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[warthog]

Conference Call: Baylor’s bold move
Jason King

By Jason King, Yahoo! Sports 5 hours, 31

LAWRENCE, Kan. – Moments before his team’s 81-75 victory over Baylor on Wednesday, Kansas coach Bill Self looked down the Allen Fieldhouse sideline and noticed something was missing.

An opponent.

As the No. 3 Jayhawks were going through their pregame introductions – which includes a two-minute video chronicling Kansas’ rich history – Bears coach Scott Drew led his team off the court and into a nearby tunnel.

Drew said he wanted to talk to his players to keep them focused, but that the noise from the JumboTron made it difficult for the Bears to hear him.

“That was highly unusual – highly,” a noticeably-peeved Self said after the game. “We would never do that.”

Self’s players weren’t too pleased, either.

“We took it as disrespectful,” point guard Sherron Collins said. “It fired us up even more. If we weren’t ready before, we were definitely ready after that.”

Self and the Jayhawks should’ve kept those thoughts to themselves. Instead of being hailed for a well-played win against a Top 25 opponent, they came away looking snobbish and petty.

What Drew did wasn’t disrespectful. It was brilliant. Instead of apologizing – which he did after the game – Drew should take a bow.

Very few times during their 53-game winning streak at Allen Fieldhouse have the Jayhawks been tested like they were against Baylor, which trailed by only two points with 73 seconds remaining.

At that point Collins hit a 3-pointer to give Kansas a 74-69 lead and a momentum it would never relinquish.

Still, as the Bears left the court after the final horn, a few hundred Kansas fans lined the pathway to their locker room and applauded them for their effort. Baylor became the first team in 91 games to shoot 50 percent or better against the Jayhawks. The Bears made 52.1 percent of their field goals.

Unfortunately, though, all of the talk after the game focused on Drew’s actions before it.

“The last thing we wanted to do was be disrespectful to anybody,” Drew said. “The reason we went into the hallway for that two-minute period was to communicate and talk about how we wanted to start the game.

“I never dreamed that people might take it as disrespectful. Obviously, had I known that might be the case, we’d have never done it.”

Hogwash.

Drew shouldn’t express regret over his actions. His job wasn’t to make sure his players got on their knees and paid homage to the high-and-mighty Jayhawks as their names were being read over the public address system. His job was to prepare the Bears to win a game in one of the toughest environments in college basketball.

Self should understand that. He should be above worrying about what opposing coaches are doing on their bench and focus on his own huddle – especially considering other Big 12 coaches may start adapting the same tactics the next time they visit Lawrence.

It’s certainly not a bad idea.

There’s a reason Kansas has won 53 straight games at Allen Fieldhouse – and it’s not just because the Jayhawks trot out top-flight teams. It’s intimidating to look into the rafters and see the retired jerseys of guys such as Wilt Chamberlain, Danny Manning and Paul Pierce.

The decibel level can be deafening at times. And the pregame video includes footage of James A. Naismith, Phog Allen and Larry Brown – as well as highlights of players such as Drew Gooden and Brandon Rush and Raef LaFrentz. By the time Mario Chalmers’ clutch 3-pointer from the 2008 national title game flashes across the screen, you can almost feel the arena shake and vibrate.

Drew may not admit it, but the guess here is that he didn’t want to subject his players to that experience and have them get butterflies in their stomachs just seconds before taking the court.

“Kansas does a great job [with its introductions],” Drew said. “They’ve got a lot of tradition and a lot of things to [showcase]. We wanted to talk to our guys at that point so we could start the game out right. We came out and executed what we wanted at the beginning of the game, so I thought it worked.”

Indeed it did. Not just at the beginning of the game, but throughout it, as well.

Baylor’s players never seemed timid or sped up, which is something most of the other 52 straight teams that have lost at Allen Fieldhouse can’t say.

So good for the Bears, who deserved the applause they received as they headed toward their locker room. Even in a loss, the game will prove to be a big step in the rebuilding of their program.

As for Drew, he deserves a pat on the back, although he’ll probably have to wait until he gets back to Waco to receive one.

http://rivals.yahoo....pe=lgns&print=1

[Los Pollos Hermanos]

Are teams required to sit through the home team's 2 minute stroke themselves montage?

[warthog]

DallasChief, on 21 January 2010 - 01:44 PM, said:

Are teams required to sit through the home team's 2 minute stroke themselves montage?

I think it's arrogant and idiotic that Self thinks that the opposing team must sit through the propaganda that spews out before the game. I hope Missouri does this same thing next Monday.