CENTURY CITY, Calif. -- OK, so this is where it starts to get real
for Kansas. This is where we find out if the Jayhawks can follow through on a
promise they made to themselves in the preseason, a decision to make a run
for the national title.
Sure, it's January, not March, but the Big 12 title race can take
shape in the next two weeks. Building a case for a No. 1 seed can be done
over the next month, too (and it doesn't hurt that the Big Ten doesn't have
a contender with other Midwestern top seed candidates looking like
Cincinnati, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State).
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He's
going hard for 40 minutes. In the past, he would
step up only at certain times. Now he's trying to score every time and he's making
something happen. ” |
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— Nick Collison of Kansas, on teammate Drew
Gooden |
After losing 87-77 to UCLA on Saturday, Kansas was scheduled to go to
Oklahoma State on Tuesday before playing host to Oklahoma against what now appear to be
the Jayhawks' two toughest contenders for the Big 12 title with Missouri's
latest flop.
The Jayhawks are No. 1 in The Associated Press poll, No. 3 in the
ESPN/USA Today Coaches' poll. They're a cramp in Aaron Miles' leg away from
being undefeated. He fell down and Petey Jackson waltzed in for a layup and
a Ball State victory in the first round of the Maui Invitational.
But Kansas has been here before, been the team to beat nationally, but hasn't closed the deal. The Jayhawks were arguably the best team in the country
in 1997 losing to Arizona in the Sweet 16. They have had name guys in the
past four seasons, but they haven't had as complete a team as they seem to possess now.
"This program's goal has always been a national title, but this team
really believes we have a shot," said junior Nick Collison, sitting with
teammates and classmates Drew Gooden and Kirk Hinrich in the team's hotel
lobby. "We used to believe it, but we weren't sure we really had a shot."
According to Hinrich, the process has been gradual but it's here to
stay. This team is confident it can cut the nets down in Atlanta on April 1.
Bookend forwards Gooden and Collison and shooting guard Hinrich are three
players the NBA doesn't want to wait on until they're done with their
eligibility. The three of them could pose plenty of problems for Duke,
Maryland, Illinois, Kentucky and Florida. Kansas probably will have at least
two of them next season, but if Gooden continues to be as hot as he is,
it'll be tough to keep him at Kansas next season and the Jayhawks out of the
Final Four this season.
Gooden leads the Jayhawks in scoring (20.6) and rebounding (12.4 for
No. 1 in the nation). And he is legitimately in second place behind Duke's
Jason Williams in the running for national player of the year.
"He's going hard for 40 minutes," Collison said of Gooden. "In the
past, he would step up only at certain times. Now he's trying to score every
time and he's making something happen."
"What separates the good players from the great players is how
consistent they are," Hinrich said.
He means something like the string of games Gooden has put together
with 25 points and 16 rebounds against Tulsa, 30 and 18 against Valparaiso,
27 and 14 at Colorado and even a modest but still impressive double-double
16 and 14 against Nebraska.
"Consistency does make great players," said Gooden. "I never had
the consistency throughout the whole year. It used to be just in spurts. I
would have a good game against a big-time team and then not play well
against a cupcake team."
That seems to be the same for all the Jayhawks too, so far. They've hit
a stride that they haven't seen during Gooden's, Collison's and Hinrich's
tenure. They're running the floor as well as they have under coach Roy Williams.
They're scoring in the low post and on the perimeter, a national-best
92.6 points a game. They're defending as well as anyone by picking off 11.3
steals a game, and they're outrebounding opponents by an 11.7 average a game.
"We used not be able to make plays down the stretch," Gooden said.
"Right now we are."
"Our confidence is still high, but we're real hungry because we
haven't won a Big 12 championship," Hinrich said.
Added Collison, "We haven't been tested like we will here soon. We
haven't won at Iowa State and you know how tough this league is on the
road."
And that's where the three freshmen who have maximized their
minutes in Miles (7 points per game, 3.3 assists per game in 26.9 minutes per game), Keith Langford (8.1 ppg, 3.1
rebounds per game, 18.1 mpg) and Wayne Simien (10.6 ppg, 6 rpg, 15.1 mpg) will be put to a
test. So far they have passed with flying colors.
Miles helps with the transition game, Simien with the rebounding
and scoring and Langford with just toughness minutes.
"They're the difference-makers," Collison said. "They've added a
dimension of speed that helps us run better this year. We didn't have the
athleticism that they bring to us. We're using it and they really understand
how to play uptempo."
And they're confident, just like the trio of juniors, not too
cocky, but rather mature enough to realize they have a realistic opportunity to win the title.
Andy Katz is a senior writer at ESPN.com.
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