PAGE 68
FRIDAY, MARCH 30, 2012
MEN'S BASKETBALL
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Jayhawks turn focus inward before Final Four
KORY CARPENTER
kcarpenter@kansan.com
NEW ORLEANS - The story has been told a few times already. Before the season, former NBA coach Jeff Van Gundy and Kansas legend, Larry Brown spoke at the coaches clinic hosted by Bill Self. The duo watched a Kansas practice — without junior forward Thomas Robinson, to be fair — and the opinions weren't pretty.
"Coach Brown thought that if we played really well we could maybe get to .50 and win 15 games." Self recalled Thursday afternoon in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans.
Expected losses to Kentucky and Duke early in the season were followed by a head-scratching loss to Davidson on Dec. 19 in Kansas City. Self was fairly certain the players didn't like him around that time and he had his doubts on whether the players evened liked each other.
Should the Jayhawks win two games here in New Orleans, however, the days surrounding that
loss to Davidson may very well have been the turning point in the season. Senior guard Tyshawn Taylor certainly believes so, recalling a discussion the rotation players had about what each player's contributions could be to the team.
But it wasn't just another team meeting.
"We had a lot of things that we went through that made us closer," Taylor said, noting the hardships junior forward Thomas Robinson went through last season. He then added, "We were just taking pictures right now in front of the green screen, and they told us it seemed like we like each other more than the other team they just did."
What makes this such a tight knit group is also the reason the team is criticized.
The Jayhawks have just six players who average 21 minutes per game or more. The bench is usually just two players — former walk-on and senior guard Conner Teahan and junior forward Kevin Young, and is
rarely greater than three
The starting five has been the same in 34 of 37 games. That includes the 36 starts by junior guard Eliah Johnson, who almost seemed angry when asked about a writer's opinion of his performances earlier in the year.
"If you're not a part of the team or our program, or people who have been with us to help us work to win, when I hear things that's one person," Johnson said. "The outside."
Kansas players have talked about shutting out "the outside" since the tournament started two weeks ago in Omaha, Neb., avoiding reading stories or listening to advice from friends and family. And however that cohesiveness was formed, they've slowly and quietly become one of Self's best tournament teams at Kansas.
"I've had more fun coaching this team than any team I've had going back to my Tulsa days," Self said. "I could not have enjoyed this group more."
— Edited by Nadia Imafidon
Junior guard Elijah Johnson speaks to members of the media Thursday afternoon in New Orleans. Johnson talked about the team's effects to mentally shut out outside influences, including media.
CHRIS NEAL/KANSAN
NUT
ASSOCIATED PRESS
The Stanford men's basketball team celebrates its 75-51 NIT Final victory over Minnesota.
Stanford defeats Minnesota in National Invitation Tourney
ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK — Stanford's young guards Chasson Randle and Aaron Bright each scored 15 points, and the Cardinal routed Minnesota 75-51 to win the NIT title Thursday night.
The third-seeded Cardinal (26-11) won their second NIT title, the first coming in 1991.
Stanford forced two turnovers to open the second half to take a 10-point lead and stayed up by double figures the rest of the way. The Golden Gophers turned it over 22 times on the night.
The final minutes turned into a celebration of 3-pointers and fastbreak layups for Stanford, players on the bench jumping up to cheer on nearly every possession.
Both teams got off to a hot start, but then the Cardinal turned up the defensive pressure, and when the Golden Gophers (23-15) got good looks, they couldn't make them. Sixth-seeded Minnesota missed 16 of its last 19 shots in the first half.
The Cardinal scored 12 straight
points to go ahead 29-21 with 4½ minutes left before the break. Bright had six points, including a four-point play, and an assist during the run, and Stanford drew three charges.
Bright, a sophomore, had six assists and earned most outstanding player honors. Randle, a freshman, was 3 for 5 on 3-pointers.
In front of a sparse crowd at Madison Square Garden, the atmosphere on the court had some sizzle. Minnesota's Elliott Eliason and Stanford's Dwight Powell had to be separated after getting tangled up on a held ball late in the first half, and the two exchanged words again in the second. Powell was later called for a contact technical foul when the Gophers' Rodney Williams hit the floor face first after being whistled for fouling the Cardinal forward.
Williams stayed on the court for several minutes before walking off under his own power and returned to the game soon thereafter.
It was the fourth foul on Williams, who at that juncture had scored 12 of Minnesota's 30 points. Williams, who
made the all-tournament team, finished with 12 to lead the Gophers.
Powell hit both of his free throws, and in a sign of how the game was going for the Golden Gophers, Andre Hollins, a 92.2-percent foul shooter, made only one of two, and Stanford led 47-31 with less than 12 minutes left. Hollins, a freshman, also made the all-tournament team.
The injury-riddled Golden Gophers had made a spirited run to the NIT title game. But they hit just three of their 13.3-point attempts Thursday and allowed the Cardinal to shoot 57.1 percent in the second half.
Stanford is just the second team to play in the final of the preseason and postseason NIT in the same season. In the NIT Season Tip-Off in November, the Cardinal let a late lead slip away against Syracuse. Minnesota isn't exactly the Orange, but this time Stanford never looked back after going ahead.
Minnesota had won the first four meetings in the series, though the teams hadn't played since 1975.
The University of Kansas University Theatre Presents the Obie Award and Outer Critics Circle Award-winning comedy
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SAYING GOODBYE
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Coach Danny Manning gives advice to junior forward Thomas Robinson during the first half of the season opener against Towson at Allen Fieldhouse. Robinson contributed 18 points and 11 rebounds in the Jayhawks 100-54 victory.
Athletics announces Manning's departure
MATT GALLOWAY
Danny Manning is officially leaving Lawrence to fill the head coaching vacancy at Tulsa, and he is taking another familiar Jayhawk name with him.
Joining Manning as an assistant coach will be current Baker head coach and former Jayhawk Brett Ballard.
Tulsa athletic director Ross Parmley announced the hiring of Manning, a Kansas men's basketball assistant coach and '80s on-court legend on Thursday morning.
mgalloway@kansan.com
"I'm excited and looking forward to being the head basketball coach at The University of Tulsa," Manning said in a press release.
Manning went on to thank Kansas coach Bill Self for having him on his staff for the past nine years.
"I have learned a tremendous amount about the game and the profession from him and all the
Several Kansas players discussed Manning's departure Thursday, including junior center Jeff Withey. Withey said he will be sad to see Manning go, but he thinks he will improve the Tulsa program.
"It doesn't change much. We are definitely happy for both of them," Withey said. "It shows that if we keep on winning it opens a lot of opportunities for everybody. It's awesome for both
Withey said the timing of Manning's departure, along with that of director of men's basketball operations Barry Hinson, will not be a distraction heading in to the Jayhawks' Final Four clash with Ohio State at 7:30 p.m. Saturday in New Orleans.
"He gave me a lot of confidence. Every day we worked with him, we got a lot of shots off and we work on our footwork," Withe said. "He gives us a lot of tricks when we are playing, so he will definitely be missed."
of them. It's not a distraction by any means."
The team feels comfortable knowing Manning and Hinson will remain through the remainder of the postseason, said junior guard Travis Releford.
"Right now, we can't even picture them not being with us until the time comes," Releford said. "We aren't really focused on that because they are still with us."
Junior guard Elijah Johnson echoed Withey's sense of pride that two Kansas basketball figures have pluried the Jayhawks' recent success into new jobs.
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"Jayhawk nation will always love them," Johnson said. "That shows you if you do the right thing, the pie is big enough for everybody. I never thought I'd be able to help one of our coaches get a job and for us to be part of the reason that happened makes me feel good and makes me want to win even more."
Edited by Ian Cummings