No telling who will start for Kansas’ basketball team on Saturday night against the Italian National Team.
“I find myself changing it daily,” KU coach Larry Brown said about his starting lineup.
Tipoff for the exhibition game is 7:30 p.m. in Allen Fieldhouse.
“There’s Kevin, Danny and Archie to start, I think,” Brown noted, referring to guard Kevin Pritchard, plus forwards Danny Manning and Archie Marshall.
“I can’t tell the others. Pipe has an injury. It might last all year,” he said, referring to senior forward Chris Piper. “He pulled a groin muscle. The muscle pulled away and chipped a bone.”
Point guard also looms as a question mark.
“Nobody is showing the leadership we need,” said Brown. “Right now, Kevin is back there. He’s doing all right, but it takes away from other things he can do. I like having Kevin at scoring guard, rather than having him get us in our offense and defense.
“If Milt (Newton) plays with Kevin, Milt would be the off guard. If Lincoln (Minor), Otis (Livingston) or Scooter (Barry) steps forward, Kevin is the off-guard. It’s confusing now. I wish we could take certain things from Otis, Lincoln and Scooter. Then we’d be all right. We’d be pretty special.”
Center Marvin Branch’s status will also help determine the lineup. The 6-10 junior has not been dominant yet.
“I think he’s trying to get comfortable with what we’re trying to do,” Brown said. “I usually am hard on new kids. Some adjust quicker than others. He’s not in the condition he needs to be. Sometimes kids get tired at practice and stop learning.”
Brown realizes practices are different from games. His opinions of some players may change on Saturday night.
“Rick Barry was the worst practice player I’ve ever seen. If somebody paid to see him play, he was phenomenal,” said Brown. “Some are entirely different players when you put ’em before a crowd.”
Brown doesn’t know what to expect from his Jayhawks. he is, however, anticipating great things from the Italian team, which opened its six-game U.S> swing by losing to Duke, 98-79, on Thursday night. The Italians will also face Iowa, Michigan State, Dayton and Arkansas on their U.S. trip.
“I suspect they’ll be one of the stronger Olympic teams along with Yugoslavia and Russia,” said Brown. “At the World Championships, they were right behind Yugoslavia.
“They came here in ’84 and played six games against fine schools. They went 5-1 and lost their last game to Indiana in overtime. They’ve won the European championships the past four or five years.”
The Jayhawks have a 48-game home winning streak, but this game won’t count in that skein.
“Last year, I felt our best game all season was the Russian game early,” Brown said of KU’s 84-78 win. “I hope the Italian game is not our best game of the year. We need a game now. It’ll let us judge how far we are.”
His overall opinion of KU’s team prior to the game?
“For the most part the effort has been great,” Brown said. “Deep down the kids want to do what’s right. The effort and attitude has been darn good.”
ITALIAN NATIONAL TEAM ROSTER
Fausto Bagna, Age 27, 6-9 center; Giuseppe Bosa, 23, 6-9 forward; Roberto Brunamonti, 28, 6-3 guard; Flavio Carera, 28, 6-9 center; Ario Costa, 26, 6-11 center; Sandro Dell’Agnello, 26, 6-2 guard; Ferdinando Gentile, 20, 6-3 guard; Walter Magnifico, 26, 6-9 center; Riccardo Morandotti, 22, 6-6 forward; Andrea Niccolai, 19, 6-4 guard; Antonello Riva, 25, 6-4 forward; Stefano Rusconi, 19, 6-9 center; Francesco Vescovi, 23, 6-7 center. Coach: Alessandro Gamba.
