Jayhawks must embrace ugliness

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KU vs. USC

KU vs. USC

• Holiday cheer: It wasn’t pretty, but KU rips USC

• Trojans awed by Jayhawks

• Players scatter for trips home

• Keegan ratings

• Box Score

Los Angeles — Maybe FSN scheduled such a late start time in an attempt to find a temporary cure for the suffering insomniacs on the East Coast. If so, it undoubtedly was a smashing success. They’ll be rested and ready for Christmas.

Otherwise, the first half of Kansas University’s 63-47 victory Thursday against USC in Galen Center didn’t exactly serve as a shining example of how far basketball has progressed since Dr. James Naismith, born in Almonte, Canada, and buried in Lawrence, invented the game 120 Decembers ago.

USC cheerleaders, the perkiest in the business, deserve to endorse better beauty products than the Trojans basketball team. Dribble, dribble, dribble, clang. Dribble, dribble, dribble, pass intercepted and taken the other way for a dunk. Timeout. The USC cheerleaders take the court and spread their good holiday cheer, refusing to let the basketball team’s poor performance darken their moods.

It will get better for the Trojans because most teams won’t be able to defend them the way Kansas did in the first half.

In a first half that raised the question of why anyone thought it necessary to cut the bottoms out of the peach baskets, Kansas couldn’t shoot straight and still nearly doubled up the Trojans, 25-13.

It served as another reminder to a Kansas team that has just one returning starter that there will be nights it can’t shoot its way to victory and must win by keeping the other team from scoring.

Coach Bill Self isn’t convinced his team has embraced that mentality yet, but the truth is the more experienced a basketball player becomes, the smarter his coach becomes in his eyes.

Why should basketball be any different?

Ask the average teenager to rate his or her father’s intelligence on a scale of 1 to 10, and the honest answer is a lot closer to 1 than 10. Ask the same person in his or her mid-20s, and it’s a lot closer to 10.

Sure, it was an ugly basketball game, but there’s no such thing as an ugly victory. The players knew it was coming because their coach had warned them they would need to get into grinder mode.

“I listen to coach so much because he knows what he’s talking about,” said junior guard Elijah Johnson, who scored a team-high 14 points and had four steals and four rebounds. “He warns us. A lot of people let it go through one ear and out the other, but I listen. I let it stick. Whenever he warns us about something, it happens, ever since my freshman year. Even when I didn’t play, he would say stuff, and sitting on the bench I would just see it happening.”

The split-loyalty crowd of 6,431 had a particularly stale ring to it in the first half.

That happens when the action doesn’t create many reasons to get loud. Despite the sluggish pace, Kansas maintained defensive intensity throughout the first half.

“That shouldn’t matter,” Johnson said of the empty seats and quiet voices. “One thing I’m starting to realize is we’re blessed. We’re actually spoiled. We play in front of a packed crowd every night, and it shouldn’t take a packed crowd to get us motivated. We lost to Northern Iowa the first round my freshman year, and that was an empty gym. That’s a tournament atmosphere. We have to be used to playing in that. We shouldn’t need a crowd to turn us up, although it gives you that extra momentum, we should be able to turn each other up on our own.”

The more often Kansas can play in front of empty seats, the better prepared it is for March, Johnson reiterated.

“Everyone is so used to the fieldhouse, and that’s how they think every college game should be, so when we come to USC and they don’t have a full house, it’s easy to get lazy on a situation or to overlook it, and I’m trying to tell everyone we can’t do that,” Johnson said.

If KU can embrace winning without style points and realize that keeping the other team from scoring is the best path to success, it has a shot to contend as an underdog in the impending Big 12 race.

If and only if.

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TheGiftedOne 1 year, 5 months ago

Still always love Elijah's qoutes. He tells it like it is and gives a more descriptive take than most. Keep the great info up EJ!

cshjhawk 1 year, 5 months ago

I feel that EJ more and more is becoming the leader.

dek9219 1 year, 5 months ago

hawk316 1 year, 5 months ago

I liked this quote from EJ in particular. One more reason why we're so blessed to have Bill Self as our coach.

mikendal 1 year, 5 months ago

Hawk316---

Love that quote and yes, so damn glad Bill Self is our coach! Don't take him for granted, at all.

hawk316 1 year, 5 months ago

And this one wasn't too shabby either:

"One thing I’m starting to realize is we’re blessed. We’re actually spoiled. We play in front of a packed crowd every night..."

KU's AFH...a very special place, indeed.

treed14ku 1 year, 5 months ago

The game wasn't on ESPN Keegan. Keep doing the absolute bare minimum in regards to research bud.

KU62 1 year, 5 months ago

ESPN has become so ubiquitous, they may do the scheduling for all the broadcasts . . . like the Davidson game, for instance.

ZIG 1 year, 5 months ago

The Davidson game was on ESPN. Fox Sports broadcasts Pac12 games which is most likely the reason this one was picked up. ESPN had nothing to do w/ it. What the hell are you drinking this am?

jayhawkeresu 1 year, 5 months ago

Lost me at ESPN. And Im not a Keegan Basher.

Alohahawk 1 year, 5 months ago

Come on, guys and girls. Happy Holidays!! It's a win and the Jayhawk nation doesn't have to commiserate over another unexpected loss over the Christmas holidays.

Although, KU's first half offense was like that nightmare you have when you first start dating. The one where your worst enemy sets you up with a blind date.

At least KU's next two games will definitely have larger crowds and much more noise.

And thanks for the humor, Keegan. I thought you were heading into r-rated territory when you wrote, "...the USC cheerleaders take the court and spread their good holiday cheer ...." :-?

mikendal 1 year, 5 months ago

No doubt, Aloha---I was thinking the same thing.

iamakufan 1 year, 5 months ago

"Dribble, dribble, dribble, clang." That's classic! I love it. Maybe it's too early in the morning but that really got me chuckling.

drgnslayr 1 year, 5 months ago

Ha... me, too. I put a rap to it. Then I found it combined best with the Crash Test Dummies, "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm."

bville_hawk 1 year, 5 months ago

"In a first half that raised the question of why anyone thought it necessary to cut the bottoms out of the peach baskets"

Good line!

jaybate 1 year, 5 months ago

Yep.

Brock 1 year, 5 months ago

Yep? Can you give us a full explanation of this painfully condensed reply? Seven or eight paragraphs should suffice.

jaybate 1 year, 5 months ago

No more to add. It was a good line. :-)

FSUJHAWK 1 year, 5 months ago

Few points:

1) Is TK funny or what? 2) I didnt realize FSN was taken over by ESPN. 3) EJ seems to be really maturing and developing as a leader. 4) HCBS is awesome. 5) Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to TK, all LJW/KUSPORTS.COM Staff,all the bloggers and Jayhawks everywhere.

RCJHGKU!!!

PhogTimeKU2010 1 year, 5 months ago

Next year we have 7 new players coming in. There will not be less talent. Losing Robinson and Taylor will set us back from a leadership standpoint, but we will be much much much deeper with more options.

Blown 1 year, 5 months ago

Max--Awesome is a small, simple recipe. It consists of seven parts Big12 Champs & one part National Championship.

If you want to throw in the multitude of lottery picks that have come from the program under this regime, and the fact that Billy is a Hall of Fame Coach, that would just be gravy.

jaybate 1 year, 5 months ago

Yo ho ho-s

Bring us better free throws.

Funhawk 1 year, 5 months ago

Those USC cheerleaders were #1 fun!!!

FLJHK 1 year, 5 months ago

I'll take the W, but in such an ugly game even more focus on the USC cheerleaders would have worked for me.

Merry Christmas to all in Jayhawk Nation!

actorman 1 year, 5 months ago

+1000. They definitely beautified the game.

drgnslayr 1 year, 5 months ago

I slept like a bed of rocks.

Kirk 1 year, 5 months ago

Love the line about spreading their holiday cheer. Keegs.

mikendal 1 year, 5 months ago

Yeah, they were definitely photogenic!!!!!!!

rockchalkchalkin23 1 year, 5 months ago

Way to stick together boys and get a nearly 20 point win in a grind it out game. Coach, looks like Ty running the point much less was the key to this victory. He distributed the ball pretty good and kept the turnovers down. I like the TRob/Wesley and Withey/Young combos you used, effective in my opinion. Looking through the ugliness, I saw a great job from you and the boys.

Blown 1 year, 5 months ago

+1, I thought having the ball out of Ty's hands seemed to have him playing better too. He seemed more relaxed.

rockchalkchalkin23 1 year, 5 months ago

Agreed. I think Self pulling him early when things were being rushed was a great decision. He observed some things from the bench and as you stated, it relaxed him. I think seeing the boys do alright without him actually took some pressure off of him.

mikehawk 1 year, 5 months ago

It is getting clearer by the game. This team will go as far as their defense can take them. They have their moments on offense, but there can be large gaps of time between those moments. Got to work on the entry pass to TRob. I think Coach has put the high/low on the shelf for some reason, but I look for it to come off soon. Withey and TRob look like they are made for it. Withey passing over top to TRob could get the offense going.

actorman 1 year, 5 months ago

I've tried embracing ugliness before, and I didn't feel very good about it afterwards. Just saying ...

Funhawk 1 year, 5 months ago

The headline does not seem to fit the visual; that is, the USC cheerleaders.

Maybe the headline is referring to this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qh9ZZg...

daverinoku 1 year, 5 months ago

As a public service, I Googled USC Cheerleaders, and found:

http://www.hottestgirlsofcheerleading.com/2009/03/11/the-usc-cheerleaders-looked-good-last-week/

Enjoy, brothers.

actorman 1 year, 5 months ago

Okay now, we're getting dangerously close to something illegal here. Not that I mind, mind you (so to speak) :)

Thanks for the post. I probably shouldn't have opened it at work.

mikendal 1 year, 5 months ago

Oh, my my, daverinoku!

NEJhawk 1 year, 5 months ago

Another clue were spoiled. The unforgivable uglyness of being a top 20 team instead of a top 5 team.

The horror.....the horror....

Here's me at the Thanksgiving table this year (in Neb): "Were' not that good this year"

My Brother: "You just beat the number 2 team in the nation."

Me: "Whatever"

Spoiled with a capital S is right.

actorman 1 year, 5 months ago

"Another clue were spoiled."

Which clue exactly "were" spoiled? Just curious.

Seriously, your point is well taken. My friend told me that he had heard KU would not be that good this year and asked if KU would make the playoffs. I said, "Well, of course we'll make the playoffs. We always do. The question is whether we'll make the Final Four." And I told him that that was considered an off year for us.

mikendal 1 year, 5 months ago

I knew the second half was going to be better than the first half, offensively. Was that an ugly first half, though? When Jesse said at halftime that the Jayhawks were very good defensively, I just knew we would get out of our funk. Ugly games (victories) will be common this season, whether one likes it or not.

Rock Chalk Merry Christmas everybody!

wildjayhawk 1 year, 5 months ago

Ku will lose 4-6 more games this year as it looks now. Merry Christmas.

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