The Greene Room Live: KU-KSU, Part Deux

By Staff     Mar 1, 2008

**12:05 a.m.**: Wow. Sorry for the hiatus. Hectic, hectic postgame.But the Fieldhouse was flat-out buzzin’. Not just before the game, not just during the game but well after. While the win at Iowa State cracked the seal a bit for a KU team trying to get back to its old self, Saturday’s emphatic slamming of the in-state rival Wildcats threw the remnants of that seal well out of view in the mirror.Aside from just the result on the scoreboard, several guys were able to snap out of mini-funks…such as…-Sherron Collins I truly think is back. This is about the time of year as a freshman when he played his best. Now he looks like he’s ridding himself of the frustrations from what has to have felt like a long sophomore season to this point. While the 18 points were nice, the four assists to one turnover were nicer. The nicest, though? He tied a season-high with 29 minutes played.-Brandon Rush, who had endured two rough offensive first halves in the past seven days, was solid right from jump. He had a team-high 13 points with three deep balls before halftime, and that helped to stretch out the K-State defense. Plus, he didn’t fade, finishing with 21 and shooting, as Bill Self put it, ‘like a pro.’-Russell Robinson needed this game on the offensive end. He again had the team’s most impressive stat line, but this time his scoring numbers gave K-State yet another guy to keep tabs on. Russ had 14 points, five assists, four steals, four rebounds and three blocked shots. I think it’s set in with him that his final days of playing in Allen are upon him.I do hope, however, that all you out there soaked in what was Michael Beasley’s first (and almost certainly last) trip to Lawrence. The 39 points hardly came easy, and as his teammates passed up more and more open looks as the game progressed, he just turned the dial slowly on offense. He kept his cool on the floor again, though. The crowd never affected him. He laced into his teammates at times during timeouts, but that’s because the guy is not only an elite talent, but an elite competitor to boot. I’m definitely getting there early to watch him next Friday in the Sprint Center.Here’s some final numbers to chew on…-KU grabbed 41 rebounds to K-State’s 34. Most impressive, though, was that 23 of them came on the offensive glass. That’s right, KU had more offensive caroms than defensive. That almost never happens.-Of the WIldcats’ 20 turnovers, 15 of them went in the books as steals. Robinson and Collins had four apiece.-KU hit 11 of its 23 three-point attempts, with Brandon Rush canning five. K-State, on the other hand, was just 6-of-21 from deep. That’s half as many as the ‘Cats put away in the first meeting on Jan. 30.-Speaking of the first meeting to now…in meeting No. 1, Bill Walker and Jake Pullen combined for 42 points. Saturday night they tallied a total of just 12. Of Walker’s nine points, seven were in the closing minutes with the outcome already in hand. His rough week continued, and he appeared flustered by the situation/crowd/everything for much of the night. Pullen was only in the game for 11 minutes. Not sure why. He’s played well against good teams.Monday night should be fun. As you know, it’s the final Allen Fieldhouse appearances for Darnell Jackson, Sasha Kaun, Rodrick Stewart, Russell Robinson, Jeremy Case and Brad Witherspoon. Videos of all their senior speeches will be available on KUSports.com Tuesday morning.Talk to you then.**10:06 p.m.**: Be back after postgame interviews with notes, numbers and nuggets.**9:55 p.m.**: Anyone else think this is Brandon Rush’s best game in Allen Fieldhouse?And also, that whole ‘let Beasley get his numbers and focus on everyone else’ is ridiculous, and you’ll never convince me otherwise. But it’s going to be the case in hindsight tonight.**9:40 p.m.**: I really thought Bill Walker would be a factor early in the second half, but KU continues to do whatever it wants to offensively on K-State.I for one though don’t think that a loss tonight for K-State will put the ‘Cats on the bubble. Hanging out with Tom Keegan so much over the past two years has made me much more of a conspiracy theorist. My theory on K-State is that if the ‘Cats get to 20 wins, which they should between playing Colorado and Iowa State in the next week and then going to the Big 12 Tournament in their back yard, they’re going to get at worst an 8- or 9-seed.The NCAA wants Michael Beasley in its tournament. If you think otherwise, well, I won’t say this often, but you’re wrong.KU deserves so much credit so far in the second half for withstanding an opponent’s run out of the half just like it did in Ames a few days ago. Emotional balance in the second half is the key, I’d say. Nice job by the Jayhawks of recharging the batteries at halftime after maybe giving up a little too much gas in a hectic opening 10 minutes tonight.**9:11 p.m.**: If I’m a KU fan sitting in front of my TV right now tuning out the wife and dog, I’m feeling pretty confident still.If I’m a K-State fan sitting in front of my TV right now tuning out the wife and dog, I’m feeling really confident, and that’s not because of a halftime run to Vista Burger (can’t stop name-dropping Manhattan’s greatest eatery…I love it too much).KU spent itself emotionally in the first 10 minutes, and you can’t really fault the Jayhawks for that. They needed to get to the halftime locker room up double digits and did. Expect them to look pretty recharged out of the intermission. But K-State is still very much a player here.Aside from Beasley again scoring big and making it look easy, he had to put the reins on a bit to avoid foul No. 3 for the majority of the second half. Now he can unleash a little bit after halftime. If Bill Walker shows up, it’d be nice for Frank Martin, who has to be growing tired of having an uncomposed scoring threat. Or Jacob Pullen. Neither has done much. Then again, Pullen played just five minutes and Walker scored two points, had three turnovers and three fouls in eight minutes of run.**8:41 p.m.**: Bill Walker being out of this game with three fouls helps KU plenty, but by the looks of it, Walker – who recently has shown some hotheaded ways – might have checked out mentally, too. He’s got horrible body language. That’s not to say he can’t show up in the second half offensively still, but he needs a lengthy cooling-off period.The Jayhawks worst enemy right now – other than Mike Beasley, who woke up offensively with five quick points off the bench – is themselves. KU had a chance to push the lead to 20-plus points off a Sherron Collins steal, but he got a bit ahead of himself in firing a pass too long for Russell Robinson, sending it the other way. THe Jayhawks can’t let themselves get cuaght up in the emotion the crowd is pumping in, which right now is at a season high.To start the game, KU went through Darrell Arthur just like it did Wednesday and, guess what? It worked. That’s not much of a surprise. What is head-turning is that KU went away from doing it so quickly. He had six points in the first half, and all of them came early. He’ll need to have a big second half for KU. And don’t forget Mario Chalmers. Just three points in the first half, but he also had three assists and two steals. He’s lurking somewhere.Some first half numbers of note…-KU had 13 offensive rebounds and seven defensive boards. Soak that in. K-State also collected 20 caroms, but 11 were of the defensive variety.-Brandon Rush had 13 points in the first half, which is a splash of something different after he’s started so slow in the opening stanza in the last two games.-KSU was 1-of-7 from three-point range. The ‘Cats hit 12 of them in the first meeting.**8:16 p.m.**: Walker isn’t off to a great start, and that is no good for KSU, who now has to lean on him a bit more offensively with Beasley on the bench. I’d guess Beasley sits either the rest of the half or until this one gets out of control, if it at all gets to that point.**8:10 p.m.**: Two fouls on Beasley in just over two minutes. The first one might not have needed a whistle, but the second one did. Either way, that swings the favor in KU’s direction big time. If you’re a Beasley fan, though – and I certainly love his game – that’s too bad.KU is doing what it needs to, though, and that’s capitalize. Everyone’s in on the act and this is without question the best the Jayhawks have looked to start a game this year.**8:03 p.m.**: Man, the acoustics in this place are being pushed to the absolute limit. There were small highlight videos played before KU took the floor and after the starting lineups were announced and this place is amped. Best it’s been all year, no doubt.**7:45 p.m.**: Gut feeling No. 1 of the night…I’m not wavering from my pick of KU winning this game, but I’m thinking Bill Walker has a solid night.I was at Bramlage Monday and watched the emotional mess that was his one-point showing on 0-for-14 shooting. But players of that caliber just don’t play that pitifully in back-to-back games. They just don’t.As for the K-State unis, the ‘Cats are debuting their Nike Elite road uniforms for the first time. The homes were worn for the first time Monday, and the roads are pretty slick, gotta say. All blackk, white lettering with silver trim and purple/white stripes running from the side of the knee to the back of the shoulder.The one complaint about these if I were a player, for K-State example, would be the tight fit of the tops. I know D-1 hoopsters are in incredible shape and all that, but one too many stops at Vista Burger, and the whole world knows. If you’re insecure, you’re sccrewed.**7:17 p.m.**: Usually, this space is where I try to sound like I know more than I actually do than talking about the game at hand, but I [already got that out of the way][1], essentially, yesterday. I want to thank Jeff again for his insight, too.Just sat down in the Fieldhouse, and given the student presence in here at this point, I think KU’s home crowd against K-State could have just as much effect as the Wildcats’ student body had against the Jayhawks on Jan. 30. I’ll agree over and over and over that that first game was won in large part due to K-State’s crowd.Well, that and K-State hitting 12 threes. You know, that could have been part of it.That said, I’m going to break from tradition and give a prediction right now: **Kansas 81, Kansas State 73**.In my mind, I have already seen this game play out. KU jumps to a 23-8 lead. Then, as [Jay Bilas agreed in The Spodcasters][2], energy can’t stay consistent for 40 minutes, so KSU gets its things in order and closes it down to about a four- or five-point game, and the Jayhawks’ depth prevails in the end.Of course, I’ll say it right now, K-State winning tonight would not surprise me one bit. Michael Beasley is absolutely phenomenal. This is the fourth time I’ve seen him play in person this year, and I’m going to make sure to watch him as much as possible in the Big 12 Tournament. I can never get enough of it. No one makes rebounding like a man look so easy. It’s a treat to watch the kid play, just as it was Kevin Durant a year ago. Honestly, enjoy it and hold the hostility until a later date. It could be worse – he could play for the Knicks (that’s just the Bulls fan in me seeping through).But my pick to click tonight is Mario Chalmers.A friend an I were talking the other night, and he asked me which Jayhawk I took the most joy in watching play since moving here in 2000. Remember, this is completely based on what he does on the floor, and that’s it. Without question, when his game is flat-out on, it’s Chalmers.Attitude is a big part of that. I love combo guards, mostly because when I play ball I like to think I’m one (on a much lesser scale, of course). And he’s the one guy on this team who I believe has a swagger that is unbreakable. He showed that in Manhattan, as the only guy who never thought he was going to lose. Some of his teammates were doubting themselves at times, and I thought it was obvious.I say he scores 21 and has four steals tonight. His three-point shooting will be needed.Anyways, should be a fun night, we’ll talk in a few once this thing gets going. Hopefully I can still hear in the morning. Got a long day of sitting on the couch, eating Totinos and watching Roseanne and Seinfeld reruns ahead of me. [1]: http://www2.kusports.com/blogs/greene_room/2008/feb/28/greeneroom_022908/ [2]: http://www2.kusports.com/podcasts/spodcasters/2008/feb/29/dishin_again_rece_and_bilas/

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