THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2007 GAME DAY 3B KU TIP-OFF WHAT'S AT STAKE A lesson. Kansas needs to learn how play without Sherron Collins during the next two games before Arizona comes to town. It's going to be tough without Collins. He brings speed and slashing ability that no one else can match. Robinson and Chalmers are quick, but they can't go from one end of the court to the other and make an off-balanced lay-up like Collins can. Now that Collins is out, Kansas will lose some of the speed from its fast-paced offense. Tyrel Reed, freshman guard. Reed had an impressive debut last Friday, scoring 11 points WHOTOWATCH and making three three-pointers. Against UMKC, he won scoreless. Reed has the opportunity to gain major COUNTDOWN TO TIP-OFF Reed minutes now that Collins is out. He said he never expected this kind of an opportunity for minutes early in his career, but he will have to prove he is ready to handle it. QUESTION MARK Where does the name Ichabods come from? For those who thought Washburn's mascot was a nod to Ichabod Crane, the character from Washington Irving's "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow," consider this a free lesson. According to Washburn.edu, the name actually comes from the founder of the school, ichabod Washburn. He was born in Massachusetts in 1798, many years after one of his descendants arrived on the Mayflower. Washburn is known as the "Father of Wire" for his work in wire manufacturing. Washburn University took his name because when soon after it was founded in 1865, Washburn donated money to help save the school, then known as Lincoln College. "it's kind of a fine line because I have them a little screwed up because the faster you play, the looser the possession, so there's not as much pride in getting stop — I thought in all honesty our guards didn't guard theirs at all. We have to get better in that." HEARYE, HEARYE GUARDS NEED TO STEP UP Kansas coach Bill Self on how play ing fast can be bad for the defense. Collins'injury creates a loss of offensive speed WASHBURN AT KANSAS 7 tonight, Allen Fieldhouse, Jayhawk TV THE PROJECTED STARTING FIVE Russell Robinson, 6-foot-1 senior guard Don't look now, but Robinson has been the best shooter on the team. He's made 8 of 15 field goals, including 5 of 10 from long range. If Robinson keeps that up, he's an All-Big 12 First Team candidate. Mario Chalmers, 6-foot-1 junior guard Mario Chalmers, e-boot-1 Junior guard Chalmers has been wonderful in the first two games of the season. Turnovers are the only thing bringing him down. He leads the team with five of them. Rodrick Stewart, 6-foot-4 senior guard THE PROJECTED STARTING FIVE Rodrick Stewart, 8-foot-4 senior guard Self hasn't officially given the nod to Stewart, but he said Stewart would likely start. It's a good choice. Stewart is averaging 4.5 assists per game, almost as much as the injured Sherron Collins was averaging. Darrell Arthur, 6-foot-9 sophomore forward Arthur's inability to make shots close to the basket is starting to get irritation. If he wants to be All-Big 12 and a top 10 NBA Draft pick next spring, he needs to start being more consistent offensively and that starts with making the gimmees. Sasha Kaun, 6-foot-11 center Andrew Meile, 6-foot-2 senior guard Meile is Washburn's floor general. He can score if he needs to - he had 14 double-figure scoring games last season - but his job is to run the offense. He was also the only Washburn player to start all 27 games last year. center Kaun, usually known for missing easy shots, has made 6 of 8 field goals on the season. The bad news is he's shooting 42 percent from the foul line. THE SIXTH MAN Darnell Jackson 6-foot-8 senior forward Outside of Collins, no Kansas player has played as well as Jackson during the first two games. By scoring a career-high 21 points last Friday, Jackson showed he is ready to be more than just a defensive presence off the bench. The big men get the ball down low. Sure, Darnell Jack son scored 21 points in the first game of the season, but other than that, the post players have been a non-factor. This team has made a living shooting the long ball in the first two games. Sherron Collins, Russell Robinson and Mario Chalmers have fired up 36 three-pointers so far this season, making 16. Nothing is wrong with that when the队 makes its shots, but trouble always follows when shooters go cold. Robinson said after the UMKC game that the guards need to start passing the ball more to the big men. He said they were the main part of the offense. Mario Scott. 6-foot-1 sophomore guard Mark Dent ALLEN FIELDHOUSE WILL ROCK IF... Darnell Jackson Mario Scott, 6-foot-1 sophomore guard Scott is a transfer from Grand Rapids Community College. The Grand Rapids, Mich., native averaged 10.8 points, 7.8 assists and 4.8 rebounds per game last season. James Williams, 8-10cree junior forward Williams, a Topeka native, played two seasons at Cloud County Community College before transferring to St. Bonaventure last season. Now the former Highland Park High School star is back playing at home in Topeka. Williams averaged 3.2 points per game for St. Bonaventure last season. James Williams. 6-foot-5 junior forward Paul Byers, 6-foot-5 junior forward Byers is a Beauty native who started 19 games last season for the lchabods, averaging 7.1 points per game and 5.0 rebounds. Darnell Kimble, 6-foot-8 junior forward Another transfer, Kimball played 25 games at forward for Brown Mackie Community College, averaging 15.0 points per game and 8.0 rebounds. Kimball shot 58 percent from the field. THE SIXTH MAN Grant Hargett, 6-foot-3 senior guard Hargett, 6-foot-3 senior guard Hargett, a Minnesota native, played 21 minutes off the bench for Washburn against UMKC on Tuesday, scoring 12 points. Hargett started 13 game and played in 25 for Washburn last season. Rustin Dodd PHOG ALLEN WILL ROLL OVER IN HIS GRAVE IF... The Jayhawks don't have the game in control by halftime. The Ichabods are not very good. Washburn is a Division II school, just like Pittsburg State and Fort Hays State. This should be Kansas' easiest regular season game of the year. To blow out Washburn early, Kansas will have to give a better effort than it did against UMKC. The Jayhawks made mistakes and played with a lack of focus for most of the second half of that game. If they do that again tonight, the Ichabods could make this game too close for comfort. They are comparable with UMKC, evidenced by their 79-75 loss to the Kangaroos on Tuesday night. WU TIP-OFF WHAT'S AT STAKE Very little. Kansas is on the third stage of its Tour de Kansas. The Jayhawks played Pittsburg State and Fort Hays State in the exhibition season, and now Washburn travels into Allen Fieldhouse. The Division I MIAA coaches picked the lchabbs to finish ninth in the conference, behind both Pittsburg State and Fort Hays State, so don't expect much from Washburn. The lchabbs do have experience playing against a good Division I program. They lost at UNLV 77-47 on Nov. 6. This game may technically be a regular season game, but it's really more exhibition-lite. Washburn will simply want to play hard and make the most of its trip into Allen Fieldhouse. WHOTOWATCH Andrew Meile, 6-foot-2 senior guard. Meile played his high school ball road at Olathe South High School, competing against the likes of Matt Klein- mann, Brady Morningsstar and Brennan Meile Bechard. Melle outplayed them all in high school, earning first team all-state honors and leading Olathe South to the 2004 6A State Championship. Melle averaged 9.1 points per game, 3.1 rebounds and 2.0 assists last season. With Sherron Collins out, Melle could give trouble to any Kansas guard not named Robinson or Chalmers. QUESTION MARK Will Washburn make Kansas look bad? Washburn finished B-19 last season and are picked to finish worse than Pittsburgh State and Fort Hays. Kansas isn't going to lose this game, but if they produce anything less than a 25-point victory, fans might be upset. Washburn is catching Kansas at a good time. Kansas is missing Brandon Rush and Sherron Collins, meaning inexperienced guards will get major minutes. It is not inconceivable to think that Washburn could keep the deficit lower than 20 points. HEARYE, HEARYE "They won't be intimidated coming over here. They've been here enough. Their guys know all our guys through summer time and things like that. I anticipate a very scrappy game. We were preseason No. 1 in the country and they played us to six or seven that year. We'll get their best shot and their best shot is pretty good." Kansas coach Bill Self JAYHAWK STATS
FG-FGA3FG-FGARPGPPGMPG
04 Collins, Sherron12-234-133.516.027.5
15 Chalmers, Mario10-197-132.515.529.0
32 Jackson, Darnell11-160-04.013.520.0
03 Robinson, Russell8-155-103.512.530.5
00 Arthur, Darrell9-241-28.012.026.0
24 Kaun, Sasha6-80-04.09.023.0
05 Stewart, Rodrick5-80-13.05.517.0
14 Reed, Tyrel4-63-50.55.510.0
45 Aldrich, Cole2-30-04.03.06.5
10 Case, Jeremy2-31-10.02.55.0
11 Bechard, Brennan1-10-00.02.02.0
02 Teaen, Conner0-20-11.00.02.0
40 Witherspoon, Brad0-00-00.00.02.0
54 Kleinmann, Matt0-10-00.00.03.0
22 Buford, Chase0-00-01.00.02.0
PREDICTION 89-53 ICHABOD STATS The Jayhawks aren't going to be able to put points up as quickly as they did in previous games because Sherron Collins is out. He is the fastest player on the team. This game should still be a cakewalk as long as Kansas gives maximum effort. Witherspoon Meter
FG-FGA3FG-FGAReb.Pts.Min.
15 Byers, Paul5-72-331222
21 Kimble, Darnell4-40-031117
22 Meile, Andrew7-125-921929
32 Scott, Mario1-71-24324
50 Williams, James1-80-55523
10 Santiago, Angel3-62-32821
14 Hargett, Grant4-71-411221
23 DeCoteau, Moriba0-00-0003
24 Del, Dei0-00-0005
33 Daniels, Nate1-20-0123
35 Sisk, Brady0-30-11111
52 Snyder, Kyle1-40-17221
(Stats from Nov. 13 exhibition game against UMKC)