Web posted
Monday, March 24, 2008
Kansas hoping extra day helps Collins heal
By DOUG TUCKER
AP Sports Writer
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- With a key player nursing a painfully bruised knee, Kansas coach Bill Self is glad to be on a Friday-Sunday schedule this week in the Midwest Regional.
By the time the top-seeded Jayhawks meet No. 12 seed Villanova on Friday night, sophomore guard Sherron Collins should be back to 100 percent, Self said Sunday.
''I do think it's one of those situations where it will get to feeling better,'' Self said in a conference call. ''But he did bump knees, I believe last Tuesday, and he hasn't been himself since then. I don't think he was himself at all (in the first round) against Portland State. I really thought he played pretty well against UNLV.''
After not practicing at all on Friday, Collins managed to score 10 points in the 75-56 victory on Saturday over UNLV, which propelled the Jayhawks into the round of 16.
''I thought he moved well,'' Self said. ''Of course, it helps when you make some moves that he made. I'm banking on him being 100 percent by Friday.''
Collins, a spark plug off the bench and a fearless playmaker who loves to drive to the basket in traffic, is probably the Jayhawks' best player when he's 100 percent. Hampered off and on all year by nagging injuries, he had a similar bruise on the other knee about a month ago.
''We talked to him on Friday and basically said, 'It's going to be sore. It's going to hurt. You're just going to have to decide how bad you want to be out there. Structurally, you're fine. You're just going to have to play through it if you're going to be effective,''' Self said.
''This will give him an extra day off. I think he's going to be fine.''
Villanova reached the round of 16 with an 84-72 victory over Sienna. Kansas (33-3), the Big 12 regular-season co-champions, would appear to have a huge advantage over the 22-12 Wildcats of the Big East, who have more losses than any other team still left.
''We're not playing a 12 seed. We're playing a team that obviously is good enough to be in the Sweet 16,'' Self said.
''Even though they probably have more losses than what you would think a Sweet 16 team would in the course of the season, that's primarily because of the league they played in. And they've had some really, really close, heartbreaking type losses.''
|
