Kansas Getting By On Reputation--for Now

November 30, 1997|By Mike Vaccaro, Kansas City Star.

NEW YORK — They are the Kansas Jayhawks, and for now that is enough. For now they are not required to carry their "A" game along with them every night. Just bringing their jerseys, the ones with "Kansas" stenciled across the front, will do.

That luxury won't last for long, of course. The Jayhawks accomplished precisely what they set out to do when they arrived in midtown Manhattan five days ago, winning the Preseason NIT, allowing Roy Williams to add a third championship watch to his collection. They jumped and danced and laughed afterward, enjoying themselves immensely, allowing themselves a moment to celebrate their 73-58 victory over Florida State.

But anyone who saw these two games at Madison Square Garden understands something else: Kansas brings home the big trophy because they have more toys, more talent, than just about everybody else in the nation. They are not close to hitting their stride. They can look downright awful sometimes. But they are the Kansas Jayhawks. At this early hour of the season that is enough.

Later on, it won't be.

They know that as well as any team in America.

"We'll be awfully ugly sometimes this year," Williams said. "But I hope this is a good thing for us, going through adversity. Sometimes it's not good if you have it easy, easy, easy and then you panic during tough times. I don't mind adversity, even adversity during games."

There is enough of that to go around now. Wednesday night, the Jayhawks survived because of a friendly Garden rim that helped redirect a Billy Thomas three-pointer. Friday, it was a benevolent response from the Seminoles that saved them. Florida State zoomed to a 13-point lead in the second quarter, a cushion that could have been twice as large had they shot better than 33 percent from the floor.

Credit that in large measure to the aura KU brings into any gymnasium, even one as famous as the Garden. The Seminoles knew perfectly well whom they were playing Friday night. They didn't take the Jayhawks when they were there for the taking.

"We were sluggish," Raef LaFrentz said.

"Real sluggish," agreed Paul Pierce.

When asked why, LaFrentz smiled and shook his shoulders.

"If I knew that," he said, "I'd be a lot better player than I am right now."

The Jayhawks proved they can win without huge performances from LaFrentz, who struggled in both Garden games and was outplayed both nights by KU's other All-American, Pierce. But they'd rather not make a habit of it. They'd rather not have to consistently overcome the 46 turnovers they piled up in their two games on the Garden floor.

They'd rather not look so vulnerable.

"Our `want-to' wasn't there," LaFrentz said.

They can get away with that in November and December, points in the season when their reputation can buy them enough time and enough good fortune to stroll through long sections of games. That's enough during those long pockets of the season when nobody is watching.

Here, it just may have been good enough to get them the No. 1 ranking heading into their Tuesday game with Arizona. That is the blessing of talent, the beauty of having five former McDonald's All-Americans on your roster, only three of whom start. It's easy to fill the dead time that way.

Williams didn't seem terribly affected by his team's lackadaisical lapses. In a way, the Jayhawks' struggles justify the harsh words he has applied in the last few weeks. Clearly, he wasn't just poor-mouthing. He saw something. And now we all do.

And that isn't a bad thing, necessarily. Williams admitted earlier this year that he had grown weary seeing his teams play like December darlings, quarter horses who don't have the legs necessary to finish out the grueling road race of a college basketball season.

This time around, there is an upside that can be staggering. When Lester Earl joins the team in a few weeks, there will be a sixth high school All-American at Williams' disposal. Never has the prospect of the long season--one that could include some 43 games by the time it's done--seemed so user-friendly.

"We have some growing up to do," Williams said Friday. "We have some learning."

That will be for later on. For now, all they need is a blue and white uniform and an opponent willing to buy into a golden reputation. There have been six of them so far. Presumably, Arizona won't make it seven.