Faster, faster, faster. Play faster. Will you please play faster?
Too often this season, it has been difficult to sit in Allen Fieldhouse and not repeat that thought.
It wasn’t a problem Tuesday night against Winston-Salem State, the weakest team on the Kansas University basketball schedule.
The Jayhawks picked up the pace, and nobody made the show move faster than freshman point guard Sherron Collins, who has that Jason Kidd quality in that to the naked eye he appears to travel faster when dribbling than when running the floor without the ball.
Players as fast as Collins tend to put the defense in retreat mode, which results in quick, easy buckets before the defenders know what has hit them.
“I was trying to run more, show how fast we can get up and down the floor,” said Collins, who comes off the bench.
Trying and succeeding.
A McDonald’s All-American out of Chicago Crane High, Collins brought a nice blend of athleticism and skills with him to KU. He’s quick and even faster than he is quick. He’s strong and a big leaper. He has a strong handle, sees the floor well, knows how to set up teammates and has a soft three-point shooting touch.
Collins also arrived as a player out of shape and at times out of control, too eager to twist and turn and put up high-degree-of-difficulty shots on drives. He wasn’t doing that in Tuesday’s 94-43 slaughter.
As for what Collins brought to KU defensively, the best description came from the player himself.
“I didn’t guard a lick of defense in high school,” Collins said. “When I got here, it was different. I had to guard.”
You have to love such honesty. You can’t get better until you know you’re not good enough. Collins learned that quickly. It looked as if he was trying so hard to apply defensive pressure it drained some of the zip from the rest of his game. It’s almost inevitable that players coming out of high school temporarily have to get a little worse at what they do best while getting better at what they do worst.
Collins remains a work in progress defensively, but has improved a great deal. His progress has enabled him to think less and play more. In 18 minutes against Winston-Salem, Collins totaled 11 points and three assists and most significantly turned the ball over just once. He missed just one of three three-point attempts.
“I thought Sherron looked good tonight,” KU coach Bill Self said. “He pushed the ball really well, and his body looks good, too. He looks slimmer. Sherron has made a conscious effort to get in better shape. I thought he had a lot to do with us playing faster.”
Listed at 5-foot-11 and 200 pounds, Collins has been the team’s best three-point shooter, a weakness for the team. Collins is shooting .429 from long distance. Teammates have combined for a .333 accuracy rate. KU opponents have made five more three-pointers than the Jayhawks and have shot at a .361 rate.
As Collins pushes KU to play faster, another benefit could be more open three-pointers for teammates in transition. The faster Collins improves, the more minutes he’ll get, and the better the team will perform for it.