THE UNIVERSITY DAILY
KANSAN BASKETBALL EXTRA
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 7,2001
Simien: profile on page 2B
Langford:
profile on page 4B
By Ryan Malashock Kansan sportswriter
Fantastic FOURS
day one. Kansas begins exhibition play against the EA Sports All-Stars at 7 tonight at Allen Fieldhouse. Expect Williams to experiment with different lineups to see which players mesh together the best.
The key early in the season for Kansas will be the assimilation of four freshmen into a system that is built around a group of four Jayhawk veterans.
Hirten, Nick Coates Kansas' bench and possibly one starter will consist of the talented quartet of freshmen. All four newcomers, Aaron Miles, Michael Lee, Wayne Simien and Keith Langford, will be thrown into the Division I basketball fire from day one.
together the best. Kansas coach Roy Williams said the freshmen exceeded his initial expectations and appeared up to the task.
appeared up to the task.
"The four freshmen have heart and like to be challenged," Williams said. "The best thing about the four freshmen is that they are very good learners. They've picked up on everv-
hawk veterans.
The Jayhawks return four experienced starters, senior杰布 Boschee and junior Kirk Hinrich, Nick Collison and Drew Gooden.
Veteran quartet will lead four freshmen
thing quicker than I could have expected."
While the freshmen will determine the quality of depth for the Jayhawks, the returning starters will lead this year's squad. Kansas aims to improve on its Sweet 16 appearance in the NCAA tournament last year. Getting past the Sweet 16 is well within range this year, but Gooden said one thing would be the deciding factor.
factor:
"I think we'll have much better leadership this year," Gooden said. "Our leaders last year told us one thing but they weren't doing it. We're not going to be false role models. In other words, we're going to be out there doing what the coaches say. If the young guys aren't
doing it, we're going to make sure they do it."
Gooden, Collison and Hinrich all came to Lawrence in the same recruiting class two years ago and now form the foundation for Kansas.
Gooden led the Jayhawks in scoring and rebounding last season, earning first-team All-Big 12 honors from the media. Collison was named first-team All-Big 12 by the coaches last season, and Hinrich was named second-team All-Big 12 by the media.
Kansas finished last season second in the Big 12 with a 26-7 record overall and a 12-4 record in the conference. Both the Big 12 media and coaches voted Kansas first in their
Miles: profile on page 4B
Hawkins: profile on page 6B
preseason polls, and Gooden said he understood the high rankings. He said the time had come for the Jayhawks to live up to the predictions.
"Me, Nick and Kirk always thought we would cakewalk and win the Big 12," Gooden said.
"We saw so many Big 12 championship rings when we came here. The monkey might be off our back but we've still got things to do here," he said of the burden of getting past the Sweet 16.
Sweet 16 Kansas will rely on Boschee once again to hit the big three-pointer when needed. Boschee, who hit 38 percent of his career three-pointers, is on pace to have a chance at the Kansas all-time three-point field goals record.
The talk around the Jayhawk camp has focused mostly on the plans for a new offensive look this season. Former Jayhawks Eric Chenowith's and Kenny Gregory's graduation has left Kansas with no true centers or small forwards. Working with his current personnel, Williams figures to use a three-guard, two-forward look.
ILLUSTRATION BY KYLE RAMSEY/KANSAN
SEE FOUR ON PAGE 5B
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