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WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 3.2010
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STILL REACHING
Rankings mean little to Jayhawks
No. 1 title is just a number to Kansas
BY COREY THIBODEAUX
COREY THIBODEAUX
cthibodeaux@kansan.com
twitter.com/c_thibodeaux
The Jayhawks are again the No.1 team in America, but to them the ranking means as little now as it did in the preseason.
They spent the first nine weeks of the season on top of the polls until falling to Tennessee Jan. 10, Texas and Kentucky held the spot after that, but Kansas spent that time defeating tournament-caliber teams such as Baylor, Missouri and Kansas State.
"We were unproven when we started out the season and probably didn't deserve it," junior guard Tyrel Reed said. "I don't
know if we're deserving of it now. I think we are. We've had a good year."
Most of the players aren't basking in their accomplishment at this point of the season.
Ask any of the players or coaches and they will tell you the most important number is at the end of the season.
"If you're playing well, it comes with the territory," he said. "We're excited, but it's not the rankings that matter. We just want to win the league right now."
It's not something the team goes out of its way to find, either. Reed found out about the ranking only after receiving a text from a friend.
Coming into the season, Kansas coach Bill Self said, Kansas was preseason No. 1 because most of the powerhouses in 2009 lost a lot of their good players to the draft.
The Jayhawks retained the bulk of their starters and added a few talented freshmen.
rankings were not indicative of teams, especially during league play, when anyone can lose to anyone.
Self said he wasn't big on the whole subject. He said the
"We're excited, but it's not the rankings that matter. We just want to win the league right now."
"I'm really surprised the media, nationally, make a big deal about that," he said. "There could be a new number one next week or the week after."
Remembering the most recent championship season. Self mentioned a period where the 2008 team lost three out of five games in Big 12 play.
That team was only ranked as high as No. 2 until the last game of the season.
Right now, the Jayhawks look
"I'd rather play like a No. 1 team than be No.1," Self said.
TYREL REED Junior Guard
like a top team. They've had a daunting couple of weeks leading to Wednesday's game against Colorado.
Juni o r center Cole Ald r i c h
said the team was playing well enough not to falter.
"As of late, we've definitely earned a lot of things," he said. "I think our team is understanding who we are and what we do really well."
Some players said they deserved it, but at the same time, they still aren't ready to declare themselves paper champions.
"If you told me we were going to be No. 1 in April, hey, that's great," Aldrich said. "But right now, we're still a long way from achieving the goals that we want to achieve."
Sophomore forward Marcus Morris that said he is focused on getting better and winning, but that he loves the feeling.
"Of course I like being No. 1," he said. "Who wouldn't?"
Edited by Kirsten Hudson
Weston White/KANSAN
Junior center Cole Aldrich sinks a hook shot along the baseline. Aldrich led Kansas with 18 boards and 11 rebounds en route to the Jayhawks' 81-79 victory.
Gill: Key to recruiting is keeping relationships
FOOTBALL
BY JAYSON JENKS
iienks@kansan.com
Turner Gill wears a crisp blue button down with a Jayhawk logo on one side. He stands in the corner of a big, open room as people walk around him and converse.
"You're always ready for Wednesday because you want to know who you got," Gill said, laughing. "You always want some more time based on the circumstances that happened when I got hired. But I'm good with the reality of where we're at."
Kansas football coach Turner Gill speaks with members of the media at the Kansas Sports Museum in Newton Sunday afternoon. The museum had its grand opening Sunday, and Gill was on hand to sign autographs and speak with the media.
Hes here, at the opening of the Kansas Sports Museum in Newton
sunday, to engage with supporters from the western portion of the state. He's here to be visible, to talk and to sign autographs. But most importantly, he's here to build relationships.
his staff will be sealed by pen and paper.
Ryan Waggoner/KANSAN
At least verbally, that's the centerpiece of Gill's coaching philosophy. When talking about recruiting, he highlights relationships with parents and prospects alike. When talking about current players recruited by former coach Mark Mangino, that theme doesn't change.
"The relationships, the people—that's what defines a university and a football program."
TURNER GILL KU's Head Football Coach
lationships.
Now, on national signing day for high school seniors, the relationships established by Gill and
Highlighting the relatively small class — at least as of Tuesday night — are two Missouri-based recruits. Wide receiver Keeston Terry, from Blue Springs, Mo., and running back Brandon Bourbon, from Potosi, Mo., are the only Rivals.com four-star recruits expected to sign with the Jayhawks.
Terry verbally committed late last summer when Mangino was still at the helm and has maintained
his nonbinding commitment to Kansas throughout Mangino's resignation and Gill's hiring.
After maintaining a verbal commitment to Stanford for six months, Bourbon joined Gill and his staff less than a week ago. He's rated as the nation's No. 29 running back, receiving offers from Notre Dame, Missouri and Kansas State.
Bourbon represents the other end of the recruiting world: the late-in-the-process switch.
"They really kept in close contact with him and definitely let him know that he was wanted," Mark Casey, Bourbon's high school coach, said. "They just did a good job communicating with him and not necessarily pushing him. They wouldn't even necessarily talk about football."
Bourbon's signing certainly eases the loss of two highly-touted players.
Kansas lost two four-star recruits – Independence cornerback Dave Clark and Hutchinson defensive end Geneo Grissom – after Mangino's departure. But the Jayhawks also added a handful of verbal commitments since Gill accepted the job Dec. 14.
Kansas' commitment list has
eight players from Texas, adding four wide receivers and four defensive linemen.
"Our staff has put together our needs in areas we felt that we needed," Gill said, "But again, I can't sit here and say that I know our team very, very well at this time. Next year, I'll have a better understanding of where we're at and what we need."
The circumstances certainly didn't help.
COMMENTARY
Between Mangino's resignation Dec. 3, Gill's hiring Dec. 14 and the subsequent hiring of Gill's staff Jan. 5, Kansas was dealt a short amount of time to play catch-up in the ultra competitive recruiting world.
"You have to build a relationship with families, high school coaches and obviously the student athletes," Gill said. "That's the negative when
SEEFOOTBALL ON PAGE 3B
Collins top in college basketball this season
BY NICOLAS ROESLER
nroesler@kansan.com
twitter/nroesler8
As the season progresses toward March Madness, the battle to be the best basketball player in the country wages on. Sometimes, the debate is too close to call. Sometimes, the answer leaps out at you more vibrantly than "Avatar" in 3-D.
This is the column to end the confusion. Senior guard Sherron Collins is the best player in college basketball right now.
Collins hasn't disappointed.
Kansas coach Bill Self addressed the talent and force that is Collins in a press conference Monday. He said that when he was recruiting Collins, he knew he was going to be one of the best in the country.
He has the experience, leadership, talent and aura of greatness present in someone extraordinary.
"If you study him every day in practice, the guy has unbelievable basketball savvy," Self said. "His IQ is really high. The questions that he asks make a head coach think, 'Man, he's got a point here.'"
He doesn't just motivate his teammates; he motivates the entire crowd. He silences the oppositions' stadiums, and he does it with world class sportsmanship and respect for his competition.
He has presence akin to Lebron lames.
I compare him to James because of their similar "King" like statuses when they enter an arena. Collins beckons the crowd not only to admire him while he plays, but also to actually feel what he feels. Didn't every Kansas fan watching the overtime at Kansas State feel the intensity when Collins popped off the ground and pounded his chest after making the pivotal game-changing layup?
I know I did.
Self and many elite coaches saw that potential four years ago. Self said that during Collins' freshman year, Big 12 coaches told him that "they viewed him in February as the second best player in our league behind Durant."
Kevin Durant, who is only 21, is currently only. 1 of a point behind the NBA's leading scorer, Carmelo Anthony. That is higher than both Lebron James and Kobe Bryant.
Self recruited Collins with the idea that he wasn't going to be a four-year player. He said Collins could have left for the NBA after his sophomore year if he was healthy, but knee surgery kept Collins at Kansas for another year. The following year, 2009, his love for winning and a point guard heavy draft kept him here for his senior season.
With 10 more wins this season, Collins will reach 124 wins in his career, a four-year Kansas record. And if the Jayhawks rack up 16 more wins this season, Collins could hold the NCAA record for most wins in a career. That record is currently held by three former Memphis players, but the NCAA might revoke 38 of those 137 wins for violating NCAA rules.
"There been a lot of good players here and he's going to win more games than any of them." Self said. "That, to me, is pretty strong."
Edited by Kirsten Hudson