Off-day niblets

By Staff     Mar 21, 2007

_Can’t make it to the NCAA Tournaments? Can’t read enough about the Jayhawks? Just like random bits and pieces with your hoops talk?_ [The Greene Room][1] _is hitting the road to give you all three. Check back at KUSports.com regularly over the next few weeks to read new entries, as KUSports.com editor Ryan Greene follows all of the action on and off the court from San Jose and every March Madness sight the Jayhawks happen to visit._[Greene’s San Jose Flickr Photos][2]: Ryan Greene will take photos with his trusty Razr all week, giving you a feel for what the Journal-World guy’s are doing out in Cali.**10:03 a.m., Saturday March 24, 2007** **Notables and quotables from Saturday’s off-day press session****_Beware of the head Bruin_** UCLA fourth-year coach Ben Howland certainly made Saturday’s press conference worth attending. Typically, podium sessions are pretty bland. He turned his into the complete opposite for no apparent reason other than that he’s a control freak.**1)** Howland stopped the presser first to tell people in the back of the room to pipe down.**2)** With the first handful of questions addressed to Howland, with his five starters seated to his left, he criticized the NCAA moderator to his right for not running the presser how he thought it should be done, with Howland making an opening statment followed solely by questions for student-athletes.**3)** After being asked about Kansas not having a true ‘go-to guy,’ Howland snapped back at the reporter, asking if it was his opinion, in which the reporter said yes.**4)** Another occurrence like No. 1, except this time to the side of the curtains surrounding the podium.But Howland didn’t win, and every journalist there should be happy about that one. First, he was questioned about stopping the session four times, to which he responded by saying he’s detail-oriented, but he cheapened the response a bit with a death stare in the reporter’s direction. And then, the same reporter he fired back at earlier, pointed out that Bill Self had said the same thing on the ‘go to guy’ topic on March 14. Howland asked if there was a question involved, and the reporter submitted the knockout blow in the war of words, saying simply he was showing Howland he didn’t make his previous statement up out of thin air.In my mind, he’ll never get a second chance to make a first impression with the Kansas media.**_The game within the game_** Brandon Rush and Mario Chalmers might be just sophomores, but in one activity, they’re the team’s elder statesmen: Spades.”It used to be me and Sherron (Collins), we used to whoop-up on everybody,” Chalmers said, who acquired Rush as a teammate when Collins found other stuff to do.After taking out Southern Illinois on Thursday, Chalmers and Rush went on to dust teammates Darrell Arthur and Jeremy Case on the card table.**_Collison could make the cut_** UCLA sophomore Darren Collison has potential to make ‘the list’ mentioned in Friday’s entry based on _his_ first impression. Aside from meeting the media with a quiet cockiness, he was spearheading a group of teammates in saying the Bruins are not scared to run with KU.He could play a big role. Or he could look like he has a big mouth. One of the two will come true, count on that.**_Here come the questions…_** The deeper KU delves into the Tournament, the number of national media around will continue to increase.With that said, the NBA Draft question arose Saturday. Brandon Rush provided the day’s most interesting response, uttering the words ‘Top-20′ on what it would take to pry him away from his college eligibility.Of course, he also said he’ll talk with his folks and Bill Self after the season to make an executive decision, too.My two cents? He’d be an absolute fool if he didn’t at least test the waters after the season, declaring without signing an agent to attend draft camps and see where he fits. The same goes for Mario Chalmers. Julian Wright is staying, and he can’t say it enough, and as much as it looked earlier like Darrell Arthur would be a one-year-wonder, the likelihood of him leaving decreases from game-to-game.**2:02 a.m., Friday March 23, 2007** **Some thoughts from Thursday’s NCAA stuff in San Jose…****_Southern Illinois’ Jamaal Tatum makes the list_** In the past handful of days, my man-crush list has grown from one to three. And no, I don’t mean man-crush in ‘that’ way. When it’s said in The Greene Room, it just means a basketball player who I can’t get enough of watching play for all of the right reasons.Everyone’s got man-crushes, they just come in different forms. They come in different shapes, sizes and severity. For example, mine are relatively mild – just guys you pull for out of instinct and respect.Here’s a history of this year’s list:1) Texas A&M’s [Acie Law IV][3] made the list last year during the NCAA Tournament run in which he carried the Aggies to a March no one outside of College Station expected. He cemented his spot on the list forever after the toughness, guts and whatever other cliched words you want to throw in there that he showed in a [69-66 win over KU][4] on Feb. 3 in Allen Fieldhouse. That three from the corner was so surreal, that even the midwest’s best defender was right in his face and it didn’t do anything.2) Kentucky’s [Ramel Bradley][5] earned his way during the second half of last week’s first round win over Villanova, just two days before KU sent the ‘Cats packing on time to go live it up on Spring Break.Bradley, though, is one of those tough, no-nonsense guards who showed the ‘fear no one but respect everyone’ attitude that comes with plenty of players out of New York. Plus, yelling in the face of ‘Nova’s Scottie Reynolds while guarding him was pretty cool.3) [Jamaal Tatum][6] now makes it a triumvirate. The floppy-haired Southern Illinois speedster could start at the point for any team in the country. Period. Kansas, UCLA, North Carolina, any of ’em.Aside from a deadly step-back jumper that he’ll shoot over anyone, he’s as fierce defensively as both of the other guys on this list. And he’s got one of the most brash [hairstyles][7] there is. As everyone knows, accessories (i.e. hair, tattoos, apparel) is as big a part of basketball now as anything else.**_But how could you not feel that way about SIU as a whole after Thursday night?_**If you can honestly look into your computer screen and tell me you didn’t like Southern Illinois’ team, well then your fandom is truly clouding the obvious. The Salukis weren’t blowing smoke during Wednesday’s press sessions talking about how hard they play. They surpassed even the Jayhawks’ expectations.”I wasn’t worrying about their defense before the game, but once I got out there, I was like man, they’re everywhere,” KU junior Darnell Jackson said afterwards. “They’re like a whole bunch of cats, just jumping and clawing.”They were as glue-like defensively as any team KU has faced or will face the rest of this season. They rebounded much better than anyone expected, and despite a distinct size disadvantage, they held KU to a season-low 26 rebounds.**_But in the long run…_** That game could do wonders for KU. Most notably, Saturday against UCLA.As far as the Jayhawks are concerned, whatever you want to call what they played Thursday night against the Salukis right now is the only brand of basketball they know on the floor in the HP Pavilion. Against a team that’s going to try and do the same thing, they’ll be prepared.**_Hopefully, Chris Lowery has coached his final game there, though_** Speaking after the game with two fellow Michigan fans, I’ll admit that after Tommy Amaker was fired earlier this week, I was calling for a ‘big name’ of sorts to fill the post.Heck, now I want to see Lowery. If you combine that type of play and toughness with Michigan’s athletes, you have NCAA Tournament teams this year and last, not teams that started 15-4 and 16-3, respectively, and both had to instead to the awkward seventh grade slow dance known as the NIT.**_By the way…_** The In-N-Out Burger trip count is now up to two. If No. 3 doesn’t happen, I’ll be thoroughly disappointed, as should you.Also, The Greene Room bracket now carries just a faint pulse. National Champion pick Texas A&M decided to not make me look like a genius.Talk to you tomorrow from the Pavilion.**6:56 p.m., Wednesday March 21, 2007** Welcome to the Sweet Sixteen, Southern Illinois. You’ve knocked off a 13-seed, a five-seed, you’re the new Gonzaga in that you’re going to be everyone’s sexy pick for the next five years based on reputation alone.Now here’s your locker room.”We play hard, but we still like nice things,” senior Tony Young joked Wednesday. “They stuck us in an interrogation room with a TV and a chalkboard and just said go and sit down.”You’re not alone, though, Salukis. The SIU locker room is more like a solitary confinement chamber. It’s got plain, white brick walls, neutral, thin grey carpet and a bunch of padded folding chairs lining the perimeter. That’s it. But KU’s digs are just the same. The only difference is that there’s metal racks above KU’s heads with shelves and hooks.”But we’re not a Cinderella type,” Young added with a smile. “It don’t matter to us. We just go out and do it. This locker room ain’t got nothing to do with basketball, that’s the way I look at it.”Instead, the locker room is pretty symbolic of the way the Salukis both play and practice: No nonsense, no fancy cushioning and, most importantly, tough.The popular topic Wednesday afternoon in the SIU locker room was coach Chris Lowery’s practices. The players, most of whom have visible battle wounds to show for it, talked about how there is no out of bounds, almost nothing is off-limits and foul calls are few and far between.As Randal Falker called practices “Big bloody messes,” saying so while displaying a scar on the right side of his nose and healed cuts-galore up and down his upper arms.During practices, medical staffers stand waiting on the sidelines to apply stitches and send players right back onto the floor. Freshmen are forced to adapt, and if they don’t, they’ll either keep the bench seats heated or transfer. Everyone must just put a positive light on it, knowing that 1) it’ll make them tougher and 2) chicks will always dig scars.Don’t completely be fooled, though. The Salukis _do still_ do traditional practice stuff, but the Royal Rumble-type stuff helps break the ice and get everyone’s juices flowing.And by mixing those two degrees, here we are today, getting ready to watch a game that Kansas could either win by 40, or SIU could slow down enough to keep in the 50s and pull off its first true upset of this year’s tournament.**12:43 a.m., Wednesday March 21, 2007** It’s true, [In-N-Out Burger][8] saved my day. Or, at least my sanity.An hour earlier, I was livid.See, Chicago was perfect. It’s an hour flight there, and an hour back. You’re up and down, no nonsense. And coming from someone who has as little patience for air travel as just about anyone in existence, the trip to San Jose was going to be a test.The answer was to bring a movie, and seeing as I, until today, was one of the four people in the country it seems to have yet seen _[The Departed][9]_, I bought it at Best Buy the other day and charged up the laptop battery.That same battery gave out on me with 40 minutes left in the movie, and, oh, about the same amount of time left in the air.That’s where those delicious beef patties come into play. After [Ryan Wood][10] had talked the place up enough to give it legendary status and then printed off, yes printed off, directions to locations near our hotel, we went. It was immediately legendary because 1) they use the deli-style cheese that doesn’t leave you feeling like you’re downing edible plastic and 2) the fries are just like shoestring potato chips. The photos are above.The grub was so good that it overshadowed how mad I was at the movie’s ending. And before breaking from this early tangent, three conclusions from the film, which I later finished in the hotel room:**1)** I have a brand new appreciation for [Leonardo DiCaprio’s][11] true acting talent. Dude’s a beast.**2)** [Matt Damon][12] gives the general public another reason to just not like him.**3)** My previous completely unattainable star crush, [Scarlett Johansson][13], has been replaced for the time being by [Vera Fermiga][14]. What…a…woman.**_-Anyways, on to basketball_** Thursday’s game has a fun little twist for yours truly, because when making a decision on where to go party…er, study for four-plus years out of high school, the final decision came down to Kansas and Southern Illinois. The ultimate selling point was that Carbondale just felt like a ghost town every time I went there. I’ll get back to that in a bit.But there’s really no reason to believe Kansas shouldn’t win this game. From the looks of things, Southern Illinois is going to try to do plenty of the same things [Kentucky attempted a week ago][15]. The Salukis believe in defense, bleeding out the clock, defense, scoring in opportunistic, scrappy fashion and, well, more defense.The difference between SIU and Kentucky is that while the Salukis don’t carry the name-brand weight that the Wildcats do, they’re going to be able to execute their gameplan longer. Kentucky defended the leather off the ball for 20 minutes, until Kansas finally found a squinch of breathing room late in the first half to go up by six. In the second, UK had a meter teetering further below ‘E’ than Cosmo Kramer’s car on his infamous test drive. SIU can probably make it midway through the second half, but if KU can keep its legs fresh as late as it did last Sunday, the Jayhawks should pull out a semi-comfy win.Prediction: Kansas 82, SIU 67The day’s second game could draw up very similar. UCLA can play anyone’s game, moving up and down the floor as fast or as slow as they want. In other words, the Bruins are sort of a poor man’s Kansas. That’s said because they just don’t have the overall talent that KU does, especially in the post. It should be an interesting matchup between two goofy-looking big men in UCLA’s Lorenzo Mata and Pitt’s Aaron Gray. Mata plays an awkward game and is constantly begging opponents to foul him, carrying a 37.9 free throw percentage with him into the lane. Gray is a legitimate 7-footer who’s a decent passer, but his athleticism is visibly lacking, and when he has off nights, he’s _really_ off. He’s been decent in the NCAA Tournament, but one area for concern against deeper teams is that since Feb. 17, he’s only played more than 28 minutes twice.Ronald Ramon and Levance Fields are decent in their backcourt, but if their shots are off, Pitt struggles to score. Basically it’s a team with too many ifs. UCLA is the known quantity, and the Bruins have the whole ‘been here before’ thing with them.Prediction: UCLA 74, Pitt 66**_By the way, one fun fact about Carbondale_** Read the second paragraph under ‘Reveling & Activism’ on [this][16] page. That stuff cannot be made up. In fact, on both visits I made to the SIU campus as a high school senior, the tour guide brought that up. Town’s gotta be known for something, I guess.**_KUSports.com editor Ryan Greene can be reached at rgreene@ljworld.com, or by phone at (785) 832-6357._** [1]: http://www2.kusports.com/blogs/greene_room/ [2]: http://www.flickr.com/photos/7424845@N07/ [3]: http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaab/players/33752 [4]: http://www2.kusports.com/news/2007/feb/04/oh_agony/?mens_basketball [5]: http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaab/players/37762 [6]: http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaab/players/34852 [7]: http://spotlight.siu.edu/03162005/images/Jamal-3-15_000.jpg [8]: http://www.in-n-out.com/ [9]: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0407887/ [10]: http://www2.kusports.com/staff/ryan_wood/stories/ [11]: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000138/ [12]: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000354/ [13]: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0424060/ [14]: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0267812/ [15]: http://www2.kusports.com/news/2007/mar/19/threemendous/?mens_basketball [16]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbondale,_Illinois

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