Keegan: ‘Bye, J.R.; Hello, Brandon

The worst recent thing to happen to the Kansas University basketball program off the court turned out to be the best thing on it.

No J.R. Giddens Moon Bar incident means no Brandon Rush at KU.

Guess what? Rush is better than Giddens ever dreamed of being. He rebounds better, handles the ball better and does so much productive work in the midrange area that was a no-combat zone for his predecessor.

Rush warmed the Allen Fieldhouse crowd with a glimpse of his impending greatness as a college basketball player Wednesday night in the first exhibition of the season, a 96-62 pasting of Division II Fort Hays State.

Pleasing the house with a fancy dunk and his coach with hustling defense, Rush totaled 17 points, 10 rebounds, four steals and three assists in 21 minutes. In 10 second-half minutes, Rush scored 15 points.

Nothing Rush does slows down the game, and most of what he does speeds it up.

“He’s a scorer who doesn’t hog the ball,” KU coach Bill Self said.

Players who monopolize the basketball tend to have teammates who stand around doing nothing. Rush isn’t one of those guys.

The first thing you notice about him is how fast he gets down the court. Then it’s his extraordinary quickness for a 6-foot-6 player. Then it’s how active he is on the offensive glass. And then when he busts out the crossover dribble, you fully appreciate just how difficult it must be to try to guard this guy. With the ball in his hands, Rush doesn’t hesitate, he attacks.

He attacked the rim in a way that made the crowd come to its feet with a reverse jam, but it was the skill he showed at the start of the play, not the end, that bodes most well for his basketball future. He has that anticipation ability that athletes either are born with or they’re not.

At the front end of the highlight, Rush popped into a passing lane to steal the ball, took it to the basket and made a back-to-the-basket slam.

“I felt the guy behind me, and I knew he was going to try to reach in front of me, so I just turned around and reversed it,” Rush said.

Don’t you wish you could do that, even just once?

Rush’s anticipation, quickness and hunger enabled him to total seven offensive boards.

“Brandon has figured out that if he gets an offensive rebound, he gets to shoot it,” Self said.

Rush also figured out a wicked crossover can lead to points.

“Broke some ankles with it, made some people fall, too,” Rush said.

After one crossover, he kissed a shot softly off the glass. After another, he hit a baseline jumper. Once, he fumbled the ball out of his right hand and tossed it off the glass, through the net, and one.

He’ll draw fouls, and he’ll make the free throws. He made five of six, and on his only miss picked up the rebound and scored.

Rush’s hunger isn’t limited to scoring. It extends to improving all areas of his game, including a left-handed dribble that has been hampered by an accident suffered 10 years ago doing a backflip. He said, “the bone popped out” of his left arm in the elbow area.

Now it’s the people watching him who feel like doing backflips.