I'll keep this one short and sweet bitter, for obvious reasons. Everyone knows how good they are -- you don't need to hear me pontificate at length about it, and I sure as hell don't want to do so.
P.S. If you're looking for more of a fawning type of preview for KU basketball, you better head over to Rock Chalk Talk -- 'cause you ain't gonna find it here.
KU is 11-0 against the 128th-ranked schedule in the nation. Last week, the Jayhawks finally acquired their first RPI Top 50 win, at home over Cal. Their schedule is a little better than Baylor's, but not by much.
All of which is a way of saying that while Kansas is ranked No. 1 pretty much based on reputation and last season's performance, all we know right now is that the Jayhawks are pretty good. But are they elite? That remains to be seen. They might run into their first RPI Top 25 opponent and wilt, for all we know.
Current Kansas RPI: 16
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Bill "Weave" Self 180-40 (78-18) at Kansas |
Reserves
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#2 Conner "High School Musical" Teahan 7.3 minutes per game | 2.7 points per game | 1.4 rebounds per game |
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#4 Sherron "Otis" Collins 30.3 minutes per game | 14.2 points per game | 1.9 rebounds per game |
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#10 Tyshawn "Point Plankn" Taylor 23.9 minutes per game | 7.4 points per game | 2.9 rebounds per game |
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#12 Brady "DUI" Morningstar 21.5 minutes per game | 4.5 points per game | 1 rebound per game |
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#14 Tyrel "Tyrelf" Reed 15.2 minutes per game | 4.7 points per game | 1.5 rebounds per game |
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#21 Markieff "Thing 1" Morris 15.5 minutes per game | 7.9 points per game | 5.8 rebounds per game |
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#22 Marcus "Thing 2" Morris 24.1 minutes per game | 11.4 points per game | 5.9 rebounds per game |
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#23 Mario "Bench Warmer" Little 0* minutes per game | 0* points per game | 0* rebounds per game *Little is redshirting this season. |
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#24 Travis "Towel Guy" Releford 0* minutes per game | 0* points per game | 0* rebounds per game *Releford is redshirting this season. |
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#40 Jordan "Who?" Juenemann 2.1 minutes per game | 1.1 points per game | 0.3 rebound per game |
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#41 Chase "Token White Guy" Buford 2.5 minutes per game | 0.6 point per game | 0.4 rebound per game |
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#45 Cole "Lumpy" Aldrich 25.6 minutes per game | 11.2 points per game | 9.7 rebounds per game |
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#5 Jeff "I Wanna Be Like Cole" Withey 0* minutes per game | 0* points per game | 0* rebounds per game *Withey will be eligible to play in the Belmont game because he began redshirting in January. |
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#0 Thomas "Morris Twin Motivator" Robinson 11.6 minutes per game | 4.8 points per game | 4.5 rebounds per game |
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#1 Xavier "One-and-Done" Henry 28 minutes per game | 17.2 points per game | 4.2 rebounds per game |
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#13 C.J. "Package Deal" Henry 8.6 minutes per game | 5.2 points per game | 1.2 rebounds per game |
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#15 Elijah "Tyshawn Motivator" Johnson 11.1 minutes per game | 3.9 points per game | 1.9 rebounds per game |
My thanks to the Kansas sports information department for the photos.
OK, let's get this over with quickly.
Sherron Collins is really good. Cole Aldrich is really good. Xavier Henry is really good. Marcus Morris is much improved. Markieff Morris also is improved, but not quite as much. When Tyshawn Taylor actually plays hard, he's pretty good -- but he's always a G about it.
Tyrel Reed and Brady Morningstar continue to be useful "glue guys," which is a nice way of saying "bench warmers with just enough talent to play a few minutes so Bill Self can motivate the more talented guys."
Elijah Johnson and Thomas Robinson have been pretty good, but not nearly as good as every Kool-Aid-drinking Jayhawk fan thought after the first two games, when they put up ridiculous numbers against teams such as Fort Hays State. Jeff Withey, the transfer from Arizona, has a chance to gather some minutes behind Aldrich, but he's trailing the larger Morris twin because he hasn't played in almost a year.
The Jayhawks are so ridiculously deep that Self ran off Quintrell Thomas and Tyrone Appleton, redshirted Mario Little and Travis Releford, and felt comfortable benching Morningstar because he knew it wouldn't hurt the team's performance overly much.
Connor Teahan, Little, Releford, Jordan Juenemann, Chase Buford and C.J. Henry (we all know why he's on the team, Hawks, so quit pretending otherwise) make up this year's resident cheer and pom squad, which actually is multiracial for once.
KU is the favorite to win everything because the only team that really can beat them is themselves. (Oh, yeah, and the fighting John Walls of Kentucky.)
There, I'm done. Now I'm going to go take a shower.
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| Sherron Collins | Tyshawn Taylor | Xavier Henry | Marcus Morris | Cole Aldrich |
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
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| Elijah Johnson | Tyrel Reed | Brady Morningstar | Thomas Robinson | Markieff Morris |
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
As much as we would like to deny it, KU will improve its play once it starts playing better teams. I still don't think the Jayhawks will win in Austin, and I'm pretty confident we can take them in Manhattan, but other than that, it's hard to see them dropping a game.
Expect them to have a No. 1 or No. 2 seed going into the Big 12 Tournament, and since it's at Sprint Center, it's fairly hard to imagine them not securing the automatic bid and a No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament.
But they better enjoy it while it lasts. They're going to lose a minimum of three to five impact players off this team, and there is no doubt in my mind that we are slowly gaining on them.
Next year, first will be available.
Big 12 preseason prediction: 1st
My predicted finish: T-1st (with Texas)
Best-case scenario: National champion
Against K-State?: Toss-up in Manhattan, win in Lawrence
"I mount their butt at halftime and try to get them back, but still yet I don't think body English or energy was as good coming out."
WTF? Yes, he actually said this. It appeared in The Wichita Eagle a week ago today, if you don't believe me.
0 recs | 8 comments
these are all good reads...
btw, i laughed to myself at the nicknames; chuckled silently at the anti ku, but still having to give them what they are due analysis; and then laughed loud enough so my girlfriend in the other room heard me when i saw the poll. good stuff, bracket.
Bauer Power - December 27, 2009
Thanks
Humor isn’t always my thing, but sometimes I can pull it off.
How about the pic of Sherron’s “O” face? I laughed for five solid minutes when I saw that masterpiece on the wire.
BracketCat - December 27, 2009
Oops, I screwed up the poll
Option 2 should have read: “No, they blow.”
I suspect this might throw off the scientific validity of the poll.
My bad.
BracketCat - December 27, 2009
I like the poll the way it is!
Made me laugh too!
goksucats - December 27, 2009
I won't argue...
that if we didn’t have Xavier, we wouldn’t also have CJ.
But you do know we recruited him 5 years ago…and he’s not occupying a scholarship…and despite still being deeper on our bench, he’d likely be your third guard and could play on any team in thiis league, right?
hiphopopotamus - December 28, 2009
I call bullshit on that
McGruder and Irving already have done more in their short careers than C.J. has in his, and they have greater upside, too.
You were making sense until that one.
BracketCat - December 28, 2009
Well I can't give an accurate...
assessment of either, because I haven’t seen either enough to know. But he’d absolutely be in the mix. That’s not a slight on them; he’s a great athlete and a nice shooter. Regardless, my point was and is, that any team in the country would love to get a CJ Henry type, because he’s a scholarship caliber player that doesn’t count against your scholarships.
hiphopopotamus - December 28, 2009
OK, that is a good point
Of course, we’re only at 12 schollies right now, so it’s a moot point for us.
I agree that C.J. would be one of the top guards for almost every team in this conference — but not K-State. He would be at best our fourth guard, although he definitely would nudge Merriewether out of the rotation if he embraced defense at all.
FYI: Irving is the second-best defender on the team and McGruder is a Top 100 recruit who hasn’t even scratched the surface of his talent yet, although he did blow up on Boston U. to the tune of 22 points.
BracketCat - December 28, 2009
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