Dayton, Ohio A pair of Kansas basketball players are quite familiar with Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim.
KU’s Drew Gooden and Nick Collison played for the silver-medal-winning 2000 World Championship for Young Men qualifying team last summer in Brazil.
That team was led by 25th-year Orangemen coach Jim Boeheim.
“He knows those two guys a heck of a lot better than I know any of his kids,” KU coach Roy Williams said. “Whether it translates into two, eight, 20 points (today), I don’t know.”
Gooden and Collison are fans of Boeheim, who will lead Syracuse against Kansas in today’s 11:10 a.m. game at University of Dayton Arena.
“He expresses his will very well when he’s mad,” Gooden quipped of Boeheim. “He’s laid-back when his team does well. When his team starts doing things wrong, he can get upset. I had a great time representing the USA.”
“He’s a little more laid-back (than Williams),” Collison said. “A lot had to do with it being the summer. He got on us sometimes but realized we were playing in the summer. He let us play wide-open.”
Of the KU duo, Boeheim said: “I love Nick Collison and Drew, both. Both kids are very talented and hard workers. When you coach an all-star team, you want to get kids who will play together and work together and not be selfish. They were two that did.”
Sore left thumb
KU junior shooting guard Jeff Boschee iced his left thumb after Saturday’s hour-long practice at University of Dayton Arena.
He banged it in Friday’s win over Cal State Northridge. No X-rays were needed.
“In the game last night, I tweaked my left thumb,” Boschee said. “I put some tape on it at practice and took it off because it was getting in the way. I’m fine. It’ll be OK.”
Chenowith won’t start
Williams said he will start Gooden and Collison for the second straight game, ending the rotation system of KU’s big men.
Eric Chenowith doesn’t mind coming off the bench.
“Not at all,” he said. “As long as we win. That’s all that matters. I want the Final Four so bad.
“Against Northridge it was fun,” he added of his two-point, eight-rebound effort while logging 17 minutes in Friday’s 99-75 win. “I was out there rebounding, watching our guys hitting layups. It was great. I’ll take that role any day. I’m not worried about (scoring) at all. I am worried about my rebound numbers. I need to get rebounds for this team.”
Sweet 16 would be sweet
KU seniors Chenowith and Kenny Gregory today will try to reach the Sweet 16 for the first time. They have been one win and out in three years of NCAA play.
“Every time I see Raef, Paul, Jerod and Jacque I want to surpass what they’ve done in Kansas basketball,” Chenowith said of former Jayhawks Raef LaFrentz, Paul Pierce, Jerod Haase and Jacque Vaughn, who did not reach the Final Four. “In the Kansas basketball family there are a lot of bragging rights going on and competition.
“I’m tired of all these second-round questions. I want you to ask us about the Sweet 16. No question it would get the monkey off our back.”
Gregory says he does not grow irritated when asked questions about KU’s NCAA performances the past three seasons.
“If I didn’t think it was true I’d get tired of it,” Gregory said. “From what we’ve done in the tournament the past three years, not advancing, you can’t really argue with what’s been said. It’s well deserved, the criticism people give us.”
Gregory, by the way, is shooting free throws the way he did in high school. He went back to that old style of shooting after telling reporters last week he was a good free thrower in the Columbus, Ohio, prep ranks.
Gregory, who is hitting 41.5 percent of his charities, hit three of four against Northridge using his high school form.
“I thought the style was too showy,” Gregory said, asked why he didn’t use the old style all four years at KU. “I thought it took too long and I moved around too much.”
Syracuse revisited
Gregory was a high school player when KU lost to Syracuse, 60-57, in an NCAA Elite Eight game on March 24, 1996.
“I don’t think most guys know about it, but I’m a sports junkie. I was watching it,” Gregory said. “Hopefully the guys won’t dwell on it. I remember John Wallace (15 points) and Kansas missed a lot of threes (21 of 25). I definitely remember they didn’t pull it out in the Elite Eight. It was disappointing.”
Where was Chenowith that day?
“Probably in my living room watching it,” Chenowith said. “I remember in 1997 when we lost to Arizona, me and my dad were in a defensive stance (practicing) in my living room.”
KU’ s Jerod Haase was 0-for-9 shooting in that loss to Syracuse.
“I asked him about it. I said, ‘Jerod did you not shoot very well?’ He said, ‘I was awful,’ and he walked away,” Chenowith noted.
Big 12 effort in NCAAs
KU’s Chenowith was asked about Iowa State losing to Hampton and Missouri falling to Duke in the NCAAs.
“Iowa State beat us twice, so you like to see them suffer, and you always like to see Missouri lose,” Chenowith said. “I do have mixed emotions about Missouri because I like coach (Quin) Snyder so much.”
Golf
KU coach Williams and Boeheim are both good golfers.
“The last couple of years, coach (Dean) Smith and I played Jimmy and P.J. Carlesimo. The language used is so different,” Williams related. “Coach Smith doesn’t curse at all. Every now and then I’ll say a curse word. Those other two guys they say a lot of curse words. All four of us talk to our golf balls. With theirs, there’s a lot more scolding.”
KANSAS (25-6)
F Nick Collison (6-9, 13.8 ppg, 6.5 rpg)
F Drew Gooden (6-10, 15.8 ppg, 8.1 rpg)
G Kenny Gregory (6-5, 15.8 ppg, 7.3 rpg)
G Jeff Boschee (6-1, 11.2 ppg, 2.3 rpg)
G Kirk Hinrich (6-3, 11.4 ppg, 7.1 apg)
SYRACUSE (25-8)
F Damone Brown (6-9, 16.8 ppg, 8.9 rpg)
F Jeremy McNeil (6-8, 2.5 ppg, 3.1 rpg)
G Allen Griffin (6-1, 10.9 ppg, 3.4 rpg)
G DeShaun Williams (6-3, 12.2 ppg, 3.0 rpg)
G Preston Shumpert (6-6, 19.5 ppg, 5.8 rpg)
Kansas
0 Drew Gooden, 6-10, 230, F, Soph., Richmond, Calif.
3 Brett Ballard, 6-0, 175, G, Jr., Hutchinson.
4 Nick Collison, 6-9, 250, F, Soph., Iowa Falls, Iowa.
10 Kirk Hinrich, 6-3, 180, G, Soph., Sioux City, Iowa.
13 Jeff Boschee, 6-1, 185, G, Jr., Valley City, N.D.
x-15 Bryant Nash, 6-6, 200, F, Fr., Carrollton, Texas.
20 Kenny Gregory, 6-5, 208, G/F, Sr., Columbus, Ohio.
22 Jeff Carey, 6-11, 250, F, Jr., Camdenton, Mo.
30 Lewis Harrison, 6-0, 180, G, Jr. Kansas City, Kan.
x-33 Luke Axtell, 6-10, 220, G, Sr., Austin, Texas.
34 Chris Zerbe, 6-5, 230, F, Jr., Andover.
44 Eric Chenowith, 7-1, 270, C, Sr., Orange, Calif.
50 Todd Kappelmann, 6-9, 230, F, Jr., Augusta.
x-injured, will not play.
Syracuse
1 Allen Griffin, 6-1, 187, G, Sr., Brooklyn, N.Y.
3 Preston Shumpert, 6-6, 198, G, Jr., Fort Walton Beach, Fla.
10 Andrew Kouwe, 6-0, 170, G, Fr., Tampa, Fla.
11 Ronneil Herron, 5-11, 158, G, Soph., Warner Robins, Ga.
13 Kueth Duany, 6-6, 185, G/F, Soph., Bloomington, Ind.
15 James Theus, 5-10, 172, Fr., G, Detroit.
21 DeShaun Williams, 6-3, 202, G, Soph., Paterson, N.J.
23 Christopher Schau, 6-9, 221, F, Sr., Floral Park, N.J.
24 Robert McClanaghan, 6-2, 201, G, Sr., Cranson, R.I.
25 Damone Brown, 6-9, 193, F, Sr., Buffalo.
32 Ethan Cole, 6-9, 244, F, Jr., Cantebury, N.H.
33 Greg Davis, 6-7, 219, F, Fr., Tulsa.
34 Jeremy McNeil, 6-8, 257, Fr., F, San Antonio.
35 Billy Celuck, C, 7-0, 213, Sr., Jessup, Pa.
41 Mike Rosenblum, 5-11, 170, G, Sr., Great Neck, N.J.
42 Tim Byrnes, 6-2, 202, G, Sr., Baldwin, N.Y.