@HighEliteMajor "Andrew Wiggins: Ho .. ly .. crap."

My thoughts exactly! Damm that kid is good. Great game from a great player. Clearly deserves to be the Big 12 POY.

Ditto about defense on Tharpe too, and Ellis for that matter. Tharpe was getting schooled by Staten and Ellis was getting beat by Williams off the dribble and face up shooting over him. wtf.

I thought Conner did a good job of keeping his man in front of him and making him take tough shots.

Man, we need a big time L & A point guard.

@jaybate 1.0 Hahaha, that's awesome.

@jaybate 1.0 good song btw

@Crimsonorblue22 interesting

@bskeet Im of the train of thought that having some losses allows you to learn from mistakes and get stronger, better. Im not on the Shockers train at all. Sure, what they are doing is great but no way they do that in a power conference. No chance.
RE: Florida, I personally think they win the title this year.

Freshman scoring record up for grabs this year again

It is possible that Wigs will beat Ben Macs freshman scoring record this year. So far Andrew has 481 points. If he holds to his season average he will break Ben's record if we make it to the elite 8, which is one game ahead of where we got infamously bounced last year. I really really hope this happens. Personally for me, an Elite 8 appearance with this very young team, an improvement on last years run, would be satisfying to me. It would be good but not great. A great run, to me, would be a Final Four banner in AFH. A stellar run would be a title game appearance. Despite what some have said, and I have agreed with, I think if we make the elite 8 and improve upon last years run, we have to give some degree of cred to Coach Self for doing that with this season of OAD's. Is Cal gonna get even close to us this year? Did he do it last year? Nope. His past two teams of OAD's have been a bunch of prima donna me me me first players. But I digress, for us to make the elite 8, we have to play every game like we did the Texas game at AFH. With balls and with aggression first.

@approxinfinity It is possible that Wigs will beat Ben Macs freshman scoring record this year. So far Andrew has 481 points. If he holds to his season average he will break Ben's record if we make it to the elite 8, which is one game ahead of where we got infamously bounced last year. I really really hope this happens. Personally for me, an Elite 8 appearance with this very young team, an improvement on last years run, would be satisfying to me. It would be good but not great. A great run, to me, would be a Final Four banner in AFH. A stellar run would be a title game appearance. Despite what some have said, and I have agreed with, I think if we make the elite 8 and improve upon last years run, we have to give some degree of cred to Coach Self for doing that with this season of OAD's. Is Cal gonna get even close to us this year? Did he do it last year? Nope. His past two teams of OAD's have been a bunch of prima donna me me me first players. But I digress, for us to make the elite 8, we have to play every game like we did the Texas game at AFH. With balls and with aggression first.

@ Jesse Newell. Money Ball. Great movie.

@nuleafjhawk hehehehehe

@JayHawkFanToo Agreed, had they been in the Big 12, or the Big 10, there is no way they could run the table on those high elite major teams. No. Way. WSU will absolutely get beaten in the ncaa's. They haven't had their weaknesses exposed. They haven't had a chance to fix those weaknesses, whatever they are. A really good team from the above conferences or a really tough mid major team will beat them. I think the elite 8 or sweet 16 is where it will come.

@globaljaybird Wow, very convincing to me also. Selfishly, I hope he stays though cuz if we don't win the title this year, (small chance in my opinion), we will get it next year with all we have coming back and adding.

@Crimsonorblue22 He would boot them from the team. Hope everyone remembers JR Giddens and CJ Giles.

@approxinfinity Hey Approx,
Id like to make this a news digest for today's date if possible. Its a copy paste from my Espn.go site. Thought it was interesting.

With just two weeks until Selection Sunday, we might not know about tourney matchups yet, but key traits are readily apparent. And for fans of some of the best teams in the country, that means it’s time to start worrying.

Giant Killers IDs the most likely NCAA tournament upsets using a process laid out in a little more detail in the right column. Our vaunted statistical model is able to assign a rating to each Giant, based on the likelihood that it would lose to a generic Giant Killer. In evaluating the top 10 teams in the current AP poll, it finds a pretty large disparity in how safe each squad should feel during the tourney’s first weekend. Here’s a closer look, in decreasing order of vulnerability.

Saint Louis Billikens
AP Poll Rank: 10
Giant Rating: 71.3

As we addressed two weeks ago, St. Louis plays much more like a Killer than a Giant. And as the Billikens try to live up to a top-10 ranking and a potential No. 4 seed, that could prove problematic. Granted, Saint Louis should still beat a generic GK more than seven out of 10 times. But that’s not a strong enough rating to feel safe, especially given the issues our model identifies.

St. Louis doesn’t send many guys to the offensive glass, resulting in an offensive rebound rate of 29.1 percent. Historically, that’s been a key safeguard for Giants, and it makes sense: On a poor shooting night, you’re in much better shape if you can collect your own misses. Our model also sees Saint Louis as overrated: Its power ranking is just 29th in the nation, behind teams like Tennessee, Gonzaga and SMU. That’s due in large part to the Billikens’ sluggish offense, which ranks just 145th nationally (per KenPom.com) with an adjusted 106 points per 100 possessions. Even with the country’s second-best defense, those scoring woes are scary in a tourney setting.

Wichita State Shockers
AP Poll Rank: 2
Giant Rating: 72.7

Speaking of teams our model pegs as overrated, the sage-like spreadsheet has some issues with the Shockers. Sure, they’re undefeated, but our model accounts for the nation’s 130th-ranked schedule, and as a result is unwilling to bet heavily on Gregg Marshall’s crew. Wichita State takes a further knock from the model’s “Secret Sauce,” which accounts for similarities to historically safe Giants. The Shockers carry some warning labels, particularly their lack of emphasis on forcing turnovers (18.7 percent of opponents’ possessions).

Look, it’s hard to argue against a 30-0 team, regardless of its schedule. After all, the Shockers can beat only the teams they play. And it’s also difficult to argue that they aren’t cut out for tourney play when the likes of Cleanthony Early, Ron Baker and Fred VanVleet all played key roles on a Final Four squad. But by our measures, Wichita State has a disturbing number of traits in common with previously slain Giants, meaning a potential 1 vs. 8/9 matchup could be a real challenge to a crew that pulled off that kind of an upset last year.

Creighton Bluejays
AP Poll Rank: 9
Giant Rating: 72.9

The Bluejays have the nation’s best offense. They take a huge quantity of 3-pointers and make 42.9 percent of them. They’re a top-10 team inside the arc as well, shooting 55.4 percent on 2-pointers. They rarely turn the ball over and assist on 65.1 percent of their made baskets. That’s as good as it gets.

But the one thing Creighton doesn’t do well is a major issue for Giants: It grabs only 28 percent of available offensive rebounds. And the problems are much greater on defense, where the Bluejays force a turnover once every lunar cycle (15.6 percent, 325th in the nation) and generally struggle to get stops (an adjusted 100.5 points per 100 possessions). Unlike Saint Louis and Wichita State, Creighton is as good as its reputation suggests according to the model, which places the Bluejays fifth in its power rankings. But those two major flaws could cost Doug McDermott & Co. against a pesky Killer.

Villanova Wildcats
AP Poll Rank: 8
Giant Rating: 84.2

The Wildcats weren’t supposed to be this good. At 25-3, though, they’ve proved their worth to our model, which rates the Wildcats as the nation’s seventh-best team. But as with their Big East buddy Creighton, there are some lingering flaws that could make Villanova susceptible to an early upset.

It’s uncommon for a top team to foul a lot, for a fairly obvious reason: Generally, weaker teams foul more because they are outclassed. When you can’t match an opponent’s size, speed or skill, you’ve got to clutch and grab and hack in response. But Villanova doesn’t follow that script, allowing its foes to generate 22.8 percent of their points from the foul line, which is greater than the national average. The good news is that JayVaughn Pinkston and James Bell lead a rebounding effort that is above average at both ends, and Nova’s excellent ball pressure forces turnovers on 20.2 percent of opposing possessions. Something to watch that doesn’t show up as significant in the model, though: Villanova doesn’t guard the arc especially well. Opponents take 32.3 of their shots from deep, which is just 161st in the country, and that could be a problem against a hot-shooting mid-major.

Syracuse Orange
AP Poll Rank: 4
Giant Rating: 86.7

A week ago, the Orange were as safe a Giant as you’d find. But after their losses to Boston College and Duke and a tight win at Maryland, the model has further evaluated Syracuse and started to find some more glaring blemishes. Not surprisingly, the biggest issue is defensive rebounding, which is always a fatal flaw of the 2-3 zone. Rakeem Christmas, Jerami Grant and C.J. Fair do excellent work on the offensive boards, but without a clear man to block out, they struggle to produce at the other end. So opponents grab 32 percent of their own misses and can often kick out for open looks from 3-point range, where the Orange allow the second-highest percentage of points in the country (36.8). Syracuse still looks quite safe, but after the Orange dropped from a 97.8 rating to 86.7 that sentiment may not last much longer.

Florida Gators
AP Poll Rank: 1
Giant Rating: 89.8

There may not be a more balanced team than the top-ranked Gators. They’re the only team to rank in the top 12 in both offensive and defensive efficiency, and it’s tough to find any significant warts. So it’s no surprise that our model gives them a nine-in-10 chance of fending off a generic Giant Killer.

Led by the relentless Patric Young (13.5 percent offensive rebound rate) and Dorian Finney-Smith (14.0 percent), the Gators get all sorts of second chances on offense. They play D without fouling, they force bundles of turnovers and they hold their own on the defensive glass, too. The real question, then, is why the Gators aren’t the safest Giant in the country. And it appears our model’s answer is that they may not be as good as they appear, thanks to a relatively easy run through the watered-down SEC. Still, that’s not enough to cause real concern early in the tourney for a team that seems destined for a No. 1 seed.

Kansas Jayhawks
AP Poll Rank: 5
Giant Rating: 90.6

Yes, the Jayhawks have lost to four teams ranked 30th or worse in BPI. But that’s not a harbinger of a March disaster. Fact is, our model is bullish on the Jayhawks, ranking them as the fourth-best team in the country. And that rock-solid power rating is most of the basis for Kansas’ being such a safe Giant, since the team doesn’t gain much from the model’s Secret Sauce.

Why? The Jayhawks don’t force turnovers. Their 16.6 percent rate is well below the national average (18.4) and essentially means that weaker teams will still get enough looks at the basket to frighten Kansas on a hot-shooting night. The Jayhawks also foul far too often -- foes generate 24.3 percent of their offense from the free throw line. However, Kansas offsets much of those weaknesses with strong rebounding at both ends (not to mention a fantastically efficient offense). Could the Jayhawks go down early? It’s possible. But it sure isn’t likely.

Arizona Wildcats
AP Poll Rank: 3
Giant Rating: 94.2

One of the great surprises in the model is how safe Arizona looks, even in light of Brandon Ashley’s season-ending injury. Even without the versatile forward, the Wildcats do all the things a Giant is supposed to do, particularly on the glass, where they dominate at both the offensive (38.5 percent) and defensive (26.1 percent for opponents) ends.

And it’s not just that Arizona bears strong similarities to historically safe Giants. Our model also pegs the Wildcats as the best team in the country on the basis of their power rating, due largely to the nation’s stingiest defense. With Nick Johnson and T.J. McConnell locking down the perimeter and plenty of size inside, the Wildcats negate all the common tricks GKs employ. In particular, they chase foes off the 3-point line, allowing only 26.9 percent of opposing shots to come from beyond the arc. Arizona might not be the exact same team without Ashley, but it remains every bit the safe Giant.

Duke Blue Devils
AP Poll Rank: 6
Giant Rating: 95.0

It’s somewhat remarkable to see the Blue Devils ranked so high, given some fairly obvious issues that manifested themselves in losses at Notre Dame and Clemson and a near escape at home against Vermont. For a team that often utilizes at least four perimeter players at a time, Duke isn’t particularly effective at forcing turnovers (19.2 percent, 125th in the nation). And the Blue Devils are below-average defensive rebounders. Quietly, they’ve grown more and more effective on the offensive glass (33.5 percent), but that’s not close to the level of Arizona or Florida.

Instead, what makes Duke such a good Giant is the way it plays defense. The Blue Devils are ranked only 57th in adjusted efficiency, but their issues are much more likely to be exploited by a fellow Giant, not a Killer. They basically shut down their opponents’ 3-point shooting (17.5 percent of total points, 351st in the country), and avoid putting them on the line. So teams have to take advantage from 2-point range, which is where 60.9 percent of opposing points come from against Duke (third in the country). For GKs, the problem is that is the antithesis of the high-risk, high-reward style that typically leads to a tourney upset. Add in the model’s third-highest power rating, and Duke should be able to stick around for a while come tourney time.

Louisville Cardinals
AP Poll Rank: 7
Giant Rating: 97.7

This season’s safest Giant was also the last one standing a year ago. The Cardinals have quietly gone about their business in a new conference this season, compiling a daunting statistical profile in the process. Louisville boasts the nation’s 15th-best offense and seventh-best defense. The Cardinals take care of the ball when they have it (14.8 percent turnover rate) and take it away at the other end (24.7, fourth in the nation). They knock down 3s and keep opponents from launching them. With the second-best power rating according to the model, they’re a dream Giant.

If there is one lingering issue, it’s defensive rebounding, where Louisville is clearly not the same team without Gorgui Dieng and Chane Behanan. Teams grab an alarming 33.3 percent of their misses against Louisville, and the program knows what a massive offensive rebounding game can do for an upstart in the tourney. But the Cardinals have so many other weapons at their disposal that they’re much more likely to be playing on the tourney’s final weekend than to be eliminated in the first one.

@drgnslayr Hey Drgn, go watch MoneyBall, again if you have seen it. It did wonders for my damaged psyche after that last game! :)

@drgnslayr I found this bit on espn.go. by Jordan Brenner. Thought I would share it. Granted, it doesn't take into account KU getting beat by a team like Florida or Virginia but, it does say some interesting things about Giant Killer potentials.
Have a look.

With just two weeks until Selection Sunday, we might not know about tourney matchups yet, but key traits are readily apparent. And for fans of some of the best teams in the country, that means it’s time to start worrying.

Giant Killers IDs the most likely NCAA tournament upsets using a process laid out in a little more detail in the right column. Our vaunted statistical model is able to assign a rating to each Giant, based on the likelihood that it would lose to a generic Giant Killer. In evaluating the top 10 teams in the current AP poll, it finds a pretty large disparity in how safe each squad should feel during the tourney’s first weekend. Here’s a closer look, in decreasing order of vulnerability.

Saint Louis Billikens
AP Poll Rank: 10
Giant Rating: 71.3

As we addressed two weeks ago, St. Louis plays much more like a Killer than a Giant. And as the Billikens try to live up to a top-10 ranking and a potential No. 4 seed, that could prove problematic. Granted, Saint Louis should still beat a generic GK more than seven out of 10 times. But that’s not a strong enough rating to feel safe, especially given the issues our model identifies.

St. Louis doesn’t send many guys to the offensive glass, resulting in an offensive rebound rate of 29.1 percent. Historically, that’s been a key safeguard for Giants, and it makes sense: On a poor shooting night, you’re in much better shape if you can collect your own misses. Our model also sees Saint Louis as overrated: Its power ranking is just 29th in the nation, behind teams like Tennessee, Gonzaga and SMU. That’s due in large part to the Billikens’ sluggish offense, which ranks just 145th nationally (per KenPom.com) with an adjusted 106 points per 100 possessions. Even with the country’s second-best defense, those scoring woes are scary in a tourney setting.

Wichita State Shockers
AP Poll Rank: 2
Giant Rating: 72.7

Speaking of teams our model pegs as overrated, the sage-like spreadsheet has some issues with the Shockers. Sure, they’re undefeated, but our model accounts for the nation’s 130th-ranked schedule, and as a result is unwilling to bet heavily on Gregg Marshall’s crew. Wichita State takes a further knock from the model’s “Secret Sauce,” which accounts for similarities to historically safe Giants. The Shockers carry some warning labels, particularly their lack of emphasis on forcing turnovers (18.7 percent of opponents’ possessions).

Look, it’s hard to argue against a 30-0 team, regardless of its schedule. After all, the Shockers can beat only the teams they play. And it’s also difficult to argue that they aren’t cut out for tourney play when the likes of Cleanthony Early, Ron Baker and Fred VanVleet all played key roles on a Final Four squad. But by our measures, Wichita State has a disturbing number of traits in common with previously slain Giants, meaning a potential 1 vs. 8/9 matchup could be a real challenge to a crew that pulled off that kind of an upset last year.

Creighton Bluejays
AP Poll Rank: 9
Giant Rating: 72.9

The Bluejays have the nation’s best offense. They take a huge quantity of 3-pointers and make 42.9 percent of them. They’re a top-10 team inside the arc as well, shooting 55.4 percent on 2-pointers. They rarely turn the ball over and assist on 65.1 percent of their made baskets. That’s as good as it gets.

But the one thing Creighton doesn’t do well is a major issue for Giants: It grabs only 28 percent of available offensive rebounds. And the problems are much greater on defense, where the Bluejays force a turnover once every lunar cycle (15.6 percent, 325th in the nation) and generally struggle to get stops (an adjusted 100.5 points per 100 possessions). Unlike Saint Louis and Wichita State, Creighton is as good as its reputation suggests according to the model, which places the Bluejays fifth in its power rankings. But those two major flaws could cost Doug McDermott & Co. against a pesky Killer.

Villanova Wildcats
AP Poll Rank: 8
Giant Rating: 84.2

The Wildcats weren’t supposed to be this good. At 25-3, though, they’ve proved their worth to our model, which rates the Wildcats as the nation’s seventh-best team. But as with their Big East buddy Creighton, there are some lingering flaws that could make Villanova susceptible to an early upset.

It’s uncommon for a top team to foul a lot, for a fairly obvious reason: Generally, weaker teams foul more because they are outclassed. When you can’t match an opponent’s size, speed or skill, you’ve got to clutch and grab and hack in response. But Villanova doesn’t follow that script, allowing its foes to generate 22.8 percent of their points from the foul line, which is greater than the national average. The good news is that JayVaughn Pinkston and James Bell lead a rebounding effort that is above average at both ends, and Nova’s excellent ball pressure forces turnovers on 20.2 percent of opposing possessions. Something to watch that doesn’t show up as significant in the model, though: Villanova doesn’t guard the arc especially well. Opponents take 32.3 of their shots from deep, which is just 161st in the country, and that could be a problem against a hot-shooting mid-major.

Syracuse Orange
AP Poll Rank: 4
Giant Rating: 86.7

A week ago, the Orange were as safe a Giant as you’d find. But after their losses to Boston College and Duke and a tight win at Maryland, the model has further evaluated Syracuse and started to find some more glaring blemishes. Not surprisingly, the biggest issue is defensive rebounding, which is always a fatal flaw of the 2-3 zone. Rakeem Christmas, Jerami Grant and C.J. Fair do excellent work on the offensive boards, but without a clear man to block out, they struggle to produce at the other end. So opponents grab 32 percent of their own misses and can often kick out for open looks from 3-point range, where the Orange allow the second-highest percentage of points in the country (36.8). Syracuse still looks quite safe, but after the Orange dropped from a 97.8 rating to 86.7 that sentiment may not last much longer.

Florida Gators
AP Poll Rank: 1
Giant Rating: 89.8

There may not be a more balanced team than the top-ranked Gators. They’re the only team to rank in the top 12 in both offensive and defensive efficiency, and it’s tough to find any significant warts. So it’s no surprise that our model gives them a nine-in-10 chance of fending off a generic Giant Killer.

Led by the relentless Patric Young (13.5 percent offensive rebound rate) and Dorian Finney-Smith (14.0 percent), the Gators get all sorts of second chances on offense. They play D without fouling, they force bundles of turnovers and they hold their own on the defensive glass, too. The real question, then, is why the Gators aren’t the safest Giant in the country. And it appears our model’s answer is that they may not be as good as they appear, thanks to a relatively easy run through the watered-down SEC. Still, that’s not enough to cause real concern early in the tourney for a team that seems destined for a No. 1 seed.

Kansas Jayhawks
AP Poll Rank: 5
Giant Rating: 90.6

Yes, the Jayhawks have lost to four teams ranked 30th or worse in BPI. But that’s not a harbinger of a March disaster. Fact is, our model is bullish on the Jayhawks, ranking them as the fourth-best team in the country. And that rock-solid power rating is most of the basis for Kansas’ being such a safe Giant, since the team doesn’t gain much from the model’s Secret Sauce.

Why? The Jayhawks don’t force turnovers. Their 16.6 percent rate is well below the national average (18.4) and essentially means that weaker teams will still get enough looks at the basket to frighten Kansas on a hot-shooting night. The Jayhawks also foul far too often -- foes generate 24.3 percent of their offense from the free throw line. However, Kansas offsets much of those weaknesses with strong rebounding at both ends (not to mention a fantastically efficient offense). Could the Jayhawks go down early? It’s possible. But it sure isn’t likely.

Arizona Wildcats
AP Poll Rank: 3
Giant Rating: 94.2

One of the great surprises in the model is how safe Arizona looks, even in light of Brandon Ashley’s season-ending injury. Even without the versatile forward, the Wildcats do all the things a Giant is supposed to do, particularly on the glass, where they dominate at both the offensive (38.5 percent) and defensive (26.1 percent for opponents) ends.

And it’s not just that Arizona bears strong similarities to historically safe Giants. Our model also pegs the Wildcats as the best team in the country on the basis of their power rating, due largely to the nation’s stingiest defense. With Nick Johnson and T.J. McConnell locking down the perimeter and plenty of size inside, the Wildcats negate all the common tricks GKs employ. In particular, they chase foes off the 3-point line, allowing only 26.9 percent of opposing shots to come from beyond the arc. Arizona might not be the exact same team without Ashley, but it remains every bit the safe Giant.

Duke Blue Devils
AP Poll Rank: 6
Giant Rating: 95.0

It’s somewhat remarkable to see the Blue Devils ranked so high, given some fairly obvious issues that manifested themselves in losses at Notre Dame and Clemson and a near escape at home against Vermont. For a team that often utilizes at least four perimeter players at a time, Duke isn’t particularly effective at forcing turnovers (19.2 percent, 125th in the nation). And the Blue Devils are below-average defensive rebounders. Quietly, they’ve grown more and more effective on the offensive glass (33.5 percent), but that’s not close to the level of Arizona or Florida.

Instead, what makes Duke such a good Giant is the way it plays defense. The Blue Devils are ranked only 57th in adjusted efficiency, but their issues are much more likely to be exploited by a fellow Giant, not a Killer. They basically shut down their opponents’ 3-point shooting (17.5 percent of total points, 351st in the country), and avoid putting them on the line. So teams have to take advantage from 2-point range, which is where 60.9 percent of opposing points come from against Duke (third in the country). For GKs, the problem is that is the antithesis of the high-risk, high-reward style that typically leads to a tourney upset. Add in the model’s third-highest power rating, and Duke should be able to stick around for a while come tourney time.

Louisville Cardinals
AP Poll Rank: 7
Giant Rating: 97.7

This season’s safest Giant was also the last one standing a year ago. The Cardinals have quietly gone about their business in a new conference this season, compiling a daunting statistical profile in the process. Louisville boasts the nation’s 15th-best offense and seventh-best defense. The Cardinals take care of the ball when they have it (14.8 percent turnover rate) and take it away at the other end (24.7, fourth in the nation). They knock down 3s and keep opponents from launching them. With the second-best power rating according to the model, they’re a dream Giant.

If there is one lingering issue, it’s defensive rebounding, where Louisville is clearly not the same team without Gorgui Dieng and Chane Behanan. Teams grab an alarming 33.3 percent of their misses against Louisville, and the program knows what a massive offensive rebounding game can do for an upstart in the tourney. But the Cardinals have so many other weapons at their disposal that they’re much more likely to be playing on the tourney’s final weekend than to be eliminated in the first one.

Here we go, this should help cheer everyone up after KU's absolutely freektastic loss last night
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/south-carolina-beats-no-17-015805396--ncaab.html ↗ ↗

Ok, I still cant figure out how to post a link that works. Sorry people, Im sort of computer unsavvy. That said, I still think its funny to see Calipari squirm and hey even though we lost, Kensucky lost too and we didn't lose a game to them in the wins total column.

@KansasComet 22 TO's didn't help either. *smh

@drgnslayr Sounds like fun to me! But, Vegas? How bout Atlantic City instead?

@HighEliteMajor Eeesh!! Scathing! Can't say it was unwarranted though. What will coach do now? That's the big question here, not which round will we get bounced in. Coach has to make a decision. Since the start of the conference, I always felt we would lose this game anyways. It is a tough place to win at, especially for KU.

• list item Okie state was foaming at the mouth for this game, their season was riding on it, ours wasn't.

Seeding may or may not be affected by this loss but the team's spirit sure could be. Coach has to decide if Naa can pull it together, think next game and move on, Or if he should be playing Mason to start with next up off the bench as needed. Coach has to decide if it is too late in the season to pull a major rotation change, not us. I just watched Money Ball for the first time, so I am feeling a bit optimistic here after KU's loss. I'm betting Coach will do exactly what is necessary and not one bit more. Lyle wont help us right now, they have to win with what they have right now.

@approxinfinity This is for today's news headlines. From ESPN.
Forget the Big 12 record. Dismiss the seven-game losing streak and the three-game suspension of Marcus Smart and the losses that occurred without him in the lineup.

Oklahoma State's season has begun anew with two tune-up wins over Texas Tech and TCU in advance of Saturday's showdown with Kansas, a Big Monday home finale for Smart against Kansas State and a final road game against surging Iowa State on March 8.

If you want to know when the Cowboys fate will be decided then look no further than the next eight days. Sure, Oklahoma State will have opportunities in the Big 12 tournament, but some advance work must be done before arriving in Kansas City, Mo.

Oklahoma State coach Travis Ford knows the stakes. He told his team the Texas Tech game was “a must-win game. We didn't have a choice. We had no choice but to band together, rely on each other. We got away from that.”

Ford said the Cowboys have suddenly embraced the desperate situation they're in at this point in the season. In the past two wins, Ford said, the team was less “disjointed,” the defense has tightened and the assists have gone up.

Smart was allowed to practice during his suspension. His numbers since his return scream of a player who is locked in like never before: 17 points, 8 rebounds, 7 assists and 5 steals at TCU; 16 points, 3 rebounds, 10 assists and 6 steals in the win over Texas Tech.

“He came back doing all the things that made him one of the best players in the country in filling out the stat sheet,” Ford said. “I started to see a difference when he was sitting out. He had some of his best practices of the year when he was on the scout team. He had a really, really good mindset. You could see how motivated he was.”

This has been a turbulent season for Oklahoma State and Smart, to say the least. The season started fresh with a 39-point performance from Smart and a drubbing of Memphis. Losing to Memphis two weeks later in the Orlando Old Spice Classic hurt, but didn't really do any damage. The hurt came when the top big man Michael Cobbins went down with an Achilles injury before the Big 12 opener at Kansas State and a backup guard Stevie Clark was arrested on marijuana possession and later dismissed. The Cowboys lost that game and then sputtered along, despite winning four of their next five. That run preceded the seven-game losing streak.

“When we lost Cobbins, we had no adjustment, we had to prepare so quickly,” Ford said. “That was tough. That's when we got disjointed and everyone was thinking about them. We've come together pretty good. We had no choice. Everyone has a little more of a smile on their face when they're playing. The guys aren't concerned with the individual game. They're only worried about the team.”

Ford is not naive about Saturday's game against Kansas. It will take an “incredible effort,” to beat the reigning Big 12 champs, who are peaking at the right time.

“We'll have to play our best basketball game of the year,” the Cowboys coach said. “They legitimately have a chance to win the national title. Every guy must bring their best game. We can't pick and choose. They took it to us in the first half [when the Jayhawks were up 17 before winning by two at Kansas].”

Ford, however, isn't sweating his team’s bid just yet. The RPI/BPI is solid, despite a 6-9 conference record. He is convinced the selection committee will look at the season as a whole, which includes a win over Colorado when the Buffaloes had Spencer Dinwiddie, and the losses without Smart, two of which were on the road.

“I still feel we're in good shape if we win some games,” Ford said.

But this season, like no other, has worn on Ford.

“There's no question,” he said. “We went through a tough stretch. We had injuries, had to dismiss a player, and a suspension. Those three or four weeks take years off your life. I'm proud how our team handled it. Every game came down to the last possessions and literally two games down to the last minute and one to the last 30 seconds. That takes a toll. I'm proud of this team. They continued to fight and had a great attitude sticking together. But it does take a toll on you.”

@nuleafjhawk Definitely mine would be losing an early game because of a lack of intensity, will, toughness, fight. I have a good feeling about the tournament for KU this year though. All we need is the basketball Gods to be nice to us and convince the selection committee to give us potential teams that are beneficial to us winning the games!! ;) RCJH!! #DecadeOfDominance

@nuleafjhawk Maybe. But I think the guy wants another ring very very badly and He'll do anything to get it, Including using his unseasonally deep bench. He is using nearly 10 guys a game. I don't recall him ever doing that this late in the season

@jaybate 1.0 amen to that!

@JRyman I agree with you also. Clearly Lunardi has no clue what he is doing. He'l probly just blindly picking schools, fill in the blank type. No Way the selection committee puts all 3 Kansas schools in the same bracket. Wont happen. On the chance that KU gets a 2 seed and Wichita gets a 1, I can see that happen. We'll beat there asses too. That said, I also don't want UNC in our bracket this year, I am tired of it. I like Roy, I like UNC. I hope they do great in the tourney this year as a way underseeded team. But, just not in our bracket this year please?!

@JayHawkFanToo Lunardi clearly doesn't know what he is doing. Florida is way tougher than 'Cuse, Az or Wichita st. That said, if we rematch with them in the tourney, KU will beat them.

10str8!!!!!!!!!! Yes, this is awesome. Im going to Ks Sampler later to get a shirt or a hat to celebrate. That said, we gotta go down to Stillwater and T.C.B. I know Okie state is down this year but it will absolutely be a tough game.

Is it just me or did the refs really screw up some calls against KU this game? I was beginning to wonder if OU brought in their own officiating crew

@VailHawk Thanks for the re-post! @HighEliteMajor Brilliant post and a great laugh all at the same time. RCJH!

@REHawk I still think Wichita St will get bounced b4 making elite 8. Syracuse has shown its vulnerabilities and if they don't shore them up, they'll get bounced too. 'Cuse is on my bubble so to speak

link texthttp://bleacherreport.com/articles/1970412-kansas-brings-a-game-to-blow-out-texas-how-good-are-the-jayhawks-at-their-best ↗

Here's a quote from the coach which is spot on to me.
“Sometimes I think we read too much into it when you play really well,” Self said. “ ‘They’re on a roll now.’ I think a roll means you’re going to do it over a period of time, and I think it still remains to be seen if we’re on a roll yet. I do think we’re playing better.”
KU beat that @$$ tonight, and they should have. It was revenge. It was showing the second best team in the Big 12 how good the #1 team is. Thing is, KU needs to keep the foot on the gas from here on out. Their defense tonight was really really good. Off the ball, screen defense and M2M they shut Tx down bigtime. I was impressed. But they have to keep that level of intensity right there and transfer it into the March tournaments. If they do, watch out. Final Four and beyond!
An off the cuff Elite 8 guess again, just for fun.
KU,
AZ,
Duke,
Florida,
Wis,
StLoie,
IowaSt,
Virginia

Quite a bit different from my last guess. But IMO all these teams are starting to sizzle on the burner right now. If Im right with these picks, I like KU's chances to win it all. Id love to see Florida in the tourney. Rematch beatdown ala Texas

I have a question for everyone. So KU clearly dominated this game in nearly every aspect of it. On Defense especially, we won the turnover battle, beat them on the boards, had more steals, held them 54 points and to .88PPP even! Why for gosh darn darn did KU's defensive efficiency per KemPom go up!? They way they have been defending the last 3 games, it should be trending down! What the heck?

@drgnslayr I don't think Naadir sucks. I think he is just as you said Drgn. I wish he was a bit more umm tenacious at defense, able to keep his man locked down despite a physical disadvantage. But other than that, I think he is an upgrade over Tyshawn simply because his assist to turnover ratio is quite respectable and he knows how to lead this team and doesn't question his role or spout idiotic things on twitter.

@approxinfinity Im going to copy paste this article here because its on my espn.go and its a pay site. It was a good read, I thought.

by Mark Titus on February 19, 2014

Nebraska beat Michigan State in East Lansing. Arizona State beat Arizona in double overtime. Virginia narrowly escaped Virginia Tech. Villanova needed double overtime to beat Providence. Kansas needed Andrew Wiggins to beat Texas Tech. Shabazz Napier went nuts on Memphis, and UConn beat the Tigers in overtime. Iowa vs. Indiana was postponed because Indiana is literally falling apart. North Carolina vs. Duke was postponed for the first time ever due to weather. Roy Williams won his 300th game at North Carolina. Pat Knight lost his last game at Lamar. Travis Ford vs. Scott Drew went to overtime thanks to a predictably boneheaded play at the end of regulation. Tom Crean reached his all-time Creaniest and then took it to even Creanier heights.1 Tyler Ennis did naughty things to Pitt. Syracuse squeaked past NC State three days after Ennis got naughty. Grambling State won for the second time in three games. Marshall Henderson got back to being Marshall Henderson. Marcus Smart proved once again that he needs a PR manager. Marshall Plumlee put up an eight trillion against Georgia Tech. Conner Frankamp put up a five trillion against Texas Tech. Villanova quintuple-teamed Doug McDermott and he still scored 39. Perry Ellis scored 32 points against TCU, or presumably three more than the guy he was guarding scored. Sherman Blanford of Eastern Illinois, who is only 6-foot-6 and 215 pounds, had a 32-point, 18-rebound game against Austin Peay.2 And Billy Baron (Canisus vs. Siena), Stephen Madison (Idaho vs. Utah Valley), and Andrew Rowsey (UNC-Asheville vs. Radford) all scored 40 or more points in a game.

Everything you just read (and so much more) happened in the last seven days. The NCAA tournament starts in exactly 24 days. I’M SO EXCITED I CAN BARELY FUNCTION. While I gather myself, go tell your boss you aren’t coming to work the first Thursday and Friday of the tournament and I’ll meet you at team no. 12.

1. Iowa State

If you’re looking for a Final Four sleeper, look no further than Iowa State. After starting the season 14-0, the Cyclones lost four of five, fell out of the Big 12 race, and disappeared from the national radar. Then, just after ISU rattled off a three-game winning streak, the Cyclones were destroyed at West Virginia a little over a week ago. Given the ups and downs Iowa State has been through, I’ve questioned the Cyclones’ ability to make a deep run in March. The West Virginia loss helped solidify that skepticism. But now that Iowa State just handily beat a red-hot Texas team on Tuesday, maybe it’s time to revisit the Cylcones’ résumé.

Start with the losing streak at the beginning of the conference season. At the time, losses to two unranked teams and a 15th-ranked team at home seemed embarrassing for a 14-0 team. In retrospect, however, playing at Oklahoma, vs. Kansas, and at Texas in consecutive games is no cakewalk. All three teams are NCAA tournament locks with winning records in the toughest conference in college basketball. Syracuse or Florida would have a hard time going undefeated through that stretch, so let’s not swear off ISU just yet. Nor should we dock the Cyclones too many points for losing at Kansas in late January, since Kansas is virtually impossible to beat at home. As for ISU’s most recent loss at West Virginia — it’s hard to make excuses for a 25-point drubbing. But we can give that defeat some context. Remember that Iowa State relies heavily on the 3-point shot. The Cyclones were ice-cold from deep against the Mountaineers; that happens from time to time for “live by the 3” teams. It doesn’t mean ISU isn’t a good team; it just means it’s screwed on those occasional off nights. And, well, we’ve known that for months.

What does this mean for Iowa State’s chances in the tournament? If they come out flat, the Cyclones could get bounced early. But if they pair the defense they played against Texas on Tuesday with average or better shooting by their standards, they will make you pay for picking them to suffer an early upset.

1. Cincinnati

“Is he not a first-team All-American? Forget player of the year in our league. I want to know a guard that’s better than him. Please, somebody tell me. I’m not talking about some freshman that’s gonna be who he’s gonna be five years from now. I’m talking about right now. Who is better than Sean Kilpatrick? I’m asking. Give me somebody.”

—Mick Cronin

As I read that quote following Cincinnati’s 11-point win over Houston on Saturday, I rolled my eyes as if I were Mark Cuban listening to a terrible pitch on Shark Tank. I mean, Kilpatrick is having a great season, but come on — there are a ton of guys who are clearly better than him right now. For instance, there’s … um … give me a second and I’ll think of somebody … uh … what about Marcus Sma— no, that won’t work. Huh. Maybe Cronin has a point. Kilpatrick gets hardly any national media attention besides being the default name pundits throw around when they discuss Cincinnati. But right now, there are only seven guards in America I’d even entertain as arguments to Cronin’s statement:3 Scottie Wilbekin (Florida), Shabazz Napier (UConn), Kyle Anderson (UCLA), Delon Wright (Utah), Russ Smith (Louisville), Xavier Thames (San Diego State), and Nick Johnson (Arizona).

Wilbekin is really the only one I could be convinced is better than Kilpatrick right now. Johnson has been in a dreadful shooting slump the past four games. Wright’s and Anderson’s teams aren’t having great seasons like Cincinnati is. That may not be fair but it’s relevant to discussions like this. Thames plays the same role for San Diego State that Kilpatrick plays for Cincinnati, but Kilpatrick’s stats are better and he plays in a tougher conference. As for Smith and Napier, look no further than head-to-head games. Kilpatrick wasn’t necessarily matched up with those two guys in those games, but Cincy-UConn and Cincy-Louisville were two games that demanded great performances from star players. And in both games, Cincinnati won and Kilpatrick shone brighter than his rivals.

I know Kilpatrick is already 24 and his NBA potential is in question, and I know it’s not much fun to watch his team play. But the man is on an absolute tear right now, and if the season ended today, he’d be a no-brainer pick for AAC Player of the Year. Cincinnati plays Louisville, Connecticut, and Memphis in consecutive games starting Saturday, so if you haven’t yet experienced the one-man show that is Sean Kilpatrick, you’ve got three great opportunities coming up.

1. Wisconsin

If I had to pick an Aerosmith lyric to describe Wisconsin’s season and I couldn’t use “I’d rather be OD-ing on the crack of her ass,” I’d definitely go with “You got to lose to know how to win.” After an awful January that saw the Buzzcuts lose at Indiana, at Minnesota by 13, and at home to Northwestern by nine, Wisconsin started February by losing at home to Ohio State despite the Buckeyes doing everything possible to give away the game. Fast-forward a few weeks and Wisconsin has now won four straight and done something over a seven-day span that no Big Ten team has been able to do all season: beat both Michigan State and Michigan. The drastic turnaround, paired with Wisconsin’s dominance over the first two months of the season, makes me wonder if the entire Buzzcut team had the flu in January. Nothing else really makes sense.

Whatever the case, Wisconsin is back to playing how it did early in the season. The team is playing great defense, and Frank Kaminsky is playing out of his mind on offense. Plus, believe it or not, Wisconsin is still in the Big Ten title race. If the Buzzcuts win out, all they need is two losses each from the two Michigan schools. Both of those teams still have to play each other, and Michigan State still has to play Iowa and Ohio State. If the Spartans beat the Wolverines, Michigan gets upset by Purdue or Minnesota, and Michigan State loses to Iowa and Ohio State, the Big Ten title gets split four ways among Michigan State, Michigan, Iowa, and the Buzzcuts. I know the Big Ten bylaws state that no team can lose to Northwestern at home and win the regular-season title in the same season, so I’m sure Jim Delany will pull some strings to make sure the dominoes don’t fall in Wisconsin’s favor. But technically speaking, the Buzzcuts still have a chance to be Big Ten champs. If that ends up happening, I can’t envision a scenario where the rest of the conference doesn’t kidnap Bo Ryan and burn him for witchcraft.

1. Virginia

I’d be lying if I said I’ve followed Virginia basketball closely since Tony Bennett arrived in Charlottesville, but I’ve seen enough to know that Virginia has played a robotic style the last few seasons. It feels like the Hoos are programmed to play slow, methodical, and defense-first basketball, and when that doesn’t work, they just throw their hands up and accept an ass-kicking. That’s why Saturday’s win at Clemson was one of the most impressive games I’ve seen Virginia play.

Don’t misinterpret this. Clemson is on the wrong side of the bubble, and Virginia was far from perfect on Saturday. But the Tigers’ early onslaught convinced me that Virginia would fold. In the first eight minutes of the game, Clemson went 7-for-9 from the field and scored 16 points on the no. 1 scoring defense in America. The Cavaliers have never won a non-overtime ACC game under Tony Bennett when they’ve given up 70 or more points. With Clemson on pace to score in the 80s, I figured the Hoos just didn’t have it defensively on Saturday and that they’d lose by 20. Instead, Virginia used the under-12 media timeout in the first half to snap out of its defensive funk. The Hoos held Clemson to just 42 points over the next 32 minutes. Even better, they shot 48 percent, four Cavaliers finished in double figures, and Evan Nolte pulled off an impressive six trillion. I’m not going to pretend this makes Virginia a national title contender, especially considering how bad UVA looked at Virginia Tech on Tuesday, but it was refreshing to see the Hoos adjust on the fly instead of allowing the wheels to fall off.

As excited as all college basketball fans are to see this Saturday’s rematch between Duke and Syracuse, let’s not forget Virginia also gets a crack at Syracuse a week later. The final score of that contest may end up being 17-14, so maybe “excited” isn’t the right word, but I will definitely be intrigued to see two dominant defensive teams go toe to toe for the ACC crown.

1. Arizona

Here’s what I learned from watching Arizona State beat Arizona in double overtime:

1. Arizona desperately misses Brandon Ashley. And I’m not just saying that because it’s convenient to blame Arizona’s recent struggles on Ashley’s injury. Without him on the floor, Arizona’s offensive spacing is nonexistent and scoring becomes an arduous task for the Cats. Ashley isn’t a knockdown 3-point shooter, but he hits 15-footers consistently enough to force defenders to leave the paint and guard him. A lineup including Aaron Gordon, Zeus “Zeus” Zeuszeuski, and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson allows defenses to clog the lane and let Arizona’s guards jack up shots from deep.

2. I now assume every Arizona jump shot will miss. That’s the worst part about life without Ashley. If Nick Johnson and Gabe York weren’t throwing up brick after brick, Ashley’s absence wouldn’t matter nearly as much. But the poor shooting of Johnson and York allows defenses to pack it in even more, which means Arizona is pretty much just screwed on offense.

3. Arizona still plays great defense. ASU’s Jermaine Marshall had 29 and Jahii Carson went for 17 against Arizona, but the Sun Devils scored just 51 points in regulation, which is the lowest they’ve scored all season. Arizona had problems putting the ball in the basket, but it at least made sure Arizona State had the same problems.

4. Bill Walton is still the best. Walton is like a mellowed-out Dick Vitale, which is another way of saying he’s perfect.

5. Dave Pasch is the perfect partner for Walton. Pasch and Walton disagreed on almost every call the officials made on Friday, and it was great. It always happens, and it’s always great. My favorite moment, though, came when Walton was talking about Joe Caldwell, who played at Arizona State in the early 1960s and apparently had a 49-inch vertical. Walton told a story about how Caldwell would jump up and put marks on walls for people to try to touch. Walton finished the story by saying, “Even Wilt [Chamberlain] could never get that high.” Pasch responded, “I could say something right now, but I’ll let it go.” Sure, he didn’t actually pull the trigger, but the fact that Pasch almost said, “I’m sure you’d have no problem getting higher than Caldwell” put the biggest smile on my face.

6. Somebody named Matt Korcheck exists. Does Sean Miller realize it’s against NCAA rules to pull a guy off the street and add him to your team more than halfway through the season? Because I’m pretty sure that’s what Miller did with Korcheck. I’ve been watching Arizona games all season, yet when Korcheck checked in for Zeus less than four minutes into the ASU game, I actually asked an empty room, “Who the hell is this guy?” Did Jordin Mayes use the machine that turns Steve Urkel into Stefan and come out as Korcheck? Maybe that explains Mayes’s disappearance.

7. Pac-12 refs are still awful. Arizona didn’t deserve to win and I’m not going to suggest the Cats got screwed against ASU. But it blows my mind that there wasn’t a single technical foul called on the Sun Devils when Jahii Carson dunked to seal the game. I wouldn’t want to penalize ASU for its fans storming the court, but in this case, the fans were following the Arizona State bench’s lead. Plus, while all that was going on, Carson was doing more chin-ups on the rim than I did in all my elementary-school Presidential Fitness Tests combined.4 Again, Arizona State deserved the win. But it’s absurd for the refs to decide that when there’s a certain amount of time left on the clock, the rulebook goes out the window.

8. Arizona will shatter the record for most court stormings per loss. In both games the Cats have dropped (they also lost to Cal), the home team’s student section has run onto the court with time still on the clock. And both times, after the kids were cleared off the floor so the Cats could heave a desperation shot, the students ran right back onto the court once the final buzzer sounded. This means Arizona is averaging two court stormings per loss, which has to be an all-time record.

9. Saint Louis

Yes, Saint Louis–VCU was a close game, and yes, VCU’s late 9-0 run to tie the game probably put a scare in Billikens fans, but it had been obvious to me since before halftime that the Billikens would win. Sure, Saint Louis took awful care of the ball throughout most of the game and Jordair Jett — a future inductee to the Khalid El-Amin Hall of Fame for great guards who look completely out of shape — took awhile to get going. But I never lost confidence in the Billikens because all game long, it was harder for VCU to score than it was for Saint Louis.

Before we go any further, we need to remember that the goal of VCU’s “Havoc” defense is to speed up offenses and force turnovers. The Rams don’t mind giving up easy buckets from time to time because that’s a necessary risk to take to force so many turnovers. So while it’s tempting to applaud Saint Louis for shooting 45 percent against one of college basketball’s best defenses, we should also acknowledge that the Billikens committed 17 turnovers, which was exactly what VCU wanted to happen.

What’s impressive about the Billikens, though, is that even when their offense fizzles, they don’t let it affect their defense. They forced VCU to commit 13 turnovers of their own and held the Rams to 38.5 percent shooting (including 2-of-16 from the 3-point line). So many teams — even those with great defenses — let offensive struggles bleed over to the other end of the court, but Saint Louis seems to play even better D when its offense struggles. It’s like all five Billikens players realize after a few missed shots or turnovers that their defensive margin of error is virtually nonexistent, and instead of tensing up from this pressure, they embrace the challenge and lock down their opponents.

That brings me to this question: If you had to root for a school that’s known for its defense, would you want to cheer for a team like Cincinnati or San Diego State, where one player like Sean Kilpatrick or Xavier Thames carries the offense single-handedly? Or would you want to support a team like Saint Louis, where Jett, Dwayne Evans, Rob Loe, and Mike McCall spread the scoring? Ohio State fans who are missing Deshaun Thomas this season are screaming, “The first option!” at the top of their lungs right now. But I’m not sure which is better. All I know is that as Saint Louis keeps winning and as Tom Crean keeps farting on Indiana fans’ pillows, the “Jim Crews to IU” crowd will get louder and louder.

HALFTIME

It’s halftime, which can mean only one thing: It’s time for Dick’s Degrees of Separation, the most mildly amusing Internet game involving college basketball! You know the drill: I give you the endpoint of a Dick Vitale tangent and you pick the path he took to get there. Let’s get down to business.

During Saturday’s Florida-Kentucky game played in Lexington, how did Dick Vitale end up talking about Notre Dame?

A. A graphic is shown to promote an upcoming women’s game between Kentucky and Tennessee. Dickie V. says he thinks Tennessee has a Final Four–caliber team, but his pick to win the women’s national title is Connecticut. He says he thinks UConn will beat Notre Dame in the championship.

B. Dan Shulman reminds viewers that he and Vitale will be in the Durham–Chapel Hill area this week to do Thursday’s North Carolina–Duke game and Saturday’s Duke-Syracuse game. Vitale chimes in to say that he thinks Duke is playing as well as anybody in America. He then reminds viewers that the Blue Devils probably won’t win the ACC, though, because at the beginning of the season they lost at Clemson and Notre Dame.

C. Shulman mentions the inconsistency of Kentucky’s freshmen, and Vitale says he thinks the problem stems from so many opponents wanting to give the Wildcats their best shot. He says there’s something about seeing Kentucky on the front of the jersey that gets opponents excited, which also happens with Duke, the New York Yankees, and Notre Dame’s football team.

1. San Diego State

Whoa! Xavier Thames went 1-for-9 and scored four points, yet the Aztecs beat Utah State by 15?! Man, Winston Shepard must have been lights-out. There’s no way San Diego State wins by that much unless — wait, what? Shepard had only four points?! You’re telling me Viko Noma’aea of Utah State, who has played 52 minutes all season, outscored both Thames and Shepard? And San Diego State still cruised to an easy win against a team that took it to overtime in their previous meeting?!

I don’t know what to make of this. It’s phenomenal news for San Diego State fans that Thames and Shepard can have bad games without the Aztecs tripping over their own feet and accidentally lighting their faces on fire. It’s also phenomenal to see Matt Shrigley score as many points against the Aggies as he scored in his previous seven games combined. But I’ve already established my narrative for San Diego State and it’s way too late to change gears and reevaluate things. So please, Aztecs, get back to relying on great team defense and great Thames offense. Do it for me, so I can look good at this punditry thing. Thanks, guys.

1. Kansas

Last week, I wrote about Kentucky’s struggles to get all its young talent playing together and on the same page. I noted that every game, one or two UK players disappear while another couple guys play out of their minds. I suggested that fans see names like Randle and Harrison on Kentucky’s roster, and they expect the Wildcats to be unstoppable, but the on-court product rarely matches those expectations. I might as well just copy that entire section on Kentucky and use it to describe Kansas. Here’s what I mean:

Andrew Wiggins — Been great lately, but not too long ago he followed up a 29-point, seven-rebound game by going 2-for-12 and fouling out against Texas.

Joel Embiid — Battles foul trouble just about every game.

Perry Ellis — Scored 32 points and grabbed eight boards against TCU on Saturday. Three days later, he went oh-fer at Texas Tech and finished with four points and two rebounds.

Wayne Selden — Scoring totals in the last six games: 21, 4, 17, 2, 15, and 6.

Naadir Tharpe — In the last month, he’s had two double-doubles and a game where he scored 22 points. He’s also had two games where he’s gone scoreless, he was awful at Texas Tech (38 minutes, 1-of-7 shooting, four turnovers, two assists), and he almost put up a 20 trillion at TCU.

We’ve seen glimpses of Kansas at its best at home against Kansas State and against New Mexico in December, but we still haven’t seen Kansas consistently play at its full potential. If you’re a Jayhawks fan, this must be frustrating, since now would be a good time for teams to find their groove and hit the ground running in the NCAA tournament. If you’re a fan of any other team, however, it must be frightening to think that the team with the no. 1 RPI in college basketball should be even better than it already is.

1. Wichita State

I’ve been following the Wichita State arguments almost as closely as I’ve been following the Wichita State basketball team. This is another way of saying I hate myself. There’s no point in arguing over which college basketball teams are actually the best. We have a tournament to sort that out. These midseason debates rank up there with getting hammered, going to Taco Bell at 2 a.m., and singing the “Do what you want with my body” song to five bean burritos before you shovel them down your throat on the list of things we should all be embarrassed that we do.5 Yet it’s impossible to type “Wichi” into Google without seeing suggestions like “Wichita State suxxxx!” or “Is Wichita State the greatest team ever?”

Let’s get this out of the way: People who say Wichita State will be the first 1-seed to lose in the first round are out of their minds. College basketball is more unpredictable than a curling rock coming out of John Shuster’s hand, so I can’t rule anything out. But the Shockers have basically been playing 16-seeds for the past couple months and they’ve taken care of each and every one of them. It’s safe to assume that, should the Shockers run the table and get a 1-seed, they aren’t going to falter in their first game.

That said, many Wichita State fans are too quick to point out that the Shockers made the Final Four a year ago. That doesn’t mean a damn thing this season. Yeah, experience is helpful, and we know that Gregg Marshall, Ron Baker, Cleanthony Early, and Fred VanVleet are good enough to make a deep tournament run. But being a 1-seed and being an 8-seed are completely different animals. Wichita State fans should know this as well as anyone. Remember what happened to the last mid-major that dominated the regular season, got criticized for its weak schedule, and wound up with a 1-seed? Of course you do. It was last year, and it was Gonzaga, and it lost to the Shockers in the second round.

Maybe Wichita State really was one of the four best teams in college basketball last season, but I’m convinced that playing without the pressure of Final Four expectations gave it an advantage that teams like Gonzaga didn’t have. This time around, the Shockers’ role will be reversed. Every team they face will be out for blood and will play as if they have nothing to lose — which is the exact combination that got Wichita State to Atlanta in 2013. Can an undefeated Wichita State still find a way to tap into the underdog attitude that made them so great last March? That’s the question that matters, not whether the Shockers are talented (they are), whether they’ve played anybody this season (they haven’t), or whether they’re better than last season (they are). But that’s the beauty of college basketball: It doesn’t matter what anyone thinks. In a month, we’ll know for sure.

1. Duke

I had planned to focus on Duke’s narrow escape against Maryland on Saturday. I was going to discuss how the Blue Devils — one of the best 3-point shooting teams in America — couldn’t hit anything from behind the arc but dug down to play some uncharacteristically great defense and beat the Terps. I would’ve mentioned that I expected Duke’s shots to start falling in the second half and then for the team to pull away for the win. Only that didn’t happen. The Blue Devils kept throwing up bricks and their defense got worse. Then I would’ve concluded with my concerns about Duke — they’re toast if they play Syracuse and North Carolina the way they did against Maryland. But then Duke used great outside shooting and even better defense to blow out Georgia Tech on Tuesday, and my concerns were dismissed.

So instead I’ll say this: It hurts how much I like this Duke team. After I saw Duke play Kansas in November, I was terrified this might happen, which is why I’ve tried my darnedest to hate them. I tried convincing myself that Quinn Cook has a punchable face. I picked apart Jabari Parker’s game, waiting for some annoying tic to emerge. Well, here’s the unfortunate truth: Parker has a great attitude and is incredibly fun to watch, Rodney Hood is impossible to hate because he doesn’t say or do anything other than get buckets, and anyone who knows anything about Andre Dawkins wants nothing more than to see the guy succeed. Plus, the Blue Devils’ identity is “3-point shooters who don’t play defense,” which perfectly describes my entire life as a basketball player.

I know plenty of you are keeping the flames of Duke hatred burning, and I thank you for your service. And if you’re dreaming of a more appropriately loathsome Duke team next year, help is on the way. I’m fairly certain incoming freshman Grayson Allen will take fewer than 20 games to become the most hated player in college basketball.

1. Florida

If you need proof of how much chemistry and experience matter in college basketball, just watch the second half of Saturday’s Florida-Kentucky game. Florida scored on EVERY possession in the final 11 minutes (!!!). The Gators closed the game going 11-for-13 from the free throw line. Kentucky players hung their heads after missed shots and turnovers, while Florida never panicked and just played its game. Neither team was perfect, and I would’ve loved to see what might have unfolded if Michael Frazier had been hitting 3s and Julius Randle had showed up in the second half. But I thought Florida and Kentucky both played pretty well and, as clichéd as it may be when discussing these two teams, experience is what made the difference in the end.

Over the past few weeks, Florida has gone from the most underrated team in college basketball to everyone’s pick to win the national title — and with good reason. I know “SEC basketball” is something of an oxymoron right now, but it remains a major conference with historically great programs, and Florida is shredding the competition this season. The Gators are 12-0 and have won SEC games by an average margin of 13.4 points, which is insane when you consider that Wichita State is winning its league games by an average margin of 13.9.6 And best of all, Florida’s success is coming without any players who are certain to be on NBA rosters five years from now. Last week, I wrote that some people declaring the Gators the best team in America when Syracuse is still undefeated makes less sense than Florida’s student section believing they have a shot at getting Justin Timberlake to sing the national anthem. But the more I watch Florida play, the more I want to retract that statement and call it the best team in the country. The Gators are on a roll and they show no signs of slowing down.

1. Syracuse

Rest assured, I’ll be discussing how Tyler Ennis put on his Beats headphones against Pitt and gave college basketball fans permission to go ahead and tell everybody that he’s the man, he’s the man, he’s the man. But first I need to acknowledge how great my experience was at the game and at Pitt. I’ve lived a three-hour drive from Pittsburgh for more than seven years, yet up until a few weeks ago, it never crossed my mind to go check out a game at the Pete. I just always thought of Pitt as a good-but-not-great basketball program in a football/hockey town. I figured the atmosphere at Panthers games would be similar to Ohio State games.7

Um, no. The place was nuts from start to finish. It was the epitome of everything that makes college basketball great. And I know the circumstances of the game — Syracuse being undefeated, Pitt playing to avenge a close loss earlier this season, the Panthers needing a big win to ensure an NCAA tournament bid — helped crank the atmosphere up to the max. But I’ve seen a lot of college basketball atmospheres at their absolute best, and Kansas and Indiana are the only two places I’d say are better than Pitt.8 If you’re a college basketball fan who lives relatively close to Pittsburgh, do yourself a favor and find a way to get to the Pete.

As for the game — I’m so upset with myself. I was reminded early into the night why I rarely attend games in person. My phone was trying so hard to find reception that its battery was sucked dry. At the under-four timeout in the second half, I noticed something I was going to tweet, but decided not to when I pulled out my phone and saw it had 5 percent battery left. Here’s the tweet I would’ve sent:

Cuse looks way too calm, like they don’t realize they’re down four and have been outplayed all night. Like they’re certain Ennis is about to bail them out with a 35-footer.

OK, so I made up that second part. But having sat by the Syracuse bench, I was floored by how composed the Orange were in that timeout. It made me think: This is why they win so many close games. I’m not going to pretend that I thought they’d actually pull this one out, but I definitely noticed that Syracuse’s demeanor served as a reminder to Orange fans that they’d been in a similar spot before. If any other team would’ve looked this way, I might have interpreted it as a lack of passion or the team’s way of dealing with nerves. But with Syracuse, it felt like the entire team was about to wink at me and say, “Watch this.”

You know what happened next. And to be clear, it wasn’t just Ennis’s shot. C.J. Fair, who hasn’t been a very good shooter this season despite doing virtually everything else well, came off a screen and hit an off-balance 3 in the corner like he was Ray Allen. Then he followed that with a tough pull-up with a hand in his face, before letting Ennis do the rest. In what should come as no surprise, three days later against North Carolina State, those same two guys overcame bad individual games by connecting for the game-winning layup with seven seconds left in a one-point win. Fans of teams that have fallen victim to Syracuse’s late-game heroics will say things like, “Syracuse is overrated,” or, “The Orange are lucky,” or, “Dammit, Jamie Dixon,”9 or “I need a drink.” But at what point does this stop being luck and start being skill? I’d argue we’re well past that point.

@approxinfinity The Turnover bug.

Headed into the last 5 games of the conference season, our guys seemed to have shed the turnover bug. Since the Baylor game one month ago, they haven't turned the ball over more than 11-12 times. According to Kenpom, the DI average for TO's per 100 possessions is 18.5. We are now at 19.3. Earlier this season we were at least 2 points higher than the DI ave. So we are trending down, which is a good sign going into March and the madness that follows. Wiggins seems to be handling the ball better, which is good. So is Mr Selden. We need those two to be tight with the ball and not give it away in the tournaments. Embiid is also shown improvement in the TO area. He is passing better out of double teams and he can put the ball on the deck better to dribble out of them or beat his man to the rim with a slick move. He looked pretty well healed up that last game. Im certain he is still getting treated for his injuries. Whatever he did to tweak his back, that's not something that will just go away in a day or two. But, he looked good out there. Him and Wiggins were our best players at TT. For a good run in March, we need them to be consistently strong like that.
The big question remains though, will this team be able to keep a team like Florida or Syracuse or SDSU on the ropes long enough with their powerful offense to beat them in the ncaa's? Defense. This teams defensive rating per Kenpom is higher than any Bill Self coached team. Even though they kept TT from scoring more than 63 points, it was a 53 possession game! Something like 1.17 PPP. We out scored them, we didn't beat them defensively. That is worrisome headed into March. I like our guys' chances to make a Final Four run but they will have to lock teams down AND out score them. Not one or the other.

@approxinfinity Daily thread post for 2/20

The Turnover bug.

Headed into the last 5 games of the conference season, our guys seemed to have shed the turnover bug. Since the Baylor game one month ago, they haven't turned the ball over more than 11-12 times. According to Kenpom, the DI average for TO's per 100 possessions is 18.5. We are now at 19.3. Earlier this season we were at least 2 points higher than the DI ave. So we are trending down, which is a good sign going into March and the madness that follows. Wiggins seems to be handling the ball better, which is good. So is Mr Selden. We need those two to be tight with the ball and not give it away in the tournaments. Embiid is also shown improvement in the TO area. He is passing better out of double teams and he can put the ball on the deck better to dribble out of them or beat his man to the rim with a slick move. He looked pretty well healed up that last game. Im certain he is still getting treated for his injuries. Whatever he did to tweak his back, that's not something that will just go away in a day or two. But, he looked good out there. Him and Wiggins were our best players at TT. For a good run in March, we need them to be consistently strong like that.
The big question remains though, will this team be able to keep a team like Florida or Syracuse or SDSU on the ropes long enough with their powerful offense to beat them in the ncaa's? Defense. This teams defensive rating per Kenpom is higher than any Bill Self coached team. Even though they kept TT from scoring more than 63 points, it was a 53 possession game! Something like 1.17 PPP. We out scored them, we didn't beat them defensively. That is worrisome headed into March. I like our guys' chances to make a Final Four run but they will have to lock teams down AND out score them. Not one or the other.

ps. Approx, can you move this to the current dates thread when you see this. please?

@jaybate 1.0 and @ everyone else. KU has very nearly always had problems in February with losing close games or not playing to the best of their abilities. Look at the 08 season when they lost 3 of 7 and last season when they lost 3 in a row. Im certain there are other seasons where February has been particularly harsh on these guys. They will be fine by March, I just hope they don't lose too many more games because of seeding for selection sunday.

@jaybate 1.0 Thanks Jaybate for playing devils advocate ;) Your so good at it.

@MoonwalkMafia Interesting thoughts/suspicions. That said, KU is worth more in basketball capitol than any number T.Boone can throw at Coach Self. KU has the legacy, the history necessary to call itself The Premier program in College ball. KU IS College ball. Coach Self knows this and to be sure, Im betting the top brass at KU do as well. They would pony up more cash to keep him around if they had to. It wouldn't take much.

@drgnslayr Drgn, are you sure its 7foot 6? That's gigantic for a PG.

@jaybate 1.0 What I do know is this; That was one ugly ugly game that Embiid and Wigs saved us on. Both of them together had 37 and 12 which was more than half of KU's production, or lack there of. But we won a freekin grind out muddy ugly game, something we couldn't do early in the season. Coach probly doesn't even need to get his guys geeked up for Texas on Saturday. They owe them a bigtime punch in the nose for the last game. If we tie up with Texas on Saturday then we will most likely have wrapped up at least a share of the conference title for the 10th straight season! Unprecedented in this era of CMB.

@approxinfinity
ESPN.GO article
LUBBOCK, Texas -- Kansas coach Bill Self felt more than a little fortunate that his No. 8 Jayhawks pulled out a 64-63 win against a very tough Texas Tech team.

Andrew Wiggins' layup with 2 seconds left lifted Kansas to victory Tuesday night.

"I think sometimes you could say they were a little lucky," he said of the Red Raiders. "They threw some in at the end of the shot clock that maybe weren't the highest percentage shots, and we were a little lucky that the ball just happened to bounce to Wigs there at the end. That's part of it.

Freshmen Carry Jayhawks

Kansas squeaked by Texas Tech in Lubbock thanks to stellar play by freshman stars Andrew Wiggins and Joel Embiid. They were the only Jayhawks to score in double figures, grabbing half of the team's rebounds and blocking the only shots of the game for Kansas.

Kansas Production in win vs. Texas Tech

Wiggins/Embiid - Rest of KU

Points 37/ 27

FG pct 66.6% 29.2%

Reb. 14 14

Blocks 3 0

Source: ESPN Stats & Information

"We've been unlucky and we've been lucky before, and they usually balance out over time."

The freshman finished with 19 points, and Joel Embiid matched his career high with 18 in his return from injury to lead the Jayhawks (20-6, 11-2). Kansas reached 20 wins for the 25th consecutive season and 11 conference victories for the 20th straight year.

Texas Tech's Robert Turner sank two free throws with 16 seconds left to put the Red Raiders up 63-62, but Kansas brought the ball up and got it inside to Wiggins for the win.

Jordan Tolbert scored 16 points and Dejan Kravic added 13 to lead Texas Tech (13-13, 5-8).

The Jayhawks own a two-game lead in the Big 12 after Texas fell 85-76 at Iowa State on Tuesday night.

"It's big, it's big, but it doesn't mean anything unless we win Saturday," Self said of Kansas' home game against the Longhorns. "That's the game that would give us some serious breathing room, although we've got a little bit now, and it was big tonight.

"I wasn't banking on them losing, all I wanted to do was win two games this week, and if we were able to do that, then it would be a great week."

The score was tied nine times and the lead changed 13 times.

"I was impressed with Tubby (Smith's) team and how hard they played and how well they defended, how well they rebounded," Self said. "They're going to get better. The guy knows how to win. He's a proven winner. Those kids played hard."

Joel Embiid

Michael C. Johnson/USA TODAY Sports

Joel Embiid matched his career high with 18 points in his return from injury.

Kansas held an early 10-point lead but Texas Tech started hammering the ball inside to make the game tight.

"There wasn't much to say," Smith said of his team. "They're down, they're despondent because it's a tough loss. They felt like they played well enough to get the win, but you always have to finish the game the right way."

Tolbert made a bucket as the shot clock expired with 2:51 left to put the Red Raiders up 59-55. But Wayne Seldon Jr. hit a clutch 3-pointer to pull within 59-58. Turner answered with a basket, and Embiid sank two free throws to make it 61-60 with 1:22 remaining.

On the Red Raiders' next possession, a scrum led to Kansas getting the ball. Embiid dunked it to put the Jayhawks up 62-61.

Turner then made his free throws, and Kansas called a timeout to draw up the play to Wiggins.

Kansas scored 22 points from the free throw line, and Texas Tech netted only nine.

Texas Tech came out after halftime and hit four of its first five shots. Kansas made only one basket in four attempts, allowing the Red Raiders to take their first lead since early in the game, 37-32.

Tolbert capped Texas Tech's 8-2 run.

But the Red Raiders' effective defense also created foul trouble. With more than 13 minutes remaining, Jaye Crockett, Kravic and Kader Tapsoba each had three fouls.

Texas Tech sent the Jayhawks to the line often in the second half. Five free throws -- by Jamari Traylor and Wiggins -- on three possessions pulled Kansas within 46-45 with about 11 minutes remaining. But the Jayhawks regained the lead for the first time in 11 minutes, 52-51, on a pair of free throws by Naadir Tharpe with 7:14 remaining.

But with Kravic back in, and after a turnover by Tharpe, the 7-foot senior tied the game at 53 on a layup with 5:34 left.

@jaybate 1.0 Gary King and the Enablers

@Crimsonorblue22 Cant use the press all the time, we'll get eaten alive but yah in theory we use it to get our defensive intensity up, then when it gets beat or we feel like it, we switch back to M2M, lock them down.

@HighEliteMajor I hope we get some much needed revenge against Texas @ AFH

@ralster How about the TeleTubbies? LOL

@wissoxfan83 You know what, I was disappointed in '12 when we lost to UK in the title game. But I was extremely proud of our boys in blue for being the toughest team in the country. In my head we got the moral victory. It was also funny to hear about KU fans in Lawrence pulling down the Kentucky street signs.

@approxinfinity here's a link to a story I found on the KU movie from MSN. Hope it works, Im still trying to figure out how to imbed links in my posts :

Link to movie ↗

Dammit, I don't know how to make the link clickable. Sorry guys, its a good story though, check it out!

@drgnslayr YES! When Brannen did that I was thinking DejaVu with Sherron in the title game! That was awesome to see again. Way to go Brannen! Keep it up!

@jaybate 1.0 Nice! I love WWII history, that was a cool lil lesson there. I also like how you equated that particular situation to what KU is facing right now. You forgot one thing though. Traylor. He had to sit one game for being a stupid college boy but if there is anyone on this team that I would trust to fight through the hedge row, its him. PS. Oh, my bad, didn't read the remarks below. ;) But still, there could be a link here. Tractor Traylor?

@approxinfinity Man, ever since I saw JoJo hyperextend his knee, I thought to myself, dang it he is hurt, he needs to rest. Then he torqued his back. Im glad that Coach is realizing the gravity of this situation and not trying to sugar coat it by saying "He is a little nicked up." But, this could have come sooner. Get better soon big guy.