MARCH 2010: Sherron Collins is the winningest player in KU history, been part of four Big 12 regular-season titles, two conference postseason tournament championships, two Elite Eights, one Final Four and one national title.

Collins, a senior point guard and All-America candidate, enters March hoping to add one more honor to his impeccable resume and do something that no Jayhawk player has done since 1922 and 1923 when KU won consecutive Helms Foundation National Championships: win two national championships for his career.

“You always say things to your team like I want to win another championship or it would be good to win one, we got the talent to win one if we do the right things,” Collins said. “We talk about winning one all the time, but we know we got to take the little steps to win it first.”
Collins and company certainly have a good chance to cut down the national championship nets at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis on April 5.

The Jayhawks have won six straight Big 12 titles. With the deepest team in KU coach Bill Self’s era and one of his most talented, Kansas is gearing for a long and magical March run.

KU’s road to the Final Four in Indianapolis begins with Collins, the motor which drives the high-octane Jayhawk attack. While his scoring is down this year (15.1 ppg, compared to 18.9 ppg last season) and he struggled with his shot in late January and February, he’s gotten more players involved and sacrificed for the betterment of the team.

When it’s crunch time, there is no doubt who’s the go-to player for Kansas.

Collins made all the key shots and put KU on his shoulders with a career-high 33 points against Cornell in the Jayhawks’ come from behind 71-66 victory on Jan. 6. He did the same against Baylor in KU’s hard-fought 81-75 win on Jan. 20,. He hit the biggest shot in the final seconds in the Jayhawks’ 81-79 overtime victory at K-State on Jan. 30, and has proven over and over again during his career that he’s so willing to take the money shot.
Sporting News college basketball writer Mike DeCourcy calls Collins the most clutch player in college basketball and possibly in Kansas basketball history.

Collins’ teammates would agree.

“He is cold blooded,” sophomore forward Marcus Morris said. “He steps up and makes big shots every game. It is amazing that he can do it every game. When we are down he carries us.”

Collins lives to make the big shot. “At the end of the game, especially close games,
I want the ball in my hands,” he said. “If I got to shoot or score, I just want to make a play.”
Self expects Collins to make the big plays this postseason. Self calls Collins “the best guard in the country. I’ve said all along, he impacts the college game more than any player I’ve ever coached, whether he’s finishing a play or starting a play.”

As good as Collins is, he can’t win the NCAA championship alone. Unlike last year, he and
fellow All-America candidate Cole Aldrich will have plenty of help this March. Last season, Collins and Aldrich, a junior center, carried a heavy burden, tying or leading the team in scoring 32 of 35 games. In KU’s 67-62 loss to Michigan State in the Sweet 16 in Indianapolis, the two stars combined for 37 points on 15 of 26 shooting, yet struggled in the second half to close out the Spartans.

Their teammates didn’t step up, scoring just 25 points on a dismal 9 of 27 from the field.
This is a different team in 2009-10. Seven different players have either tied or led the
team in scoring (just like the 2007-08 national championship team), compared to just four last year. Freshman swingman Xavier Henry (13.9 ppg) ranked second in scoring behind Collins, followed by Morris (12.7 ppg) and Aldrich (11.5 ppg).

Morris has been exceptional in Big 12 play, leading the team in scoring at 15.2 points per game, while topping the Big 12 in offensive rebounds. Self simply calls Morris one of the best players in the country.

The Jayhawks have plenty of other weapons as well. There’s speedy sophomore guard Tyshawn Taylor, who’s elevating his play with his insertion back in the starting lineup, junior guard Brady Morningstar, the team’s best perimeter defender and one of its top outside shooters, junior guard Tyrel Reed, a great shooter who has a knack for making clutch shots, sophomore forward Markieff Morris, a good rebounder who can step outside and make shots, and freshman forward Thomas Robinson, who provides instant energy and rebounding off the bench.

KU goes nine deep, with redshirt freshman center Jeff Withey and freshman guard Elijah Johnson ready to help if needed.

“I think it really helps us at times because we have so many different guys that can step up,” Aldrich said. “I think that’s really hard to scout, just because I could have a big night, Sherron could have a great night, or one of the (Morris) twins, or anybody on our roster can really step up. I think that’s one thing that really makes us (great) is just the way we share the ball and the fun loving basketball we play.”

This is a battle-tested team which has continued to win despite a big bull’s-eye on its back as the No. 1 team in the country all but three weeks this season. Kansas has won six games by six points or less, including back-to-back overtime games at K-State and Colorado.

Even on nights when they’ve struggled offensively, the defense has helped the Jayhawks win games. KU is leading the nation in field-goal percentage defense (36.9) and getting stops when it counts the most.

In KU’s grind-it-out 59-54 victory at Texas A&M on Feb. 15, the Aggies outplayed KU for 36 minutes until the Jayhawks held them scoreless (0-7 FG) the last 4:08 and went on a 7-0 run to close the contest.

Despite playing tired and shooting just 43.5 percent from the field, KU held A&M to 34.9 percent shooting and limited the Aggies to 22 points in the second half. The Jayhawks also got key rebounds late in the game.

“You can still win when you don’t play well,” Self said. “If we guard, rebound and take care of the basketball, you can still be in most every game.”

While Aldrich said “we still have a long ways to go” after the game after A&M dominated KU on the offensive boards, 20 to 8, there’s still plenty of time for the Jayhawks to peak and put their name in history alongside the 2008 title team.

“It’s hard to be a lot better than any area than the ‘08 team. That team was great,” Self said.
“I do think this team could be comparable with the potential, but it’s not there yet.”

If KU gets “there,” the Jayhawks could be the last team standing on April 5 in Indianapolis. For Collins, that would be a dream come true.

“I would be speechless,” he said. “It would show how much hard work we put in and it really paid off, the great coach that (Self) is and this coaching staff. It would mean so much to us.”