KU’s Teahan surprised his shots aren’t going in

By Gary Bedore     Nov 14, 2008

Thad Allender
Conner Teahan

Conner Teahan, who hit 60 percent of his three-pointers as a freshman, went 0-for-3 from beyond the arc during the 2008-09 preseason.

The 6-foot-5 Kansas University sophomore’s oh-fer against Washburn and Emporia State came as a huge surprise to junior point guard Sherron Collins.

“In practice, you can’t give him an inch to shoot. He always makes his shots,” Collins said. “He makes me mad sometimes because coach says we have to get a stop. All they do is throw the ball to Teahan, and he shoots a three. It always goes in. (So) we have to get another stop. They always give it to Teahan. It always goes in. Sometimes I have to foul him on the arm when coach can’t see it. He’ll finally leave it short. He makes every one.”

Teahan doesn’t blame the additional distance – the arc is 20-feet-9 this year, compared to last year’s 19-9 – for his preseason misses.

“I feel I’ve been shooting the ball the best I ever have honestly in my whole life the last couple weeks,” said Teahan, who made 12 of 20, mostly at the end of games, a year ago.

“I’ve been surprised some are not going in. I’ve taken three. None have fallen. It’s something I’m not going to push it. Once you push it, they stop going in. It’ll come. I’m not focusing on that too much. I’m focusing on my overall performance.”

Teahan has been concentrating on defense while playing several positions, including power forward.

“It’s something I got in trouble for last year. I wasn’t good on the defensive end. It’s something I worked on to improve,” Teahan said. “Hopefully it will help me get minutes out there.”

KU coach Bill Self believes the former KC Rockhurst standout will be a factor.

“I think he’s gotten a lot better (on defense),” said Self, who started Teahan at power forward against Washburn. “We’ve not seen him shoot the ball yet. In practice we see it every day. The kid can really shoot,” added Self who believes Teahan “can impact the game. That will be a positive for us the entire year.”

He does figure to hit open shots.

“I’ve not gotten a ton of opportunities shooting them in the games. It’s nothing to be worried about,” Teahan said. “It is a little frustrating knowing you are used to capitalizing and you haven’t been able to do that. It’ll come.”

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ESPNU recruiting show: Michael Snaer, a 6-foot-4 senior shooting guard from Rancho Verde High in Moreno Valley, Calif., will reveal his college choice today on ESPNU (Sunflower Broadband channel 141).

Snaer will be featured on ESPNU’s College Basketball Signing Day Special to be broadcast from 3 to 5 p.m. Central time. One of ESPNU’s publicists said in an e-mail to the Journal-World the Snaer portion of the show would likely start about 4 p.m. Snaer said earlier this week he’s considering KU, Florida State and Marquette.

Self said – in theory – he doesn’t mind recruits going on TV to announce their college choice.

“It’s not like it used to be where you call the coach, tell him, sign the papers, mail them in and coach says what he thinks. Now (the recruit) has the opportunity to get some play out of it,” Self said.

“It’s not the kids’ fault. The thing I’m amazed with … all the media outlets they have to find some way to fill their air-time with ESPNU and all that stuff. It is news. They do follow that football, basketball (recruiting). I have no problem with it,” he added, indicating it’d be nice for coaches to be informed before the TV show.

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More on recruiting: KU has received a signed letter of intent from No. 18 rated Thomas Robinson, 6-8 from Brewster Academy in Wolfeboro, N.H.. The letter of Elijah Johnson, 6-2 from Las Vegas Cheyenne High and the country’s No. 27-rated player, will arrive via fax Monday.

Self says KU’s national title has been “a huge asset” in recruiting.

“There are very few people we call that don’t accept the call, which is positive. I think we can be in the game with just about everybody, but being in the game and being the ‘one’ … that is night and day,” Self said.

Self also agreed being the reigning national title coach helps, too.

“The perception is, ‘You can play for a national championship coach.’ That is a bonus regardless of who is sitting in the chair,” Self said.

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