Wright eyes Chicago trip

By Ryan Wood     Mar 11, 2007

? Julian Wright has heard the whispers on where Kansas University’s basketball team likely is headed next week.

Each win KU gathers in the Big 12 tournament – like Saturday’s 67-61 semifinal victory over Kansas State – makes KU all the more certain of playing next week in Chicago for the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament.

Likely, KU’s play this weekend had little effect on the near-certain chances of heading to the Windy City.

But it sure didn’t hurt.

“If we do play there, that’s great,” said Wright, a native of nearby Chicago Heights, Ill. “I kind of got the jitters of going back home out of the way at DePaul (Dec. 2).

“That’d be good, but it’s not really about where you’re playing this time of year. It’s about preparing for the team you’ve got in front of you and playing the best way possible to win.”

Wright bounced back against K-State on Saturday, scoring 12 points and snagging a team-high eight rebounds.

More importantly, Wright played 27 minutes.

After picking up early fouls against Oklahoma on Friday in the quarterfinals, the sophomore ended up playing just 15 minutes. It would’ve been fewer, but coach Bill Self kept him in longer late in the contest because Wright already had sat on the bench for most of the game.

Wright had four fouls in each contest, but his final foul Saturday was in the closing seconds. He certainly wasn’t in any sort of danger of getting disqualified, which allowed him to play more aggressively.

“Regardless of the foul situation, coach wants us to be able to make plays,” Wright said. “Obviously, we’re going to make a few bad plays here and there. But we have a real deep bench.”

It was needed Saturday. In a game labeled “grind-it-out” by Self, most of KU’s big men racked up their share of fouls. Sasha Kaun had four – three in 14 seconds – while Wright had four and Darnell Jackson three.

“We always have a style, tempo we want to play,” Wright said of the physical contest. “But whatever the mode of the game is, we have to be able to make adjustments in tournament games. You got to feel out the situation and just try to execute. Especially down the stretch.”

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23901Wright eyes Chicago trip