THE
UNIVERSITY DARY KANSAN
THURSDAY, NOVEBMER 2, 2006
BASKETBALL PREVIEW
5C
NBA can wait for Rush
Sophomore guard works on ball handling skills waits another year before deciding on pro draft
BY KYLE CARTER
In the weight room, Rush bench presses 235 pounds and squats 375 pounds.
He said his favorite thing about Lawrence other than basketball is the party scene. "I like to go to a club and chill, dance a bit," he said.
After leading the Jayhawks in scoring and landing a spot on the All Big 12 first team as a freshman, expectations are sky high for sophomore Brandon Rush. Taking home honors as the conference's preseason co-player of the year heightened anticipation for his performance this season even more. Coach Bill Self doesn't think that's necessarily a bad thing.
"It puts a target on their back and gives them a little more pressure," Self said of the preseason accolades awarded to Rush and fellow Jayhawk Julian Wright. "I think this team needs to operate under duress."
Last season Rush's biggest weakness was ball handling. He favored his right hand and turned the ball over 83 times during the season. Teammates said they've been impressed with the work Rush put in to improve his ball handling over the summer.
"He's been working on it day in and day out," junior guard Roderick Stewart said. "I think he's gotten a lot better."
Rush spent three weeks of the summer in Los Angeles training with his older brother Kareem, often playing one-on-one as a part of their workout. Rush said that Kareem won
the majority of the games but they were always competitive. He estimated that he beat his older brother at least 10 times.
Kareem plays in the NBA for the Seattle Sonics and his success has been part of the reason for the high expectations surrounding Rush. Growing up as the younger brother of a national star, people have expected big things from Rush for years.
"I'm used to being in the spotlight, but there's still a lot of pressure," he said. "I've got to live up to what Kareem's doing."
Many expect Rush to join his brother in the NBA following his sophomore season.
Coach Self said that fans and media should avoid writing this year off as Rush's last.
"Didn't everyone assume last year that it was his only year?" Self said. "He'll have some decisions to make later. We're just going to let it play
Rush agreed with Self that now isn't the time to make that decision.
out."
"I don't think it's fair to assume that," Rush said. "I don't think it's right for the team or for myself."
Though Rush showed flashes of brilliance last year, he struggled at the end of the season, shooting a combined 13 of 42 in the final four games.
Self said that he felt Rush still has a lot to prove.
"I love it when our guys get accolades, but they're co-players based on one word: potential," he said. "Living up to the potential, in most people's eyes, would be having a remarkable season."
Kansan sportswriter Kyle Carter can be contacted at kcarter@kansan.com.
— Edited by Mindy Ricketts
Amanda Sellers/KANSAN
Sophomore forward Brandon Rush is in no hurry to jump to the NBA. He has worked on his ball-handling skills in the offseason, and said that an preseason hape doesn't affect what he's doing. "I'm used to being in the spotlight," he said. He refuses to address a possible jump to the NBA.
Men's basketball coach Bill Self will try to balance the demands of having several high-regard ed players on the team. "This is a group that has realised what we were trying to do," he said.
Expectations high for Bill Self
With team ranked No.1, head coach still keeps main focus of athleticism
BY SHAWN SHROYER
With a team that doesn't include a single senior, most coaches would get a free pass. The season would be viewed as a rebuilding year to get the youngsters acclimated to college basketball.
However, as coach of a team that could start as many as three sophomores or even a couple freshmen, expectations have never been higher for coach Bill Self.
Self played his college basketball at Oklahoma State, under legendary coach Eddie Sutton
Fair or not, Kansas fans will be expecting Self and the Jayhawks to live up to their likely top-three preseason ranking. Of course, that's what happens when a coach has a junior class blessed with impact players in the frontcourt and the backcourt, who are complemented by four underclassmen who were McDonald's All-Americans.
"Living up to potential in most people's eyes would be having a remarkably great season," Self said. "My goal for this team would be, hey, let's just enjoy the progress and get better every day and all those other things take care of themselves."
He enjoys eating barbecue.
》 He was a finalist for the Coach of the Year award every year from 2000-2003.
Nevertheless, Self's careful recruiting job is maximizing talent and minimizing egos, according to players like junior guard Russell Robinson.
"The team chemistry is great. Coach Self did a great job recruiting," Robinson said. "He found the pieces that fit perfectly into what we try to do. Personality-wise they fit in great, and playing-wise they are awesome."
Robinson joins fellow junior Sasha Kaun, as the only upperclassman who should start every game for Kansas. Sophomores Brandon Rush, guard, and Julian Wright, forward, are sure to be in Kansas' starting
five, as well. The fifth spot, though,
could go to anyone, from sophomore
guard Mario Chalmers to freshman Sherron Collins, guard, or Darrell
Arthur, forward.
No matter what lineup Self chooses, it will spell one thing: athleticism — the type of athleticism that has dreams of full court presses and fast breaks dancing in Jayhawks fans' heads.
"I think we'll be able to run more," Self said. "Although I thought we ran pretty good last year, my definition of running and Kansas fans' definition of running may not be exactly the same thing, but we should play fast and we should be able to pressure a lot more."
What fans are perhaps most excited about this season is seeing what Self can do with a roster full of players that he recruited. The two highest-profile recruits Self brought in this season were Collins and Arthur, who were McDonald's All Americans last year. Stealing all the preseason hype so far, though, are Rush and Wright.
While Self believes he has the players he needs to win, he doesn't want to give the impression that he was just biding his time until the players he didn't recruit graduated.
"Last year's team was our team," Self said. "I'm really excited about everybody being 'our own,' but I felt they were all our own before. But this is a group that has really bought into what we're trying to do."
Kansan sportswriter Shawn Shroyer can be contacted at sshroyer@ kansan.com.
— Edited by Brett Bolton
After trying to make it on his own, Chalmers embraced team concept
BY TAYLOR BERN
It's not uncommon to see a true freshman struggle in the beginning of his career, even one as talented as McDonald's and Parade All-American Mario Chalmer.
What is uncommon about the 6'1" guard from Anchorage, Alaska is the turnaround he made in the middle of the season and the "take no prisoners" attitude he flashed while leading Kansas to a Big 12 Tournament title.
His 16-point average over those three tourney games was the last good thing Chalmers could remember from a rough 2006 postseason, but that doesn't mean he and his teammate blocked out that 77-73 Bradley loss.
"My teammates were looking for me and my shots were just falling," said the tournament's Most Outstanding Player.
"We kind of put it away but that's still in our minds," he said. "It was a hard game for us; we weren't supposed to lose."
Basketball is a tradition in the Chalmers family. "Everybody in my family played. My great-grandpa, my grandpa, my dad, my mom and my sister," he said.
Chalmern netted 15 points before fouling out in that final game, leaving him with a bitter taste of postseason play and enough motivation to get serious in the weight room and add 10-13 pounds of muscle to his
Chalmers had 89 steals during the 2005- 06 season, which was the most in the Big 12.
otherwise slender frame.
"The thing I applaud him on is the improved strength he's shown in the weight room," fellow sophomore Julian Wright said. "That will help him finish more shots and have more legs under him at the end of the same."
At the beginning of his 2005-06 campaign, Chalmers didn't have time to worry about his physical condition, according to coach Bill Self, because he "was just trying to survive."
"It was hard at the beginning, because I thought I knew everything" he said.
Chalmers said his attitude made the transition to college difficult.
Things changed for the pre-season Big 12 honorable mention selection after a disastrous performance against California and a sit-down
with senior guard Jeff Hawkins.
Chalmers scored just one point and committed six turnovers in the 69-56 loss to the Golden Bears. A week later Hawkins pulled the struggling freshman from his dorm and took him out for a late dinner and some advice.
"I just started listening to him and thought, 'If Hawk can do it, I can do it,' said Chalmers.
Hawkins's words of wisdom also helped Chalmers learn to listen to his coach.
"It was pretty, tough early on," Chalmers said, "I was trying to do things too much on my own."
Kansan correspondent Taylor
Bern can be contacted at editor@
kansan.com
Amanda Sullivan/ANNCAR
Edited by Brett Bolton
Sophomore guard Mario Chalmers looks to improve on his consistency from last year. By the end of the season, he had improved his performance, including a 16-point-per-game average in the Big 12 Tournament. "It was hard at the beginning because I thought I knew everything," he said.