KANSAS STATE, IOWA STATE, BAYLOR WIN. 5A Vol.154/No.76 36 pages
SPORTS
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LAWRENCE JOURNAL-WORLD O LJWorld.com/sports O Friday, March 16, 2012
75 CENTS
KANSAS VS. DETROIT • 8:57 TONIGHT
PAY HEED
Tom Keegan tkeegan@ljworld.com
Titans ‘flying high’ OMAHA, NEB. — Detroit Mercy point guard Ray McCallum Jr., the coach’s son, brings the leadership qualities and basketball instincts stereotypical of a coach’s son. He also brings so much leaping ability he placed second in the 2010 McDonald’s All-American dunking competition. The winner? Josh Selby. The name rings a vague, almost silent, bell, but I can’t quite place him. Anyway, McCallum ranks second on his current team as a dunker, but it’s a far more distant second. “I’ve never seen anyone with Doug Anderson’s athletic ability,” McCallum said of Anderson, the 6-foot-6 Titans forward. “What you guys have seen in games, I mean, it’s nothing compared to what we’ve seen in practice.” Advised 6-10, 270-pound Indiana transfer Eli Holman: “Watch our practice. He might put on a show for you.” Good idea. “Hey 23,” a young fan standing in the front row hollered toward the layup line. “Go between your legs.” Anderson never looked into the stands, but he did go between his legs and throw one down. If that ranked an 8.5, the 10 came at the end of practice. Anderson got up so high and came down with such force on a windmill that a screw popped out of the basket. Holman picked up the screw and explained that the power of his earlier dunk loosened it. (It reminded me of what I told my sister when she opened a jar I couldn’t: “Yeah, but I loosened it up for you.”) Dunk competitions lead to credit-grabs, but individual competitions don’t change basketball teams. Holman articulated a far more meaningful factor in finishing the season with 10 victories in 11 games. “We bought into the defensive system,” Holman said. “Our team was usually a little more offensive, but we bought into a defensive mind-set.” Holman rattled off the defensive contributions of a handful of teammates, including 6-10 center LaMarcus Lowe, who averages 2.2 blocked shots a game to go with Holman’s 1.4 blocks. “He’s so long he can block shots standing on his tip-toes,” Holman said of Lowe. “When you have the kind of players we have and they all buy into the same program and are not playing to their individual talents, you can play with any team in the country. But you have to stay humble. Once you get out of that humble mind-set and into arrogance, you’re going to fall apart as a team.” Humble and confident, the perfect blend for team sports. “It took our confidence straight through the roof,” Lowe said of the late-season surge. “It’s just like hitting 10 of your first 11 shots in a game. The rim looks like an ocean to you. You feel like you can shoot anything. You feel like you can take half-court shots and make them. We got hot at the right time. We’re coming in here flying high.” Said Holman: “We’re trying to shock the world.”
Nick Krug/Journal-World Photos
THE JAYHAWKS AND COACH BILL SELF LOOK UP WITH ANTICIPATION as they follow a half-court shot from a player at the end of practice. The Jayhawks held a short workout Thursday at CenturyLink Center in Omaha, Neb., in preparation for tonight’s NCAA Tournament opener against Detroit.
Veteran Teahan’s advice: Listen up By Gary Bedore gbedore@ljworld.com
OMAHA, NEB. — Conner Teahan, the only remaining Kansas University basketball player to clip the nets after the 2008 national title game, has shared with his 2011-12 teammates the secret to winning it all. “Listen to coach (Bill) Self and get into what he says and get into the team concept,” Teahan, a 6-foot-6 senior shooting guard out of Kan-
sas City (Mo.) Rockhurst, said of the formula for postseason success. “We have so many talented players, you listen to what he has to say. Obviously, he has a good game plan in terms of defense, offense ... listen to what Teahan he has to say because sometimes we’ve
had problems with that in the past.” The Jayhawks, who by all accounts have had a great few days of practice following Friday’s loss to Baylor in the semifinals of the Big 12 tournament, begin the NCAAs tonight in the same building the Jayhawks opened the ’08 NCAA run. No. 2-seeded KU will meet No. 15-seed Detroit at 8:57 p.m. at CenturyLink Center. The winner advances to a Sunday game against either
Purdue or St. Mary’s, with that victor advancing to the Sweet 16 the following Friday in St. Louis. “I don’t know how many similarities there are (between now and ’08). That team was so balanced in terms of scoring. We have two guys primarily our offensive people,” Teahan said of Thomas Robinson and Tyshawn Taylor. “Defensively, that team was great.
DANCE PARTNERS
Who: Kansas (27-6) vs. Detroit (2213) When: 8:57 tonight Where: Omaha, Neb. TV: TruTv (cable ch. Please see KANSAS, page 3A 48, 248)
Big man meant no disrespect By Matt Tait mtait@ljworld.com
DETROIT CENTER ELI HOLMAN GOES UP for a dunk during practice at CenturyLink Center.
OMAHA, NEB. — Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know by now that University of Detroit Mercy big man Eli Holman made a somewhat shocking statement about Kansas University forward Thomas Robinson after learning that the 15th-seeded Titans would face No. 2 seed Kansas at 8:57 tonight in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Thursday evening, in the Detroit locker room during Detroit’s media session at CenturyLink Center, Holman seized the opportunity to explain he meant no disrespect when he told a Detroit reporter he could “handle” Robinson. “The comment kind of got
“
Thomas Robinson is a great player. He’s projected as one of the top five picks in the (NBA) draft (in June), and the guy’s a beast down low. But what I’m saying is, Detroit’s here, too, now. And we’re coming to play.” — Detroit’s Eli Holman, on his match-up with KU’s Thomas Robinson blown up a little bit,” Holman said. “So I’m gonna clear that up now. That wasn’t exactly what I said. Thomas Robinson is a great player. He’s projected as one of the top five picks in the (NBA) draft (in June), and the guy’s a beast down low. But what I’m saying is, Detroit’s here, too, now. And we’re coming to play.” In its entirety, Holman’s original comment read: “Confident? We have a lot of confidence. Robinson? I can handle Robinson. He has to handle
me. These are the moments you want as a college player. You want to play against a player like Robinson.” Holman said he saw nothing wrong with what he said. Of course, he also made it clear he understood why it created such a stir. “I got phone calls from California, with people saying, ‘Man, what’s going on?’” Holman said. “A lot of people understood what I was saying, but some people didn’t. Please see TITANS, page 3A
Two Jayhawks get All-Region nods By Benton Smith basmith@ljworld.com
The good news keeps rolling in for Kansas University’s women’s basketball team. Three days after the Jayhawks nabbed their first NCAA Tournament berth since 2000, the team learned Thursday that juniors Carolyn Davis and Angel Goodrich were selected as All-
Region nominees for the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association All-America Team. A 6-foot-3 junior forward, Davis (16.9 points per game, 5.7 rebounds) earned the recognition despite missing the Jayhawks’ previous eight games due to a season-ending knee injury. Point guard Goodrich, meanwhile, leads all NCAA
Div. I players with 7.5 assists a game and averages 13.1 points for Kansas (19-12). The honors came in the middle of a blissful week for the Jayhawks, who have been preparing for their first-round match-up with Nebraska (24-8), set to tip off at 6:50 p.m. Sunday at Little Rock, Ark. KU coach Bonnie Henrickson appreciated that
Davis was included among the nominees and said her inclusion showed how much respect Davis has earned in Davis the Big 12 and around the country. The Jayhawks have been bombarded with congratulations and well-wishes the past few days since becoming the first KU team to make Please see KU WOMEN, page 4A
Goodrich