The Projected Starting Five

Russell Robinson, 6-foot-1 senior guard

Don’t look now, but Robinson has been the best shooter on the team. He’s made 8 of 15 field goals, including 5 of 10 from long range. If Robinson keeps that up, he’s an All Big 12 First Team candidate.

Mario Chalmers, 6-foot-1 junior guard

Chalmers has been wonderful in the first two games of the season. Turnovers are the only thing bringing him down. He leads the team with five of them.

Rodrick Stewart, 6-foot-4 senior guard

Self hasn’t officially given the nod to Stewart, but he said Stewart would likely start. It’s a good choice. Stewart is averaging 4.5 assists per game, almost as much as the injured Sherron Collins was averaging.

Darrell Arthur, 6-foot-9 sophomore forward

Arthur’s inability to make shots close to the basket is starting to get irritating. If he wants to be All-Big 12 and a top 10 NBA Draft pick next spring, he needs to start being more consistent offensively and that starts with making the gimmees.

Sasha Kaun, 6-foot-11 senior center

Kaun, usually known for missing easy shots, has made 6 of 8 field goals on the season. The bad news is he’s shooting 42 percent from the foul line.

the sixth man

Darnell Jackson 6-foot-8 senior forward

Outside of Collins, no Kansas player has played as well as Jackson during the first two games. By scoring a career-high 21 points last Friday, Jackson showed he is ready to be more than just a defensive presence off the bench.

A Lesson. Kansas needs to learn how play without Sherron Collins during the next two games before Arizona comes to town. It’s going to be tough without Collins. He brings speed and slashing ability that no one else can match. Robinson and Chalmers are quick, but they can’t go from one end of the court to the other and make an off-balanced lay-up like Collins can. Now that Collins is out, Kansas will lose some of the speed from its fast-paced offense.

Tyrel Reed had an impressive freshman debut last Friday, scoring 11 points and making three three-pointers. Against UMKC, he went scoreless. Reed has the opportunity to gain major minutes now that Collins is out. He said he never expected this kind of an opportunity for minutes early in his career, but he will have to prove he is ready to handle it.

Where does the name Ichabods come from?

For those who thought Washburn’s mascot was a nod to Ichabod Crane, the character from Washington Irving’s “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” consider this a free lesson. According to Washburn.edu, the name actually comes from the founder of the school, Ichabod Washburn. He was born in Massachusetts in 1798, many years after one of his descendants arrived on the Mayflower. Washburn is known as the “Father of Wire” for his work in wire manufacturing. Washburn University took his name because when soon after it was founded in 1865, Washburn donated money to help save the school, then known as Lincoln College.

“It’s kind of a fine line because I have them a little screwed up because the faster you play, the looser the possession, so there’s not as much pride in getting stop — I thought in all honesty our guards didn’t guard theirs at all. We have to get better in that.”

— Kansas coach Bill Self on how playing fast can be bad for the defense.

Allen fieldhouse will rock if...

The big men get the ball down low. Sure, Darnell Jackson scored 21 points in the first game of the season, but other than that, the post players have been a non-factor. This team has made a living shooting the long ball in the first two games. Sherron Collins, Russell Robinson and Mario Chalmers have fired up 36 three-pointers so far this season, making 16. Nothing is wrong with that when the team makes its shots, but trouble always follows when shooters go cold. Robinson said after the UMKC game that the guards need to start passing the ball more to the big men. He said they were the main part of the offense.

phog allen will roll over in his grave if...

The Jayhawks don’t have the game in control by halftime. The Ichabods are not very good. Washburn is a Division II school, just like Pittsburg State and Fort Hays State. This should be Kansas’ easiest regular season game of the year. To blow out Washburn early, Kansas will have to give a better effort than it did against UMKC. The Jayhawks made mistakes and played with a lack of focus for most of the second half of that game. If they do that again tonight, the Ichabods could make this game too close for comfort. They are comparable with UMKC, evidenced by their 79-75 loss to the Kangaroos on Tuesday night.

89-53

The Jayhawks aren’t going to be able to put points up as quickly as they did in previous games because Sherron Collins is out. He is the fastest player on the team. This game should still be a cakewalk as long as Kansas gives maximum effort.

Witherspoon Meter

FG-FGA 3FG-FGA RPG PPG MPG

04 Collins, Sherron 12-23 4-13 3.5 16.0 27.5

15 Chalmers, Mario 10-19 7-13 2.5 15.5 29.0

32 Jackson, Darnell 11-16 0-0 4.0 13.5 20.0

03 Robinson, Russell 8-15 5-10 3.5 12.5 30.5

00 Arthur, Darrell 9-24 1-2 8.0 12.0 26.0

24 Kaun, Sasha 6-8 0-0 4.0 9.0 23.0

05 Stewart, Rodrick 5-8 0-1 3.0 5.5 17.0

14 Reed, Tyrel 4-6 3-5 0.5 5.5 10.0

45 Aldrich, Cole 2-3 0-0 4.0 3.0 6.5

10 Case, Jeremy 2-3 1-1 0.0 2.5 5.0

11 Bechard, Brennan 1-1 0-0 0.0 2.0 2.0

02 Teahen, Conner 0-2 0-1 1.0 0.0 2.0

40 Witherspoon, Brad 0-0 0-0 0.0 0.0 2.0

54 Kleinmann, Matt 0-1 0-0 0.0 0.0 3.0

22 Buford, Chase 0-0 0-0 1.0 0.0 2.0

The Projected Starting Five

Andrew Meile, 6-foot-2 senior guard

Meile is Washburn’s floor general. He can score if he needs to – he had 14 double-figure scoring games last season - but his job is to run the offense. He was also the only Washburn player to start all 27 games last year.

Mario Scott, 6-foot-1 sophomore guard

Scott is a transfer from Grand Rapids Community College. The Grand Rapids, Mich., native averaged 10.8 points, 7.8 assists and 4.8 rebounds per game last season.

James Williams, 6-foot-5 junior forward

Williams, a Topeka native, played two seasons at Cloud County Community College before transferring to St. Bonaventure last season. Now the former Highland Park High School star is back playing at home in Topeka. Williams averaged 3.2 points per game for St. Bonaventure last season.

Paul Byers, 6-foot-5 junior forward

Byers is a Beatty native who started 19 games last season for the Ichabods, averaging 7.1 points per game and 5.0 rebounds.

Darnell Kimble, 6-foot-8 junior forward

Another transfer, Kimball played 25 games at forward for Brown Mackie Community College, averaging 15.0 points per game and 8.0 rebounds. Kimball shot 58 percent from the field.

The sixth man

Grant Hargett, 6-foot-3 senior guard

Hargett, a Minnesota native, played 21 minutes off the bench for Washburn against UMKC on Tuesday, scoring 12 points. Hargett started 13 game and played in 25 for Washburn last season.

Very little. Kansas is on the third stage of its Tour de Kansas. The Jayhawks played Pittsburg State and Fort Hays State in the exhibition season, and now Washburn travels into Allen Fieldhouse. The Division II MIAA coaches picked the Ichabods to finish ninth in the conference, behind both Pittsburg State and Fort Hays State, so don’t expect much from Washburn. The Ichabods do have experience playing against a good Division I program. They lost at UNLV 77-47 on Nov. 6. This game may technically be a regular season game, but it’s really more exhibition-lite. Washburn will simply want to play hard and make the most of its trip into Allen Fieldhouse.

Andrew Meile, 6-foot-2 senior guard

Meile played his high school ball just up the road at Olathe South High School, competing against the likes of Matt Kleinnmann, Brady Morningstar and Brennan Bechard. Meile outplayed them all in high school, earning first team all-state honors and leading Olathe South to the 2004 6A State Championship. Meile averaged 9.1 points per game, 3.1 rebounds and 2.0 assists last season. With Sherron Collins out, Meile could give trouble to any Kansas guard not named Robinson or Chalmers.

Will Washburn make Kansas look bad?

Washburn finished 8-19 last season and are picked to finish worse than Pittsburg State and Fort Hays. Kansas isn’t going to lose this game, but if they produce anything less than a 25-point victory, fans might be upset. Washburn is catching Kansas at a good time. Kansas is missing Brandon Rush and Sherron Collins, meaning inexperienced guards will get major minutes. It is not inconceivable to think that Washburn could keep the deficit lower than 20 points.

“They won’t be intimidated coming over here. They’ve been here enough. Their guys know all our guys through summer time and things like that. I anticipate a very scrappy game. We were preseason No. 1 in the country and they played us to six or seven that year. We’ll get their best shot and their best shot is pretty good.”

— Kansas coach Bill Self

(Stats from Nov. 13 exhibition game against UMKC)

FG-FGA 3FG-FGA Reb. Pts. Min.

15 Byers, Paul 5-7 2-3 3 12 22

21 Kimble, Darnell 4-4 0-0 3 11 17

22 Meile, Andrew 7-12 5-9 2 19 29

32 Scott, Mario 1-7 1-2 4 3 24

50 Williams, James 1-8 0-5 5 5 23

10 Santiago, Angel 3-6 2-3 2 8 21

14 Hargett, Grant 4-7 1-4 1 12 21

23 DeCoteau, Moriba 0-0 0-0 0 0 3

24 Dei, Dei 0-0 0-0 0 0 5

33 Daniels, Nate 1-2 0-0 1 2 3

35 Sisk, Brady 0-3 0-1 1 1 11

52 Snyder, Kyle 1-4 0-1 7 2 21