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Freshmen eager for game New faces to team excited to face off against Louisville. SOFTBALL | 7B
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2010
Kansas splits three meets Jayhawks head to Air Force, Arkansas and ISU. TRACK AND FIELD | 3B
COMMENTARY
KU fans should pause for Self satisfaction
PAGE 1B
Take a moment to appraise the state of college basketball. Traditional powers are
traditional powers are down across the board. North Carolina is struggling to stay above 500. Connecticut has been underwhelming at best. Last year's overall No.1 seed, Louisville, is in the same boat. UCLA sits at 11-12 with little hope of resuscitating its season even in the miserable Pac-10.
Now take a moment to appraise the state of Kansas basketball.
The Jayhawks have won five consecutive conference championships and they're on their way to a sixth. They haven't had a losing season since before most* of their current players were born.
*1983 - I'm looking at you, Mornin-
tstar.*
In a year like this, when some basketball kingdoms fall around him, it's a good time to appreciate the coaching job of Bill Self and his staff.
SENIOR MOMENTS
The easiest way to do this — and this is not intended as a cheap shot at Roy Williams, who is a phenomenal basketball coach – is to look at this year's defending champion, North Carolina, as opposed to last year's defending champion, Kansas.
The Jayhawks lost six of their top seven players off the 2008 National Championship team. They brought in a highly touted recruiting class, but one that lacked a surefire superstar. The freshman that ended up being the best player last year, Tyshawn Taylor, was actually at the bottom of the barrel, disregarding junior college transfers.
One of their top returnees was a promising, if untested, center named Cole Aldrich.
Similarly, the Tar Heels lost four of their top-five contributors off the 2009 National Championship team.
BY TIM DWYER
tdywer@kansan.com
twitter.com/UKDBasketball
They, too, brought in a highly touted recruiting class, one that maybe looked even stronger on paper than Kansas' class of 2008.
One of their top returnees was a promising, if untested, power forward named Ed Davis.
But the programs went in opposite directions.
The Jayhawks rallied around the talent they had left and became a top-25 team despite low expectations at the beginning of the year. Cole Aldrich learned from one of the best college big men in recent memory in assistant coach Danny Manning and became a dominant center, one of the best in the country. They overachieved and made it to the Sweet 16.
Carolina, on the other hand, has collapsed. Despite being ranked in the top six in both preseason polls, the Tar Heels have tumbled below receiving votes and they're sitting at 13-11. Ed Davis has been the picture of inconsistency - brilliant one day, invisible the next.
Barring a dramatic turnaround (don't get your hopes up), they won't make the NCAA tournament this year.
And in case you weren't sure, Kansas will.
Edited by Taylor Bern
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Senior guard Sade
Morris shoots
a layup against
No. 3 Nebraska.
Morris was the only
Jayhawk to play all
40 minutes of the game.
Jayhawks playing out of position
BY MAX ROTHMAN
mrothman@kansan.com
twitter.com/xmrothman
Out of sight. Out of mind. Out of position.
Kansas bailed out No. 3 Nebraska when the Jayhawk guards dispensed turnovers like Pez candies. Kansas must hold on to the ball Saturday if it wants to bounce back against No. 14 Texas.
In the closing minutes of Wednesday's 67-60 defeat, coach Bonnie Henrickson handed the point guard duties to shooting guard Sade Morris and surrendered the lead.
"They had every opportunity to
The Cornhuskers moved to 22-0 overall and 9-0 in the Big 12 with taut ball pressure and by taking what the Jayhawks gave them.
But the Jayhawks came out the locker room and hit their first 11 shot attempts. They even led 53-48 with just more than eight minutes remaining. From then on, rather than protecting the lead with ball security, the youthful Jayhawks were careless. The Cornhuskers proceeded to swipe seven of their 10 steals in that time.
Kansas trailed 30-20 in a demoralizing first half, shooting just six-of-23 and converting just one field goal in the final 11:40.
win that game", Nebraska coach Connie Yori said.
"They turned up the heat and forced turnovers." Henryrick said.
SEE WOMEN'S ON PAGE 7B
Kansas finished the game
Weston White/KANSAN
Senior guard Sherron Collins drives to the basket in Monday's 80-68 victory over Texas in Austin, Tex. Collins and the Jav Hawks only have four games left this season in Allen Fieldhouse.
Four to go for Collins
Senior guard's storied career is coming to a close
BY COREY THIBODEAUX cthibodeaux@kansan.com twitter.com/c/ thibodeaux
With just a few games left in Allen Fieldhouse this season, the Jayhawks know their star point guard's time is coming to an end.
When senior guard Sherron Collins and the jayhawks host Iowa State on Saturday, it will be the first of four home games left in his tenure at Kansas.
"Just knowing that it's almost coming to an end — this is going to be his last couple games coming up — we're all going to get emotional," sophomore forward Marcus Morris said.
As the home games dwindle, Morris, as well as other players, have seen a change in Collins and his approach to each game: his intensity level is up, he is appreciative of his teammates for each victory, and he is more
emotional.
"He's always counting down, he's always reminding us," Morris said. "Playing at Colorado he said, 'Thanks fellas, this is my last game at Colorado, thanks for making it a good one.' He said the same thing at Texas."
When coach Bill Self recruited Collins, he said he was expecting to eventually have the best guard in the country. Already with a
national championship to his name and poised for another this season, Collins is the player his coach expected
"He has that become in our eyes," Self said. "Certainly, if
thought Collins would be this emotional about leaving Kansas
But something about his time spent in Kansas turned that around. Collins' current selflessness and maturity exceeded even his coach's expectation.
"The one thing that has amazed me more than anything else is how Kansas and this place has changed him," Self said. "Not from a competitive standpoint, but from
nt, but from a
"The one thing that has amazed me more than anything else is how Kansas and this place has changed him."
injuries didn't set him back early on in his career, I don't think he would be here right now"
BILL SELF Kansas coach
In his press conference Thursday, Self said Collins came to the team as a freshman with a chip on his shoulder, and he never
softening standpoint on how he deals with people."
Without going into his own emotions or NBA intentions, junior center Cole Aldrich said it was easy to overlook how meaningful
"Knowing that there's only four more times to walk through the tunnel and have all the fans cheer
these experiences at Kansas were for the young guys. But Collins is showing how important moments like these are for a player.
for him, it's going to be a really special time for him," Aldrich said.
Collins will leave behind one of the greatest legacies in Kansas basketball history. As of now, he has a 120-16 record as a layhawk, which is a .882 winning percentage.
In the history of Kansas basketball, the best four year stretch was the 1995-98 seasons when the school went 123-17 (.879 winning percentage). Collins is on pace to surpass that.
"He's trying to leave the best way you can leave, and that's by winning," junior guard Brady Morningstar said.
While the players said they have seen a change in Collins demeanor or the past couple of weeks, Self said he has seen a change four years in the making.
"Now I think he will be very emotional from this point forward thinking about it," Self said. "I think this place means that much to him, which is pretty exciting for me to see."
- Edited by Cory Bunting