Folks who have had their fill of college football will be happy to see a 1:30 p.m. diversion in their TV listings today.
That’s the time No. 2-ranked Kansas and No. 9 Georgia Tech tip off a holiday hoops alternative to a day and night’s worth of gridiron action.
“It’s a great time to play the game — New Year’s Day. The only game of the day makes it exciting as well. All of the country will be watching,” Georgia Tech coach Paul Hewitt said.
Actually, there is one other college hoops game on TV today, but not until 11 p.m. when Hawaii tangles with Nevada on ESPN2.
This one is the biggie, with Dick Vitale in town to provide the color commentary for ESPN.
“It’ll be a good basketball game, a great atmosphere,” Hewitt said. “A lot of football games will be played around it. Our guys are interested, but whoever loses, believe me, the result will be forgotten in March.”
Last March, ACC member Georgia Tech ousted KU from the NCAA Tournament, downing the Jayhawks, 79-71, in overtime in an Elite Eight game in St. Louis.
“It’s not revenge,” said KU senior Keith Langford, who fouled out of that game after giving the Jayhawks an early two-point lead in OT.
“It’s not the same situation. It’s not the same magnitude. Obviously it’s an important game. It’s a gauge for our team. We’re getting ready to play conference games without the Big 12 player of the year. It’s important in that light.”
Indeed, the Jayhawks will be without All-America candidate Wayne Simien (thumb surgery) for the second straight game.
He’s missing, but plenty of the participants from last year’s contest are back, including Tech’s Jarrett Jack, who scored 29 points versus the Jayhawks a year ago, and B.J. Elder, who was limited to 12 minutes and no points because of an injury.
“Obviously not having Wayne is a big hole for them, just like Elder was for us last year. We overcame it,” Hewitt said. “There’s no way to replace a guy like that, but their team is talented enough and deep enough, just like we were last year.”
Tech also is deep, evidenced by the fact all five starters average 9.5 or more points per game. The 6-foot-4 Elder leads the way at 14.2, followed by 6-3 Jack (13.1), 6-1 Will Bynum (11.4), 7-1 Luke Schenscher (10.1) and 6-6 Isma’il Muhammad (9.5).
Schenscher is a force in the middle to go with Tech’s many perimeter threats.
“He hurt us badly last year,” KU coach Bill Self said of the center who scored 15 versus the Jayhawks. “He’s hurt a lot of people. He’s improved so much. People talk about his soft hands. People used to say he can become a player, now they think he can become a pro player.
“We’ve got to keep him from getting position. Even if we were 100 percent, I don’t think you guard him with one person on the block. He’s a good passer, too. He can find cutters and open receivers.”
Tech’s balanced Yellow Jackets have averaged 79 points while allowing 54.7 KU averages 79.5 and allows 56.0.
“It’s not a make or break game at this stage of the season,” Self said, echoing Hewitt’s comments. “It would take a lot of games to make up for that (last year’s loss to Jackets). That was on the biggest and brightest stage there is.
“That will provide motivation for us and our fans. Also some motivation for Georgia Tech, too. They get to go in Allen against a team we played deep in the tournament with both teams having most guys back.”
Langford expects Allen will be rocking today. The KU fans could care less six bowl games are on TV today.
This is the only game in town.
“I anticipate the atmosphere being the same as before the Arizona game my sophomore year,” Langford said. “Hopefully not the same outcome.”
The Wildcats won that game, 91-74.
“It’s a big game. It’s another step toward our ultimate goal,” senior Michael Lee said. “It won’t be the end of the world, win or lose. Right now it’s important to keep getting better.”
As far as paying back the Yellow Jackets … “I think that’s obvious, the revenge motive, but we played for different stakes last year,” Lee said. “Obviously we want to win the game, but it’s not near as important as that game last year.”
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Unsure on lineup: Self said Friday he’s “undecided” for the power forward starter next to Christian Moody for today’s game.
“I really don’t know what I’ll do,” Self said. “People will know who’s starting whenever the game starts. We have an idea what direction we’ll go.”
He started Darnell Jackson next to Moody in KU’s first game without the injured Simien. The team’s other power forward options are C.J. Giles, Sasha Kaun and Moulaye Niang.
Self might turn to a four-perimeter player lineup much of the game as he did against Wisconsin-Milwaukee, KU’s first game without the injuried Simien.
It could mean lots of playing time for frosh Alex Galindo.
When: 1:30 p.m. todayWhere: Allen FieldhouseTV: ESPN (cable channel 33)Records: No. 9 Georgia Tech 9-1, No. 2 KU 8-0 |
“They are tough to prepare for. The played one way with Simien. Now they are changing on the fly,” Hewitt said. “Galindo at the four presents matchup problems for us. It’s something that makes them a little unique.”
“We need to come up with some little different wrinkles to give us the best chance to play to our strengths,” Self said. “It’s one of the exciting things about coaching, when you are challenged to try to think of some things to do.”
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Prospect here today: Bryce Webster, a 6-9 junior forward from Mendota Heights, Minn., will attend today’s game on an unofficial recruiting visit
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Hewitt on Russell Robinson: “I am familiar with Russell. We recruited him hard,” Hewitt said of KU’s freshman guard. “He adds a lot to the team.”
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Hewitt on Jack: “I wish I could script it. I wish it was that easy,” said Hewitt, referring to Jack’s 29-point effort in last year’s game. “I’m sure Bill and his players will have a lot to do with what happens. One of the things about our club, we spread the ball around and you can’t key on one person. He got touches and took advantage of it.”
The offseason pickup games and weightlifting sessions were tolerable. The trip to Canada, Late Night in the Phog and exhibition games against Emporia State and Washburn fine and dandy.
But for Kansas University’s basketball players, nothing compares to what’s on the horizon — tonight’s nonconference clash between KU and Vermont, the Jayhawks’ first game to count in the standings since an overtime loss to Georgia Tech on March 28 in the Regional Finals in St. Louis.
“This game is finally here,” KU senior guard Keith Langford said.
“Everybody’s been saying a lot about us. What we’ve been doing in the offseason and working on comes to a head now.”
All the positive things written about the No. 1 Jayhawks in preseason magazines and poll stories now classify as old news. It’s time to put up or shut up on the court, which is fine with the players.
“You definitely get that feeling. It’s here,” KU senior point guard Aaron Miles said of the regular season. “I’ve only got, what, 16 games left in the fieldhouse? You start feeling it.”
The Jayhawks, who return four starters from last year’s 24-9 team, open against another experienced squad.
Vermont returns four senior starters from a 22-9 team that won the America East Conference title for the second straight year.
“We’re excited,” KU coach Bill Self said of the season opener. “Coming off our last performance (a 79-70 victory over Washburn), that wasn’t very exciting to me. You should never have to coach energy and effort. If I have to coach energy and effort, we’re not going to be very good.
“The thing as a coach disappointing to me is we didn’t play at that high energy level. I’m hoping that’s something we don’t have to be concerned with any more this year.”
Who: Kansas vs. VermontWhen: 7 tonightWhere: Allen FieldhouseTV: ch. 13; replay 10:30, Sunflower Broadband ch. 6 |
KU’s players are expected to have a healthy dose of respect for the Catamounts, who return the country’s top scoring duo in power forward Taylor Coppenrath and point guard T.J. Sorrentine, seniors who averaged 24.1 and 14.8 points a game respectively last year.
The Catamounts have extra incentive playing for veteran coach Tom Brennan, who is starting his 19th and final season at Vermont.
“I’m scared to death, very disappointed they didn’t whack Washburn around more,” Brennan said. “They didn’t do us any favors. The good thing is we’ve got seniors. We won’t get shook. We could get whacked — I’ve seen teams go in Allen Fieldhouse and get whacked on TV — but we won’t be shook.
“It could be a mess, but I hope we come to compete.”
The Jayhawks figure to compete after the Washburn scare and because of the excitement of opening night … also because the team has lofty goals.
“There’s a different mentality this year,” senior Wayne Simien said. “There’s no tomorrow, no, ‘Maybe we’ll get it next year.’ I think even going to another Final Four would be falling short. Being so close, one shot away our sophomore year, two points away from getting back our junior year … we’ve got really high goals this year.”
So does Vermont, picked to win the America East for a third straight year.
“Being so highly rated puts some pressure on them,” Brennan said. “Even us, picked to win the league and have our best season ever … having a noose around your neck makes it tough. We feel pressure, too. We’ll see how we handle it.”
It’s T-minus six days and counting for the start of the college basketball season.
“Heading into the first practice, I’m enthused and anxious,” Kansas University coach Bill Self said Friday, answering fans’ questions on KUsports.com a week before Friday night’s Late Night in the Phog at Allen Fieldhouse.
The second-year KU coach’s appetite for the 2004-05 campaign was whetted over Labor Day weekend when KU routed four Canadian college teams following 10 strong practices.
“I think our players understand that there are 15 schools out there getting a lot of hype right now,” Self said, aware various publications have tapped KU the top team in the country. “I also think that having four veterans (Wayne Simien, Aaron Miles, Keith Langford, Michael Lee) will certainly do wonders in keeping guys grounded.
“As coaches, it’s our job to make sure they can’t be caught up in anything that doesn’t have to do with winning games, and that is the hype that surrounds the college basketball season.”
Blessed with a 17-player roster, Self, who likely will have scholarship player Jeremy Case and walk-ons Matt Kleinmann and Nick Bahe take red-shirt seasons, thinks players will accept their roles well.
“I think everyone knows we have some talented guys returning. I don’t see playing time being as much of an issue as on some other teams I’ve had,” Self said.
KU’s five scholarship freshmen, who all figure to play, recently survived their first KU boot camp.
“I would say that C.J. (Giles), Russell (Robinson) and Sasha (Kaun) all did better than I thought they would,” Self said. “I thought Darnell (Jackson) and Alex (Galindo) need to get in better shape. I think all the newcomers did well, but those three guys — C.J., Russell and Sasha — stood out.”
First place is out of the question.
But a first-division finish for Kansas University’s men’s track team is possible as the Jayhawks head to the Big 12 Indoor Track and Field championships today and Saturday in Lincoln, Neb.
“As far as we go, I don’t think we are favored in either one (men’s or women’s meet) by any means,” first-year KU coach Stanley Redwine said. “Our women were 12th last year and our guys 10th. Our goal is to get better from there.
“I think it is a realistic goal on our men’s side,” he added, referring to a top-six finish. “I don’t know if that’s a realistic goal on the women’s side. At this time, the whole team has been a pleasant surprise to me.”
KU enters with four nationally ranked competitors.
Scott Russell is ranked second in the U.S. in the men’s weight throw (73-81/4). Charlie Gruber is seventh in the mile (4:00.79), Ryan Speers 11th in the shot (61-0) and Andy Tate 25th in the 3,000 (8:08.36).
Andrea Branson, a five-time All-American, is one of the favorites in the pole vault with two victories this indoor season, while Andy Morris is one of the top contenders in the pentathlon. He placed first at the Missouri Invitational with a score of 3,891. He’s the school record holder in that event.
Others to watch: Jabari Wamble (200, 400 meters), Jennie Wonder (60 low hurdles) and Jennifer Foster (shot).
“The athletes are ready to go. We should see some great performances,” Redwine said.
Redwine sees Nebraska and Texas as top contenders on both the men’s and women’s sides.
“Their depth is very good. That’s what it takes to win a conference title,” he said.