New York ? Now that Kansas has weathered the Red Storm and beaten back the Bruins on back-to-back nights in the Big Apple, I have two questions.
1) Will every game the Jayhawks play against a quality opponent cause their fans fingernail damage?
2) Will the Jayhawks ever play 40 minutes without at least one player battling foul trouble?
Time will tell, of course, but you have to feel warm and fuzzy about Kansas after the Jayhawks captured the championship trophy of the Coaches Vs. Cancer Classic on Friday night at Madison Square Garden.
Kansas survived a hot-shooting UCLA team in the first round on Thursday night and the Jayhawks survived a young but athletic St. John’s team on their home floor in the title game.
How did Kansas do it?
Mainly with very good shooting and with several players, notably Kenny Gregory, performing admirably in unaccustomed roles as ironmen.
In Roy Williams’ rotation system, it’s rare when one player logs more than 30 minutes. Yet on Friday night, five Jayhawks played 30 minutes or more, led by tourney MVP Gregory’s 37 minutes, including the entire second half. Gregory did the same thing against UCLA on Thursday.
Williams had to hark back to his first season at Kansas (1988-89) to recall one of his players (Mark Randall) spending that much time on the floor on successive nights.
Obviously, Williams would prefer not to have five players spending 30 or more minutes on the floor every night, and that situation figures to change once Luke Axtell returns from the sprained ankle that forced him to watch his teammates on television back in Lawrence.
“Luke will probably get 20 to 25 minutes at least, and that will take everybody’s minutes down,” Williams said.
No question the G&G boys were the Kansas catalysts. Gooden had 22 points and 10 boards off the bench while Gregory chipped in with 17 points and 10 rebounds.
Heck, Gregory, a notoriously poor free thrower, nailed three of four charities. Meanwhile, Gooden struggled at the line, missing four of seven free throws in the last 2:13.
Afterward, Gooden was able to joke about his inaccuracy at the foul stripe, comparing his woes to Gregory’s.
“I’m his roommate,” Gooden said, smiling, “and I think that rubbed off on me tonight.”
While Gooden, who made the all-tourney team, and Gregory wore the garlands, the unsung hero of this two-night stand had to be Mario Kinsey, the freshman guard who came to KU on a football scholarship with the stipulation he could also play basketball.
Suddenly, Kinsey is the Jayhawks’ third guard. When Jeff Boschee and Kirk Hinrich have to take a seat whether for fatigue or foul trouble Kinsey is the man. And the 6-foot-1 Texan left little doubt Friday night he can do it. In 19 minutes of duty, Kinsey contributed four points, four assists, a team-high three steals and just one turnover.
Kinsey had the quickness and athleticism to counteract St. John’s talented freshman backcourt of Omar Cook and Willie Shaw.
“He did a good job last night and he played even better tonight,” Williams said of Kinsey, who was wearing at KU football uniform less than a month ago. “It’s not a case of a football player taking up basketball. He’s a cocky little rascal. He was important to us tonight, and I think he’ll continue to be.”
Still, the most important aspect of this vanguard tourney for Kansas was this: Twice the Jayhawks forged double-digit leads, twice they lost those leads late and yet they had the wherewithal to take a hit and keep on swinging.
“We showed our composure down the stretch in both games,” Gregory said, “and that’s a compliment to our team.”
In fact, it’s the best compliment any basketball team can receive.