More photos » Harry Cabluck - AP

Kansas center Cole Aldrich rejects a shot attempt by Texas center Clint Champman during the first half of Monday's game in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Harry Cabluck)

Browse more photos »

Being definitvely the best is fun, isn't it?  And, to do so with such regularity is even better.

It's tough to win if you can't get a good shot, let alont score.  All throughout his tenure as head coach at Kansas, Bill Self's M.O. has been defense.  His teams have reached a 55 game streak of holding opponents under 50 percent shooting, been in the top ten in defensive efficiency five of the last six year (shoutout to KU Grad 08) and on and on.  To this point this year, the Jayhawks have played good, but not great defense for much of the season.  Well, on Monday night, they took that next step and played "Bill Self defense."  Your opponent must shoot poorly to go scoreless for eleven minutes, yes, but it also takes a great deal of tremendous defense.  Texas isn't a particularly good shooting team, nor are they organized enough in their offensive sets to withstand the kind of defense displayed Monday night.

Also, enough cannot be said of the job coach Self did to get his boys ready for a monumental road game just 48 hours after playing at home.  Those Saturday-Monday turnarounds are the absolute worst.  Especially when the second leg is on the road.  Luckily, we get to do it all over again this coming week - Iowa State on Saturday, at Texas A&M on Monday.

Player of the Game - Xavier Henry - 15 points, 5 rebound, 3 assists, 0 turnovers.  Nobody has been tougher on Xavier than myself during his recent extended slump, shall we call it?  More on him after the jump, though.

Jayhawks vs Longhorns recap

Jayhawks vs Longhorns boxscore

Continue reading this post »

To kick things off how about a few quick notes on this so called "rivalry" between Kansas and Texas.  We can debate this all night long but I think it's safe to say the Kansans view Texas more as their biggest obstacle and not as their biggest rival.  Regardless of how you view it tonight's game is certainly a huge one in terms of a potential sixth consecutive conference title.  Losing certainly doesn't do tremendous damage to the Jayhawks chances, but winning would have to get pretty close to securing it.

• Kansas and Texas rank 1-2 in Big 12 wins since the league started in 1996-97. Kansas is 180-36 (83.3 percent), while Texas is 150-66 (69.4 percent).
• Kansas has won or tied for a league-best nine Big 12 regular season championships, including each of the last five. Texas is next with three.
• Kansas and Texas have played in the Big 12 Championship title game three of the last four years, with all three going to KU.
• Since the start of the Big 12, Kansas (2002, 2003, 2008), Texas (2003), Oklahoma (2002) and Oklahoma State (2004) have advanced to the Final Four.
• Each of the last five KU-UT match-ups have been decided by 10 points or less with three of those by four points or less.

		PPG	FG%	FT%	3P%	RPG	ORPG	DRPG	APG	TPG	SPG	BPG	FPG
	KU	83.7	49.3	68.8	41.0	41.5	13.4	28.1	18.0	13.1	8.7	6.4	18.6
	TEX	84.1	48.0	61.0	34.3	43.8	15.2	28.6	15.7	14.0	8.3	5.9	19.9
	KU Opponents	62.7	36.6	67.8	32.6	33.9	13.0	20.9	12.7	14.9	6.2	3.4	20.6
	TEX Opponents	67.7	38.8	65.6	30.7	36.5	13.1	23.4	11.0	16.6	7.1	3.6	21.3

Continue reading this post »

More photos » Sue Ogrocki - AP

Oklahoma guard Cade Davis was able to help beat Texas with his eyes closed.

Browse more photos »

First off, let's start with a lesson I learned Saturday.  Never attempt to think ahead and get ahead in any kind of work.  I had nearly a full post previewing Monday's game written out, but done so under the impression that Texas would be beating Oklahoma that afternoon.  So, I had to scrap it all and start over.  Let this be a lesson to you, too.

What can you say when your conference competition keeps laying down and giving you a bigger and bigger lead all the time?  It's frustrating in the fact that you want to beat the best of the rest to be the best.  You want to prove you deserve being called "champions."  You want everyone to see you flex your muscles and show that swag.  That was the original plan.  All season long, February 8th was the day.  The Kansas Jayhawks would make a quick turn around and go on the road to take on the preseason number two Texas Longhorns.  It was to be for all the marbles in the Big 12.

Well, in a sudden turn of events, the 2009-10 Texas basketball team has gone all 2009 Kansas football team on us and basically given away any hope of a regular season title.  Yes, it is great to know that just at the halfway point of conference play we are miles ahead of everyone else.  But, still, where's the fun in that?  Now, will the Jayhawks go another eight games that are partially meaningless and just all a part of the motions? (sans the trip to Columbia, because that is bigger than even the National Championship game - at least to one side.)  With next to nothing on the line anymore, will the team keep their intensity up and continue to improve en route to the NCAA tournament?  Or, will they instead relax and fall into complacency?  Whatever happens, you can blame Texas.  I know I will.  Just couldn't beat Oklahoma, could you?

The way that I see it, (and the way I began to see it as non-conference play was winding down - before this recent struggle ever happened) is that Texas can score in bunches, but they fail to play good, tough defense and allow far inferior teams (North Carolina - which that win doesn't look nearly so great now - Arkansas, Colorado, Iowa State, Texas Tech and Oklahoma) score 80-plus points against them, whether they won or not.  Sure, they won all of those games, but let's face it - when you're playing a team that can run right alongside you and play defense and hold you to the 65-70 point range, you're going to struggle if you don't play better defense.  You can bring in all of the glamorous high school recruits from around the country that you want, but as a coach, you have to a) teach them to play team defense, and b) play as a cohesive unit offensively, not just to "get theirs" and shoot when they want.

A team with that much talent just shouldn't be struggling the way they are.

Continue reading this post »

More photos » Orlin Wagner - AP

Browse more photos »

Killer instinct.  Sherron says the Jayhawks lack in this department and it's hard to argue.  Kansas is a very good team, has tons of potential but they lack the ability to be great at the moment.  I'm not going to spend a whole lot of time breaking down the ins and outs of this one because it's Super Bowl Sunday and obviously we've got a bigger game on Monday.  The fact is, Kansas won.  Standhardinger lost.  Kansas can still be better and has to find a way to bring it on a consistent basis in the last eight games of conference play.  Four at home, four on the road and a three game lead.  Hold suit at home and take one on the road and the Jayhawks secure a share of number six.  The expectation is higher though.  Traveling to Austin, College Station, Stillwater and Columbia will be tough, but it's a stretch that can build character quickly.  Rock Chalk...enjoy your Super Bowl Sunday...KC's early thoughts this afternoon and of course Big Monday tomorrow in Austin. 

Continue reading this post »

More photos » Orlin Wagner - AP

See - he really does do good things.

Browse more photos »

It's really as simple as that first statement.  Yes, I'm aware that that may, in fact, be the most obvious, biggest understatement of the college basketball season.  Earlier in the year, when he was struggling - bronchitis and the loss of his grandmother - it was nearly as if he wasn't playing, really.  Sure, opponents had to game plan for him, but he wasn't the Cole Aldrich that we all expected to see coming into the season.

In Saturday's game against Nebraska, he was literally not there for 75 percent of the first half; he had two fould within the first five minutes and was relegated to the bench for the remainder.  Jeff Withey came in and played a very valiant nine minutes in Cole's absence.  It was nice to see Jeff and oft-struggling freshman Thomas Robinson log some consecutive, relevant minutes with Aldrich on the bench.  Those two, particularly Robinson, are going to be very good; probably sooner rather than later, too.  That's great for the future.  But, let's just be honest with ourselves right now - we came into this season with National Title hopes, once again, and Withey And Robinson playing more minutes in a half than Cole isn't going to get us there.

The first half score with Kansas playing fifteen minutes sans Cole: 37-33 Kansas.  Second half score with Cole playing sixteen minutes: 38-32 Kansas, with a maximum lead of eighteen.  Coincidence?  Probably not.  I won't go into the X's and O's breakdown of why Cole has such an impact and what his abilities and size force opponents to do to try and "contain" him.  Having a borderline 7-footer in the college game is a huge advantage.  We all know that.  So, we'll simply leave it at "Kansas is better when Cole Aldrich plays/plays well."

Now, as far as a postgame recap goes, this was an extremely frustrating game.  But, I find myself having the same gripes and complaints from game to game.  i.e. Xavier Henry is struggling so bad; he can't shoot or dribble, Cole needs to get the ball more, turnovers are going to hurt this team, we need to make our free throws, stop doubling down on post players and leaving shooters open, etc.  So, I'm going to refrain from copy-pasting any postgame recap from the last ten games or so and do something different tonight.

Hit the jump to find out what....

Continue reading this post »

View full size photo »

Nebraska Cornhuskers Corn Nation
@ Kansas Jayhawks Rock Chalk Talk

Saturday, Feb 6, 2010, 5:00 PM CST
Allen Fieldhouse

Kansas vs. Nebraska

No. 1 Kansas (21-1, 7-0 Big 12) returns home to face Nebraska (13-9, 1-6 Big 12) on Saturday. The Jayhawks, who are ranked No. 1 for the 10th time this season, won at Colorado Wednesday 72-66 in overtime. Nebraska has lost six of its last seven games, including a 76-57 loss to No. 10 Kansas State Tuesday in Lincoln, Neb.

		PPG	FG%	FT%	3P%	RPG	ORPG	DRPG	APG	TPG	SPG	BPG	FPG
	NEB	66.4	45.1	65.3	39.7	32.1	9.4	22.7	14.3	11.9	7.0	3.0	18.1
	KU	84.1	49.4	69.4	40.9	41.8	13.4	28.4	17.9	13.1	8.7	6.3	18.7
	NEB Opponents	61.0	42.1	67.4	34.3	32.3	9.3	23.0	10.6	15.0	5.0	3.2	18.0
	KU Opponents	62.6	36.3	68.3	31.5	33.8	12.9	20.9	12.7	14.7	6.0	3.4	20.5

A quick note, Saturday is a junior day for Kansas football recruiting.  From the sounds of things they are hosting more than one junior day this year because there are some relatively solid recruits in the KC area that aren't aware or attending this one.  We do know however that there will be several in attendance, most notable Gardner quarterback Bubba Starling.  Also the Big Lewandowski's teammate, offensive lineman Dylan Admire who was offered by the Huskers yesterday.  2011 is underway folks, not much time to rest.

Continue reading this post »