Gary Bedore’s KU basketball notebook / LJWorld.com

Archive for Thursday, January 8, 2009

January 8, 2009

Praise of Brady

Kansas University coach Bill Self during an 810-AM radio interview Wednesday was asked about the consistent play of sophomore wing Brady Morningstar, who averages 7.7 points, 2.9 assists and 2.7 rebounds a game.

“Kansas won a national championship with a guy named (Jeff) Gueldner. To me, Brady is a lot like Jeff ... makes shots when he’s open, guards the other team’s best perimeter player for most of the time,” Self said.

“Last night, Brady guards their leading scorer (Edwin Ubiles), and with a minute-and-a-half left in the game, (Ubiles) has two points (finishing with eight). You look at the job he did on Budinger (Chase, 1-of-9 shooting, five points in Arizona game) and the job he’s done on some other key players like Christmas (Dionte, 6-of-14 shooting, 21 points in Temple game). I’m real pleased with him.”

Self wasn’t finished praising the 6-foot-3 Morningstar, who is fourth in the Big 12 in three-point field-goal percentage (.460) and second on KU’s team in minutes played (28.0 per game).

“He doesn’t look like Brandon (Rush) did playing that spot and never will because he’s not as tall, his physique is not what Brandon’s is as far as a strength standpoint,” Self said. “From an efficiency standpoint, Brady is having a heck of a year. He’s not our problem defensively. We’ve got to get other guys playing to Brady’s level.”

Next up

No. 8-ranked Michigan State is off to a 12-2 start entering Saturday’s game against KU (noon Central Time, East Lansing, Mich.)

The Spartans, a popular choice to make the Final Four, are 3-0 in the Big Ten following Tuesday’s 67-58 home victory over Ohio State.