Tuesday, February 28, 2006

Oh, I see--it was the ball . . .

This article from the UDK really explains that whole Texas game:
Rush says type of basketball hampered play.
Yikes.

And for the record, I'm with you Ismail--I think A&M has a real shot against those horns. (Of course, I also picked us by 15 on Saturday . . .).

Monday, February 27, 2006

JAYHAWK NATION IS HERE!!!


Hi to everyone. Yancy, Deron, and I think that this blog is a good way to get out our Jayhawk ranting, and maybe keep up with people a bit since we are now stretched from D.C. to Oregon. Hell, I haven't even heard from Ismail since we last played ball (p.s. how ya doin!).

So, we can comment back and forth as yancy and I did in the previous post by clicking on the "comments" link at the bottom of the post, or you can post your own entries by going to Blogger.com. You log in and then you will be able to click on the blog and then click on the "posting" tab at the top of the screen. Then you can attach photos like I did at the top of this entry, or you can link to another website like this: http://www.yancy9a.blogspot.com (Yancy's blog). If you don't want to mess around with the html language code (which I don't), when you go to post, you can click on the tab in the right corner of the post composer that says "compose" and it will do the coding for you. Anyway, feel free to rant about whatever you want. This should be a free-speech zone, unless somehow a Mizzou fan were to get access. I put links on the right side, if anybody can think of more basketball friendly sites to link, I'll add them. those are just the ones I go to most frequently.

Rock Chalk Jayhawk Go KU!!

Sunday, February 26, 2006

Post Texas Thoughts



Sido's late night rant:

I passed out around the 13 minute mark of the second half - and woke up in the fetal position in the middle of my office - screaming something incoherently - all I could make out was how I wanted to shit down the throat of Rick Barnes?Thanks for showing up tonight, Brandon. Definitely didn't see his disappearing act coming - he hid that well.Perhaps this team needed a solid kick in the ass? A little motivation for Dallas? Pretty sure Self will have their attention, as they'll be running upon their return to Lawrence.Goodnight,James.

Scott J's thoughts

Well sucked to watch tonight, but it doesn't hurt as bad when you expected to lose. It'll be nice to remember how they left in their starters til the one minute mark next year when they come to the Phog without Tucker, Aldridge, or Buckman. I hope we beat them by 50.Now that that's out of my system, thoughts on the game. I thought Texas would win, but I am surprised that we were blown out, because this Bill Self team just doesn't get blown out. Our D is usually enough to keep us in games even if we aren't shooting well. I thought we gave good effort and hustle for most of the game. Two things happened that spelled doom for KU, one that I predicted and the other that I didn't see coming whatsoever. We did not shoot well from the perimeter and they shot lights out. That was critical especially in the 2nd half when we couldn't penetrate against their zone. The other thing, and I guess I have to give Rick Barnes a little credit here, they did a masterful job on Julian Wright. In KU games recently, Wright has been abusing teams with his uncanny passing ability in the low post. I guess Barnes watched all of that film and stressed to his guys to be ready to jump the interior passing lanes every time Wright got the ball. It was a very effective strategy. It's not the only reason they won, but it sure didn't help. I didn't think it was the best-called game I had ever seen, but it wasn't the worst either. We got some calls early in the 2nd half, but they got several calls driving the ball into the low post that really hurt. Some of Texas's playmakers that game, especially in the first half, made difficult shots even when they were well defended. That's the mark of superior talent.

I thought that individually, Kahn and Giles played some nice minutes in the 1st half, especially on D, but folded in the 2nd. Rush had one of his worst games, offensively, and defensively on Tucker, mostly in the 2nd half (tucker only had 2 pts at te half). Chalmers and Robinson did not force as many turnovers as they had recently. I know that Tx isn't immune to that, since Memphis forced a lot of turnovers against them when I saw them earlier. OSU got a lot of TO's too.

As far as our seeding and ranking go, I think we drop probably 2 or 3 spots in the Top 25, to 21 or 20, no big whoop. Doesn't mean too much right now. Seeding wise, it's a huge difference here. If we won, and won the Big 12 Tourney, I think we could've made a case for a 3, but getting blown out makes us look a little illegitimate I think. The selection committee really uses 4 criteria: RPI, Strength of schedule, "quality wins" and "bad losses". Unfortunately for KU, since we lost by 25, it will be considered a "bad loss" by the selection committee. Any loss by more than 20 is a bad loss for them, just like TX's losses to Duke and Tennessee will be considered bad losses, even though those are good teams. That and the OSU loss kills their chance at a 1 seed. For us, we are ok on the first two criteria, but since the Big XII is down this year, we don't have a lot of quality wins to trumpet. Oklahoma is probably the best, and we did that barely in our gym. You might count California too, since they've come on recently. One other thing the tourney committee loves is how you are performing late in the season as opposed to early. That helps KU a lot. The most recent Bracketology had us at a #5. I think this drops us to a 6. If we win the last 2 games vs. CU and K St, I think we maintain that. The only way to improve our seed now dramatically is to win the Big XII Tourney and maybe beat TX in a rematch. That would give us legitimacy. I think if we do that, we are a #4 seed. If not, we stay at 6, mostly because of our lack of quality wins. I'd rather be a 6 than a 4 or 5 anyway, though. That 5/12 game is historically a b****, and if you're one of those 2 seeds, you gotta play the #1 in Round 3. Given the separation of the upper echelon this year in college BB between the top 4 teams and the rest of the field, I'd much rather play the #2 than the #1.Rock Chalk!!!
_____________________________
ljworld game stats
BrieflyTexas had a 22-17 advantage in points off turnovers, a 15-6 edge in second-chance points, a 9-4 lead in fast-break points and a 20-11 edge in bench points. ... The teams tied with 24 points in the paint

Kansas LeadersScoring: Julian Wright 18, Mario Chalmers 10.Rebounding: Brandon Rush, C.J. Giles 4 each.Assists: Russell Robinson 8.Turnovers: Wright 5, Rush 4.Texas leadersScoring: P.J. Tucker 19; LaMarcus Aldridge 18; Brad Buckman, A.J. Abrams 12 each.Rebounding: Buckman 9; Tucker, Aldridge 8 each.Assists: Tucker 7.Turnovers: Tucker 5.

Saturday, February 25, 2006

KU Predictions

Ismail:[paraphrasing] (ugly game in the 70s, Texas by 5

Scott J.:I'm saying 65-60 Horns.

Rick Barnes is a terrible coach, he can't motivate his players for shit, but the home crowd will do that for him in this game. Watching Texas play my other team (Memphis), I gotta say that that Memphis should have beaten them too, if they hadn't taken 32 three pointers and made 6 of them.

PJ Tucker will obviously be the guy we can't match up with. It actually hurt Memphis when Aldridge got in foul trouble, because that meant that Tucker spent more time in the lane.

Yancy:KU by 15: 83-68>why not?


Sido: Strong, Yancy! Strong!
KU - 81UT - 76
Wright - 14 pts, 9 reb, 3 blocksRush - 21 pts, 9 rebVOGEL - 23 pts


Chris Lee <chrislee@northwestern.edu> wrote:> >> > I say UT 75-70.> >> > ku has to lose sometime, and now's as good a time as any.


Deron Lee wrote:Earlier I called for predictions, but so far I think only Ismail has> > > delivered (ugly game in the 70s, Texas by 5). So now I will renew that> > > call and offer my own:I like our chances because we've been playing better than them lately,> > > and I think there's more pressure on them than us--they have a ranking and preseason expectations to maintain. I also think we won't get rattled, because frankly, it isn't that tough an environment comparedto say, Columbia or Ames; UT fans just can't get that interested inbasketball, esp. because they're still hung over from the Vince Young thing. But since they probably want this one more than us, they'regoing to be very aggressive on D, and they'll get all the crucialcalls, so we could outplay them and still lose (just like at Mizzou, or arguably, what happened to OU at the Field House). Therefore I'llsay UT by three points in overtime, maybe double OT.

Texas @ KU




ESPN preview
___________
Kansas visits Texas in battle for first place in Big 12
Gameday Matchup

AUSTIN, Texas (Ticker) - No. 18 Kansas' remarkable run to the top of the Big 12 Conference standings will face its toughest test with Saturday's visit to seventh-ranked Texas.
The two clubs enter the contest tied atop the league standings with three games to play, making the 16th meeting between the teams a critical one.
While Texas (23-4, 11-2 Big 12) was predicted to be in this spot, it likely did not expect to be challenged by the youthful Jayhawks (20-6, 11-2), who have used their starting lineup of three freshman and two sophomores to reel off 10 straight wins.
The last five victories have come by double figures, including Tuesday's 76-61 triumph over Baylor. Freshman Julian Wright scored a season-high 20 points on 10-of-11 shooting for Kansas, which held a 38-28 rebounding advantage and forced 18 turnovers.
Wright has started the last nine games, shooting 56 percent from the floor in that span. Fellow first-year player Brandon Rush, who chipped in 11 points and four steals Tuesday, leads all Big 12 freshmen in scoring with a 14.2 average.
The Longhorns may feel fortunate to be in a first-place tie after outlasting Kansas State on Wednesday, 65-64. They held a 10-point lead in the first half before seeing most of it disappear down the stretch and surviving.
P.J. Tucker recorded his 10th double-double of the season with 14 points and 12 rebounds and LaMarcus Aldridge had 16 and eight for Texas, which is one win shy of matching the school record for regular-season victories in a season.
The 1946-47 Longhorns squad that reached the Final Four was the only team to reach 24 victories before the postseason. Tuesday's victory was the 1,500th in program history.
The Jayhawks own an 11-4 series advantage, including a 90-65 triumph in the last meeting a little over a year ago