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Men's Basketball

Monday, February 23, 2009

Gary Bedore’s KU basketball notebook

By Gary Bedore

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Title talk

Three teams remain in contention for the Big 12 regular-season men’s basketball title entering tonight’s Kansas University-Oklahoma game, set for an 8 p.m. tipoff at Noble Center.

KU and OU are 11-1, Missouri 10-2. MU plays at KU on March 1; OU is at Missouri on March 4.

“We are enthused about that,” KU coach Bill Self said Sunday, referring to fighting for first place in the league tonight.

“This is not for the title, (but) the winner will have the inside track. This is not for anything. We are certainly excited to be playing for first place tomorrow.”

KU has won or shared the last four Big 12 crowns. KU won six league titles in a row from 1921 to 27.

“I stress to them (young players) I want to keep it going,” KU junior Sherron Collins said. “We have won four in a row. We are trying to make it five. The guys are getting it. Practice has been good. Coach doesn’t have to coach effort anymore.”

“I may be a little surprised, but not really,” sophomore center Cole Aldrich said. “We didn’t have too high expectations. Everybody thought this was a rebuilding year. We’ve got so many new guys everybody was saying, ‘How much can they do?’ We all believed in ourselves and said, ‘Hey you know what? We can win.’’’

Griffin covets ring

KU’s Aldrich, who is a buddy of OU’s Blake Griffin, showed Griffin his NCAA title ring at Big 12 Media Day last October in Oklahoma City.

“Blake said he was going to get one himself this year,” Aldrich said. “I said, ‘Well, you’ve got a chance. It’s going to take a lot.’’’

Warren excels as frosh

OU freshman guard Willie Warren, who was recruited by KU, takes a 15.4 scoring average off 49.3 percent shooting into today’s game. He has made 49.3 percent of his shots, including 38.2 percent of his threes (50 of 131).

“Willie Warren ... some person had him, and I think it’s pretty accurate, the second best freshman in America (behind Memphis’ Tyreke Evans) and 12th best shooting guard overall. That’s pretty good for a freshman,” Self said. “Austin Johnson (8.7 ppg) is having a great year. Taylor (Griffin, 8.9 ppg, 5.9 rpg) is having a great year. Patillo (Juan, 6.9 ppg) is an ingredient they didn’t have before. They are playing well.”

Facts

The Sooners are 15-0 at home. OU has the country’s third-longest home court winning streak (19 games). ... KU leads the overall series, 133-64. KU has won the last four meetings and five of the last six matchups. In Norman, KU holds a 46-40 series edge, yet the Sooners lead 15-14 in games played in Noble Center. ... Last season, Griffin was injured in the first four minutes as Kansas defeated OU 85-55 in Lawrence. Collins (nine points), Aldrich (six points, three rebounds), Tyrel Reed (two minutes) and Conner Teahan (one minute) played against OU.

Comments

  1. crooner (anonymous) says…

    Dear Mr. Copy Editor: Hellooooooooooo!

    First, the 49.3 references are redundant; remove one of them.

    Secondly, Self couldn't have meant the 2nd-best player overall and the 12th-best SG! He must have said it the other way around (2nd-best SG, 12th-best overall). Fix it.

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  2. DrRoach (anonymous) says…

    If you read the comment again you will see he said the 2nd best freshman in America and 12th best shooting guard overall, so yes it makes sense. Either way he will be tough, but as I have already said, this is a KU win.

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  3. zissou (anonymous) says…

    Second-best freshman overall and 12th-best shooting guard (of all classes). Pretty crisp and clear to me. And a little redundancy never hurt anyone. Ever.

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  4. Machawk (anonymous) says…

    Any news on how Lance's visit went?

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  5. booze_buds_03 (anonymous) says…

    Either apply for a job or quit being a tool.

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  6. DrRoach (anonymous) says…

    Either apply for a job or quit being a tool.
    ---------------------------------------------------------

    What???

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  7. crooner (anonymous) says…

    "Either apply for a job or quit being a tool."

    You feel pretty tough, don't you?

    I see what Self meant, but it sounds strange out of context, especially when he follows up with, "That's pretty good for a freshman."

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  9. JayhawkPhil64 (anonymous) says…

    You bozo's who think it is smart to nitpick articles for grammer and sentence structure don't impress the rest of us at all. Just shut up, go put on your librarian dress and run around in the stacks for pleasure.

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  10. youowethehawks (anonymous) says…

    "Bozo's" does not require an apostrophe unless you are using it as a possessive, which, judging from the context, you are not.

    Also, "grammer" is spelled "g-r-a-m-m-a-r."

    Have a little pride and get things right.

    That said, picking on journalists for small errors like that is pointless. If you care that much, and I tend to agree with booze, apply for a job yourself. If you're going to pick on other users, at least be correct. LJW even gives you a chance to correct errors before you finalize your post...

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  11. txrockchalk (anonymous) says…

    Don't know if anyone posted a link to this story earlier, but here is a good read regarding Julian Wright and his time in the NBA...

    http://www.kansascity.com/sports/v-pr...

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  12. kansasYEA (anonymous) says…

    I agree-- pointless to nitpick small errors, just get over it. we all make mistakes. but don't try to slam somebody for pointing it out if you can't even spell grammar correctly. geez.

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  13. txrockchalk (anonymous) says…

    Here's another good article, this one on Coach Self and this year's team...

    http://www.kansascity.com/sports/v-pr...

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  14. kushaw (anonymous) says…

    Does anyone have any information on Lance Stephenson. I was curious about the weekend and what he thought. Any inside scoop from any students on campus? Come to KU Lance!

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  15. jwliddell (anonymous) says…

    I agree about the douche bags that come on here and nit-pick small errors in the article. I especially can't stand the people that nit-pick individual posts' grammar. Look, if I were to be writing a thesis, sure I'd quadruple check my work, clean up all the run-on sentences, and do a few spell checks. The fact of the matter is, this is a message board. If I misspell a word, no big deal. If I run into a post that doesn't have one single punctuation mark, I'll sleep at night.

    Although I agree with youowethehawks, crooner was a moron for posting what he did, but two wrongs don't make a right. You discredited yourself by picking apart his post. I could just as easily tell you that "g-r-a-m-m-a-r" isn't spelled with 6 hyphens, but I understand the point you were making, so no need.

    Again, this is a message board, not Comp 101. Let's all try and act like adults.

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  16. BrockIII (anonymous) says…

    Sirs, this isn't the Wall Street Journal.

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  18. JayhawkPhil64 (anonymous) says…

    Thanks for the support jwliddell but I know I screwed up. Kind of like going into battle and leaving your fly open. Glad to hear others lambasting these jerks. I'll be jumping on them again but I'll be more careful next time.

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  19. youowethehawks (anonymous) says…

    I appologize. I was agreeing with JayhawkPhil and also being a tool, albeit not a "librarian dress" wearing tool. Using the word "lambasting" made up for everything.

    Anyway, how bout them 'Hawks!?

    ( | suggest removal )