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FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 30,2007
COMMENTARY
KANSAS
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Rodrick Stewart steps up after moving to Kansas
Through six games this season, Rodrick Stewart has seen more minutes and has scored more points than
Brucke Stewart has seen more minutes and has scored more points that he had in the past two years. The senior guard is averaging 7.3 points and 4.5 assists per game. A month ago, no one expected him to be playing as well as he is now.
"I just want to prove to myself and to everybody that I belong here." Stewart said before the start of the season at media day. Proving himself is something he has certainly done.
Sunday night when Kansas went to overtime with Arizona tied at 62, senior guard Rodrick Stewart was the first jayhawk to come up big. Arizona sophomore forward Chase Budinger fouled Stewart as he went up to make a layup. Stewart went to the free-throw line and sank the shot and Kansas took the lead. 65-62.
Near the end when the Jayhawks led the Wildcats 74-70, Arizona senior guard Jawann McClellan went up to shoot for three. He missed, and Stewart came up with the rebound to ensure the victory.
REUNION TOUR
This Sunday, Kansas will travel to No. 22 Southern California for possibly its toughest game of the year. For Stewart, USC is familiar territory.
Four years ago in 2003, Stewart was a freshman at USC. He was a highly touted prospect coming out of Rainer Beach High School in Seattle, Wash. Rivals.com had ranked him the No. 25 overall recruit. Stewart was in close company as well when he decided to play at USC. His twin brother, Lodrick Stewart, was also a top prospect that year and chose USC.
At USC, Rodrick was off to a solid start, averaging 4.4 points and 2.1 assists per game while starting 17 times. Though his performance was as good as you can expect from a freshman, he was unhappy playing at USC under coach Henry Bibby. Stewart considered transferring.
He visited Lawrence and witteded Kansas in full throttle as the Jayhawks downed St. Joseph's 91-51. Coming to Lawrence and watching Kansas was the tops for Stewart, and he decided to transfer. Meanwhile, coach Bibby was fired by the Trojans four games into the start of the following season.
As a transfer, Stewart would have to sit out for a year, but that didn't bother him much.
"Actually it will be kind of easy because I get to see all the mistakes everyone else is making in the games," Stewart said in 2005 when asked about to sit for a year. "I will be able to learn all the plays from watching and being in practice. In a way, I think sitting out will help."
It was the atmosphere of Allen Fieldhouse and playing for a great basketball power that caught Stewart's attention.
at a glance
RODRICK STEWART
| | '06-'07 | '07-'08 |
| :--- | :--- | :--- |
| Minutes | 5.8 | 20.0 |
| Points | 0.9 | 7.3 |
| Rebounds | 0.8 | 3.0 |
| Assists | 0.2 | 1.2 |
| Steals | 0.2 | 1.0 |
| FG percentage | .357 | .607 |
| FT percentage | .273 | .571 |
"I just love everything about Kansas. Everything from the fans to the community, everybody is so nice with their hospitality," Stewart in 2005. "The family here is real family. I have never seen any place louder than Allen Fieldhouse."
KANSAN FILE PHOTO
Once Stewart became a layhawk, his playing time dwindled. During his sophomore and junior years, he averaged 6.4 minutes per game. His highlight came just before the start of his sophomore season in summer 2005. Stewart played on the Sport Tours International All-Stars team that traveled to Slovenia and Austria. In a six-game span, he averaged 13.5 points a game.
SIBLING RIVALRY
Last season, Kansas played USC at Allen Fieldhouse. Kansas won 72-62, and Rodrick got a chance to match up against his brother, Lodrick, who scored 23 points. Rodrick's brother would have liked him to have played more in the game.
"He got mad when I was walking toward the bench," Rodrick said after last year's game. "He said, 'They're taking you out already? That was good D!' I just kept on walking. When we were growing up, we always played against other people. To play against him was weird. I gave my team a scouting report on him."
Rodrick did not complain about playing for only three minutes in the game, but he wanted to compete against his brother.
"I'm not disappointed that I didn't get to play." Rodrick said after the game. "But tonight was a night when I really wanted to go out there and lock my brother up."
This year when Kansas travels to USC, Rodrick will likely play a lot more. While sophomore guard Sherron Collins is out with a stress fracture, good play from Stewart will be much needed against USC on Sunday. There will be no matchup between Rodrick and Lodrick in this game because his brother graduated last year.
Edited by Dianne Smith
Kansas' game against USC will be a true test of adversity for the Jayhawks this season. Stewart is one of five seniors on the roster, and he is playing better than ever. He has definitely proved himself, but still maintains a selfless attitude and would like nothing more than the Jayhawks to win.
"It is really not about me," Stewart said at KU media day. "It is about being a part of something special, and we have a chance to do that this year on the court."
Senior guard Rodrick Stewart came to Kansas after spending time at Southern California. His brother, Lordric Steward, also attended USC, but Stewart chose Kansai and has not regretted his decision.
Freshmen athletes shine in season play
BASKETBALL
BY RUSTIN DODDrdodd@kansan.com
Cole Aldrich, freshman forward, powers up for a play during Wednesday's game against Florida Atlantic. This year, there are several freshmen who are playing college basketball because of a new MBA rule.
Sarah Leonard/KANSAN
Last season, Cole Aldrich had no problem keeping up with the success of last year's crop of freshman. Ohio State's Greg Oden burst on to the scene and led his team to the NCAA Championship game, while Texas Kevin Durant won the Associated Press National Player of the Year and was splashed on the front of every major newspaper and sports magazine. It was the "Year of the Freshmen," Sports Illustrated proclaimed. Aldrich saw it all. All he had to do was turn on the tube.
"I had the College Gameday package," Aldrich said.
One year later, Aldrich is a freshman at Kansas, and some of Aldrich's fellow freshmen across the country are making some people rethink Sports Illustrated's proclamation. Could this year be the real "Year of the Freshman"? Kansas will get a look at one of the country's best freshmen, O.J. Mayo, this Sunday when they travel to USC.
Mayo is at USC for one reason; he wasn't allowed to enter the NBA Draft, thanks to a rule that the NBA implemented in 2006. The rule, which requires athletes to be at least 19 years old and one year removed from high school, is the sole reason players such as Mayo, Kansas State's Michael Beasley, Memphis' Derrick Rose, and Indiana's Eric Gordon are on college campuses this basketball season.
But whether a player is a post player or guard, the man who coached Durant at Texas last season, Rick Barnes, doesn't want people to compare anybody to Durant.
"If anybody compares with Kevin, that's a mistake," Barnes said. "I told people if you didn't look at Kevin Durant as a freshman, I thought be the best player in college
basketball. Guys like that don't come along very often." Barnes said.
Kansas coach Bill Self agreed that it might be premature to think that any of this year's freshmen would have the same impact as Durant or Oden. Self said he thought that Durant would have dominated even if he played for John Wooden's 1960s UCLA teams.
Still, self said he thought Kansas State's Michael Beasley has the chance to make a big impact this season. And so far, Beasley has performed to a level that might make Barnes change his mind. The Durant comparison might not be as crazy as Barnes thinks.
"We're not going to see another one like that for a long time." Self said.
Beasley is averaging 27.2 points and 15.5 rebounds per game, and Beasley, with 24 rebounds in his first college game, already broke the Big 12 rebounding record of 23 rebounds in one game, previously held by Durant and former Jayhawk Nick Collison.
Gordon is having similar success at the guard position for Indiana. Gordon is averaging 27.3 points per game. Memphis' Rose is making people turn their heads as well. Rose is scoring 17 points per game at the point guard position for the No. 2 team in the country.
Self said a freshman's impact on a team
had a lot to do with the status of the program.
"It's harder for guys to make an impact if they're going into programs that have players," Self said. "Darrell Arthur could have scored a lot more points for some folks last year, and Sherron could have, if they would have been at other programs. Instead they elected to come to Kansas for all the right reasons. They were concerned with winning."
This year's Kansas freshmen — Aldrich, Tyrel Reed and Conner Teahan — may be experiencing some of the same problems that Collins and Arthur faced last year. Aldrich and Reed are playing 10.2 and 12.4 minutes per game respectively.
So while Kansas fans will see Mayo on Sunday and Beasley at least twice this season against Kansas, people might have to wait a little while to see if this year's crop of freshmen stacks up with last year's class led by Durant and Oden.
But one thing is for certain. Big 12 coaches are definitely glad they no longer have to deal with Kevin Durant, who left early for the NBA draft.
"Thank goodness he's gone," Missouri coach Mike Anderson said.
- Edited by Amelia Freidline
》BASKETBALL
KU gets look at hyped USC freshman
BY MARK DENT
mdent@kansan.com
The downdrodden for years basketball program at Southern California is starting to change. With a sometimes volatile freshman who has been a star since seventh grade leading the way a year after the team's Sweet 16 berth, the USC show, which airs about nine miles from Sunset Boulevard, is well-worth of top Hollywood billing.
USC, which plays host to Kansas at 1 p.m. Sunday, has won six games after losing its home opener to Mercer College, including victories against South Carolina and Southern Illinois. Kansas coach Bill Self was particularly impressed by the victory against the Salukis.
"You beat Southern Illinois by 25 on a neutral court, and it's like winning by 45 against someone else because of the way they play." Self said. "Southern Illinois, we were lucky to beat them on the last possession last year. They have it going pretty good right now."
OJ. Mayo is one of the main reasons USC is living the good life. Mayo, a freshman who was ranked No. 1 by several recruiting services, leads the Trojans in points at 21.8 per game and is second on
1.
the team in both rebounding and assists. Self mentioned other top freshmen such as Kansas State's Michael Beasley, UCLA's Kevin Love, Indiana's Eric Gordon and Duke's Kyle Singler and said Mayo could be the best.
Hype has followed Mayo since he was in middle school. Back then, Sports Illustrated featured him in a story, and he had his own Web site. The media's close watch on Mayo has revealed off-court controversies in addition to his on-court excellence. Most of the trouble started last year when Mayo, then a high school senior in Huntington, WVA., was accused of hitting a referee in a game and cited for marijuana possession (a charge that was later dropped). He also drew negative headlines when The New York Times reported that USC coach Tim Floyd wasn't allowed to call Mayo during his recruitment. Mayo called Floyd. It also reported that Mayo wanted to play at USC so he could build up his profile in a big market.
"He's probably as far along as anybody in the country," Self said.
All the negative vibes have evaporated into the smog-filled Los Angeles air so far this season as Mayo has helped lead the Trojans to a perfect record since getting
upset in their first game. Senior forward Darnell Jackson said the Kansas players were all familiar with Mayo's exploits.
"He's a great player," Jackson said. "He's an NBA player, hands down. The things he does on the court — I'm just like, 'Oh man, and he's a freshman.'"
Although the Trojans lost Lodrick Stewart to graduation and Gabe Pruitt and Nick Young as early entrants to the NBA Draft, the emergence of freshmen Mayo and Davon Jefferson and sophomores Daniel Hackett and Tai Gibson has made USC a tough team to beat for the second straight year. Last season, Kansas defeated Southern California at home 72-62. The Jayhawks struggled offensively but won the game with good defense. This year, they'll have to visit L.A. and give a similar effort to defeat Mayo and the rest of Hollywood's finest.
"They brought in a lot of talent this year," Jackson said, "so I think it's just going to be a lot faster and more physical. I know the guys are excited about playing us because we beat them last year. Now we have to go in there with the same mindset as last year and play them hard."
Edited by Jeff Briscoe