It’s late December, not late March. In other words, it’s way too early to hold a funeral service for Kansas University’s men’s basketball team.
“You look at last year, we started out the same way, kind of, and we ended up in the Final Four,” said Jeff Graves, Kansas University’s senior backup center.
“It’s early in the season. We’ve got new guys, a new coaching staff. Everybody is just starting to panic. It’s too early for us to judge anything now,” Graves added. “There were probably people judging us last year at this time, and look what happened.”
The No. 12-ranked Jayhawks will take a 6-2 record into a home battle against Binghamton University (4-5) at 7:05 tonight at Allen Fieldhouse. KU’s start is better than that of a year ago, when the Jayhawks opened 3-3 before rolling to a 30-8 record and a spot in the national-title game.
“Effortwise, we can all do better,” said the 6-foot-9, 255-pound Graves, who has played in two straight games after serving a one-game suspension for disciplinary reasons. “We need to play as a team, not individuals. Once that gets better, I think everybody will see the real KU Jayhawks.”
Graves said he’s ready to commit himself the rest of the way.
“I will do everything possible to help this team out. I will prove myself again,” Graves said. “At the same time, I did all this stuff (showing up late for practices and meetings) to myself, so I take responsibility for that.”
What must Graves, who averages 3.7 points and four rebounds in 14 minutes a game, improve on the most?
“I need to do little intangibles, do the things that count — rebound, score, play defense, do everything to best of my ability,” he said.
KU junior Keith Langford likes what he’s hearing from Graves as the New Year approaches.
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“He definitely has that ability to help us,” Langford said. “We could really have used some of his performances in some games compared to last year. We haven’t had that. It’s good for Jeff to say that. We also know knowing it and showing it. Showing and telling are two different things.”
The key tonight — and perhaps the rest of the season — might be mental more than physical. The Jayhawks admit they overlooked Nevada in last Sunday’s 14-point road loss.
“I think it was a wake-up call,” Graves said. “Everybody sees we can’t go out there and disrespect teams. We must take every team with respect.”
KU coach Bill Self will be spreading the message that any team can beat KU on a given night.
“The biggest thing we’ve got to do,” Self said, “is we’ve got to play with the sense of urgency Nevada did against us. People are not going to roll over against Kansas. People see this as an opportunity, especially playing in their gym.
“Nevada had a bonafide first-rounder (future NBA pick Kirk Snyder), some complementary guys and it was the biggest game on their schedule. They saw that as their Super Bowl. We saw that as just another game. That’s why you get beat. There’s not that much discrepancy in talent across America. Everybody’s got players. If you don’t come out mentally right then that is when upsets occur. That’s certainly what happened at Nevada.”
The Jayhawks realize there’s hope, with last year’s start fresh in their minds.
“The bottom line is we have to get better in all facets of the game,” Langford said. “We lost a few early, and everybody looks at it like it’s drastic. It’s really not. Last year we lost eight games — seven until the very last game of the season. We are capable of still having a good time through the course of the year.
“(There’s) nothing we can do that will make us shoot that much better in the next couple days. We can control how hard we play, mental things. No player will jump any higher or run that much faster. It’s all mental. We need to get through a mental wall and once we do that I think it’ll come.”
Added frosh guard Omar Wilkes: “The season is not lost. There’s so much time left. We will pull together, fine tune and regroup.”
It all resumes tonight after an eight-day break in the slate.
“I think it’s good game for us to play,” Self said. “We need a game to play after our last performance. We definitely need to play a game, try to get our confidence back. Putting ourselves in a position where we’re playing at home will hopefully allow us to do that.”
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Future Jayhawks: KU signee Russell Robinson scored 16 of his 24 points in the second half in New York Rice High’s 66-55 win Saturday over Gonzaga at the STOP-DWI Holiday Classic in New York. The 6-foot-2 Robinson had seven assists, three steals and three blocks despite suffering from a case of the flu.
KU signee Alexander “Sasha” Kaun scored 18 points in Florida Air Academy’s 76-72 loss to Oviedo in the third place game of the Great Florida Shootout in Kissimmee, Fla. The 6-11 center had 13 points and six boards in a 62-49 loss to Puerto Rico de Caguas. Also, he had 16 points and 12 boards in a 69-48 win over Lexington, S.C., and 20 points, 10 in the fourth quarter in a 69-48 win over Apopka, all at the tourney.
