XOXO

Xavier Henry's line vs. Hofstra:

27 points
8-12 shooting
5-8 on threes
6-6 at the line
5 rebounds
2 assists
1 steal
1 block
0 turnovers

24 minutes. Good god.

Other numbers I like: 6 assists for Tyshawn, 23 points for Sherron, 4 blocks for Cole, 8 boards for Cole and 7 for Kieff. Also, 20-12 assists-to-TOs for the team.

This could be a juggernaut in the making. No, that's not a typo; I said "juggernaut."

Gorilla Warfare

Kansas doubles up Pittsburg State!

Both the Journal-World and the Star devoted entire articles to Marcus Morris' tomahawk slam (highlights here). In fact, this was the Star's only article on the game. Has a single dunk ever gotten as many column inches as this one?

A lot of buzz, also, on Thomas Robinson. I'm going to reserve judgment on that, because big men always tend to look good against the D2 patsies. But I can't wait for my first opportunity to see this team play -- hopefully this week.

FHSU Highlights

Got the link from Sido; thought you'd like to see it (if you haven't already):

Emily and I watched a good deal of the game, but I didn't get a strong sense of the team (still trying to learn the names and numbers...). It was very nice that Elijah's highlight dunk started with Xavier on the floor making the steal and the pass.

Oh, and Deron has to be right about the ranking. Juggernaut. Should be a hell of a year.

preseason #1

So we're the clear preseason #1, first game is tuesday against Temple, and I got myself a signed ball with the whole team and coach Self... Good times!

Late Night in the Phog

The new season is almost here and last night the newly renovated fieldhouse was packed and rocking.






The play was a little sloppy but still impressive. I couldn't believe how good of shape everyone was in. The Morris twins look like completely different players this year. And Xavier Henry is going to be amazing. He has incredible athleticism. Plus Cole and Sherron who were named co big 12 preseason players of the year! We are going to be tough to beat, to say the least.

The fieldhouse got a face lift and was unveiled last night. The sports museum was expanded and had all kinds of cool interactive exhibits. But the highlight had to be the giant trophy case in the center of it all.


The first game is nov. 3rd. Rock Chalk!

X, Man!

Hoo boy.

It just seemed too good to be true, but as with so many Bill Self recruiting stories, the best-case scenario has come to pass. Xavier Henry's a Jayhawk -- as is C.J. apparently.

If we were the 2010 pre-season #1 already, now we're ... well, put it this way -- no one else is even worthy of #2.

Depending on which list you look at, X may be the biggest Kansas recruit since Manning. (Don't hold me to that, but that's an educated guess. Julian, Nick, Paul and Raef were big recruits, but were any of them ranked as high as #3 in their class?)

But even if X doesn't turn out to be the second coming, that's OK. This team is so loaded, he doesn't need to be. He'll have his ups and downs like any freshman, but if he can just average double figures -- and believe me, if you've seen this kid's jump shot, he can -- that should be enough to put us over the top.

This gives Kansas the holy trinity of great players that most championship teams must have -- guard, wing, big man.

Kansas 2010: Collins, Henry, Aldrich
Carolina 2009: Lawson, Ellington, Hansbrough
Kansas 2008: Chalmers/Collins, Rush, Arthur
Florida 2006-7: Green, Brewer, Noah/Horford
Carolina 2005: Felton, McCants, May
Syracuse 2003: McNamara, Anthony, Warrick
Duke 2001: Williams, Dunleavy, Boozer
Duke 1991-2: Hurley, Hill, Laettner
Kansas 1988: Pritchard, Newton, Manning

Scott, we haven't heard from you in a while... Thoughts? I'm genuinely sorry that so many of KU's recent successes seem to come at Memphis's expense...

I'm Back, Baby!

But more importantly, so are Cole and Sherron.



Here's some video on the announcement.

So, are we #1?

And, this kind of puts all that hand wringing about Xavier/Cal/Lance in perspective.

Here We Go

Finally the wait is over. The good news is rolling in--someday we'll look back on April 3rd as a historic day, the day that the Iowa Supreme Court finally did the right thing and
...
in an unrelated story, the day that the AP named Bill Self national coach of the year.

Congrats, coach!

Hell of a year. Hell of a year!


And in other news, although there's no word from Stephenson, Xavier Henry wants to be a Jayhawk, according to his father.

It's a good day to be an American, and a good day to be a Jayhawk.

Rock Chalk!

Gone To Seed

Chris texted me to say this was one of the least disappointing of KU's tourney exits, and I would have to agree. After all, we played to seed; we met or exceeded expectations for the year; and we made a heroic effort against the Spartans.

What hurts is that this was a winnable game, and we seemed to be the better team. Cole and Sherron were near-unstoppable, Brady and Tyrell had some nice moments, and we played with great aggression on both ends of the court. But we were undone by some of the usual problems -- turnovers, lack of scoring balance, poor shot selection by our freshmen. And credit to MSU for making some big, timely baskets and stops.

(What also hurts, by the way, is being outdone by Mizzou. When was the last time they advanced further than Kansas? Early '90s?)

Interesting turning point here. It feels to me -- and this is just an instinct -- that if we had pulled this one out we would have definitely seen Cole and/or Sherron bolt for the pros regardless of what happened in the next round. The two of them played like superstars, esp. in the first half. The hype on them if we had won this game would have been blinding. But since we lost, maybe not so much.

If those guys are back, we're a Final Four favorite in 2010. If they're back and Lance Stephenson commits, we're the favorite for the national title.

Anything Mizzou Can Do...

I'm still sort of in shock that the MU Tigers beat the MU Tigers last night -- at least that they did it so convincingly. I've seen Mizzou play well this year, but nowhere near THAT well. Sorry, Scott, but at least it's a boon to the Big 12. Can KU and OU follow suit?

Also glad, of course, to see the Devils go down in flames. Duke's now-customary comeuppance has become my second favorite event in the tourney every year, next to any KU win.

I've been going back and forth on this MSU game. They have the much more balanced and experienced team. It's an even match statistically, although they rebound better than us. Defensively, it's a little scary to consider their big men doing to Cole what we did to Hansbrough last year -- and MSU's Travis Walton spending day and night studying Sherron like an FBI profiler.

But ... we have the revenge factor, which is always a big psychological advantage, as is the underdog status, which we so rarely get to enjoy as Kansas fans. Even more important, they haven't played anyone as good as us ... ever since they did play us way back when. And it is a scientific fact that the Big 10 sucks this season.

So... OK, that settles it. 'Hawks by 5!