'Tenacious' and Loquacious

Aldrich, Kansas's Humble Reserve, Is Man of Many Words

SAN ANTONIO, April 6 -- Kansas junior Brandon Rush was delighted by the way Cole Aldrich performed Saturday night in the NCAA national semifinals. But forget about the way that the 6-foot-11 freshman with the buzzcut went toe-to-toe against North Carolina's Tyler Hansbrough; Rush enjoyed what happened after the Jayhawks' 84-66 victory.

As Aldrich sat at the news conference dais and earnestly -- and somewhat long-windedly -- answered questions about his eight-point, seven-rebound effort, Rush smiled and giggled alongside him. At one point, Rush even rested his chin in his hand and stared at his younger teammate in mock seriousness.

"He played an amazing game, probably the best game he's ever played," Rush said on Sunday. "In the press room, I just liked hearing him. His answers were real long. He explained everything, and he kept using the word 'tenacious.' I thought it was pretty funny."

Aldrich's play on the court, however, was inspired. He played a season-high 17 minutes -- after playing just 11 minutes and taking one shot in his previous three games combined -- and provided one of the defining moments of the game, when he ripped a rebound away from Hansbrough.

"I think that was a big moment for us," junior center Matt Kleinmann said. "It's when we realized that not only can we outscore them, but we can out-tough them and out-hustle them. The knock on Hansbrough is that he will out-compete everybody. For us to be able to say, 'We've got some guys that can compete too,' felt really good."

Said sophomore forward Darrell Arthur, "He gave us a big-time spark."

One of the great strengths of this Kansas team is its depth, a point that was driven home against the Tar Heels. Senior forwards Darnell Jackson and Sasha Kaun quickly picked up two fouls apiece against North Carolina and were sent to the bench, which forced Aldrich into the game.

Coach Bill Self used a four-player front-court rotation against the Tar Heels, and those four -- Arthur, Jackson, Aldrich and senior Sasha Kaun -- combined for 30 points on 12-of-23 shooting, 20 rebounds, and 8 blocked shots.

"There are a lot of guys on this team that can bring something to the court," Jackson said. "It could be Darrell, Russell [Robinson], Sherron [Collins], Cole -- you never know who it is. That's what's so good."

The 6-9 Arthur, who averages 12.6 points (second on the team) and 6.2 rebounds, is the most talented of the group. The 6-8 Jackson has a career field goal percentage of .579 and is averaging 11.3 points and 6.6 rebounds in his first full year as a starter.

But Self said Friday that over the past three weeks, Kaun, a 6-11 reserve, had probably been "our best inside player." Kaun, who has started 65 games in his career, is the Jayhawks' best low-post defender and was quietly dominant in two games in Detroit last weekend. In wins over Villanova and Davidson, Kaun made 9 of 10 shots, scored a total of 22 points and grabbed a combined 13 rebounds. He was named to the all-Midwest Region team.

"Sasha's been doing this for four years; he's had moments of brilliance and moments when he's struggled," Kleinmann said. "Cole [on Saturday], it was like, who is this guy? We all knew that Cole could play that way. We all knew. But not only had we not seen him do it quite like that, but also against that kind of competition. You go out there and make the player of the year look like he can't compete with you, grabbing rebounds over his head, making shots when maybe he has a hand on your wrist, stuff like that? It was like, 'Who is this guy wearing Cole's jersey?' "