Player Ratings: Kansas 73, UConn 61

In what was one of the more impressive opening weekends in recent memory as KU easily ran over Austin Peay and then dispatched UConn. After what all considered to be a simple win on Thursday, fans’ nerves were on high alert for UConn, but the players were confident and showed it early. Here are the rankings.

Scale:

10 - Magical, extraterrestrial, godlike

9 - Outstanding, truly fantastic, utterly brilliant

8 - Great, excellent

7 - Good

6 - Slightly above average, close to ‘Good’

5 - Slightly below average

4 - Poor

3 - Terrible

2 – Disastrous

Starters:

Frank Mason- 6- This was not Mason’s game, but he settled down enough to start doing what he needed to do. He nailed all of his free throws and grabbed five rebounds. An off day from Frank and still a relatively easy win? I’ll take it.

Wayne Selden- 8.5- With Wayne seeming to be playing the way all Kansas fans want him to play, the sky could be the limit for this KU team. Also, WHAT. A. DUNK.

Devonte’ Graham- 8.5- Mr. Stones. That big "almost three" that he canned in the second half was as close to a dagger as a game that was always at arm’s length could feature.

Perry Ellis- 9- Perry Ellis is one of the five best players left in this tournament. Maybe one of the top three. He can score however and whenever he wants on most occasions and recently, I keep yelling at my TV for the guys to give Perry the ball more only to then realize that he already has 18 points or something. He is the definition of solid.

Landen Lucas- 8- This guy just keeps doing what he is out there to do and that is grab rebounds, score down low sometimes, grab rebounds, rotate the ball, grab rebounds, go straight up against his defender, and grab rebounds.

Bench:

Jamari Traylor- 7- He’s the only bench player warranting a rating and in his 10 minutes, he grabbed two rebounds and had three blocks. Did what he was asked to do while Perry was nursing his knee.

Carlton Bragg- n/a- Padded his stats on that one occasion where he fought for his own rebounds and only bucket.

Brannen Greene- n/a- I hope his back is better, you can tell he was laboring and didn’t even hoist a shot.

Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk- n/a- Made a free throw and should be well rested for a dominant performance in the Sweet 16.