Daily Archives: Nov. 27, 2007

Mama Sayz… (11/27)

She’s done it again. I was a little behind, so I apologize for the delay. But there’s more good stuff in here. Don’t you all feel like you’re almost a part of her family? You’d better listen to what “Mama Sayz.”

ROAD TRIP DIARY

My original intention for the “Road Trip Diaries” were to give time-stamped mini-blogs of our family trip to Florida. However, after our 18-20 hour trip turned into 24-26 hours (each way!) I’ve changed my mind. About 30 minutes into our drive, three-year-old Tiffany asked, “Are we there yet?” At first, everyone in the truck laughed. But then she asked aproximately a hundred million more times before we actually got to our final destination and it wasn’t quite as funny anymore. In fact, is was downright irritating, but I certainly felt her pain. We were all packed up with any and every electronic that you could imagine to keep us entertained but then another smart aleck in the very back of the SUV, which was packed to the fullest capacity, mumbled under her breath “there’s not enough electronics in the world” that could stop her boredom. Oh well, I guessed she missed the memo on “let’s enjoy some QUALITY family time.” So instead of giving you the diaries, I’ll go over some highlights (and lowlights) of the trip and also answer a few of the questions left in the comments section from last week.

Well, of course we all know that the game against George Mason didn’t go quite the way we wanted but we can definitely learn something from this game and one of most important to me is that no one likes to lose. Whether it’s dealing with not getting the job you interviewed for, or being dumped in a failed relationship and especially not in a competitive game of basketball. Now, if I as a parent/fan don’t like the feeling of a loss, imagine what the players and coaches feel – and with that thought in mind, let’s pick up the pieces and move on. Now even though the games against UCF and Rider were much more exciting and fun to watch, they nearly sent me into cardiac arrest! The atmosphere was incredible. My family came in from the Washington, D.C. area and was truly amazed by the sea of purple that sat across from them. I told them if they thought this was impressive, they would be floored at a home game at Bramlage.

The families of all of the basketball players really weren’t able to spend a lot of time with our sons/grandsons/nephews/brothers until Saturday. We chose to spend our time at Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure. While waiting for the kids to get off of one of the roller coasters, Calvin heard some poor woman screaming at the top of her lungs as she went upside down and into a mountain at full speed. Then Calvin thought about it and said if the kids come out with the next group of people, the scream we heard was not a woman after all and that he was for sure that it was Lil’ Mike. Don’t you know Lil’ Mike led the group out of the exit of the ride and, once confronted, proudly owned up to the girlish screams…

We had a blast at at the parks, riding various rides, playing games and just running arround with the entire family. Not only did Mona and Tom, and other close family members make the trip, even Grandma Candi was there. Now that’s a miracle in itself to get her outside of D.C.

All in all, it was a good trip.

Since this took a little longer than I thought I’ll just choose one of the questions to touch on from the comments this week.

And the lucky person to have there question answered is…Superksufan.

“How does Mike like not being able to talk to the media?”

Well, “Super K,” when Lil’ Mike comes home we do not discuss the details of what goes on with the team and their rules. Why? Because when we are at home it is one of the only times that we can spend together as a family. Therefore, I really cannot answer for him as to how he feels about the rule BUT I can tell you how I feel about it. I don’t mind it at all. Without having to speak to the media after every game or for that matter after everything that he does gives him time to focus on the important things like school, family, basketball and just being a typical college kid. Believe me, I know he’s quite entertaining to listen and talk to. However, let’s all take one for the team and live with this rule respectfully.

This and that

Some quick hitters…

SPOKE with Garden Plain’s Logan Dold today. He’s rock-solid in his commitment to K-State. He can’t wait to get to Manhattan. He said the coaches - he spoke with James Franklin today, who was in Wichita again - have told him he might play offense after all. He thought he was set to be a safety. I asked what position, asking him how much he weighed (205 pounds, by the way). He thought he might be suited for a H-back position.

ACCORDING to KSU assistant sports information director Tom Gilbert, there are only about 2,000 tickets remaining for the Dec. 17 game against Florida A&M at the Sprint Center, which holds 18,000.

ARTHUR and Bryce Brown are going to be living the high life this week. They’re leaving tomorrow for the University of Miami, spending a couple of days in South Beach before heading West for an official visit to USC. They’ll spend the weekend in L.A. Bryce, in particular, is eager to see “what girls are out there” for both schools. Bryce, by the way, was sporting a bright white KU hat Tuesday prior to his Eagle photo shoot.

FRANKLIN wasn’t the only major assistant in Wichita this week. North Carolina’s John Blake stopped by East, as did Florida’s Charlie Strong.

I’M hearing Northwest quarterback Chris Harper is more or less down to K-State and Oregon, but I’m still waiting to hear that straight from him.

Tuesdays with Frank (11/27)

Enjoy.

Does
anything surprise you about Michael Beasley?

Not
really. We watched him play a trillion times as a high school guy. We
know him as a kid, what kind of kid he is because of his close
relationship with Dalonte (Hill). We’ve seen him every single day,
in season practices — I’m not surprised. He’s a heck of a
player. He’s a very talented player, but an even better kid… If
you know Mike, scoring 30 points a night isn’t what makes him go.
He wants to win. Mike’s about winning. He’s a great teammate. If
everybody could be the kind of teammate Mike is, coaching and sports,
you wouldn’t have the turnover you have in the coaching profession
because he’s an unbelievable kid and an even better teammate.

What do
you know about Oregon?

I
actually watched a couple of their games closely last year. I watched
them play Florida – Billy Donovan is a dear friend, so I watched
that game closely. With today’s technology, we have so many of
their game tapes available to us that we’ve been able to study
them, prepare for them. I can’t think of too many teams that can be
better than them offensively. They’re as good as it gets on
offense. Not taking anything away from them defensively, just
offensively, they’re just very talented at all five spots. Ernie
(Kent) has done an unbelievable job with that job, getting those guys
to play together and as a basketball coach, that’s what you need to
have.

Encouraged
by more balanced scoring?

The only
reason we hadn’t gotten it before was we had guys who weren’t
making shots. The shot distribution I’ve been pleased with. We’ve
played evenly share the ball. Our assist numbers, given the fact we
weren’t not making shots, have been good. I’ve been extremely
pleased by that. Just a matter of guys rising up and making shots. We
have the right guys taking shots from the right spots. Like Jacob did
the past weekend and Andre did the last game – couple of guys
making a couple of shots, being able to relax. Throughout the season,
if a couple of guys make shots, we’d have more balanced scoring.
It’s not like we’re just trying to get Michael shots. It is what
it is.

Is the
team ready for the challenge of an offensive juggernaut like Oregon?

We’d
better be ready. They’ll put a big number on you in a hurry. I’m
pleased where we’re at from a defensive standpoint. Still playing
spurts too much, still fouling too much. We’d gotten away from
fouling against UCF, against Rider did a good job for first 30
minutes, then got in the same rut… I’m happy where we’re at.
Our guys work at it, we’re committed to it. We’re going to keep
getting better.

Are
injuries a challenge?

It’s
sports. Look at Kansas. They were without Brandon Rush the whole
preseason and now they’re without Sherron Collins. It’s sports.
Texas last year lost a couple of guys to injuries and they still
lined up and won. Villanova, the year they had the four guards, their
so-called best player tore his ACL in the preseason and they still
went out and won 30 games. It’s a part of sports. If you start
using that as a crutch, then all you’re doing is creating a safety
net to tell your team it’s OK to fail and that’s not what I’m
about and it’s that’s not what we’re about.

Did Jacob
Pullen make progress on the defensive end over the weekend?

He has.
Jacob Pullen, from a defensive standpoint, is a lot better today than
he was six weeks ago. He went into the tournament understanding he
was getting ready to face some high-level guards every night, and
from a defensive standpoint, he really did a heck of a job for us. He
still relaxes at times, and that’s fine – he’s going to
continue to learn you can’t relax. In high school, guys like him
can relax five times and nothing will happen. At the collegiate
level, every time you relax, the other team makes you pay for it.
He’s learning that’s not something you can do.

What
makes Michael Beasley such a good rebounder?

Rebounding
is his strength. That’s what he does. If there is a part of his
game that you want to say he is good at, that’s it. It’s a
combination of two things – 1. He has good hands and he’s very
strong, and 2. He has the instinct to go get the ball. He can read
the ball coming off the rim, knows where it’s going and he had
great hands, he’s athletic, strong – he can go get it… I think
some guys have the instinct to go read the ball, have a feel to know
where it’s going. He has that ability. At the end of the day,
rebounding is effort. If you can have all of the instincts you want –
if you don’t have the strength to go in there and withstand another
person trying to get the ball, have the strength to withhold and
still elevate, grasp the ball and hold it… Rebounding, at the end
of the day, is an effort play. It’s something you have to do all of
the time.

Concerned
about Bill Walker’s emotions?

His fifth
foul against George Mason, he put his hands on his head and walked
away from the foul. He got tech-ed up for that. Against Rider, Len
Elmore approached me after the game – Len did the color on the
television set — and said he couldn’t believe both kids got
ejected. He said, ‘Frank, I looked at it, over and over, neither
one did anything.’…  Bill plays with emotion, and that’s what
gives him the edge to be who he is. He has to be able to have that
emotion to succeed. What he needs to learn is there is a certain line
he can’t cross with that emotion, and that’s part of his youth.
He’ll continue to get better with that. Do I sit back and say it’s
OK to get technicals every night? Absolutely not. Am I worried about
it? No, I’m not.