If any of you deadbeats noticed (Chris did, anyway), Kansas played its best game of the season Saturday, crushing BC on the road (Boston fans aren't used to getting beaten these days). Oh, and in case you missed it: WE WON THE ORANGE BOWL! Anyone out there?
Back to basketball: After knocking off another cupcake last night, our boys are 15-0. AP and ESPN have been reporting that this is our best start since '89-'90, which is not true -- we started 22-0 in 1996-7.
But the BC game finally got people talking about us...
CBS Sportsline's Gary Parrish:
"The Jayhawks' win at Boston College was as impressive as any performance any elite team has provided this season."
Andy Katz, concurring w/ Yancy:
"Beginning with this win, we need to start examining Kansas -- not just Memphis -- as a legitimate contender to run the table in the regular season. Kansas still has to go to Texas (Feb. 11) and Texas A&M (March 8). But the Jayhawks are talented, tough and sound enough to win both those road hurdles."
Fox Sports:
"'Overall, they're the best team I've ever played against,' Boston College junior guard Tyrese Rice said. 'The way they play together. They are so unselfish and it doesn't matter who is scoring it.'
"Rice has played two years in the ACC. He's gone up against North Carolina four times. He's played Duke on three separate occasions. He faced a Georgetown squad in the second round of the NCAA tournament that wound up going to the Final Four. Rice also played a Villanova team two years ago in the Big Dance that had as formidable guards as anyone in recent memory."
Also, in the same article:
"'You could say that some people played with their own agendas last year,' junior guard Mario Chalmers added. 'This year our chemistry is much better.'"
(A shot at Julian?)
And:
"Self's record (105-29) in his first four years at Kansas is more impressive than that of Roy Williams, Larry Brown and Phog Allen."
In other words, everybody's talking about the 'Hawks this week... except our bloggers.
ReplyDeleteHmm. I know it's before my time in the Sunflower state, but didn't both Larry Brown and Roy W take teams to the Final Four® within their first four years? Not that seasons should be measured solely by what happens in March; but wins and losses alone don't mean a whole lot either . . .
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I could not rouse myself to find a television for this 9am (Pacific) "greatest KU game of all time," but it did sound quite nice--and I just love that DJ keeps raising the bar with (almost) every game.
I did watch KU outrun those Greyhounds the other day--rough start, but we sure look like a dominant team these days. Too bad Teahan had to go 1-2, but I guess 50% from 3 isn't exactly bad . . .
So, who knows--maybe there's no Interweb in Dodge City?
Thanks for keeping the flame burning, Mr Lee.
The writer in that article went on to note that Self has fallen short in March, and you're right -- both Larry and Roy made the Final 4 in their third year at KU; Larry had already done so w/ UCLA. But I think the point was, at least give Self his due for what he HAS accomplished.
ReplyDeleteAnd no, the BC game wouldn't even be in my Top 20 "greatest of all time" -- don't even know if BC is a tournament team. Once again, the schedule has let us down this year -- not so much Self's fault this time, but neither 'Zona, USC, GTech or BC turned out to be as good as we thought they'd be when the schedule was announced.
Still, one important difference between this sched and the previous one: we're actually road-tested this time.