Kansas University’s men’s basketball players have had one thing and one thing only on their minds this week — Oklahoma State.
“The guys have been determined to focus for three days,” KU coach Bill Self said Saturday on the eve of today’s 3:05 p.m. battle between the No. 4 Cowboys and No. 8 Jayhawks for first place in the Big 12 Conference.
“It’s not just no interviews,” Self added of his Jayhawks, who announced an interview ban Wednesday. “It’s no cell phones, basically no other engagements they had to go to. They said, ‘No distractions.”‘
The Jayhawks (20-4, 10-3) are hoping total basketball focus will help end their three-game losing streak. OSU (20-4, 10-3) enters with similar motivation, coming off a loss Tuesday at Nebraska.
“I think a lot of things have been tempered a little bit about the game because we didn’t play well at all last week,” Self said. “Based on our recent performances, I’d anticipate two teams coming in hooking up pretty good.”
Veteran OSU coach Eddie Sutton, who was Self’s boss for three seasons in Stillwater, Okla., called his squad’s effort in a 74-67 loss Wednesday “a little disappointing.
“We are a senior ballclub,” Sutton said of his squad, led by John Lucas, Ivan McFarlin, Joey Graham and Daniel Bobik. “It was certainly a shock to the coaching staff.”
Sutton said he equally was surprised KU fell to Iowa State on Feb. 19 in Lawrence, but wasn’t shocked at KU’s losses at Texas Tech and Oklahoma in Big Monday outings.
“The season is so long, you will have ups and downs. Those teams are very good at their place. Kansas will bounce back, believe me. When they get in the conference tournament and NCAAs, those seniors will have that team ready to go. Those seniors are special young people. They’ve already been to the Final Four twice. They may be in a nosedive right now, but they’ll pull out of it.”
As to whether KU pulls out of the hole today, stay tuned.
“I hope both teams play well,” Sutton said. “We’ll have to play a little over our heads. If we play as well as we did against Tech (76-66 victory Jan. 8 in Lubbock, Texas) we have a chance to upset them, but they are a very good basketball team.”
Sutton realizes the Jayhawks may have revenge on their minds. A year ago, OSU pasted the Jayhawks, 80-60, in Stillwater.
“I’m sure they’ve marked this one after the way we treated them here last year,” Sutton said.
“I don’t think that will have any influence on the game,” Self said. “It was very apparent they wore us out. They physically whipped us. We’ve certainly watched some clips from last year.”
The ‘Pokes advanced all the way to the Final Four a year ago; KU made the Elite Eight.
“They are men,” Self said. “They are bringing a team up here that can beat anybody anywhere.”
The teams normally try to beat their opponents using straight man-to-man defense. However, both coaches wouldn’t be surprised if their counterparts used zone today.
“Kansas will probably play some zone,” Sutton said. “We have not played any zone this year. Before we played Tech, Bob (Knight) and I were talking before the game. I said, ‘The way you chop people up in the passing game, if you all of a sudden see us playing zone, don’t be surprised.’ He said, ‘If you do that, I’ll call Mr. Iba (Hank, Sutton’s mentor) and he won’t like it one bit.’
“Mr. Iba hated zones,” Sutton said. “We play it time to time. It’s possible we might play some against Kansas. At times they have a tough time scoring (against zones).”
Self wouldn’t put it past Sutton to use zone.
“I know him. He taught me. You hope you don’t have to (use zone). I’m sure they are thinking that, too,” Self said. “We’ve been working against it.”
Both coaches hope to be on top of their games with first place in the league at stake with two games remaining after today.
“The only way this game could be bigger,” Self said, “is if it was the last game of the season, because there’s still time for the conference race to change after this game. I think people who have followed our league believe this is as important a game as we’ll have in the league all year.”
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Moody set to start: KU junior Christian Moody (infected left knee) practiced for the second straight day Saturday and will start today, Self said. “He’s practiced full-time,” Self said. “He’d only been out six days, so I don’t think he lost a lot of conditioning at all.”
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This, that: Blue “Beware of the Phog” T-shirts were draped over each seat in Allen Fieldhouse for fans to pick up and wear for today’s game. The shirts, which will create a “Blue Phog” in the building, have been provided by Hutton Farms and University National Bank. … Relatives of J.R. Giddens and Darnell Jackson were on hand to greet the KU freshmen after Saturday’s practice. Also on hand was Tom Topping, AAU coach of Sasha Kaun. … Veteran CBS announcer Billy Packer will work today’s game with Verne Lundquist.
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Friday revisited: Self enjoyed watching videos of the history of Allen Fieldhouse at Friday night’s pre-50th birthday fieldhouse bash.
“I had never seen a video of Dr. Allen explaining why the game was invented and why the basket was 10 feet,” Self said. “I love the history part of it. I just love history. Sometimes we take for granted how much (history) is here.”
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Video mania: KU, it has been reported, will have a new videoboard next year. Self was asked if the Jayhawks, like most schools, would start using dramatic pregame introductions with highlights on the board.
“I think so,” Self said. “I think it’ll get the crowd excited. I don’t know if you kill the lights (during intros), go that far. One of the great things about it, it’s an old building. There’s historic tradition. I don’t think you get away from it being traditional. I think certainly the scoreboard will add to the excitement.”