Jinxed Jayhawks Need To Get It Together The magazine strikes again
Nov. 16, 2006
By Bryan Armen Graham
CSTV.com
BRYAN GRAHAM
Bryan is a basketball editor for CSTV.com and contributes on a regular weekly basis. E-mail here!
The Sports Illustrated cover jinx lives.
But don't tell that to Bill Self, whose third-ranked Kansas team suffered a gut-shot upset loss to Oral Roberts on Tuesday night at Allen Fieldhouse -- about 24 hours after the iconic sports mag published its Nov. 20 issue that declared the Jayhawks the nation's No. 1 team with Mario Chalmers and Julian Wright plastered on the cover.
"Sports Illustrated didn't have anything to do with us losing tonight," Self said. "ORU had a lot to do with us losing tonight."
Kansas returns all five starters and 10 letter-winners from last year's Big 12 co-champions -- a group that comprised 85.2 percent of its scoring, 85.0 percent of its rebounding, 85.8 percent of its steals and 94.1 percent of its blocked shots. But the fourth-year coach of the Jayhawks is quick to note that his team's impressive collection of preseason accolades is predicated more on potential than merit.
"We didn't deserve [the ranking], what have we done to deserve that? Everybody keeps saying all this about our team, but what have we done?" Self asked reporters. "All we did last year was play pretty well for the first part of the season, but we got beat in the first round at the NCAA Tournament last year. This team hasn't done anything to deserve the accolades before they've earned it."
Caleb Green, the two-time Mid-Continent Conference Player of the Year, finished with 20 points, 11 rebounds, eight assists and five steals -- just two dimes short of a triple-double. But sophomore swingman Marchello Vealy, who averaged just 3.3 points as a freshman, paced Oral Roberts with 22 points on 7-for-8 shooting from beyond the arc.
"In the scouting report, we went over that he was a good shooter, but we did not think he was a shooter like that," Kansas guard Brandon Rush said. "After the first couple threes, we should have buckled down a little bit more on him, but he was still shooting right over us and making them, so give credit to ORU.We trapped down on Caleb Green and he dished it out for the wide-open three."
The Jayhawks have 30 more games (at least) to right the ship and live up to their considerable advance billing, which Green believes they will do.
"Kansas didn't have the best of nights tonight," Green said. "You really don't know how to take these kinds of wins, because they were an awesome team. I bet they will regroup and you will see an awesome team the rest of the year."
With the season's first high-profile upset in the books, it's safe to say that college basketball is underway in earnest.
Giving Chase
Is Chase Budinger the best player in college basketball?
Maybe that's jumping the gun. But there was no one in the country better than the Encinitas, Calif., native Tuesday night.
Arizona's gifted 6-foot-7, 190-pound swingman -- the national high school volleyball player of the year at LaCosta Canyon High -- poured in 32 points on 11-for-15 shooting and added seven rebounds in a 101-79 rout of a Northern Arizona team that took down Arizona State just two days prior.
Budinger, a swingman who can play all five positions and has drawn comparisons to program legend Sean Elliott, played just 29 minutes and left to a standing ovation with 9:30 remaining in regulation and the outcome no longer in doubt.
"It always feels good when you start knocking down shots," Budinger said. "Every time I hit a shot the crowd would go wild. It's a great feeling."
When Greg Oden returns from a wrist injury on Jan. 1, the Ohio State seven-footer will have some catching up to do as long as Budinger keeps up his breakneck pace.
Trivia Bag
Which school holds the all-time record for consecutive victories on its home floor? (Answer below.)
Is there a figure in college basketball with a keener knack for talent development than Mark Few? The Gonzaga coach's latest pupil is Josh Heytvelt, a 6-foot-11 sophomore who was relegated to wallflower status with a broken ankle during the Adam Morrison hype parade but who has enjoyed several standout performances in his first season as a principal. The Clarkston, Wash., native scored 22 points in a season-opening win over Eastern Washington before his 25-point, 11-rebound performance in a blowout victory over Rice. Heytvelt took the backseat to the team concept in Wednesday night's victory over Baylor, contributing 13 points as five Zags notched double figures. Twenty-nine days before meeting Duke at the World's Most Famous Arena, Gonzaga will face their Tobacco Road archrivals -- second-ranked North Carolina -- in the Preseason NIT semifinals.
Trivia Answer
Kentucky won an incredible 129 consecutive games at Rupp Arena over a 12-year span between 1943 and 1955.
Milli-Grahams
·Huntington High's O.J. Mayo, the nation's most coveted blue-chip prospect, ended years of speculation in signing a national letter of intent to play at Southern California on Wednesday. Mayo, who led Cincinnati's North College Hill High to consecutive Division III state titles before transferring to Huntington for his senior season, is the crown jewel of a signing class that includes Davon Jefferson of Lynwood, Calif., forward Leonard Washington of Lake Charles, La., and swingman Marcus Simmons of Alexandria, La.
·Alabama center Jermareo Davison will not travel to this week's Paradise Jam Tournament in the Virgin Islands after the death of his girlfriend in an automobile accident over the weekend. Coach Mark Gottfried said Tuesday that the senior center, who averaged 14.3 points and 8.9 rebounds last season, might decide to join the No. 10-ranked Crimson Tide later in the week.
