Jayhawks need to think

Bill Self demands a lot from his Kansas basketball players, with special emphasis on playing hard, tough and, perhaps most important, smart.

At least three Jayhawks who need to smarten-up notably in time for Saturday’s vital showdown at Kansas State are Sherron Collins and the giveth-and-taketh away Morris twins, Marcus and Markieff.

The heralded Collins had a lousy game in the loss at Missouri and needs to ratchet up his skills, particularly ball-handling and guidance, if KU is to down the surging Wildcats. J.T. Tiller and his Mizzou compatriots held Sherron to 4-of-14 shooting, three assists and six turnovers at Columbia. All-American? On this night the Kansas junior wasn’t even all-state.

We know what Sherron Collins is capable of when he is mentally and physically sharp. Missouri also proved what can happen when he encounters foes like the people he’ll be facing at Manhattan, and if he tries to force too many issues rather than using his teammates more, particularly center Cole Aldrich, to help propel the ship.

Collins is so confident of himself that he too often hogs the ball, drives into crowds and forgets the other four Jayhawks trying to achieve the same goals he has. An All-American point guard shoots for a 2-1 ratio, at least, on assists to turnovers. For the conference season, Collins has 41 assists and 31 turnovers for a 1.3-to-1 percentage. Not nearly as good as this young team needs from its bell-cow.

Brady Morningstar has the best team assist combo, 24-17 for a modest 1.4 ratio. But he’s not the guy who’s expected to do what Collins does. At Manhattan, guards Jacob Pullen, Denis Clemente, Dominque Sutton and Fred Brown have the capabilities of turning Collins inside out as happened at Mizzou. On top of this, Sherron will have to do some decent defending of his own to prevent a repeat of last year’s 84-75 upset. Collins in a reserve role got 12 points and a 2-1 assist mark.

From time to time, too, it has seemed that Sherron has gotten too involved in trash-talking against a key opponent, to the detriment of the team. He and coach Self know what must be done against the newly rich Wildcats, and Collins could shoot back into the All-American column rather than again looking like an all-state wannabe.

KU has pretty good personnel for its 1, 2, 3 and 5 spots now that Mario Little is contributing so much and Tyshawn Taylor may be getting under better control. It’s that No. 4 (power forward) niche where it needs immediate help, in the form of Morris contributions. They give KU the “big” presence it needs badly to help Aldrich. Yet too often they take one step back for each two forward or, worse, visa versa, and fail to deliver when tougher and smarter actions could work wonders.

Only one of them has to “arrive” consistently to brighten the picture. Marcus owes the team a major resurgence after letting himself get drawn into that silly technical foul at Missouri. As Prof. Harold Hill told the River City Boys Band at crunch time: “Think, men!” The Morris kids need to grit up and knuckle down intensely by Saturday.

The talented KU-KSU guard gangs might cancel out each other. So the game could be won by KU’s inside forces if the Morrises give the Jayhawks improved performances at the critical “4” spot.