Friday, February 15, 2008
Twenty years from now, Russell Robinson would love to be at Allen Fieldhouse celebrating the anniversary of a national championship.
Danny Manning, assistant coach and one of the players from the 1988 NCAA championship team who will be honored Saturday at the KU basketball 110-year reunion, thinks that Robinson’s dream could come true.
“Our championship team,” he said, “is nowhere near the team we have now at Kansas.”
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Brown Sighting: Former coach Larry Brown, who was the head man on the 1988 National Championship team, watched practice yesterday. Self’s favorite: Kansas coach Bill Self said he can’t wait to meet Clyde Lovellette for the first time on Saturday, but he’s looking forward to the entire reunion weekend. “The thing about this that is really cool is that I don’t think we look at the reunion as what players that have had their number hanging in the rafters are coming back,” Self said. “I don’t think you look at it that way. It’s not about one person coming back. It’s about the collection of everybody being here. That is what I’m going to get out of it as much as anything.” High turnout: About 230 former players, coaches and managers are supposed to be at Allen Fieldhouse for the 110-year reunion. All the attendees will go to a brunch before the game and a banquet afterward.
Robinson didn’t quite know how to react.
“That’s a compliment,” he said with a smile.
Manning could be right. In 1988, the Jayhawks were far from a force. They started the season 12-8 and looked NIT-bound for the longest time. Their tournament run wasn’t even spectacular. Kansas barely scraped by Murray State in the second round.
This Jayhawk team has been far more dominant so far, starting 23-2 and beating opponents by an average of 21.1 points a game. Although recent losses to Kansas State and Texas have exposed some flaws, including toughness and outside shooting, Kansas should still be capable of conference championships and a possible deep run in the NCAA Tournament.
Any player in the main seven-man rotation can score. Robinson, Sherron Collins, Brandon Rush, Sasha Kaun, Darrell Arthur, Mario Chalmers and Darnell Jackson have all led the team in scoring at least once this season.
“We didn’t have the same depth or talent level,” Manning said. “We couldn’t score points in flurries like this team can.”
Manning acknowledged that a team needs more than talent to win a championship. That’s obvious from looking at the 1988 team. The Jayhawks put together a run to the title game because they found an extra gear and rose above all the adversity they faced during the season. It wasn’t just talent that got them to the championship.
It was their ability to grow from defeats.
“Morale goes down anytime you lose,” Manning said. “Morale goes down and work ethic goes up.”
It’s still a mystery as to whether this team can make the same type of strides. Kansas came out flat at Colorado after its first loss of the season against Kansas State. The Jayhawks won three games after it but struggled on defense.
The defense was better against Texas on Monday, but Kansas couldn’t rebound, and allowed the Longhorns to come back and win in the second half. Getting that toughness back will be a key to bouncing back from the loss.
“It’s something we have to emphasize,” Kaun said of toughness. “It’s all about single possessions. We need to score or get a stop and be more mentally tough so we won’t break down.”
The Jayhawks are also lacking a go-to player. When they needed to score baskets late against Texas, no one stepped up. Chalmers tried, taking several shots down the stretch, but he couldn’t quite be the hero. Jackson and Arthur were unable to get the ball. There wasn’t a player who could lift Kansas at the end.
“We don’t have a Danny Manning,” Robinson said.
But Robinson is still confident the team could put together a special run. He wants the same recognition the 1988 team is going to receive on Saturday.
“We have a good team,” Robinson said. “Even though we have two losses, we just have to know that we are still a good team.”
— Edited by Jessica Sain-Baird
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