Big 12 title within reach for Jayhawks

Friday, February 20, 2009

KANSAN FILE PHOTO

The Kansas basketball team celebrates winning the 2008 Big 12 regular season title. The Jayhawks are only one game behind first place Oklahoma, who they play Monday.

Sherron Collins can talk about it now.

Collins, a junior guard, knows that a sixth consecutive Big 12 Conference regular season championship is within reach for the Jayhawks, who are currently 10-1 and in second place in the Big 12.

“I think we’ve got a good chance,” Collins said.

For Kansas, it’s relatively simple. Win its last five conference games and Kansas will hoist its 52nd conference title.

Although the Jayhawks identified winning the Big 12 Championship as their goal at the beginning of the season, the players haven’t felt comfortable discussing it until lately.

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Kansas vs Nebraska

Saturday at 3 p.m., Allen Fieldhouse

TV: Channel 8, 15

Check Kansan.com for live commentary thoughout the game.

Of course, the Jayhawks are not relaxing their focus on the next game — a Saturday matinee against Nebraska at 3 p.m. But they’re allowing themselves to think about the conference crown.

“That’s our main focus — to win the Big 12,” freshman forward Marcus Morris said. “That’s what we’re trying to do, but we can never skip an opponent.”

The youngsters like Morris look to Collins and sophomore center Cole Aldrich — the only players on the roster who were a part of the rotation on last year’s national championship team — on how to handle the balancing act.

Aldrich chuckles at the whole situation. A year ago, he was the one observing how the veteran Jayhawks fought toward the Big 12 championship. Now, Aldrich says he’s applying those lessons.

“We learned so much from those guys last year,” Aldrich said. “We’re just trying to teach these young guys everything we learned from those guys to make it a great year in Kansas basketball history again.”

If Kansas wins another conference title, it will be one of the most improbable ones in school history. Most preseason polls picked Kansas to finish fourth in the Big 12 — behind Oklahoma, Texas and Baylor.

The Jayhawks have already exceeded those expectations. Collins isn’t surprised. He never listened to the preseason hype or let it bother him.

“We knew if we do what we do, we’d be sitting at the top of the conference where we are right now,” Collins said. “It wasn’t a big deal to me.”

Kansas coach Bill Self remembers a different thought from the beginning of the season. Self had figured the Jayhawks needed to be 9-1 going into the final three weeks of the season to be in a position to win the Big 12.

Yes, though Self urged his players to never look ahead of the next game, he had formulated where his team needed to be four months later.

“I think every coach does that a little bit,” Self said.

Mission accomplished, anyway. The Jayhawks are right where Self envisioned them and three days away from playing in a showdown that could decide the conference champion.

Kansas takes on Oklahoma, the only team ahead of it in the standings at 11-0, Monday in Norman, Okla. As long as Kansas beats Nebraska, the game against the Sooners will determine who is the top team in the Big 12.

“Hopefully, we can be one game behind,” Self said, “or if we get lucky, maybe be tied going into that game.”

Oklahoma plays at Texas Saturday at 8 p.m. If the Longhorns upset the Sooners, the Jayhawks will be tied for first place entering Monday night’s game.

Either way, the Big Monday showdown will be for first place in the conference. Either way, Kansas controls its own destiny in playing for a Big 12 championship.

— —Edited by Justin Leverett

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