Lawrence, Kan. – As Valentine’s Day approached, Abbey Faris thought being able to hang out with other students on inflatable beds and sleeping bags inside Allen Fieldhouse was one sweetheart of a deal.
Faris didn’t want her family back in Fort Collins to get the wrong impression. She and others sprawled along the concourse all represented groups of up to 30 friends who wanted to be at the head of the line for tickets to the next game.
A junior communications major, Faris put in a four-hour afternoon shift and got some studying done.
“Everybody on campus knows about ‘camping,”‘ Faris said. “This is the reason I picked Kansas to go to school … to be part of this support for KU basketball. There are so many great players to watch.”
From Phog Allen to Larry Brown to Roy Williams, Kansas coaches have never had trouble attracting talent. The trick has always been in getting those blue-chippers to mesh and play as one – where the team performs even better than the sum of its parts.
Rival coaches in the Big 12, including Colorado’s Ricardo Patton, marvel at how Bill Self gets the pieces to fit so smoothly, without any friction.
Sometimes that is no easy task.
“There can be more chemistry issues coaching a team that has a lot of really talented guys,” said Self, 93-28 in four seasons at Kansas and 300-133 in his career with stops at Oral Roberts, Tulsa and Illinois.
“Offensively, there almost has to be equal opportunity when you have a lot of talent. But there will be times when a guy feels like he can do more.”
A heady point guard at Oklahoma State in the early 1980s, Self learned under some of the best. He began his coaching career here as a volunteer to Brown for the 1985-86 season, and later served as an assistant at his alma mater under Eddie Sutton.
Although the ninth-rated Jayhawks (21-4, 8-2 Big 12) have six or seven players capable of averaging big numbers, balance is the name of the game at KU. The Jayhawks enter tonight’s game against Colorado (6-14, 2-8) in Boulder without a player rated among the top scorers in the conference.
Sophomore swingman Brandon Rush ranks 13th with a 14.6 average. He’s the only KU scorer among the league’s top 20. But few teams have better balance. Julian Wright (12.1), Mario Chalmers (11.4), Darrell Arthur (10.6) and Sherron Collins (9.6) can come up big.
“You might have five guys that can each get 20 points,” Self said. “But if all five guys are on the court, as a team you’re better off if each guy gets 12, as opposed to having four guys watch one guy do it.”
What’s even more impressive is that Self’s top five scorers are freshmen or sophomores.
“I tell the guys, moving the ball is more important than catching it and holding it,” Self explained. “And taking a shot, when you’ve missed a few, is not as important as setting a screen or getting in position to rebound.”
Then there’s the other end of the court. Rush recalled rolling his eyes after arriving on campus two summers ago when Self said he needed to learn to play defense.
It’s an inherent problem. Star players on high school teams, and especially the blue-chippers, are often told to play passively on defense by coaches fearful of losing them to fouls.
“Young guys think they play hard when they get here,” Self said. “They don’t have any idea what playing hard is.”
Each year, Self includes a mention of the student “campers” in his orientation speech to freshman recruits. He tells his players to never take fans for granted.
And to always look down when they walk out of the locker room for practice.
“When you come through the door you have to watch where you step, or you might trip over one of those beds,” said Collins, a freshman guard from Chicago.
Tom Kensler can be reached at 303-954-1280 or tkensler@denverpost.com.
