Rock Chalk Mailbag

As always, if you want your question in the mailbag, tweet @rockchalktalk or send an email to rockchalkmailbag at gmail. Let's get it on.

@RockChalkTalk Will anyone besides the Jayhawks get a quality road win this season?

— Jay Hawk (@gimmethewooby) January 28, 2014

I suppose it depends on what our threshhold for quality is. Texas won at Baylor which, whatever, but Baylor still has some talent. If Iowa State wins tomorrow night that's obviously a quality win. But in general I think it speaks to the strength of the Big 12 that it's almost impossible to go somewhere and win. No other league really has that.

Who is the biggest challenger this year?

-Mike L.

I still think it's Oklahoma State. They still host Kansas in Stillwater, and for whatever reason they seem to break out their best games against Kansas (speaking of which, so does everyone else. Don't underestimate the potential for a couple of so so teams to beat Kansas at home just because they're playing Kansas, and have OSU sneak back into this thing).

Some people have brought up Texas and Oklahoma, but I don't buy either one. Texas has only really beaten Iowa State, and that was at home, and still have to go to Lawrence, Stillwater, Ames, and Norman. That's a tough stretch. Also, the Horns allow more threes than anyone else in league play, but they have the 2nd lowest 3 point% against. Once that regresses a bit, their defense is going to look a lot worse.

As for Oklahoma, this point made a lot more sense before they scored 88 points in a 77 possession game against Oklahoma State, but they are still just +.05 (technically +.045) points per possession in league play, which is middle of the pack in the league.

What seed is Kansas in the NCAA tournament this year?

-Jeff R.

Still too early for these obviously, but I think they're probably going to end up a 2. They might be a 1 given the strength of the league, but I think Arizona and Syracuse are going to be 1s, and then the Big 10 champ probably gets one, and Villanova, San Diego State, a second Big 10 team, and Florida are going to be in the running with Kansas for that last one seed. Pick four, and go nuts.

If they played at Sprint Center tomorrow, what's the line for last years KU team vs this years team and who wins?

— Carrington Harrison (@cdotharrison) January 24, 2014

This was just an open question to everyone, but I'm stealing it for the mailbag. I think this year's team is favored by somewhere around 3 and 5 points. I also think they win. This year's backcourt is better than last year's (Tharpe is better this year, Selden is better than Elijah). I think Wiggins would be able to follow around and shut down McLemore, and when McLemore wasn't going last year that team had a hell of a time scoring. Inside, Withey and Embiid probably cancel each other out (Embiid is a better offensive player, but I don't think he'd score much on Withey), and Ellis is better than Kevin Young. Obviously the X Factor is Releford. Could he guard Wiggins? Who would guard him? (probably Selden). In the end though I think this year's team has too many weapons on offense, and the means to shut down last year's most effective offensive pieces.