Doherty: Kansas a ‘talented team’

By Gary Bedore     Nov 26, 2002

Kansas coach Roy Williams and Matt Doherty won’t be playing a celebrity one-on-one basketball game on Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden.

It just seems that way with the off-Broadway Preseason NIT production being billed as “Roy vs. Matt” or “Teacher vs. Pupil.”

“If I was going against coach Williams I’d have the opportunity to post him up because he’s a little smaller than me,” said Doherty, the 6-foot-7 North Carolina coach who worked on Williams’ KU staff from 1993 to ’99.

“Once the ball goes up, it’s going to be Carolina’s players against Kansas’s players,” Doherty said. “I’m sure that they’ll be favored. They’ve got such a talented team of experienced players.

“They’ve got two All-Americans in (Kirk) Hinrich and (Nick) Collison, and they have (Aaron) Miles and (Keith) Langford. They are a very good team. The thing I’m concerned about is guarding against two quality, strong post players. And they’ve got them. And they’ve got team speed. There’s no weakness on their team.”

The Tar Heels’ biggest player is 6-foot-11 freshman Damion Grant, who just this week was cleared to play after suffering from an undisclosed medical condition.

Carolina starts three freshmen in Raymond Felton, Sean May and Rashad McCants, plus sophomores Jackie Manuel and Jawad Williams. May and Williams are both 6-8, KU’s Collison and Wayne Simien 6-9, 255.

“I don’t think our kids will be in awe,” Doherty said of the 3-0 Tar Heels. “I think they’ll be energized and excited. I don’t feel like they’ll be intimidated. They’re not that kind of kids. I think they are looking forward to the challenge. They understand that Kansas is a great team, but I don’t

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