Call us Florida Lite.

Our football team didn't reach the National Championship game, but we are going to a BCS bowl. And the way we are playing right now, better than anyone else in the country and it isn't particularly close, we sure look like we are headed to San Antonio and the Final Four.

Today, again, ESPN was late flipping to the Kansas game. So, for the second straight Saturday, I missed the first little snippet of game action, this time only the first 3-or-so minutes. When they switched from the Boomer Sooner victory over Arkansas, it was 8-6 with Kansas narrowly ahead of the Ohio Bobcats. At that moment, I expected a close first half, and I set a 10 point lead at halftime as the goal. I wanted a 20 point overall victory, but would settle for less assuming the subs got to play late. The two teams traded a couple of baskets, making the score 10-9 with 16:08 left in the first half. Then, the switch was flipped. The button pressed. The launch sequence set.

And that was it. The game was over after we went on our 19-0 run, a run that lasted 6 minutes and 15 seconds of game time. Everything after that was just filler, it was clear who was going to win. And this isn't some creampuff patsy. Ohio is a nice little team, one of the better teams in the MAC and a team that beat Maryland in College Park. They were 6-2 coming in. Most thought they would give us a decent fight, especially in the first half. Nuh-uh.

This was the first time we had our starting 5 intact. Brandon Rush made his first start of the season, taking over for Rodrick Stewart, who was filling in for him to start out the season. But we still aren't at full strength. It is painfully obvious Sherron Collins is still recovering from his foot injury, he just can't shimmy-and-shammy his way into the lane right now. Just wait until that component of our offense gets put back in, because that is one thing that he does better than everyone else on this team. But his shot has gotten better. A lot better.

Our defense is the best in the entire country. UCLA's is damn good. So is Southern Illinois'. And tons of other teams. Some, I'm sure, have better systems designed to do different things. But in terms of in-your-face defense, no one is better. Finally, for the first time since he has been at KU, Bill Self has 'his team'. Sure, last year he had the same thing. But we were awfully young, and that ended up biting us in the ass against UCLA in San Jose. But this year, Self has all of 'his' players and we are a veteran-laden team. And lookee what is happening. We are 10-0, have dominated everyone we have played (except two quality Pac-10 teams, Arizona and USC) and are playing much better than anyone else in the country.

I'm sure Tuesday's game against Georgia Tech is going to be tough. We are playing in Atlanta, and GT has a nice little ballclub down there. Bur right now, bring on anyone and everyone. We are playing better than anyone in the country, and I am pretty confident we would demolish 90% of college basketball right now.

I might be too optimistic, but I don't care... Much more insightful analysis to come tomorrow...

ROCK CHALK!