Home might be a little too sweet for Jayhawks
Frequent fliers their first three years in school, Kansas University’s senior men’s basketball players have been grounded in Year Four.
The 2004-05 schedule has the Jayhawks making their first regular-season out-of-town trip Jan. 9.
It’s the latest date for a road opener at KU since 1954-55, when the Jayhawks’ only road games were bus trips to Big Seven Conference schools.
“It’s definitely different, but this gives us an opportunity to play in front of our fans at home,” senior forward Wayne Simien said of KU’s 10-game out-of-the-gate homestand — 12 counting exhibition games.
“That’s something we never take for granted. It’s an advantage for us, but that first game on the road is at Rupp (Arena), one of the toughest places in the country.”
Indeed, KU’s Jan. 9 road opener will be contested at Rupp Arena — the University of Kentucky’s massive 23,000-seat structure, which will be filled, with only about 100 Jayhawk supporters on hand.
“It would maybe be nice to have one, two road games before then, but I always like to take advantage of the opportunities at home,” Simien said.
During the junior year of Simien, Keith Langford, Michael Lee and Aaron Miles, the Jayhawks spent November at home. The Jayhawks, however, met Texas Christian on Dec. 1 in Dallas; Stanford on Dec. 6 in Anaheim, Calif.; and UC Santa Barbara and Nevada on Dec. 20-21 in Reno, Nev.
As sophomores, the current KU seniors played two games in the Preseason NIT in November in New York and also played at Oregon, Tulsa and California in December.
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Home might be a little too sweet for JayhawksAs freshmen, Simien and his comrades opened in the Maui Invitational in November and also played at Arizona, at Princeton and at South Dakota, all in December.
Some of those trips proved to be bonding experiences and lots of fun.
“I wish we would have had the opportunity to play a couple of road games, but the schedule didn’t work out that way,” Miles said.
“It might have been nice to have one or two road games, but it’s kind of good to have all these home games,” Lee said. “You are more relaxed. You don’t have to worry about the hassle of traveling, flying, getting rest. It’s cool this way.”
Langford isn’t crazy about all the home cooking in his final campaign.
“It kind of bothers me we can’t go on the road until January, but that’s out of my hands,” Langford said. “I don’t know who does the scheduling but they didn’t take into account the experience of the young guys, what they have to go through the first time on the road. It’s something where being leaders will come into play.”
KU coach Bill Self did take his troops to Canada for four exhibition games over Labor Day weekend, a trip that helped the five new scholarship freshmen get adjusted to life outside Lawrence.
“You can be on the road in Canada, but we’re playing Langara Middle School,” Langford said. “It’s not like Rupp. I’ve never been to Rupp. It’s going to be difficult, so we’ve got to make sure everybody is calm and ready to play from a mental standpoint.”
Though Canada was valuable, Self indicates he ideally he wanted a road game or two before Christmas.
“It kind of didn’t play out the way we wanted it to,” Self said. “In a perfect world, we’d play one of our two nonconference road games (Kentucky, Jan. 9; Villanova, Jan. 22) in December, but that’s all right. At the end of the day we’ll play enough road games.”
Here’s what happened to cause the glut of early home games:
The Jayhawks had their hearts set on playing in the Coaches Vs. Cancer Classic, which would have meant two games in November in New York’s Madison Square Garden. But the courts didn’t overturn the 2-and-4 exempt games rule which forbids KU from playing in an exempt event until next season.
Next, a snafu with TV wrecked the Jayhawks’ chances of setting a date with Villanova for November or December.
“Originally we were playing in Coaches Vs. Cancer. Then we could have played Villanova in November, but CBS said they’d take that game in January,” Self said.
“Naturally we took the game in January, but then we were able to set up the Kentucky game and the only date CBS could give us for that game was in January.
“At that point the Villanova game was moved (to ESPN). When that happened I tried hard to move that Villanova game but it was too late. We couldn’t get the dates with Villanova.”
Once the Jayhawks do leave Lawrence after playing NCAA Tournament teams Vermont, St. Joseph’s, Nevada, Pacific, South Carolina, Georgia Tech and others in the long homestand, they’ll be gone awhile.
KU will play at Kentucky (Jan. 9), Iowa State (Jan. 12) and Colorado (Jan. 15), then after a Jan. 19 home game against Nebraska head to Villanova (Jan. 22) and Baylor (Jan. 25).
“We have five of six road games in January, which is a pretty tough stretch,” Self said. “I think it’s a very difficult schedule to say the least. I’m not excited the first away game is in early January, but it’s the way CBS did it. National television exposure is the only reason we ever did it.”
As bad luck would have it, next year, after KU loses its four seniors, the Jayhawks are eligible to play in an exempt event — the Maui Invitational with the likes of Arizona, Arkansas, Connecticut, Gonzaga, Maryland, Michigan State and Div. II Chaminade.
KU also will play road games earlier next year, in November against Saint Joseph’s in the Jimmy V. Classic and in December at Georgia Tech.
“The more experienced you are, the more you like to play on the road,” Self said. “I think sometimes you win on the road it gives you real satisfaction, knowing you’ve been there and done it.”