Jayhawks thrive at tourney time
Langford no stranger to success in March
If Kansas University’s men’s basketball team had won the 2003 NCAA championship, Keith Langford quite likely would have been selected the tournament’s most outstanding player.
Instead, the Jayhawks fell to Syracuse by three points, and the Orangemen’s Carmelo Anthony claimed the honor.
Wondering what might have been … some have speculated that after being named MVP, Langford would have had to follow Anthony’s lead and cash in on the NBA Draft while he was a red-hot commodity.
Langford — whose jersey would have been hung in the rafters of Allen Fieldhouse had he claimed the MVP honor — doesn’t agree with that speculation.
“Would I have had to? I wouldn’t have had to,” he said. “It was not a goal of mine to go to the NBA after my sophomore season. I am a four-year guy.”
Langford was named to the All-Final Four team after scoring 23 points against Marquette and 19 against Syracuse. He had 13 points against both Arizona and Duke in Sweet 16 and Elite Eight games after tallying 22 against Utah State and 19 versus Arizona State in the first and second round.
Langford has a history of playing at a high level during postseason.
He was named to the Midwest Regional All-Tourney team his freshman season after scoring 15 points against Illinois in the Sweet 16 and 20 versus Oregon in the Elite Eight.
Last weekend, he opened the 2004 tourney with 13 points and seven boards against Illinois-Chicago and 16 points, four boards and three assists against Pacific.
Young fans cheer for Kansas University coach Bill Self as the Jayhawks leave Allen Fieldhouse. Self and the team departed by bus Wednesday for St. Louis, the site of KU's NCAA regional semifinal game Friday night.
“I just think it’s time for me to step up the most,” Langford said.
This year, stepping up means more than dumping in bushels of baskets. Langford, KU’s second-leading scorer entering Friday’s Sweet 16 battle against UAB regularly is assigned to guard the opposition’s best perimeter player. Last weekend, he shadowed Pacific’s Miah Davis and Illinois-Chicago’s Cedrick Banks.
“I think this year more so than the last couple of years I’ve had to be more a complete player as far as trying to rebound, play defense, guard the other team’s best player, crash the boards and be a ballhandler,” Langford said.
“Last year, Aaron (Miles) and Kirk (Hinrich) were the primary guys handling the ball. I was just scoring points. I was not needed to do extra things. This year we’ve lost games where I’ve scored over 20 points. I’ve needed to do more things to help us win games.”
Langford has been excelling despite being unable to practice the past couple of weeks. He has some cartilage damage in his right knee and will have surgery immediately after the season.
“I guess I’ll be out a couple of months. It’s just something that’s happened,” he said of recurring problems with his right knee which he had arthroscoped in the offseason. “I thank God I can still play and help out the team and do what I love the most.”
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What he seems to enjoy almost as much is bantering with media members.
Langford, a Journalism major, last week joked that he was playing on a bum right leg only because he’d have to have the leg amputated after the season and he wanted to put that off as long as possible.
Obviously, he was kidding.
“It’s funny. I just feel sometimes people get so uptight about stuff,” Langford said. “It’s college sports. You have to enjoy them, have fun. All the seriousness. I think everybody should have more fun.”
An example of his outspokenness is his answer to whether the NBA is in his future.
“Hell, yeah. I’m planning on it,” Langford said with a grin. “What do you want me to say? I want to go back to work at my old high school as janitor? I don’t want to count that (NBA) out.”
In response to a question about whether he remembers the success KU had in St. Louis his freshman year in beating Holy Cross and Stanford in first- and second-round NCAA games, he said: “Of course, I remember it, but those games will not stop UAB from wanting to kick our (butt).”
As far as his outspokenness, Langford doesn’t care much whether people approve of his statements or not.
“When I first got here I was 17,” Langford said. “I’m 20, starting to be an adult. I can say and act like I want.”
His actions speak even louder than his words, especially in March, KU coach Bill Self said.
“The brighter the stage, the more he likes it,” Self said, adding, “In March, the stage is always the brightest.”