Sports THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
KANSAS NEEDS TO STEP UP GAME AGAINST TEXAS
inpor- dents s sys-
important because as to the bus
Jayhawks play the Longhorns at 7 p.m. WOMEN'S BASKETBALL 5B
minger
SOFTBALL TEAM REPLACES VIRGINIA TECH IN RANKINGS
Team now 25th in poll after beating Arizona, Northwestern. SOFTBALL1 2B
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WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2009
HITTING THE BIG TIME
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Jayhawk rookies begin to shine
Former Jayhawk Mario Chalmers (right) has taken his shot-making skills to the Miami Heat. Chalmers has cracked the starting lineup and is near the top of this year's NBA rookie class.
Chalmers, Rush turn to NBA All-Stars for guidance
BY TIM DWYEF
tdwyer@kansan.com
INDIANAPOLIS — Brandon Rush fakes a drive, steps back, buries a fade-away three and walks off the court.
PAGE 1B
"Yeah," a Pacers assistant says. "Hit that one, stop, then go buy a lottery ticket."
Rush laughs off the comment, but luck doesn't have anything to do with it. He can flat-out shoot.
earlier, but Rush, along with AllStar swingman Danny Granger, is putting in extra time — they are the last two on the court. Rush has been knocking down shots since the practice started.
"... To hear my name called and know that I'm going to be in this league for a while — that was special."
The Pacers' morning shoot-around ended maybe 10 minutes
Rush's dream of playing in the NBA took its first step toward reality on June 26 last year when his name was called in the 2008 NBA Draft. Selected
13th by the Portland Trail Blazers, he was promptly traded for former Arizona guard Jerryd Bayless,
But this story starts before then.
BRANDON RUSH
Indiana Pacers guard
Rush didn't care. He was playing in the NBA.
picked two spots ahead of Rush by the Indiana Pacers.
Since then, he has tried to settle into a role he is admittedly still not used to. The Pacers had Granger, who is one of the best wings in the league, slotted into the position Rush is used to playing. More than that, though, there
"It really hit me when I got drafted," Rush said. "When I was going through that whole process — to hear my name called and know that I'm going to be in this league for a while — that was special."
SEE NBA ON PAGE 6B
COLLEGE CHAMPS START CAREERS
Four of Mario Chalmers and Brandon Rush's teammates made the leap from Kansas to professional basketball along with them. Here's how they are faring:
Darrell Arthur
19.9 min, 5.6 points, 4.4 reounds, 0.5 assists,
0.7 steals, 0.6 blocks
Arthur has started 38 of 46 games for the Gizzlies, and his 4.4 rebounds rank him ninth among all rookies. Arthur recently broke out of a 16-game slump in which he averaged just more than four points per game with three games of double-digit scoring in a five-game period.
Mario Chalmers Miami Heat NBA
31. 2 min, 9.9 points, 4.6 assists, 2.5 rebounds, 1.9 steal Chalmers has emerged as the surprise of the 2008 draft and is seeing the most success of any former Jayhawk. After grabbing the starting point guard spot in the preseason, Chalmers hasn't looked back. His steals and assists numbers put him at second on the team behind all-universe guard Dwyane Wade and at first and third, respectively, in his rookie class.
Sasha Kaun
CSKA Moscow, Euroleague 8.3 min., 1.9 points, 2.3 rebounds Kaun, after being drafted 56th by the now-defunct Seattle SuperSonics and having his rights traded to Cleveland, opted to home his game in his homeland, Russia. He has played in 17 games for CSKA Moscow, which is a perennial threat to claim the Euroleague title.
MEN'S BASKETBALL
Team tries to move on before K-State game
Missouri fans rush the court to celebrate with the players following the Tigers' 62-60 victory against Kansas on Monday night at Mizzou Arena.
Jon Goering/KANSAN
BY CASE KEEFER
ckeefer@kansan.com
Cole Aldrich has seen an opposing team's fans rush the court in celebration after beating Kansas only three times, but he remembers all of them in vivid detail.
The first two came last season in road defeats to Kansas State and Oklahoma State. It happened a third time Monday after Missouri beat Kansas 62-60 at Mizzou Arena.
Aldrich, a sophomore center,
won't forget about it anytime soon.
Kansas suffered its first Big 12 setback on Monday, but "Blog" Allen and The Jay Report are still undefeated in awesomeness. Check them out on Kansan.com.
"It's one of the worst feelings you could ever feel," Aldrich said.
(
Kansas coach Bill Self had the most optimistic outlook.
trailed for less than a minute the whole game. The layhawks spoke in subdued tones after the game and expressed uncertainty on how they would respond to the loss.
"We can handle a loss and move on," Self said. "Heck, that's basketball. Everybody goes through that."
@KANSAN.COM
But multiple Jayhawks used the word "linger" when describing the effect they thought the defeat would have on the team. Even Self softened his stance a few seconds
Aldrich said the latest one felt even worse because it was against a rival and marked Kansas' first Big 12 Conference loss of the season. The way the Jayhawks lost didn't help, either.
They led by 14 at halftime and
SEE BASKETBALL ON PAGE 6B
COMMENTARY
Difficult to point out positives in Mizzou loss
It's not that I haven't tried myself. I've spent the bulk of my time since the final buzzer sounded trying to find a way to write a generally positive column. I wanted to find an angle on the game other people would miss, one that would allow Kansas fans to take some comfort in the loss. It's too easy to be overly cynical, too easy to damn a losing team. Given that, I really wanted to find that silver lining.
If Monday night's loss at the hands of Missouri is a cloud hanging over the Jayhawks, then I'm begging you to find the silver lining.
But the thing is, I just can't do it.
Losing to Missouri is always difficult for Jayhawk Nation to stomach, not surprisingly, given the intensity of the rivalry. The teams hate each other, you can throw out the records, etc. I don't need to reiterate the clichés; anyone reading this already knows them. The simple fact is a loss to Missouri is much more significant than a tally in a column. Granted, Missouri is ranked and undefeated at home. Were it some other team — any other team — that might be enough to make this loss palatable. But Missouri is different.
Part of being the man is making the shots others don't want to take and willing your team to victory in circumstances like Monday's. Collins is a great player, no doubt, but he's got to deliver.
All that holds true any time Kansas loses to Missouri, though. It lacks the specific context in which this loss took place. That context matters, because this loss puts Kansas a game behind Oklahoma in the Big 12 title race. With the win, Missouri crept to within a half-game of Kansas' second-place spot.
Perhaps worst of all, the late-game dramatics that felled Kansas likely could have been avoided all together if Sherron Collins had simply made two free throws. I say simply, but they were anything but. Missouri's fans provided ample distractions, and the pressure was immense. No doubt, his job was a difficult one, but it's one he's expected to perform. This is Collins' team He's said as much and publicly taken the responsibility that comes with being "the man."
But it's not enough that Kansas lost — it had to unfold in the way it did. The Jayhawks had the Tigers at arm's length for most of the game only to surrender the lead late. Mario Little provided a moment of solace, until Zaire Taylor's midrange jumper bounced home. The ball couldn't just go in, mind you. The malicious thing had to milk the moment, antagonizing Kansas fans for as long as possible before driving the dagger home.
Find a silver lining yet? If not, the reason may be that there isn't one to find. But even a cloud with no silver lining eventually drifts away and dissipates.
ror Kansas, that's the good news. The team will have another shot at winning a road game against a rival this Saturday, when it plays Kansas State. Further on the horizon is Missouri's visit to Allen Fieldhouse. And it's worth noting that getting revenge always trumps finding a silver lining.
— Edited by Chris Horn
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