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The Kansas men's basketball team defeated Washburn in the squad's first exhibition game of the season.
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KU vs. Washburn
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2008 KU-Washburn basketball
Podcast episode
Spodcasters
Spodcasters Postgame: Washburn
The guys (Tom Keegan, Jesse Newell) analyze KU's 98-79 exhibition victory over Washburn. The two discuss the newcomers' struggles, the strong efforts of Tyrel Reed and Brady Morningstar and where Sherron Collins ranks among the nation's top guards.
KU vs. Washburn: Postgame
Here's guessing Barack Obama will get off to a better start than the newcomers to college basketball's defending national champions did Tuesday night in Allen Fieldhouse.
Then again, giving young players a chance to ease their way into college basketball is a big reason why Div. I teams schedule exhibition games against Div. II programs.
Kansas coach Bill Self didn't mince words when discussing the performance of the newcomers, but he also wasn't freaked out by it. He's seen it too many times. He knows how rare it is that a high school basketball player makes a seamless transition to the college game.
Remember, Russell Robinson, who played like a senior and ultimate team player from his sophomore season on, had a difficult transition as a freshman, once even declining to enter a blowout against Baylor.
Mario Chalmers couldn't get the ball past halfcourt in Hawaii against Arizona.
Brandon Rush couldn't prevent St. Joseph sharp-shooter Chet Stachitas from scoring 27 points in Madison Square Garden.
It paid to remember all that Tuesday night when only Quintrell Thomas (10 points, six rebounds) played well in a 98-79 victory against Washburn University.
Whether Thomas has the quickness to duplicate such a performance against major-college talent remains in question, but effort shouldn't be a problem. Can the same be said for the more talented Morris twins, Markieff and Marcus? We'll see.
They combined to play 21 minutes, score seven points, commit eight personal fouls and grab six rebounds. Neither twin appeared fully engaged defensively until his man caught the ball. Marcus fouled out in seven minutes after producing two points and one rebound. The third foul was of the phantom variety, but that happens. After the fifth, Cole Aldrich tried to tell him something, but Marcus didn't appear interested in hearing it and told him something back.
"Other than Quintrell, the freshmen weren't factors at all tonight," Self said. "They've played better than that (in practice)."
Tyshawn Taylor made mistakes at both ends and was charged with five turnovers in 16 minutes, but with such length, quickness and energy, he'll move to the head of the freshman pack in no time.
Travis Releford forced things offensively and didn't seem completely comfortable on the perimeter, but hustled at the other end.
Junior college transfer Tyrone Appleton dribbles far too much, and fellow juco Mario Little sat on the end of the bench, sidelined by a stress reaction.
The ticket to playing time for the talented bunch of new faces, as always, starts with defense.
"Our young kids just don't know how to guard yet," Self said. "The best way they can help the team is to become good defensively and good rebounders, aggressive, steal some extra possessions for us. You do those things, and the scoring will come. They can all score, Tyshawn and the twins especially, but if you're not going to guard, you're not going to get many opportunities to shoot because you're not going to be in that much."
Self captured the value of the evening in saying, "I think this will be a great teaching tape."
Behind the Lens: Game Over April 19, 2012
Jeff Withey says he considered leaving early April 9, 2012
Final thoughts following KU's run to national championship game April 3, 2012
Elijah Johnson and Tyshawn Taylor post-game interviews April 3, 2012
Tyshawn Taylor and Thomas Robinson: Linked through their KU careers April 2, 2012
Comments
bradh (anonymous) says…
Hopefully the freshmen will learn quicker than I expect Obama to learn. Obama is like a Kenyan who has only seen soccer coming into the national title game and needing to take the last shot to win the game. I much prefer Mario taking that shot instead of someone who has no clue what they're doing.
thomc6 (anonymous) says…
scoreboard
oljhwk (anonymous) says…
I thought they looked ok for the first game. One thing I noticed, we "can" be a very deep team. If we get out sized or out matched by another team, we can always run the other team off the court with our deep bench. This team has a lot of raw talent and Coach will eventually polish that talent.
funkitect (anonymous) says…
hey bradh, why don't you take your derogatory comments about YOUR president, and go bury yourself in a hole somewhere. jerk.
kvskubball (anonymous) says…
quote from above:After the fifth, Cole Aldrich tried to tell him something, but Marcus didn't appear interested in hearing it and told him something back.I hope this doesn't mean that Marcus will be uncoachable. The reference/comparison to Giles is disturbing, considering how badly his KU career ended.There is hope here, especially when the most unheralded freshman had the best night of any of the newcomers. But there should be concern too. Florida players have been quoted as saying they couldn't believe how Donovan was getting on them when they started last season 18-3. Well, he knew the level of competition was about to change, and sure enough they finished by losing something like 8 of their last 10 games. The competition got tougher and many of the UF players probably hit the freshman wall.Fans who were saying we were a Final Four caliber team earlier, need to recalibrate their expectations. If the new players will do what Coach asks of them, it is possible. However last night they showed how young they are. I've said that will be part of the fun or pain of this season, is watching these young guys learn. If they come together and listen to Coach, we'll be fine. If they do as the UF players did and don't buy into how much they need to learn and improve, then they won't even have the success that UF had last year because our non-con schedule is much tougher than theirs was, and the Big XII will be even tougher. So I hope they are willing to listen. PT is a great motivator. So I expect that they will listen...sooner or later...I hope it is sooner!RCJH's
kvskubball (anonymous) says…
funkitect and bradh,Like it or not Obama IS OUR President now. I hope we will all do as both candidates said last night in their closing speeches...work together. Our nation's problems are going to be much tougher to solve than Coach Self's making a team of these newcomers. So let's cut the rhetoric on both sides, and try to come together so we have a chance at success.Hope won over fear. Now let's turn the hope into the reality of a better USA!!!!!
packs_of_wild_dogzz (anonymous) says…
Scoreboard? What's that mean? They just played Washburn. They were expected to win. But did they learn anything, did they get better?
nrebne (anonymous) says…
Didn't Robinson decline to enter the villanova game in Philadelphia???
ohioburg (anonymous) says…
Baylorhttp://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4179/is_/ai_n11824045
PG_Hawk06 (anonymous) says…
dogzz,I believe the scoreboard post was aimed at Bradh for his comments about Obama. Either way, I wish the political posts would stay out of the Jayhawk Sports Section. If i wanted to hear anymore about politics I'd just turn on a tv or pick up any newspaper.
Strikewso (anonymous) says…
That Villanova game was an embarrassment.
oldalum (anonymous) says…
I was bothered about the quote regarding Marcus, too. But then I thought about it and realized it could have been totally different. I imagine he was furious with himself for the way he played, and he might have said something to Cole as simple as "I can't talk about it right now." He was probably pretty disappointed with his game.
kvskubball (anonymous) says…
oldalum,Yes that could have been it. I know whenever I played sports if I felt I had mucked it up, I might have sounded like I was steamed at whoever I was "talking to" (laugh), it was really myself I was mad at!
jhawk7782 (Mike) says…
funkitect..I hope we can keep this board non-political but you should know that until January 20, 2009, President Bush is OUR president.Then we should ALL give Obama a fair chance to keep his promises.
jaybate (anonymous) says…
It is in early November after a bad game when you are a freshman and half a continent from your mother's cooking that you wonder why you EVER came to Lawrence, Kansas. Self's quotes clearly indicate that he gave Marcus and Markieff the ropes to hang themselves...and they did.Self is an endlessly wily devil. He lets certain players learn the hard way.You just know he had been teaching defense and preaching defense for a couple of weeks and the twins had quit listening.Rather than tear them both new ones, the old coach sand bagged. I can just see him swallowing his whistle and biting his lip and nodding at them the last one or two practices before the exhibition game. Then he pimps them by not starting them, so when they do come in they are both good and mad and sure to play out of control. Then Self just keeps letting them stink up the floor.Then Marcus fouls out in seven minutes.He lets them both disgrace themselves in front of a big crowd.Then he smiles the "I told you so" smile at them as they come off the floor.Oh my, Marcus and Markieff have not heard yelling and have not been ridden the way Self is going to ride those two guys between now and November 11th. And I bet these two guys come out and play like buzz saws the next exhibition game. But every time down the floor it is going to be a running commentary on their defense.So from the get go, now, the players know that they are dealing with one A Number 1 button pusher. Self is going to go methodically player by player down the roster playing with their minds, testing them, toughening them. The tender ones he'll leave for late December or early January. Oh, this IS going to be a clinic!
blackhawkjayhawk (anonymous) says…
Fouling out in 7 minutes? That has to be some sort of a friggin' record! I wish I had seen it!This teams a mess, but the earlier post is right on...some' players and some people have to learn things the hard way.Self will make them strong. Some guys will get it, some won't and then the next recruiting class comes in.No surprise that the lower-ranked newcomers played the best. They have something to prove and they are focused.
KUFan90 (anonymous) says…
Nice theory Jaybate. I love it.I also hope folks have realistic expectations for this team. I'm not a "sky is falling" kind of guy, but I realistically see us heading in to the Big 12 tourney needing a win or 2 to get us to 20 wins.