Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Keegan

Keegan: Kaun picking up pace

By Tom Keegan

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Jayhawks sweep border showdown

The KU men's basketball team took both games against the Missouri Tigers this year with their win Monday night in Allen Fieldhouse.

Useless trivia with DJ

DJ Whetter and Kevin Romary play useless fieldhouse trivia.

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KU vs. Missouri

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2007-08 Feb. 4 KU-Mizzou Hoops

Nothing quite does the smelling-salts trick for a senior athlete quite like seeing the finish line not too far in the distance. Too few games are left to waste any of them by blowing opportunities. Sometimes, seniors finish with a flurry nobody quite knew they even had.

Sasha Kaun, Kansas University's 6-foot-11 senior reserve center, has that look about him lately, the look of a guy who just started his kick to the tape. He played with such passion in Monday night's 90-71 victory against rival Missouri inside Allen Fieldhouse in front of the loudest home crowd of the season.

Kaun packed a full game's worth of production into 13 minutes of playing time, drew as many spirited ovations as anybody and even got caught up in the emotion himself. Normally, the only change in his expression comes when he slowly opens his mouth to pull out his mouthpiece. After one of his two and-one buckets Monday, Kaun jumped into the air and kicked his legs. What it lacked in style it made up for in originality. He's not that accustomed to celebrating his own feats. He's on the robotic side, which can be a good thing after plays, but not always during them.

After the game, he was asked what had gotten into him lately.

"I don't know," Kaun said. "It's getting toward the end of the season. Maybe I'm starting to wake up a little. Coach told me to be a little more active, a little more loose on the court."

Asked and answered.

Kaun totaled 12 points, four rebounds (all on the offensive glass) and two blocked shots. In the past two games, Kaun has played 34 minutes and produced 24 points, seven rebounds and three blocked shots. Wait, it gets better. He made six of seven free throws in the Colorado and Missouri victories. Honest.

KU coach Bill Self routinely refers to his "seven starters," meaning his starting five, Kaun and Sherron Collins. As rapidly as active, skilled, driven freshman post player Cole Aldrich is improving, Kaun could have been in danger of getting bumped out of his role as the first big man off the bench, if not for the recent upward trend in his performance.

Aldrich, not as strong and not nearly as experienced as Kaun, has a much higher ceiling as a basketball player. He's a smoother offensive player, an even better shot-blocker and a more productive rebounder, in part because he has superior hands. Aldrich totaled six points and nine rebounds in 12 minutes against the shorter Tigers (13-10 overall, 3-5 in the Big 12).

Aldrich has three more seasons after this one to make his mark. Kaun's running out of time, which makes every game he plays in the Fieldhouse a potentially memorable one. The crowd got a huge kick out of the "Star Trek" video that played on the board, the one in which Captain James T. Kirk, over-acted by William Shatner, hollers the name of his evil rival, "Khan," over and over. With each holler during a timeout, the crowd roared louder. Kaun was busy receiving coaching.

"I heard about it," Kaun said, laughing. "I've never seen it, but I'm definitely going to try to look at it before I leave here."

The finish line is creeping into Kaun's conversations more and more lately. He's not getting all weepy about it or anything, but he is letting a little more Captain Kirk into his Mr. Spock emotional makeup. It suits him well.

KU vs. MU

Comments

goldlighting (anonymous) says...

Ah, how sweet, two or three good games and his jersey is ready to be retired. NOT!

February 5, 2008 at 9:07 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

hawk4evr (anonymous) says...

What's the matter goldlighting, you sound jealous. to bad MU doesn't have anyone to stop Kaun. go back to your tigger blogs

February 5, 2008 at 9:24 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

jcepp (anonymous) says...

Kaun deserves the love. One of the brightest spots for the Jayhawks, at the halfway point of the Big 12 season, is how Kaun has blossomed in his current role.

Shooting well over 60%, rebounding strong, getting to the line, and recently, making his free throws.

Kaun will continue to struggle as a traditional post up, back to the basket guy. He struggles to get his shot off, especially when help slides over and he fights through two guys.

He is at his best hitting the offensive glass, getting the cheap ones off dribble penetration from our guards as well as the odd lob or transition basket.

Having a dude like that on our bench is an amazing luxury. Big guys get in foul trouble from time to time and having two starter quality guys in reserve is huge.

Other bright spots:
Collins getting his quicks back. He looks much quicker than a week or so and while he is often outta control by the time he beats two guys to get to the rim, at least he's blowing past guys. Hopfully he'll start to finish a little better and regain his 3-pt touch.

Rush's elevation. He is getting stronger every week too. Also watch him set his feet on 3-pt trys. It's a clinic.

As bad as Aldrich was at receiving passes last night, he showed some promise in terms of playing more serious minutes and contributing on the glass and the defensive end. It's a bright spot that the team was willing to feed him on pick and rolls . . . I think that he'll be better prepared to finsh strong next time.

In limited time, it was nice to see Arthur get to the line. If he gave us 28 minutes like he played the 2nd half, he'd be a 20-10 guy.

DJack is playing so solid all around.

Chalmers too.

Things we could fine tune:

Out of control drives to the hoop by RussRob and Collins. No point in beating your guy off the dribble if you can't finish.

Tighter play by Stewart. If we want to keep Rush rested, and I am on record saying we should cap Rush at 28-30 minutes, we need Stew to come in, play solid D and not make mistakes. Bad passes and ugly 3-point bricks equal more minutes for Rush. It seems like when we sit Rush, we should focus on the bigs a little more. Solid play from Stew 3 mins at a stretch would be a big plus.

Is our defensive intensity where it was at the end of last year? Not yet. But we're not far off.

I'd also be remiss not to comment on the fantastic feed from Arthur to Chalmers at CU. Best pass from a KU big man since the Manning era. OK, Julian had a bunch too, but he hit the pep squad way too often.

Things are bright for the 'Hawks and with a little fine tuning, a long run in the Show seems certain.

Rock Chalk

February 5, 2008 at 10:15 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

LAJayhawk (anonymous) says...

Couldn't agree with you more hawk4evr. Seriously, Kaun has had a lot more than "two or three good games," and last night he looked fantastic. He's shooting 67%, with a 1.78 pps, which is the best on the team (it has finally passed Teahan), and he is an excellent post defender. Unfortunately he is not getting the recognition he deserves, because of the drastic improvement and wonderful play of DJack. An article like this is FAR from retiring the jersey, so calm down. It's simply some much deserved and long awaited praise for a guy who has clearly raised his game lately.

February 5, 2008 at 10:27 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

LAJayhawk (anonymous) says...

djkc28, if you "haven't seen any noticeable difference lately" then you just haven't been watching.

And if you want an article on Aldrich, how about reading the one posted today? Here you go:

http://www2.kusports.com/news/2008/fe...

As for "our recent slump at KSU," I'm pretty sure there were about 17 articles on it. Click on Men's B-Ball on left column and knock yourself out.

I'm just not sure what the problem is with a short article on a guy who has been very solid for us off the bench the last several weeks. Do you guys just need something to complain about?

February 5, 2008 at 10:42 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

easyfive (anonymous) says...

What is up with Russ and Sherron?
Has Bill's fast, fast, and faster way of thinking screwed these kids timing out wack or what?
Bill, it is fast but, don't hurry!!!

I think Kaun and Cole is playing with the most heart, and passion right now. And should be starting now!
Kaun, Cole, Rush, Mario, Jackson starting line up.

February 5, 2008 at 10:51 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

Studogg (anonymous) says...

Way to sound like a major jerk, goldlighting. Great article on a guy who has always worked hard and is now, finally, discovering his niche on this team. You can tell he is much more comfortable in his current role. No one is saying "retire the jersey," just a few props for a devoted Jayhawk playing well right now.

February 5, 2008 at 11:11 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

vmwskywalk (anonymous) says...

LA, you notice that djkc28 wasn't around until after the loss to KSU. That is how he is. Just likes to bi%ch and moan, and he's never been a fan of Kaun.

Give Kaun the credit he deserves. He's looked great ever since he started playing the backup role, and he just keeps getting better.

February 5, 2008 at 11:13 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

goldlighting (anonymous) says...

LOL, you poor souls, it was more a digg at Keegan than anything, I still have not forgiven him for picking VT over KU in the Orange Bowl. With that said I stand by my first post, Kaun was another Chenowith up to three or four games ago but I am encouraged by his improvement. Wow, can you imagine if he played like he has the past few games the few minutes he had against UCLA in the great 8 last year.

February 5, 2008 at 12:52 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

didjabuti (anonymous) says...

Is that video on youtube? No need to worry about a link, I'm just curious and can't get on at work.

February 5, 2008 at 4:48 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

dagger108 (anonymous) says...

One of those nice things to remember about Kaun is that he started playing BB late (~ Darnell). My guess is that he will never have the fluidity that others have, but I think all the time he has invested at Pete Newell's Big Man Camp, ... is really showing in he defense more than anything. Against K-State & Mizzoo he had 2 almost identical blocks of bigs (Beasley, ?) trying to cross the lane. I think that was part of what drove Beasley out to 3 pt range. Sasha was stuffing him inside.

You have to really admire the improvement in his FT shooting, as well as most of the team in all but one game (?) in 2008.

Yes, he will always have his limitations, but he has far exceeded Chenowith.

February 5, 2008 at 7:52 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

LAJayhawk (anonymous) says...

He didn't follow Dave Matthews around last summer.........

February 6, 2008 at 12:39 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

cklarock (anonymous) says...

It was great to see Kaun play within the flow of the game, with intensity and emotion. I've felt like he's a guy who had the most crucial 90% of his game for a while now, but was waiting for the final 10% to drop into place. His footwork and positioning look good, his moves are classics, and lately his shot has been falling.

Gotta love seniors.

KAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUN!

http://animated.ytmnd.com/

February 6, 2008 at 1:24 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

didjabuti (anonymous) says...

classic, thanks

February 6, 2008 at 11:12 a.m. ( | suggest removal )