Kansas Jayhawks News and Notes 10.30.31

Kansas Basketball

Andrew Wiggins' acrobatic dunk highlights KU's exhibition win over Pitt State | KUsports.com
The first slam dunk of Andrew Wiggins’ Kansas University basketball career — the flushing of a deep lob from Jamari Traylor, who was stationed well beyond the three-point stripe — had 16,300 Jayhawk fans thankful on Tuesday night that the much-anticipated 2013-14 basketball season is finally under way.

Opinion: Bill Self's best choice? No redshirts | KUsports.com
Opinion: This is likely a waste of your time.

Notebook: Naadir Tharpe to miss KU's season-opener; Self says redshirts still possible | KUsports.com
"So we self-reported that, because he didn’t get prior approval, which he would not have gotten because it wasn’t in his area. It’s a game for a game (penalty). Naadir can play in the next exhibition game, but he will not play in our first regular-season game."

Pitt State coach sees glimpses of Andrew Wiggins' ability | KUsports.com
"That was the first thing we said in our pregame talk: 'Hey, the majority of the players they've got out on the floor played high school basketball last year,'" Muff said. "Yeah, they've got some AAU experience and McDonald's All-American experience playing against better competition, but they (were) high school players last year and the adjustment to college basketball's not easy."

Wiggins and the young Jayhawks put on a show in 97-57 win over Pittsburg State - KansasCity.com
As Andrew Wiggins hung in the air, throwing down a two-handed dunk over Pittsburg State’s Trevor Gregory, he finally could feel a little bit at home in the Phog. That’s not to say that Wiggins’ Kansas debut, a 97-57 exhibition victory over Pittsburg State, was all majestic dunks or soaring highlights.

Kansas Football

Cliff’s Notes: Charlie Weis press conference, 10/29/13 | The Newell Post | KUsports.com
Weis liked the way his receivers ran routes last week. He thinks they all played harder and with more definition. That’s not a knock on receivers coach Rob Ianello. Weis thinks part of it is that the main boss (him) was hanging around the receivers more often in practices. The receivers looked improved last week.- Huh?

KU’s Tony Pierson still not well | KUsports.com
Pierson, who did not play in losses to TCU and Oklahoma after suffering a concussion during the second half of KU’s loss to Texas Tech on Oct. 5, played just three snaps last weekend against Baylor before leaving the game for good because of dizziness, which came on despite Pierson not being hit.

Misc.

the kenpom.com blog
Pre-season ratings in case you haven't checked them out.

Baylor Bears QB Bryce Petty leads the Big 12's top 25 quarterbacks - ESPN
Naming the best quarterback in the Big 12 is easy. Deciding who's second-best right now is near-impossible. So we went a step further: Why not rank the top 25? -Surprise, Heaps isn't in the top 10.

Bonus Twitter Tuesday: The Sporting question I accidentally deleted, plus a penalty question - KansasCity.com
I think I’ve mentioned this before here, but I’m the kind of airhead who sometimes puts the cottage cheese back in the cupboard instead of the fridge. My dog sometimes needs to remind me she’s hungry. That’s how it goes.

Sporting Kansas City’s first playoff test is Saturday at New England - KansasCity.com
The playoff road for Sporting Kansas City begins on Saturday with a Eastern Conference semifinals match at New England.

Jay Bilas' ideas to fix college basketball - ESPN The Magazine - ESPN
COLLEGE BASKETBALL is a great game, but it has been slowly declining over the last several seasons, for a variety of reasons. Don't be fooled by a terrific and aesthetically pleasing NCAA championship game between Louisville and Michigan, or get distracted by the billions of dollars being generated off the game. The quality of play simply isn't keeping pace with the quality of players and coaches in the game.- Warning: ESPN Insider piece

The beginning of a strange new season for the Celtics and the Nets - Grantland
The beginning of a strange new season for Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, Rajon Rondo, and their respective teams.

These 2 Words Will Make You More Selfish - Matthew O'Brien - The Atlantic
Students were twice as likely to betray their partner in a Prisoner's Dilemma if told they were playing a game called "Wall Street."

Christina Hoff Sommers: 3 Things Schools Can Do to Help Boys Succeed | TIME.com
Being a boy can be a serious liability in today's classroom. As a group, boys are noisy, rowdy and hard to manage. Many are messy, disorganized and won't sit still.

Arcade Fire's 'Reflektor' review - Grantland
Trying (and failing) to love Arcade Fire's endless, awkward new album.

Here’s how LG’s self-healing G Flex smartphone could work - Quartz
But despite LG’s detailed outline of the phone’s new features, the Seoul-based company declined to explain just how its latest device will repair its own scratches.

A global wine shortage could soon be upon us - Quartz
Last year, global supply for wine already barely exceeded demand. Adjusting the demand to include non-wine uses (such as making vermouth), there was actually an undersupply of about 300 million cases, marking the largest such shortfall in almost 50 years.