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Coaches begin to solve roster jigsaw

By Corey Thibodeaux

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Collins, Aldrich named preseason All Americans

The Associated Press announced its preseason All-America team Tuesday featuring Kansas junior center Cole Aldrich and senior guard Sherron Collins.

Notre Dame’s Luke Harangody led the way with 57 votes from the 65 voters. Aldrich received 49 votes and Collins received 39. Finishing out the All-American team were Kentucky’s Patrick Patterson (35 votes) and Duke’s Kyle Singler (30 votes).

The news took Aldrich by surprise.

Players will start the audition process for positions as Kansas coaches try to solve the roster puzzle tonight.

The much anticipated 2009-10 season for the Jayhawks begins at 7 p.m. when they play host to the Fort Hays State Tigers in the first of two exhibition games.

The Jayhawks won almost every accolade there is to win in the preseason, but by only scrimmaging during practices, they haven’t had anyone to prove anything against except themselves thus far. Junior guard Tyrel Reed is embracing the breath of fresh air.

“Going against the same team every practice,” Reed said, “it’ll be nice to see another color out there.”

“That’s the first I’ve heard about it so far,” Aldrich said. “I don’t even know what to say. It’s a huge honor. And like Sherron and I have said before, it’s just a reflection of our team and how well our team helps us out a lot.”

These days, wherever Aldrich goes, Collins is right there and vice-versa. They are mentioned at the top of the Naismith Watch List, Big 12 Preseason Co-Players of the Year or the Preseason All-Big 12 Team. Their relationship blossomed over the summer so much that Aldrich said he considers Collins the “girlfriend” and himself as the “guy.”

Collins had to pause after hearing that metaphor.

“I don’t know how that sounds,” he said. “I’ll say I’m like his big little brother.”

The relationship is comfortable enough to joke about, Aldrich said. It is good comic relief for the team as well.

“Like I said, he’s a big goofball,” Collins said. “He’s always joking and we get a laugh out of him every time.”

On a more serious note, coach Bill Self still sees some room for improvement in the Jayhawks as a team. But when it comes to Aldrich and Collins, there’s no one else he’d rather coach.

“I don’t think we’ve as a group practiced to our ranking and individually haven’t played up to the things people are saying about us,” Self said. “But I think you’d be very hard pressed to find two better players in the country than those two.”

The Jayhawks have a lot of solid players, but where they fit into the rotation remains to be seen. Coach Bill Self knows he will have to make some tough decisions in the coming weeks.

“I think we’ve got a lot of good players,” Self said. “I think it’s a good problem to have. And I also think this — we can’t keep our good players happy if everybody plays. But if you were to red-shirt a couple that were starters at Kansas, then that’s not bad either.”

The red-shirting referred to senior guard Mario Little and sophomore guard Travis Releford, both of whom will not play against Fort Hays. The coaches are taking the week to decide whether to red-shirt the two so they may have significant roles beyond this season. If they play in the exhibition game, they are ineligible to be red-shirted, but freshmen can be red-shirted at anytime during the season.

Of course, Self said, that is still up in the air.

Also not playing in Tuesday’s exhibition is freshman guard C.J. Henry because of what Self called a “bum knee.” The knee caused Henry to miss nine days of practice.

This first game is the first step toward becoming Self’s ideal team. The formula for success for all of his teams includes defense, mental toughness and stealing extra possessions.

“I believe that to be the identity of winning teams,” Self said. “I don’t see that being our identity just yet.”

The team has spent only two weeks on defense so this will be the first showcasing of its talent. Sophomore guard Tyshawn Taylor is prepared to commit on the defensive end.

“We already know we can score because we have scorers on our team,” he said, “so I think playing defense and stopping guys from scoring on us is something Coach will definitely look for.”

The coaches will be watching how well the freshmen can grasp the defense. Kansas’ promising underclassman, freshman guard Xavier Henry, said there was a lot of play terminology and mental discipline involved in the Jayhawk defense.

“We’ve started to get into it — get tough and physical minded to defense,” he said. “I don’t think we’re fully there yet, but we’ve gotten into it.”

The Kansas and Fort Hays State series started in 1994. Kansas is 6-0 all time against Fort Hays, including three exhibitions. The last meeting of the two teams was an exhibition in 2007 when Kansas won 93-56. The Jayhawks scored in the ’90s all but once against the Tigers.

Fort Hays returns five letter winners from the past year, a year in which the team went 20-9. Senior forward Tim Peintner is the top returning scorer with 12.3 points per game and also led the team with 7.1 rebounds per game last year.

The game starts at 7 p.m. at Allen Fieldhouse and will be televised on Jayhawk TV. Following the game, the Jayhawks will be out of action until their Nov. 10 against Pittsburg State.

— Edited by Jacob Muselmann

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