After two outstanding seasons at Kansas, junior point guard Darnell Valentine was eagerly looking forward to making his mark in his third year.
He had already emerged as one of the top players and best defensive players in America. So much so that he was featured in Sports Illustrated.
In the Dec. 3, 1979 SI issue, writer Larry Keith included Valentine among the nation’s best defensive wizards. The headline read: “PUTTING A LID ON THE BASKET.”
“Darnell Valentine of Kansas is so adept at defense that his coach, Ted Owens, encourages him to ‘disrupt the other team's entire offense. He's free to gamble when he wants, switch off, double-team and defend away from the ball. We want him to use his exceptional sense of anticipation to go for steals and interceptions.’ Valentine, a personable 6'2" junior enrolled in pre-law, takes to the task with gusto. ‘Defense is something you have to be determined to play every game,’ he says, ‘and a good defensive player should never have a bad one. When I take another man's rock [ball] one-on-one in the open court, that says I'm doing my job better than he is.’
“Valentine has become so proficient at making steals—he led the Big Eight with 3.1 per game last season—he has heard opponents tell him, ‘I'm not going to let you steal it from me.’ Valentine's answer is usually a swipe of the hand, a quick dribble and a layup at the other end.”
In that same issue, SI wrote again about Valentine’s superb defense with the subheadline:
“HOLD YOUR PLACE.”
“Darnell Valentine of Kansas demonstrates the most fundamental skill of good man-to-man defense, the ability to achieve and maintain an aggressive position—one that limits an opponent's options—against the man with the ball. Valentine forces Iowa State's Andrew Parker to the right of the key (see diagram) and stops him from penetrating all the way to the basket. As a result, Parker must stop his dribble and pass to an open man.”
Valentine and KU entered the 1979-80 season trying to rebound off a discouraging 18-11 season, when the Jayhawks were picked as high as No. 2 nationally in one preseason poll. Joining Valentine in the backcourt this season was high school phenom Ricky Ross from Wichita South, who had just broken Valentine’s all-time City League scoring record with 1,669 points during his stellar three-year career.
Ross led South to two consecutive state titles his junior and senior year, while averaging 32.0 points per game his senior season. He set a City League record with 47 points against Southeast as a junior. He was named a McDonald’s All-American in one of the best high school classes of all time, which included Ralph Sampson, Isiah Thomas, Dominique Wilkins, James Worthy and Jon Paxson.
In a heavily recruiting battle, Ross chose KU over many other big-time programs beckoning at his doorstep.
“I’m excited about playing with Darnell,” Ross told the Lawrence Journal-World at the time. “With all the pro coaches and scouts that will be watching him the next two years, that has to be a plus for me, too.”
Ross’ high school coach Bill Himebaugh was thrilled his franchise player was going to be a Jayhawk.
“I think he had KU in his mind all along,” Himebaugh said. “He’s the type of player who can turn a program around. And that guard tandem of KU now has to be one of the best around.”
However, KU had a big problem entering the season, and that involved replacing 7-1 star center Paul Mokeski, who was a second-round draft pick by the Houston Rockets. There was a glaring hole in the middle.
KU, which entered the season ranked No. 20 in the AP poll, was picked to finish third in the Big Eight behind Missouri and Oklahoma by Street & Smith Magazine.
“Jayhawks were a disappointment last season when they started as the Big Eight favorite and finished in a second place tie with Kansas State and Nebraska,” the magazine wrote in its preseason issue. “One problem, then, lack of outside shooting, may have been solved with the recruiting of 6-5 Ricky Ross, a guard who averaged 32 points a game in leading Wichita South to consecutive state titles. But the Jayhawks have always been big-man oriented under Ted Owens and there is no apparent successor to seven-foot Paul Mokeski.
“Mark Snow, a 6-10 Californian, was recruited as Mokeski’s replacement, but he sat out his freshman year with a broken foot. Other candidates will be 6-9, 185-pound Chester Giles, who hasn’t played much, and 6-10, 225-pound juco transfer Art Housey, who the Jayhawks signed when they lost out on Sam Bowie.
“Kansas is loaded at guard. Darnell Valentine is one of the best in the game, averaging 16.1 points and leading the conference in assists and steals as a sophomore. Junior Wilmore Fowler (9.2 ppg) is experienced and Ross and another freshman, Keith Douglas, are highly touted.
“There are also plenty of seasoned forwards around, including 6-8 Johnny Crawford (10.2 ppg), 6-5 Tony guy (9.2) and 6-8 David Magley, who has had a shoulder repaired.”
Fowler, though, was no longer on the team after transferring to Georgia.
Guy had a problem about Ross taking over his position at shooting guard.
“They bring in Ricky Ross who was six foot seven and who was All-World,” Guy said in Mark Stallard’s 2005 book, Tales From The Jayhawks Hardwood. “I’m going, ‘Well, where’s Ricky going to play.’
‘Ricky is going to play big guard, Tony.’
‘”I thought I was supposed to be the big guard.’ I didn’t get to play big guard until my junior year. It’s not a coincidence that my junior year was my best year. My first two years I had to play small forward. If you don’t perform, they’re just going to recruit over you. I was performing and they still recruited over me.”
While Guy still had a good year (third-leading scorer at 10.9 points per game), the lack of inside play never materialized that season and KU had bad team chemistry and poor unity. Ross had a big ego who was all about scoring points and not winning, while looking solemn when he was on the bench. KU finished at just 15-14, its worst record since 1975-76 (13-13) and 7-7 in league play for fourth place.
Coach Owens never found a consistent lineup throughout the season. A whopping 11 players had at least one start, led by Valentine (27 starts), followed by Magley (20) and Guy and Ross (17 each).
There was a glaring hole in the middle with nobody even coming close to filling Mokeski’s shoes. Giles averaged just 4.1 points and 3.7 rebounds; Housey 4.1 points and 3.2 boards; Snow 2.5 points and 1.5 rebounds; and freshman Kelly Knight 3.0 points and 2.2 rebounds per game.
Poor rebounding also doomed the Jayhawks. Crawford led the team with just 4.8 rebounds per game, followed by Magley (4.4 rpg). KU only managed 30.0 rebounds per game.
KU, though, finished the season strong by winning five of its final seven games and advancing to the Big Eight Tournament championship, where KSU whipped the ‘Hawks, 79-58. One of those victories down the stretch was a huge upset win over No. 11 Missouri in the semifinals of the tournament, 80-71, on Feb. 28. MU had crushed KU in its earlier meeting in Columbia, 88-65, on Feb. 9.
It was truly a dismal season for Owens and KU, two straight poor seasons for a coach who was perpetually on the hot seat.
Valentine averaged a career-high 16.5 points per game and boosted his field goal percentage from 44.3 percent as a sophomore to 48.1 percent this season, while also improving his free throw percentage from 68.0 percent to 77.7 percent. But his assists dropped from 5.9 per game to 5.0, while his steals decreased from 3.1 to 2.6 per game.
Following Valentine in scoring were Ross (11.7 ppg), Guy (10.9), Crawford (7.9) and Neal (5.8)
It was easily a year to forget in KU basketball history.
While KU had a poor season, Valentine was doing his best to boost his credentials to make the 1980 U.S. Olympic team in Moscow. In the 1979-80 Street & Smith Magazine preview issue, here is what the mag said about the prospects for that team:
“Looking over the list of potential candidates for our 1980 team, (Dave, head coach) Gavitt said he sees an abundance of forwards, big and small, and shooting guards. There are some outstanding centers and point guards, but not as many. Is there a a Phil Ford? (star point guard on the 1976 Olympic Team). ...
“One coach who believes there’s a Phil Ford-type player to be found in the present college ranks is Kansas coach Ted Owens. He’s that high on his point guard, Darnell Valentine.
“He’s a great athlete,” observed Owens. “He wants to play on our Olympic team --it’s something we’re pointing him toward--and ultimately, he wants to play pro ball. He’s going to be a great quarterback.”
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