Let's start the conference season already. I'm tired of struggling against these crappy teams

Well, another terrible team that will hurt our RPI, and another terrible effort. This time, we managed to "gut it out" in a 80-69 win over the7-7 Rhode Island Rams. It's a good thing they didn't still have Lamar Odom, or they probably could've beat us. Russell Robinson was sick, I guess, but that doesn't change the fact that we struggled to execute offensively once again.

We really play up or down to whoever suits up against us. Roy would've beaten this team by at least 25.

It would've been nice if we played a legit top 25 team on the road before conference play. I think the first time we go into a really hostile gym, our guys won't be ready and we lose to someone crummy like ISU or Baylor.

Where Eagles Dare

Finally, a big game, for the first time since Florida.

The BC Eagles are unranked at this point but they're getting votes. Like Kansas, they have a pair of head-scratching losses, to Vermont and Providence, but they also have three high-quality wins--Rhode Island, Michigan State, and Maryland--so we have to assume they've got the chops to be one of the best teams in the country.

BC has been a great program the past few years, and while I'd like us to blow them out in our house, I can't see it. More likely scenario? KU 70-65.

Uh oh, is B. Rush the next Giles?

Breaking news on jayhawknation of a bad variety. It hasn't been reported by kusports and no one on phog.net says anything about it, but the Missouri court website makes it clear:

At http://www.courts.mo.gov/ go to "case.net" in the right margin, then click on the icon that says"litigant name search", then put "Rush" for last name and "Brandon" for first name. This paternity suit comes up. Rush got a default judgment just like Giles did, which means he was too lazy to show up. So, next would be a child support action, and Rush can get behind on that since he is not allowed to earn money. Good stuff B Rush. :<

Keith Richards Turns 63

UConn't be serious...

Chris ain't going to like this article by Mike DeCourcy of the Sporting News, who says KU reminds him of UConn's talented underachievers from last year.

Most of DeCourcy's points don't really add up. He says UConn's players were all NBA-minded showboats, then he admits that our guys aren't really like that. He's right that Julian needs to focus more on making solid passes than highlight-reel assists. But his suggestion that Sasha should start instead of Darrell (so that "Shady" can avoid early foul trouble) completely ignores the performance of Darnell Jackson, who's been far better than Sasha this year.

And his criticism of Russell for shooting too much is just flat-out wrong. It's true that RR's shooting percentage is poor, but it's not for overshooting; he's taken far fewer attempts than every other starter and 12 fewer than even Sherron.

Overall, though, you can see some parallels. UConn had a good year by most standards but you did have a vague sense that they were underachieving, even before George Mason. On the other hand, they went 30-4 and made it to the Elite 8; that's about what I predicted we'd do before the season. Considering how young we are, would that really be so bad?

(After losing to two unranked teams in the first month, I can't help but think we'll be lucky to do as well as Calhoun and co.)

Here's something to cheer us up: Winston-Salem State is coming to town on Tuesday. They're D-1 (status pending) and, I believe, winless. How about a 100-40 shellacking? What else are cupcake teams for?

Rocket Men

The Toledo Rockets are next on the firing line, Saturday afternoon at Kemper. Let's slaughter those handsome devils!

We have to break this scoring slump sooner or later, but although I'd like to see us approach the score of this game or even this one, realistically I'll have to project an 80-60 Kansas victory.

Rodrick vs. Lodrick

It's on!

Any predictions? Will this war of brother against brother favor Kansas? Will we bounce back from our woefully under-viewed (I hate you, ESPNU) loss in the suburbs of Chicago?

I predict a KU victory--we need this one. Let's say 90-75.

Can't Shake These Demons

I don't know what to say about KU falling to an unranked Depaul team, 64-57, after blowing a 14-point second-half lead. The one thing that does come to mind is that our teams under Self have not known how to handle success.

We get a huge win at Kentucky in '05 without Simien, then collapse down the stretch. We topple Texas in the Big 12 tourney last year, then lay an egg against Bradley. We get a preseason #1 ranking and an SI cover, then ORU comes to town. We dethrone the champs last week -- the program's biggest regular-season win in years -- and now ...

This would be another reason for Self to toughen up our schedule next year; we seem to play better against the good teams than the bad ones.