A twinge of post-Archie Marshall depression no doubt lingers over the Kansas basketball team even today.
It was just a week ago tonight that the 6-6 senior forward crumpled to the Madison Square Garden floor, his left knee damaged so severely that his college career is over.
“It’s hard…it’s really hard,” teammate and friend Danny Manning confirmed. “We’re a group and we all love Archie, and we know he cares about us.”
So as the Jayhawks went into their first game without Marshall on Monday night at Washington, a sense of curiosity and urgency surrounded his replacement.
Coach Larry Brown had stated he would use senior Chris Piper to fill Marshall’s shoes against the Huskies. That seemed to make sense. After all, Piper was a starter last year, and Marshall was basically filling Piper’s old position this season.
In the meantime, Piper, off to a slow start because of injuries, had moved inside as a back-up post player. Eventually, though, some thought Marshall’s injury would force Brown to use Keith Harris, the 6-6 sophomore who has played only a little more than the red-shirts.
Ah, but neither Piper nor Harris started on Monday. Instead the job went to Milt Newton, a fourth-year junior who seemed to have “Non-Starter Forever” stencilled on his forehead.
Until Monday night, Newton had played in 71 Kansas gagmes and started a grand total of three of ’em.
Yet a few hours before tipoff – after the team meal – Brown gave Newton the news. He would start. Why Newton?
“Milt deserves to play,” said Brown after the Jayhawks rallied for a 67-57 victory over the Huskies. “He tries hard every day in practice.”
Newton played 29 minutes, scored a career-high 12 points, grabbed eight boards and, in retrospect, performed well for being perhaps the rustiest experienced player on the KU roster.
“You’ve gotta give credit to the guys who came in for Archie,” said Manning. “Milt stepped in and filled a hole.”
Basically, the 11 minutes Newton wasn’t on the floor belonged to soph Jeff Gueldner and freshman Mike Maddox. Harris? He never doffed his warm-ups. Piper? He logged 23 minutes, but all of it as a reserve post player.
Newton deserved a chance, yes, but more important he possesses the potential to score from the outside, and if the Jayhawks don’t start scoring from the outside…well, they’re in trouble.
That Washington employed a sagging zone against the Jayhawks tells you why. Washington coach Andy Russo had used man-to-man in his club’s first 10 games.
Russo scrapped his staple defense for one reason – to stop you-know-who. In effect, he did, too, because Danny Manning took only 11 shots, and on most of those it was a wonder he was able to unload.
It’s ironic that when Manning announced he would return for his senior season that he did so, in part, because he felt Kansas would have the outside shooting to keep those sagging zones off him.
Now, unless Newton or Kevin Pritchard or somebody else comes through, Manning will see nothing but those pesky frustrating zones the rest of the season.
Thus Newton, although it may be oversimplifying, could be the key to the remainder of the season. Or as Brown said: “He’s gotta step forward now.”
The potential is there, no doubt about it. Newton played for the Virgin Islands in the Pan American Games last summer, averaging 20 points a game for the nation of his birth (his folks moved to D.C. when he was three).
In a game against eventual Pan Am champ Brazil, Newton scored 32 points while cashing 7 of 11 shots from three-point range.
All Newton has to do is replace Marshall’s 9.5 points and 4.4 rebounds a game. Not that much to ask, really.
Maybe Newton, after biding his time longer than any other Jayhawk, has reached the points in his career where, like the child thrown into the water and told to sink or swim, it’s either do-or-die.
