Originally published March 10, 2007 at 5:18 p.m., updated March 10, 2007 at 5:48 p.m.
OKLAHOMA CITY — Kansas and Bob Knight would be a match made in heaven.
Not because the Jayhawks are deep, have enough athleticism to make a decathlete drool and play defense better than anyone else in the Big 12. The unlikely pair would fit because Kansas has the energy Knight desires.
After Texas Tech’s loss to Kansas State on Friday, he blamed his team’s lackluster performance on a lack of rest from playing on back to back days.
“(Gosh darn), you don’t think one day makes a difference?” Knight said. “If you had to run five miles today, could you run five miles tomorrow?”
Brandon Rush, sophomore guard, tosses a one-handed shot at the basket during the third round of the Big 12 Championship conference in Oklahoma City Saturday. Rush pulled down five rebounds and scored eight points for the Kansas defeat over Kansas State, 67-61. The Jayhawks will play for their fifth Big 12 championship title, Sunday at 2 p.m.
One day doesn’t make a difference for Kansas. The Jayhawks defeated Kansas State 67-61, and not a single player complained about being fatigued.
“For the most part, I think our guys are fresh,” junior guard Russell Robinson said. “The thing is to stay strong mentally, and everything works from there.”
Kansas had to be mentally tough to pull out Saturday’s close game. Kansas State drew within four with about four minutes to go. Down the stretch, the Jayhawks showed they weren’t tired by connecting on free throws. Their recent struggles from the line disappeared for the last four minutes. Kansas made seven of nine free throws.
One reason the Jayhawks didn’t get tired during the game is because they’ve all experienced the strain of playing on consecutive days. Sophomores and juniors played in the Big 12 Tournament before, and the freshmen played back to backs in high school. Freshman guard Sherron Collins has even played multiple games on the same day.
“We’re used to playing back to back games,” sophomore guard Brandon Rush said. “In the AAU circuit, all we did was play game after game after game.”
But even with experience, fatigue can set in if the players don’t get proper time to relax. Kansas had a major advantage by playing at 11:30 a.m. on Friday. The early tip gave them several more hours to playing the nightcap at 8:30.
“When you play at night, the game’s not really over until one or two o’clock,” Kansas coach Bill Self said. “It takes a while to wind down and then you have family and the team dinner. There’s no free time, and you have to play the next afternoon.”
The team spent most of its spare time staying off its feet. The Jayhawks sat around most of the day at the hotel, drank Gatorade, slept and went over scouting reports. Outside of learning about the next day’s opponent, not much time is spent thinking about sports.
“You’ve got to get away from basketball for a while,” Robinson said. “We’ll watch a movie and play some cards.”
No one expects lack of energy to a problem for Sunday’s championship game. Not only will the Jayhawks have almost an entire day’s rest before they take the court, they will be gunning for a second straight Big 12 Tournament title.
“Regardless if we got dead legs or not,” Collins said, “you should be juiced up for a game like that.”
— Kansan.com will have complete basketball coverage all weekend long.
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