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Kansas Jayhawks (2001: 26-7)

The following team preview is provided by Blue Ribbon. For the nation's most comprehensive look at this and all Division I teams, be sure to order the 2001-02 Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook, on sale now at 1-800-775-2518.

Program overview

Roy Williams arrived at his press conference with a stuffed monkey on his shoulder. It was a gift from his wife, Wanda, so hubby could knock the monkey away as the Jayhawks prepared for the Sweet 16.

Williams and Kansas indeed crossed a barrier and lifted a burden from the coach's shoulders when the Jayhawks crushed Syracuse in the second round to reach the Sweet 16.

In 1997, Kansas owned college basketball's longest streak of consecutive Sweet 16 appearances with five. Since then, the Jayhawks watched the final 16 teams do battle without them.

All the losses hurt, but the 1998 defeat was the most devastating. Top-seeded Kansas fell to Jim Harrick's Rhode Island team in one of that tournament's big upsets. It was the final game for Raef LaFrentz and Paul Pierce, the final season for the Jayhawks as a perennial top five team.

The next two seasons produced no league titles (Kansas had won the final two in the Big Eight and first two of the Big 12), no final top 10 finishes, no All-America players. In those years, the NCAA Tournament actually provided more satisfaction than the regular season.

In 1999, the sixth-seeded Jayhawks had Kentucky on the ropes before falling in overtime. In 2000, eighth-seeded Kansas led top-seeded Duke in the final minute before losing.

Yes, a monkey may have lived on Williams' back, but it wasn't the burden he made it out to be. The bigger problems had come in the regular season. Over the last two years, Iowa State replaced Kansas as the league's top dog. Not only did the Cyclones rip dominance away from the Jayhawks, they took it to them in their house, becoming the first opponent to beat Williams in Lawrence in successive seasons since Missouri a decade earlier.

Allen Field House, where Kansas once won 62 straight under Williams, was no safe haven when Iowa State came calling. Point guard Jamal Tinsley was especially cruel to Kansas. He never lost to the Jayhawks.

In each season, Kansas was favored to win the Big 12. That's not the case this season. Missouri gets the nod. That's another monkey off Williams' back. He enters the season with a team good enough to make a strong NCAA Tournament push but one that shouldn't be good enough to win the league.

Certainly, the Jayhawks will be different. The new starters are smaller than the people they replace. Gone is 7-0 center Eric Chenowith and 6-5 forward Kenny Gregory. The lineup newcomers will be 6-9 Drew Gooden and 6-9 Nick Collison on a full-time basis (only one usually started last season) and probably 6-0 point guard Aaron Miles. How will that change the Jayhawks? Williams hopes they'll be better defensively. That end has slipped below Williams' expectations in the last few years. Kansas hasn't pressed effectively since the days of Jacque Vaughn and Jarod Haase in the backcourt. The Jayhawks haven't been a turnover-forcing team, and therefore an easy scoring transition team in years.

"I want us to be able to put more pressure on people,'' Williams said. "Hopefully, having a little smaller lineup will allow us to pick up farther on the court than the three-point line. Last year, we basically guarded people from the three-point line in."

Kirk Hinrich and Jeff Boschee gave Kansas ample offense and solid leadership, but they didn't have the foot speed to press the entire floor. If Miles delivers on his promise, he might be the key to Williams' plans. But Williams is quick to keep the pressure off his newcomer. He might not even play point guard, his position last year at Jefferson High in Portland, Ore. What Kansas has this season is four players -- Hinrich, Boschee, Collison and Gooden -- who have no offensive weaknesses. Chenowith was never the offensive presence around the basket you'd hoped from a 7-footer. Gregory was an athletic wonder, a remarkable leaper and dunk specialist who became a much better perimeter shooter in his senior season. But he never put together a total offense game.

Gooden and Collison are excellent scorers with similar skills. Both have developed half-hooks around the basket and neither mind stepping outside. Gooden is especially strong from the baseline and Collison uses the backboard well.

Both will need to rebound more. Chenowith got his share and Gregory more than his. Now a smaller Kansas has to find somebody to pick up their nearly 15 boards per game.

Hinrich, who set a school record by making 50.5 percent of his three-pointers, will look to shoot more. More shots may be available from the wing. The streaky shooting Boschee will set school records for field goals and attempts behind the arc.

Sheer numbers make the Kansas recruiting class one of the nation's best. The group of high school teammates Miles and guard Michael Lee, wing Keith Langford and power forward Wayne Simien got in most analyst's top five. All of them figure to be in the playing rotation along with senior forward Jeff Carey. The Jayhawks won't be as highly regarded nationally entering this season as in past years, but this team could be better equipped for a Big 12 championship and longer NCAA Tournament run.

Projected starters

PG - Kirk Hinrich (6-3, 180 lbs., JR, #10, 11.5 ppg, 6.9 apg, 4.1 rpg, 32.7 minutes, .500 FG, .505 3PT, .843 FT, 1.3 spg, West HS/Sioux City, Iowa)

The team's most important player. Hinrich makes Kansas go, much the way point guards of Williams' past teams -- namely Adonis Jordan and Vaughn -- did. It's no coincidence that Kansas finished with its best record (26-7) in three years in Hinrich's first season as a full-time point guard.

Hinrich isn't smooth, but he is effective and plays intelligently. His assist-turnover ratio is better than 2-1, and that's impressive because he led the Big 12 in assists at 6.9. Kansas shot better than 50 percent from the floor last season and Hinrich gets some credit for that, getting the ball in positions for teammates to score.

With a 50.5 three-point percentage, Hinrich probably ought to look a little more for points. Last season he finished sixth on the team in field-goal attempts. "My [freshman] year the rap on me was that I couldn't score,'' Hinrich said. "That bothered me because I knew I could shoot. I just had to prove it.'' One way to get more shots from Hinrich is to change his role in the offense. That might happen if the Jayhawks go with freshman Aaron Miles at the point. Hinrich would move to the shooting guard and Boschee to the wing.

PG - Aaron Miles (6-0, 160 lbs., FR, #11, 20 ppg, 8.0 apg, 6.0 rpg, 5.0 spg, Jefferson HS/Portland, Oregon)

Kansas will have a three-guard lineup, and the guess here is that Miles, if he doesn't open the season at the point, will work his way into the starting lineup.

Miles is the first high-profile point guard recruited by Williams since Vaughn who isn't a combo guard. Vaughn's successors -- Ryan Robertson, Boschee and Hinrich -- all spent some time in the career at shooting guard.

Miles is a pure point, who, like Hinrich, doesn't look to shoot first. But he did average 20 points, along with eight assists, for Jefferson High in Portland, Ore.

The honors rolled in for Miles. He won the Morgan Wooten Award as the national player of the year who combines basketball with academic skills. Miles owned a 3.7 grade-point average and was student body vice-president last year. He was chosen the fourth best high school point guard in the country and the 11th best high school senior by ESPN.com.

Miles was talked into coming out for the Jefferson High football team as a senior and ended up as the starting quarterback. He led the team to a league title.

Miles, player of the year in Oregon and a McDonald's All-America, turned down offers from Arizona and UCLA.

SG - Jeff Boschee (6-1, 185 lbs., SR, #13, 11.1 ppg, 4.1 apg, 3.5 apg, 33.3 minutes, .427 FG, .360 3PT, .787 FT, 1.2 spg, Valley City HS/Valley City, N.D.)

The big difference between Boschee's sophomore and junior season was his hair. He kept his head shaved two years ago, but grew his hair out last year.

Last year was something of a turnaround season for Boschee. His three-point shooting dropped from 41 to 36 percent, but his scoring increased from 10 to 11.1 points. It meant Boschee has become a better all-around player, and that he was no longer playing point guard. The move actually was made toward the end of the previous season. Hinrich's move to the point pushed Boschee to the off guard.

But it wasn't like Boschee forgot his skills. His assist-turnover ratio of 115-44 led the Big 12. The big upside last season was Boschee's defense. He earned the team's defensive player-of-the-year award and probably had his best game hounding Jamaal Tinsley at Iowa State. The Cyclones won, but Boschee earned praise for his efforts. He also scored 19 that day.

Boschee has started 95 of 100 career games. He has a chance to become the program's career leader in three-pointers.

Boschee's big day this season is Dec. 1. That's when the Jayhawks travel to the University of North Dakota to meet the Fighting Sioux. Boschee grew up in Valley City, N.D., and it's the hometown game that Williams tries to deliver to all recruits.

PF - Nick Collison (6-9, 250 lbs., JR, #4, 14.0 ppg, 6.7 rpg, 2.2 apg, 27.0 minutes, .596 FG, .400 3PT, .625 FT, 1.6 bpg, Iowa Falls HS/Iowa Falls, Iowa)

He's the Jayhawks' most unspectacularly good player. Collison shows little emotion when he plays. No snarls, fist pumps, chest-thumping. Just two points, now go play defense. Perhaps it's a fear-of-failure condition, or just a slight lack of confidence.

"I've never gone out and dominated a game,'' Collison said. "It's something I think I can do. Someday, I'd like to go out and win a really big game for my team.''

The thing is, Collison had to talent to make that happen. At 6-9, he scores around the basket with a variety of moves, most of which end up with his body bent in strange ways. But he's also effective from 10-12 feet and will occasionally pop a three-pointer.

Collison's best game was also one of his most frustrating. He scored a team-high 23 points in Kansas' loss to Illinois in the NCAA Tournament, but went only 6-of-14 from the free-throw line. A little more success there and the Jayhawks would have kept it closer.

The heat is on Collison and Gooden this season. With Kansas moving to a three-guard lineup, the Jayhawks will need more inside muscle from its starting big men. Collison averaged 6.7 rebounds last season, down slightly from the 6.9 per game he grabbed as a freshman.

Williams said Collison won't be restricted to the paint, but he also mentioned that at least one other play he knew didn't have much trouble moving from the paint to the perimeter.

"It worked for James Worthy,'' Williams said. "If you're good you can make that switch.''

Collison will have nothing to worry about.

PF - Drew Gooden (6-9, 230 lbs., JR, #0, 15.8 ppg, 8.4 rpg, 1.8 apg, 27.2 minutes, .516 FG, .400 3PT, .648 FT, 1.1 bpg, El Cerrito HS/Richmond, Calif.)

Gooden felt compelled to announce that he was returning for his junior season and not casting his lot with the NBA. He might have made some money this year, but not as much has he stands to make by playing at least one more season in college.

Gooden was as much of a go-to guy as Kansas had last season. He led the Jayhawks in scoring and was voted first-team all-conference by the media. Collison made the coaches' first-team.

Gooden strengthened his game as a sophomore by playing smarter. The physical tools were the same, he simply applied them better. As a freshman, Gooden shot 45.1 percent from the floor and often took questionable shots.

That happened much less last season and Gooden improved his shooting percentage to 51.6.

As he did with Collison, Williams told Gooden that Kansas needed more production from him in the paint. He talked about how former Jayhawks center Greg Ostertag and Chenowith were limited by their lack of mobility.

Gooden took it to heart and became a more all-around threat. It also helped him that his playing time increased from 21 to 27 minutes per game. He didn't feel like a part-time player as he did as a freshman.

"I got to play with some security,'' Gooden said. "[My freshman year] we had a lot of guys rotating at the power forward position. I'd think, 'I'm only going to get 20 minutes, so I better do something.' When you play more often, there's no need to rush around and take bad shots. You know you're going to be out there.''

A more relaxed and confident Gooden recorded a team-high 10 double-doubles. He led Kansas in scoring 11 times and in rebounding 13 times, and that's with Gooden missing eight starts, five because of a wrist injury.

Gooden's best shot is a short half-hook from the baseline. It's about the surest thing in the Kansas offense. What Williams would like to see more of is rebounding and post defense. The Jayhawks are smaller than they've been in years and will need all the inside muscle they can muster.

One advantage for Gooden: He stays out of foul trouble. He's fouled out of only two games in two seasons.

Bottom line

Even though it didn't win the Big 12 as expected last season, Kansas made some strides, and more improvement should be in store this season.

The Jayhawks will start a senior, three juniors and probably a freshman, making them one of the most experienced teams in the nation. Boschee, Hinrich and Collison have started just about every game they've played. Gooden has played just as many minutes as any of them.

The main challenges in the Big 12 will come from Missouri and Oklahoma State. But don't be surprised to see Kansas back on top for the first time since 1998.