THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN 3C
SPORTS
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2005
MEN'S BASKETBALL
Young Jayhawks work out expected kinks
BY MIRANDA LENNING
mlenning@kansan.com
KANSAN SENIOR STAFF WRITER
Twelve practices into the 2005-06 basketball season, the Jayhawks are just about where Kansas men's basketball coach Bill Self expected them to be.
"We're not close to being ready to play." Self said. "I don't think we're way behind, but we're not as far along as a veteran team would be."
Self said freshmen Julian Wright, Mario Chalmers, Brandon Rush and Micah Downs have improved over the two weeks of practice, but none of them have played with much consistency.
"They're all coming," Self said. "It's not an everyday deal, but they have all improved quite a bit. I think
this last week all the freshmen were better than they were the first week."
Wright
Sophomore forward C.J. Giles said he was most impressed with Wright, who has been practicing
at the four position.
"All the freshmen are doing good, but the best is Julian," Giles said. "He is playing good in the post."
Rush said, of all his teammates, he liked the way Wright passed the ball the most because he made "fancy passes." He said he wished Chalmers made more passes like that.
"Mario doesn't make the fancy passes like some point guards do," Rush said. "Julian passes real fancy though."
Self chuckled when asked if he told his young point guard to shy away from "fancy passes."
"Right now we are just stressing taking care of the basketball," he said.
Rush also said Self had been jawing at Chalmers a little more than anyone else since practice started.
"Mario is just a laid back dude and sometimes he doesn't go hard." Rush said.
Chalmers said Self was after him to go hard all the time.
"Coach is kind of hard on me," Chalmers said. "He said in Alaska I turned my game off and on, but he wants me to bring it all the time now."
Self said one of the reasons he was on Chalmers more was because of the position he played.
"The first week I might have been on Mario the most, and not intentionally, but because I think that it was the most important position," Self said. "He has got to make good decisions. He is responsible for everything that is going on out there. It takes time to get them to understand that."
Chalmers and senior Jeff Hawkins have been working the most at the point guard position, while sophomore guard Russell Robinson, who played at the point last year, has been getting practice at shooting guard. Rush said he was playing at the three position, while Wright was practicing at the four position.
"It is real random," Giles said
of the lineups Self had been using at practice." Coach has been mixing it up. He can go real big, or he can go fast, but it has been mostly random."
All of the players were in good spirits yesterday as they warmed up with strength and conditioning coach Andrea Hudy before practice. Giles said he was already having more fun this year than he did last year.
"I feel a lot better than I did last year," Giles said. "It might be because I have been through the system already and I'm older and a lot more mature, but I am having fun."
Giles sported a bandage on his right shin Wednesday after suffering a bruise in practice. Giles said
Notes:
the bruise was minor.
After walk-on tryouts over the weekend, Self said he was still unsure if they were going to add a player, but he said it was doubtful.
"I don't think we are going to do anything." Self said. "As long as we are healthy, I like the numbers we are practicing with."
Self said he would keep a list of the best performers at the walkon tryouts as "on-call" players who could possibly come on if the health of the team changed.
Self attended the Tuesday night World Series game in Houston. He said it was the longest game he had ever been to.
Asked what he thought about the game, Self said: "I think the White Sox are in real good shape."
— Edited by Anne Burgard
FOOTBALL
Rylan Howe/KANSAN
Junior cornerback Charles Gordon reaches to haul in a pass from senior quarterback Jason Swanson against Colorado in Boulder, Colo., on Saturday. Gordon, who took most of his snaps on offense, caught the pass for a 40-yard gain during the first half and had 85 receiving yards and one touchdown.
Multitasker welcomed back on offense
BY RYANI COLAIANNI
rcolaianni@kansan.com
KANSAN STAFF WRITER
Is there a more fitting term for junior wide receiver/cornerback/punt returner Charles Gordon than 'Slash?'
Gordon has played all of those positions this season and been successful with each. He even completed a 24-yard pass to Marcus Herford against Kansas State in Manhattan.
After beginning his career at Kansas as a wide receiver, Gordon switched to cornerback last season, where he led the country in interceptions with seven.
Gordon's freshman campaign at wide receiver was impressive too. Gordon caught 57 balls for 769 yards. It appears that Gordon is returning to that wide receiver position on a full-time basis now. When the offense struggled at the beginning of the conference season, Kansas football coach Mark Mangino decided that Gordon would help the team more at wide receiver.
Gordon has produced since being moved back to his freshman position. Last week against Colorado, Gordon caught eight passes for 85 yards and a touchdown, his second of the season. It was his most impressive performance of the season at wide receiver. For the season, Gordon has 15 catches for 131 yards.
Gordon has impressed coaches and teammates with his ability to know the offense despite seeing few repetitions at wide receiver recently.
"Charles retains things very well," Mangino said. "There might be a route or two in practice that he needs some clarification on, but in the game against Colorado, I think he only had one mistake when running routes. I think that's pretty good for a guy who has just come over to the offensive side of the ball
for the majority of the time in the past couple weeks."
Gordon's performance at wide receiver last week helped the struggling offense accumulate more than 545 yards of total offense. Senior quarterback Jason Swanson said he was happy to have Gordon on offense rather than facing him in practice on defense.
"He knows our offense better than a lot of the guys who play offense," Swanson said. "It is definitely easier playing with him than it is against him."
Gordon is still seeing time at cornerback, usually in third-down situations, but he will mainly stick with offense. As a punt returner, Gordon has been consistent. Gordon is averaging 11.4 yards per return and is helping put the offense in position to score.
"He is dynamic. I don't know what is special about him, he makes plays," senior safety Rodney Fowler said. "He knows what to do on both sides of the
ball. Seeing our defense helps him out. He's a player."
Extra Points:
Mangino is using an interesting approach to simulate Missouri quarterback Brad Smith in practice this week. He is using both freshman quarterback Kerry Meier and senior wide wide receiver Greg Heaggans at the position. Meier simulates the throws of Smith while Heaggans has the speed of Smith the runner.
Defensive end John McCoy, who left the team before last season to serve in the U.S. Army in Iraq, has returned. Mangino said McCoy wanted to start taking classes again but still had responsibilities to the Army.
Red Lyon Tavern
The Jajhwaks' Nov. 5 game against the Nebraska Cornhuskers is scheduled to kick off at noon at Memorial Stadium. The game will not be televised.
A touch of Irish in downtown Lawrence 944 Massachusetts 832-8228
— Edited by Tricia Masenthin
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