Nick KrugTalk about assets — this Kansas basketball team is loaded with them as it begins a realistic quest for another NCAA title.
The Jayhawks don’t have to beat Missouri Saturday … they don’t have to win even one game in the Big 12 tournament … they, at least for a while, don’t need Sherron Collins and Cole Aldrich performing as the All-Americans they should be … there’s an imposing list of benefits in KU’s favor.
KU stamped itself as the clear pick of the league litter with Wednesday’s 82-65 victory over high-class Kansas State, which also could make big noise down the line. I had nightmares over the prospects of KSU guards Jacob Pullen and Denis Clemente orchestrating a Wildcat win along the lines of KU’s 80-75 tournament defeat by Rhode Island in 1998. Remember how Cuttino Mobley (27 points) and Tyson Wheeler (20) ripped out KU’s heart in that Midwest Sub-Regional second-round game in Oklahoma City?
But even though there were times you wondered if Collins and Aldrich were going to show up against KSU, KU’s satellite performers kept things on an even keel until there could be a breakthrough after that frightening 45-all tie. K-State is a national top 10 entity, but it succumbed to KU’s overall strength the same way opponents from now on may do.
K-State’s zone defense tactics and KU’s uncertainty in how to deal with them could have been a preview of what will happen if Kansas and zone-icon Syracuse meet. But that might not happen until a national title game. Even though the ‘Cuse’s zone may be the best you’ll ever see, Collins and Aldrich may have regrouped by then, and KU will shoot free throws a lot better than that disgusting 12-of-30 showing in the 2003 title loss to the Orange. In reach!
Quick rehash. Suppose Kansas had entered the 1952 NCAA Tournament with all-everything Clyde Lovellette in the kind of funk that has pestered Aldrich. Clyde’s 144-point tourney showed that to be no problem, yet KU could not have won with Clyde in semi-drydock.
Fast-forward to the 1988 miracle, and suppose the incomparable Danny Manning, Milt Newton and Kevin Pritchard had been limping along the way Collins and Aldrich have been. KU probably wouldn’t have got past the regional.
Four 2008 stars averaged double-figure scoring. KU still would have been derailed if any two of the Rush-Chalmers-Arthur-Jackson combo had been in late-season limbo.
Yet here are two 2010 All-Americans sometimes grasping at straws and Kansas STILL deserves to be rated the title favorite, regardless of what it does at Missouri or in the league tourney.
Man, that means Bill Self has a pretty good team at his disposal! Freshman whiz Xavier Henry again is showing that he might truly be one-and-done NBA material. Marcus and Markieff Morris have been mammoth surprises from what was anticipated a year ago. Tyshawn Taylor with all his athleticism indicates he might have reached the stage where he can have a two-good to one-bad play ratio at both ends of the court. Lofty Jeff Withey might help, Brady Morningstar and Tyrel Reed will continue to add stability and we haven’t begun to see all that Thomas Robinson and Elijah Johnson can provide.
Now, if Collins can moderate his occasional ball-hogging and poor-shot choices and Aldrich can relocate the basket and finish with more efficiency and gusto, they have the supporting cast to lead the way to the national throne room.
Mercy sakes, we may just be looking at KU’s second NCAA title in the last three seasons. Don’t bet against these still-emerging Jayhawks.
Playing as the underdog in sports is like being handed a round-trip ticket to Las Vegas, a wad of somebody else’s cash and a certificate for free meals and a hotel on the house. Sure, it still feels better if you turn that cash into more cash, but it’s not as if you’re stressed out making the wagers.
The Kansas University basketball team doesn’t get to feel that way very often. Pressure is a big part of the tradition.
On Monday in Norman, the young Jayhawks will play the role of underdogs, and if it suits them as well as playing the part of underdogs in the Big 12 race, they just might have what it takes to defeat a team that will have the backing of juiced crowd and a more talented, more experienced roster.
Kansas winning in Norman would be an upset, all right, but would it really be any greater surprise than KU taking an 11-1 Big 12 record into the game?
After KU took care of its second Allen Fieldhouse sparring partner this week in defeating Nebraska, 70-53, sophomore center Cole Aldrich was asked if he hoped Oklahoma would be rated No. 1 in the nation when the poll results come out Monday.
That was hours before the second-ranked Sooners — with star Blake Griffin on the bench because of a likely concussion — suffered a 73-68 loss to Texas.
“It doesn’t matter to us if they’re No. 1 or 2 or 850,” Aldrich said. “It’s just a number until you get to the NCAA Tournament and everyone is looking to get that No. 1 seed.”
Or is it? If getting the top ranking wouldn’t add to the Sooners’ pressure, it certainly wouldn’t subtract from it, either. Though Oklahoma won’t be No. 1, it will be favored, which, of course, gives Kansas a break in the pressure department.
“I think sometimes when you feel like you can play and — nothing to lose is the wrong term — but you feel like the pressure is on the other team to win, I do feel that’s a great situation to be in,” Kansas coach Bill Self said. “Absolutely.”
The game means a lot for one reason: Winning conference titles means a lot.
Kansas has been known to play well when cast as the underdog. During Brandon Rush’s freshman season, KU defeated Texas in the Big 12 tournament title game in Dallas, avenging a blowout loss to Texas earlier that season. In Rush’s sophomore year, Kansas upset defending national champion Florida, which had all of its starters back. Last season, North Carolina was favored to defeat KU in the Final Four. It didn’t quite work out that way. Those three games were played on neutral courts. The hostile atmosphere will make this one that much more difficult, that much more rewarding for the Jayhawks if they pull it off.
“I think we’ll be fine,” Aldrich said. “We’ve grown so much through the year from going over the little things we don’t really consider ourselves young anymore.”
The game features two of the best big men in the conference — assuming Griffin is cleared to play — but they won’t likely match up against each other.
What is the key to stopping Griffin, the leading candidate for Player of the Year honors?
“I don’t know,” Aldrich said. “Could you tell me? It’s tough. He crashes the board every time. That’s the great thing about it, playing against those guys who are just above everybody else.”
There is no greater motivation than playing against the best.
