Somebody Should Do a Post

Border War coming up.

Still my favorite shirt logo . . .


Thoughts? Predictions?


Oh, just wanted to say, by the bye, that I agree with Deron with respect to Sherron shaking off the called plays. It worked, and I grant that his attitude is part of his greatness, but wow was that unsettling to read!


Hey, they're hanging Kirk's jersey Sunday! Right on.

We're Number One!

In the conference, that is.

But I'll take it. What a game!

Thanks to kusports.com for the photo.

This team is fast becoming one of my favorite teams to watch. So many scoring options, such great team play; so many impressive individual efforts (20 rebounds for Cole! Wow).


Great numbers, courtesy of kusports.com:

KU is 12-1 in the Big 12. It’s KU’s best conference 13-game record since the 2001-02 team went 16-0 ... KU has won at least 12 conference games for nine straight seasons. ... KU has won five straight versus OU. ... OU had a 19-game homecourt win streak snapped. OU had won 10 straight league games at home. ... KU is 15-15 at Noble Center. ... Oklahoma, at No. 3 in the AP poll, was the highest ranked team KU has beaten this season and the highest-ranked since beating Memphis (No. 2) in last year’s National Championship game.

HÜSKERs anD oÜ

Big couple of days coming up for us, fellow silent fans. Nebraska was a tough win the first time around, but I assume (unwisely?) that playing at Allen will give us a decided advantage.

But then on Monday we play down in Norman, and I'm going to go ahead and say that 1) the advantage is definitely not ours, and that 2) if we win there it would easily be the biggest win of the season. Can we do it? We sure looked good for most of the last couple games, and we didn't look all that bad, as Deron mentioned, against Mizzou . . . but, boy, this one looks tough.

Oh what the hell, I'll do it: KU by 3: 82-79.

Let's go 'hawks!

'Hawks Retake Manhattan

I tuned into the KU-KSU game late, to find our boys down 28-13. From there Marcus took over and our rally began. So in the game I saw, KU wins 72-46.

Marcus continues alternating between brilliance (see Baylor and K-State) and embarrassing (see Mizzou, though I still believe he got a raw deal on that technical). But KU fans need to be patient -- his upside, and Markieff's as well, earns him some indulgences.

Cole looks to have his offensive groove back with a new mask. Marcus engineered our comeback in this one, but Cole was the one who slammed the door shut at the end. Very authoritative performances considering these guys are both still underclassmen.

Our guard play was a little spotty -- too many turnovers, fouls and points scored against by Clemente and Pullen. Gotta love the 8-for-12 three-point shooting, though.

Also, in fairness, since I always complain about turnovers, the Star's J. Brady McCullough has an interesting piece explaining why turnovers are a necessary component of Self's style. Given the results in terms of wins and losses, maybe I should stop whining about it so much.

Any thoughts? Hellooooo......

40 Minutes Of Turnovers

Congrats to Mike Anderson and Mizzou for grinding the 'Hawks down last night. I hope they go far -- just not at KU's expense from here on out.

I think we just got gassed in this one. Fran Fraschilla made the good observation that the Tigers' pressure is "cumulative." Hence "40 minutes of hell."

Of course, the officiating was an atrocity: Sherron was clearly fouled on his missed drive in the last minute; Marcus' bump of the ref seemed very clearly to be incidental contact; Morningstar would have had only one turnover if not for a ridiculous 3-second call in the backcourt and a downright ludicrous 5-second call on that inbounds pass -- the ref never even made it to 4 before blowing the whistle!

Our freshmen obviously made mistakes, as expected. But Tyshawn was our most productive offensive player, and Releford had a coming-out party.

Morningstar, Mario and esp. Reed played with a lot of grit, but we needed more scoring from them than we got.

To me, the biggest problem in this game -- and some of our other losses -- has been the stars. Sherron seemed completely stymied throughout. Cole was tough as a rebounder and defender, but despite Self's and Keegan's protests that he didn't get enough touches, the fact is that when he did get touches he repeatedly committed the Chenoweth-ian mortal sin of bringing the ball down to waist-level where the Lilliputians could strip it. That mask can't come off soon enough for me...

Also, Self needs to do a better job preserving those timeouts -- he seemed to think the sky was falling every time Mizzou cut it to 7.

Take heart, though, kids. Despite 27 turnovers and home cookin' from the zebras, we would have won this game minus a few unlucky bounces. Revenge will be forthcoming.

nice seats

My friend Russ and I got some pretty amazing seats at last Saturday's OSU game. The handicapped section completely filled up so that had no where else to put us but in front of the espn sound guy next to the OSU bench. We literally could have reached over and grabbed some of their Gatorade. Here's a couple pics.






Except for Appleton I think we looked pretty good. Even with that stupid mask thing Aldrich grabbed something like 16 rebounds. Morningstar still makes me a bit nervous when he in bounds the ball though. Other than that he seems to be getting better. I think their confidence is up and just in time for what is sure to be a tough Mizzou game tonight. I think this will be a big test for them. Do you guys think we have a chance to run the table in the big 12? Texas has proven to be a weaker team than most thought early on but the obvious challenge is OK on the road. If we can somehow beat them I think we can beat anyone. Honestly our only bad loss was Umass and that was pretty early on. Can't wait for March!

The Rivalry Is Back -- Maybe

After watching KU beat OSU Saturday, Jason Whitlock concludes that Missouri is the better team. Is he right? IS HE RIGHT?

Looking at the two resumes side by side, I'll stick with my guys. Winning in Austin was impressive -- losing at Manhattan and Lincoln, on the other hand...

But there's no question that Mizzou is back, and that's good news for the conference. Both teams will probably be ranked -- KU should be in the teens now -- and Big Monday will really mean something.

I wouldn't be surprised if we lose this one, given that it's our freshmen's first Columbia foray, and the Tigers are more than capable of teeing off on our jitters/turnovers. But if our guys can relax and keep their heads above water early, I think we'll prove we've got the better team.

Back In Business

We neglect this blog for a few weeks and suddenly the 'Hawks are 7-0 in conference, back in the Top 25 and battling for a good seed in March.

Last night's road win over Baylor was the biggest of the year so far -- bigger than Tennessee given its conference significance. Now we're in excellent position to contend for 2nd; I don't see OU faltering -- they could go 16-0 -- but Texas and Mizzou already have 2 losses each and everyone else, oddly enough, has a losing record.

What a great 2nd half performance that was -- not only were the 'Hawks executing, but they were making all the hustle plays. The highlight was a seemingly endless scrum for the ball under Baylor's basket that finally culminated with a lay-in by Mario Little -- and the KU bench just exploded (see photo above, and the highlight reel).

Just as Cole's production has declined a bit (probably has to do with that ridiculous HazMat facemask), others have stepped it up. Sherron played one of his best games ever last night: His shot was spotty, but he didn't force it this time, kept his teammates involved, and stymied Jerrells on the defensive end -- not to mention breaking Simien's KU record for consecutive free throws.

Morningstar and Reed have, out of nowhere, become the glue guys, seemingly never missing a defensive assignment or an open 3. Morningstar played all 40 minutes yesterday, and Reed, as has become his custom, hit a huge clutch jumper.

Taylor, Little and the Twins remain inconsistent, but are all becoming increasingly confident and increasingly dangerous to any opponent who overlooks them. (Scott Drew seemed stunned that the Twins had this kind of performance in them).

The toughest games are yet to come, but the future looks bright, my friends.