Jayhawks' publicity looking premature (Wichita Eagle 11-16-2006)

[ORUTerry]

Jayhawks' publicity looking premature

LAWRENCE - The Sports Illustrated cover, due to arrive in your mailbox soon if it hasn't already, features Kansas sophomores Mario Chalmers and Julian Wright. Inside, the magazine with the famed jinx picks the Jayhawks to win the national championship.

Too late for a re-write?

Kansas might yet win a national championship (my pick, by the way, is Florida) but the Jayhawks didn't win a game on their home court Wednesday night against a team, Oral Roberts, from the Mid-Continent League.

"SI didn't have anything to do with us losing tonight," KU coach Bill Self said. "ORU had something to do with us losing tonight."

Sooner or later, the Jayhawks are going to get it through their heads that the really good teams from lesser-known conferences are dangerous. Bucknell and Bradley should have taught them that lesson, don't you think?

While it's true that KU wasn't at its best, ORU's victory wasn't a fluke. The Golden Eagles took the game to Kansas from the beginning and led for all but about eight minutes, which came early in the game.

Oral Roberts came close to matching KU athletically and never backed down emotionally. In fact, it was the Golden Eagles who fed the most off of the sellout crowd at Allen Fieldhouse.

Self was disappointed with his team but not surprised by ORU. As for all this mumbo jumbo about winning a national championship, he advises people to get a grip.

"I knew the Sports Illustrated thing was going to happen two months or a month ago. We didn't deserve that. What have we done to deserve that?" he said. "Everybody keeps saying, 'Hey, this team is all that.' But what have we done?

"Last year we played pretty good for the most part and we got beaten in the first round. This team hasn't done anything to deserve the accolades people are putting on them before they've earned it. I think there's a general mindset that, 'Hey, no matter what everybody is going to be OK.' And that's not the way competitors and great teams are. They're not OK and you've got to work to change them."

This is a big year for Self. He has yet to win over the KU faithful because of first-round losses in the NCAA Tournament the past two years. He has a team full of high school All-Americans and expectations are bubbling.

The SI cover doesn't help matters, though.

Florida returns most of the key players from a national championship team. Why not the Gators?

There are a lot of teams around the country that have done more than Kansas. This is a pick based solely on expectations and not done deeds.

"I look at Sports Illustrated from time to time but I don't really read it," KU freshman Darrell Arthur said. "I know about the jinx. We haven't proven anything to be No. 1. They've marked us up there right now and every team is going to be gunning for us like Oral Roberts did tonight."

ORU is one of those teams that can sneak up and bite you. And the list of so-called mid-major teams capable of doing that grows every season.

The Golden Eagles have beaten the likes of Tulsa, Wichita State, Georgetown and Southern California the past three seasons while losing close games to Arkansas, UAB, Marquette and Oklahoma. They were beaten by Memphis, 94-78, in the first round of last season's NCAA Tournament.

"Oh, yeah, they're dangerous," KU junior guard Russell Robinson said. "Especially when you let them get comfortable. But this is just one game and it's early in the season. I think it's going to help us, more than anything."

Self was having none of that "going to help us" stuff. He wasn't happy with his team, which seems to not be learning a valuable lesson.

Bucknell. Bradley. And now Oral Roberts.

The days of taking anything for granted in college basketball are over. The best-known teams in the major conferences can't just roll the balls out and beat the likes of ORU. Not when the Golden Eagles have a potential NBA player like senior forward Caleb Green and a good supporting cast that includes former Wichita State guard Adam Liberty.

Self tried to warn his team. He knows what an underdog-eat-dog world college basketball has become.

"Coach was telling us how just because we're the No. 1 pick we think we can go out and beat anybody at home at any time," KU sophomore Brandon Rush said. "We don't think that, but that's what he told us."

Anybody who saw Wednesday night's game knows Oral Roberts took it to Kansas.

Sports Illustrated, which picked the Chicago White Sox to repeat as baseball champions and Carolina to beat Miami in the Super Bowl, is going to look pretty silly again. But there's a long way to go before March and upsets like ORU beating Kansas aren't as shocking as they used to be.

For now, at least, the magazine should stand by its pick.