Thursday, March 22, 2007
SAN JOSE, Calif. — It’s the ultimate no-call.
During practice this week, the Kansas backups were allowed to do whatever they wanted defensively to disrupt the offense. No whistles were blown; no fouls were called.
“Basically, they just get a free pass to whack at you all day,” freshman guard Sherron Collins said. “You get hit in the face or scratched in the arms.”
Tonight's game between Kansas and Southern Illinois tips off at 6:10 p.m. central time, and can be viewed on channels 5 or 13 in Lawrence.
The Red Team, as the backups are called, were allowed to do that to simulate Southern Illinois’ punishing defense. The Salukis are a bit smaller than the Jayhawks, but will compensate with airtight defense, contesting every pass and shot.
Coach Bill Self wants to make sure his team is ready for a physical game, and won’t complain to the officials if they get bumped on a play.
The starters were unanimous in their assessment of who the best fouler is: freshman guard Brennan Bechard.
“He just grabs you,” sophomore guard Mario Chalmers said. “That’s all he does is grab, grab, grab. He does it almost every play.”
Bechard attributes his success to his ability to get under the players and swat at them from a position low to the ground. He’s not shy about enjoying it, either.
“Oh, it’s definitely fun when the coaches say to foul them,” he said. “I just slap at them a little bit, try to not let them go where they want to go.”
On the other side of the ball is the Blue Team, the starters, who don’t necessarily enjoy being poked at for an hour.
“They get us frustrated, but that’s a good thing, because it means we’re going to be prepared,” sophomore forward Julian Wright said. “You can’t really be mad, because they’re trying to help.”
It’s not the first time the Jayhawks have gone with this strategy. During the season, they used it before facing extremely physical teams or ones that might try to force a slower pace on the game.
The Red Team didn’t have a lot of time to be physical this week. After one practice in Lawrence, the Jayhawks left for San Jose. Wednesday morning the team practiced at a local high school before heading off to the arena for an afternoon shootaround. The team was allotted an hour to practice, but did about 40 minutes of ball-handling drills and shooting before heading back to the hotel.
Not all the backups have been having fun fouling, though. Junior guard Jeremy Case followed directions, but reluctantly.
“I really don’t like playing like that,” he said. “I’ll foul them a little bit, I guess.”
He said that the players take it well, for the most part. Freshman guard Sherron Collins used to get feisty when the players would grab him, but he’s become used to it over the course of the year, and said that doesn’t happen anymore.
As a result of the physical practices, don’t expect any of the Jayhawks to whine to the officials tonight. They’ve had it much worse over the past week. Take freshman guard Brady Morningstar, for instance. When asked what his fouling strategy was, he laughed.
“I’m just trying to break as many bones as I can,” he joked, “They get tougher that way."
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