Volume 126 Issue 37
kansan.com
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAS
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
COMMENTARY
Exhibition important for bench players
Kansas basketball has a problem. It's a problem any head coach would want to have, but a problem notogeless.
Coach Bill Self will have two or three top 100 recruits who will rarely see the court. The exhibition games will determine which players become key contributors and which players will need to wait their turns.
Self typically prefers a tight rotation. Last year, he implemented a seven-man rotation, with a smattering of Jamari Traylor every now and then. The 2008 championship year was the same, with Cole Aldrich playing the role of occasionally-used eighth man. Even outside of these years, Self rarely plays more than eight players after January or February.
This year, Self has twelve players who would be in the rotation of almost every other Division I team. Self likes to play four bigs, with the fourth big logging between five and ten minutes a game. Landen Lucas and Traylor will be fighting for those limited minutes.
The backcourt is even more congested.
In a perfect world, all of these players would accept their roles and see the big picture. Travis Releford and Jeff Withey did it, and became two-year starters on two successful Kansas teams during their junior and senior years.
Last year, Self played a four-man rotation in the backcourt, with Nadir Tharpe playing starter's minutes coming off the bench. Now, Self has seven players vying for minutes. Tharpe, Wayne Selden and Andrew Wiggins are the clear starters. That leaves Conner Frankamp, Andrew White, Frank Mason, and Brannten Green to compete for the rotation. Even if Self increases his backcourt rotation by one player, that's still two players that will end up disappointed.
However, it's not a perfect world. It's a world where players want to play. They want to contribute to wins, not watch them. And who can blame them? These are players who were the faces of their high school teams.
Exhibition games are generally meaningless. However, to White, Greene, Frankamp and Mason, their performances in these games could be the difference between role player and cheerleader. And that instantly makes these games worth watching.
Edited by Heather Nelson
Frankamp is the local guy who never found a shot he didn't like. By the time he is done at Kansas, he could threaten Jeff Boschee's three-point record. White is the elder statesman of the group. He put on muscle this summer and improved his defense in an effort to increase his minutes. Like Frankamp, he is a threat from behind the three-point line.
Do you see the dilemma here?
Self needs to pick two of these players to get minutes. He may need to put a redshirt on one of them.
Meanwhile, Mason is a prototypical Self recruit. He is a hard-nosed, heady player who is the most qualified to play the back-up point guard role. His toughness makes it tough to keep him on the bench. Greene is a big-time scorer who might have been penciled in for the starting small forward spot before the Wiggins commitment.
TIME TO SHINE
Freshman guard Andrew White attempts to steal the ball from his opponent during the game against Baylor at Ferrell Center in Waco, Texas on March 9, where Kansas was defeated 81-58. White had one personal foul.
FILE PHOTO/KANSAN
MINUTE MEN
Bill Self still unsure of where players fall
BLAKE SCHUSTER
bschuster@kansan.com
Bill Self hasn't made up his mind.
The Kansas coach has only seen his team play against each other, and there's only so much a coach can take from that. Of course, this is why you schedule exhibition games.
It's not that Self hasn't figured out who he wants playing, it's that he can't decide who won't be.
"I thought initially we'd redhair at least one." Self said at his Monday press conference. "I'm not even sure about that right now, I really don't have a feel."
A redshirt is not a demotion. At least not to Self, who has referred to Travis Releford's sophomore season on the bench as one of the best things that happened to him at Kansas.
It's a very plain problem: minutes can only be split in so many ways.
Against Pitt State, Self will have his first chance to see where everyone fits in a game situation – and how many minutes they'll likely be playing.
Self said that while many guys are getting into the rotation in practice, it hasn't made the division of playing time in games any easier to figure out
"We do have some good freshmen and they need to figure it out," Self said. "Hopefully we can get everybody a little bit of a chance to play in the exhibitions. But also the guys we feel like will be playing the majority of the minutes are so young, they need to play, too, so it's not going to be equal opportunity by any stretch."
- save for the starting lineup of
Naadir Tharpe, Perry Ellis, Tarik
Black, Wayne Selden and Andrew
Wiggins.
"Everybody thinks they're playing," Self said. "The second team or whoever, they think they're getting a lot of burn because they're always out there in practice. Now you eliminate 50 percent of that."
For guys like Frank Mason, the change creates a role-defining adjustment.
Self said that while Mason has
proven he can last in a two and a half hour practice, he'll likely see up to four minutes at a time during games. Self wants the energy Mason can provide, even if it's just for a short span.
For Mason, it's a relatively easy transition, considering he won't change a thing.
Like Kevin Young did last year, Self is looking for the spark off the bench when things become stale.
"The role I have in practice is the same role I have in a game," Mason said. "That's how I approach it." And if there was any confusion, Wiggins minutes aren't up for discussion.
"We can play our freshenin in the exhibition games and decide after the exhibition games if we'll redshirt," Self said, "Just FYI, Wiggins will not redshirt, in case you were worried about that."
Edited by Heather Nelson
HEALTH
New technology gives accurate concussion diagnosis
JACKSON LONG
ilong@kansan.com
University of Kansas running back Tony Pierson weaved through the Texas Tech defense for a 39-yard gain in a loss earlier this month at Memorial Stadium in Lawrence.
It was one of the Jayhawk's bright spots on offense that day, but at the end of the highlight run, Pierson was hit and landed on part of the track, resulting in a serious head injury.
MICHAEL STRICKLAND/KANSAN
Running back Tony Pierson on the sideline after receiving a concussion during the game against Texas Tech on Oct. 5.
The diagnosis was a serious concussion, and that Pierson would likely miss "substantial time," coach Charlie Weis said. The event came at a time where both college and professional football become more sensitive to brain injuries.
"You teach the proper form of tackling and ball carriers not to lead with their face when they have the ball to prevent concussions," Weis said. "Really, one of the most important things is how you handle them once you have them."
Weis said that in all concussion situations his staff chooses to be cautious. The University also requires a passing grade on a cognitive test and a subjective check up by the medical and coaching staffs.
While high school programs are
equally aware of head trauma, they don't have the same resources as college and professional teams.
"Being diligent about reminding players not to lead with their head seems to really help," Bouchard said. "We also almost never go to the ground anymore (in practice). The ground is not very forgiving to the head when it slams against it, so that has helped a lot too."
Staley High School football coach Fred Bouchard goes through a number of measures to reduce the risk of his players' concussions.
An additional measure is pre-testing for cognitive levels. The state of Kansas now requires all athletes to undergo pre-sport neuro-psych testing, according to Dr. Pam Shaw, a professor at the University of Kansas Medical Center. Shaw said the testing allows coaches and trainers to monitor and compare scores from the pre-test at the normal state, and an athlete's condition after suffering a concussion.
the Riddell Speed Revolution and Riddell 360 models. However, Bouchard said he was interested in Bill Simpson's new technology and that he would be purchasing a few of his new helmets for next season.
While testing can track the condition of a concussion, a primary goal is research in technology that can help prevent the injury. Bouchard said he keeps his equipment room stocked with the latest helmet technology to achieve the best results. Staley currently uses
Simpson is a pioneer in NASCAR racing safety. His new technology boasts a football helmet that is half the weight and twice the protection of current models. The decrease in weight and increase in protection would provide substantial improvements to head-injury prevention in high school football and possibly a revolution to football.
During practice and games, Bouchard's players are instructed to watch for signs of concussions.
"In terms of self-diagnosing, a rule of thumb is if someone is 'seeing stars or dinged' they should see immediately improvement within five seconds or they should be reporting it to a coach or teammate," Bouchard said. "We also ask our players to also watch out for a player who is acting out of sorts, too."
After an athlete gets a concussion, the process of getting back onto the field begins. Shaw said the University's detailed procedure begins with cognitive rest that allows the brain to focus on healing. The
next step is returning to school full time followed by light exercise. This does not include weight-lifting or strong physical exertion. Running without a helmet follows, and then non-contact drills in full equipment are allowed. With the approval of a trainer, the final steps are full practice and game competition. Each step is one-to-two days in duration.
Though Bouchard said he has seen an increase in concussions, he credits that rising number to a more diligent approach to handling the injury.
"An increased awareness leads to us being more diligent," Bouchard said. "Ten years ago, if a kid grabs his head we wait and ask them in a few moments if they're okay. Today, we tell them to immediately take their helmet off and see the trainer."
Edited by Heather Nelson
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