St. Louis ? Will Bynum remembers Kansas University.
He’s the only one on Georgia Tech’s roster who does.
With only a full day between Friday’s Sweet 16 matchups and today’s Elite Eight tilt between Georgia Tech and Kansas at 1:40 p.m., mystery surrounds the showdown.
But Will Bynum knows KU.
Back on Dec. 1, 2001, Bynum — then a guard at Arizona — met KU in Tucson, Ariz., in one of the most anticipated nonconference games of the season.
The Jayhawks, with Drew Gooden, Nick Collison and Kirk Hinrich pouring in points, topped the Wildcats, 105-97.
Bynum scored five points and added three rebounds that day.
“They were running,” Bynum said of the 2001-02 Jayhawks, arguably KU’s most talented team this decade. “It was one of the most fast-break, up-tempo games I’ve ever played in.”
A few impact KU players remain from that 2001 game. Junior Wayne Simien didn’t play because of a knee injury, but junior Keith Langford scored 19 points, and junior Aaron Miles had eight points and five assists.
Regardless, with Gooden, Collison, Hinrich and Jeff Boschee all gone now, as well as former coach Roy Williams, the Jayhawks have undergone a major makeover since Bynum last saw them play.
“The difference is, when I was at Arizona, they got most of their points off the fast break,” Bynum said. “Now it’s more high-low with Simien, trying to get the ball to Simien.”
Bynum, who scored nine points in Tech’s 72-67 victory over Nevada on Friday, made most highlight packages from that contest when he gave Georgia Tech a 69-67 lead with 1:07 to play with a sensational reverse layup that somehow went in.
“I didn’t know he was that far under the basket when he jumped,” Tech forward Anthony McHenry said. “It was a great play, and for him to make the basket took extreme concentration.”
Bynum transferred to Georgia Tech in the middle of last season after his mother became ill, and after missing the first eight games this year due to NCAA transfer rules, he’s averaging 9.3 points per game. He has been the team’s sixth man much of the year, but his role could be elevated if junior B.J. Elder is unable to play after spraining his ankle Friday.
“I’m going to go out with the same attitude,” said Bynum, who was recruited by KU coach Bill Self while Self was at Illinois. “I’ll need to play aggressive offensively and defensively.”
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