Baseball legend Dizzy Dean used to say, “I might not’ve been the greatest pitcher that ever was, but I was among ’em.”
That’s how I see Kansas’s current sophomore basketball stars, the Triplets Terrific. Nick Collison, Kirk Hinrich and Drew Gooden aren’t yet the finest second-year crew the Jayhawks have had. But they’re in the hunt.
Many would give the No. 1 nod to the 1949-50 crew of Clyde Lovellette, Bill Hougland, Bill Lienhard and Bob Kenney. They weren’t allowed the freshman competition the current guys enjoyed. Inexperience showed when the Fabulous Foursome struggled as rookies, and again in 1950-51 when a great Kansas State team reached the national finals.
But came 1951-52 and Kansas was clearly the nation’s best, with K-State perhaps right behind. Trouble was, only one team per conference made the NCAA field of 16. In today’s 65-entry format, those KU and K-State teams might have wound up playing for the college title.
If KU’s 2001 soph dandies don’t get to the NCAA Final Four this year, there’s an excellent chance they can make it a year from now and perhaps the season after that if Gooden doesn’t leave early for the professional grind. I think Collison and Hinrich will stay the four-year course.
With only six battle-hardened veterans, this year’s Kansas team lacks a third guard and a proven fifth frontliner to go a long way. Maybe Jeff Carey has some surprises yet to spring. Now’s the time.
But things are looking downright nifty for 2002.
Roy Wiliams can start next season with veterans at every position, provided Carey blossoms. As a senior, Jeff could be the steady T.J. Pugh-style center with Collison and Gooden as the bookends. That won’t be a bad frontline even if 6-foot-8 newcomer Wayne Simien of Leavenworth takes a while to develop.
In the backcourt, Roy will start out with junior Hinrich as the quarterback and senior Jeff Boschee as the two-guard. Much will depend on how backcourt newcomers Aaron Miles and Michael Lee from Oregon deliver and whether rookie Keith Langford from Texas can add the firepower he’s shown as a high schooler.
With three years under his belt, Boschee should be poised for a great final run. If he falters, the new guys might make him contribute from the bench. Whatever, there should be eight or nine guys in a promising mix with the Triplets Terrific as the heart and soul.
There’s cause for caution, though. The promising Simien has had shoulder trouble. One can’t help wondering, shoulder problems as tricky as they can be, whether it might hinder his development. Then Langford, an 18-point, eight-rebound type, has had knee woes. If both hit the ground running in peak shape, folks again will be beating down the doors for Allen Fieldhouse tickets despite special lugs the KU financial situation may dump on them.
l Plenty of static about the All-Big 12 basketball choices this year. Some felt Collison should have been first-teamed ahead of Gooden because Drew missed five games. Should Missouri’s Kareem Rush with a seven-game hiatus been put ahead of second-place Texas and Oklahoma guys?
Iowa State’s Jamaal Tinsley should have been a unanimous pick, but there were lots of others who could lay claim to the guard spot Oklahoma State’s Maurice Baker got. KU’s Hinrich was irreplaceable.
Rush should stop lipping off. After the regular-season finale, Rush said Hinrich might have purposely grabbed at his left-hand brace. The films make Rush look like a crybaby, a spoiled brat venting frustration.
Then he tossed in a “hate KU” aside that left him looking more infantile than incomparable. Kareem is a tremendous player, a potential All-American, but he needn’t look for a scapegoat to obscure the disappointment about his injury and its aftermath.
l KU basketball has produced a couple guys good enough to make the big-time as television analysts Chris Piper and Greg Gurley. With the Larry Conleys and Bill Rafterys bleating, blurting and grunting like their hernias are choking them, Chris and Greg are refreshingly low-key and knowledgeable.
Gurley has a dry-wit style that is catching on those Channel 6 game shows and isn’t afraid to tell it as it is, good or bad. Piper is higher up on the broadcasting food chain due to longer experience but both he and Gurley deserve close looks from major production people.