Kansas City, Mo. ? Kirk Hinrich will probably play about 10 minutes at the point and 20 on the wing during tonight’s Kansas-Tulsa men’s basketball game (8:05 p.m., Kemper Arena).
But who’s counting?
“When I’m out there, I don’t go, ‘Oh gee, I haven’t played the one (point) yet.’ I get caught up in the game. Whatever happens, happens,” said Hinrich, KU’s 6-foot-3, 185-pound junior guard/forward, who works the wing when freshman point guard Aaron Miles is in the game.
Hinrich doesn’t log his minutes, but does admit cherishing each and every moment at the point, where he played exclusively his first two years at Kansas.
“Yeah, I like it,” he said. “It’s just I feel a lot more comfortable. It’s like, ‘OK, I can relax now, I’m so used to it.”‘
Hinrich is averaging 14.1 points and 6.1 assists per game for the Jayhawks, who like Tulsa, enter tonight’s nonconference holiday clash with a 9-1 mark.
“I think if he had a choice he’d rather play the point. It’s what he’s always done,” KU junior Nick Collison said of Hinrich. “Ever since he started playing, he played the point. He has adjusted to different positions. He’s definitely producing at other spots, too.”
Hinrich is producing on offense and defense.
Despite facing players two to five inches taller, he’s won KU’s defensive player of the award “seven or eight times,” KU coach Roy Williams said.
“Kirk has the savvy and toughness to do both things,” Williams said. “What he is giving us is 20 minutes a game in a spot he is not perfectly suited to play and done a fantastic job of it.
“Even guarding big guys, he’s fronted them enough he has a couple steals and made them throw it away. A big positive he’s given us … Kirk can really run,” the coach added. “He’s given us spurts where even after a basket he takes off, Aaron finds him and he can lay it up.”
Despite his productivity and versatility, Hinrich hasn’t received much acclaim nationally. It was hard to find his name on any lists of top guards or forwards during the preseason.
“Maybe I do,” Hinrich said, asked if he gets overlooked. “Drew (Gooden) and Nick get a lot of publicity and deservedly so. We have a bunch of good freshmen on this team. When I listen to somebody announce the game, I don’t say, ‘I’m not getting any respect.’ It doesn’t really go through my mind.
“I do think I’m underrated,” he added. “Every time I go out there I try to prove how good I am and prove how good our team can be. I think I can do a lot of things people don’t realize. But I am not caught up in that. I am caught up in finishing the nonconference schedule strong and going in the conference with momentum.”
Is Hinrich underrated?
“Not around here. We all appreciate what he does and the local media does, but nationally he definitely is (underrated),” Collison said. “There are not many guys who can do what he does.”
Hinrich is hitting 57 percent of his shots, including 32.4 percent of his three-pointers. A year ago, Hinrich hit a school and Big 12 record 50.5 percent of his threes.
“I started out really slow but I had not had that many attempts. I’d go maybe one for four a couple games and my percentage would look horrible,” Hinrich said. “Lately it feels it’s getting better. It feels the basket is getting bigger. It’s going in more often.”
Hinrich has hit four of his last nine threes and 12 of 37 total compared to 55 of 109 a year ago.
“When he shoots it now, every time I think it’s going in,” Williams said. “I think before the end of the year nobody is going to talk about the first 10 games. They’ll say he shot well from three-point (range) again. You are talking about a kid who set the record for the Big 12 conference. He will be knocking in a bunch of those.”
Wooden list: Collison and Gooden were named to the John R. Wooden Award Midseason Top 30 list on Friday. Other Big 12 players on the list are Kareem Rush (Missouri), Chris Owens (Texas) and Maurice Baker (Oklahoma State).
Everybody’s back: Williams said all 15 Jayhawks returned from a four-day Christmas vacation in time for Thursday night’s practice at Allen Fieldhouse. The Jayhawks shot free throws on Friday morning, then practiced Friday afternoon at Kemper Arena.
There’s no time for a Kemper shootaround today because the Kansas City Knights have the building reserved for a noon game.
“They have a little more bounce, a little more energy. They had four days off,” Williams said. “We do talk about them getting in some shooting done at home. It is possible to get out of shape in four days.”
Will four days rest help freshmen Wayne Simien and Keith Langford, who have had knee and ankle problems?
“Of course it helps. It’s four days rest, but will it help them measurably enough when we play games? It’s wait and see,” Williams said.
He said the plan is still to limit power forward Simien to about 15 minutes a game. “It’s my goal going in the game, yet if Drew gets 17 fouls in the first minute or Nick, it could change things. Right now we want to make sure Wayne doesn’t get tired and start laboring and favoring his leg or anything,” Williams said.
Of KU’s conditioning, Collison noted: “Yesterday I felt a little winded. I think everyone did. Hopefully we’ll be fine out there. We’ve got a deep team. Mentally the guys are recharged so to speak. Physically we might be winded.”
Travel tricky: Hinrich and Collison experienced some snowstorm white-out problems on their drives from Grand Forks, N.D., to their respective hometowns of Sioux City, Iowa and Iowa Falls, after last Saturday’s game at North Dakota.
Hinrich and Collison made the drive in separate cars with their parents, as did Jeff Carey (Camdenton, Mo.) and Jeff Boschee (Valley City, N.D.).
The rest of the Jayhawks rode the bus 13 hours to Kansas City International Airport.
“It was pretty bad. You could hardly see anything from Grand Forks to Fargo,” Hinrich said.
“We were going 35 to 40 mph for an hour,” Collison said. “We got south a ways and it was fine.”
Kansas City, Mo. ? Kirk Hinrich will probably play about 10 minutes at the point and 20 on the wing during tonight’s Kansas-Tulsa men’s basketball game (8:05 p.m., Kemper Arena).
But who’s counting?
“When I’m out there, I don’t go, ‘Oh gee, I haven’t played the one (point) yet.’ I get caught up in the game. Whatever happens, happens,” said Hinrich, KU’s 6-foot-3, 185-pound junior guard/forward, who works the wing when freshman point guard Aaron Miles is in the game.
Hinrich doesn’t log his minutes, but does admit cherishing each and every moment at the point, where he played exclusively his first two years at Kansas.
“Yeah, I like it,” he said. “It’s just I feel a lot more comfortable. It’s like, ‘OK, I can relax now, I’m so used to it.”‘
Hinrich is averaging 14.1 points and 6.1 assists per game for the Jayhawks, who like Tulsa, enter tonight’s nonconference holiday clash with a 9-1 mark.
“I think if he had a choice he’d rather play the point. It’s what he’s always done,” KU junior Nick Collison said of Hinrich. “Ever since he started playing, he played the point. He has adjusted to different positions. He’s definitely producing at other spots, too.”
Hinrich is producing on offense and defense.
Despite facing players two to five inches taller, he’s won KU’s defensive player of the award “seven or eight times,” KU coach Roy Williams said.
“Kirk has the savvy and toughness to do both things,” Williams said. “What he is giving us is 20 minutes a game in a spot he is not perfectly suited to play and done a fantastic job of it.
“Even guarding big guys, he’s fronted them enough he has a couple steals and made them throw it away. A big positive he’s given us … Kirk can really run,” the coach added. “He’s given us spurts where even after a basket he takes off, Aaron finds him and he can lay it up.”
Despite his productivity and versatility, Hinrich hasn’t received much acclaim nationally. It was hard to find his name on any lists of top guards or forwards during the preseason.
“Maybe I do,” Hinrich said, asked if he gets overlooked. “Drew (Gooden) and Nick get a lot of publicity and deservedly so. We have a bunch of good freshmen on this team. When I listen to somebody announce the game, I don’t say, ‘I’m not getting any respect.’ It doesn’t really go through my mind.
“I do think I’m underrated,” he added. “Every time I go out there I try to prove how good I am and prove how good our team can be. I think I can do a lot of things people don’t realize. But I am not caught up in that. I am caught up in finishing the nonconference schedule strong and going in the conference with momentum.”
Is Hinrich underrated?
“Not around here. We all appreciate what he does and the local media does, but nationally he definitely is (underrated),” Collison said. “There are not many guys who can do what he does.”
Hinrich is hitting 57 percent of his shots, including 32.4 percent of his three-pointers. A year ago, Hinrich hit a school and Big 12 record 50.5 percent of his threes.
“I started out really slow but I had not had that many attempts. I’d go maybe one for four a couple games and my percentage would look horrible,” Hinrich said. “Lately it feels it’s getting better. It feels the basket is getting bigger. It’s going in more often.”
Hinrich has hit four of his last nine threes and 12 of 37 total compared to 55 of 109 a year ago.
“When he shoots it now, every time I think it’s going in,” Williams said. “I think before the end of the year nobody is going to talk about the first 10 games. They’ll say he shot well from three-point (range) again. You are talking about a kid who set the record for the Big 12 conference. He will be knocking in a bunch of those.”
Wooden list: Collison and Gooden were named to the John R. Wooden Award Midseason Top 30 list on Friday. Other Big 12 players on the list are Kareem Rush (Missouri), Chris Owens (Texas) and Maurice Baker (Oklahoma State).
Everybody’s back: Williams said all 15 Jayhawks returned from a four-day Christmas vacation in time for Thursday night’s practice at Allen Fieldhouse. The Jayhawks shot free throws on Friday morning, then practiced Friday afternoon at Kemper Arena.
There’s no time for a Kemper shootaround today because the Kansas City Knights have the building reserved for a noon game.
“They have a little more bounce, a little more energy. They had four days off,” Williams said. “We do talk about them getting in some shooting done at home. It is possible to get out of shape in four days.”
Will four days rest help freshmen Wayne Simien and Keith Langford, who have had knee and ankle problems?
“Of course it helps. It’s four days rest, but will it help them measurably enough when we play games? It’s wait and see,” Williams said.
He said the plan is still to limit power forward Simien to about 15 minutes a game. “It’s my goal going in the game, yet if Drew gets 17 fouls in the first minute or Nick, it could change things. Right now we want to make sure Wayne doesn’t get tired and start laboring and favoring his leg or anything,” Williams said.
Of KU’s conditioning, Collison noted: “Yesterday I felt a little winded. I think everyone did. Hopefully we’ll be fine out there. We’ve got a deep team. Mentally the guys are recharged so to speak. Physically we might be winded.”
Travel tricky: Hinrich and Collison experienced some snowstorm white-out problems on their drives from Grand Forks, N.D., to their respective hometowns of Sioux City, Iowa and Iowa Falls, after last Saturday’s game at North Dakota.
Hinrich and Collison made the drive in separate cars with their parents, as did Jeff Carey (Camdenton, Mo.) and Jeff Boschee (Valley City, N.D.).
The rest of the Jayhawks rode the bus 13 hours to Kansas City International Airport.
“It was pretty bad. You could hardly see anything from Grand Forks to Fargo,” Hinrich said.
“We were going 35 to 40 mph for an hour,” Collison said. “We got south a ways and it was fine.”
Kansas City, Mo. ? Kirk Hinrich will probably play about 10 minutes at the point and 20 on the wing during tonight’s Kansas-Tulsa men’s basketball game (8:05 p.m., Kemper Arena).
But who’s counting?
“When I’m out there, I don’t go, ‘Oh gee, I haven’t played the one (point) yet.’ I get caught up in the game. Whatever happens, happens,” said Hinrich, KU’s 6-foot-3, 185-pound junior guard/forward, who works the wing when freshman point guard Aaron Miles is in the game.
Hinrich doesn’t log his minutes, but does admit cherishing each and every moment at the point, where he played exclusively his first two years at Kansas.
“Yeah, I like it,” he said. “It’s just I feel a lot more comfortable. It’s like, ‘OK, I can relax now, I’m so used to it.”‘
Hinrich is averaging 14.1 points and 6.1 assists per game for the Jayhawks, who like Tulsa, enter tonight’s nonconference holiday clash with a 9-1 mark.
“I think if he had a choice he’d rather play the point. It’s what he’s always done,” KU junior Nick Collison said of Hinrich. “Ever since he started playing, he played the point. He has adjusted to different positions. He’s definitely producing at other spots, too.”
Hinrich is producing on offense and defense.
Despite facing players two to five inches taller, he’s won KU’s defensive player of the award “seven or eight times,” KU coach Roy Williams said.
“Kirk has the savvy and toughness to do both things,” Williams said. “What he is giving us is 20 minutes a game in a spot he is not perfectly suited to play and done a fantastic job of it.
“Even guarding big guys, he’s fronted them enough he has a couple steals and made them throw it away. A big positive he’s given us … Kirk can really run,” the coach added. “He’s given us spurts where even after a basket he takes off, Aaron finds him and he can lay it up.”
Despite his productivity and versatility, Hinrich hasn’t received much acclaim nationally. It was hard to find his name on any lists of top guards or forwards during the preseason.
“Maybe I do,” Hinrich said, asked if he gets overlooked. “Drew (Gooden) and Nick get a lot of publicity and deservedly so. We have a bunch of good freshmen on this team. When I listen to somebody announce the game, I don’t say, ‘I’m not getting any respect.’ It doesn’t really go through my mind.
“I do think I’m underrated,” he added. “Every time I go out there I try to prove how good I am and prove how good our team can be. I think I can do a lot of things people don’t realize. But I am not caught up in that. I am caught up in finishing the nonconference schedule strong and going in the conference with momentum.”
Is Hinrich underrated?
“Not around here. We all appreciate what he does and the local media does, but nationally he definitely is (underrated),” Collison said. “There are not many guys who can do what he does.”
Hinrich is hitting 57 percent of his shots, including 32.4 percent of his three-pointers. A year ago, Hinrich hit a school and Big 12 record 50.5 percent of his threes.
“I started out really slow but I had not had that many attempts. I’d go maybe one for four a couple games and my percentage would look horrible,” Hinrich said. “Lately it feels it’s getting better. It feels the basket is getting bigger. It’s going in more often.”
Hinrich has hit four of his last nine threes and 12 of 37 total compared to 55 of 109 a year ago.
“When he shoots it now, every time I think it’s going in,” Williams said. “I think before the end of the year nobody is going to talk about the first 10 games. They’ll say he shot well from three-point (range) again. You are talking about a kid who set the record for the Big 12 conference. He will be knocking in a bunch of those.”
Wooden list: Collison and Gooden were named to the John R. Wooden Award Midseason Top 30 list on Friday. Other Big 12 players on the list are Kareem Rush (Missouri), Chris Owens (Texas) and Maurice Baker (Oklahoma State).
Everybody’s back: Williams said all 15 Jayhawks returned from a four-day Christmas vacation in time for Thursday night’s practice at Allen Fieldhouse. The Jayhawks shot free throws on Friday morning, then practiced Friday afternoon at Kemper Arena.
There’s no time for a Kemper shootaround today because the Kansas City Knights have the building reserved for a noon game.
“They have a little more bounce, a little more energy. They had four days off,” Williams said. “We do talk about them getting in some shooting done at home. It is possible to get out of shape in four days.”
Will four days rest help freshmen Wayne Simien and Keith Langford, who have had knee and ankle problems?
“Of course it helps. It’s four days rest, but will it help them measurably enough when we play games? It’s wait and see,” Williams said.
He said the plan is still to limit power forward Simien to about 15 minutes a game. “It’s my goal going in the game, yet if Drew gets 17 fouls in the first minute or Nick, it could change things. Right now we want to make sure Wayne doesn’t get tired and start laboring and favoring his leg or anything,” Williams said.
Of KU’s conditioning, Collison noted: “Yesterday I felt a little winded. I think everyone did. Hopefully we’ll be fine out there. We’ve got a deep team. Mentally the guys are recharged so to speak. Physically we might be winded.”
Travel tricky: Hinrich and Collison experienced some snowstorm white-out problems on their drives from Grand Forks, N.D., to their respective hometowns of Sioux City, Iowa and Iowa Falls, after last Saturday’s game at North Dakota.
Hinrich and Collison made the drive in separate cars with their parents, as did Jeff Carey (Camdenton, Mo.) and Jeff Boschee (Valley City, N.D.).
The rest of the Jayhawks rode the bus 13 hours to Kansas City International Airport.
“It was pretty bad. You could hardly see anything from Grand Forks to Fargo,” Hinrich said.
“We were going 35 to 40 mph for an hour,” Collison said. “We got south a ways and it was fine.”
Kansas City, Mo. ? Kirk Hinrich will probably play about 10 minutes at the point and 20 on the wing during tonight’s Kansas-Tulsa men’s basketball game (8:05 p.m., Kemper Arena).
But who’s counting?
“When I’m out there, I don’t go, ‘Oh gee, I haven’t played the one (point) yet.’ I get caught up in the game. Whatever happens, happens,” said Hinrich, KU’s 6-foot-3, 185-pound junior guard/forward, who works the wing when freshman point guard Aaron Miles is in the game.
Hinrich doesn’t log his minutes, but does admit cherishing each and every moment at the point, where he played exclusively his first two years at Kansas.
“Yeah, I like it,” he said. “It’s just I feel a lot more comfortable. It’s like, ‘OK, I can relax now, I’m so used to it.”‘
Hinrich is averaging 14.1 points and 6.1 assists per game for the Jayhawks, who like Tulsa, enter tonight’s nonconference holiday clash with a 9-1 mark.
“I think if he had a choice he’d rather play the point. It’s what he’s always done,” KU junior Nick Collison said of Hinrich. “Ever since he started playing, he played the point. He has adjusted to different positions. He’s definitely producing at other spots, too.”
Hinrich is producing on offense and defense.
Despite facing players two to five inches taller, he’s won KU’s defensive player of the award “seven or eight times,” KU coach Roy Williams said.
“Kirk has the savvy and toughness to do both things,” Williams said. “What he is giving us is 20 minutes a game in a spot he is not perfectly suited to play and done a fantastic job of it.
“Even guarding big guys, he’s fronted them enough he has a couple steals and made them throw it away. A big positive he’s given us … Kirk can really run,” the coach added. “He’s given us spurts where even after a basket he takes off, Aaron finds him and he can lay it up.”
Despite his productivity and versatility, Hinrich hasn’t received much acclaim nationally. It was hard to find his name on any lists of top guards or forwards during the preseason.
“Maybe I do,” Hinrich said, asked if he gets overlooked. “Drew (Gooden) and Nick get a lot of publicity and deservedly so. We have a bunch of good freshmen on this team. When I listen to somebody announce the game, I don’t say, ‘I’m not getting any respect.’ It doesn’t really go through my mind.
“I do think I’m underrated,” he added. “Every time I go out there I try to prove how good I am and prove how good our team can be. I think I can do a lot of things people don’t realize. But I am not caught up in that. I am caught up in finishing the nonconference schedule strong and going in the conference with momentum.”
Is Hinrich underrated?
“Not around here. We all appreciate what he does and the local media does, but nationally he definitely is (underrated),” Collison said. “There are not many guys who can do what he does.”
Hinrich is hitting 57 percent of his shots, including 32.4 percent of his three-pointers. A year ago, Hinrich hit a school and Big 12 record 50.5 percent of his threes.
“I started out really slow but I had not had that many attempts. I’d go maybe one for four a couple games and my percentage would look horrible,” Hinrich said. “Lately it feels it’s getting better. It feels the basket is getting bigger. It’s going in more often.”
Hinrich has hit four of his last nine threes and 12 of 37 total compared to 55 of 109 a year ago.
“When he shoots it now, every time I think it’s going in,” Williams said. “I think before the end of the year nobody is going to talk about the first 10 games. They’ll say he shot well from three-point (range) again. You are talking about a kid who set the record for the Big 12 conference. He will be knocking in a bunch of those.”
Wooden list: Collison and Gooden were named to the John R. Wooden Award Midseason Top 30 list on Friday. Other Big 12 players on the list are Kareem Rush (Missouri), Chris Owens (Texas) and Maurice Baker (Oklahoma State).
Everybody’s back: Williams said all 15 Jayhawks returned from a four-day Christmas vacation in time for Thursday night’s practice at Allen Fieldhouse. The Jayhawks shot free throws on Friday morning, then practiced Friday afternoon at Kemper Arena.
There’s no time for a Kemper shootaround today because the Kansas City Knights have the building reserved for a noon game.
“They have a little more bounce, a little more energy. They had four days off,” Williams said. “We do talk about them getting in some shooting done at home. It is possible to get out of shape in four days.”
Will four days rest help freshmen Wayne Simien and Keith Langford, who have had knee and ankle problems?
“Of course it helps. It’s four days rest, but will it help them measurably enough when we play games? It’s wait and see,” Williams said.
He said the plan is still to limit power forward Simien to about 15 minutes a game. “It’s my goal going in the game, yet if Drew gets 17 fouls in the first minute or Nick, it could change things. Right now we want to make sure Wayne doesn’t get tired and start laboring and favoring his leg or anything,” Williams said.
Of KU’s conditioning, Collison noted: “Yesterday I felt a little winded. I think everyone did. Hopefully we’ll be fine out there. We’ve got a deep team. Mentally the guys are recharged so to speak. Physically we might be winded.”
Travel tricky: Hinrich and Collison experienced some snowstorm white-out problems on their drives from Grand Forks, N.D., to their respective hometowns of Sioux City, Iowa and Iowa Falls, after last Saturday’s game at North Dakota.
Hinrich and Collison made the drive in separate cars with their parents, as did Jeff Carey (Camdenton, Mo.) and Jeff Boschee (Valley City, N.D.).
The rest of the Jayhawks rode the bus 13 hours to Kansas City International Airport.
“It was pretty bad. You could hardly see anything from Grand Forks to Fargo,” Hinrich said.
“We were going 35 to 40 mph for an hour,” Collison said. “We got south a ways and it was fine.”
