Smash-Mouth Jayhawks
Zone busters. Spark plugs. Pit bulls.
I’m looking for the right words, help me.
The Kansas Jayhawks are rolling as the NCAA tourney looms, and it’s hard to do justice to their offensive tenacity and smash-mouth defensive mentality.
After the Jayhawks beat down the Texas Longhorns, making me look good for having called the win and predicting key stats, the whole state of Kansas started jumping up and down. Out in the prairie, ground hogs thought a minor earthquake was hitting the Midwest.
Nope, it was just the ‘Hawks and their fans, celebrating a pay-back smack-down. Everyone told them not to do it, including the Longhorn cheerleaders, but KU went on and defied the Lone Star curse. They messed with Texas, but the dirt didn’t stick. If anything, NBA lottery pick LaMarcus Aldridge (4 points, 5 rebounds, no blocks) is looking a little dusty now.
As the week progresses, I’ll post some thoughts on KU’s first-round match-up with the Bradley Braves. Bradley features a couple of NBA-caliber players, one of them a 7-footer. Needless to say, the services of the Jayhawk big men will be required once again.
For the moment, I’m simply thrilled with the tough, tough, in-your-face intensity I’m seeing from the Jayhawks. This team appears sold on Bill Self’s strategy, and as a result has a toughness that Roy Williams KU teams always seemed to lack. This concerted aggression is embodied by PG Russell Robinson, whose stat line in the Oklahoma State game included 7 steals, 7 assists, 7 stitches. No problem. Against the Longhorns, Robinson’s stat line resembled a Trophy assembly line: 14 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 steals.
Gutsy.
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10 Responses to “Smash-Mouth Jayhawks”
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March 13th, 2006 at 6:29 pm
Sommerville is a poor man’s Thomas Gardner. He shot 47 eFG% for the season, and only 39.6 eFG% against the Valley’s tournament teams. His assist-to-turnover ratio is comparable to CJ Giles’s.
O’Bryant could be a big factor on the glass, but Bradley relies on him to do a lot of rebounding.
I’m not sure I’d go so far as to call either NBA-caliber.
March 13th, 2006 at 7:46 pm
Interesting comparison… using Pomeroy’s Basketball Shrink, the most similar offensive team to Bradley that KU has played is Missouri.
March 13th, 2006 at 7:53 pm
a couple of sasha kaun special siberian elbows should put bryant in his place right quick. did anyone else see that shiner he gave buckman?
don’t mess with texas??? don’t mess with sasha.
March 13th, 2006 at 7:54 pm
err, i meant o’bryant…
March 13th, 2006 at 9:28 pm
In March 2001, I drove to the ESPN Zone in Washington DC to watch an NCAA tournament game between KU and Illinois. I remember sitting there in frustration, chugging beer as I watched our guys getting pushed and shoved like little boys by players who, though surely not more talented, were certainly a lot stronger and tougher. The biggest whimp of them all, Eric Chenoweth, didn’t take a single shot. I remember wondering how great it would be to have a team that can run as well as play the smashmouth kind of defense that Illinois was playing. Looks like we have that now.
March 13th, 2006 at 11:35 pm
i have a similar moment. i remember a tournament game from ‘95 when junior burroughs pushed then-freshman raef lafrentz around like a rag doll. and then a year later john wallace and todd burgen did the same thing.
never again. never again.
March 14th, 2006 at 7:11 am
That’s why I have Michigan State upsetting UNC. I’ve made the comparison of Roy Williams’ teams to sports cars - fast and beautiful under the right conditions, but downright useless in the slop.
I haven’t really come up with a good car for a Bill Self team, at least a car that exists in real life. Because honestly, I think Bill’s got the athletes and the finishers to excel in an up and down game, but they are disciplined and tough enough to win the slobberknockers.
Oddly enough, I think that the Big 12, down though it may have been, will have been good preparation for the teams that made it into the tourney.
The Big 12 is a great defensive conference this year, with UT, KU, OSU, OU, A&M and to some extent KSU. We’ve had a lot of teams try to get us into grudge matches, and by and large, they’ve been unsuccessful.
Given that fact, I think we’ll be relatively well prepared for Pitt.
March 14th, 2006 at 7:56 am
I think the car has to have speed, style, and toughness. What about the Turbo charged Range Rover? Just a thought.
March 14th, 2006 at 8:10 am
I was thinking one of these magically responsive Hummer 2s that the cops drive on CSI Miami - they never get stuck in traffic and they can corner like F1 cars.
Plus, Bill could step out of one and drop a pithy one liner (while adjusting his shades) like “We…..are about to inject the drug dealers with bad medicine” before the theme music plays.
March 14th, 2006 at 9:43 am
> Zone busters. Spark plugs. Pit bulls.
I believe the phrase you are looking for is “Ball Hawks”.