10B GAME DAY
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THE UNIVERSITY OF DAILY KANSAN
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2008
COUNTDOWN TO TIPOFF
KU TIPOFF
AT A GLANCE
Monday night, grabbing nine rebounds, four offensive, against Missouri. All season long, Aldrich has shown an ability to find the ball as it bounces off the rim. Rebounding comes natural to some players, and Aldrich is one of them.
QUESTION MARK
A BETTER BAND OF BEARS Kansas faces a determined, much improved Baylor
- This is the beginning of a tough stretch for the Jayhawks. Games against Texas, Kansas State and Texas A&M are coming up. A victory here is almost a must. It won't be easy, though. Baylor is talented and well-coached. The Bears are sick of being the conference doormat and are letting everyone know it this year. Kansas might have a slight advantage inside, but Baylor's guards might be just as good as the Jayhawks.
Will Kansas take Baylor seriously?
will likely occur,
Aldrich is going
to get at least
10 minutes of
playing time.
He deserves it,
too. Aldrich had
arguably the
best game of
his short career
Let's face it, Arthur is going to get in foul trouble, and if he doesn't, Sasha Kaun probably will. Because one of those situations
HEARYE, HEARYE
KANSAS VS. BAYLOR 7 p.m., Allen Fieldhouse, Lawrence, JTV
It's unlikely the Jayhawks will mistake these Bears for the ones that went 1-15 a few years ago. The players know Baylor is tough this year, and Self said they'd learn even more about the Bears when they finished watching tape. Kansas is not going to underestimate Baylor. If Baylord wins, it's because the Bears are a good team.
WHO TO WATCH
"We've only got four more home games left. These guys only get to run out of the tunnel four more times, so the reality for the seniors is, 'Hey it's coming to an end.' There should be more of a sense of urgency."
"The season goes through many peaks and valleys and you have to take each peak and each valley and grow from it. And you can't get too down or too up based on one game even though it did sting. It stung our guys, and I think we've responded well to that. We're finished talking about that. That was talked about by me and the staff plenty 10 days ago."
Coach Bill Self
— Self on the K-State loss
Kansas (22-1,7-1) THE PROJECTED STARTING 5
Russell Robinson, 6-foot-1 senior guard Robinson has to show that he has the mentality to break through the slump that he is going through of fessively and defensively.
Baylor (17-4,5-2)
Mario Chalmers, 6-foot-1 junior guard The defense is slipping slightly, but the offense continues to improve. Chalmers had six assists Monday night.
THE PROJECTED STARTING 5
Aaron Bruce, 6-foot-3 senior guard
It seems like Bruce, an Australia native, has been at Baylor for a decade. Bruce, who was Big 12 Freshman of the Year back 2005, is averaging 10.7 points per game this season.
Brandon Rush, 6-foot-6 junior guard
Curtis Jerrells, 6-foot-1 junior guard At 6-foot-1, Jerrells can play both the point guard and shooting guard position. An honorable mention All-Big 12 selection last season, Jerrells is Baylor's leading scorer at 14.4 points per game.
Rush is the only guard whose defense is improving. His job on Matt Lawrence Monday night was unbelievable. Lawrence attempted just six shots and missed all of them.
Darnell Jackson, 6-foot-8 senior forward
Four Stars
Sherron Collins, 5-foot-11 sophomore guard The old Collins might finally be back. He was penetrating through the lane on nearly every possession Monday night. Look for him to cross someone up on Saturday.
Jackson had a quiet game against Missouri Monday night. He usually follows games like that with big ones.
He can't be stopped on offense when he's not on the bench because of fouls. Maybe a matchup with his high school teammate Kevin Rogers will increase his discipline and keep him out of foul trouble.
Darrell Arthur, 6-foot-9 sophomore forward
Henry Dugat, 6-foot junior guard
Sherron Collins, 5-foot-11 sophomore guard
In 25.8 minutes per game,
Dugat is averaging 11.4 points
per game. Russell Robinson said
Dugat is the toughest Baylor
guard to match-up with besides
Curtis Jerrells.
THE SIXTH MAN
Kevin Rogers, 6-foot-9 junior forward
Rogers is a former Kansas recruit and a former high school teammate of Darrell Arthur. He's also Baylor's only scoring option in the frontcourt.
Sasha Kaun
Josh Lomers, 7-foot sophomore center
Lomers starts at center for Baylor, but he plays only 14.4 minutes per game. Baylor employs a four-guard offense when Lomer's is out.
THE SIXTH MAN
LaceDarius Dunn, 6-foot-4 freshman guard Dunn, a freshman from Monroe, La., is Baylor's third leading scorer - 11.9 points per game – and provides an outside shooting threat off the bench
Rustin Dodd
BU
TIPOFF
AT A GLANCE
WHOTOWATCH
To say that Baylor is a surprise this season overlooks the fact that Baylor is an extremely talented team. Bill Self said on Thursday that he appreciated the recruiting job that coach Scott Drew did at Baylor. Drew took over a Baylor program that was rocked by scandal. Former Baylor player Carlton Dotson was convicted of killing his teammate Patrick Dennehy in 2003, and the program was left in ruins. Almost five years later, Drew has Baylor at 17-4 and 5-2 in the big 12. With a bevy of talented guards, Kansas will play perhaps the best Baylor team in the last 50 years.
Curtis Jerrells, 6-foot-1 junior guard
Baylor has a collection of five strong guards, but Jerrell stands above the rest. The six-foot-one combo guard
Jerrells
from Austin, Texas is playing 30.7 minutes per game and scoring 14.4 points per game.
The southpaw's sweet shooting and moxie are two of the biggest reasons for Baylor's 5-2 Big 12 record this season.
QUESTION MARK
Can Kansas handle Kevin Rogers?
Bill Self recruited Roger extremely hard when he was at South Oak Cliff High School in Dallas. Rogers chose Baylor, but a year later, Self nabbed his high school teammate Darrell Arthur. Arthur and Rogers will be matched-up on each other on Saturday night. If Arthur and his frontcourt mates Darnell Jackson and Sasha Kaun can slow Rogers, Baylor's guard will have to do all the scoring, and that might not be enough to beat Kansas at home.
HEARYE. HEARYE
"I don't think we have to convince them, because we'll watch tape. Our guys are smart, they'll watch tape and be able to tell if a guy can get a shot on his own, or if a guy can get his shoulders past you"
— Bill Self on if he has to convince his team to take Baylor seriously
JAYHAWK STATS
Player MPG FG-FGA 3FG-3FGA RPG PPG
00 Arthur, Darrell 22.8 127-240 2-10 5.8 13.3
25 Rush, Brandon 27.5 92-209 43-100 5.1 12.6
32 Jackson, Darnell 24.9 113-173 2-5 7.1 12.5
15 Chalmers, Mario 29.1 88-168 37-81 2.9 12.2
04 Collins, Sherron 22.5 61-130 23-60 1.9 9.4
24 Kaun, Sasha 17.5 66-99 0-0 3.8 7.7
03 Robinson, Russell 27.1 46-113 22-68 2.5 6.9
05 Stewart, Rodrick 14.3 32-65 3-14 2.8 3.6
45 Aldrich, Cole 8.7 25-50 0-0 3.4 3.0
02 Teahan, Conner 3.5 15-25 11-18 0.6 2.9
14 Reed, Tyrel 7.2 15-30 9-21 0.5 2.3
10 Case, Jeremy 5.3 12-35 6-20 0.3 1.5
11 Bechard, Brennan 1.8 4-8 2-5 0.3 1.2
54 Kleinmann, Matt 2.3 2-6 0-0 0.6 0.4
22 Buford, Chase 1.8 1-9 0-6 0.5 0.2
40 Witherspoon, Brad 1.7 0-3 0-2 0.2 0.0
PREDICTION
93-83 Kansas
Both teams will shoot well and turn this into a high scoring game. The Jayhawks win because of big games from Darnell Jackson and Darrell Arthur.
Witherspoon Meter
Will senior walk-on Brad Witherons get the opportunity to play tonight? This meter tells all.
BEAR STATS
Player MPG FG-FGA 3FG-3FGA RPG PPG
00 Jerrells, Curtis 30.7 101-234 35-102 3.8 14.4
23 Rogers, Kevin 27.5 106-206 2-10 7.8 12.6
24 Dunn, LaceDarius 20.5 74-172 45-107 4.1 11.9
05 Dugat, Henry 25.8 85-198 29-80 4.1 11.4
14 Bruce, Aaron 24.5 73-166 38-90 2.1 10.7
45 Carter, Tweety 23.8 59-145 30-79 1.8 8.3
50 Lomers, Josh 14.4 38-58 0-0 2.6 4.5
15 Diene, Mamadou 17.4 16-24 0-0 4.0 3.6
25 Thiam, Djibril 17.3 9-15 1-1 4.1 2.7
11 Simpson, Delbert 10.0 17-33 1-1 2.3 2.6
40 Shepherd, Mark 13.6 12-26 0-0 2.4 2.0
22 Hurd, Richard 5.0 0-5 0-1 0.9 0.9
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