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Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Jayhawks ‘better’ after Canada trip

By Gary Bedore

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KU in Canada: Day 1

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KU in Canada: Day 2

KU in Canada: Day 2

Ottawa, Ontario — Bill Self's Labor Day weekend trip to Canada was short, but oh so sweet.

"It was great. The only thing that could have been better is if we had the twins with us," Self, Kansas University's sixth-year basketball coach, said, referring to freshmen Marcus and Markieff Morris, who are still awaiting word from the NCAA Clearinghouse on their eligibility.

The brothers from Philadelphia couldn't travel north of the border with their KU teammates, who arrived at 8 p.m. Friday and left town early Monday morning.

"We got better. I'm happy with our guys," said Self, whose Jayhawks beat McGill, 72-67, Carleton, 84-83, and Ottawa, 95-60.

"I'm by no means giddy, but compared to where we were eight days ago (at start of practice) ... I think we've got some pieces to work with."

KU sophomore center Cole Aldrich, who grabbed 18 rebounds against McGill, said the team showed fire in a pair of narrow victories.

"We've got a lot of heart," Aldrich said. "We are fighting through some things a little bit."

Things like the absence of the twins as well as Sherron Collins, who played in just 22 minutes the entire trip as he continues his recovery from arthroscopic left-knee surgery.

The 5-foot-11 junior point guard scored 10 points off 5-of-12 shooting with an assist and four turnovers in Saturday night's one-point victory over Carleton.

"He is not himself," Self said. "Considering he hasn't done anything in four months, that's somewhat to be expected. The biggest thing now is, how is his knee? And the doctors have said it's fine. We will get him in shape. He's not in shape now. He had no explosion, but we'll get him in shape."

"Boot Camp" alone in late September/early October will get the Jayhawks in tip-top condition.

Collins said he'd be ready for the Oct. 17 Late Night in the Phog.

"I'm easing into it. I didn't get much time here. I wish I had more (playing time), but I'm being patient. I'm now like an assistant coach. It's like my job. I'm helping everybody else," he said.

"I am out of shape, but I couldn't do anything for a few months. I'm losing weight. I'll be ready for the season."

Collins took his "assistant coaching" role seriously in Sunday's rout of Ottawa. During a first-half timeout, he stood in a crouch, tutoring freshman Tyshawn Taylor (20 points versus Ottawa; 18 against McGill) on the finer points of defense.

"It will not be a team as good as last year," Collins said of the young 2008-09 Jayhawks. "But some things will be like last year. A lot of different guys will lead the team in scoring on a given night."

He was quite impressed with not only Taylor, but freshman Travis Releford, who scored 25 points against Carleton and 11 against McGill.

"Tyshawn does some exciting things. Travis will be one of the big players for us this year," Collins said.

"I was really impressed with Travis," Self noted. "He's really good in the open court."

Self can't wait for the regular season to start.

"This is not our team, at least I hope it's not," Self said. "We'll get the twins back and Sherron back to go with the rest of our guys who learned a lot these eight or nine days."

Comments

jaybate (anonymous) says...

Dear Assistant Coach Collins,

Speaking strictly in terms of probabilities, it is true that this team likely will not be as good as last year's team. At the same time, it is best for Coach Collins not to tell player Collins that, or other players on the team either. Why? Because a team cannot hope to win a championship, if it does not at least set that as one of its goals; that is, to be as good as the best have been--to be a champion.

Each year, each team must at least be granted the possibility of winning a championship by its coaches, as well as the possibility for greatness, or its coaches are not acknowledging that frankly reigns more often that probability in the NCAA tournament. By this I mean the team most likely to win the tournament rarely does win the tournament. Rather, most often a team with a possibility wins the tournament.

And NO team is ever CERTAIN of being a champion.

So: Coach Collins, it is best not to shut the door totally on the possibility that this team can be as good or better than last years team. Tell the player Collins that it probably won't be, but it could be.

After seeing the way KU came from behind last year against Memphis, and seeing the way KU defended UNC the first 15 minutes last year, and seeing the way Brandon Rush came back from a knee injury last year, and seeing Sasha Kaun recover his confidence down the stretch last year, and seeing the player Collins rise above his injuries last year, I am no longer willing to rule anything out entirely...even the small possibility that this years team could be better than last year's team. I know. It seems impossible now. But it seemed impossible with a minute or so remaining in last years national championship game that last year's team could wind up being a team of the ages in KU's vaunted legacy. But it happened.

Nothing is written, as Lawrence of Arabia said. Coach Collins, tell player Collins and his teammates this year, ANYTHING is possible if we become the best we can be. We can improve from possible to probable. We can improve from probable to actual. The player Collins was a large part of last year's proof. Remind him...not to burden him with the past...but to rekindle his hope.

Many said that Sidney Wicks and Curtis Rowe and Steve Patterson and John Vallely of UCLA that they could not possibly be as good as the UCLA teams that preceded them. Fortunately, Wicks, Rowe, Patterson and Vallely did not believe them. They too won a ring. And, frankly, became as great as any of the other UCLA teams by doing so.

As Coach Self said, there are some pieces to work with here. Coaches do not say things like that, when there are not.

I am excited about the possibility of this team. I think it possibly has a very high ceiling, even though I can make the case that it could be a tough year, too. A lot depends on you, Sherron. Can anything be more exciting than that for a player?

Rock Chalk!

September 2, 2008 at 11:25 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

hawkitup (anonymous) says...

Dude...you have WAY too much time on your hands.

September 2, 2008 at 12:14 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

KUFan90 (anonymous) says...

"he stood in a crouch"...?? Oxymoron?

September 2, 2008 at 12:44 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

scottku1 (anonymous) says...

Why did we not have our last names on the jersey's?

September 2, 2008 at 1:37 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

Chicago_JHawk (anonymous) says...

My guess is the practice uniforms may not have the names on them.

September 2, 2008 at 2:12 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

cobweb (anonymous) says...

With the twins being poor students to begin with, why doesn't KU and the NCAA determine eligibility BEFORE class starts? Like we didn't know they would have trouble.

September 2, 2008 at 2:57 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

rockchalk80 (anonymous) says...

hawkitup... I agree... someone isn't going to school or work...

September 2, 2008 at 4:21 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

milehighhawk (anonymous) says...

Jaybate,

I knew the comment was yours before I saw your name - learn word economy bro - not everyone likes a comment that is routinely longer than the original article.

September 2, 2008 at 4:27 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

jaybate (anonymous) says...

hawkitup,

You have waaaaaay too little time on YOUR hands. Get more efficient and productive, so you can have more fun in life. :-)

September 2, 2008 at 5:23 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

jaybate (anonymous) says...

milehighhawk,

How come you never give me love when I write short? I am the posting equivalent of a wide receiver you know. I write post patterns, button and goes, and down out and downs that take a long time to run. But I also frequently run quick outs and slants over the middle. But you only give me advice when I write long? Search inside yourself for the answer.

FWIW, my posts are never about gaining acceptance, so that the message can get through; that would be pretentious to the max for me to do. No one person's message is any more important than another person's message here.

Let me be redundant again: the message of any one person is as important as the message of any other person.

And again: all messages are of equivalent worth.

And again: all messages are equal.
And again: all m equals all m.

And again: m = m.

;-)

But if one's purpose were to have one's message accepted, one just would stick with nothing but the 30 to 200 character average post length that is ubiquitous here.

Acceptance hinges significantly on conformity with the familiar while adding a slight twist to avoid boredom.

Take your post for an example.

"I knew the comment was yours before I saw your name - learn word economy bro - not everyone likes a comment that is routinely longer than the original article."

September 2, 2008 at 6:16 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

jaybate (anonymous) says...

Your post is imminently routine up until the part after the dash; then there is a small twist. This is classic form. The conciseness of it makes me like you. It makes me thank you for doing my thinking for me. It makes me accept your message the same way I accept a Big Mac. It is there. It is reliable. It is affordable on my time budget. It is what it is--processed thought. I like you. I accept your message. It works. I like you. I accept your message. It works...

I am grateful that persons write as you do and as so many others do here. But I am also grateful that others occassionally move outside the Big Mac box here. One ought to eat something a little different once in awhile, don't you think?

I am tremendously respectful of others. I choose to write challenges to the posting form in a medium that they do not have to pay to consume. This board is free assuming one pays one's fixed cost to an ISP. I write here, because no one wants to pay for what I have to say about KU hoops, i.e., I write here for the same reason you and everyone else does. But just as importantly, I write here, because readers have the luxury of ignoring what I write, even as others read it. When I have written for publication, I have played the game and given the consumers a fair return on their investment; i.e., I have relentlessly distilled the concept, I have cunningly contrived the rhetorical and propaganda devices (and yes even the logic) to make it so the reader drifts effortlessly and helplessly toward the conclusion I have made the clients and editors and readers powerless to reject. In short, I have written a lot of trite little paragraphs just like the one you just wrote to me. What's more, I even got to a point where I could do it without even thinking about doing it. And, well, I even later got to a point where, like you, I didn't even know I was doing it.

When I finally awakened, and realized I did not like hoodwinking not only clients, editors and readers, but myself, also, I concluded that as with a good steak, a certain amount of marbleing is quite desirable, but that one need not always eat a rib eye. There was room for all cuts in the carnicerie.

September 2, 2008 at 6:16 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

memhawk (anonymous) says...

CAN'T WE FIND A WAY FOR jaybate TO USE THIS FORUM FOR THE INTENDED PURPOSE...S P O R T S!

I, FOR ONE, AM BECOMING LESS THAN AMUSED AT THE RAMBLINGS OF THIS "WANNA BE" ENGLISH PROFESSOR WHO BERATES, BELITTLES AND PASSES JUDGEMENT ON THE GRAMMAR AND EVEN PUNCTUATION OF OTHER "POSTERS" TO THIS FORUM.

THE ANOMINITY THAT YOU ARE PROTECTED BY HERE IS SURELY SAVING YOU FROM REPEATED ASS-WHIPPINGS FROM OTHER REGULAR READERS AND POSTERS TO THIS FORUM.

September 2, 2008 at 9:58 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

jhawkdan42 (anonymous) says...

jaybate- never have responded to your ramblings before because I usually skip them(kinda of like turning the channel if you don't like whats on) but come on your becoming a caricature of yourself!

September 2, 2008 at 10:45 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

Strikewso (anonymous) says...

Lookout, Jaybate on the loose!

September 3, 2008 at 1:31 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

BoulderHawk (anonymous) says...

So Jaybate,
Where did you coach?
Or Play?

September 3, 2008 at 2 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

okjhok (anonymous) says...

It takes all kinds...I like Jaybate

September 3, 2008 at 8:51 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

jaybate (anonymous) says...

jayhawkdan42,

Bingo, someone got it! :-)

September 3, 2008 at 11:25 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

jaybate (anonymous) says...

BoulderHawk,

Player: University of Nevada Elko, 1972-1976, All Central Rocky Mountain Conference, 1976 (note: did not graduate, got my degree later at KU).

Player and Assistant Coach: CBA, Missoula Grizzlies, 1977 to 1981; Year, Rookie of the Year, 1977.

At UNE, I played for a terrific, but little known coach at named John "Basin and Range" Bixby. He taught me everything I know about the game beyond what I had not already learned from my father, who played at Washburn, and then transferred to try out for KU's 1937 team, only to have his hopes of being a Jayhawk dashed by a knee injury.

While with the Missoula Grizzlies, I played under another amazing but little know coach named James "Switch" Soames. Coach Soames developed an offense that I still hope will one day be adopted by a pro or college coaches some where. In the offense, the most athletic player played both PG and low post. The position was called "Switcher" by Coach Soames. The rest of the players played a version of Tex Winters triple post, or what the kids like Phil "Buddha" Jackson now call the triangle offense. Coach Soames was an assistant at University of Southern California, when Tex Winter was a graduate assistant there the year after he finished playing at USC. Coach Soames said he and Tex conceived both the Switch and the Triple post offenses one night over French Dips at Phillipe's near Olvera Street in Los Angeles. I was lucky enough to play the switching PG/Low Post position one season for the Grizzlies before a severe ankle injury took away my explosiveness and I had to move to the wing as a backup. Coach Soames tried me as an assistant coach one year, but he said I was too verbose and redundant in my communications with the players. Go figure.

You asked.

September 3, 2008 at 11:56 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

jaybate (anonymous) says...

Dear memhawk,

SPORTS!

Ha, I have met your constraint!

Now, meet mine.

Say something intelligent.

September 3, 2008 at 1:49 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

derringer29 (anonymous) says...

JAYBATE STOP!!!!

This is a place to post a damm comment not a freakin story dude-get a girl friend or buy a pet u really need something to do--damm plz spare us the damm novals man.......what a wates of space!!!!!!!11

September 3, 2008 at 3:45 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

Lebowski (anonymous) says...

I can't believe that people who would not post a long novel themselves would take the time to criticize someone who does.

Scrolling down past a post, or posts, is not that difficult.

I don't think one article has ever ran out of space because of lengthy comments, so that's not a concern, either.

Relax, people.

September 3, 2008 at 5:12 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

memhawk (anonymous) says...

Jaybate,

"say something intelligent."!

Are we all supposed to worry about your judgement of what is intelligent? Furthur, intelligence by your standards should not even be an issue. My comments about your berating and belittling continue to point to your obvious inferiorities and need for the last word.

Let's stick to comments in response to this website's articles. After all, isn't that why we all click here every day?

September 3, 2008 at 10:25 p.m. ( | suggest removal )