Kansas University men’s basketball coach Roy Williams hates to admit it, but he sometimes takes two of his all-time favorite players for granted.
Consistently solid play has made seniors Kirk Hinrich and Nick Collison seem like sure things.
“The thing I have to guard against is not to expect, to assume you’ll have that every game,” Williams said after the Iowans combined for 29 points, 10 rebounds and six steals Tuesday night in KU’s 79-58 victory over Baylor in Waco, Texas.
“If you do that, you don’t appreciate what we have with those two. They are pretty special,” Williams said. “It’s hard for me to imagine what it’ll be like (next year without them). It’s a long time since I’ve coached without them. I’m sure coaches in the league will be glad to see them gone. I think we all should appreciate those kind of kids and how they’ve played.”
Williams certainly will toss verbal bouquets at KU’s dependable duo March 1 — Senior Day at Allen Fieldhouse.
Until then, KU’s 15th-year coach says he’ll continue to “enjoy the ride” coaching the 6-foot-9 Collison and 6-3 Hinrich, who lead KU in scoring at 18.7 and 17.9 points per game.
Collison vaulted into the national player-of-the-year race after collecting 23 rebounds and 24 points in KU’s 90-87 victory over Texas on Jan. 27. Since that game, Collison has received lots of positive national publicity.
Lately, Hinrich has been catching up in that department.
Slowed by a nasty head cold, Hinrich scored 14 points Tuesday for his lowest scoring output in six games. He scored 28 points at Kansas State, 24 against Missouri, 17 at Nebraska, 25 versus Texas and 15 versus Arizona in his previous five outings.
For the year he has made 50.9 percent of his shots and 44.5 percent of his threes. A year ago, Hinrich averaged 14.8 points off 54.1 percent shooting. He made 47.8 percent of his treys.
Tuesday, Williams was asked if Hinrich had improved as a player this season and improved his stock in the 2003 NBA Draft.
“I know he’s a heck of a lot smarter. No question he’s a smarter player,” Williams said. “His stats are a few more points per game on approximately the same shooting percentage. I base a lot of it on a kid’s savvy. I do think he is playing more intelligent this year than he ever has. I think it’s extremely important to his development, too.
“You have to enjoy every day. He enjoys college. He enjoys playing college basketball. Last year everybody I talked to said he’d have been the last 10, 12 people in the draft (of Round One). This year I think no doubt he’ll be higher than that. Hopefully he’ll be able to stay focused and be able to do that.”
An NBA scout recently told the Journal-World that Hinrich and Collison remained certain first-round picks in the 2003 Draft. NBAdraft.net has Hinrich going 16th to New Orleans and Collison 17th to Milwaukee.
But Hinrich doesn’t pay too much attention to his ranking.
“Maybe occasionally,” Hinrich said, “but the only time I think about it is when somebody brings it up.”
Hinrich never has second-guessed his decision to return to KU for his senior year, not even early this season when he wrenched his back.
“No, because I didn’t think the back (injury) was a big deal,” Hinrich said. “It was something that wasn’t going to bother me all season. As a team, we’ve done some nice things and still have a lot of things we can accomplish.”
“I always knew I would be here for my senior season,” Collison said recently. “I’m having so much fun and I wasn’t ready to give that up. I’m confident I’ll be a better player and in a better position for the draft then. This season has been a lot of fun. We dropped a few games early and haven’t always played well together, but there’s never been any chemistry problems. It’s been a lot of fun.”
The Jayhawks will meet Iowa State at noon Sunday at Allen Fieldhouse.
KU women’s signee Lauren Ervin of Inglewood, Calif., is one of 10 female finalists.
There is no current vacancy at UCLA, but it has been speculated beleaguered Bruins coach Steve Lavin will be fired at the end of the season.
