KU USA Today Poll March 2nd - Page 2

ArrowheadHawk · 03-02-2009, 11:57 AM

March 2, 2009

Rank School Record Points Previous
1. Connecticut (27) 27-2 769 2
2. North Carolina 25-3 711 5
3. Memphis (4) 26-3 698 4
4. Pittsburgh 26-3 667 1
5. Oklahoma 26-3 653 3
6. Louisville 23-5 630 6
7. Duke 24-5 597 7
8. Michigan State 23-5 557 9
9. Kansas 24-5 509 15
10. Wake Forest 22-5 480 14
11. LSU 25-4 420 18
12. Missouri 24-5 377 8
13. Washington 22-7 346 21
14. Gonzaga 23-5 339 17
15. Marquette 23-6 327 10
16. Villanova 23-6 324 12
17. UCLA 22-7 295 19
18. Xavier 23-5 260 22
19. Clemson 22-6 219 13
20. Purdue 22-7 211 16
21. Arizona State 21-7 189 11
22. Butler 25-4 168 23
23. Illinois 23-7 107 20
24. Florida State 22-7 67 25
25. Syracuse 21-8 37 NR

**Lzen** · 03-02-2009, 12:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sedated

(IMHO) considering the only reason they were ranked that high was because of the first win over KU, it seems they'd get punished heavily for not being able to back it up.

They were ranked before they played KU. I think that 12 is a little too high, but they are definitely a top 25 team.

POND_OF_RED · 03-02-2009, 12:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sedated

(IMHO) considering the only reason they were ranked that high was because of the first win over KU, it seems they'd get punished heavily for not being able to back it up.

Pretty sure they have a similar resume to Kansas. Exact same record. Few quality wins and one horrible loss. Just because they had a shitty half doesn't mean they aren't a top 15 team.

**Lzen** · 03-02-2009, 01:01 PM

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketb...yhoo&type=lgns

KU flying high again

By Jason King, Yahoo! Sports 2 hours, 57 minutes ago

Bill Self has the Jayhawks chasing another Big 12 title.

(Charlie Riedel/AP)

LAWRENCE, Kan. – Basketball practice at the University of Kansas begins in a few minutes, but before he takes the court, Bill Self wants to order a pizza.
Actually, he needs 26 of them.
Self’s goal is to treat each of the 102 students camping out for tickets in the Allen Fieldhouse corridor to at least two slices of Domino’s and Papa John’s finest. With eight pieces per box, he says, 26 pizzas should be the perfect amount.
So Self instructs team manager Justin Pins to place the order. An hour later, students spring from their air-mattresses and folding chairs to form a chow line that leads to stacks of pepperoni pies. Thanks, Coach.
“Wow,” says senior Brett Boyle as he polishes off a slice. “Bill Self just became the most popular guy on campus.”
Boyle smiles.
“Not that he wasn’t already.”
Nearly a year after Mario Chalmers’ 3-pointer propelled Kansas to the 2008 championship, Self and the Jayhawks are once again the talk of college basketball. Sunday’s 90-65 victory over Missouri improved Kansas’ record to 24-5 overall and 13-1 in the Big 12 Conference.
A win over Texas Tech in Lubbock Wednesday would give Self’s team at least a share of the conference title for the fifth consecutive year. The Jayhawks are also in contention for a top seed in the NCAA tournament, which is stunning considering they lost five players from last year’s squad to the NBA draft.
The only player on the current roster who played major minutes during last year’s championship season was Sherron Collins, a junior who averages 18.5 points.
“I’m a little bit surprised – but not amazed,” Collins says of KU’s success. “We’re supposed to win. This is Kansas. It’s what we do.”
At the center of it all is Self, the 47-year-old coach who signed a $3-million per year contract during the offseason. As good as he was during last year’s national title run, it’s no stretch to say that the job he’s done with this year’s team is the finest work of his career.
Self counts four freshmen and five newcomers among his top nine players. He is considered to be one of the leading candidates for national coach of the year.
“I’ve fallen in love with this year’s team,” Self says. “I never would’ve dreamed that it’d be possible to be this in situation.”
Self pauses for a moment.
“Well, OK, maybe I did dream about it,” he says. “But I figured that’s all it was, a dream.”

As he slides out of his Lincoln Navigator and walks toward Vermont Street BBQ in Lawrence, Bill Self has a strut in his step.
Earlier that day he and his wife, Cindy, came closer to finalizing a deal on a new home. His book, At Home in the Phog, is one of the hottest sellers a few blocks away at Barnes & Noble and, best of all, his Kansas basketball team is fresh off a win over then-No. 3 Oklahoma.

The veteran leadership of Sherron Collins has paid dividends.

(Jack Dempsey/AP)

Self picks a table in the back of the room and orders a half-slab of baby back ribs and a brisket sandwich – without the bread.
“I’m on a no-carb diet,” he says. “I feel great right now – great”
A few months ago that was hardly the case.
After losing in overtime to Syracuse and suffering a shocking upset against Massachusetts, Self said he made a mistake that, in some ways, was inevitable: He began comparing this team to the seasoned group that won the 2008 national title.
“I wasn’t having much fun,” Self says, “because I wasn’t enjoying the process of watching them get better as much as I should have. I wanted them to practice and play and understand at the level our previous teams did. It was unfair to them, because they couldn’t.”
Indeed, the situation couldn’t have been any more different.
Other than Collins – who made the key pass that led to Chalmers’ big 3-pointer against Memphis – not one returning Kansas player averaged more than three points or eight minutes a game last season.
All of a sudden, positions once occupied by standouts such as Chalmers, Brandon Rush and Darrell Arthur were being manned by former role players such as Brady Morningstar and Tyrel Reed.
Kansas’ newcomers were hailed as one of the country’s top-five recruiting classes by Rivals.com, but the seven-player haul didn’t include a single McDonald’s All-American, which was rare for a group of Jayhawks signees.
Still, that didn’t stop Self from using his young players at will – mainly guard Tyshawn Taylor, a late pickup who originally signed with Marquette, and twin forwards Marcus and Markief Morris, who were slow to adapt to Self’s high demands regarding intensity.
A year ago Kansas sometimes had 45-minute practices because the Jayhawks were so experienced and driven and crisp. This winter, though, Kansas’ workouts sometimes went on for hours, with Self spending the majority of his time harping at his players about effort and intensity as much as Xs and Os.
“We’d go home at night and some of the young guys would say, ‘Coach is picking on me,’ ” says Collins, a junior. “I went through the same thing as a freshman. You come in here thinking you know everything. When you have that attitude, you’re going to mess up.”
Shortly after Kansas’ blowout road losses to Arizona and Michigan State, Collins, Morningstar and sophomore Cole Aldrich called an impromptu, no-coaches-allowed team meeting at The Yacht Club, a popular Lawrence restaurant. The Jayhawks hashed out their differences and, by the time they left, Collins said there was a different feel among the players.
“I was probably the most vocal one there,” Collins said. “I just told everyone that Coach Self wanted what was best for them, and that the older guys would be there to help them every step of the way.
“Mainly, I was just sick of losing. Everyone was.”
The strides Kansas has made since that meeting in early January have been impressive.
What the Jayhawks lack in experience they more than make up for in toughness. Kansas isn’t forcing as many turnovers as it did a year ago, but it’s still playing as physical of a brand of basketball in the Big 12.
In leading the league in defensive field-goal percentage (38.2) and rebounding margin (+7.9), the Jayhawks at times resemble Self’s menacing, rugged Illinois teams of the early 2000s that featured players such as Sergio McClain, Marcus Griffin and Lucas Johnson.
Although Collins leads Kansas in scoring, it’s the play of Aldrich in the paint that has generated the most buzz among NBA scouts.
A 6-foot-11 sophomore from Bloomington, Minn., Aldrich averages 15.1 points and 10.8 boards while leading the Big 12 with 2.52 blocks. He’s already being hailed as one of the top rebounders in school history and has drawn comparisons to former NBA star Kevin McHale.

The play of Cole Aldrich has drawn comparisons to Kevin McHale.

(Orlin Wagner/AP)

“They’re both tall, they’re both white and they’re both from Minnesota,” Self says. “So I guess there are some similarities.
“Seriously, who would’ve ever thought Cole could be this consistent this early? He gets 15 and 10 almost every night. It’s all because Sasha (Kaun) and Darnell (Jackson) and (Arthur) beat the crap out of him every day last year. It made him tougher.
“That team made all of our returning guys tougher. We can face pressure in a game that’s unbelievable – but it won’t be tougher than what those guys went through last year in practice.”

Back at Allen Fieldhouse, the Jayhawks are less than 48 hours away from their rematch with a Missouri squad that handed them their only Big 12 loss of the season. As Self begins to chide his team for sloppy effort, Collins asks his teammates to meet him in a huddle at center court.
“We’re this close to winning a Big 12 championship!” he tells them. “Get it together and get to work!”
Aldrich is the top NBA prospect and freshmen such as Taylor and the Morris twins are the program’s future. Still, make no mistake: This is Sherron Collins’ team.
Even though Collins was probably among the Big 12’s top five players as a freshman and sophomore, he agreed to be the Jayhawks’ sixth man so that team chemistry wouldn’t be disrupted by the benching of captain Russell Robinson.
Both players flourished in their roles but, all along, Collins longed for the chance he’s been given now, the chance to run a team.
“Even with all the good teams we’ve had here, this is the first time I’ve seen us have a designated scorer that’s going to take the big shot,” said walk-on forward Matt Kleinmann, who’s been with the program for five seasons.
“Coach Self gave Sherron the reins and he’s gone above and beyond what everyone expected. The example he sets in that locker room … I don’t know if we’ve ever had as strong of a leader as him.”
Collins’ ascension is even more impressive considering where he began.
A native of inner-city Chicago who basically raised himself while his father was in jail and his mother was at work, Collins arrived at Kansas with a massive chip on his shoulder. His best friends growing up had been gang members. As a teenager his best friend was shot and killed a few feet away from his front porch. Within months of moving to Kansas as a freshman, Collins’ infant son, Sherron Jr., died shortly after being born.
Collins was hurting by the time classes began during his freshman season. He trusted no one and had trouble opening up to his teammates and coaches. There was even talk that he’d enter the NBA draft.
“Living in Lawrence can change people,” Kleinmann said. “When Sherron got here he was rough around the edges. He was stubborn. Before, with him, it had probably been every man for himself. Now he loves the fact that it’s everyone for Kansas.”
Self agrees.
“It’s amazing to look at him and see how much he’s changed,” Self says. “His swagger is the intangible thing that’s helped our team more than anything. The attitude and toughness our team has developed wouldn’t exist if he wasn’t there.”
Self hopes the effect Collins is having on the Jayhawks continues throughout the rest of the month and into April. Yes, April.
Before the season no one would’ve even mentioned Kansas and Final Four in the same breath. A few people even chuckled at the conclusion of last season when some of the returning players talked about “defending their title.”
Yet here the Jayhawks are, nearly a year after cutting down the nets at the Alamodome, suddenly looking like contenders once again.
“It’s like if someone wins an award,” Self says. “After you win it, you want to try extra hard to win another one, to prove the first one wasn’t just a one-time thing. It makes you try harder because of what everyone expects.”
In the last few months, the Jayhawks have raised their own bar.
“There’s no question we can play with those teams in the Big East and the ACC – the top teams in the country,” Collins says. “I think people are starting to realize it.
“You don’t hear about last year’s team too much anymore. Instead everyone is coming up to us and talking about the Final Four. Some people think we can do it again.”
Collins pounds the basketball into the hardwood and begins to walk away.
“I guess we’ll see,” he says.

**Old Dog** · 03-02-2009, 01:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by POND_OF_RED

Pretty sure they have a similar resume to Kansas. Exact same record. Few quality wins and one horrible loss. Just because they had a shitty half doesn't mean they aren't a top 15 team.

MU = 4 wins vs top 50 RPI
KU = 8 wins vs top 50 RPI

KU = 1 loss to RPI lower than 50
MU = 2 losses to RPI lower than 50

MU = 9 wins over teams with RPI over 200
KU = 6 wins over teams with RPI over 200

I still think they're top 15ish though

*I'm a KSU fan so I'm not really into ya'lls pissing contest if it turns into such.

**Lzen** · 03-02-2009, 01:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by truebigdog

MU = 4 wins vs top 50 RPI
KU = 8 wins vs top 50 RPI

KU = 1 loss to RPI lower than 50
MU = 2 losses to RPI lower than 50

MU = 9 wins over teams with RPI over 200
KU = 6 wins over teams with RPI over 200

I still think they're top 15ish though

*I'm a KSU fan so I'm not really into ya'lls pissing contest if it turns into such.

Nice factual post.

|Zach| · 03-02-2009, 01:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sedated

(IMHO) considering the only reason they were ranked that high was because of the first win over KU, it seems they'd get punished heavily for not being able to back it up.

It seems as though that isnt the only reason they were ranked higher.

As if it was not obvious before.

**petegz28** · 03-02-2009, 01:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sedated

(IMHO) considering the only reason they were ranked that high was because of the first win over KU, it seems they'd get punished heavily for not being able to back it up.

Dude that is so much bullshit. They were\are ranked high cause they dominate save maybe 2 games or so. They force the most turnovers in the league and have one of the highest win margins at home as well. AND they beat KU.

Get the **** over yourselves already. You want them to get punished for a game most had them losing anyway?

Pablo · 03-02-2009, 01:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by truebigdog

MU = 4 wins vs top 50 RPI
KU = 8 wins vs top 50 RPI

KU = 1 loss to RPI lower than 50
MU = 2 losses to RPI lower than 50

MU = 9 wins over teams with RPI over 200
KU = 6 wins over teams with RPI over 200

I still think they're top 15ish though

*I'm a KSU fan so I'm not really into ya'lls pissing contest if it turns into such.

Works for me.

POND_OF_RED · 03-02-2009, 01:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by truebigdog

MU = 4 wins vs top 50 RPI
KU = 8 wins vs top 50 RPI

KU = 1 loss to RPI lower than 50
MU = 2 losses to RPI lower than 50

MU = 9 wins over teams with RPI over 200
KU = 6 wins over teams with RPI over 200

I still think they're top 15ish though

*I'm a KSU fan so I'm not really into ya'lls pissing contest if it turns into such.

Exactly. Considering that 3 of the 4 more top 50 wins they have are Tenn Siena and a Griffinless Oklahoma I would say the resumes are very similar.

**Old Dog** · 03-02-2009, 01:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by petegz28

You want them to get punished for a game most had them losing anyway?

They shouldn't (and didn't) get punished for losing a game that most thought they would. I think (and I could be wrong) that some of the KU guys would like to see them lower just because they were never really "in" that game. I think they would have dropped lower if the teams around them didn't lose this past week as well.

OK, in reality most KU fans want them punished simply because they're Mizzou.

I would like to see a rematch in the Big XII tourney on a neitral court, but doubt we'll see it unless OU somehow ends up as the #1 seed.

Reerun_KC · 03-02-2009, 01:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by petegz28

You want them to get punished for a game most had them losing anyway?

I think KU embarrassed them enough...

**Old Dog** · 03-02-2009, 01:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by POND_OF_RED

Exactly. Considering that 3 of the 4 more top 50 wins they have are Tenn Siena and a Griffinless Oklahoma I would say the resumes are very similar.

Tennessee and Siena are currently in the top 30 in RPI and pretty much "locks" to get into the tournament. Don't understand your reasoning there.

**petegz28** · 03-02-2009, 01:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Reerun_KC

I think KU embarrassed them enough...

One game, at KU. And really KU held the lead they had at the half, nothing more. MU had an off day anyway you slice it. But hardly worth dropping them 10 spots as some of you are acting like should happen.

POND_OF_RED · 03-02-2009, 01:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by truebigdog

Tennessee and Siena are currently in the top 30 in RPI and pretty much "locks" to get into the tournament. Don't understand your reasoning there.

So you really consider a 10 loss SEC team to be a quality victory this year? I was saying MU and KU have the same amount of true quality wins. KU has MU and MU has KU. If you want you could maybe throw in Tex for MU and OU for KU but both teams have not played an extremely tough schedule. MU has a couple losses to bubble teams not playing so well late and KU has a loss against a team out of the tournament in Oct. You guys can toot your own horn as much as you like but both teams have the same looking resumes this year.

sedated · 03-02-2009, 01:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by petegz28

One game, at KU. And really KU held the lead they had at the half, nothing more. MU had an off day anyway you slice it. But hardly worth dropping them 10 spots as some of you are acting like should happen.

Do you really think this MU team is even close to this KU team?

I hope there is a rematch in the Big 12 tournament. If they play again, on any court, on any day, KU will win. Write it down, take a picture, I don't give a fuk.

I was never so confident in a KU victory as I was going into the MU game yesterday.

03-02-2009, 11:57 AM
ArrowheadHawk Rock Chalk! Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Topeka, KS Casino cash: $7744961	USA Today Poll March 2nd March 2, 2009 Rank School Record Points Previous 1. Connecticut (27) 27-2 769 2 2. North Carolina 25-3 711 5 3. Memphis (4) 26-3 698 4 4. Pittsburgh 26-3 667 1 5. Oklahoma 26-3 653 3 6. Louisville 23-5 630 6 7. Duke 24-5 597 7 8. Michigan State 23-5 557 9 9. Kansas 24-5 509 15 10. Wake Forest 22-5 480 14 11. LSU 25-4 420 18 12. Missouri 24-5 377 8 13. Washington 22-7 346 21 14. Gonzaga 23-5 339 17 15. Marquette 23-6 327 10 16. Villanova 23-6 324 12 17. UCLA 22-7 295 19 18. Xavier 23-5 260 22 19. Clemson 22-6 219 13 20. Purdue 22-7 211 16 21. Arizona State 21-7 189 11 22. Butler 25-4 168 23 23. Illinois 23-7 107 20 24. Florida State 22-7 67 25 25. Syracuse 21-8 37 NR
Posts: 15,676

03-02-2009, 01:01 PM	#18
Lzen Banded Join Date: Feb 2001 Location: Oz Casino cash: $-679308	http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketb...yhoo&type=lgns KU flying high again By Jason King, Yahoo! Sports 2 hours, 57 minutes ago Bill Self has the Jayhawks chasing another Big 12 title. (Charlie Riedel/AP) LAWRENCE, Kan. – Basketball practice at the University of Kansas begins in a few minutes, but before he takes the court, Bill Self wants to order a pizza. Actually, he needs 26 of them. Self’s goal is to treat each of the 102 students camping out for tickets in the Allen Fieldhouse corridor to at least two slices of Domino’s and Papa John’s finest. With eight pieces per box, he says, 26 pizzas should be the perfect amount. So Self instructs team manager Justin Pins to place the order. An hour later, students spring from their air-mattresses and folding chairs to form a chow line that leads to stacks of pepperoni pies. Thanks, Coach. “Wow,” says senior Brett Boyle as he polishes off a slice. “Bill Self just became the most popular guy on campus.” Boyle smiles. “Not that he wasn’t already.” Nearly a year after Mario Chalmers’ 3-pointer propelled Kansas to the 2008 championship, Self and the Jayhawks are once again the talk of college basketball. Sunday’s 90-65 victory over Missouri improved Kansas’ record to 24-5 overall and 13-1 in the Big 12 Conference. A win over Texas Tech in Lubbock Wednesday would give Self’s team at least a share of the conference title for the fifth consecutive year. The Jayhawks are also in contention for a top seed in the NCAA tournament, which is stunning considering they lost five players from last year’s squad to the NBA draft. The only player on the current roster who played major minutes during last year’s championship season was Sherron Collins, a junior who averages 18.5 points. “I’m a little bit surprised – but not amazed,” Collins says of KU’s success. “We’re supposed to win. This is Kansas. It’s what we do.” At the center of it all is Self, the 47-year-old coach who signed a $3-million per year contract during the offseason. As good as he was during last year’s national title run, it’s no stretch to say that the job he’s done with this year’s team is the finest work of his career. Self counts four freshmen and five newcomers among his top nine players. He is considered to be one of the leading candidates for national coach of the year. “I’ve fallen in love with this year’s team,” Self says. “I never would’ve dreamed that it’d be possible to be this in situation.” Self pauses for a moment. “Well, OK, maybe I did dream about it,” he says. “But I figured that’s all it was, a dream.” As he slides out of his Lincoln Navigator and walks toward Vermont Street BBQ in Lawrence, Bill Self has a strut in his step. Earlier that day he and his wife, Cindy, came closer to finalizing a deal on a new home. His book, At Home in the Phog, is one of the hottest sellers a few blocks away at Barnes & Noble and, best of all, his Kansas basketball team is fresh off a win over then-No. 3 Oklahoma. The veteran leadership of Sherron Collins has paid dividends. (Jack Dempsey/AP) Self picks a table in the back of the room and orders a half-slab of baby back ribs and a brisket sandwich – without the bread. “I’m on a no-carb diet,” he says. “I feel great right now – great” A few months ago that was hardly the case. After losing in overtime to Syracuse and suffering a shocking upset against Massachusetts, Self said he made a mistake that, in some ways, was inevitable: He began comparing this team to the seasoned group that won the 2008 national title. “I wasn’t having much fun,” Self says, “because I wasn’t enjoying the process of watching them get better as much as I should have. I wanted them to practice and play and understand at the level our previous teams did. It was unfair to them, because they couldn’t.” Indeed, the situation couldn’t have been any more different. Other than Collins – who made the key pass that led to Chalmers’ big 3-pointer against Memphis – not one returning Kansas player averaged more than three points or eight minutes a game last season. All of a sudden, positions once occupied by standouts such as Chalmers, Brandon Rush and Darrell Arthur were being manned by former role players such as Brady Morningstar and Tyrel Reed. Kansas’ newcomers were hailed as one of the country’s top-five recruiting classes by Rivals.com, but the seven-player haul didn’t include a single McDonald’s All-American, which was rare for a group of Jayhawks signees. Still, that didn’t stop Self from using his young players at will – mainly guard Tyshawn Taylor, a late pickup who originally signed with Marquette, and twin forwards Marcus and Markief Morris, who were slow to adapt to Self’s high demands regarding intensity. A year ago Kansas sometimes had 45-minute practices because the Jayhawks were so experienced and driven and crisp. This winter, though, Kansas’ workouts sometimes went on for hours, with Self spending the majority of his time harping at his players about effort and intensity as much as Xs and Os. “We’d go home at night and some of the young guys would say, ‘Coach is picking on me,’ ” says Collins, a junior. “I went through the same thing as a freshman. You come in here thinking you know everything. When you have that attitude, you’re going to mess up.” Shortly after Kansas’ blowout road losses to Arizona and Michigan State, Collins, Morningstar and sophomore Cole Aldrich called an impromptu, no-coaches-allowed team meeting at The Yacht Club, a popular Lawrence restaurant. The Jayhawks hashed out their differences and, by the time they left, Collins said there was a different feel among the players. “I was probably the most vocal one there,” Collins said. “I just told everyone that Coach Self wanted what was best for them, and that the older guys would be there to help them every step of the way. “Mainly, I was just sick of losing. Everyone was.” The strides Kansas has made since that meeting in early January have been impressive. What the Jayhawks lack in experience they more than make up for in toughness. Kansas isn’t forcing as many turnovers as it did a year ago, but it’s still playing as physical of a brand of basketball in the Big 12. In leading the league in defensive field-goal percentage (38.2) and rebounding margin (+7.9), the Jayhawks at times resemble Self’s menacing, rugged Illinois teams of the early 2000s that featured players such as Sergio McClain, Marcus Griffin and Lucas Johnson. Although Collins leads Kansas in scoring, it’s the play of Aldrich in the paint that has generated the most buzz among NBA scouts. A 6-foot-11 sophomore from Bloomington, Minn., Aldrich averages 15.1 points and 10.8 boards while leading the Big 12 with 2.52 blocks. He’s already being hailed as one of the top rebounders in school history and has drawn comparisons to former NBA star Kevin McHale. The play of Cole Aldrich has drawn comparisons to Kevin McHale. (Orlin Wagner/AP) “They’re both tall, they’re both white and they’re both from Minnesota,” Self says. “So I guess there are some similarities. “Seriously, who would’ve ever thought Cole could be this consistent this early? He gets 15 and 10 almost every night. It’s all because Sasha (Kaun) and Darnell (Jackson) and (Arthur) beat the crap out of him every day last year. It made him tougher. “That team made all of our returning guys tougher. We can face pressure in a game that’s unbelievable – but it won’t be tougher than what those guys went through last year in practice.” Back at Allen Fieldhouse, the Jayhawks are less than 48 hours away from their rematch with a Missouri squad that handed them their only Big 12 loss of the season. As Self begins to chide his team for sloppy effort, Collins asks his teammates to meet him in a huddle at center court. “We’re this close to winning a Big 12 championship!” he tells them. “Get it together and get to work!” Aldrich is the top NBA prospect and freshmen such as Taylor and the Morris twins are the program’s future. Still, make no mistake: This is Sherron Collins’ team. Even though Collins was probably among the Big 12’s top five players as a freshman and sophomore, he agreed to be the Jayhawks’ sixth man so that team chemistry wouldn’t be disrupted by the benching of captain Russell Robinson. Both players flourished in their roles but, all along, Collins longed for the chance he’s been given now, the chance to run a team. “Even with all the good teams we’ve had here, this is the first time I’ve seen us have a designated scorer that’s going to take the big shot,” said walk-on forward Matt Kleinmann, who’s been with the program for five seasons. “Coach Self gave Sherron the reins and he’s gone above and beyond what everyone expected. The example he sets in that locker room … I don’t know if we’ve ever had as strong of a leader as him.” Collins’ ascension is even more impressive considering where he began. A native of inner-city Chicago who basically raised himself while his father was in jail and his mother was at work, Collins arrived at Kansas with a massive chip on his shoulder. His best friends growing up had been gang members. As a teenager his best friend was shot and killed a few feet away from his front porch. Within months of moving to Kansas as a freshman, Collins’ infant son, Sherron Jr., died shortly after being born. Collins was hurting by the time classes began during his freshman season. He trusted no one and had trouble opening up to his teammates and coaches. There was even talk that he’d enter the NBA draft. “Living in Lawrence can change people,” Kleinmann said. “When Sherron got here he was rough around the edges. He was stubborn. Before, with him, it had probably been every man for himself. Now he loves the fact that it’s everyone for Kansas.” Self agrees. “It’s amazing to look at him and see how much he’s changed,” Self says. “His swagger is the intangible thing that’s helped our team more than anything. The attitude and toughness our team has developed wouldn’t exist if he wasn’t there.” Self hopes the effect Collins is having on the Jayhawks continues throughout the rest of the month and into April. Yes, April. Before the season no one would’ve even mentioned Kansas and Final Four in the same breath. A few people even chuckled at the conclusion of last season when some of the returning players talked about “defending their title.” Yet here the Jayhawks are, nearly a year after cutting down the nets at the Alamodome, suddenly looking like contenders once again. “It’s like if someone wins an award,” Self says. “After you win it, you want to try extra hard to win another one, to prove the first one wasn’t just a one-time thing. It makes you try harder because of what everyone expects.” In the last few months, the Jayhawks have raised their own bar. “There’s no question we can play with those teams in the Big East and the ACC – the top teams in the country,” Collins says. “I think people are starting to realize it. “You don’t hear about last year’s team too much anymore. Instead everyone is coming up to us and talking about the Final Four. Some people think we can do it again.” Collins pounds the basketball into the hardwood and begins to walk away. “I guess we’ll see,” he says. __________________ Conversation would be vastly improved by the constant use of four simple words: I do not know.
Posts: 42,484