Quick return to top for Jayhawks

BasX · Mar 25, 2009

This wouldn't be a believable tale if it didn't involve one of college basketball's traditional powers in its year as reigning NCAA champion.

Kansas, which lost all five starters and seven of its top eight players from the team that won last year's NCAA Tournament, is back in the Sweet Sixteen for a third consecutive season.

The Jayhawks went 27-7 with a starting lineup that includes two freshmen and a pair of sophomores. They roll into this weekend's Midwest Regional game against Michigan State at Lucas Oil Stadium as one of the season's biggest surprises.

Coach Bill Self already has been honored as the Coach of the Year by several publications, and he will receive the Henry Iba Award as the nation's best coach from the U.S. Basketball Writers Association during the Final Four in Detroit next week.

Michigan State coach Tom Izzo, a former winner of the award, said he believes Self is a worthy recipient. "What Bill has done with that team is remarkable," Self told ESPN.

At the start of the season, no one predicted KU would still be playing the last weekend in March. Kansas was picked to finish third in the Big 12 Conference, and that seemed optimistic after what amounted to a home loss to Massachusetts in Kansas City, Mo., Dec. 13. UMass was 2-6 at the time.

But junior guard Sherron Collins called a players-only meeting after that 61-60 shocker and ordered the freshmen and the other newcomers to grow up quickly.

They have.

Freshmen twins Marcus and Markieff Morris have become the frontcourt contributors the Jayhawks needed.

Fellow freshman Tyshawn Taylor, who withdrew his commitment to Marquette after Tom Crean left to coach Indiana, has become a reliable scorer, scoring 26 points in a win at Oklahoma. Mario Little, a junior college transfer, has shown flashes of the skills that led to him being tabbed as the Big 12's most likely top newcomer this season.

Add the newcomers to the nucleus of Collins and center Cole Aldrich, who scored the first official Kansas triple-double in the Dayton game (13 points, 20 rebounds, 10 blocked shots) and Self has another chance at the Elite Eight. He is one of only four coaches in Division I history to take three different programs (Tulsa, Illinois and Kansas) to that level.

"We are in the game, the hunt," Self told ESPN. "That's all I can ask."

Collins has been the leader in many ways. The 5-11 guard is averaging 18.9 points, and scored a total of 57 points in NCAA tourney wins over North Dakota State and Dayton.

Self said Collins is the best player he has coached at the position. That includes the Illinois trio of Deron Williams, Dee Brown and Frank Williams, and Kansas' standout from a year ago, Mario Chalmers.

"Nobody that I've coached impacts a college game more than Sherron," Self said Sunday.

Collins played a large role in the come-from-behind victory over Memphis in last year's championship game. He had a steal and a 3-pointer, then made the assist on Chalmers' tying 3-pointer that erased a nine-point deficit.

Collins scored 25 points when Kansas lost at Michigan State 75-62 on Jan. 10, but he also was sloppy with the ball, making eight turnovers. He knows that can't happen again.

"Last year, I could play 10 minutes and play terrible and we could win by 30," Collins told the Kansas City Star.

Marcus Morris, a 6-8 freshman, has said Collins has "the heart of a lion."

Maybe this young team does, too.
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http://www.indystar.com/article/20090325/SPORTS/903250335/1004/SPORTS

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