Thad Allender/Journal-World PhotoKansas City, Mo. ? When I was a kid and we played “War” in and around the neighborhood backyards, firing harmless cap guns in a mock combative frenzy, you could go down, count to 10 and become a new man.
Kind of reminds me of the Kansas University men’s basketball team.
Take Friday night’s 78-53 win over Illinois-Chicago in the NCAA Tournament first-rounder. Wayne Simien went down in a heap, Keith Langford limped to the locker room, Jeff Graves crumpled under the basket, and J.R. Giddens took a header onto the floor when he tripped over another player while running full speed.
They all returned to action, though, as if they had counted to 10.
Unfortunately, they are not new men. Each of the four has a serious nagging injury and, as coach Bill Self noted Saturday, will have to be shut down for a while after this run through the NCAA Tournament.
Based on the Jayhawks’ history, that end could come as early as today. Yes, I know Kansas is favored to defeat Pacific, a No. 12 seed, and advance to the Sweet 16 next weekend in St. Louis, but this is not a team that has played well on minimal rest.
Kansas was unable to sweep any of its three Saturday-Monday dates during the Big 12 Conference regular season, and the Jayhawks also went 1-1 on back-to-back days at the Wolf Pack Classic in Reno, Nev., and at the Big 12 Tournament last weekend in Dallas.
In all but one instance, the Jayhawks captured the first game but dropped the second. The exception was the loss at Iowa State on a Saturday and a win over Missouri on the ensuing Monday night. Notably, the Jayhawks did not look sharp in that 65-56 win over the Tigers.
In the first back-to-back scenario in December, Kansas spilled Cal Santa Barbara — like Pacific, incidentally, a member of the Big West Conference — and then faltered badly in a 75-61 loss to Nevada which, in retrospect, doesn’t look quite as bad today after the Wolf Pack shocked Gonzaga, a No. 2 seed, Saturday afternoon.
The back-to-backer in the league tournament started with a 94-69 rout of Missouri and ended with a four-point loss to Texas less than 24 hours later.
Self is aware, obviously, of the Jayhawks’ difficulties when his walking wounded haven’t had ample recovery time.
“The biggest reason we’ve struggled with short rest is health, and not so much because of depth,” Self said Saturday. “Against Texas, we didn’t respond like a fresh team even though we played pretty well.”
In cases where the spirit has been more than willing, the flesh has been consistently weak because, as Self mentioned, “We have guys that have the bodies of 35- and 40-year-old men.”
No way could the Jayhawks have come back at full strength Saturday, if mandated. In fact, Simien most likely couldn’t have played Saturday, and his status for today is iffy.
Still, Self emphasized a 48-hour turnaround offered enough time for recuperation. But it won’t be 48 hours. That’s just another way of saying two days. KU’s game with Illinois-Chicago ended about 11 p.m. Friday and the Jayhawks are scheduled to tipoff against Pacific at about 4 p.m. today. So the break is really 41 hours.
Today’s overriding question about the Jayhawks going into the NCAA’s second round isn’t pressure, it isn’t confidence, it isn’t experience, it isn’t even the competition. It’s whether 41 hours is enough time to refresh and renew.
Regardless, I wouldn’t be surprised if the cover of next season’s Kansas media-recruiting guide portrayed Simien, Langford and Giddens dressed as the familiar trio of Revolutionary War soldiers limping along lugging fife, drum and flag.
