Collison not happy about KU struggles, but at least his Jayhawks no longer "worst" KU team ever
Published: 2/8/2013 7:00 PM
Last Modified: 2/8/2013 7:00 PM
OKLAHOMA CITY — Nick Collison feels Bill Self’s pain.
On Wednesday, after Self’s Kansas Jayhawks were beaten at hapless (and winless in the Big 12 Conference) TCU, Self said it was “the worst team Kansas has ever put on the floor.”
Maybe part of Collison was glad to hear that. After all, Collison felt his 2001 KU team that lost 85-77 at Baylor was the worst team Kansas has ever put on the floor.
“At that time, I’m sure I felt that way,” Collison said with a laugh on Friday night before Oklahoma City’s game against Phoenix. “I’m sure coach (Roy) Williams felt that way.”
When I asked Collison about Self’s comments and the shocking 62-55 defeat, in which the Jayhawks shot 29.5 percent for the game and 13.6 percent in the first half, a sarcastic groan went up from across the Thunder locker room.
“Aw, I’m so sad about that,” an OKC teammate said.
Collison rolled his eyes.
He said he saw Self on TV following the loss, but couldn’t hear what Self said. So I gave him a recap:
“It was the worst team Kansas has ever put on the floor,” Self said. “Since Dr. (James) Naismith was there. I think he had some bad teams and lost to Topeka YMCA and things like that the first couple years. But the first half, there hasn’t been a team play worse than that offensively. That hasn’t happened. Anywhere. Maybe Northern Illinois earlier in the year. I think they made one basket in the half.
“I assess the whole game as — what’s the right word? Futility? I don’t know how to describe it. It was awful. ... Offensively, that’s as bad as you can play. We got off to such a bad start, and obviously it got worse from there.”
Collison has confidence things will turn around. Maybe even Saturday, when KU visits Oklahoma. (Alas, Collison won’t be at Lloyd Noble Center; the Thunder fly to Phoenix on Saturday afternoon.)
“I think some nights you have bad nights,” he said. “Obviously, they’re not playing well. But I’ve got a lot of faith in that team and that coaching staff. They’ve done a good job here for 10 years. And they’ve got some talent. I think sometimes that just happens with teams where you don’t play well. I remember we had a team at Baylor and we were down 25 in the first half. It was just a nightmare game. So hopefully it was just a nightmare game and they’ll snap out of it.
“They’ll get it going here and they’ll be tough come tournament time.”
Written by
John E. Hoover
Sports Columnist
