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kansan.com
Volume 125 Issue 94
Friday, March 29, 2013
IT TAKES TWO
Withey, Young one-two punch impresses
BLAKE SCHUSTER
bschuster@kansan.com
ARLINGTON, Texas — There's no question that Michigan has dedicated a lot of time to figuring out how to get around senior center Jeff Withey.
Heck, any team that didn't certainly wouldn't be playing in the Sweet Sixteen. But with the Wolverines' players, you get the feeling there isn't much else to worry about inside.
There's a simple message within the UM locker room: Watch out for Withev.
"My job is to hit the layup when I can," sophomore Michigan guard Trey Burke said. "It's all off reads from Jeff Withev, really."
Yes, the Jay hawks big man
has played as close to his college potential as possible. Withe, Withe has finally evolved into an elite scorer without having to sacrifice one bit of his defensive prowess. Yes, Withe is a man who should be feared in the post.
But while the Wolverines talked about the Jayhawks' center, their coach kept reminding them of that other guy.
"People forget how good this four-man is for them," Michigan coach John Beilein said of Kansas forwards Kevin Young and Perry Ellis. "They do a lot of the dirty work that is not noticed by the common fan."
he scored 10 points and grabbed nine rebounds.
The Tar Heels went after Withey — which didn't work out too well considering his 16 points and 16 rebounds — and watched as Young provided the dirty work that Beilein alluded to.
One wouldn't have to look too far back to see what happens when Young is left wandering. Last weekend against North Carolina
["Young] makes a lot of the hustle plays and I don't think he gets enough credit for who he is."
"Nobody boxes me out," Young said. "I get the easy put-backs."
Despite Beilein's attempts to make sure the Wolverines don't get mesmerized by Withey, their style of play makes Michigan susceptible to the same mistake.
"The way you play Michigan is
JEFF WITHEY Senior center
probably similar to the way youw want to guard Carolina," Kansas coach Bill Self said.
That tends to bode well for a Jayhawk team acclimated to challenging a lineup that
starts four guards.
After all, it's not like Withey doesn't assert himself in the paint regardless of what the opponent does. Actually, his presence down low allows Kansas to place its pressure elsewhere.
"A lot of people fear being back-doored." Kansas guard Elijah Johnson said. "But when you back-door you're going with a head of steam. And you're going with a head of steam into a brick wall."
And don't think Withey doesn't enjoy being the last line of defense. He'll often encourage the lawvacks to leave the paint alone.
"it's something I take pride in",
Withey said. "A lot of times I'll tell them to pressure out and not let them take the three and if they hit
a lavup it's on me."
This is the core of the lajahaws defense. It goes back to the philosophy that Self has preached since before his days in Lawrence: Give up one or fewer shots per possession and no easy buckets.
The Jayhawks will pressure the shooters and allow Withey to take care of the rest.
Perhaps that's what makes Kevin Young such an important figure. Not many teams have a safety net beneath their safety net. If Withey can't make a play, Young is there to step in.
"A lot of times people suck in and double team me," Withey said. "And Kev always does the miracle play and gets a dunk or something like that. He makes a lot of the hustle plays and I don't think he gets enough credit for who he is."
Miracle might be a stretch; repetition would be more like it. Being together for two years has allowed the duo to pick up on each other's tendencies. Young said he just plays off Withey and makes sure to go to the opposite areas of the court.
"My fro just points me the right way." Young joked.
If his hair does hold any superpower, it would explain why it seems so easy for Young to disappear in the chaos. Withey goes one way and his smaller partner sneaks into the background.
Beilein will be keeping an eye on Young, and if his message has gotten through, the Wolverines will too.
"I'm not a big name," Young said. "I'm another puzzle piece to this team."
Edited by Madison Schultz
TRAVIS YOUNG/KANSAN
Senior center Jeff Withey scores with a layup during the second half of the game against Western Kentucky last Friday night at the Sprint Center for the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Withey led the team with 17 points, seven blocks and eight rebounds in the 64-57 defeat against the No. 16-seed Hilltopers.
EVENLY MATCHED
Fans,experts split on Sweet Sixteen game
GEOFFREY CALVERT
gcalvert@kansan.com
ARLINGTON, Texas — Of ESPN.com's 13 featured college basketball writers, only three of them picked Kansas to represent the South region in the Final Four. Five writers selected teams from the South region that didn't survive the NCAA Tournament's first weekend.
As of Thursday evening, the nation was split 50-50 on NCAA.com's poll about whether Michigan or Kansas would survive its 6.37 ppm. tilt Friday. All four of CBSsports.com's featured college basketball writers like the Wolveries to dispose of the Jayhawks.
That's fine with Kansas.
"Those guys aren't playing," senior forward Kevin Young said
about the experts. "Michigan's playing."
While senior guard Travis Reelford said the layhawks don't take it personally, they still notice what he has said
Senior guard Elijah Johnson said he wouldn't hold a grudge against
anyone for picking against Kansas because he doesn't feel he's justified in getting mad at someone for their opinion.
"We enjoy seeing people on ESPN and whoever do the brackets say, 'Oh we got Kansas going down,' and then we pull out a win," Releford said. "We see who's saying
it, who's not picking us."
"We enjoy seeing people on ESPN and whoever do the brackets say, 'Oh we got Kansas going down.' and then we pull out a win."
However, it's not a slight to Kansas that many media members and fans seem to think too-seeded Kan-
when people pick against them
TRAVIS RELEFORD Senior guard
sas could falter Friday in the Sweet Sixteen. Rather, it's a compliment to the Wolverines. On Jan. 28, Michigan ascended to No. 1 in the Associated Press poll before faltering.
in its final 11 regular season games to a 6-5 record. Four of those losses came to teams in the NCAA Tournament.
Multiple Jayhawks said Michigan's ability to score transition
TRAVIS YOUNG/KANSAN
Coach Bill Self and sophomore guard Naadir Tharpe laugh during practice inside the Cowboys Stadium Thursday afternoon March 28. Kansas is set to play the No. 4-seed Michigan tonight at 6:37 p.m.
"One thing about them is they are really a transition team from what I watched in the game," sophomore guard Naadir Tharpe said. "They like to shoot the three in transition and they like to shoot it from the corner."
buckets stood out to them, and Michigan's 75.2 points per game are only .2 points behind Kansas' 75.4 points per game. Similarly, the Jahweyt tends to play their best when their defensive pressure leads to easy fast break dunks.
Michigan's offensive catalyst is sophomore guard Trey Burke, the 2013 Big Ten player of the year. He averages 18.8 points per game and also distributes 6.7 assists per game. Even when South Dakota State held Burke in single-digits scoring for the first time this season in the round of 64, he notched seven assists, one of the 23 times this season he's earned at least six assists.
Despite Burke being a national player of the year candidate, Michigan isn't a one-man band. Freshman forward Glenn Robinson III and Tim Hardaway Jr., both sons of former NBA All-Stars, have combined to convert 11 of 17 3-pointers in the NCAA Tournament. Freshman forward Mitch McGary is averaging 17 points in the Big Dance, and freshman guard Nik Stauska shoots 43 percent from 3-point range on the season.
But everything starts with Burke for Michigan, who Johnson said looks like he's playing in "slow motion" because he looks so comfortable on the floor. Tharpe said Burke is the one Kansas wants to stop.
Perhaps his absence as the offense's captain is one of the reasons freshman guard Ben McLemore has played even worse than Johnson offensively. McLemore has scored nine of his 13 points during the NCAA Tournament from free throws and has shot only 2-14 from the field, including 0-8 from 3-point range.
"We don't let him get into the paint and let him get going, then
other teammates won't be able to feed off it," Tharpe said.
On the flip side, Johnson has struggled at point guard during the tournament, scoring an identical five points on 1-6 shooting in each of the two games. He also hasn't facilitated the offense much, combining for six total assists.
"I personally still feel like I haven't played and Ben hasn't played," Johnson said. "That's two starters right there. We've been winning games and we've been doing what we've been doing with only 60 percent of our starting five out there performing."
McLemore said he talked to one of Kansas' coaches who told him he's been shooting the ball at a flatter angle and with his hands not being spread out. But coach Bill Self said even more than focusing on mechanics, McLemore needs to focus on himself and his confidence.
"I think there's one voice, primarily, and it's his own," Self said. "And he needs to understand that he's good. He's really good. When he's really good, he's as good as there is. And that's what I think he got to believe going into tomorrow."
— Edited by Tara Bryant
COMMENTARY
Bigger stadiums bigger problems
By Mike Vernon
mvernon@kansan.com
RLINGTON, Texas — Like it or not, we're in a new era of NCAA Tournament basketball.
And as this new age begins to affect play on the court, it becomes a problem.
This is the age of basketball games in football stadiums. Where there's more air from the backboard to the stands than there is in all of Allen Fieldhouse. Where the fans have to squint to see the rims.
This is the age of bigger stadiums, more fans and more money. This is the age of playing a Regional Final at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, where the famous video board has another, "smaller" video board hanging below it.
TNT Analyst, five-time NBA Champion and well-known 3-point shooter Steve Kerr is no stranger to shooting in domes. He played for Arizona from 1983-1988, which included an Elite Eight matchup against North Carolina in the Kingdome in Seattle.
That was back when a curtain cut the stadium in half, and stands were brought in to give the game a more intimate feel. The Kingdome has a capacity of 66,000 for football, but 40,000 for basketball.
"The shooting backdrop is different," Kerr said. "Everything is different. People on the floor are down below, you chase a loose ball out of bounds; you have to jump off a ledge. It's uncomfortable."
Even then, it would bother Kerr Still, he never played in a stadium that seats 80,000 people with a raised court in the center of the stadium.
Tyshawn Taylor alone backs him up.
Kerr's not alone, either. The numbers back him up.
Taylor became a talking point last season for those who believe that it's harder to shoot in domes. Taylor missed his first 18 NCAA Tournament 3-point shots in domed arenas from 2009-2012. He made one, his only make, against Kentucky in the Championship game last year.
However, Taylor was just the centerpiece of a phenomena that occurred across college basketball last season. According to USA Today, in the first eight domed games in last year's tournament, teams made just under 30 percent of their 3-point shots. That's down from 35 percent in the regular season and 41percent in non-dome tournament games.
"It took a couple of minutes to get the touch going just because of the depth perception," Stauskas said. "But once you're going, it's all right."
Michigan's freshman guard Nik Stauskas, a 43 percent 3-point shooter, said he felt comfortable in the gym by the end of his shoot-around, but he didn't start that way.
The contrasting styles of Michigan and Kansas will clash in cowboys Stadium tonight. Michigan is a run-and-gun team that likes to shoot the ball from outside the lane. Kansas is best when it plays a little smash mouth and wins inside.
If last year's numbers are any indicator and it's tough to shoot in Dallas, the advantage goes to Kansas.
Even further, the Jayhawks played two games at the Edward Jones dome in St. Louis last season and another two in the Superdome in New Orleans.
"It probably does favor [Kansas] just because they've experienced it before." Kerr said.
As the Jayhawks wrapped up their open practice Thursday — their first time shooting at Cowboys stadium — Ben McLemore and Nadir Tharpe both wanted one last shot. McLemore made a three from the stadium's far corner.
Tharpe had a bit more ambition. He launched a shot from half court and not only did it go in, it only touched nylon.
A nothing-but-net half court shot in Cowboys Stadium. Imagine that.
Edited by Brian Sisk
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