Also see our Daily Threads, January 30, and the News Digest for Yesterday, January 29, as well as Daily Threads for Yesterday, January 29
! ↗

Nick Krug's photo gallery ↗

Newell: Andrew Wiggins scores career-high 29 as KU basketball takes down Iowa State, 92-81 ↗

LAWRENCE — Welcome to the new life of Bill Self.

For the better part of the last decade, the Kansas coach has dominated Big 12 teams with a smothering defense. The Jayhawks would win when they played well, and they’d win when they didn’t, simply because Self’s teams were going to hunker down and not let the opponent score on either occasion.

Dodd: No. 6 Kansas beats No. 16 Iowa State 92-81 ↗

LAWRENCE — Bill Self kept saying he wanted more from Andrew Wiggins, his freshman star. Others wanted more, too. Outside observers wanted domination. They couldn’t just settle for just good. They wanted transcendence.

“He leaves me wanting more,” Self has said.

Tait: FINAL: Kansas 92, Iowa State 81 ↗

In the beginning, it looked like it might be easy, as the Jayhawks built a 16-point lead 10 minutes into the game and had everything clicking.

In the end, though, Iowa State refused to go away and made Kansas fight for a 92-81 victory at Allen Fieldhouse.

Peterson: Cyclone men rally from big deficits only to fall at Kansas Again ↗

LAWRENCE, KAN. — Last season, it was a 3-point bank shot that everyone talked about after Kansas beat Iowa State in overtime at historic Allen Fieldhouse.

ESPN Boxscore ↗

MP3: Bill Self discusses KU's home win over Iowa State ↗

MP3: Andrew Wiggins, Naadir Tharpe and Perry Ellis discuss home win vs. ISU ↗

Also see our Daily Threads, January 30, and the News Digest for Yesterday, January 29, as well as Daily Threads for Yesterday, January 29

86 of 92 points from Jayhawks starters. Naadir Tharpe with 12 assists and only 1 turnover. Wiggins with a career high 29 points, and an efficient 29 points. Ellis played well, Embiid played well, Selden's hustle is inspiring.

And Doc Sadler kind of looks like a hobo.

@KirkIsMyHinrich

EDIT: removed pic. Could not look at Beetlejuice three times in a row.

@approxinfinity Ya, I can see it. Either way, it's unfortunate.

Man, those guys. Offense is killer. Defense is maddening! Makes me pull my hair out.

I'm just glad Self decided to rest Embiid: only 30 minutes.

And thank heavens for our depth!

Seriously, these guys are on a roll and they love it. They (and we) just need to take the next loss in stride.

Question: what are our most difficult remaining games? At Texas?

P.S. I actually took a few minutes to speed-scroll through Jesse Newell's live blog. The camaraderie between the Bucketeers and the CeeJays is terrific. I can't believe how well this has all developed since FaceGate. You folks are getting better faster than the team!

@ParisHawk Texas will be tough. Embiid hopefully didn't rehurt his knee when he went down those couple of times last night. He will need all his strength to go up against Ridley, Ibeh and even Lammert. However, I don't see Ridley being able to run and keep up with Embiid. Someone needs to get after their point - Isiah Taylor. He is fearless as a freshman and drives the lane but also has an outside shot. Who will be guarding Javan Felix is my question of the day? He is like Mason - a bulldog and unafraid.

On another side, I saw that "KU Wells" on the cjonline blog was coming to the game. Anyone know if he is on this board? Would like to know where he is sitting. The game is sold out. I am going to be sitting with Dr. Randall's brother and his wife. I got my tickets back in Oct. and am on the KU end. Hopefully I am going to be able to get to meet the players due to knowing Dr. Randall.

Last night's win was an all around effort by all 5 starters. The pace at which they played that first half was scary but yet our conditioning was amazing. They just kept going. Rebounding takes a lot of effort and we beat them 38-24, 11-5 offensive and 27-19 defensive. 10 less turnovers than last game but 14 still too many. ISU had 13 and was a huge turnaround in the 2nd half when they committed 3 in a row.

RockChalk

Andrew Wiggins is a perfect fit for Kansas. Kansas is a perfect fit for Andrew Wiggins. I love the way he lets the game come to him. Wayne Selden, wow! Flying through the air to save balls from going out of bounds. Incredible athleticism. Perry Ellis was in attack mode. Tharpe ran the show like an efficient quarterback. Embiid continues to dominate and draw double and triple teams. There was not a drop off when Lucas got in the game. That being said, what I am most proud of are our talented bench players that may get in some games, and may not play in others. They continue to stay positive and ready to contribute at a moments notice. They appear to realize it an honor and a privilege to suit up for the University of Kansas and I applaud them for it. Their time will come. A 10th Straight Conference Championship would be great! This team has a chance to be special, they have not yet realized their full potential, but they are on their way. I am enjoying the ride.

Tried to put pic on here of Wiggins going to the hole, the one in LJW w/2guys all over him. Check it out! We talked about valuing the ball, well Wiggins isn't getting stripped anymore. The ball looks like it's worth a million bucks to him now!

@Lulufulu85
How much do you think the foul emphasis this year played a role in that? I haven't heard statistics to back it up, but I have a feeling scoring is up this year because of it.

By the way there were very few fouls called in that game. With about 10 minutes left the total combined for both teams was about 15.

@Crimsonorblue22 Thanks for telling us to check out the pics. Great stuff! That's one thing where the LJW is as good as ever, thanks to Nick Krug.

@ParisHawk they are always great pics! Can you post the one I'm talking about? Thx!

Here's some random thoughts on the game.

1. Fouling rules are impacting the game. Scoring is up I'd suspect, although I haven't found hard evidence for it.

2. I've been writing about this for a month, but our lack of bench production is a concern to me.

3. On the other hand, great production from all five starters is carrying the day.

4. Embiid kind of disappeared after his hot start.

5. Wiggins had a quiet 29 points.

6. ISU has our number, except they don't know how to beat us.

7. It wouldn't surprise me if Beed with the feed becomes a catchphrase someday as he could become one of the greatest passing big men ever.

8. FT shooting was great.

9. Turnovers were down slightly.

10. I didn't see this coming after San Diego St. walked off our floor four weeks ago, although in terms of how this team has improved it feels like four months ago.

11. Black didn't foul out.

12. We are in the running for a #1 seed.

13. We are in the running for a national championship.

14. I hate the OAD rule. We all want to see these guys for the next four years.

15. If they did OAD's back in the '80's would Danny Manning have still been around to win a national championship?

16. If I write these stupid things and no one reads it, does it still count on my posts counter?

@wissoxfan83 Our bench has been nothing short of sensational. Sure, neither Greene or Lucas came into the game and scored in double figures, but Greene has been getting better, and it was clear the leash was a little longer than usual last night. But anyways, Mason, Greene, Lucas, Traylor, Black, and Frankamp all come off the bench. Two of them were hurt last night and didn't play, so maybe that's why you didn't think the production was solid.

Wiggins most definitely did not have a quiet 27 points. He had a deafening 29 points. He was clearly the player of the game.

I read your post, so don't feel neglected :)

@KirkIsMyHinrich

For reasons unknown to me, I've always thought that Doc Sadler looks like an insurance claims adjuster. I mean no offense to insurance claims adjusters out there, it's just that looks like he slept in his clothes and looks confused.

@wissoxfan83 I'll favourite (queens english) your post for #11!

This team isn't like other teams here at KU or one of the other 300+ NCAA Div. 1 teams.

This team does not wait for one or two players to make things happen. Look at Tharpe, he can either go for 2o or go for 7. But he will have a good assist number, he does what the team needs him to do. Wiggins is the same way, he doesn't need to score 24 every night for KU to win. He plays great D when is offense isn't clicking, he gets rebounds too. Embid causes more missed shots than being blind does. Ellis just gets it done man. Seldon has become the hustler, he goes and gets the ball when no one else does, and he is always around the ball to when KU needs him to be.

KU didn't have a lot of bench scoring last night, no need with what the starting 5 did. But then again Connor and Tarik didn't play, and Jamari had a rough night getting to the rim.

as wissoxfan83 said, I too didn't think after the SDSU game this team would be very good, I hadn't given up on them, but thought they might not finish in the top three of the Big12 after that game. But as a few family members said "trust Self" and I know I should of, but I didn't. I trust him now.

The saying "in Self we Trust" has never been more true than with this team and the change it has made since the SDSU game to now.

Also the best sign I saw in the crowd last night was a simple one, "Thats what we do"

@JRyman I've wondered whether or not a sign reading "(name of opponent) is a victim of Self abuse" would make it past the censors.

86 of 92 points from Jayhawks starters.

@KirkIsMyHinrich: great stat! Much more positivist way to point out what happened than saying the bench only got 6 points as I was belaboring over on JNewBlog during game. You emphasize what did happen, rather than what did not happen. You simultaneously point out how well the starters played, and leave the obvious inference that the bench was not productive. Cap tip to your writing.

Now, I want to take a stab at why the bench, which played quite a few minutes the first half, produced six points.

(note: I am trying to approach a negative subject with some positive spirit and humor.)

Mason was going up against some big, strong guards that his usual aggressiveness was not quite enough to compensate for. He played okay, but those ISU guards made life difficult. And when guys bigger than you have seen you just a few weeks before, a smart coach like Hoi can give his defenders a few tells to key on.

Brannen, who I had gone out on a limb and predicted a break out, HTR kind of game (WRONG!), performed about as usual, which is to say he got a triplicate, but then didn't really connect beyond that and played a so-so floor game. Really thought Brannen might feast on their two guard, during doubles on Joel, but Joel seemed to have been coached to look for Wiggins on the opposite wing and throw over the top of the zone (a clever solution to doubling by the way) And then when the ISU zoning began second half, and the score was close, Self stuck with his starters.

Traylor's performance puzzled me. It was the second straight game where he seems to have backslid into his old offensive uncertainties. His line suggests he was asked to get on the glass and did. But with Black sitting, I expected a bit more offense from him. But here again, when Self decides to go 30 with Joel even in a new brace, and Perry is having a good game, second half minutes are scarcer than Congressmen's sons in regime change wars.

Lucas did no harm, but did nothing exceptional. It takes a young center awhile to get to where he can hedge defend AND get on the glass. Even Embiid had to take awhile to get it down. Its like the air gets thinner around 20-23 feet out for long centers chasing short ones and their ability to keep track of the run-up to shots away from the man they are covering and their anticipation on when to break for the glass is a bit off. But Landen will likely have a few games to get the hang of it with Black in Bootville.

Frankamp, of course, joined the "Sore Knee Team," before the game and sat out. It is a fascinating, if unfortunate, correlation that since the rising emphasis on body sacrifices for 50/50 balls that injuries seemingly unrelated to sacrificing for 50/50 balls have risen. Is it random coincidence, or might the locality assumption be giving way at the realm of D1 basketball and that there may be some kind of quantum entanglement linking diving for 50/50s and getting hurt while moving normally around the floor normally. :-) Just kidding.

The good news is that the bench has of late seemed to alternate productive and unproductive games. Soooo: we might see a productive bench this next game, which would be great timing after all.

Rock Chalk!

@KansasComet: when your positive outlook and the team's performance converge, you just do hit the sweet spot about as well as anyone in the posting game. Rock Chalk!

@ParisHawk, copy and paste. Nick Krug. What a stand out talent!

@Crimsonorblue22 Here it is.

!ku_bkc_isu_10_t640.jpg ↗

link text ↗

@Crimsonorblue22 This one?

Is anyone else still a little concerned about Embiid? I mean his stats for the game were about normal for him these days (14/11), but several times the announcers accurately pointed out that he looked "tired" or "gassed." Someone else pointed out that he didn't really go after that many blocks. Some of this may be do to the fact the Nyiang (sp?) was much more active this game and didn't just settle for 3s therefore wearing down Joel, but I wonder how much better his knee really is. Is he at 70%, 80%? It sure wasn't 95%. Here's hoping all it will take is time to heal and we won't have to mask a crippled big man all spring long.

@ParisHawk thx! You are my go to guy or gal! I love this pic. Speaks volumes!

@ParisHawk and they both looked at the ref and said, "Who me?" with that look on their face that it should have been an offensive foul for some reason and they were more innocent that a Senators son in the blue light district.

@ParisHawk, besides being a potentially award winning photograph, this photo documents one way that defenses are finding to foul under the new rules. Notice that neither player is making any apparent effort to get the ball. All defenders' hands are grasping to strip the offender's right arm off the ball. It kind of infuriates me that this shizz goes on.

@jaybate 1.0 more importantly, last week they got ball, not anymore! Value the ball.

@MoonwalkMafia
Ha, 29 points. I guess when I mentally checked off the game as a win, he had 27! I do the Jesse Newell live blog thingy so I'm typing, reading others comments during the game and miss some of the action. I must have missed a bunch of his shots!

I do like your defense of the bench.

@Chris1955 Post your picture so we can tell you what you look like!!

@benshawks08 ISU made it tough for Joel last night. He normally guards his man in a 10 foot range from the rim, he was guarding almost 22 foot away last night. They pulled him away from the rim, but when he was close he altered a lot of shots. They took a lot of high arcing shots last night to avoid blocks, looks like they practiced shooting over a broom.

And he turned Matt Morris around on a fast break and he didn't even attempt a shot, he saw his future and passed it outside, didn't even try to draw the foul. Can you say scared?

There aren't a lot of teams with a center that plays out on the perimeter like ISU, Creighton does with Wragge, but non are real dangerous threats for the three ball. That takes Joel out of the middle, but the impressive thing is when KU switched on screens Kane couldn't drive on him, he moves his feet so well he doesn't let a guard go by him.

@wissoxfan83-

1-Only 15 total fouls so O is up but D is waaaaaaay down.

2 & 3-With 5 starters in double figures & Na with 12 assists vs 1 disputed TO, I'm OK with the reduced bench totals. They will be up to the challenge when needed.

4-IMO the brace was a bother to Joel. Plus he played about 30 min & any 250# freshman will be tired late with that much banging & court time. Still is the most impressive center I've seen play as a freshman in decades. Only concern for me is that he will physically hold up for the remainder of the season because he's repeatedly getting hammered night in & out.

5-As I said several times on the bucket blog & last night's Newell post blog, WIGSISDAMAN! Only thing quiet about him is his spoken words. The point totals are off the flippin charts for the past 2 games & I believe it was 29 last night instead of 27. So many that a lot of us just lost count.

10-Doubtful anyone outside of the circle could foresee this & it really does seem like many moons have passed. But give SDSU some credit also, they're a top 5 D in the nation.

11-Tarik on the shelf to heal is a good thing. We'll need his moxie to spell Joel & PE when the going gets rough & I expect it to be so in Austin Sat. He & Bruise Bro Jamari work well together for short stints & create def change up strategies for most opponents very quickly. Like throwing
Uncle Charlie with a full count.

12, 13, 14, & 15-Have to ditto each one of these cause my fingers are getting weary, plus this Homer actually feels the same, not just the cookie cutter reply.

16-Don't fret, no one thinks you're challenged in any way, certainly not to the extent some of us ramble day after day posting the same redundant comments over & over because we just don't recall what we said. And I assume the posts will all count towards the entire heap no matter how grossly absurd we become or how scatterbrained the spirits (see WC Fields, golf & snake) may make us, especially after a zealous victory or a tenacious loss. The last statement was clearly written from personal experience. RCJH, life is good! So is Christian Brothers-is aged in Oak barrels, but not during daytime hours!

Also BTW, after a post this lengthy (what?) I generally have to edit typos for an additional 5+ min as I'm just not a typist at all, quite simply a one stroke at a time pecker...peck, peck. peck. Add in the brandy & it may require an hour on occasion. Only had to edit this one twice...yeah!

@Crimsonorblue22 Guy!

So is Christian Brothers-is aged in Oak barrels, but not during daytime hours!

@globaljaybird, in my younger days, I might have responded with: well, its always night time some where in the world! :-)

But as I have become largely a non drinker in order to prolong having the minimum number of neurons needed to connect the net upstairs, I will just say: right you are, Global, right you are.

@wissoxfan83: As the learned Yogi Berra might have said, it takes real intelligence to call yourself stupid. All the greatest wise men of history finally agree on one thing: no one really knows very much, including each of the greatest wise men. :-)

@wissoxfan83 I mean I think across the board scoring is up. The rule changes point directly to that. More free throws = more points.
What I don't get is why our defense keeps declining in the Kenpom rankings? Sure, there were a few times we didn't even cover the 3pt line and they made us pay for that. And, a couple of times ISU drove to the hoop unchecked, also made us pay. But for the most part, I thought they did pretty well.

Damn, that is such great photo of Wiggins showing his best form on his J (something he does not always do by the way), I am going to repost it.

!13040651_0.jpg ↗

Andrew, this is the correct way to shoot a basketball, whether it went in or not. Hard wire it. True, Wooden would have benched you for not squaring up to the basket, but its good enough for me.

@wissoxfan83 I don't think Wiggs 29 was quiet. For one thing, he was 4-6 from trey. That's almost double his average.

@Lulufulu85, other things equal, scoring probably has to tend to go up when the number of fouls called goes up. FT points are made without clock movement. If there is the same amount of time to take and make shots, and there is more unclocked time to make FTs, total scoring should rise.

@wissoxfan83 Good stuff wissox! Replies below (although not to all):

TWO (2). Do you really think so? Sure last night it was the starters carrying the load, but we've had some recent games where the bench gets 30+ points. I have absolutely no worries about our bench of post players. Jamari, Black, & Lucas are as good as any bigs coming off the bench in the country, and all of them would start for most of the teams in the Big 12. Brennan Greene wasn't lights out last night, but his confidence is there, he's high energy, and I really like his basketball instincts. I think the one area that concerns me is that I don't fully trust Mason. And I'm not talking about from a production standpoint. He could average 2 points from here on out and that in & of itself wouldn't worry me. It's that the offense just doesn't look as good often times with him in there. And defensively...he looked pretty bad last night in my opinion.

SIX (6). Excellent way of putting it. I turned to my brother after the game last night and said "I can't believe that's 5 in a row over the last 2 seasons over these guys."

EIGHT (8). Yes, and I don't know what the season stats are but this seems to be, top to bottom, one of Self's better free throw shooting teams since he's been here.

NINE (9). "Slightly"? I'd say considerably. 14 last night vs. 24 in Ames. That's a 42% reduction, which is great in my book. Also, in a game that high scoring with that many possessions, 14 is as good as having say...10 on a night we score 70 or so.

TWELVE (12). Yes we are, and HEM thinks that is a very big deal!

THIRTEEN (13). Yes we are, regardless of seed.

FOURTEEN (14). I do too. But I come at it a little differently. I don't know how you can tell an adult (and at the end of the day, these 18 year old kids are adults) that they don't have the right to make money off of their skills. So to me, I think it should be that they can go straight to the NBA right out of high school. But if they choose to attend college that they must do so for a minimum number of years (baseball is 3, maybe for basketball I'd say at least 2). Regardless, I agree with the sentiment, that we want to enjoy these players for more than just a season. But who knows what players we'd have if players were required to stay all four years. We'd still have BMac. Heck, we'd still have Selby! So we wouldn't have scholarships for Wiggins, or maybe not for Embiid. Certainly none for Alexander & Oubre next year. Just got to enjoy them while they last.

@icthawkfan316
"Good stuff wissox" = off from school for a third day in a row because of weather, got all kinds of time to sit and ruminate the all important Jayhawks.

2 This is not the first time the bench has not been productive. A week or two ago I noticed it as well. I'm not smart enough to analyze why it may or may not be a big deal.

9 I see what you're saying, but I just wrote slightly because I see 14 TO's as a not acceptable number.

14 I wouldn't mind seeing college hoops adopt the baseball rule. There aren't enough roster slots in the NBA for it to have a major impact on college basketball. I believe the one year rule is an absolute farce however.

@JRyman : Matt Morris, is he any relation to Zack?

A few assorted thoughts...

Before the game, radio analysts (610AM) were calling Embiid's injury a knee tweak rather than knee strain. Looks like the severity of his injury was exaggerated in some circles, perhaps Coach Self was playing mind games with Hoiberg as a response to the Kane injury.

Tharpe's stock is going up and Mason down. Mason was a volume shooter in HS and is still having problems shedding the me-first attitude. He was 1-5 and none of his shots were what was need at the time; even the very timely 3 he made was not what Coach Self was looking for and after he made, it Coach Self turned around and laughed.

I thought Perry would have a good scoring and rebounding night and he did have a good one indeed. I have been trying to think of any other player in recent memory that uses the backboard as well as he does and I cannot think of any. Anytime he is within 5 feet of the basket, he will almost always bank the ball off the backboard instead of shooting a short, straight jumper; this makes it difficult to block his shot, since the first impulse of most blockers is to cover the line between the shooter and the basket, but when he banks it, he effectively goes around the blocker. Nice.

Neither team used the bench extensively. The top 6 players for ISU played 192 out 200 available minutes; for KU, the top 6 took 181 minutes. Likewise the scoring contribution for both sides was negligible with ISU bench outscoring KU bench 10 to 6 as per ESPN score box. I will guess this is the lowest production from the bench for KU this season, although I do not have the actual figures.

Braennen Green seems to have a different, more confident swagger on and off the court. While he did not have a good shooting outing, he seemed to have a more active demeanor when playing and when cheering from the bench. In fact, it was nice to see the entire bench on their feet for large portions of the game enthusiastically cheering, a change from some of the lackadaisical attitudes we have seen on the bench at times.

Selden continues to hustle and play hard; looks like he turned on a switch at the beginning of conference play and quietly he is starting to do the things we thought he could do.

As they say in Vegas...ladies and gentlemen, Andrew Wiggins has entered the building!!! What else can be said, he is now playing at a different level and making us think how high is his ceiling...

According to the latest ESPN Bracketology, KU and Wichita Sate are both #1 seeds and KSU is a #8 seed. Michigan and Michigan State are both #2 seed...is Kansas the top basketball state or what. Also the Big 12 is projected to send 7 teams to the dance or 70%; the Big East sent 11 team out of 16 or 69% in 2011; this would be the highest percentage in recent history. The Big 12 is without a doubt the strongest conference in the land. BTW, Baylor is out and Texas is in. Also, Ohio State lost again, at home, to Penn State; I thought they were grossly overrated when they were unbeaten and ranked #3 and they are proving me right.

One last note, KU's class was ranked behind Kentucky for 2013 but it has proven to be the real Number 1, no question about it.

Not sure if it's been mentioned yet but both Cliff and Kelly made the Mickey D's team! Congrats to both! Turner was also selected.

I don't want this year to end anytime soon but watching Cliff makes me excited for next year. What he did in the game last week was really impressive. He's a beast and doesn't look timid.

Last night's win may have effectively ended the conference title chase.

Let's look at the standings taking into account only losses and remaining road games.

1. Kansas - no losses, road games against Texas, Baylor, K-State, Tech, OSU and WVU.

2. Oklahoma - 2 losses, road games against Iowa State, WVU, OSU, KU and TCU.

3. Texas - 2 losses, road games against TCU, K-State, Iowa State, KU, OU and Tech.

4. K-State - 3 losses, road games against WVU, Baylor, OU, Tech and OSU.

5. Oklahoma State - 3 losses, road games against Tech, Texas, Baylor, TCU and Iowa State

6. Iowa State - 4 losses, road games against OSU, WVU, TCU, K-State and Baylor.

The remaining schedule for Texas is brutal. They've got KU twice, plus road games with K-State, ISU and Oklahoma. They have a four game stretch from Feb 18 to March 1 that goes @ISU, @KU, vs. Baylor, @OU. They will be hard pressed to escape that going better than 2-2. And they have to make up 2 games on KU. I don't think their chances are very good.

Oklahoma's schedule isn't quite as harsh as Texas, but they already lost their home game to KU, so they need a win in Lawrence, plus some help to make up that ground, and they still have to go to Stillwater for Bedlam part 2. They have a trip to Ames on Saturday that could knock them out of serious contention with another loss at this stage of the race.

K-State probably has the easiest remaining slate, as they have already traveled to Lawrence, Austin and Ames. Problem is, they lost all three of those games. Their only Big XII road win is against TCU. If they can't win on the road, holding serve at home won't be enough because they still have to go to both OU and OSU, and they have to make up 3 games in the loss column.

Oklahoma State is in a mess. They still have trips to Texas, Baylor and Iowa State. They already have 3 losses and their home schedule is the toughest out there - Baylor, Iowa State, Oklahoma, Tech, KU and K-State. I can't see them making up much ground unless they just go crazy.

And then there's Iowa State. They have four losses now. They have a virtual must win game Saturday with Oklahoma. Lose that and they probably have no chance of making up ground to even finish second in the conference (already having lost in Norman). They haven't played Oklahoma State at all yet, so they still have two with the Cowboys. Their only saving grace is that they have five total games against the bottom of the conference - WVU, TCU twice each and Tech in Ames. But with four losses already, they really can't lose again.

Simply put, looking at everyone's remaining schedule, I can't see anyone other than Texas or OU even having a chance to catch KU. Texas has a better shot because they can make up ground on KU just by winning their own games since they have the Hawks twice. But Texas has that brutal stretch in their schedule that will make it tough to keep pace. Oklahoma has to win Saturday or they may end up too far back to even chase KU, especially since they haven't been to Lawrence yet.

Number 10 may be closer than we realize.

@justanotherfan

The BIg 12 is absolutely brutal this year. Other than TCU and Texas Tech. the rest of the teams have a very good chance to make it to the dance, except perhaps for Baylor which is in complete disarray and free falling.

Baylor has as much or more talent as any other team in the Conference except for KU, and yet they have lots 6 out of the last 7 games with the only win at home against TCU. After missing the tournament last year, is Drew's job in jeopardy if they miss this year as well?

@jaybate 1.0 Sorry I'll stop posting here then.

@jaybate 1.0-Is a misnomer old bud, it's just not consumed during daylight hours-unless you're the golfer like WC Fields, keeping the brandy handy, just in case you encounter the snake...
..........which you also keep handy!

Good article with lots of players and coaches quotes...

Nice article ↗

@icthawkfan316-Mason kept getting matched up with Kane & I think that he gives up 5-6" in height that way, so Kane continually abused him. My concern with Frank is more of a situational/judgment issue like not using clock when necessary or fouling at the wrong times like the potential 3 shot foul on Nash at the end of the OSU game. Don't remember the opponent but he almost self destructed inside of 2 min in one of the Paradise Island games. His maturity/court awareness will certainly improve with time, as the PG skills are obvious. I also have to give it up for Nadir-he dropped dimes last night like Warren Buffet drop Mills, that'sMillions, not mill tokens! Who remembers riding the bus when we were kids & paying the fares in mill tokens-reds, blues, & greens? C'mon old timers-I know you're out there?

@justanotherfan I agree, the Big 12 race is all but wrapped up. At the very least, it's almost a lock KU will do no worse than share the title. People were up in arms on kusports about a recent podcast between Keegan, Tait, & Benton where they were calling the race almost a done deal before the Baylor game. Maybe a tad premature, but the way this team is playing, combined with the remaining schedules (nice laying that out by the way)...well Bill has done it again.

The thing that I'm more interested in is how good is the Big 12 really? I'm talking in terms of who can make some noise in the dance. This is perennially one of the knocks I have against the Big 12. Put it this way, of the teams listed, who can you see honestly still playing on the second weekend of the tournament (sweet 16)? Iowa State to me is the most dangerous team. Okie St. maybe, if they get the right draw that doesn't expose their front court deficiencies; the wrong draw and I can see them upset in the opening round. I'm reserving judgment on Texas until I see them Saturday, but Rick Barnes doesn't fill me with enough confidence that they'll be left standing. OU would need a great performance from Stevie Clark just to advance, and I hate putting faith in one guy to carry a team for too long. I have almost no faith in KSUck to advance that far, especially (as the latest bracketology indicates) if they would be matched up with a #1 seed in the round of 32.

So once again it will be up to KU to carry the flag for the conference. Just all a bunch of pretenders, and I wonder when that will change. I think ISU has the potential, but I also want to see if Hoiberg can actually recruit or if he will continue to rely almost exclusively on transfers. That well has to dry up sometime; eventually, to achieve sustained success, I think he will have to demostrate the ability to grow the program with high school kids he can coach & develop for multiple years. Regardless, the lack of another elite school in the conference hurts KU, both in the long run & on a yearly basis in terms of preparing KU for the dance. This is why missing on bringing Louisville into the fold during the realignment madness was such a blow. It's also why I am so thankful for the tough non-conference schedule this season.

@icthawkfan316

Although OU does not have a lot of talent, Spangler has been on fire lately; he has been playing extremely well as has the team, it does not hurt that they have a very good coach unlike Baylor that has a lot of talent and a poor coach.

I am not sure you can maintain a program at a high level without good recruits from high school. The transfer model at ISU was supposed to be a rebuild-mode approach (a lot like our own football team) but I am not sure it is a long term strategy. The main problem with ISU is the short bench. I have a hunch that the NCAA will want to strictly enforce the new contact rules at the tournament, which means more fouls and more players fouling out. It would help teams with deep benches like KU but it would not be good for teams like ISU.

If Smart stops being a drama queen and starts playing straight up basketball, I can see OSU doing some damage in the tournament.

@icthawkfan316 : Cameron Clark, Stevie plays for OSU.

@Kip_McSmithers Cameron would be offended!

@Crimsonorblue22 : Agreed!

Anyone read Tait's article "The Day After" yet?? Well, over on the other site screen name Suzi Marshall, who led with a political comment the other day about the SOTU speech which started the longest thread of the season for them, mentioned our friend J.Newell and his amazing use of numbers, stats. Plus they noted what we all know in the fact that J.Newell was a significant loss for the ljw. I don't think Tait enjoyed the comment though...

@Kip_McSmithers Thanks for the assist!

@icthawkfan316

Interesting question you bring up about the overall depth. The Big 12 has one great team (Kansas), several pretty good teams, and a couple above average teams. I could see seven making the dance, but of those seven, I could see five being seeded between 6-10, meaning they probably won't advance past the round of 32.

Oklahoma doesn't have a single notable win out of conference. Probably Alabama or A&M is their best non con win. They lost to La. Tech, which isn't good, but their only other losses are KU, Michigan State and K-State. La Tech is tied for first in Conference USA, so there's a solid chance that OU doesn't have a loss against anyone that will miss the tourney. On the other hand, they really don't have any notable wins. Tough to see them being better than a 5 seed unless they keep rolling in the Big 12.

Texas has a loss against BYU. That hurts them quite a bit. But their other losses are Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Michigan State. Not a bad resume. Still, no notable wins, unless you want to count their win against UNC (I don't). They are probably staring at a 6 seed.

Oklahoma State and Iowa State have done better. OSU beat Memphis (also lost to Memphis), Colorado and La. Tech. ISU beat Iowa, Michigan and Boise State (with no non con losses). That will probably have them both on the 4/5 line. Still, that makes it unlikely that either of those squads makes it past the Sweet 16.

Baylor has a good non con resume as well. Wins against Colorado and Kentucky and their only non con loss being to Syracuse. Their conference season has been a mess, but if they finish 8-10 in conference, they will probably sneak into the tourney with a 20-11 record and a 12 seed.

K-State has three bad losses - Northern Colorado, Charlotte and Georgetown. They have one good non con win against Gonzaga. They probably can nail down a 6 or 7 seed, but they would need to go on a serious run to rise much higher. Any sort of slide probably knocks them out of the tournament completely with such a weak resume.

The Big 12 is a weird conference in that it's middle is probably stronger than any other conference. There just isn't much drop off from the #2 team to the #6 team. That will probably mean that KU starts pulling away in the conference, but it also means that a lot of those teams will be in the tournament.

I predict six tournament teams with Baylor being either a play-in game or first four out. However, only KU, ISU and OSU have the talent to advance beyond the round of 32 and only KU and ISU really have any chance of getting past the Sweet 16.

Ugh .. too much work today, not enough time to talk hoops.

@justanotherfan

I like how you summed up the B12 this year.

I'm with you on a solid 6 teams making it. Outside chance of 7.

I think I would also keep an eye on Texas. Funny... Barnes has enjoyed all kinds of talent over the years, and always seems to underachieve... sort of like Drew at Baylor. But this year they are flying under the radar and seem to be playing respectable ball and without any superstars.

I am concerned about our game on Saturday. I hope we don't go in there feeling over-confident and play on cruise control.

Concerning OSU... they could suddenly start playing at a higher level. It all depends on Smart. He is sucking all the air out of the room with that team. I'm not certain he can find a way to actually help his team.

ISU will be a threat in March. Hoiberg knows how to capitalize on too many aspects of the game to go home on the first night or two. I can see them making the Sweet 16... unless they have some bad luck.

Oklahoma? Who knows? Lon is solid and they are playing some of the best offensive ball in the league right now, but their defense is horrible!

Everyone has to check out this OK State link!

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@MoonwalkMafia

Interesting how uninterested the students seem to be. If they announce that Coach Self will be at the Student Union, they could sell tickets and it would sell out in no time flat.

...and the KU Student Union would become the loudest Student Union in the country :)

@JayHawkFanToo Good one!

@justanotherfan Nice breakdown, thanks.

@KirkIsMyHinrich, Not sure what you are referring to. I don't recall trying to cramp your style about anything. I enjoy your stuff.

@KirkIsMyHinrich

"86 of 92 points from Jayhawks starters. Naadir Tharpe with 12 assists and only 1 turnover. Wiggins with a career high 29 points, and an efficient 29 points. Ellis played well, Embiid played well, Selden's hustle is inspiring.

And Doc Sadler kind of looks like a hobo."

Come on... we are jealous when someone can post a summation with so few words. Many of us our blabbermouths...

Keep up the good work!

And kudos for nailing down the limited production of our bench. I totally had it wrong on my prediction that we would have a hero off the bench for this game!

@jaybate 1.0 You're fine. I guess I just took that post the wrong way.

@drgnslayr Haha, you should definitely not be jealous of my posting.