Scott McClurg/Journal-World PhotoCollege Station, Texas ? Those of you who are having difficulty putting a definitive label the Kansas University men’s basketball team are not alone.
Who can figure the Jayhawks?
Saturday afternoon, for example, KU’s most physical player — 6-foot-9, 255-pound Jeff Graves — played 30 minutes and didn’t snatch a single rebound. Not one.
Furthermore, guard Michael Lee, who scored 16 points off the bench Wednesday night against Kansas State, played 25 minutes and didn’t score a single point. Not one.
Moreover, Wayne Simien, the Jayhawks’ leading scorer, missed eight of his 10 shots and scored only six points in 32 minutes. Well, at least he scored. And he did have a team-high eight rebounds on a day when it seemed like KU would have had difficulty retrieving a defensive board against Seabury Academy.
You’d think with sub-par performances like that the Jayhawks would have no chance of winning. But they did win, mainly because of Saturday’s foe.
Kansas toppled longtime Big 12 Conference bottom-feeder Texas A&M, 71-65, because if there is one thing you can count on about the Aggies, it’s that they’ll toss more bricks at the basket than it took to build Lawrence City Hall.
A&M launched 28 three-point goals and made only six. Good defense? Not necessarily.
“When you get off 28 threes, I’m not sure your three-point defense is great,” KU coach Bill Self said.
Kansas has won 11 of 13 games. The Jayhawks are ranked 14th in the polls. But who have they beaten? None of their 11 wins have come at the expense of a ranked team. All right … Michigan State was ranked when the Jayhawks knocked off the Spartans in late November, but MSU has dropped out of sight faster than Dick Cheney.
Somebody suggested the Jayhawks still are having difficulty adjusting to Self, a theory the first-year coach shot down by saying: “There is a transitional phase, but it should be over by now.”
Indeed it should, and I’m sure it is. Unfortunately, the evidence is buried under the dog days of the long season and a schedule conducive to a lack of mental toughness and extra effort.
From about mid-January through mid-February, basketball teams are prone to highs and lows — sinking spells on the road and going through the motions at home. The season started a long time ago, and if there is light at the end of the tunnel it is bathed in fog or gauze.
Take a close look at KU’s January schedule and you can’t miss the lack of Big 12 contenders. This month the Jayhawks have two games each with Colorado and Kansas State and one each with A&M and Iowa State. You’ll also find two nonconference games against Villanova and Richmond, two more unranked teams.
Kansas hasn’t played a really good team since it bowed to Stanford way back on Dec. 6. At the time, nobody thought Stanford was very good — particularly with standout Josh Childress sidelined — but look at the Cardinal now. Stanford is unbeaten and ranked No. 3 nationally.
I may be wrong, but I think what ails the Jayhawks could be cured by having them face a ranked team and/or a Big 12 contender. This is a team still populated with many players who have been to back-to-back NCAA Final Fours, and they need to play a team of their caliber, or better, every now and then.
Because of the schedule, though, that won’t happen until February, and when it does it will happen quickly. During an eight-day stretch starting on Groundhog Day, the Jayhawks will play Missouri and Texas Tech at home, then travel to Oklahoma State.
Those three games — still more than two weeks away — will be the litmus test. Those three games will prove once and for all whether these Jayhawks are genuine contenders for their third straight league championship.
Until February, though, we may see another clunker or two.
“The key,” Self said, “is winning games when you don’t play well.”
And, as we all know, nobody remembers in March how poorly you played in January.
Jayhawks hang on for win
WIBW video: KU drops Aggies
See the photos: KU-Texas A&M photo gallery
Hear Bill: Texas A&M postgame comments