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Men’s basketball makes the grade

The Phog Allen School of Basketball is back in session

By Mark Dent

Thursday, April 17, 2008

It’s been 20 years since the Phog Allen School of Basketball has seen so many excellent students walk down the hill.

National Champs.

All these players passed with flying colors because, well, they played for the best team in the country. Here are the grades, with each player’s preseason expectation ranking in parentheses.

Summa Cum Laude

Mario Chalmers A+ (4) It would be tough for anyone to argue against Chalmers as valedictorian. After that last shot, he can pretty much ask for anything he wants in the Lawrence or Kansas City area for the rest of his life. Maybe if fans buy him enough drinks and meals, he’ll decide to postpone the NBA for another year. Chalmers ended up being the team’s second leading scorer and was the most consistent performer of the season. When Rush and Arthur disappeared for stretches, Chalmers played tight defense and hit important shots.

Russell Robinson A (5) Every team needs someone like Robinson. He scored against Georgia Tech and Baylor when few others stepped up, acted as a major leader all season and accepted a decreased role in important postseason games when it was obvious the Jayhawks would have more success with Collins in the lineup. The Jayhawks are going to miss not having Robinson and his intangibles around next season more than they think.

Brandon Rush A- (2) Bill Self, the other players and the fans waited three seasons to see the Rush do something special. He finally did. Rush played the best stretch of his life in March, helping Kansas win the Big 12 and NCAA title. Don’t forget that Rush did all this less than a year after he tore his ACL. It was a remarkable comeback for Rush, and he at least belongs on the second tier of all-time great KU basketball players. Think about it. He won a national title and led the team in scoring for three straight seasons.

Darnell Jackson A- (7) Jackson had the best season of his career but could it have been better? A weak finish kept him from finishing at the top of the class with Mario Chalmers. After scoring 17 points or more seven times before Feb. 2, Jackson failed to top that mark the rest of the year.

Rodrick Stewart A- (11) Stewart did his job for as long as he had to. He filled in for Rush until the end of December, when Rush was finally able to play significant minutes. For those first few games, Stewart wowed the Allen Fieldhouse crowd with dunks, got approval from Self as the team’s defensive stopper and found Chalmers open in the last minute for a jump shot in a victory at USC.

The Dean’s List

Sasha Kaun B+: (6) Kaun’s performance against Davidson in the Elite Eight is enough to get him a good grade on its own. But that wasn’t Kaun’s only trick. He had the best season of his inconsistent four-year career for his last go-round. Kaun accepted a role off the bench and averaged 7.1 points a game. His rebounding skills (3.9 per game) still need work though if he wants to make the NBA. If you’re almost seven-feet tall, you have to grab more boards than that.

Cole Aldrich B+: (8) That rebound Aldrich ripped away from Tyler Hansbrough in the national semifinal was enough to earn him this grade. As Matt Kleinmann said after that game, Aldrich played like a man that night. He wasn’t too bad the rest of the season either. Playing half the minutes of Kaun, Aldrich averaged nearly as many rebounds (3.0 per game).

Sherron Collins B: (3) No one captivates the crowd like Collins. He always gets your attention. That’s why it was a shame to see such a talented, unique player struggle because of multiple ankle and knee injuries. Those ailments kept Collins from becoming the fast-paced wire-to-wire act most fans expected to watch this season. Give Collins credit for playing through the pain though and getting a key steal and three-pointer in the national title game.

Tyrel Reed B (9): See Collins, Sherron. An sprained ankle kept Reed from entering the rotation early in the season. By the time he got healthy, Rush was back at full strength, and Reed was playing mop-up minutes the rest of the year.

Jeremy Case B- (12): Hmmm, what to say about Case? He’s been a mystery for most of his five-year career. The legend goes that he’s the best shooter and one of the best players in practice. With several more talented guards ahead of him, Case never got the opportunity to show it during games. Case did play some important minutes in the Sweet 16 victory against Villanova.

Darrell Arthur B- (1): Everybody’s heard it by now. Before the season started, Self called Arthur the best player in practice. Players couldn’t believe how aggressive he was. Once the games started, that Arthur never showed up. He still averaged 12.8 points a game, good enough for second on the team with Chalmers, but he never developed into the scorer the team expected him to.

Incompletes

Brady Morningstar (10): Two years down, and Morningstar has yet to show what he can do. Self talked about him getting more playing time with Rush out at the beginning of the year, but he obviously lost that battle to Stewart, Reed and Case.

Walk-Ons-

Chase Buford- Props to Buford for selecting some delicious restaurants to dine at in San Antonio.

Brad Witherspoon- It was great to see Witherspoon on the court for a second season. Wonder if another student will get the same opportunity Witherspoon had anytime soon?

Conner Teahan- If anyone could captivate the crowd like Collins, it was Teahan. He could hardly miss from long range at the beginning of the season. Note to the coaching staff: Find a way to get this kid a scholarship soon.

Brennan Bechard- He’s the first Lawrence High School player to win a national championship since Danny Manning and Chris Piper.

Matt Kleinmann- Now that he’s a national champion, maybe they should ask Kleinmann, an architectural student, to desing the new Allen Fieldhouse when the time comes.

Coaches

Bill Self, Joe Dooley, Danny Manning, Kurtis Townsend and strength coach Andrea Hudy A+

Whenever a reporter asks Self question about coaching, he always uses the word “we.” That’s how much credit he gives his staff, and this year, Self and the assistants deserve plenty of credit. Manning taught the big men how to post up and shoot better. Townsend’s established imiportant recruiting ties. One publication ranked Dooley as the second best assistant in the country at a major college. The players like Hudy so much they devoted their regular season conference-championship-clinching victory to her. And Self? Well, he’s practically a legend in Lawrence now. He won the national championship in just his fifth season as head coach and captured fans’ hearts by beating Roy Williams on the way.

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