Kansas Jayhawk News and Notes 11.14.12

Kansas Basketball

Joel Embiid makes verbal commitment to Kansas Jayhawks - ESPN
ESPN sees Embiid as a Top 20 recruit come January.

Notebook: Jamari Traylor holds his own against MSU bigs | KUsports.com
“The thing about playing a game like this, this early, somebody is going to lose,” he said. “I thought we were pretty good for 35 minutes. But games are decided in the last five. They were much better the last five. I think this was a good game for us. I am not leaving discouraged at all. I’m not happy we lost because when you are up in that situation (seven with 12 minutes left; five with five minutes left) you’ve got to close. We didn’t close.”

Opinion: Perry Ellis will get the hang of banging | KUsports.com
On consecutive possessions late, Ellis missed a close shot when he didn’t go up strong and appeared to avoid contact instinctively and then on the perimeter picked up his dribble prematurely, looked a little confused when searching for someone to pass the ball to and turned it over.

KU drops down-to-the-wire thriller with Michigan State | KUsports.com
With his team needing a three-pointer to tie, fifth-year senior Travis Releford let a trey attempt fly with two seconds left in Kansas University’s Champions Classic contest against Michigan State on Tuesday night in the Georgia Dome.

Kansas loses to Michigan State at buzzer 67-64 - KansasCity.com
When the ball left his fingertips, Travis Releford said it felt good. He was standing near the wing, watching as the three-pointer floated toward the basket.

Kansas Football

Weis hopes packed house will honor KU football seniors Saturday night | KUsports.com
I agree with this, if you have the means to do it...give it a whirl. I think you could be happy with the result.

College Basketball

Why Africans will be basketball stars of tomorrow - CNN.com
Yes, and one will be named Joel Embiid.

ESPN 24-hour hoops marathon to offer plenty of viewing options - Andy Glockner - SI.com
When the Champions Classic was announced, I loved the idea and hated the execution. It's such a waste to have these premier programs play each other in the second game of the season. Teams are still evolving and what we see now will have no bearing at all on what we'll see in January, let alone March.

College Football

BCS commissioners settle on six ‘access bowls’ | CollegeFootballTalk
Some details of a four-team playoff in college football are still to be determined, but the BCS commissioners and Presidential Oversight Committee did finalize some aspects of the ‘access bowls’ that will make up the semifinal sites of the new postseason.

Oregon climbs, Texas A&M soars in college football Power Rankings - Andy Staples - SI.com
Oregon on top, K-State close behind.

BMOC surveys the Palouse, perfection and DeflateGate -- college football - ESPN
The BMOC surveys the Palouse, perfection, DeflateGate and more.