March 8, 2008: Before first NCAA title in 20 years, KU stretched Big 12 streak to four

Truly, this was a blueprint for another Kansas road loss. The Jayhawks shot two of 11 from three-point range. Darrell Arthur and Darnell Jackson played through foul trouble and eventually fouled out.

Only this time, those blunders would have cost KU at least a share of the Big 12 regular-season title, and Sherron Collins knew that. The sophomore from Chicago has picked up enough Jayhawk lore to understand that he couldn’t let KU’s seniors fall short of their fourth straight league crown.

Collins owned this game from start to finish as KU beat Texas A&M 72-55. He proved what KU coach Bill Self has said all along, that he is the player most capable of masking the Jayhawks’ flaws. Flaws? Well, you wouldn’t know KU had any by the scoreboard.

Collins had 13 points, seven assists, three steals and no turnovers in 32 minutes. The stress fracture in his left foot, the turned right ankle and the bruised left knee all felt behind him as he played his most complete game of the season. To nobody’s surprise, so did the Jayhawks.

“There was a stretch in the second half where it was Sherron’s game,” Self said. “He controlled the game. That’s something the people that follow us know we haven’t had consistently at all this year.”

No. 5 KU’s underclassmen led the charge to the top of the Big 12. Arthur had 16 points on eight-of-10 shooting and added nine rebounds. Mario Chalmers also had 16, and he threw in four rebounds and four steals.

It was fitting that the younger guys helped the seniors become the ninth group in KU history to win four regular-season titles in a row. That’s not a knock on Jackson, Russell Robinson, Sasha Kaun, Rodrick Stewart and Jeremy Case.

They aren’t riding coattails or anything like that. But they have certainly needed help to make history.

“No disrespect to our guys,” Self said, “but there are not any lottery picks in that group. There were no McDonald’s All-Americans coming in. It amazes me the success they’ve had since they’ve been there.

“But let’s be real, too. They’ve had some pretty good guys playing with them that are underclassmen.”

All four rings have had their own stories behind them:

When they were freshmen, it was Wayne Simien, Aaron Miles and Keith Langford’s team that won a share with Oklahoma.

When they were sophomores, it was the fresh-faced Julian Wright, Brandon Rush and Chalmers who led KU to a surprising share with Texas.

When they were juniors, it truly was everybody who pushed the Jayhawks to an outright Big 12 title.

This ring was delivered — on Saturday, at least — by sophomores Collins and Arthur.

The Jayhawks, 28-3 and 13-3 in the Big 12, wound up sharing the title with Texas after the Longhorns won the following day and took a No. 2 seed into the Big 12 tournament.

“It’s my last one,” Robinson said. “You remember the last one the most.”

What KU’s seniors will remember is how the Jayhawks finally played at their top form on the road in conference play. The Kansas State and Texas Tech wins at home were nice, but Kansas now knows for sure that it has recovered from its February funk.

“You develop your identity away from home,” Self said. “This was probably the most complete road game we’ve played.”

Speaking of complete, the Jayhawks should feel good about their health heading into tournament season. Collins looks to be over the hump, and Rush showed with a monster dunk on Texas A&M forward Bryan Davis in the game’s final minutes that his legs are rounding into shape. Rush had 10 points on two-of-nine shooting, but the dunk erased his frustration.

“I was shooting too many floaters,” Rush said. “I just got fed up and said, ‘Man, I’m going to try and dunk on somebody before this game is over.’

“It felt nasty.”

The seniors just felt relieved. Robinson walked out of Reed Arena holding the Big 12 championship trophy, and he didn’t need any help from the underclassmen carrying it to the bus.

This story was originally published March 9, 2008 at 12:00 AM with the headline "March 8, 2008: Before first NCAA title in 20 years, KU stretched Big 12 streak to four."