Mayer: Big 12 upturn ahead

By Bill Mayer     Mar 30, 2007

Texas A&M could be awfully good. Same goes for Texas, particularly if Kevin Durant returns. Kansas State is expecting a big-time up-tick in basketball next season. Even Missouri and Baylor are hopeful. Kansas, with or without Brandon Rush, is fully capable of more Big 12 glory and an NCAA Final Four visit.

If the Big 12 was “down” in ’07, it should move up the ladder for ’08.

But what’s this business about Kansas Staters thinking 6-foot-6 Bill Walker and 6-9 Michael Beasley will guarantee they’ll break their string of stingers by Kansas? Walker, if he gets fully healed from serious knee surgery, as Danny Manning did several times as a professional, could be a force on the KSU front line, with senior David Hoskins and rookie Beasley. The Wildcat biggies, 7-3 Jason Bennett and 6-11 Luis Colon, could improve with a year of Bob Huggins’s whip-and-chair treatment. They didn’t contribute much in ’07.

In all the furor over how two guys will create miracles for K-State, let’s not forget that Kansas also will add a decent pair of prospects: 6-11 Cole Aldrich and 6-3 Tyrel Reed. They lack the hype of Walker and Beasley, but it’s not likely they’ll be the stiffs that Bennett and Colon were. Can Beasley approximate Durant?

The cast of veterans surrounding Aldrich and Reed at Kansas is far better than the holdovers in Manhattan. Did Darrell Arthur and Sherron Collins revolutionize Kansas as Beasley and Walker are expected to do for KSU? Talk about pressure.

With Rush, KU coach Bill Self can start the guys who engineered three victories over KSU in ’07. Without Rush, provided he unwisely tries to go NBA, Kansas still may be favored, even if Brandon’s three-spot features a new face, such as Julian Wright. Ju Ju still can uncork skills and thrills we haven’t seen. Then there’s a Jayhawk bench that again will be potent enough to help win as many as five games in the NCAA Tournament – after two more Big 12 titles are stored away.

Keep hearing the pros might try to lure Rush and Wright into their ranks. Major problem with both: bad ball-handlers, particularly in traffic, where NBA whippets will steal even their fingerprints. Wright courts turnovers by trying the hot-dog pass instead of a thrust to the basket. That can be remedied. Rush is a ball-handling risk just about anywhere and needs more work, in college. He’ll never get the chance as a pro, providing he can even make a roster.

Brandon busted a gut to become a go-to guy for Kansas the past two seasons and had some outstanding games. He was one of the bright spots in the rip by UCLA. Except, KU’s six-point lead dissolved into a four-point UCLA advantage at the half, a fatal 10-point swing. Rush missed three shots and had two turnovers in a two-minute span. That doesn’t read like an NBA top-20 talent. Another season here might get him over his hump of inconsistency.

But even if Rush vamooses, Kansas will have a lot more to worry about than Kansas State. And let’s hear no more about Collins replacing senior-to-be Russell Robinson as a starter until Sherron’s ailing knee is sound and his weight gets back under 200 pounds. If KU makes all the gains its potential says it can, Robinson will be a massive reason. He’s not talking NBA; he’s dedicated to getting Kansas to where he thinks it should be this weekend.

RussRob should have all the help he needs to project KU to at least national NCAA finalist status, hopefully against North Carolina.

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