Bryant Nash admits he had some big-time butterflies before his college basketball debut against UCLA on Thursday at the Coaches Vs. Cancer Classic at Madison Square Garden.
“I was not too comfortable the first night,” said Nash, who had no points, a rebound and a wild turnover while playing the first half of KU’s 99-98 victory.
“It was my first TV game and I didn’t react very well.”
KU coach Roy Williams sat Nash the entire second half, using tourney MVP Kenny Gregory the final 20 minutes mostly at the small forward slot.
In the final, Nash, a 6-6 1/2, 200-pound frosh from Carrollton, Texas, had a slam dunk in three minutes in KU’s 82-74 win over St. John’s.
“I felt better. I tried to run the floor like I do at practice,” Nash said.
He said that’s what college basketball is all about compared to high school running, running, running.
“It’s what I expected a bunch of guys sprinting the floor,” Nash said.
“Right now I’m trying to adjust to playing outside. I was a post man in high school, so it will take some time.”
He said he wasn’t intimidated by the trash-talking St. John’s players in the Cancer Tourney final.
“They didn’t get in my head,” Nash said.
Some reporter asked KU point guard Kirk Hinrich if the Jayhawks played too “passive” against St. John’s.
Huh? The Jayhawks were all over the court diving for basketballs and pushing the ball the entire 40 minutes.
“No I don’t think we were passive,” Hinrich said, probably wondering what planet the reporter hailed from.
He had a big game with a career-high 11 assists and helped hold frosh bomber Omar Cook to 4-of-16 three-point shooting.
Nick Collison started all but one game a year ago for 24-10 KU.
He started one of two games at the Coaches Vs. Cancer Classic.
“It doesn’t matter. A lot of people may say it does,” said Collison, a 6-9 1/2, 250-pound sophomore from Iowa Falls, Iowa.
“Anybody who knows anything about basketball knows there’s not a lot of difference between me, Eric (Chenowith) and Drew (Gooden),” Collison added.
“I told coach I’m fine with it. If it’s a good situation for our team, if others care about it, I told him I’d be fine with coming off the bench. I really don’t care. The bottom line is winning this year. We’re not letting selfish stuff happen this year. No way that will happen.”
Against UCLA, Williams started Hinrich, Jeff Boschee, Chenowith, Gooden and Gregory. Against St. John’s, Collison joined Hinrich, Boschee, Chenowith and Gregory.
Gooden didn’t start the final because Collison and Chenowith had better defensive grades against UCLA.
Collison hopes he can adjust to a stricter of enforcement of rules involving physical play down low. “They way the refs are calling the game, they are not letting me get too physical,” Collison said.
“We’ll have to see if it keeps up all year. I would think a season-opening tournament at The Garden would make them (officials) want to show they are serious about it (emphasis on curtailing overly physical play) early.”
KU junior guard John Crider didn’t meet with Roy Williams on Sunday, so it’s unknown whether his transfer plans to Washburn will be finalized today. A source close to Crider has said barring some wacky turnaround, he’s an Ichabod.
