Thursday, January 31, 2008

KSU freshmen growing up fast

By Tom Keegan

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Reader poll

Who do you now consider to be the favorite in the Big 12 men's basketball race?

  • Kansas 76% 3911 votes
  • Kansas State 22% 1146 votes
  • Texas 0% 12 votes
  • Texas A&M 0% 5 votes
  • Baylor 0% 32 votes
  • Someone else 0% 12 votes

5118 total votes.

24 years coming: Jayhawks fall to K-State

Until tonight, KU had taken a bite out of the Little Apple and defeated Kansas State in Manhattan every season for 24 years.

KU fan Jayhawks' lucky charm?

One Lawrence resident has been to every match-up between KU and K-State in Manhattan since the Jayhawks' winning streak began 24 years ago.

Photo Gallery

KU vs. KSU

Audio clips

2007-08 Jan. 30 KU-KSU men's hoops

Manhattan — Superstar Kansas State freshman Michael Beasley and first-year coach Frank Martin still maintained that it was just another game, just another victory.

Freshman Bill Walker, who contributed 22 points and five rebounds to the 84-75 upset victory against Kansas, couldn't have disagreed more.

Walker talked about hearing from fans throughout western Kansas during a Catbacker tour and said all he ever heard was that they wanted a victory against Kansas. He wanted to give them what they wanted. And he wanted his team to be more of a part of the national conversation than it had been.

"People act like there's just one team in Kansas," Walker said. "We had a chance to show there isn't."

Kansas State's freshmen combined for 69 points. They are growing up in a hurry.

"Guys are getting used to playing against high-major competition," Walker said. "It's going to take awhile for young guys to prepare for that, going hard, knowing how important it is to take care of the little things. We're starting to do that."

Little things, such as getting to loose balls first, which K-State did consistently.

Walker didn't hesitate when asked to name the turning point.

"I think it was from the tip," he said. "We showed that we weren't going to back down. We weren't going to let them do what they wanted to do. It started at the tip and continued throughout the whole game."

Beasley finished with 25 points and six rebounds. KU made him earn every one of them. He didn't score his first points, on a baseline jumper over 6-foot-11 Sasha Kaun, until 9:22 remained in the first half.

"It was tough," Beasley said of KU's defense. "They defend as a team. There is no one-on-one. As soon as I touched the ball, as soon as I stepped in the paint, there were two or three guys around me. It was tough, but I had some help from my teammates, knocking down open shots, cutting and getting open and rebounding my misses. It was tough."

Martin said of the Jayhawks, "They're so good that every minute of the game is important against them. I just told (injured forward) Dave Hoskins in the locker room that that is the kind of game that, as a coach, you age 40 years in 40 minutes, and when you win, you get those 40 years back. It's hard to beat the champion. It's not easy to beat a champion, and those guys are champions in that locker room over there."

K-State's primary ballhandlers, Jacob Pullen, a freshman, and Clent Stewart, a senior, combined for 31 points and just three turnovers.

"I'm tired of people calling our guards raggedy," Martin said. "It ticks me off to hear that our guards are inferior to other people's guards. Our guards stepped up and played like grown men today. We didn't turn it over, and we made plays that win."

KU vs. KSU

Comments

Dr_Hawkenstein (anonymous) says...

Has anyone wondered why we don't recruit players like Beasley or Walker. Don't get me wrong, we have some great players. But KU hasn't had the best player in D1 since Danny Manning and we all know how that turned out. Teams like KSU and Texas get Beasley/Walker and Durant and boom!, they are just as good as us. If KU had just one of those guys, we would have raised another national championship banner.

January 31, 2008 at 9:31 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

4ever_jhawk (anonymous) says...

Hawkenstein, you bring up an interesting question. It's not like we have a salary-cap with scholarships. One player who would take over a game wouldn't be a bad thing. I think HCBS looks for more of a team approach during recruiting. Still, you have an excellent point about recruiting a game-changer like Beasley.

January 31, 2008 at 11:50 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

milehighhawker (anonymous) says...

Anyone else notice how gracious Frank Martin is in victory, I am definitely a fan of his now (not a KSU fan). He has earned my respect as a coach. This game was not just won by Walker and Beasley, he had his team ready for KU. You think Huggybear would have said the things he is saying had they won?

January 31, 2008 at 11:54 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

jayhawker_97 (anonymous) says...

hawkenstein, sounds like you've been around long enough to know Danny fact, but wouldn't you consider that KU had also recruited great players like: Pierce, Hinrich, Gooden, LaFrentz, etc..? do you realize, ESPN experts view our current team as highly NBA prospects:

Cole Aldrich Kansas
Darrell Arthur Kansas
Mario Chalmers Kansas
Sherron Collins Kansas
Sasha Kaun Kansas
Brandon Rush Kansas
Michael Beasley Kansas State
Bill Walker Kansas State

http://insider.espn.go.com/nbadraft/d...

let's wait till KSU plays at KU. you'll change your mind. some teams were meant to have a star, some teams were meant to be a star team. watching KU plays is enjoyable. missing treys are not in their agenda. neither is getting into fouls. some days, we just have to deal with loss(es) - even Danny's team back then.
go Jayhawks!!!!!

January 31, 2008 at 12:01 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

kcmostwanted (anonymous) says...

good point jayhawker_97... I was just kind of disappointed that Brandon disappeared in the 2nd half when we needed him because lots of our players were in foul trouble

He scored 12 in the 1st half...
If he would have scored 12 in the second half it would have been a completely different game (maybe)...

But i guess any team that makes 10+ 3's, outrebounds, and have less turn-overs... always have a good chance to win

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

jross1972 (Johann Ross) says...

THE FOLLOWING IS A POST BY JBURTIN. I WAS KIND OF UPSET READING IT BUT WITH SOME REFLECTION HAD TO ADMIT IT'S ENTIRELY TRUE. INCIDENTALLY, ILL PROBABLY PLASTER THIS IN SEVERAL PLACES, SO IF YOU DONT LIKE IT MOVE ON.

WITHOUT FURTHER ADO, HERE'S THE WISDOM:

"People talk about getting revenge in Allen Fieldhouse. Sure, our players might win the game, maybe even win it big, but I hope it burns in their minds that they were supposedly one of the best KU teams in the past 24 years, yet they were also the only KU team in 24 years to go to Manhattan and get owned by an 18 year old punk kid with a big mouth.

We have guys that are the same size and speed as Beasley. He just works hard at his game instead of expecting the name on his jersey to win the game for him. Maybe our basketball players need to watch a few reruns of our football games this year and figure out what really makes a champion.

We've played some decent basketball this year, and won some good games, but this is one Jayhawk that is sick and tired of hearing about over-hyped KU teams that never back up their talk with wins when it matters the most.

It either time to bring home a banner, or quit patting ourselves on the back for how great we are. 20 years since our last championship is not the elite level basketball we claim to play."

-JBurtin

January 31, 2008 at 2:49 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

jayhawker_97 (anonymous) says...

here's my wishdome:

Oklahoma, Mizzou, etc.. have guys the same size & speed as our guys. we beat them. men are not created equally. some will excel, some will do ok, some are just so-so. we've got better football team, if not the same, as Mizzou, we still lost.

did you ever consider the Jayhawks as over-hyped team had we won by 2 (had Beasley scored 33 pts)? i don't think so.. stop being grumpy.. i don't consider your points as wisdom.. get a life!!
go Jayhawks!!

January 31, 2008 at 4:32 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

wats211 (anonymous) says...

K-state really impressed me last night...they were the better team..at least last night....the game in allen should be a lot of fun......greatly anticipating the rematch!!!!!!!!!

January 31, 2008 at 4:41 p.m. ( | suggest removal )