After 40 Years In The Wilderness...

Richard Nixon was president-elect the last time the Jayhawks played in the Orange Bowl. Now, finally, after four decades, 12 games and worst of all, a month-long layoff since our loss to Mizzou, we finally take the field Thursday against Virginia Tech (a team that, oddly enough, plays two quarterbacks).

Has the layoff killed the excitement? I hope not. Save some of that New Year's energy for Thursday.

Langford makes a Pro Roster

Spurs Sign Keith Langford

NEW YORK, NY, Dec. 28, 2007: The San Antonio Spurs today signed Keith Langford who had been playing with the team?s NBA Development League affiliate Austin Toros.

In nine games with the D-League team this season the 6-4 guard was averaging 23.2 points while shooting .530 from the field. He also grabbed 6.3 rebounds and dished out 3.4 assists per game.

Langford, who played four years at Kansas, had one other stint in the D-League, with Fort Worth in 2005-06. In 46 regular season games he averaged 11.5 points, and in two postseason games he scored 25 points a game and grabbed six rebounds as the Flyers were defeated in the Finals by the Albuquerque Thunderbirds.

Langford is the second player in the past two days that the Spurs have signed from the Toros. On Dec. 26 the defending NBA champs acquired forward Marcus Williams, a former second-round selection by the Spurs in the 2007 NBA Draft. Williams also played nine games with the Toros and was averaging 18.1 points per game.

Hawk on Hawk Action

Was anyone else as surprised as I was to learn about Miami (Ohio)'s schedule?

They've beaten Xavier. They also beat Illinois, in Urbana-Champaign. Rough year for the Illini, I know, but still. . . . They did lose to Dayton, USC, and Louisville--but only by a combined total of eight points.

What really surprised, me, though, is this: with the exception of Arizona (3), Miami (Ohio) has the highest RPI rating of any team we've played so far (39).

The game's at Allen, and I guess I'm not worried, but *if* we can win, this looks like a quality win, doesn't it?


I agree, by the way, dgl, that we can't beat quality teams if we play the way we did in the closing minutes of the GT game; but it is nice to see that our lowest (I hope that's our lowest!) is still pretty decent.

But come on, am I the only one with love for the high-kick? Anyone?

Out of the Yellowjacket nest...

I hope everyone got to watch this game last night. It was a good test and I think will help Bill calm the team down. When you're up to #3 in the polls, sometimes you need a close game like this to get your teams attention before the heads swell too much.

It was disappointing that we choked away our 11 point lead with 3 minutes to go. They went crazy from three and we decided it was a good time to start turning the ball over. Good to see Collins make the clutch free throws to ice the game though with 8 secs left. Plus he made the last second steal to ensure that GT couldn't shoot the game-tying three.

Russ Rob had an outstanding game all around. That may have been the best game I've seen him play, which is good, because other guys looked like dogshit. Rush, Arthur, and Kahn in particular. I've given up on Kahn. He's always great against the midget teams but disappears when the other team has a legit center. I'm also worried about Rush's knee. He looks okay on offense (just okay), but it sure looks to me like he has lost a step on D. There was more than one occasion where he was going to close out on a defender and couldn't get there in time. I think last year those shots would've been swatted into the third row. Can you guys see it with Rush? Arthur really needs to keep taking that step forward for this team to have a shot at the title. Jackson also picked a bad game to revert to 2006 Jackson.

Good News and Less Good News

First, just now breaking over the wires: Man-genius is the AP Coach of the Year! He beat out Gary Pinkel by 11 votes. Poor Pinkel.

More good news, in basketball: another road win against major-conference competition, and the record is 11-0. None too shabby.

Not-so-great news: We played poorly down the stretch in this game, no two ways about it. No way a team as mediocre as that should have taken us to the wire (esp. since, frankly, every crucial call went our way). Our guards are showing a propensity to cough the ball up at innopportune moments; it happened at USC as well. This shouldn't still be a problem now that we have mostly juniors and seniors running the show.

Another problem was our lack of inside presence on offense. There was no high-low whatsoever; just incessant driving-and-dishing, driving-and-dishing.

On the plus side, however, Russell shot the ball better than he ever has. And also, there was this:




I have no words for this other than just ... Damn!

Some Love for the Fans

From Mike DeCourcy - The Sporting News, via kusports.com:

Like all the best college basketball home courts, Allen Fieldhouse features a rowdy student section — with more than 4,000 of its 16,300 seats reserved for them. They have the requisite alliterative nickname — the Phog Phanatics — but, unlike many of their contemporaries, they never give the impression they are trying to be part of the show. Their haunting “Rock, Chalk, Jayhawk” chant is a far cry from some of the look-at-me cleverness that’s epidemic elsewhere. KU fans are trying to be part of the result, which is an altogether different thing.

High praise indeed. How I wish I could get to a game this season.


Speaking of games, any thoughts on this Ohio team? I hear they beat Maryland in College Park--I know Maryland is having an off year, but they're still Maryland; this Ohio team sounds like the real thing. What I like best, though, is that Self says they play fast: could we hit triple digits tomorrow? Either way, this promises to be an unusually exciting KC game.

Demons Out!

Now this, my friends, is a highlight reel. And click here for a closer look at DJ's skywalking alley-oop. That one is a close second to Chalmers' game-clinching circus-trey at USC for Play of the Year, so far.

Much is being made of Mario flirting with a quadruple-double, but really, if you fall short in 3 of the 4 categories I'm not sure it's worth talking about.

Buried in the same article is a more impressive fact: Nine games into his junior season, Mario's already 4th on the alltime KU steals list! If he stays through next year (big "if"), he should break Darnell Valentine's record easily.

As Mario acknowledges, Russell's suffocating pressure D has paved the way for a lot of those steals. And while we're praising Russell: the most impressive stat of the DePaul game might be his 9 assists.

On another note: an early look at the still unfinished '08-'09 schedule reveals visits to Arizona and Michigan State, with Tennesee coming to the Fieldhouse plus potential matchups against Florida or Syracuse in the CBE Classic. This is the kind of schedule we should have every year, but would have been more appropriate for this year's team or last year's team -- if next year's group is as young and green as I think it might be, it's going to be rough sledding.

Brandon Rush taken into custody (not April Fools)

Brandon Rush taken into custody on traffic warrants

http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2007/d...stody/?breaking

Law enforcement officials have taken Kansas junior guard Brandon Rush into custody.

City prosecutor Jerry Little confirmed just before 3 p.m. Thursday, Rush appeared in Lawrence Municipal Court to take care of a traffic matter. According to Little, Rush had outstanding warrants and the judge ordered him to be transported to the Douglas County Jail.

Rush was arrested on two warrants for failing to appear in municipal court. He’s charged in one case with driving with a suspended license and speeding on Oct. 19, 2007. He also faces charges from a December 2006 case for driving on the left of a roadway and having no proof of insurance.

Rush was supposed to appear in municipal court on Nov. 28 but failed to show up. He was not scheduled to appear in municipal court today.

More details as they develop.

Super Sunday

KU beats USC, our toughest noncon opponent? Check.

Texas beats UCLA, a coup for KU's ranking and for the Big 12? Check.

KU football invited to the Orange Bowl for the first time since 1968? Check.

Mizzou football snubbed by BCS after being No. 1 all last week? Priceless.