Kansas basketball resembles 1953 team

Column photo

By Bryan Wheeler

Friday, November 21, 2008

“All right boys, this is going to be the roughest, toughest season a University of Kansas team has ever faced. And to you, captain Dean Kelly, you’re the only returning regular and you and the rest of these boys have to carry a terrific load. Do you think you can do it? I think you can do it. What do you think?”

— Dr. F.C. “Phog” Allen

The year was 1953 and the Jayhawks returned to Lawrence to raise a third National Championship banner. Coach Phog Allen had the daunting task of replacing four starters on a team that not only won a title but had seven players take home the Olympic gold in basketball the year before.

Dean Kelly, a 5-foot-11 guard, was the lone starter from the previous season. Kelley had averaged 6.5 points per game and was named to the NCAA All-Tournament team. That season the Jayhawks were picked to place fourth in the Big Seven Conference and started out as the AP No. 20-ranked team.

That year the Jayhawks went on to surprise everyone. B.H. Born, a 6-foot-9 center became a team leader and averaged 18.9 points and 11.2 rebounds per game. In 1952, Born averaged just 1.2 points per game as a backup. The team went on to win the Big Seven title and advance to the Final Four against No. 2 Washington.

Washington came unprepared for the game. Born and legendary North Carolina coach Dean Smith, then a player for Kansas, recalled the game in the book “Mac’s Boys,” a book about the 1953 Indiana Hoosiers.

“I don’t think Washington bothered to scout us because they thought we’d lost everybody from the year before and weren’t that tough,” Born said.

“The first 10 minutes (against Washington) were unbelievable. They had a hard time getting a shot,” Smith said.

The result: Kansas 79, Washington 53. The Jayhawks were headed to defend the national title against Indiana.

Kansas put up a valiant effort against heavily favored No. 1 Indiana in Kansas City’s Municipal Auditorium but lost on the final shot of the game 69-68.

Fifty-five years later, the 2008-2009 edition of Kansas basketball will go to Kansas City’s Sprint Center Monday and Tuesday for the CBE Classic Tournament to face Washington and then Florida or Syracuse.

Will history repeat itself this season? After two games, it’s far too early in the season to tell. On paper though, there are several similarities between the 1953 team and these Jayhawks.

Kansas started the season ranked No. 23 and was ranked third in the preseason Big 12 poll.

This year’s team features a 5-foot-11 guard, Sherron Collins, who was an integral part of last year’s title, and former backup center Cole Aldrich.

Only time will tell if this team has the magic that Phog Allen’s boys had in 1953. Should this team struggle early, it wouldn’t be any different than the 1953 team, which lost to the Rice Owls in just their second game.

— — Edited by Jennifer Torline

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