It's commonplace, rather ho hum, to see an NFL player spike the football.
It's rare, to say the least, to see a college basketball player like Drew Gooden bang the basketball off the hardwood as he did to celebrate Wednesday's 88-81 KU victory at Iowa State.
The spike of the basketball the ball for a moment looked like it might hit the center scoreboard has been a hot talk-show topic as to whether the 6-foot-10 junior committed an unsportsmanlike act.
"If people are talking about that, they need to get a life I guess is the way I look at it," KU coach Roy Williams said Thursday in a conversational tone. "The kid spiked the ball against the ground. In 1957, North Carolina beat Kansas in the national championship, Tommy Kearns threw it up in the air.
"What are you gonna do, eat it?" Williams said of the ball. "There's no salt, no pepper, no mustard. I didn't know it, but somebody said one of their kids (Cyclones) did that when they beat us here. I have zero problems with that.
"Going out last night, running off the court, a guy screamed, 'Hey Williams, great class.' I had no idea what he was talking about. I smiled, waved and said, 'Thank you' and went right on.
"I have no clue why somebody would have a problem, no clue why people would be talking about it. When David Duval shot 59 by making an eagle on the last hole ... when Tiger Woods does something, he fist pumps. Be enthusiastic about success," Williams added.
Gooden said he spiked the ball out of sheer joy in beating Iowa State for the first time.
"The spike let all my frustration out," Gooden said. "I lost four times to this team. (Jamaal) Tinsley and (Marcus) Fizer spiked the ball at the fieldhouse after they beat us. I was so mad. I wanted to do it here."
"It was a pressure release," freshman guard Keith Langford said of the Gooden spike. "The guy has been here three years and never beaten Iowa State. You don't like somebody coming in the fieldhouse and spiking the ball like that. When it was his time around, it was payback."
Coaching box: Williams wasn't asked Thursday if he thought game officials were not enforcing coaches staying in the coach's box during games.
"I would assume there is no coaching box," Williams said simply.
UCLA coach Steve Lavin and Iowa State's Larry Eustachy are known for spending a lot of time out of the box.
SI story: The Sports Illustrated story on KU basketball is out. Writer Grant Wahl and a photographer followed the Jayhawks for eight days.
"It was nice," Williams said of the article. "As much time as Grant spent ... they cut it, limited his number of words, cut him from what he thought it'd be. Behind the scenes look at some of our guys, I think that was cool. Calling Drew 'Recede Wallace' (for receding hairline) is cool.
"The only thing, they requested me run to the graveyard Drs. Naismith and Allen's graves and didn't use the picture. I hurt my hamstring again (running) and was ticked off about that," he joked.
"If he told me he wasn't gonna use it I wouldn't have run out there. I'm still trying to get my hamstring better."
Williams was asked why he granted S.I. access to his program. Wahl was allowed into team meetings and even allowed to ride the team bus, things Williams will not let the local media do.
"The kids. I think they wanted to do it," Williams said. "Several years ago we gave leeway to Rich Clarkson who was doing a 100-year anniversary book. We gave Rich freedom to travel with us. Some of the pictures were really good. The kids liked it. ...
"I could let your paper, your paper, your paper and your paper do it," he said to reporters. "We could do it every week. It's redundant, been there done that. Plus whether you like it or not, the kids like Sports Illustrated more than they like you guys. It's just a fact of life."
Williams reviewed similar stories on following the Charlotte Hornets and St. John's University teams. "I thought the players at those places probably enjoyed it," Williams said.
Bus ride: Williams on the 4 1/2-hour bus ride back from Ames in the wee hours Wednesday night/Thursday morning.
"We had some food, put the game tape in and watched the entire tape," he said. "We put in 'Shawshank Redemption' and watched almost all that. I'd never seen it. My son (Scott) thought it was one of the greatest movies he'd ever seen. I liked it, but we didn't get to the end of it. We'll watch the end of it sometime."
Big-man threes: When does Williams want big man Drew Gooden shooting a three? "Never," Williams said of Gooden, who has hit four of 18 treys this season.
"But these are 18-, 19-, 20-year old kids. Drew can shoot the ball. It's not that big a thing. Same rules for Drew as everybody else. I tell (Jeff) Boschee, tell Kirk (Hinrich), 'You shouldn't take a three-pointer on the break unless there's been penetration, unless you had a chance to get the ball inside, moved the ball from one side to the other and unless you are open.' It's no change with Drew. Think about it. Are we better off with Boschee shooting a three and Drew rebounding or Drew shooting a three and Boschee rebounding. You've got to use your head.
"I don't make a big deal out of it. Last night I did (pull Gooden) because everybody makes mistakes during a game but you don't make silly mistakes when the outcome of the game is on the line. That three and failure to play the defense end of the floor, that combination is what got you taken out."
Gooden fired up a three and then let Tyray Pearson score inside with about eight minutes left in a tight game. He sat a couple minutes after those plays.
Freshman fatigue: Wayne Simien said after Wednesday's game he felt like he'd hit the freshman "brick wall" and needed to fight through it.
Why hasn't Keith Langford, who has come on strong of late, hit the brick wall?
"Maybe 'cause I hit it early. I've probably hit it twice," Langford said. "Twice in the span of a month. I wouldn't let it take an effect on me. It's why I'm working so hard in the weight room. You are talking about physical and mental exhaustion. I hit it in mid-December, right before the break."
KU-MU: So far, 20 NBA scouts have been granted credentials for Monday's KU-Missouri game at Allen Fieldhouse. A massive media contingent, to include ESPN's Dick Vitale and Dick Weiss of the New York Daily News, also will be here. KU has no room on press row for all the people so KU assistant sports information director Mitch Germann and others will meet to discuss where to put everybody. More than 40 student groups have been camping at Allen Fieldhouse since last Sunday.
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