Post by MizzouTiger on Feb 18, 2008 12:30:29 GMT -5
www.kansascity.com/166/story/493185.html
KU goes old-school in win over Colorado
By J. BRADY McCOLLOUGH
The Kansas City Star
LAWRENCE | For one day, it wasn’t about them. Sure, the Kansas Jayhawks got to wear those blue retro jerseys honoring the 1988 national championship team. Sure, they had a coaching legend spying on their practices. And sure, they blew out Colorado 69-45 on Saturday afternoon.
But it wasn’t about them. Nope, not this time. This weekend, it was about 230 former KU players, coaches and managers who were in town for a celebration of 110 years of Jayhawk basketball. They all came back, the great ones and the not-so-great ones, for a chance to walk up Naismith Drive on a winter day and relive the past.
Inside Allen Fieldhouse, the old barn that has housed the KU family for 53 years, the 2007-08 Jayhawks started to get it. Kind of.
“It’s hard to get it if you’re young,” KU coach Bill Self said. “What will this mean 20 years from now when you come back?
“We talked a lot today about how cool this is.”
Cool. That’s the way Mario Chalmers felt when he put on the blue uniforms with the crimson, white and yellow trim, the same look that KU sported the night of April 4, 1988, in Kansas City.
“I love these jerseys,” Chalmers said. “I wish we’d keep them and keep playing in them. It’s a different look. Old school. I like old school.”
The south end of the arena was packed with old-school men who probably identified more with Colorado’s Princeton-style back cuts than KU’s high-flying alley-oops. What everyone could agree on was the Jayhawks’ defense of Colorado guard Richard Roby. The Buffaloes’ leading scorer was held to only two points and one-of-11 shooting. Kansas held the Buffaloes — who fell to 10-14 overall and 2-8 in the Big 12 — to 35 percent shooting and forced 15 turnovers.
The effort really began during some intense practices after the loss to Texas. All week, there were signs that this game would be different.
For one, Kansas junior guard Brandon Rush was forced into Roby impersonation duty. It was his job to play with the scout team and train KU big men Darrell Arthur and Darnell Jackson to defend a guard who plays at power forward like Roby.
“There’s a lot of teams playing small,” Arthur said. “It’s kind of tough guarding them. We’re trying to learn the principles of guarding a perimeter player.”
Larry Brown knows all of those principles, of course, but the coach of the ’88 team didn’t get technical with the Jayhawks as he watched their Thursday and Friday practices. On Thursday, Brown’s presence was having an interesting effect on KU.
“We threw it all over the gym,” Self said. “I asked them, ‘What’s wrong? You nervous because he’s here?’ ”
Everyone raised his hand. Brown’s stop-in was good preparation for Saturday, when many more KU legends would be in their midst.
“They felt some pressure today to try to perform well,” Self said.
And what about him?
“A little bit,” Self said. “I don’t know if you know this, but I haven’t been real pleased with our team here of late. I didn’t feel extra pressure because those guys were in. This is something that we need to do for ourselves.”
So in some ways, Saturday was about the current team, which is 24-2 (9-2 in the Big 12) and off until Saturday. For the second time this season, Kansas roughed up Colorado after a loss.
With KU wearing those uniforms worn by “Danny and the Miracles,” you couldn’t help but wonder: Do the Jayhawks have what it takes?
The ’88 team was 12-8 when it played Colorado at Allen Fieldhouse in early February. The lesson for this year’s team, which was 20-0 at that juncture? It’s the finishing kick that will be remembered.
“Our championship team,” Danny Manning said, “was nowhere near the team that we have now at Kansas.”
KU goes old-school in win over Colorado
By J. BRADY McCOLLOUGH
The Kansas City Star
LAWRENCE | For one day, it wasn’t about them. Sure, the Kansas Jayhawks got to wear those blue retro jerseys honoring the 1988 national championship team. Sure, they had a coaching legend spying on their practices. And sure, they blew out Colorado 69-45 on Saturday afternoon.
But it wasn’t about them. Nope, not this time. This weekend, it was about 230 former KU players, coaches and managers who were in town for a celebration of 110 years of Jayhawk basketball. They all came back, the great ones and the not-so-great ones, for a chance to walk up Naismith Drive on a winter day and relive the past.
Inside Allen Fieldhouse, the old barn that has housed the KU family for 53 years, the 2007-08 Jayhawks started to get it. Kind of.
“It’s hard to get it if you’re young,” KU coach Bill Self said. “What will this mean 20 years from now when you come back?
“We talked a lot today about how cool this is.”
Cool. That’s the way Mario Chalmers felt when he put on the blue uniforms with the crimson, white and yellow trim, the same look that KU sported the night of April 4, 1988, in Kansas City.
“I love these jerseys,” Chalmers said. “I wish we’d keep them and keep playing in them. It’s a different look. Old school. I like old school.”
The south end of the arena was packed with old-school men who probably identified more with Colorado’s Princeton-style back cuts than KU’s high-flying alley-oops. What everyone could agree on was the Jayhawks’ defense of Colorado guard Richard Roby. The Buffaloes’ leading scorer was held to only two points and one-of-11 shooting. Kansas held the Buffaloes — who fell to 10-14 overall and 2-8 in the Big 12 — to 35 percent shooting and forced 15 turnovers.
The effort really began during some intense practices after the loss to Texas. All week, there were signs that this game would be different.
For one, Kansas junior guard Brandon Rush was forced into Roby impersonation duty. It was his job to play with the scout team and train KU big men Darrell Arthur and Darnell Jackson to defend a guard who plays at power forward like Roby.
“There’s a lot of teams playing small,” Arthur said. “It’s kind of tough guarding them. We’re trying to learn the principles of guarding a perimeter player.”
Larry Brown knows all of those principles, of course, but the coach of the ’88 team didn’t get technical with the Jayhawks as he watched their Thursday and Friday practices. On Thursday, Brown’s presence was having an interesting effect on KU.
“We threw it all over the gym,” Self said. “I asked them, ‘What’s wrong? You nervous because he’s here?’ ”
Everyone raised his hand. Brown’s stop-in was good preparation for Saturday, when many more KU legends would be in their midst.
“They felt some pressure today to try to perform well,” Self said.
And what about him?
“A little bit,” Self said. “I don’t know if you know this, but I haven’t been real pleased with our team here of late. I didn’t feel extra pressure because those guys were in. This is something that we need to do for ourselves.”
So in some ways, Saturday was about the current team, which is 24-2 (9-2 in the Big 12) and off until Saturday. For the second time this season, Kansas roughed up Colorado after a loss.
With KU wearing those uniforms worn by “Danny and the Miracles,” you couldn’t help but wonder: Do the Jayhawks have what it takes?
The ’88 team was 12-8 when it played Colorado at Allen Fieldhouse in early February. The lesson for this year’s team, which was 20-0 at that juncture? It’s the finishing kick that will be remembered.
“Our championship team,” Danny Manning said, “was nowhere near the team that we have now at Kansas.”