Los Angeles ? So often during the first two seasons of their careers, Kansas University juniors Mario Chalmers and Brandon Rush would play against a more experienced, less talented team.
Today, they are on the opposite end of that formula when they face a USC basketball team loaded with talent inside and out and relying heavily on freshmen and sophomores.
Just as it was no shame for defending national champion Florida to lose an early-season game to Kansas last season, it will be no cause for alarm should the Jayhawks fall short in today’s 1 p.m. (Central time) tipoff at the Galen Center, USC’s swanky homecourt that will be filled with spectators and NBA scouts.
As much as today’s matchup shapes up as an intriguing one, an NCAA Tournament rematch would stand to match teams vastly improved for different reasons.
USC coach Tim Floyd’s rotation includes three freshmen and two sophomores. By March, they likely will be playing more consistently as a team than a collection of individuals playing cohesively in spurts, which is what they are now.
Bill Self’s team figures to be healthier come tournament time. Brandon Rush is six months removed from knee surgery. When the tournament starts, he’ll be closing in on 10 months. Big difference, especially defensively.
Kansas plays again today without Sherron Collins, who makes the team play so much faster in transition and in the halfcourt breaks down defenses by blowing by his man and getting to the lane. Without Collins, Kansas has to work so much harder for its points, has to rely on making more contested shots. Feeding the post becomes more important. The Kansas guards and post players haven’t mastered that art yet.
With Collins sidelined and Rush playing well but not yet back to full strength, Kansas can’t quite match USC for pure talent, and the Trojans certainly can’t match KU in experience.
Talented USC guards O.J. Mayo, a freshman, and sophomore Daniel Hackett don’t have to carry the burden alone. Davon Jefferson, a 6-foot-8 freshman, and 6-9 sophomore Taj Gibson give the Trojans a pair of hard-to-guard post players.
“They both can put the ball on the floor, and they both can face and shoot to 15 feet, and they can both post up, and they’re both pretty good offensive rebounders,” Floyd said. “They play bigger than their size.”
Kansas is a better 3-point shooting team. USC attacks the basket better. The Trojans defend well and have the statistics to prove it, but they don’t get after it defensively the way Kansas does. Few teams do. Sometimes, for comparison purposes, it takes watching a team considered strong defensively, such as USC, to appreciate just how intensely Kansas guards people. USC clogs the middle well and limits interior points. Kansas does that and pressures the ball aggressively, a tough juggling act few teams execute.
“They’re just special, really special,” Floyd said of the Jayhawks. “They’re just so committed to who they are. Like all great teams, they have an identity, and their identity starts on the defensive end. Nobody does it better than Bill nationally. He’s just a fabulous coach. It will be a tremendous test for a young team.”
And USC amounts to a difficult challenge for a veteran team.
