It has been awhile, I have a terribly nasty habit of not posting for a decent amount of time, but here is a little catchup on the latest happenings in the Jayhawk World, starting tomorrow on discussing the more pressing issues; namely football recruiting.

• To start things off, here is an absolutely fantastic article about Mario Chalmers and his rise from kid-in-Alaska to an NBA player. I love Mario Chalmers.
  
• Odds on winning the Men's Basketball 2009 National Championship are already up. Kansas' odds currently sit at 20-1, awfully high for a team that lost as much talent as we did. The favorite, without a whole lot of shock, is North Carolina, whose odds currently sit at 10-3. They are stacked for next year, talented enough to be the 31st NBA team.
  
• Good article on Bill Self, and him using his prior coaching connections (Eddie Sutton + Larry Brown, particularly) to rise him to coaching success.
  
• Former and current Jayhawks (Conner Teahan, Travis Relaford, Cole Aldrich, Tyrel Reed, Tyshawn Taylor and Mario Little) are taking place in ex-Jayhawk Terry Nooner's new KC summer league, the KC Pro-Am Summer League.
• In ESPN's newest way to try and fluff up the hour-long "highlights" show of SportsCenter, they are determining (because they do, without doubt, have the authority to do this) who is the true Titletown in America. Lawrence, Kansas is one of the finalists, which makes the whole thing easier to swallow, and is going to be discussed in-depth on a future SC.
  
• Russell Brorsen, one of Kansas' starting defensive ends in 2007 and who figures start again in 2008, was featured in KU Sports. Brorsen's calling card, along with fellow starter John Larson, is the smarts, as they both racked up All-Academic team honors following last season and it is featured heavily in the article.
  
• "Next Year's Kansas Jayhawks" is a phrase certain to be bandied about throughout the 2008 College Football season, particularly in the month-or-so prior when hope seems to spring eternal for every BCS-conference team that hasn't been all-that-successful in the recent past. Betting-wise, SBR Forum offers the Oregon Ducks and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.
• When the ESPY's air in a couple of weeks, you will have an excuse to watch them. And no, JT as the host doesn't count. The Kansas Jayhawks were nominated twice; as the Best Team of 2008, although that award is bound to go to either the Red Sox or Celtics as Boston has won everything else thus far. The National Championship Game, which we won (not really sure why I even decided to write that, seriously), was nominated for the Best Game of the Year, although that is nearly certain (deservedly, however, unlike Best Team) to go to the Super Bowl. 
• On the football recruiting front, Tyrone Sellers is coming to KU. Sellers is a defensive end, who has a boatload of potential. More importantly, he is from the state of Nebraska; Cornhusker Country. And while it wasn't much of a secret that he likely would have gone to Lincoln were he offered a scholarship, we still got him to come to KU. And just like Tim Biere from last season, even if Nebraska comes knocking a little later Sellers figures to be solidly-Kansas. He has a body that should bulk up quite a bit (he is 6'4" and only 220) while sitll being a primary speed-rusher off the outside. Also, this commitment is especially important because of his friendship with Kevin Young, an even bigger catch in the recruiting world, who pledged to Kansas on Sunday.
• A nice, hometown-kid-turned-baseball-success (kind of) story about former KU baseball player Kyle Murphy. A nice story about the Texas Rangers farmhand, even if only because of the whole Kansas-angle.
• On the Bleacher Report, an NBA writer listed five of his favorite NBA players. It includes the usuals; Dwight Howard, Dwayne Wade, Kevin Garnett, Deron Williams. But then, snuggled in the middle of established NBA All-Stars, he throws in Mario Chalmers as one of his favorite players, quite the honor for Super Mario. The more and more I look at his game compared to others, and the situations all three are entering, I really think that Mario will be the most successful in the NBA. Not really sure why, I guess, other than the fact that he should start from Day One.
  
• Again over at Bleacher Report, their Big 12 writer sits down (metaphorically speaking, of course) with the sports editor for the University Daily Kansan. An interesting Q&A, to be sure.
• And finally, to close out this long and over-due Morning Update, here is a fantastic article on Brandon McAnderson and his search for a job in the NFL. Frankly, I don't really see why he isn't getting more interest. He is a world-class special teamer, and he can lead-block for sure. Nevertheless, who can get in the heads of NFL decision-makers. I blame Carl Peterson.
  

More to come later today, for reals.

ROCK CHALK!