Friday, March 7, 2008
When Kansas players walked off the court in Gallagher-Iba Arena in Stillwater, Okla., Oklahoma State fans rushed the court in celebration of their 13-12 team beating the AP No. 4 ranked team in the country 61-60. This was Kansas basketball at its lowest point this season.
Trying to rationalize Kansas losing its third game of the season, fans and the media alike even tried to compare the Jayhawks to last year’s National Championship Florida team. After losing to Oklahoma State, Kansas went 4-2 in February. Last year’s Florida team went 5-3 in February. Statistically, it could make sense. If the National Champions could have a rough month in February, then Kansas was just fine, right?
Bill Self didn’t think so.
“It is like comparing apples and oranges because Florida had already won a national championship last year,” Self said at his weekly press conference the Monday after the Oklahoma State game. “We haven’t been down that road yet. It would be giving our guys and our team way too much credit to compare us to a team that has already done it.”
Something happened, though from the outside it wasn’t apparent. Senior forward Darnell Jackson best explained it following Kansas’ 109-51 stomping of Texas Tech on Monday.
“When we lost to OSU and we had practice the next day, I think a lot of guys realized this is it,” Jackson. “We came together as a team and we just told each other that everybody needs to bring something to the table.”
Kansas beat Iowa State on the road and then traveled home to Allen Field House. Considering ESPN’s College GameNight traveled to Lawrence Saturday and Kansas had Senior Night on Big Monday, Bill Self felt a lot better about things.
Self went as far as telling ESPN’s Andy Katz that Kansas’ losses to Kansas State, Texas and Oklahoma State were all part of his team overcoming adversity.
“Every team that wins in March goes through some sort of crap during the season,” Self told Katz.
After witnessing Kansas State and Texas Tech’s troubles against Kansas, it was clear that the “Pay Heed, All Who Enter: Beware of ‘The Phog’ showed that Kansas was not to be reckoned with at home. After the Texas Tech game, coach Pat Knight expressed how he thought his team felt about playing in Allen Field House.
“I had guys that I honestly thought looked scared when they got out there to play,” said Knight.
This came from a coach whose team had knocked off the then AP No. 5 ranked Texas just two days before. When Kansas plays with emotion and intensity, every player can thrive and outplay its opponents. This is a team that has intimidated opponents. In the Texas Tech game, Bill Self played all 16 players on his roster. The Big 12 co-player of the week, junior guard Brandon Rush, played just 10 minutes. Every player except for freshman guard Chase Buford scored points. Even though Buford didn’t score, he managed a steal and a block in two minutes of play.
As the Jayhawks venture out of the “Phog,” future success will come only if they can maintain the intensity they had against Kansas State and Texas Tech. Kansas has worked through a few rough spots on the road in Big 12 play. The team has also overcome this adversity and dominated opponents at home. Now it is time to continue that.
If they can do that, as the legendary rock singer John Fogerty said, “There’s a bad moon on the rise.”
—Edited by Nick Mangiaracina
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