Phog Blog » Unfinished Jayhawk Business

Unfinished Jayhawk Business

posted by AJ Vanderhorst on 3/19/2006 -

The birth of my firstborn son on Tuesday, a month ahead of schedule, prevented me from previewing the star-crossed Bradley game. As it turned out, that was no great loss. Or rather, it was. You get my point.

However, Aidan’s arrival allows me to treat the Jayhawks’ implosion with a fairly sanguine attitude. Anyone who saw the K-State and MU losses had to know this was a team that could fall apart in a hurry. The Baby Jayhawks fooled us into thinking their growing pains were behind them. We should all be saying, “Ha, you got us.” Just goes to show, you can never trust babies to arrive on time.

Part of me wants to quit talking about basketball for the season. The world is acrid and bitter. My team sucks in March. KU should adopt a new slogan. “The Kansas Jayhawks: We craft Cinderella stories.” “KU: A great escort to the big dance.” ‘Hawks: Watch us flap in the spotlight.”

Life is awful, I’m weeping in my beer, etc. etc. But there are some loose ends that need to be tied up. Such as,

1) Which team do I root for now?

Instinctively, I’d default to the surviving Big 12 team(s). But in this case that team is Texas, which has somehow evolved into KU’s biggest rival. I was inclined to give Texas respect, until Rick Barnes and the �Horns started choking on sour grapes after the Dallas defeat. “I would have loved to see if we made those free throws, with a one-possession game, see what happened in the last couple of minutes,” said Barnes.

“They played pretty good defense, but I think it was more of us just bogging down on offense and not doing all of what we were supposed to have done,” said Tucker. Big-time players and coaches know when to stop making excuses and give respect. Texas is not a team I can root for in good conscience.

Where do I look next? Several teams have won my respect with their hard-nosed play, but none more than George Mason. Anyone who kicks Roy Williams out of the tournament automatically earns my admiration and gratitude.

So you heard it here first. The George Mason Patriots will beat the Longhorns by 5 to win the NCAA trophy.

2) Where will Darrell Arthur end up?

Given Arthur’s hurry-up-and-wait approach (never do today what you can do next season) and his flirtation with Texas, it might be hard to embrace him with open arms. However, KU will need someone to bang with Texas recruit Kevin Durant next year, and Arthur can’t be blind to the fact that should he follow Durant to Texas, the two will be competing for minutes. The Jayhawks, however, have been soft in the middle all year, and I don’t see Giles, Kaun and Jackson keeping Arthur from getting serious playing time.

My gut feeling is that Self will get Arthur to sign on the dotted line, and then go to work refining his inflated ego lackadaisical worth ethic. Would this be a chancy move? Maybe, but a guy who can bring in Brandon Rush and keep his self-image in check is probably qualified to deal with Arthur. With the exception of head-case Micah Downs, Self seems to be able to �get through’ to his players.

3) What about next season?

No one wants to talk about next season, because it’s such a cop-out. The �freaking’ �Hawks (no more �frickin,'’ that is so Williams-era) should still be progressing in this one. I would need a really great excuse to talk about next season when the smoke from this year’s smash-up is still rising. But of course there is such an excuse, and the word is youth.

You can forgive babies almost anything.

So I’m allowing myself to derive satisfaction from the thought of an angst-filled Jayhawk weight-room. A pumped up bunch of sophs and juniors (can you picture Julian Wright with 15 more pounds of muscle?) will make the 2006-2007 squad a viable preseason top ten pick. Darrell Arthur will give them an inside scoring presence they lacked this season. Sherron Collins, yet another in-your-face guard, will deliver additional firepower.

Out of respect to deservedly bitter KU fans everywhere, that’s as far as I’ll go. But since I have a new baby son, I can afford to think big.

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7 Responses to “Unfinished Jayhawk Business”

GAHAWK Says:
March 19th, 2006 at 10:46 pm
Congratulations! At the end of the day having that baby boy in your arms puts things into perspective a little bit. Not too much though!

Next year is gonna be one for the ages. Preseason top 10 is a given, preseason top 5 is about right. I may be a starry eyed optimist but I think the bigs will come back bigger and better, Rush will show up every game, and we’re all gonna be worried about how many Hawks will be turning pro after we take the whole dang thing. I can’t wait to see what Wright looks like next December.

Love this blog, and once again, congrats on your newborn!
AJ Vanderhorst Says:
March 19th, 2006 at 11:17 pm
GAHAWK, this is an off-the-wall question, but did you used to frequent a KU discussion board on AOL? Your screen name looks really familiar.

If Rush “shows up every game” next season, the team will be nearly impossible to guard.

Thanks for the congrats!
jmac Says:
March 20th, 2006 at 12:10 am
Go Shockers! For now at least.
GAHAWK Says:
March 20th, 2006 at 12:24 am
Sorry buddy, I’m relatively new to the KU blogosphere. And AOL has been on my eat poo and die list for years now. Anyway, props to you and yours, and KU in the Final Four in ‘07.
Jeremy Chrysler Says:
March 20th, 2006 at 9:06 am
Ariel,

Congratulations on the new son. Sometimes life is a little bigger than basketball. Your son and wife will be in my prayers.

The basketball will take care of itself.
DHarger Says:
March 20th, 2006 at 9:40 am
Congrats AJ. Hope all is well for you and yours.

It’s hard to root for Texas, but I am. Big XII schools have to stick together. I’m sorry to say that I rooted for them to win the football national championship too. I think it’d be great for the Big XII to have both in the same school year.

I must also confess that I’m a closet Wichita State fan. I love what Turgeon has done with the team. He has them playing well above their talent level. They play with an underdog’s chip on their shoulder, and that makes them fun to watch!
DHarger Says:
March 20th, 2006 at 9:43 am
And, of course, we can root for Bradley! After all, it might make the bad taste in my mouth a little sweeter if Bradley were to win it all. The Pitt win helped already. Besides, with the way my bracket looks right now, only a Bradley dance in the final four will help.

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