Freshmen not living up to hype

By By Bill Cross

Tuesday, February 8, 2005

The freshmen on the Kansas men’s basketball team began the season with high expectations.

Perhaps they were too high.

In October, some fans heralded the five freshmen as the next coming of Michigan’s famous Fab Five of the early ’90s. Those freshmen led the Wolverines to two national title games in their first two seasons.

Other fans had a more realistic outlook for the 2005 Jayhawk freshmen: that the frosh quintet would add depth to a senior-heavy title contender.

Now two freshmen are injured, two ride the bench and the other averages less than 10 minutes and less than three points a game. That will have to change in the next six weeks.

This team needs depth. The Jayhawks fielded talented — but shallow — teams in the 2002 and 2003 NCAA Tournaments, and both teams wore down in the Final Four. If the Jayhawks win a championship this year, the difference will be their depth.

Imagine if freshman forward Alex Galindo and sophomore guard J.R. Giddens had been Jayhawks two years ago. Even Syracuse’s high-flying Hakim Warrick, who rejected senior guard Mike Lee’s desperation three-point attempt in the final seconds of the 2003 national championship game, couldn’t block a Galindo or Giddens shot. They’re too tall, and their ball-release is too high. Lee and Kirk Hinrich were that team’s only three-point threats and that shallow backcourt sealed the team’s fate.

If the freshmen don’t step up in the next few weeks (selection Sunday is 33 days away), the Jayhawks will be eliminated again. The frontcourt lacks a dominant rebounding presence. The team is again struggling to find a backup for senior guard Aaron Miles, who runs the point so well, but must do so for more than 31 minutes a game.

Things will get better when Galindo and freshman forward C.J. Giles return from injury. They are fine role-players, something a championship team needs.

Freshman guard Russell Robinson and freshman forward Darnell Jackson, however, impressed early in the season but have faded to obscurity in recent weeks.

If Robinson becomes the ball handler and defensive monster we saw early in the season when he had 13 points and three steals against Nevada, he will be the ideal substitution when Miles needs a rest. If Jackson could use his wide body to its full potential, it would do wonders to erase the Jayhawks’ rebounding deficiency.

Maybe they’ll bounce back. Maybe they’re just getting their sophomore slumps out of their systems before they have to replace one of the most talented senior classes in the 107 years of Kansas basketball.

In any case, the emergence or continued disappointment of the drab five will determine whether this team finally gets it done in the Final Four.

Cross is a Kansas City, Mo., senior in

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