It’s a good thing Roy Williams was nowhere near a computer with an Internet connection after Kansas University’s 76-70 victory over Missouri on Monday night at Allen Fieldhouse.
The Jayhawks’ coach might have smashed it with his bare fists.
“The Internet is like whatever you want to call it. People just put crap on there. Maybe we ought to call it the ‘Crapnet,”‘ Williams said, annoyed by wild Internet speculation on the condition of injured sophomore Wayne Simien, who dislocated his right shoulder on Jan. 4.
“That would be a good one. Maybe we can start something in Lawrence, Kansas, where we put rumors on it and call it the ‘Crapnet.'”
Williams, who has promised to keep media updated during Simien’s absence from the lineup, put out a statement about an hour after the game, after Simien and the coach consulted with doctors.
“After visiting with the doctors, it has been decided we are going to continue the rehabilitation process,” Williams’ statement read. “When Wayne feels comfortable and the doctors feel comfortable, Wayne will begin playing again. Another statement will come at that time.”
Prior to issuing the statement, Williams expressed displeasure at recent Internet reports from unnamed individuals who said Simien, a 6-foot-9, 255-pounder who has missed nine games, would soon have surgery.
“All that stuff out there … there’s not been any decision to have surgery. There’s not been decision he’s out, not any decision he’ll play Saturday. We are staying the course,” Williams said. “He has to feel he’s ready, and I have to feel I can put him in there. He’s not at that stage yet. If something comes up, we’ll make an announcement. If not we’ll stay the course.”
On the Big 12 teleconference Monday morning, Williams said: “It hasn’t come along as quickly as Wayne and I had hoped. We wanted him to be out about two or three games. It’s basically about what the doctors expected it to be, and we were just hoping for something better.
“We’ll possibly have another specialist look at it just to get a third opinion and go from there.”
Off night: Aaron Miles was ineffective with six turnovers and five assists. He played just six minutes the second half and wasn’t on the floor at crunch time.
Senior Kirk Hinrich ran the point in Miles’ absence.
“I told him it was just one game,” Hinrich said. “He’ll bounce back. He’s had great games for us.”
Miles may have been coming down with a cold, Williams said.
Walk-on Brett Olson has the flu and did not eat the pregame meal.
Player of week: Kansas forward Nick Collison was named Big 12 player of the week Monday for the second time this season and fourth in his career for his performances in victories over Texas and Nebraska.
Collison grabbed a Big 12-record 23 rebounds and scored 24 points in KU’s 90-87 victory over Texas. He passed Colorado’s Jamahl Mosely, who had 22 boards against Missouri on Jan. 10, 2001. He had 14 points and nine boards in Sunday’s 81-51 victory over Nebraska. He hit 87.5 percent of his shots in the two victories.
Iowa State’s Marcus Fizer was named player of the week a record six times in his career.
Wooden list: Collison and Hinrich Monday were named to the John Wooden Award midseason top 30 list. Collison and Hinrich join Andre Emmett, T.J. Ford and Hollis Price as Big 12 players on the list. Complete list in Scoreboard, 7C.
Jerseys retired: Former KU women’s players Angela Aycock and Tamecka Dixon had their jerseys retired in a halftime ceremony.
They are the first women’s jerseys retired since Lynette Woodard’s during the 1992-93 season.
Aycock, who is a novice nun living in Canada, was unable to participate in the ceremony because of her vows. She was in the fieldhouse, however.
“I would like to thank the University of Kansas, the fans, all of my teammates and coach Marian Washington who have placed me in a position to be considered for a great honor such as retiring my jersey,” Aycock said in a prepared statement. “God willing, many more young women will be inspired and challenge themselves as well as others to not limit themselves, but strive for excellence in all things.”
Dixon is a WNBA All-Star who also plays in Italy. She flew in from Italy just for the ceremony.
“Basketball is a team game, and I feel I was part of one of the best to ever wear that uniform,” Dixon said. “It is not an individual accomplishment for me but a team accomplishment.”
Kansas committed just 13 turnovers on Saturday.
| Oklahoma | 24 | 38 | 62 |
| Kansas | 30 | 27 | 57 |
Attendance: 19,100
That’s good.
Three of the bobbles came off lob passes in the second half of the Jayhawks’ 62-57 Big 12 semifinal loss to Oklahoma.
That’s bad.
“If it were up to me, I’d outlaw the dunk, because if you have dunks, you’ve got to have lobs. That’s the most sickening play in college basketball,” KU coach Roy Williams said.
“Every time you have one lob that’s successful, you have 27,313 that are stinking the place up. Guys who never watch SportsCenter would never try to make those kind of plays.”
“If you can’t throw it effectively, you shouldn’t throw it. We had two turnovers and a missed layup on three lobs.”
Tight rims at Kemper?
KU’s Kirk Hinrich missed five of seven three-pointers. One three in the first half went halfway down before popping out.
“I was already running back (on defense),” Hinrich said.
Tight rims at Kemper?
“I don’t know what it is,” Hinrich said. “If anything, it’s the balls. They are real hard.”
Collison subs this time
Nick Collison came off the bench after starting nine straight games.
“When we got all of them (big men) back, we said probably we’d start rotating them again,” Williams said.
KU’s three big men Collison, Eric Chenowith and Drew Gooden each took turns coming off the bench until Gooden was injured and had to miss five straight games.
“Eric was effective early (scoring four as KU built a17-8 lead). The first four minutes were our best four of the game,” Williams said. “I don’t think Drew or Nick would say they played their best games today, but you have a hard time finding anybody on our team who’d say they played very well.”
Gooden, Chenowith and Collison combined for 21 points on 7-of-22 shooting with 21 rebounds.
Three-point daggers
Oklahoma, which hit eight of 28 threes, was sparked by Kelley Newton, who hit two in the final six minutes.
“They were struggling offensively and then Kelley made a couple of threes. That’s the thrill of the three-point line, what makes college basketball great,” Williams said.
Gregory fouls out
Kenny Gregory fouled out for the first time in his college career.
“I never fouled out in high school either,” Gregory said. “It’s the first time ever in my playing days. It’s not really a stat or goal you probably shoot for. It went for a long time. A lot of guys go through it. It’s been rare for me. I’m disappointed it happened today.”
Disappointing loss
The Jayhawks took the loss hard, dressing slowly in a somber locker room.
“It really hurts. We felt we had an opportunity to achieve a goal. We all wanted this,” Hinrich said. “It’s very disappointing. I think we’ll have some strong practices the next few days after we find out who we will play and where we’ll play (in NCAAs).”
“Right now we are down,” junior Brett Ballard said. “Starting tomorrow we’ve got to get our heads up. This team has to be on a mission to come out with determination every game.”
The Jayhawks will learn their NCAA fate at 5:30 p.m. today when the NCAA selection show begins on CBS.
Stats, facts
KU had a six-game winning streak against OU snapped. KU is now 6-3 versus OU in conference tourney play. The Jayhawks had a five-game winning streak snapped. The loss was KU’s first-ever in the semifinals of the Big 12 Tourney (3-1) and gives KU an 11-11 record all-time in conference tourney semifinal play. Hinrich had six assists; Oklahoma as a team had seven. OU had zero blocks.
Three-point goals: 8-28 (Newton 5-12, Selvy 1-2, Heskett 1-4, Johnson 1-5, Price 0-5). Assists: 7 (Price 5, Heskett 2). Turnovers: 13 (Price 4, Selvy 4, McGhee 3, Heywood 2). Blocked shots: 0. Steals: 6 (Price 3, Newton 2, Heywood). |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Three-point goals: 5-15 (Boschee 3-5, Hinrich 2-7, Gooden 0-1, Gregory 0-1, Ballard 0-1). Assists: 12 (Hinrich 6, Collison 3, Gooden 2, Gregory). Turnovers: 13 (Gooden 4, Gregory 3, Collison 3, Hinrich 2, Boschee). Blocked shots: 3 (Chenowith 2, Gooden). Steals: 8 (Gregory 2, Hinrich 2, Boschee 2, Gooden, Collison). |
