OUT OF THE PHOG.............
BY TODD PANULA February 20, 2001
Hawks
Make Crash Landing
Well
once again I come to you from Mount Oread.
But this time I have very little good to report on our beloved Hawks.
As often happens in sport, the Jayhawks have hit a skid. The way things are going right now resembles doing a
bellyflop into a pool with no water. But
First
off the team has been hit by the injury bug.
For those who don't know about the injury bug, it is a horrible insect
that tends to bite good players at the worst time.
After it's venom is injected, the team's play suffers and it has even
been known to derail teams almost certainly bound for a championship.
This foul little bug has managed to get into the Hawk's nest.
It has taken out Luke Axtell and Drew Gooden, who is not only a great
player but has been an emotional leader this season.
Add to that the fact that Mario Kinsey left the team due to academic
reasons, and the Jayhawks have hardly any depth.
Kinsey may not have been a huge offensive threat, but he was a quick
defender and could run the point adequately if Hinrich or Boshee were tired or
in foul trouble.
Axtell
has once again been injured, his back now.
I know it's not his fault, but I honestly think he has missed more games
the last few years than he's played. Finally
the loss of Drew Gooden has really hurt the team.
He was a rock of consistency that played hard at both ends of the court.
In his absence, Eric Chenowith has tried to step up, but his
inconsistency has proved to be a dagger towards the Hawks.
But despite his many critics, and there are a lot here, he has improved.
The
Hawks have also been slowed by a team that will now most likely pass them in the
rankings. The Iowa State Cyclones have been hot recently and showed
that against KU. In my opinion
their victories have been a combination of bad luck for the Hawks and good
shooting on the part of the Cyclones. The
guards for Iowa State shot the lights out in both games, but the Hawks had a
much better shooting percentage both times.
Mental mistakes and way too many turnovers led to the Hawks demise.
The
sudden absence of Axtell and Kinsey along with Gooden also marred the Hawks
performance as well. I honestly
believe that the Hawks can defeat Iowa State, but they have to believe it and
that is hard to do as the Cyclones are the only team to beat KU five times
straight in Roy Williams' tenure as head coach.
As
for the loss to Baylor, I really don't know what to say.
I will admit that the game made me too sick to watch most of it so I
don't know exactly what we did wrong. Obviously,
not having Gooden hurt, but our shooting must have been horrendous. The only bright spot from the game, as was pointed out to me
by my barber, was the fact that we have a team good enough to score as many
points as we did in the second half.
Unfortunately
this skid has come towards the end of the season.
The injury bug has done its job well as far as timing.
There is good and bad as to this bug.
It has given Gooden plenty of rest as well as Axtell.
The horrible thing is that it is unknown whether either will make it
back. I have heard both extremes.
Axtell might have only needed the one game to rest his back or he might
be gone. Same for Drew. I have heard that the cast might come off Monday and he would
play against Colorado on Wednesday and I've heard he might not return either.
Right
now it looks very unlikely that the Hawks will win the Big 12 regular season
title. They will have to win out the rest of the season and hope
that the Cyclones lose three, since they obviously have the head to head
tiebreaker. The Jayhawks cannot
afford to think about such things though. They
now need to take everything one game at a time because they could win out and
still not win the conference. If
that happens they must concentrate on winning the tournament.
The
Jayhawks are by no means through with this season and if/when they get their
wounded healthy they will once again be a force to be reckoned with. We still
have, in my mind, one of the best shooting backcourts with Hinrich and Boshee.
Add in one of the taller tandem of big men and you've got a championship
team. The Hawks will have a tough
road ahead of them that will be full of potholes. But you can ask any team that has won and they all have
stories about the bumps they hit. Perseverance
is all that is needed. Champions are looked at as the kings of the hill, and a
quote from Gettysburg fits nicely for us: "Sir
if we can take that hill..." "We can,
Until
we meet next time when I come...
OUT
OF THE PHOG!!!
Todd
Panula
Comments
or questions may be sent to [email protected].
I will do my best to make any return comments as quickly as possible keeping
schoolwork in mind. Thank you.