THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
SPORTS
9A
MOORE SPORTS
naler
Lack of senior speeches not so bad Jayhawks wouldn't be playing for conference title with past problem players
This Saturday David Tadgett,
J.R. Giddens, Omar Wilkes
and Nick Bahe should be
giving their senior speeches at Allen Fieldhouse.
But Padgett got his feelings hurt, Giddens went and got stabbed, Wilkes got homesick and Bahe wanted to trade his cheerleading role for playing time. Their departures have been a blessing in disguise — sort of.
BY C.J MOORE
If Padgett stayed, C.J. Giles would have been somebody else's headache — there's the 'sort of' part of the equation. With Padgett, Darrell Arthur would probably be a Baylor Bear. Remember Arthur had a dream that he was a Jayhawk, but he would have woken up and realized Self was all out of scholarships had Padgett stayed.
KANSAN SPORTS COLUMNIST
CJMOORE@KANSAN.COM
If Giddens had stayed, there wouldn't have been a roster spot for Brandon Rush and hed either be at Mizzou or Indiana. If Wilkes didn't get homesick, either Russell Robinson or Mario Chalmers would probably be playing elsewhere. And if Bahe stayed, hed still be giving high fives. His departure didn't affect much.
Padgett's transfer was the one head-scratcher of the group. He had a starting spot waiting for him his sophomore season and probably would have been a focal point of Bill Self's high-low offense.
But you had to kind of feel for the guy. He made the mistake of
arriving on campus a year after Nick Collison left. He was immediately anointed the next Great White Hope. But beyond needing to duck when he entered a room, Padgett resembled Collison as much as George W. Bush resembles Bill Clinton as a president.
KU students alienated Padgett his freshman season by filling the free-for all with Padgett bashing. He became the anti-Chuck Norris. Even though he had a decent season for a freshman with no athletic ability - 6.5 points per game and 4.5 rebounds - he wasn't Collson.
Padgett was in the good graces of KU fans for about a day or two after his line drive buzzer-beating jumper beat the Tigers in Columbia. Then, fans again realized he wasn't Collison and went back to bashing.
It didn't help his cause that Papa Padgett was back in Reno crying about the way Self used the big man. Self put Padgett at the top of his high-low offense, which utilized the big man's best attribute, his ability to knock down the 18-footer.
But Papa Padgett became convinced that his lumbering 6-foot-11 son should be playing on the perimeter.
Padgett transferred to Louisville thinking that he would get the chance to show his perimeter skills He was even once listed as a small forward in a preview of the college basketball season. Not surprisingly, when he hasn't been injured, Padgett has spent his time playing center for the Cardinals.
Giddens' career started with such promise. He helped the Jayhawks advance to the Elite Eight his freshman season and almost sent the Jayhawks to their third- straight Final Four when he made a three-pointer that sent the Georgia Tech game to overtime.
But then Giddens' head got as big as Barry Bonds. He obviously didn't spend much time working on his game between his freshmen and sophomore seasons and his one strength, three-point shooting, turned into a weakness. He still couldn't dribble and he became a turnover machine because of his insistence on jumping in the air to pass the ball (usually to the other team).
Even though he only made 33.7 percent of his three-pointers his sophomore season, Giddens kept jacking up shots and became the first Kansas player in recent memory to be booed by the home crowd.
Then Giddens went and got stabbed
All indications are that he provoked the stabbing. It still didn't make it right but the fact that he put himself in that situation made it so Self had to cut ties. It's one of the best decisions Self ever made. Giddens was recently suspended indetinitely by coach Ritchie McKay at New Mexico. Had Self kept Giddens, he probably would have been a cancer on this year's team that seems to get along with each other so well.
Wilkes would have never hurt the layhawks. He would have been a nice role player off the bench with a positive attitude. But he wanted to be more than a role player and wanted to be close to home and he's gotten that at California, where he's been a starter the past two seasons.
If the four former layhawks had stuck around, the layhawks roster would look a lot different. And instead of playing this Saturday for the Big 12 title and the chance at No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament, the layhawks would probably be trying to fight off K-State for third place in the conference standings.
Moore is a Shawnee senior in journalism.
Edited by Lisa Tilson
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Missouri's offensive star will definitely be on the court Thursday. Senior Eetisha Riddle is fifth in the Big 12 in scoring at just over 16 points per game and eighth in field goal percentage at 51 percent.
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Momentum:
On the surface, neither of these teams have much to play for. The Tigers and the Jayhawks both have cemented themselves at the bottom of the Big 12 going into the conference tournament. But there's still plenty of motivation for the rivals to feed off of in this Border Showdown.
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Advantage:
There's a chance that senior guard Shaquina Mosley will be unable to play Thursday. Mosley is still recovering from a concussion sustained Saturday in a game against Colorado. If Mosley is forced to watch the game from the bench, the Jayhawks are going to be in trouble. In the month of February Kansas has gone 3-3 riding the shoulders of Mosley. In that time span, she is averaging nearly 14 points per game and has hit two buzzer-beaters.
both of these teams have shown flashes of brilliance on the defensive end, but haven't been able to sustain it for the length of the season. Kansas is ranked 11th in opponent field goal percentage and 10th in rebounding defense. The Jayhawks glaring weakness has been in the frontcourt. Without an imposing presence in the post, Kansas is last in rebounding margin in the Big 12.
Kansas will have revenge on its mind. The loss to Missouri earlier in
Advantage:
Riddle and Savant each are averaging nearly eight rebounds a game. But don't get the wrong impression, just because Missouri can rebound doesn't mean it can play defense. The Tigers are last in opponent field goal percentage and in the bottom half of the conference in steals and blocked shots.
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the season snapped a two-game winning streak. The 10-point loss was one of the Jayhawks weaker performances of the year. Winning two of their last three, the Tigers seem to finally be bringing it all together to end the season. The bad news is it's a little too late. But, the good news is it's just in time for the senior class to get one last shot at Kansas
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