ANSAN
2008
BASKETBALL PREVIEW
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2008
13C
Kirk Hinrich
season he averaged 12 points,
8.6 rebounds and 0.8 blocks per
game. Gooden recently spent
four weeks in Vancouver training
so that he could be healthy for
the entirety of the '08-'09 regular
season. His No. 0 jersey is retired
at KU.
Harrison
No. 12, point guard
Chicago Bulls
Kansas 1999-2003
Since being drafted seventh overall by the Chicago Bulls in the 2003 NBA Draft, Kirk Hinrich has been their starting point guard. The '08-'09 season may be slightly different for Hinrich thanks to a
Hinrich
player whom Kansas fans are quite familiar with: former Memphis Tiger and first overall pick in the 2008 NBA Draft Derrick Rose. Rose is
almost certainly a lock for starting point guard, which would ultimately equate to a heavy reduction in minutes for Hinrich, especially given that he has seemingly fallen out of favor with new head coach Vinny Del Negro. Hinrich averaged 11.5 points, five assists and 1.2 steals per game in the '07-'08 season.
Scot Pollard
Scot Pollard is an unrestricted free agent coming off a year in which he was a member of the 2008 NBA championship-winning Boston Celtics, Kansas' favorite goofy-haired free spirit probably
First Pillar
No. 66, center
Boston Celtics
Kansas 1993-1997
won't be returning to Boston for the '08-'09 regular season but may get picked up somewhere midway through the season. If not, Pollard can
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Pollard
always fall back on his burgeoning sports color-commentating career.
Nick Collison
No.4, power forward
Oklahoma City Thunder
Kansas 1999-2003
The '08-'09 season will be a strange change of pace for Nick Collison, who begins his sixth year in the NBA, and not because he changed teams but because he changed cities. The Thunder,
which used to be the Seattle Supersonics, will play their first season in Oklahoma City this year with Collison as the starting center. Alongside him
Collison
After being teammates at Kansas, Kirk Hinrich and Drew Gooden reunited as members of the Chicago Bulls, Chicago drafted Hinrich in 2003 and traded for Gooden last season.
is former Texas Longhorn Kevin Durant. Collison averaged 9.8 points, 9.4 rebounds and 0.8 blocks
per game last season. His jersey is also retired at Kansas.
Jacque Vaughn
No. 11, point guard
San Antonio Spurs
Kansas 1993-1997
Two years removed from helping the San Antonio Spurs win the NBA championship in 2007; Jacque Vaughn continues to produce as the backup point guard to two-time NBA All-Star Tony
Parker. In an average of 15.4 minutes per game last year, Vaughn averaged 4.1 points, 2.1 assists and 0.3 steals per game. His numbers should stay
about the same, which last year nearly identically mirrored his career averages of 16.6 minutes, 4.6 points, 2.5 assists and 0.5 steals per game. His No. 11 is retired at Kansas.
Vaughn
Julian Wright No.32,small forward New Orleans Hornets Kansas 2005-2007
Orleans came within one game of the Western Conference finals last
Wright
In the 57 games that made up his rookie season with the New Orleans Hornets, Julian Wright averaged 11.2 minutes, 3.9 points, 2.1 rebounds, 0.7 assists, 0.2 blocks and 0.5 steals per game. In the Las Vegas Summer League, Julian started all six games for the Hornets and averaged 11 points, five rebounds, two assists and nearly two steals per game. Coach Byron Scott is hoping Wright can bring energy to a Hornets team that has a young and talented nucleus. New
season. Wright will be asked to come off the bench and play a supporting role to stars Chris Paul and David West. If there is one thing Jawhawk
fans know about Julian Wright, it's that he can certainly energize a crowd while he energizes his team.
Raef LaFrentz
No. 9, center
Portland Trailblazers
Kansas 1994-1998
On September 26 Raef LaFrentz successfully underwent arthroscopic shoulder surgery and will be sidelined for 6-8 months. His minutes have slowly dwindled over the years, averaging 7.5 in 39 games last year, despite the fact that
he stands to make $12.5 million this year, the final of his contract. Greg Oden should hog most of the minutes at center for the Trailblazers.
There's no place like home court Eerie mystique of Allen Fieldhouse has its own charm
provided that he stays healthy. During his career LaFrentz has averaged a respectable 10.1 points and 6.6 rebounds per game. During his four-year career playing at Kansas, Raef never lost a game at home, going a perfect 58-0.
LaFrentz
Phog Allen's bronze eyes stare out at the University of Kansas
Peyes star out at the University of Kansas campus. A whistle hangs around his neck, his left hand pins a basketball against his left hip and his right hand rests against the other. There's a stern look on his face as if he's daring you to trespass upon his hallowed grounds, the Fieldhouse that bears his name.
Few come now, just days before practice starts for the defending national champions. Even when they do, when they walk past Phog and through the glass doors to stand on the giant Jayhawk tiled into the foyer floor, it is eerily silent. Allen Fieldhouse is an empty shell, hollow and dead without the living organism that is the Jayhawk fan base. "KANSAS" reads the red-on-blue lettering of the display case on the left, visible from outside.
The monuments, like this one, stay the same, albeit with a few new additions. They are proud tributes, standing as a testament to the tradition of a school that once called the father of basketball "Coach." That was James Naismith, and the court in Phog's temple of the game is named in his honor.
Plaques hang on the walls, commemorating retired jerseys as if they were commemorating the gods of the hardwood. Perhaps they are. The names on them are easily recognizable: Wilt, Paul Jo Jo, Danny. Perhaps someday Mario or Brandon or Russell or Darrell or Darnell will join them.
BY TIM DWYER
tdwyer@kansan.com
The national championship trophies are the centerpieces of the collection, if not in location, certainly in magnitude. There is a letter jacket with a 1952 championship patch folded under the 1988 national championship trophy, which has a net draped over it. Standing next to that is a new trophy and a new net, cut down last April. They can't help but bring a smile to any Jayhawk's face as they remember Danny and the Miracles of 1988 or Super Mario and the Shot earlier this year.
And then there's the inside of the arena. The silence does nothing to break its majesty. The jerseys that were commemorated in the foyer hang here from the rafters, and next to them four national championship banners are suspended: 1922, 1923, 1952 and 1988. A fifth will go up Oct. 17. A sign that would fit in classic literature hangs opposite the jerseys on the north wall: "Pay Heed, All Who Enter; Beware of the Phog." And of course, Naismith Court rests below this.
That court has seen its share of memories, more good than bad. There was the 150-95 destruction of Kentucky. There was Dick Vitale giving Nick Collison a standing ovation for his 20-point. 23-rebound
performance against Texas in 2003. And in that same year on senior day, when Collison and Kirk Hinrich were taken out late in the game, legendary Oklahoma State coach Eddie Sutton walked down from his bench so he could shake their hands. Then there was another senior day, 1988, when Archie Miller, who could barely walk, took a final shot as a Jayhawk off one leg. And then there are the great seasons. There have been 22 conference championships won by teams, that called this court home. Two went on to win it all. Last year's team was one of 15 that have gone undefeated at Allen Fieldhouse.
But there wouldn't have been any of the winning without the fans, or at least it wouldn't have mattered. Kansas has led the conference in attendance for 22 years running. There hasn't been an open seat for the last 111 games. And the Rock Chalk chant has long been acknowledged as one of the most feared in college sports.
The life will soon return to the 54-year-old Fieldhouse. Its quiet now, but students will come back and the once-hollow shell will be roused. "Beware of the Phog" they will say, but even that will be drowned out by the long, sonorous tones of "Rock Chalk, Jayhawk, KU" Allen Fieldhouse will again shake up to the rafters as the Jayhawks try to become the third repeat champion since UCLA's seven-year run ended in 1973.
Until then, the Phog waits In silence.
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