the fortunate few (like me) and get to watch the game in all its cable glory.

Rock Chalk

January 18, 2008 at 4:49 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

txrockchalk (anonymous) says...

Sweet! I actually have DirecTV with the sports pack.

Seriously though, I didn't realize how few people got ESPNU. This game deserves wider distribution.

Rock Chalk indeed

January 18, 2008 at 5:07 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

jhawks (anonymous) says...

As to why they are called Antlers...

Here's a link that helped me figure it out.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Antlers

Ahh...Wikipedia. I found the "Notible Antics" section a true look into what those idiots find funny.

I don't have the words that fit the situation so I'll need to quote another briliant mind. They are from LAJayhawk5. This is what I want to say.

suck it, trash!!!!!!!!!!!!

Damn... I love that quote.

January 18, 2008 at 5:37 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

jhawks (anonymous) says...

Sorry LAJayhawk5. I meant "Brilliant".

January 18, 2008 at 5:39 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

jhwkfan162515 (anonymous) says...

No one can have a higher regard for the Antlers than I do, and I think that the Antlers are the most classless fans in college basketball.

January 18, 2008 at 6:21 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

jaybate (anonymous) says...

I have to confess ignorance about the Antlers.

In the dark ages of the 70s, we used to say guys who couldn't get dates and were horrendously horney had antlers.

Is this what the name of this group refers to?

January 19, 2008 at 12:11 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

KsBrat (anonymous) says...

Y'all know Naismith was a Canadian, eh? Credit where it's due, boys.

January 19, 2008 at 10:49 p.m. ( | suggest removal )