6B GAME DAY THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2007 COUNTDOWN TO TIP-OFF KU TIP-OFF WHAT'S AT STAKE Less than nothing, Fort Hays State is significantly worse than Pittsburg State. The Tigers were picked to finish lower than the Gorillas in the MIAA Conference. Once again, this is an exhibition game, and those never matter. That doesn't mean Kansas should take Fort Hays State lightly. The Jayhawks need to focus because the real season starts Friday. Freshman center Cole Aldrich played well in his Kansas debut. At Late Night, he looked timid WHO TO WATCH and out of place. The guards stripped the ball from him every time he touched it. Last week, Aldrich led the team in Aldrich rebounds with six and scored eight points on four of six shooting. More importantly, he looked graceful and controlled. Will anyone have a performance as good as Michael Beaslev's? QUESTION MARK For those who hadn't heard, Beasley, a KSU freshman, hurt Fort Hays State in every way imaginable for Kansas State. Beasley finished with 35 points, 15 rebounds, four assists, six steals and four blocks in only 28 minutes. No one for Kansas will do that tonight, but look for Darrell Arthur to have a big game. HEARYE. HEARYE FORT HAYES STATE AT KANSAS 7 p.m. Tonight, Allen Fieldhouse, Jayhawk T.V. "The guy I was most pleased with tonight was Cole (Aldrich). Cole has been battling against Sasha (Kaun), Darnell (Jackson) and Shady (Arthur) everyday. You see today when he doesn't have to play against them, he looks better. He was active and looked more athletic, and he made a great blocked shot that he drew a foul on. I thought he looked pretty good. There are some good things, but we have a long way to go before we play next Friday." HAWKS REBOUNDING AFTER LESS THAN STELLAR PERFORMANCE "I have a lot of size on a lot of players on the team and just my strength is defense. I love playing defense. I guard Darnell Jackson in practice and it's definitely helped me defensively just guarding and getting banged up down there and getting dunked on by Shady. It's definitely helped me." - Bill Self, coach, on Aldrich's debut. -Rodrick Stewart, senior guard Kansas THE PROJECTED STARTING FIVE Russell Robinson, senior guard Fort Hays Robinson only shot the ball four times last week against Pittsburg State, but Kansas only needs him to score when he is open. As long as he makes the occasional three-pointer and distributes the ball like he always does, the offense will be fine. THE PROJECTED STARTING FIVE Tyrone Evans, Junior guard Mario Chalmers, junior guard Evans led the Tigers with 32 minutes played in their first game of the season against Kansas State on Saturday. Evans finished 11 points and seven assists. He's also from Aurora, the home-town of Mike Myers's character in Wayne's World. He disappeared in the second half after scoring all 14 of his points in the first against the Gorillas. But that first half was special. Chalmers looked like he wouldn't miss a three-pointer for the rest of his career. Charles Robinson, junior guard A 6-1 guard from South Carolina, Robinson played 28 minutes and scored eight points against K-State. And no, he's not related to Russell. That whole weight problem thing? Forget about it. Collins looks like he is in great shape. If he stays in this good of shape all season, pencil him in for the All-Bio 12 First Team. Sherron Collins, sophomore guard Darrell Arthur, sophomore forward Jake Sims, senior guard Sims is a transfer from Gardner-Webb University in North Carolina. Sims was 3-3 from three-point range in Fort Hays State's first game against Kansas State on Saturday. Sims is the type of player where the defense viles, "Shooter" every time he catches it. Will somebody please look for Arthur in the post early in the game? He was ready to take over once the second half started, but he needs the ball. Ryan Herrman, sophomore forward Sasha Kaun, senior center A 6-6 forward from Abilene, Kan., Herrman played in 27 games for the Tigers last season, but started none. Herrman started and played 23 minutes against Kansas State on Saturday, finishing with two points. You hate to say there's pressure on someone during an exhibition game, but Kaun must do a better job on the glass. He had one rebound in 15 minutes against much smaller players last week. Tyrel Reed gets plenty of playing time. Reed was the one of the most exciting players to watch last week. This is an exhibition game and no one cares about the score. People care about entertainment. Reed is young, drives to the basket well and shoots the ball from the outside. He could be special, and he needs to prove that he can be part of the rotation before Brandon Rush comes back. His defense still needs improvement though. He got burned multiple times off the dribble against Pittsburg State. The Fieldhouse will be rocking if Cole Aldrich and Conner Teahan get some playing time too. These early games are all about new faces. Bring on the freshmen. Rodrick Stewart, senior guard Stewart had the most impressive performance last THE SIXTH MAN week. He went to the free-throw line 11 times and made nine shots. He only made 3 of 11 free throws all last season. Russell Robinson Mark Dent ALLEN FIELDHOUSE WILL ROCK IF... Shawn Emerick, junior forward Shawn Emerick, junior forward Emerick is another transfer. He played last season at John Wood Community College. Emerick finished with six points in 20 minutes against Kansas State. THE SIXTH MAN LaTravis Turner, Junior forward Turner played 20 minutes off the bench against K-State and finished with eight points. He's a transfer from Northeastern Community College in Colorado. PHOG ALLEN WILL ROLL OVER IN HIS GRAVE IF... Rustin Dodd Kansas gets out-rebounded again by a Division II opponent. Yeah, that's right. The Gorillas from little of Pittsburgh who play in the MIAA out-rebounded a front line that includes two McDonald's All-Americans. Sure, it was a preseason game but the Jayhawks' performance on the glass was embarrassing. Now they are facing an even weaker opponent in Fort Hays State that got out-rebounded by Kansas State by 20. Sasha Kaun, Darrell Arthur and one of Kansas guards need to grab some rebounds to ensure that last Thursday's performance was a fluke. Defense as a whole also needs to improve for the Jayhawks. The Goannas shot 40 percent from the field. Kansas showed it could apply the same pressure as last year on the perimeter, but the enforcement inside was sub-par. FHSU TIP-OFF WHAT'S AT STAKE Just like Pittsburg State last Thursday, Fort Hays State has nothing to lose. Nobody expects Fort Hays State to stay within 40 points. It's an opportunity for the players to see how they stack up against All-American talents like Darrell Arthur and Mario Chalmers. This game is also a great recruiting tool. Fort Hays head coach Mark Johnson can say, "Come to Fort Hays, and you'll get to play in Allen Fieldhouse." Fort Hays State fell to Kansas State 95-59 on Saturday and surrendered 35 points to KSU freshman Michael Beasley. The Tigers of Fort Hays can hold their heads high if they can stay closer to Kansas than they did to Kansas State. WHO TO WATCH Everybody. Well, actually everybody's jersey. Fort Hays State University announced in September that it was thinking about changing its name to the University of Western Kansas. Edward H. Hammond said recently that a decision on the change would come in late December. This development could end up being more exciting than the game. Stay tuned... QUESTION MARK Could Kansas still defeat Fort Hays State if it played without its top six players? Let's say Russell Robinson, Mario Chalmers, Sheron Collins, Sasha Kaun, Darrell Arthur and Darnell Jackson all came down with food poisoning. Would Kansas still win? Well, you'd probably see a starting line-up of freshman Tyrel Reed, senior Jeremy Case, senior Rodrick Stewart, Junior Matt Kleinmann, and freshman Cole Aldrich. Kansas would probably still have the talent advantage against a Fort Hays State team that was picked to finish seventh in the MIAA. Freshman Conner Teahan would provide some outside shooting off the bench, and Bill Self might be forced to pull the red-shirt of sophomore Brady Morningstar to provide some depth. HEARYE. HEARYE "He's a great player. He's long, athletic, strong, and he can score in every way there is. He can shoot the ball, he can drive it or he can post it. What are you going to take away from him? If you take one part of it away, he can find another way to score, and I think that is what makes him such a great player. There's a variety of ways he can put the ball in the hole." — Fort Hays State coach Mark Johnson on Kansas State Freshman Michael Beasley, after Beasley scored 35 points against his team on Saturday night. JAYHAWK STATS (stats are from first exhibition game vs. Pittsburg State) | Player | Min. | FG-FGA | 3FG-3FGA | RPG | PPG | | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | | 00 Arthur, Darrell | 22 | 5-8 | 0-1 | 4 | 12 | | 24 Kaun, Sasha | 15 | 4-6 | 0-0 | 1 | 9 | | 03 Robinson, Russell | 20 | 2-4 | 1-3 | 3 | 7 | | 04 Collins, Sherron | 23 | 7-10 | 3-4 | 3 | 18 | | 15 Chalmers, Mario | 23 | 4-7 | 4-5 | 0 | 14 | | 02 Teahen, Conner | 5 | 1-4 | 0-2 | 0 | 2 | | 05 Stewart, Rodrick | 17 | 1-3 | 0-1 | 4 | 11 | | 10 Case, Jeremy | 14 | 0-3 | 0-3 | 1 | 2 | | 11 Bechard, Brennan | 2 | 0-1 | 0-1 | 2 | 0 | | 14 Reed, Tyrel | 15 | 1-2 | 1-2 | 0 | 3 | | 22 Buford, Chase | 2 | 0-1 | 0-1 | 0 | 0 | | 32 Jackson, Darnell | 17 | 3-5 | 0-0 | 3 | 6 | | 40 Witherspoon, Brad | 2 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | | 45 Aldrich, Cole | 17 | 4-6 | 0-0 | 6 | 8 | | 54 Kleinmann, Matt | 6 | 1-1 | 0-0 | 4 | 2 | PREDICTION 107-38 Witherspoon Meter Kansas could be up by 40 points at halftime. This prediction could be a bit of an exaggeration but don't be surprised if it really does get out of hand by this much. Will senior walk-on Brad Witerspoon get the opportunity to play tonight? This meter tells all. Very High TIGER STATS (stats are from exhibition opener vs. Kansas State)
PlayerMin.FG-FGA3FG-3FGARPGPPG
01 Dreiling, Sean FR00-00-000
03 Schmidt, Greg FR10-00-000
05 Igbawua, Rob JR131-40-032
10 Olberding, Colin JR142-52-516
12 Sims, Jake SR233-53-3311
15 Turner, LaTravis JR204-80-028
20 Robinson, Charles JR263-92-588
21 Herrman, Ryan SO230-40-032
22 Miles, Casey FR10-00-000
23 Jeffries, Terry JR00-00-000
24 Evans, Tyrone JR324-93-6211
33 Kuntzsch, Corbin FR140-10-010
35 Peintner,Tim SO122-21-105
40 Stramel, Matt SO00-00-000
44 Casey, Justin FR10-00-000
52 Emerick, Shawn JR203-70-036
10