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Absence makes the heart grow hungry—for a championship: Wayne Simien's career as a Kansas Jayhawk is expiring faster than a 35-second clock. He'd like to play overtime
Sporting News, The, Feb 11, 2005 by Mike DeCourcy
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Texas has not given up on the possibility 6-11 freshman C LaMarcus Aldridge will return from his hip injury. Some reports suggested he was done for the season, but Aldridge is traveling with the team and is limited primarily when he tries to pivot to his right. Aldridge was making tremendous progress, averaging 12.7 points and 9.0 rebounds in his last three games before getting hurt. If Aldridge returns, Texas coach Rick Barnes will consider deploying him in a big frontcourt that includes 6-9 Jason Klotz and 6-8 Brad Buckman. The Longhorns have been playing more zone and could use those three as a protective wall along the baseline. > Pittsburgh C Chris Taft gets along too well with backup Aaron Gray for the Panthers to use the threat of playing Gray more as a means of motivating Taft. But they can hope Gray's effort in running the court, diving for loose balls, setting screens and fighting through fatigue serves as an example of how Taft should be playing. A gifted big man with NBA potential, Taft did not work hard enough to improve during the offseason and has been disappointing as a sophomore. Although he is an excellent passer, Taft has only 12 assists in 17 games. However, after Pitt essentially had to take him out to defeat UConn, Taft delivered one of his steadiest, most consistent efforts in the comeback victory against Syracuse. > Oklahoma State's opponents will tell you that even though the Cowboys returned four starters from the 2004 Final Four team, the loss of wing Tony Allen has made a huge difference. Allen was comfortable scoring from both sides of the floor, which caused stress for opposing defenses. Joey Graham has been productive in Allen's spot but has struggled in several big games in which the opponents employed zone defenses. > The unbalanced schedule in the first year of the expanded Atlantic Coast Conference has altered the nature of the regular-season race, but North Carolina coach Roy Williams still places more value in that championship than the prestigious ACC Tournament. "But I'll take any of them," Williams says. "Anybody that can win an ACC championship, they won't care about any changes that were made" > Kansas freshman G Russell Robinson's decline of an offer to play in the closing moments against Baylor was not as big of a deal as it seemed. Robinson didn't refuse to enter, which would have been a major issue. But his passing on an opportunity to play did reveal there are problems. Robinson had a long meeting with KU coach Bill Self the day after the Baylor game. His minutes have declined because he has been sloppy with the ball, and his confidence has waned. If he recovers, the Jayhawks can make good use of the spark his quickness provides.
Although he has functioned as a catch-and shoot wing for most of his career, Louisville senior G Larry O'Bannon has become better with the ball and is more dangerous as a result. O'Bannon now can shoot accurately off a one-dribble move, freeing himself by feigning a drive and then pulling back into the shot. "I've practiced it so much, so if I get into a situation in a game, I just do it," he says. O'Bannon insists he always has been capable of driving the ball and that he limited himself to jump shots because he got so many openings as defenses collapsed to contain team-mates Francisco Garcia and Taquan Dean. O'Bannon scored a career high 30 points in a victory against Marquette last week.
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Most Popular Articles in Sports
- The first family: Archie, Peyton and Eli are incredibly famous, immensely ...
- The growing gap: driving distances are skyrocketing on the PGA Tour. So why ...
- Which pistol caliber for self defense? Four different people come to four ...
- Drag racing - National Hot Rod Association
- The world's most popular .22: the Marlin Model 60 just keeps on ticking
- More »