Don't count KU out
By MAC STEVENSON
Contributing writer
Losing to Texas Saturday in the Big 12 Tournament in Dallas may prove to be a blessing in disguise for KU's basketball team. These conference tournaments are soon forgotten and meaningless compared to the NCAA Tournament.
Kansas opens the NCAA Tournament against Illinois-Chicago Friday in Kansas City. If the Jayhawks win their opener, which they should, they will play the winner of Providence-Pacific for a berth in the Sweet Sixteen.
Il-Chicago has a 24-7 record and is a senior-dominated team. KU will have a size advantage and playing in Kansas City is a big edge. The best team that Il-Chicago has played is Illinois, and they lost that one, 75-60.
If Kansas gets by Il-Chicago, the Jayhawks will likely face Providence (20-8) Sunday in a battle to reach the Sweet Sixteen. Providence — from the Big East — lost at home to Texas (79-77) on Jan. 5, but the Friars beat Connecticut (66-56) in Hartford on Jan. 24.
Experience helps, but it's no guarantee of success when the action starts. The pace of the games is quick and a bad outing will send a team home quicker than it takes to tell about it.
One of the best features of the NCAA Tournament is that the biased East Coast media is neutralized because the games are decided on the court, not in the polls. Announcer Dick Vitale and his associates at ESPN have proclaimed that the Atlantic Coast Conference is by far and away the best in the nation. Perhaps. The ACC is a good league and the winner might come from their ranks, but don't bet the farm on it.
Don't count this Kansas team out. A week's rest will do wonders for the Jayhawks. Despite the loss to Texas, KU is playing solid basketball and the Jayhawks will be a tough out for anyone they play in the Big Dance.
Wichita State's basketball team had a good regular season. The Shockers were in a three-way tie for second in the Missouri Valley with a 12-6 record and they were 21-10 overall. But Wichita wasn't as good as they should have been.
Coach Mark Turgeon has an undisciplined ball club. And it's his fault. The worst offender is junior small forward Jamar Howard (6'5", 206). Howard has earned a bad reputation among the officials by disputing and whining about every call and making a fool out of himself while he's doing it.
The problem is that Turgeon lets him get away with it, and there's no excuse for that because Howard's tantrums affect the rest of the players and the team as a whole. Not far behind Howard in undisciplined actions on the court and poor team play is point guard Fridge Holman (5'10", 180) and off-guard Randy Burns (5'11", 185). They both take too many wild shots and make numerous bad passes.
Favoritism toward the home team by the referees is widespread in college basketball; however, it's worse in the Big 12 than other conferences. The officiating needs to be changed before next season.
A perfect example is KU's two recent games against Missouri — in Columbia on March 7 and in Dallas on March 12. And this is just one illustration; in game after game, the home teams had fewer fouls and shot more free throws than the visiting teams.
At MU, the Tigers shot 32 free throws and KU went to the line 14 times. Missouri was whistled for 15 fouls and Kansas was called for 26 fouls.
Less than a week later (March 12) on a neutral court in Dallas, KU played MU again. This time KU was 21 of 25 from the foul line and Missouri was 12 of 22. KU was whistled for 20 fouls and MU for 19. That's the same two teams playing twice in less than a week; the numbers speak volumes.
If the refs can't stand the heat, they should get out of the kitchen.
