The Greene Room Live: KU-DePaul

By Staff     Dec 8, 2007

**4:12 p.m.**: Before getting to the game, associate athletic director Larry Keating informed the media that KU has just agreed to play a home-and-home series with Tennessee for the next two seasons. The Vols and coach Bruce Pearl will visit Allen Fieldhouse next December, with KU returning the trip in the 2009-10 season.One stat that jumps out at the end of this one is Darrell Arthur having played 22 minutes without grabbing a single rebound. Bill Self said Arthur basically took himself out of the flow of the game in the first half, and the number will go largely overlooked because of the game Sasha Kaun had. The senior finished with 15 points and five boards, snapping out of a season-long funk which had even seen him lose his spot in the starting lineup to Darnell Jackson. Coincidentally, Kaun said afterwards that the key for him was doing what Jackson does best – bring some energy to the game. It sounds like Kaun is OK coming off the bench in the long run, too, as he said there’s not as much pressure on him to start off on the right foot every night.That stat line of the night, without question was that of Mario Chalmers, who Self said played his best game of the season. He set a career high with seven steals to go with his 12 points, nine assists and seven assists.Sherron Collins wound up playing 13 minutes, finishing with six points. Self said he told the sophomore guard to play safe basketball in his first action back off a stress fracture in his foot. Collins said he wasn’t as explosive because his quad isn’t firing right just yet. Self said he anticipates that to no longer be an issue within a few days.KU’s got a week off now to prepare for next Saturday’s game in the Sprint Center.**2:54 p.m.**: Conner Teahan has entered the game, and lately he’s taken on the role of human victory cigar. That means it’s time to let you know I’ll be back with postgame nuggets in a little while after interviews.**2:32 p.m.**: Sasha Kaun has given the fans reason to stick around in the second half, exploding for nine points so far in the stanza. His impact was so great that it finally gave the Rock Chalk video crew reason to use something it had obviously prepared loooong ago…a tribute to the big man using a scene from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (had to look that one up on imdb.com.**2:07 p.m.**: Just saw KU football recruit Kale Pick perusing the grounds at Allen Fieldhouse at halftime with KU assistant Brandon Blaney.The situation in the Fieldhouse this year has been that when the football team has been recognized for its accomplishments, that’s the loudest this place has gotten. James McClinton and Marcus Herford were both honored today as the Big 12’s Defensive and Special Teams Players of the Year, respectively.But the basketball’s been pretty good, too.As I said earlier, the Jayhawks look like they’re having fun, savoring every moment of this game. Revenge can be sweet.Now they must avoid pitfalls of any kind.KU was outscored by Depaul 47-31 in the second half a year ago. If that were the case today, the Demons still wouldn’t win. Barring a complete meltdown, there’s no reason KU shouldn’t win this one. The defense has been superb. The post play has been efficient. DePaul’s leading scorer, Draelon Burns (18.8 ppg) has yet to score a point.**1:45 p.m.**: DePaul’s last timeout was purely comical, almost. Jerry Wainwright pulled up a seat from the bench, sat in front of his team like a confused father, threw his hands up and shrugged his shoulders. I think this was where he wanted to see what his team’s made of and see if they can still fight back somewhat.KU’s putting this one out of reach as we speak, though. The Jayhawks just look to be having too much fun. A 20-1 run doesn’t hurt either. It’s almost hard to believe the Blue Demons led this game at one point, 13-12.**1:29 p.m.**: DePaul has this game at the pace the Blue Demons want – slow. Hence, it’s still a game despite the Jayhawks’ lightning-quick start.Sherron Collins’ first stint in the game was a scoreless one, as a sidenote.**1:22 p.m.**: Well, it still isn’t full in Allen Fieldhouse, but this is the loudest it’s been all year without question. Sherron Collins’ return from a stress fracture in his right foot only added to that.Collins has been in for about two minutes but has yet to do anything. He looks healthy in terms of running around. It’ll be hard to tell until he gets into the mix a bit more.**1:15 p.m.**: Rush is in at the 15:56 mark, so so much for the suspension theory.KU is doing what it did Wednesday night all over again in attacking the paint at will. Darnell Jackson is playing like an absolute monster. Four points and four boards in four minutes before taking a breather in place of Sasha Kaun.**12:41 p.m.**: A smattering of NBA scouts in the house. Seated directly to my right are scouts from Houston, New Orleans and Dallas. Just a heads up.**11:58 a.m.**: Well, the first thing worth reporting today is that Sherron Collins is no longer in street clothes. He’s in uniform and warming up with the guards as we speak. Bill Self said in Wednesday’s postgame presser that Collins more than likely wouldn’t be playing, but that this was a game that’s important to him. That’s for obvious reasons.He looks to be moving well, with both of his feet/ankles appearing to be heavily taped underneath his knee-high socks.Tyrel Reed is warming up, too. He hasn’t been wincing in pain or anything, though if I had to venture a guess, I’d say both he and Collins look as though they’re ‘questionable.’Who knows, though. It could also be a mind game between KU coach Bill Self and DePaul coach Jerry Wainwright, with Self looking to maybe make the Blue Demons _think_ the duo is ready to go. Remember, Wainwright is 2-0 against Self, having beaten him as teh coach of Richmond in the 2003-04 season and last season, too.As for warmups, the advantage to being seated right underneath the KU hoop for the first half is that you can get somewhat of a sense of what kind of attitude this team’s bringing based on the way they warm up.Of all the games so far this season – at home, at least – I’d say this is the most aggressive these guys have looked in warmups. Lots of grunting and dunking from the big men, and very little laughter and chatter back and forth between the guards.Not only is this a chance for KU to again prove itself in front of a national TV audience, but with so many guys back from last year’s Elite Eight squad, they remember the feeling they had walking off the floor in Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Ill. KU had an eight-point lead late before Sammy Mejia went to work on Brandon Rush and Co., with a 15-point swing taking place late.The thing about that game was Brandon Rush’s defense late. He was the first to tell you in the weeks following that he got worked a bit. But after that, he was as lockdown as ever on that side of the ball.DePaul brings some pop, though. The Blue Demons have only played four games this season to the Jayhawks’ eight, and come in at 2-2. The guy who’s been getting it done lately, though, is senior guard Draelon Burns, who has scored 32 points in each of the team’s last two games. The game before that – a 54-53 win over Northwestern – he hit the game-winner with six seconds to go.The Blue Demons have some young talent, too. Freshmen Mac Koshwal (6-10 center, one-time Proviso East standout) and Dar Tucker (6-5 forward from Saginaw, Mich.) were both Rivals.com Top-50 recruits this year. Tucker’s averaging 11.0 points and 5.3 rebounds a night. Koshwal has been efficient, averaging 7.3 points and 8.0 boards.Talk to you again in a bit.

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