Kansas basketball notebook

Collins has tonsillitis, too: Sherron Collins’ left knee felt fine Friday night.

The rest of his body did not.

“Sherron wasn’t himself today, you could see that,” KU coach Bill Self said after the Jayhawks’ 72-57 Sweet 16 victory over Villanova at Ford Field.

“He caught what Rod had, the tonsillitis,” Self added of Rodrick Stewart, afflicted last week in Omaha, Neb. “Sherron didn’t go to the (afternoon) shootaround, was in bed all day. I was glad to have him out there.”

Collins finished with four points, four assists, three turnovers and two steals in 21 minutes.

“I’ve got a little head cold,” Collins said. “I don’t have the flu, just a cold.”

¢ Davidson next: KU will meet 29-6 Davidson, a team that has won 25 straight games, in the Elite Eight.

“They are one of the hottest teams in the country. They are good,” Self said.

“They’ve got good guards, a great team. They are really hot right now,” Brandon Rush noted. “I think they are good, but I think this is our year. We want it for our coach, our seniors, everybody. I want to get there once and see what it’s like.”

¢ So close: Self has taken KU to three Elite Eights in five seasons. He was asked about some of the players saying he wanted it even more than they did.

“I would say it’s probably very fair to say,” Self said with a smile. “It’s not the reason I want to win. I want to win for the players, the program, the school, fans, everybody. We’ve been close. You guys (media) will do a great job documenting that. We feel it’s our time. (Yet) nobody will give you anything. You’ve got to take it.”

¢ KU’s road: The Jayhawks have defeated No. 16 Portland State, No. 8 UNLV and No. 12 ‘Nova, with No. 10 Davidson remaining in the way of a Final Four bid.

“It’s my senior year. We’re close and really want to get there. UCLA stopped us last year. We think we learned some things from that game that can help us get there now. I think we’re hungry,” Russell Robinson said.

¢ Stuck with nowhere to go: KU associate athletic director Jim Marchiony and KU radio legend Max Falkenstien were stuck on a Dearborn Hyatt Regency elevator for 40 minutes Friday. No KU players had similar problems at the hotel.

¢ Roy recalls: Former KU coach Roy Williams’ North Carolina Tar Heels meet former Kentucky coach Rick Pitino’s Louisville Cardinals today for a spot in the Final Four.

Williams was asked Friday about KU’s 150-95 victory over Pitino’s UK team on Dec. 9, 1989, in Allen Fieldhouse. That was the game in which Pitino flashed Williams an obscene gesture late in the game when Williams asked Pitino if he wanted him to call timeout to help Pitino’s short-handed team take a breather.

“I think he only had about eight guys, but they kept pressing, and we kept running through it,” Williams said. “And he had some guys foul out, and it was a fortunate day for us and an unfortunate day for them. But it was wild. I hadn’t been involved in anything like that. But it has absolutely nothing to do with tomorrow’s game. It had nothing to do with our game we played them at Rupp the next year, except it’s the only time I’ve been booed by 24,000 people in harmony (during UK victory). As many games as Rick and I have coached it’s way, way down the list right now.”

Of the obscene gesture, Williams said: “Rick and I have talked about that. It was unfortunate things and probably my fault more than anybody’s, but we’ve had discussions many years ago about that and put it behind us. We’ve played golf together. He was the first guy that got me on Shadow Creek in Vegas, so I owe him one big-time because I haven’t been able to do anything like that for him. But when we played out there it was me and Rick and Gene Keady and Nolan Richardson and, I have zero, zero problems with Rick. The only thing I have for Rick is a great deal of respect, and I mean that sincerely.”