The Big 12, Baby

Just in case you thought winning at Nebraska is insignificant: I nearly did a spit-take when they said on the telecast that the Big 12 was 114-1 (not a typo) at home. According to the Star, that one loss was Iowa St., by three points, against 15-1 Northern Iowa.

Granted, there were a lot of strawberry shortcakes in there -- including KU opponents -- and all those Pac-10 teams have turned out to be 'cakes as well (Cal is probably the best team in that conference).

114-1 until last night, that is. We still looked out of it for about 3 quarters of that game, but it was a nice bounce-back from the 3-point stripe, and for Marcus. Sherron continues to get it done, and there was help from Brady ("he's a raker!") and Tyrel.

Cole and X continue to look dispirited on the offensive end. I have confidence that they'll snap out of it; but I still say some of the onus has to be on their coaches and teammates to get them involved.

By the way, once again we have celebrity sightings at the Devaney Center: This time it was Joba Chamberlain; a few years ago it was my second-favorite comedian (after Chris, of course); and in 2002 it was the Hughes-Dominicks w/ yours truly.

We're # ... 3?

Against Cornell only Sherron played well; against Tennessee yesterday basically no one played well. Self berated the players after the game, but (granting that he's forgotten more about hoops than I'll ever know) I'd like to point the finger at him for a second.

Self complains that the players aren't sharing the ball, but how about some play-calling? Sure, Xavier needs to be more aggressive, but is it fair to just expect the kid to improvise? Why not run some screens to get him open? I can't believe how much of a non-factor he was in this game, and I don't think it's all his fault.

Also, Self may be the best teacher of defense in college basketball, but sometimes under game pressure he seems to overreact and make bad defensive switches. We almost lost the '08 title game after Self decided to go box-and-one against Chris Douglas-Roberts; this move allowed Derrick Rose to finally get going after he'd been struggling the whole game. Against Tennessee, after a few bad defensive possessions late, Self freaks out and decides to go into a zone for most of the rest of the game -- which, as it always does, yielded opened jumpers for the opponent and got our big men out of rebounding position.

When you have more size, depth and talent than your opponent -- and more importantly, the best man-to-man defense in all of college basketball -- there is never a reason to go zone, other than maybe a possession or two to confuse the opponent or protect a player in foul trouble.

Anyway, that's my rant. I don't think the sky is falling; our boys will pull it together. Here's to a great Big 12 season.

KU Outlasts Ivy League Pantywaists

I guess Andy Bernard is right: Corne-e-ell is not to be f*cked with. Can I call a trap game or what?

All the ingredients for a KU loss were there: a senior-laden, tourney-tested opponent shooting over 50% till late in the game; Self drawing techs; Tyshawn and Brady fighting over defensive assignments; and every KU player other than Sherron and Cole going 0-fer on two-point attempts (yes, you read that right).

One thing seems clear: This team doesn't have the overall balance that the '08 group did. Our most talented guys are Sherron, Cole, and a bunch of underclassmen -- all of whom played like underclassmen last night.

However, this team has one thing that the '08 team did not: Sherron Collins as a senior. I'll paste from Yancy's earlier comment:

33 points;
9-16 field goals (including 2 of 5 from 3);
13-14 from the line (!);
4 rebounds;
3 assists;
2 steals;
and only 1 turnover. Damn.

Wasn't exactly fun to watch that game, but there's probably something good about having to struggle once in a while...

See highlight reel for some great plays by Sherron -- and Cornell's Wittman. They could be this year's Davidson.

We Are No. 1

(No exclamation point needed. It's scientific fact now.)

Sorry, Seth Davis.

So many things to like in the box score against Temple:

Sherron: 14 points, 6-9, 2-4 from 3, 4 assists and 3 steals to zero turnovers.
Xavier: 15 without breaking a sweat, and his brother goes 2 for 3 from deep.
Tyshawn: 5 rebounds -- important given all the Temple 3 attempts clanging long off the rim.
Brady: 5 assists, and nailing his only shot attempt -- a big 3 in the first half.

The 'Hawks shot 54% against a team previously holding opponents in the 30s -- while Temple was held to 25%. Nine (yes, 9) Kansas players shot 50% or better.

You were in Philly, right, Aaron? Sure was nice to hear "Rock Chaaalk" at the end.

Who Are You & What Have You Done W/ Tyshawn?

Is that really Tyshawn Taylor -- the same guy who coughed it up 7 times vs. Memphis -- who now has a 24-2 assist/turnover ratio in the last four games? Is that really Tyshawn Taylor playing fundamentally sound basketball? Down the stretch against Cal he made a pick-and-roll play with Marcus that honestly reminded me of Stockton and Malone (sorry, Yance).

Sherron and Marcus were the big scorers, but they also made a lot of dumb plays that helped keep Cal in the game. The big heroes of this one were Tyshawn and Brady, who fulfilled all the things Self has been saying about him. The key stretch in the game was midway through the second half, when Brady made two big assists and a three -- would have had a third assist in that stretch if X hadn't missed an open shot.

Cole did look better; the twins were a bit spotty but not bad; T-Rob showed some signs but somehow turned it over 5 times in 9 mins. Elijah and C.J. are MIA.

As to the Texas comparison, I'm obviously being a bit wishy-washy about it. They were juggernaut-like this week against last year's finalists, while KU struggled a bit against good but not great competition.

Ken Pomeroy said recently that Texas has a better chance of going undefeated than Kansas, given that all of their toughest opponents, including Kansas, play them at home -- and he said that before they knocked off UNC and MSU. What do you think, guys? Is there room in the Big 12 for TWO JUGGERNAUTS?

Channel 6 highlight reel of last night's game is worth it just to see Self fist-bumping Santa. Merry Xmas, everybody!

Cole & Flu Season

Just as I was insisting to Yancy that Cole will be fine, the big guy goes out against Michigan and fails to make a field goal. He looked winded all through the second half, and Sherron says he's been using his inhaler a lot. Self is being a bit vague about it, and now I'm starting to worry -- just a little.

Compare this to the game that followed on ESPN -- Dexter Pittman and UT dismantling Carolina. Last year, Dexter looked like Shaq -- but Shaq circa 2009. This year, Dexter looks like Shaq circa 1997. Scaaaaary.

The good thing is, we have X and the new-look twins to make up for Cole's deficiencies in scoring. Is it possible that we can still be a championship team with Cole taking somewhat of a back seat? If he continues to pile up rebounds and blocks, I would say, definitely maybe. Unlike last season, this team's got some infrastructure. (Unfortunately, so does Texas).

Thoughts on Teams from Michigan

[This was a comment below, but seemed to outgrow itself.]

Wow--we're 0-5 all-time against Michigan! Will the streak end tomorrow?
9am Pacific is early for a Saturday, but I'll be ready.

Anyone want to make any predictions or break this thing down for me?


On a totally unrelated note, E and I saw Seattle U play Oakland last night--the same Oakland that KU beat 89-59. And the same Oakland whose Benson reportedly "manhandled" Cole...

Anyway, Seattle U lost 77-68 (which helps our Jayhawks' RPI, so I can't be too upset).
Most striking was that Benson didn't look nearly as good against SU as against Kansas. Sure, he had 5 blocks, 16 points, and 16 rebounds (better than his line at Allen), but last night he looked like one of many good players, whereas in Lawrence he was really the only way (as far I can remember) in which Oakland looked better than KU.

Which is all my way of saying 1) hey, Seattle U only lost by a few points to a decent Oakland team. Meanwhile 2) KU is so freakin' good that we beat that same team by 30. And 3) odd as it seems, this seems like a year where we have more trouble down low than with guards. But I hear Withey's eligible as of tomorrow, so since we're like 15 players deep in the post, I'm starting to feel awfully confident about this year.

Turner Gill and Things Of That Nature

Any thoughts on KU's new football coach? I don't know if I'm going to enjoy his press conferences, other than counting how many times he says "...and things of that nature," a la Darrell Hammond as Schwarzenegger.

His record seems comparable to Mangino's, but I'm inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt, because (a) his image is infinitely better than that of his predecessor, and (b) as Lew said, if he can recruit guys from Texas to Buffalo of all places, he can sure as hell recruit them to Kansas.

Back to hoops...

Comparisons being drawn between John Wall and Xavier: here and here. If we have to compare the two, I'd give the slight edge to Wall because he's had to lead at Kentucky from Day One, whereas X has had a cushier landing in college.

Also, one more salvo about our "weak" schedule: future KU road opponent Temple knocked off then-No. 3 Villanova this weekend. I saw 'Nova in person a few weeks ago making mincemeat out of the Terps; they're a great team. At the end of the Temple game, fans reportedly stormed the court chanting "We want Kansas!"

That's right: It is ON, baby!

fieldhouse pics

My friend Russ took this awesome panoramic pic at the Alcorn State game.


And this is a cool pic he got at the Radford game of Xavier shooting a free throw.

A few quick questions:

Why didn't C.J. Henry play in the last two games? Ongoing injury issues?

Except for Memphis and UCLA we've beat everyone by 30+ Are we that good or have these cupcakes been that bad? Also, how vulnerable are we on the road?

And how much will Withey and Morningstar add to the team come January?

Thoughts???

Bye, Bye, Baby

I'm really going to miss that little guy.

Any thoughts on the big news? Frankly, I'm glad to move on to the next era in KU football. As the saying goes, where there's smoke there's probably somebody smoking.

But thanks for bringing us some nice players and some nice memories, Coach. There's no doubt you left the program better than you found it.

Also, nice win last night against the hapless Bruins. As in the Memphis game, our guys didn't seem terribly inspired... There's a confidence bordering on arrogance about this team, which is not an entirely bad thing, but maybe they'll need a spanking at Tennessee to clear their heads.

* I know he had too many turnovers, but has any KU freshman ever looked less like a freshman than Xavier Henry?