Thursday, March 1, 2007
The Texas Longhorns have cleared the path for Kansas to win the Big 12 title outright, but they’re not expecting flowers this morning in Austin.
Texas defeated Texas A&M Wednesday night, leaving Kansas in sole possession of first place in the conference. To win the title, the Jayhawks must win their last game of the season — against the Longhorns.
The two teams face off at 11 a.m. Saturday at Allen Fieldhouse. If Kansas loses to Texas, the two teams will tie for the conference championship. Texas A&M could then create a three-way tie by defeating Missouri later that day.
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They’ve got some freshmen that have been key players for them. Kevin Durant has really been good.
sophomore guard, Mario Chalmers
Jayhawk coach Bill Self isn’t going to get caught up in the math, though.
“The good thing is, we know we have a chance to play for the league title,” he said.
Kansas and Texas have yet to play this season. The match-up has drawn national attention during the past two years, as ESPN GameDay has shown up for both of the games.
That excitement hasn’t translated into good basketball. Two years ago Kansas won 90-65 in Lawrence, and in 2006 Texas won by the same margin, beating Kansas 80-55 in Austin.
This time around things will look different on both sides. Texas will put as many as four freshmen in its starting lineup, and Kansas freshmen Sherron Collins and Darrell Arthur will face the Longhorns for the first time.
“They’ve got some freshmen that have been key players for them,” sophomore guard Mario Chalmers said. “Kevin Durant has really been good.”
Durant is a freshman forward for the Longhorns and the player who most consider a lock to be named national player of the year.
“He’s going to make a lot of shots,” sophomore forward Julian Wright said. “We’re just not going to worry about the shots he makes.”
Durant has been averaging 24.7 points per game so far this season, a number that has gone up since conference play began.
He’ll be vital to Texas’ success Saturday. On top of the conference title, both teams will be playing for seeding at the Big 12 tournament in Oklahoma City. With such a bottleneck of talent at the top, teams are looking for any edge they can get in the days leading up to the NCAA tournament.
Rush, Wright honored:
Sophomore guard Brandon Rush and Wright were named to the District 12 First Team on Wednesday, which includes several Midwestern states.
The team is selected by the National Association of Basketball Coaches, which will also select an All-American team out of the All-District winners.
Wright leads the team in rebounds with eight per game. Rush leads the team in scoring with 13.7 points per game. He is also a candidate for the Naismith Award, an honor given annually to the best player in college basketball.
Kansan senior sportswriter Michael Phillips can be contacted at mphillips@kansan.com.
— Edited by Jyl Unruh
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