Wednesday, March 5, 2008
One day after Kansas’ most upsetting loss of the season, a 61-60 loss at Oklahoma State, senior forward Darnell Jackson was at practice, sweating through drill after drill. Kansas’ emotional leader could sense something was wrong. So could the rest of his teammates.
“I think a lot of guys realized that this is it,” Jackson said.
The road losses to Kansas State, Texas and Oklahoma State had hurt. They made Jackson think about Kansas’ first-round losses during his freshman and sophomore year, and now, March was rapidly approaching.
“We don’t want to have that happen again,” Jackson said. “We came together as a team and just told each other that everybody needs to bring something to the table.”
Ten days and three victories later, everybody has. Junior guard Brandon Rush, the co-Big 12 Player of the Week, is asserting himself in games. Sophomore guard Sherron Collins has been his old self. Senior guard Russell Robinson is making shots. Ditto for junior guard Mario Chalmers. Sophomore forward Darrell Arthur has been a reliable scoring threat, and Jackson and senior center Sasha Kaun are giving a yeoman’s effort inside.
6-foot-3 freshman guard Chase Buford gets up to block the shot of Texas Tech 6-foot-10 center Ricardo De Bem during the final minutes of Monday's game. Kansas has been on a roll lately, defeating Kansas State by 14 and Texas Tech by 58.
The Jayhawks are playing with a sense of urgency. Most importantly, they have their swagger back.
“Just in a six day stretch, we’ve looked like a totally different team,” Kansas coach Bill Self said. “And it also helps when you make shots.”
Made shots were in high supply during Monday’s 109-51 bludgeoning of Texas Tech. Kansas shot 59.7 percent from the field, and made 14-of-24 three-pointers.
Robinson said making shots is just part of the equation for the surging Jayhawks. Sure, Kansas made 32-of-58 three-pointers in victories against Iowa State, K-State and Texas Tech. That always helps, but Robinson credits other aspects for busting Kansas out of its mid-February slump.
“We’re playing better defensive, with more energy,” Robinson said. “Now we just got to keep that up,”
Kansas’ topsy-turvy February isn’t exactly what Self had in mind. Starting with a loss to Kansas State on Jan. 30, the Jayhawks never looked comfortable in February. Collins was plagued by injuries, Arthur by foul trouble and Kansas’ defensive intensity wavered. The Jayhawks that lost to Oklahoma State – those weren’t Self’s players, were they?
“That was a stale team, a tired team,” Self said. “I think it was all between the ears.”
But now, after three consecutive victories, including the most lopsided victory in the history of the Big 12 Conference, Kansas is one game from its fourth consecutive regular season title. Beat Texas A&M on Saturday, and the Jayhawks will clinch a least a share of the Big 12 title. If that doesn’t provide incentive enough to stay mentally focused, Kansas’ emotional victories against K-State and Texas Tech seem to have provided a mental booster shot.
That loss to Oklahoma State doesn’t quite hurt as much.
“If it got us to the point where we’re playing better and have our swagger back a little bit, it was worth it,” Self said.
Jackson said he felt the swagger coming back.
“We’re a great team,” Jackson said. “We can do a lot of things from now, going on the Big 12 Tournament and getting ready for the NCAA Tournament.”
Refocused, reenergized and with its swagger in tow, Kansas has finally reached March.
“Our swagger is not like cocky, but you just have that attitude that were going to go out there and try to play harder than the next team,” Jackson said.
—Edited by Russell Davies
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