Thursday, February 23, 2012

Mizzou, Adieu

I hate to start on a negative note, but I did not care for our performance and demeanor down the stretch vs. the Aggies. It annoys me to no end that this team tries to blow it when it gets a good lead. TT and T-Rob have had great seasons but we need them to play a lot smarter in crunch time.

The only good thing about the near-collapse was that it means we won't be complacent going into Saturday's monumental game, which might have been a danger since we have a one-game cushion over them.

But I'll stop complaining. The important thing is we've now won 2 out of those 3 tough road games as we needed to do, plus Mizzou helped by getting swept by the other 'Cats. Now all we need to do is give Mizzou a proper sendoff.

I just can't believe the rivalry ends here. I'm glad I got to see two KU-MU games in person -- in Columbia in 2003 when we escaped on a circus shot by Aaron Miles, and at home in 2000, another close win, which was the loudest I've ever heard the Phog.

(Coincidentally, as I type I'm seeing none other than Quin Snyder at the edge of my TV screen, now a Lakers assistant but looking as sweaty and twitchy as ever. And appropriately, his team is in the process of losing to OKC, featuring Collison -- though he's injured -- and Cole, finally getting some minutes.)

But the circle of life continues. Even as we lose the rivalry, we celebrate the arrival of the newest member of Jayhawk Nation. Welcome, Franklin.

3 comments:

  1. Uh huh. Oh yeah. Don't let the door hit you on the way out of the conference, chumps!

    Seriously, being a KU fan is just the gift that keeps on giving, isn't it? Esp. for our own Uncle G., who had the ultimate fantasy weekend in Lawrence, watching this historic game and bumping into Raef Lafrentz and Elijah Johnson at the Oread.

    Actually, he said EJ was at the hotel bar the night before the game, which he thought might be a bad sign. And as a matter of fact, I thought EJ was a step slow defensively early, and he got in bad foul trouble. But in the 2nd half he hit the big 3s that kept us alive after we were down 19, and then he made two huuuuuge backdoor assists.

    Also, I don't need to recap TT's heroics, but what made my jaw drop in the box score was that he played 44 minutes. That's out of a possible 45. And yet he got better the longer the game went.

    It'll be interesting to see now if we beat OSU on Monday because ... well, we kind of don't have to. Maybe Self will hold Withey out -- I hope that isn't going to be a lingering injury situation.

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  2. So much to celebrate here. But let me just add a little to the Tyshawn Taylor praise: his line is worth savoring: 24 points, 4 rebounds, 5 assists, and just 1 turnover in those 44 minutes!

    Lots of good stuff to read out there, including this Posnanski piece.

    All I need now is a copy of that game so I can watch it again!

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  3. Thanks for the link. That was an epic column, esp. this part:

    "(Interlude: I just got an email from the magnificent baseball writer Bill James. It said this: (1) That was possibly the greatest live sporting event I’ve ever seen. (2) A phrase for your article: Hugging strangers. By the end of the game we were hugging strangers.”)"

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