The 13 scholarship players and one walk-on circled the north half of the Allen Fieldhouse court, sitting in chairs, answering questions during Thursday’s Kansas University men’s basketball Media Day.
Mario Chalmers darted his eyes around the perimeter, seeing every teammate under the new, brighter lights, before responding to a request to name the team’s best player.
“I would have to say C.J. Giles,” Chalmers said.
Interesting. The improvements of sophomores Giles, Sasha Kaun, and Russell Robinson have generated quite a buzz.
Still, the answer to how strong Bill Self’s third KU basketball team can become once winter nears spring lies in how quickly the freshmen grow. That’s why the most important player on the team from now until opening tip against Idaho State on Nov. 18 is neither a talented freshman nor an improved sophomore, rather a senior.
“Jeff Hawkins can make life miserable right now for any of those young guys,” coach Bill Self said, meaning long, tall freshman wings Brandon Rush, Micah Downs, and Julian Wright. “He can get up underneath them and play, and these guys are not used to having somebody that quick and strong up underneath them because they’re used to being guarded by the other team’s 4 and 5 guys.”
Rush, so raw and talented, didn’t hesitate when asked what player had guarded him the toughest in scrimmages.
“Hawk,” Rush said. “He gets all up in you. You can’t really go right past him.”
Muggsy Bogues played 14 NBA seasons at 5-foot-3 and weighed 136 pounds. How could a player that small last that long? The answer was within the question. He lasted that long in part because he was so small and there was no simulating playing against him in practice.
The three freshman wings, ranging in height from 6-6 to 6-8, are getting an education from the 5-11 Hawkins.
“I try to let them know quick this is not high school anymore,” Hawkins said. “That’s how it’s going to be when we go to Missouri or when we go to Texas. If they’ll be able to handle the pressure with me, they’ll be able to handle the pressure with them. I’m not going to take it easy on them, because I want them to get better.”
He’s seen baby steps already.
“The first time we pressured them, they’d fumble it,” Hawkins said. “I pressure them again, and they fumble it again. And they start to learn how to protect the ball a little better, how to square up and get you off of them. You can see day in and day out they’re learning. I think they can handle the pressure of coming in and playing right away. It’s not like they’re mediocre players. They’re great athletes. Every one of them.”
Now, they need to be great students of the game.
“They’ve got to be sophomores by Christmas,” Hawkins said. “They can’t be freshmen the whole year. They’ve got to grow real fast.”
They will need to absorb the offense in a hurry as well, which Hawkins said he had helped them do by talking to them after workouts.
“All the freshmen have a great feel for the game of basketball,” sophomore transfer Rodrick Stewart said.
Self grades on a tougher curve, naturally.
“I would say an above-average feel,” Self said.
The freshmen are the team’s most talented players, just not the best yet.