A last look back at the college basketball season while wondering if Georgia Tech’s muscular Jarrett Jack will chew up Oklahoma State’s tiny John Lucas Saturday and spit him out. …
As you know, Sunday’s overtime loss to Georgia Tech prevented a Kansas University-Oklahoma State rematch in the Final Four. OSU drilled the Jayhawks, 80-60, in Stillwater, Okla., and it’s unlikely a neutral court — the Alamodome — would have wiped out that 20-point differential, but you never know in the NCAA Tournament. …
Is Lucas that much better at Oklahoma State than he was at Baylor? Yes, but not by much, at least statistically speaking. As a sophomore at Baylor, Lucas averaged 13.2 points a game. As an OSU junior, he’s averaging 15.2 points. His assists and turnover numbers also are similar. Lucas averaged 4.4 assists and 1.96 turnovers per game at Baylor, and those numbers are 4.6 and 1.85 going into the Final Four. …
I thought KU coach Bill Self might trot out the red uniforms for the Georgia Tech game. In retrospect, it probably is a good thing he stuck with blue, from a superstitious standpoint anyway. KU was unbeaten in crimson, knocking off Cal Santa Barbara, Baylor and Missouri. Then again, perhaps the red duds would have made a difference. KU lost its last seven games while decked out in the blue road togs. …
All you need to know about KU’s bench: Jeff Hawkins, KU’s eighth-leading scorer, averaged only 1.7 points a game. …
Kansas won 13 of its 14 home games, including all eight games against Big 12 Conference foes. Oklahoma State was the only other league school to win all of its conference home games. On the flip side, not a single one of KU’s 24 victories was against a team ranked in the final regular-season Associated Press poll. …
Turnovers — or lack of them — didn’t help the Jayhawks. KU averaged 14.7 turnovers a game. That’s not a terrible number, but the Jayhawks weren’t very proficient at forcing turnovers, earning only 14.3 per game. …
All this talk about J.R. Giddens turning pro must be based on the fact the lanky freshman finished as a 40.7 percent three-point shooter after a slow start. Nevertheless, Giddens needs to work on creating shots off the dribble and penetrating — the primary reasons he rarely went to the free-throw line. Giddens shot only 27 charities, compared to Keith Langford’s 157 free-throw opportunities. …
Speaking of comparisons, you might be interested how Wayne Simien’s numbers stacked up against Nick Collison in his All-American season. Simien wasn’t far off, averaging 17.8 points and 9.3 rebounds. Collison’s corresponding stats in 2002-2003 were 18.5 and 10.0. …
Could Kansas have knocked off Syracuse in the 2003 NCAA championship game if Simien hadn’t been shelved with that shoulder injury? That’s impossible to say, of course, but the Jayhawks did miss 18 of 30 free-throw attempts in that three-point defeat at the Louisiana Superdome, and Simien is deadly at the foul stripe. Simien made 81.1 percent of his free throws this season — the highest FT percentage by a KU big man since Dave Magley’s 83.5 percent in 1982. …
Before the season, who would have believed Oklahoma State would be in the NCAA Final Four and Iowa State in the NIT Final Four? Just goes to show you the importance of a point guard — Lucas at OSU and freshman Curtis Stinson at ISU — because neither team has much point production inside. …
Look for reminiscences from the Journal-World’s Bill Mayer during Sunday’s CBS Sports Special on the legendary Wilt Chamberlain. Mayer, now semi-retired, was J-W sports editor when Chamberlain played for the Jayhawks in the late 1950s. The 90-minute program will air at 3:30 p.m. on channels 5 and 13. …
In Kansas City, they refer to Kauffman Stadium, home of the Royals, as The K. Over in St. Louis, they shorten the Edward Jones Dome, home of the Rams, to The Ed. Along those lines, I wonder if they’ll ever refer to Missouri’s new Paige Arena, named after the daughter of the primary benefactors, as The Princess.
