Volume 124 Issue 75
kansan.com
Thursday, December 8, 2011
OSU's defensive and turnover skills will challenge Kansas Saturday @KANSAN.COM
COMMENTARY
THE BATTLE OF THE BACKCOURT
Love it or hate it: Taylor's style will continue
What fans have seen from senior guard Tyshawn Taylor through eight games is what they will most likely see the rest of the season.
Taylor has been the most criticized Jayhawk this year, mainly because of his sometimes out of control turnovers or one-handed passes that don't always go where he intended. What's often overlooked though, is that Taylor's recklessness combined with his knack for getting into the lane and scoring has sometimes been the only consistent guard production for Bill Self's Jayhaws.
SHOWDOWN
Taylor is averaging 16.8 points and 3.6 assists per game this season. That score-first mentality was best on display in the second game of the year against Kentucky on Nov. 15, a 75-65 loss in Madison Square Garden. He led the team in shots and points, and in the second half when the Jayhawk offense was often stagnant, he seemed to have just one goal: Get to the free-throw line. It was the only thing that kept Kansas in the game. He made 15 of 17 free throws and finished with 22 points and just two assists. It was revealed after the game, however, that Taylor wasn't neglecting his teammates, but rather instructed to get to the paint every time he could, so he did just that.
— Edited by Mike Lavieri
While perusing the halls of Allen Fieldhouse Tuesday night, I overheard a fan who described Taylor as a modern day Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and there might not be a better way to describe the senior point guard. He can make an NBA-type play one minute and throw it right into the chest of the opponent the next. Self often talks about the assist-to-turnover ratio with his guards, and right now Taylor's is 0.9, meaning for every assist he has slightly more than one turnover. That's not great, but neither has the Jayhawk offense been at stretches this season. If a coach could design the perfect point guard, Tyshawn Taylor probably wouldn't be chosen. But he can score as well as anyone at times and the Jayhawks wouldn't have six wins this season without him.
He's going to follow up highlight reel dunks and passes with a few head scratchers. He's going to keep an inexperienced offense in a lot of games that it wouldn't have normally been in, and sometimes, that's all you can ask for.
MITCHELL KEEPS JOB AS FOOTBALL COACH PAGE 8B
PREPARE FOR OSU
MAX ROTHMAN
mrothman@kansan.com
Remember that Duke team? That team that ousted Kansas from the Maui Invitational championship? On Nov. 29, Ohio State torched Duke ... by 22 points.
The Jayhawks will tip off on Saturday, 2:15 p.m. at Allen Fieldhouse for one of the few games when many would consider them underdogs. Adding to the idea after Tuesday's narrow victory, coach Bill Self outlined a few conflicts with his team.
"Our offense sucks," Self said. "We are the worst passing team I have ever seen. Four assists and 16 turnovers in the second half. They scored 24 points off of our offense. It's ridiculous to watch."
Turnovers, the common poison for a fast team, have sickened the layhawkes offense throughout the season. If the turnovers persist, the Buckeyes will take advantage on the other end. They shoot 50.9 percent from the end, which ranks eighth in country.
They're led by sophomore forward Jared Sullinger, a sturdy fixture in the paint, who matches up with junior forward Thomas Robinson. Sullinger garners more media attention on a higher ranked team (Ohio State is currently ranked second, Kansas thirtenth), Robinson plays a similar game as Sullinger but has another dimension. The 88-80 Long Beach State victory on Tuesday showcased his jump shot, perhaps sending a message to Sullinger.
"I hope he got it," Robinson said in a joking manner. "Message or no message, we've got to come ready to play."
While national attention will shift on the Sullinger-Robinson showdown, the Buckeyes boast more than one talent.
Senior guard William Buford averages 16 points per game and hits 46.2 percent of his 3-point shots. Sophomore forward Deshawn Thomas averages 12.9 points per game and makes 48.8 percent from the field. Sophomore guard Aaron Craft averages 5.5 assists to just two turnovers per game; a ratio self would kill for.
Self said his own lineup doesn't pass, catch or see well during pressure situations.
"It's hard to put a finger on anything because you can look up and down the lineup and there is just nobody that values the ball at all" he said.
The best way to counter the nearly inevitable dose of turnovers: a sharp shooting Robinson to trump Sullinger.
"Sullinger's a good player," Robinson said. "I know he's going to be ready Saturday."
Edited by Adam Strunk
MEN'S BASKETBALL
Lottery plagued by confusion, crowds
BLAKE SCHUSTER
mvernon@kansan.com
Usually the frenzied students that make up the Allen Fieldhouse atmosphere wait until tip-off before the chaos begins; yet Wednesday morning's camping lottery for Saturday's game with Ohio State brought a madness of its own.
concoeur of the Fieldhouse. By 5:50 a.m., it was nearly impossible to fit any more students into the building.
An overwhelming amount of students showed up for lottery, which was scheduled to begin at 6 a.m., and began packing the lower
Hundreds of students waited to draw numbers outside the Fieldhouse in 10-degree weather. One student fainted and an ambulance from Lawrence Memorial Hospital removed her from the scene
on a stretcher
By the time the lottery was supposed to start, students were in the midst of transferring from the Fieldhouse to the neighboring parking garage, where they then waited for the next set of directions.
"There was no structure," Colin Belmont, a sophomore from Omaha, Neb., said of the lottery system. "No one was directing anyone until there were too many students to organize them."
Confused students wandered
aimlessly, trying to find anyone with knowledge on how, when and where the lottery would begin.
After waiting in the cold and no lottery taking place, some students went back to the Fieldhouse while others remained in the garage, still without a clue of what was happening.
Trey Johnson, a junior from Leesburg, Va., facilitates the lottery and admits that a lack of preparation caused the breakdown.
"We didn't think there would be
Johnson said, had he assumed more students would show up, he would have notified the Allen Fieldhouse building manager, and the lottery would have taken place in the seating area where all students could fit.
that many people," Johnson said.
Just after 7 a.m. the lottery began in the area between the Fieldhouse and the garage - leaving students to now congregate in that space. Without a megaphone, groups were shouted at to pick their numbers. The mob of campers made it tough for groups to find their way to the front of the heap and make their selection.
The lottery concluded at approximately 8:40 a.m. with some students of the 109 groups having waited three hours in the cold to draw their numbers.
Following the lottery, Johnson contacted the building manager to come up with a new strategy to make sure yesterday's events will not be repeated.
"If I go and tell the building manager that we need the gym, he
will let us in at any time;" Johnson said.
Edited by Mike Lavieri
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