SPORTS
BATTLE OF THE BIRDS: HAWKS DEFEAT JAYS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
PHIDELT1WINS CHAMPIONSHIP
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WEDNESDAY, MARCH 12, 2008
WWW.KANSAN.COM
COMMENTARY
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Basketball IQ doesn't win championships
When March arrives talent beats experience
College basketball's conference tournament season has begun, so I don't get outside to enjoy the weather much these days. No big deal. My TV tells me March has arrived.
Basketball analysts have started pulling out the platitudes, trumpeting intangibles such as 'grit' and 'determination' and tossing around vague terms like 'veteran leadership.'
Expert A believes Villanova will succeed in March because its players are 'tough-minded.' Expert B likes the Kentucky Wildcats better — after all, they've displayed 'tremendous heart' this season!
But what if intigibles — namely experience
really do play a part in Marvel's movies?
College basketball statistics Web site www.kenpom.com computes the average number of years of experience on each team's roster. If age has as great a correlation to success as the analysts say it does, the numbers should serve as an easy way to handicap this month's conference and NCAA tournaments.
AT HOME ON THE HARDCOURT
The statistics say the Big 12 is a very young conference. Kansas is the league's most experienced team but ranks just 51st nationally. Texas A&M and Oklahoma are in the middle of the conferences pack in terms of age but are around the 35th percentile of teams across the country.
The stats also show very little connection between regular season success and experience. Although Kansas is both the conference's top-ranked team and its oldest, bottom-feeder such as Missouri and Colorado are in the top five when ranked in order of basketball maturity. Texas and Kansas State, two of the leagues top three teams, sit at the bottom of the Big 12's experience ladder.
Similar inconsistencies appear in the nationwide data. Of the top 10 most battle-tested teams, only one — Washington State — is in line for an at-large NCAA tournament berth. Several teams with respective résumes, such as Florida, Syracuse and USC, are among the five youngest squads in the nation (out of 341 teams).
Bottom line, there isn't any reason to assume a veteran team holds an edge over a group of youngsters. Kansas State freshman forwards Michael Beasley and Bill Walker proved that when they dismantled an upper-classmen-heavy Kansas team in January.
Colorado proved it when it finished last in the Big 12 despite having three seniors in its starting lineup. The makeup of the All-Big 12 first team reinforces the point: two freshmen, two sophomores, two juniors, and no seniors.
Who knows? Maybe the wisdom of experience does pay dividends come tourney time. Perhaps veteran-laced Colorado simply spent the conference season purposefully gliding under the radar at 3-13. Could Texas Tech be gearing up for a furious run through March on the shoulders of the seniors that lost by 58 points at Allen Fieldhouse?
The age numbers don't bode well for Kansas State and Texas, but the teams' résumés speak for themselves. Kansas State struggled down the stretch but snared 10 victories in one of the nation's top three conferences, and it's unlikely a freshman sensation like Beasley is going to turn into a pumpkin when the clock hits midnight and the postseason begins. On top of dispatching Kansas and Kansas State in conference play, Texas defeated probable No. 1 seeds UCLA and Tennessee away from home.
Sure, older teams can fare well. Much of Kansas' success stems from its stellar senior class and an ultra-talented batch of juniors. Last season's Florida team got most of its minutes from seniors and took home the national championship.
The analysts love seniors and can't get enough of players who have honed their basketball IQ over the years. But March isn't all about smarts. March — and every other month on the college basketball calendar
is all about talent.
Edited by Daniel Reyes
BY MARK DENT
mdent@kansan.com
Russell Robinson walked down the hallway at Allen Fieldhouse before practice three weeks ago, a KU cap snug on his head and Jayhawk warm-ups covering his body. He was draped in blue and red except for the pink and green can he sipped from in his right hand.
The drink? Arizona Iceed Tea, a staple for New York City basketball players.
"Those cans are so big and only cost a dollar," Robinson said. "When you're in the park and you're thirsty."
park and you're thirsty,
it doesn't cost a lot and
gives you a lot of juice."
That's Russell Robinson. No matter how Kansas he is, he'll always have a part of New York City with him.
Robinson spent most of his childhood living in Harlem and the Bronx, where he fell in love with the hectic race
unquestioned toughness.
"As crowded as it was, I felt like I had my own space. It was a big borough. I knew a lot of people and at one point a lot of people knew me."
of city life, where his parents sheltered him from the sometimes-violent streets and where he learned to play basketball with an
Living in New York gave Robinson an edge, a streak of willpower that prevented him from giving up after a rocky transition as a freshman and made him who he is today, a senior on the verge of graduating and leading his team on what he hopes is a successful NCAA tournament run while at the same time preparing for his next phase in life, whether it takes him back to New York or to the other side of the world.
RUSSELL ROBINSON Senior guard
LIFE IN THE CITY The rap and Latin music
tin music started playing early, sometimes just after dawn.
It sounded through the morning air in harmony with the almost nonstop honking of cars from the Grand Concourse up to Robinson's room in his mom's Bronx apartment. Outside that window, he could see the zooming cars, delis, hodgegas, a McDonalds
other high-rise apartments and of course, people — tons of people, on top of each other.
"As crowd- ed as it was," Robinson said, "I felt like I had my own space. It was a big borough, I knew a lot of people and at one point a lot of people knew me."
This is how Robinson liked it. He lived in Harlem until he was nine, before his dad, Russell Robinson Sr., moved first to Texas and then to North Carolina for sergeant duty in the military. Robinson, whose parents divorced when he was nine, tagged along with Russell Sr. because his parents thought the fresh air might clear his asthma. The open space relaxed Robinson, but he preferred the congestion.
Heloved the action of New York Robinson shopped for clothes at Sammy's and other stores along Fordham Road, balled at Rucker Park or any of the best playgrounds in the five boroughs, dined with his mom at Stefan's or spent a quiet day at the Museum of Natural
By junior high, he was asthma-free and back in the city. Russell Sr. and Theresa Robinson, his mother, each moved into Bronx apartments, and Robinson split time between their homes.
History
Sometimes,
Robinson even visited the
of Liberty, the Fayette State
Statue of Liberty, the Empire State building or other tourist attractions.
"I love the fact there's always something to do," he said. "Busy, busy, busy, busy. I like hustle and bustle. I like having to do this at this time. You have everything right there at your fingertips.
"I love it."
It didn't have to be that way. Robinson and his family lived at 129th Street in Harlem until he turned nine. Gunshots often rang at night. Drug dealers and winos sometimes gathered on nearby sidewalks.
Theresa and Russell Sr. kept Robinson away from the madness back then by keeping him busy. Monday through Friday meant school, followed by time with a baby
SEE ROBINSON ON PAGE 7B
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
First-round victory advances Kansas in Big 12
BY TAYLOR BERN tbern@kansan.com
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The story for Kansas in its last five losses could be told in four minutes. That is, no matter what the halftime score was, the Jayhawks lackluster performance in the first four minutes of the second half doomed them to defeat.
Tuesday night, instead of giving up a run, Kansas dealt the blows in those crucial min-
From there the Jayhawks opened up a 17-point lead, saw it shrink to four, then grinded out a 73-67 victory.
night, and the only way to exercise her demons was to dominate the paint.
utes out of the break, hitting Nebraska with an 11-4 run.
The senior shot a perfect 5-for-5 from the field, 3-of-3 from the free-throw line and hauled in a game high 11 rebounds.
"I just felt loose and ready to play," McIntosh said. "I knew this might be our last conference game so just leave it out on the floor and have no regrets."
However, McIntosh played only 26 minutes because of foul trouble, eventually fouling
This is the second straight season Kansas won its first- round game of the Big 12 tournament as the No.11 seed.
@ KANSAN.COM
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Henrickson's superstitious halftime routine was successful and she said she planned to use it again tonight when Kansas tips off with Oklahoma State in the second round at 8:30.
Sophomore guard Kelly Kohn and junior guard Katie Smith celebrate with the rest of the Jayhawks following their 73-67 victory against Nebraska Tuesday night at the Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Mo. The Jayhawks advance to the second round of the Bio 12 Tournament. They face Oklahoma State tonight at 8:40.
"What we did is, normally when we come out of the locker room to start the game, all the coaches are out, we knock on the door and high five them all," coach Bonnie Henrickson said. "So, as strange as it sounds, we did the same thing coming out of halftime. I said, 'Stay right here, we're going to go outside and pound on the door and give you high fives like the start of the game.'"
Jon Goering/KANSAN
Leading the Jayhawks was forward Taylor McIntosh. McIntosh was possessed Tuesday
out with 4.25 remaining.
Right before McIntosh's
exit, sophomore guard
Kelly Kohn drilled a three-
pointer from the corner to
put Kansas up 64-52.
"I don't know if I can tell you how great it felt," Kohn said of the shot.
Free throws kept the Cornhuskers in the game but missed layups prevented them from getting over the hump. Nebraska was 22-for-28 from the free-throw line but missed 19 shots within three feet.
With the game on the line, sophomore guard Sade Morris did her best McIntosh impersonation, putting the team on her shoulders and carrying them to victory.
"That was a huge, monster board in the middle of the lane that she grabbed and that's game changing." Henrickson said. "You can probably look at three or four of her plays that were game changing and that's why we won."
With just less than two minutes left, Morris grabbed sophomore guard Danielle McCray's missed three-pointer and put it back to push the lead to nine. Then, as the shot clock neared zero, Morris hit a driving shot in the lane to make the lead 70-64 and effectively ice the game.
McCray and sophomore guard LaChelda Jacobs hit the final free throws to get Kansas out with a victory. The victory, Henrickson said, locked up a WNIT bid for Kansas, but
right now its focus is on Oklahoma State and sophomore guard Andrea Rilew.
"Riley's been a matchup nightmare for everybody all year," Henrickson said. "The kids are excited and they obviously respect Oklahoma State, but I think our confidence is big and we believe we can get it done."
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— Edited by Katherine Loeck
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