Time supposedly heals all wounds, yet it’s apparent Kansas University’s women basketball players still are in a bit of a daze.
“Yeah, it’s really hard for the whole team to understand what’s going on,” junior Blair Waltz said after Friday’s practice.
Added sophomore Crystal Kemp: “It really hasn’t hit me yet. It’s still hard to believe.”
Twenty-four hours after long-time KU coach Marian Washington announced she would take a leave of absence for unspecified medical reasons, her players were pressing on and preparing for tonight’s game against Oklahoma State.
Tears flowed when Washington revealed her plans to the team Thursday afternoon.
“I’d never seen her cry … she’s so strong,” freshman Lauren Ervin said. “It never dawned on anybody. I never knew she was going through anything at all. It was like she’s Superwoman.”
Washington reportedly had been taken to the hospital two or three times this season because of the undisclosed problem, but her players obviously were kept in the dark about those incidents.
“My mouth dropped,” Waltz said, reflecting on Washington’s announcement. “So many emotions were going through my head. Coach is such a strong woman. She shows no weaknesses.”
The Jayhawks have had two practices under interim coach Lynette Woodard and, while nothing really has changed in the drills, the players couldn’t help but notice Washington’s absence.
“It’s been difficult to adjust,” Kemp said. “It’s different not to hear her voice.”
Although the Jayhawks have dedicated the remainder of the season to their ailing head coach, only time will tell how they’ll react tonight against the Cowgirls.
“Maybe there’ll be a spark that wasn’t there before,” Waltz said. “Getting on the floor will help a lot of things. We can let our emotions and frustrations out on the floor.”
Kemp said she wasn’t sure what frame of mind the Jayhawks would be in tonight.
“I don’t know how it will make us feel,” she said. “It should help us to play a game. It’ll keep time going for us. It’s a game, and we want to let her know not to worry about things here.”
The Jayhawks are on record that they will dedicate the remainder of the season to Washington.
“We’ve got to win it for coach,” Ervin said, “wherever she is, in a hospital or watching the game. It’s been a distraction, but we have to fight through it.”
Even if the Jayhawks still had Washington on the sidelines, they should have been motivated by wanting to put the brakes to their current four-game losing streak.
“We’ve got to go out and win the ball game,” Waltz said. “That’s the bottom line.”
Here’s a little known fact about Kansas University men’s basketball coach Bill Self, as revealed by his dad, Bill Sr.
“He does not like to lose,” Self’s dad said before a game recently at Allen Fieldhouse. “He does not handle losing well. He handles pressure well.”
Bill Sr. will be glad to learn his 40-year-old pride and joy didn’t whack his head against a wall in the locker room at Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim, Calif., after his first loss as coach of the top-ranked Jayhawks — Saturday’s 64-58 decision to No. 21 Stanford.
As KU’s coach answered questions from the media, his only show of aggression was his fierce chomping into an apple in the Jayhawks’ locker room.
“Nobody likes them,” Self said of losses, “but if you don’t get better from them, they are doubly bad. We’ve got to learn, respond and get better, and we should.”
He realizes losses and erratic play go with the territory of coaching college players, especially early in the season.
KU isn’t the only perennial power with a loss already. Duke, Arizona and Syracuse have suffered setbacks, and Michigan State has three losses on its ledger.
“I do think there’s not that many great teams the first month of the season,” Self said. “You can play a team that is returning experience. You can play a team that is good nobody knows is good.
“Teams don’t become teams in November and early December. I certainly hope we become a team by Big 12 play. It’ll be a goal. I think it’ll happen. I would anticipate less and less upsets occurring the longer we go.”
The fact his team lost Saturday, of course, means KU will not be No. 1 in this week’s polls. Florida likely will be the team that takes the top spot this week.
“Usually teams have to go through some stuff to get where they want to go,” Self said, “and a lot of teams are going through stuff now.”
KU is going through the loss of starting guard Michael Lee to a collarbone injury, plus the installation of Self’s new system.
KU’s high-low offense has resulted in one big high — the win over Michigan State — and one low — the 19 turnovers and 36.7 percent shooting against Stanford.
“Guys have to have the confidence to throw the ball inside, and guys catch the ball inside and score,” Self said. “We do not have good ball and body movement.
“We have got to get to the point we are aggressive enough to make them guard us on the perimeter so we can pass around them. They backed off us and let us pass it around the perimeter and sat in our post men’s laps a lot.”
KU’s players have been working hard on the high-low offense at practice with mixed results. Occasionally, a guy like David Padgett will bust loose for a dunk as he did in the second half Sunday; sometimes passes inside are intercepted or sail out of bounds.
“We’ve been practicing long enough. We should know how to play it,” Miles said, indicating the Jayhawks simply have to play more crisply and with more confidence. “We’re dribbling too much with the ball stuck in everybody’s hands a little too long.”
The Jayhawks continued a trend of struggling from behind the arc Saturday. KU hit three of 20 threes and has hit 22 of 80 for the season.
“Look around the country, and there are not many good offensive teams right now. There are not many teams that score easy. Certainly we fall into that category,” Self said. “I still think we have good shooters. I still think we will shoot it well.”
KU will meet Fort Hays State at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Allen Fieldhouse. The Jayhawks then will meet Oregon at 1 p.m. Saturday at Kemper Arena.