1977-78
OVERALL HOME AWAY NEUTRAL CONFERENCE PLACE CONF. TOURNEY POST-SEASON
 24-5 14-1 10-4 0-0 13-1 1st 1-1 0-1 NCAA

ROSTER:

NO. POS. NAME CLASS HGT. WGT. Hometown (Previous School)
        RETURNEES:        
42 F Scott Anderson* So. 6'7 240 Addison, IL (Addison Trail HS)
13 G/F John Douglas*Cpt. Sr. 6'2 180 Leighton, AL (Colbert Co. HS)
15 G Milt Gibson*** Sr. 6'1 185 Roswell, NM (Goddard HS)
00 G Hasan Houston*% So. 6'2 180 St. Louis, MO  (University City HS)
3 G Clint Johnson*** Sr. 6'3 185 Leavenworth, KS
24 C Ken Koenigs***Cpt. Sr. 6'1 210 Goddard, KS
44 C Paul Mokeski** Jr. 7'1 250 Encino, CA  (Crespi HS)
34 G/F Brad Sanders** Jr. 6'6 180 Leavenworth, KS
21 F Mac Stallcup So. 6'6 220 Tulsa, OK  (Edison HS)
22 C/F Donnie Von Moore** Sr. 6'9 205 Chicago, IL (Kenwood HS)
        NEW FACES:        
40 F John Crawford% Fr. 6'8 180 Kansas City, MO (Northeast HS)
10 G Wilmore Fowler Fr. 6'1 175 Palmetto, FL
31 F/G Booty Neal Fr. 6'5 185 Oxon Hill, MD
14 G Darnell Valentine Fr. 6'2 185 Wichita, KS  (Heights HS)
  G David Verser#%        
        REDSHIRT:        
  F Chester Giles Jr. 6'9  

Chicago, IL (M. L. King HS)
Transfer from Independence (KS) Juco

* Varsity letter       Cpt. = Captain    # = Walk-on      % = Nonletterman

HEAD COACH
Ted Owens, Head Coach, 13th year
Asst. Coaches:
Bob Hill, Asst. Coach, 1st year
Lafayette Norwood, Asst. Coach, 3rd year
Walt Wesley, Asst. Coach, 2nd year

LOSSES FROM LAST YEAR:

PLAYER LOSSES Class Hgt. POS. G/GS PTS PPG RBS RPG PPts STATUS
Chris Barnthouse Sr. 6'4 G/F 15/0 18 1.2 7 0.5 1.47 Graduated
Herb Nobles Sr. 6'7 F 28/28 415 14.8 230 8.2 21.29 Drafted by Detroit Pistons
'77 TOTALS         433 15.5 237 8.5 22.76  
Percent losses from 1977         21.3%   19.1%   21.7%  

 

PRESEASON OUTLOOK:
KU's only significant loss from the '77 season was starting forward Herb Nobles.  However, the recruiting class includes high school All-American Darnell Valentine, three other notable freshman and David Verser from the football team. Juco transfer Chet Giles was declared ineligible just before the season started.

Coupling the recruits with big men Ken Koenigs, Paul Mokeski and Donnie Von Moore and returning guard Clint Johnson, the Jayhawks look prepared to make a deep run in the NCAAs after taking the conference title.

 

SEASON SUMMARY:

Back in 1971, Owens had said that every coach dreams of playing UCLA.  Well, he got another shot at it in the 1977-78 season.  KU (led by freshman Darnell Valentine and senior Ken Koenigs, both All-Big Eight selections) had won its sixth Big Eight title under Owens.  Although the Jayhawks had beaten K-State twice during the season, the Wildcats prevailed in the Big Eight Tourney, winning 87-76 in Kansas City.

KU still made the NCAA field but was sent to the West Regional in Eugene, Ore., to face UCLA in the first round.  Once again, fouls were the Jayhawks’ demise.  KU outscored UCLA 68-56 from the field, but UCLA was 27 of 39 from the free-throw line and KU only 8 of 17.  UCLA won 83-76.  The Jayhawks led 45-42 at half-time and still held on to the lead as late a 2:37 left in the game.  But Valentine, Koenigs and Clint Johnson all fouled out, and UCLA pulled away.  Junior center Paul Mokeski led the Jayhawks with 18 points and 12 rebounds.

Source:  The Crimson & Blue Handbook, pages 77-78

HIGHLIGHTS:

Coach Ted Owens made changes on his staff and he brought in heralded freshman Darnell Valentine with hopes of forgetting a 13-13 record from the previous season.
Valentine teamed with John Douglas, Ken Koenigs, Paul Mokeski and Clint Johnson to form a starting five that led Kansas to a 13-1 Big Eight record. Along the way, Kansas beat Kentucky in Allen Fieldhouse. Earlier that day, former Kentucky coach and KU alum Adolph Rupp passed away.
In an era when pairings for the NCAA Tournament weren't so sophisticated, Kansas was paired against No. 1 UCLA in the opening round. The Bruins eliminated Kansas, 83-76.

Source: A Century of Basketball 

The '78 season wasn't always easy, Chuck Woodling, KUSports.com, January 9, 2005

1977-78  FINAL TEAM STATISTICS (Team highs in bold)

CATEGORY

KU

OPP

DIFF

Valentine, Darnell Douglas, John Koenigs, Ken VonMoore, Donnie Mokeski, Paul Johnson, Clint

Games Played/Started

29 29   29-27 29-27 29-29 29-6 29-23 29-20

Minutes

5800  5800   761 806 757 647 653 712

    Per Game

200.0 200.0   26.2 27.8 26.1 22.3 23.3 24.6

Points

2365 1925 440 392 368 323 311 259 237

    Per Game

81.6 66.4 15.2 13.5 12.7 11.1 10.7 9.3 8.2

Rebounds

1368 1154 214 82 133 185 189 237 85

    Per Game

47.2 39.8 7.4 2.8 4.6 6.4 6.5 8.5 2.9

Blocks

172 78 94 5 10 17 53 54 5

Assists

534 310 224 130 47 50 41 27 60

Steals

276 157 119 80 46 15 22 19 33

Turnovers

457 575 -118            

(Assists+Steals)/TO

1.77 0.81 0.96            

FG -Attempts

2014 1729 285 297 364 204 258 220 215

       Made

965 705 260 143 158 123 125 114 105

       Percent

47.9 40.8 7.1 48.1 43.4 60.3 48.4 51.8 48.8

FT-Attempts

648 751 -103 143 73 109 99 54 40

     Made

435 515 -80 106 52 77 61 31 27

     Percent

67.1 68.6 -1.5 74.1 71.2 70.6 61.6 57.4 67.5

Production Points/Game

119.07 81.52 37.55 17.17 13.00 16.44 15.34 16.68 10.24
Production Points/Minute .595 .408 .187 .654 .468 .630 .688 .715 .417

Statistics, Cont'd

CATEGORY Fowler, Wilmore Sanders, Brad Anderson, Scott Houston, Hasan Neal, Booty Stallcup, Mac Gibson, Milt Crawford, John Verser, David
Games Played/ Started 28-9 26-2 19-0 9-2 16-0 16-0 20-0 9-0 5-0
Minutes 619 260 140 146 81 68 112 31 7
   Per Game 22.1 10.0 7.4 16.2 5.1 4.3 5.6 3.4 1.4
Points 197 79 45 42 41 38 19 14 0
   Per Game 7.0 3.0 2.4 4.7 2.6 2.4 1.0 1.6 0.0
Rebounds 120 43 45 13 11 29 10 13 1
   Per Game 4.3 1.7 2.4 1.4 0.7 1.8 0.5 1.4 0.2
Blocks 11 0 8 1 1 2 0 5 0
Assists 85 29 3 29

6

0 26 0 4
Steals 24 8 7 7 4 1 8 2 0
Turnovers                  
(Assists+Steals)/TO                  
FG - Attempts 209 69 33 41 43 23 26 9 3
         Made 86 33 17 19 16 14 7 5 0
         Percent 41.1 47.8 51.5 46.3 37.2 60.9 26.9 55.6 0.0
FT - Attempts 43 21 14 6 13 13 15 4 1
        Made 25 13 11 4 9 10 5 4 0
        Percent 58.1 61.9 78.6 66.7 69.2 76.9 33.3 100.0 0.0
Production Points/Game 10.57 4.42 4.68 7.56 2.00 3.63 1.70 3.33 0.20
Production Points/Minute .478 .442 .636 .466 .395 .852 .304 .968 .143

Source:   KU Basketball Media Guide

GAME-BY-GAME

Central Mo. State

W

121-65

Nov. 28

at Lawrence

Fordham

W

99-67

Nov. 30

at Lawrence

Southern Methodist

W

107-71

Dec. 2

at Lawrence

Murray State

W

106-71

Dec. 5

at Lawrence

Fairleigh Dickinson

W

88-54

Dec. 7

at Lawrence

Kentucky

L

66-73

Dec. 10

at Lawrence

St. Louis

W

85-65

Dec. 17

at Lawrence

Oral Roberts

W

91-73

Dec. 20

at Tulsa, Okla.

Arkansas

L

72-78

Dec. 22

at Little Rock, Ark.

Missouri

W

96-49

Dec. 28

at Kansas City, Mo.

Oklahoma

W

79-76

Dec. 29

at Kansas City, Mo.

Kansas State

W

67-62

Dec. 30

at Kansas City, Mo.

Missouri

W

71-67

Jan. 7

at Columbia, Mo.

Oklahoma State

W

69-57

Jan. 11

at Stillwater, Okla.

Oklahoma

W

91-61

Jan. 14

at Lawrence

Iowa State

W

100-82

Jan. 18

at Ames, Iowa

Kansas State

W

56-52

Jan. 21

at Lawrence

Nebraska

L

58-62

Jan. 25

at Lincoln, Neb.

Colorado

W

85-56

Jan. 28

at Lawrence

Oklahoma State

W

83-65

Feb. 1

at Lawrence

Oklahoma

W

69-68

Feb. 4

at Norman, Okla.

Missouri

W

72-52

Feb. 8

at Lawrence

Kansas State

W

75-63

Feb. 11

at Manhattan, Kan.

Iowa State

W

80-70

Feb. 15

at Lawrence

Nebraska

W

75-70

Feb. 18

at Lawrence

Colorado

W

70-60

Feb. 25

at Boulder, Colo.

Colorado

W

82-66

Feb. 28

at Lawrence

Kansas State

L

76-87

Mar. 3

at Kansas City, Mo.

NCAA Tournament

UCLA

L

76-83

Mar. 11

at Eugene Ore.
(NCAA Sub-Regional)

LINK TO 1978 NATIONAL STATISTICS

 Link to Big 8 Conference Statistics