(Nick Krug - KU Sports)

A big win. A resume-benefitting win. A statement win, even. It wasn't an incredible upset, or an incredibly well-played game against top competition, or even a game that caused anyone to stop what they were doing and pay attention. But it was incredibly important for this team, as it did a couple of things. First, and most importantly, it gives this young team confidence. Confidence that will make them a much better team. Sure, it's fine-and-dandy to pick up some confidence against inferior competition in blowout victories, but there are few things that can help a young team more than a solid, game against a ranked foe. I mean, we were clearly the superior team today, terrible calls or not, and the only defecit we faced the entire game (IIRC, at least) was 3-2. That's it. From start to finish, this young batch of 'Hawks outplayed the SEC favorite and current #14/#18 team in the country. And secondly, it basically ends all worries about being left out of the NCAA Tournament. This was a solid win, and a win that should look better after conference play given the immense weakness of the SEC. As long as we don't completely shit the bed from here on out, we should be dancing. All we really needed was one solid non-con win, to win all of the freebies in conference play and maybe steal a road game or two, or maybe beat Texas at home or something crazy like that. And we got our big non-con win today, against a ranked opponent in the Vols.

Mainly because of Sherron Collins. He played better than I've ever seen him play before, especially in the first half, and was the emotional leader we've all been wanting to see all year. When Bill Self called him the leader of this team all offseason long, I'm pretty sure today was the performance he was looking for. The chest-pumping. The calm attitude. The ball movement, the assists, the kick-outs. The drives, the ridiculous hang-times, the threes. All of it was there today.

But it wasn't only Sherron. Cole Aldrich played magnificently as well, delivering the low-post presence that is necessary to beat guard-oriented teams like Tennessee. Whoever they put on him, he was the better player, and his authoritative slams were the biggest crowd boosters of all.

Speaking of the crowd, oh my goodness. Easily the best crowd of the season, and probably one of the better non-conference crowds in recent memory. It wasn't New Year's Day Georgia Tech territory, but it probably was the best since. Maybe Arizona last year was better, but I don't think so.

Plenty more on the game tomorrow, along with some final thoughts on the Insight Bowl. Starting Monday, we move into basketball season full-time, while we will also begin our offseason football content.

But for now, soak in the biggest Kansas basketball win all season long.

Honestly, I'm not so sure we win this game. The Vols are extremely dangerous, and if we don't take extra steps to make sure they don't grab every rebound in sight, it could be a long day on the boards.

I will say, though, that we do, somehow, win today. I'll say it's because Cole Aldrich schools Brian Williams and one of the Morris twins (I'll take Marcus, simply because of personal preference) shows up in a big way. I'm talking 17 and 10 big. And, hell, maybe, if Mario Little plays as has been speculated, that will give us the spark we need.

Kansas 78 Tennessee 69

We will get to the Insight Bowl and all of its greatness later (and if you are simply craving for some coverage, check out Denver's two great posts on the subject), but for now I want to focus on the basketball team. We are in a new age of Kansas athletics, where the basketball team takes a backseat to the football team in December and even early January.

Still, while is not on the front-burner of all Kansas fans' minds, it is still being cooked. So, we might as well continue to talk about it. Especially now that the football season has officially come to a close. And there is no better way to get back into a basketball mood than through a great non-conference matchup. 

Tomorrow's game against Tennessee should be a fine test for this young Jayhawks team. Of course, this game is about plenty more than simply a test; it's about getting a decent victory to add to the resume before conference play begins, easing the pains of those doubters who think there is a legitimate chance we miss out on the NCAA's. It's about continuing the home-court winning streak, a streak that needs to continue forever-and-ever, until we are far-and-away the best in the country. It's about, most of all, the continued development of our young players. Tennessee is a tremendously unique team, with their run-and-gun-and-fire-away offense/defense combination that gives so many teams fits. When they are going right, they are a really good team. Problem is, with the loss of (arguably) their three best players from last year, they aren't going right too often.

Still, they do have some really fine players, some of them better than others. And while they aren't nearly the team they were last year, when they were the sole victor over Memphis before the National Championship Game, they are still more than capable of beating us tomorrow in Allen Field House, of winning the (incredibly weak, of course) SEC and maybe even of making some noise in the NCAA's.

I mean, this is a team that beat Georgetown on a neutral floor; the same Hoya team that defeated Connecticut, in Storrs, Monday night. And they beat Marquette, who isn't spectacular, but is a better team than us, on a neutral floor (albeit in Nashville). So, yeah, this certainly won't be a cakewalk.

The answer as to why after the break...

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Here it is.

What we've all been waiting for.

It should be a decent game, against a mostly quality opponent, in a game that most college football fans couldn't care less about. Plus, with its banishment to the always-awesome-but-exclusive NFL Network, it shouldn't draw too many eyeball.

But as long as we win, it doesn't matter much. That's the key, here. Win. I want to start some long-ass bowl winning streak. It stands at 2 currently, obviously, but I want to go up, up, up. And while the most important aspect of getting into bowl games is to get those extra practices, it is fun to win them as well. So hell, why not win?

I bet we do win, in fact, although they keep us on our toes for the first 3 quarters-or-so. I bet Eric Decker burns us at least once, and their newly-developed power running game might give us some fits. But our offense is too explosive to be contained for too long, and I bet Dezmon Briscoe explodes.

Kansas 38 Minnesota 20.

I will be at the game, but if any of y'all want to chat the game up, make sure and drop in here.

Ever since Bill Self took over as the Head Coach here at KU, he has always made sure of one thing; there would be plenty of bigs to come off the bench. Being such a large proponent of defense as he is, he is essentially forced to have a large bounty of tall, atletic solid defenders to call on. It is what let us have so much success last year, particularly in the NCAA Tournament; we had more bigs than everyone else, so they were fresher, and could play at a higher intensity level when they are in.

Self's first recruiting class consisted of three bigs in Sasha Kaun, Darnell Jackson and C.J. Giles. None of them were pressed into any more early action than they proved they deserved on the court, as there was All-American Wayne Simien and experienced, veteran-y Chistian Moody in front of them. All of the freshmen were afforded the opportunity to sit and learn, going up against the more-established players each day in practice, garnering play time at the levels that most benefitted their development. C.J. got the majority of the playing time early, because he proved he was the most ready for big-time college basketball. Sasha and Darnell, on the other hand, were allowed to develop at their own pace and work their way up to seeing significant minutes in sigificant games.

Self's next batch of recruits was more perimeter-oriented, with Julian Wright being the only 4 or 5 of the bunch. Julian, of course, is different than your average 4, and is such a unique player that there was little he could learn. So, he received more playing time as a freshmen. But when Darrell Arthur came in, same thing. Now, it was two players who had previously spent time on the bench soaking up knowledge (Julian Wright and Sasha Kaun) who deserved the starting role, letting DA learn from the bench. Darrell learned plenty, and then when Julian bolted early for the riches of the League, he took over the starting role. This allowed last year's prized recruit, 6'11" Cole Aldrich, to learn in a low-pressure environment; practice and garbage time. Cole wasn't pressed onto the floor in high-pressure situations until, ironically enough, the Final Four, quite possibly the highest form of pressure that exists in all of college basketball. Of course, by then, it was the end of the year, and he had learned so much in practice, he handled it wonderfully (outhustling America's Sweetheart and "hardest working player in America" Tyler Hansborough, I might add).

The cycle was set. It was to run like clockwork; the incoming freshmen were allowed to simply sit on the bench and learn through practice and garbage minutes, while more experienced bigs, who had already gone through the initiation to big-time college basketball, took the lion's share of the playing time.

But it didn't work out so well this year. Julian, who by eligibility standards should be a senior right now, and Darell, who should be a junior, were slated to be the starters, while Cole, as a sophomore, would be in line to receive an increase in minutes. And hey, no one probably expected Julian to last until this year. But, Darrell is supposed to still be around, allowing the young crop of freshmen a year to learn, process and get better.

 Instead, the Morris twins are being pressed into action. With only Cole as an experienced vet to look up to, both Markieff and Marcus must play an inordinate amount of minutes for Bill Self freshmen. I mean, Marcus is averaging 20.1 minutes a game (6th on the team) and Markieff is averaging 18.3 per game (7th on the team). Compare that to the bounty of freshmen I just named in their first year at Kansas:

• Sasha Kaun -- 10.0 minutes/game -- t8th on team
• C.J. Giles -- 8.3 minutes/game -- t10th on team
• Darnell Jackson -- 7.0 minutes/game -- 12th on team
• Darrell Arthur -- 19.0 minutes/game -- 5th on team
• Cole Aldrich -- 8.3 minutes/game -- 9th on team

Now, beyond Julian, Darrell appears to be another outlier, but even then he technically came off the bench. And even then, Marcus is averaging more minutes a game than he did. In fact, even Julian's MPG average his freshman year (20.1) is identical to Marcus' average.

So, here's my point. These kids are being depended on more than any other freshman big in Bill Self's career at Kansas. They are expected to be two of the three cogs on the interior, and while they continue to show flashes, they simply are not there in the developmental process to excel. So, sure, if you expected them to step in and play like Darrell Arthur his freshman year, then I suppose their play thus far has been disappointing. Yeah. But, when saying that they aren't living up to expectations, consider the depth Darrell had in front of him. Julian. Sasha. Darnell. Darrell was merely supposed to be an incredibly athletic, fadeaway-shooting role player. The Morris twins, on the other hand, are essentially serving as crutches, holding this team up just barely. Without Markieff and Marcus, our team is mind-numbingly worse. We are giving Quintrell Thomas starts, and Conner Teahan is playing 10 minutes a night at 4. Hell, Matt Kleinmann is seeing regular playing time. The two Morris twins are life-savers, keeping the season afloat. If they were afforded the opportunity to sit back and learn like just about every other big in Bill Self's coaching career has had, we would all be thrilled with the progress they've made. I'm sure of it. But, instead, they are having to rotate a starting slot between the two, with whoever isn't starting almost always the first body off the bench.

And, when two young kids are put in a situation like that, the most you can hope for is improvement. You can't possibly expect results from Day One, you can only hope that they get better every day, so by Day Hundred there is some noticeable progress and they are approaching the stage where they can consistently show up and give you 14 and 8, or whatever you want. Both players have plenty of deficiencies, sure. Markieff can't make a free throw, picks up almost as many stupid fouls as Darrell Arthur and isn't the best boxer-outer in the world. Marcus isn't too hot from the stripe either, isn't a big fan of boxing out and gets overmatched by more physical opposition, almost always by taller people. Hey, what a surprise. Some freshmen have weaknesses. And there's more, too. Neither one of them have a great mid-range jumper and they both make their fair share of stupid passes.

But they are quite the talented duo, as well. They both hustle up-and-down the floor without fail, they both have the knack for the nifty pass (kind of Julian Wright-like, although neither are as good as the master of the highlight reel pass; of course, Wright committed a bazillion turnovers too, so maybe that's a good thing), they both have developed some nice low post moves (especially Marcus) and they both are athletic enough to cover most opposing bigs. They are both, in a word, developing. And hell, isn't that what you should expect from two freshmen in a rebuilding year.

Basically, I just don't get all the negativity around Markieff and Marcus Morris. They both are playing fine, in my opinion, and we have much bigger problems outside of them. Sure, our low-post game isn't all that hot, but it's hard to blame two freshmen who are visibly improving each time out there. If you want to play the blame game, blame Bill; he was the one who effectively shaped this roster. And yeah, everyone obviously realizes we need some help down low; that's why Withey is transferring over. But the Morris twins are fine basketball players, and they are improving.

That is a lot of words for such a simple point, but hey, whatever. I have a slight bias on this issue, as Marcus Morris is probably my favorite player on the team (no rational reason, I just started liking him for some reason) and I love Markieff as well. I think they are both going to be quite good when all is said-and-done, a day that might be coming earlier than most are expecting.

Just because they play a bigger role in our team doesn't mean more should be expected from them. It isn't like they get a bigger role because they outplayed established, proven players who had been at school for a couple of years. They beat out a career walk-on in Matt Kleinmann and, well, I suppose a fellow freshman in Quintrell Thomas. Conner Teahan too, if you ever considered him a legitimate player at the 4. And if you did, I don't know what to say.

Plenty more tomorrow, mostly football content though...

Going in, all rational Kansas fans were in general agreement that no one knew what was going to happen. None of the fans, none of the players, none of the coaches, none of the Bill Selfs. No one. We all, collectively, took a wait-and-see approach, eagerly anticipating just how the batch of young players would react to playing in a hostile environment against an incredibly talented team.

For the first 20 minutes, they performed pretty well. They didn't play perfect, but no one really expected them to. And while there were some freshmen mistakes, to be sure, during the first half, they were almost always followed by positive plays. Hustling down the floor for a freebie, or a defensive board, or knocking down a mid-range jumper, or even altering a shot. It was the give-and-take you would expect from a young-but-talented team, if there were any expectations to have at all. If you were to assign a + for each positive play and a - for each negative one, the first half would end up with a positive number. Not a terribly positive number, of course, as it was only a three-point lead. But still, there were more positives than negatives in the first half. And considering this was a batch of young'uns playing in their first game away from hoards of Kansas fans cheering their every move, I was impressed. Not terribly blown away, but overall impressed.

And then, to open the second half, we started out hot. It was awesome to see our freshmen-laden come out and punch Arizona in the mouth. A three-point halftime lead quickly became a 9-point advantage, and the pull-away was just beginning. Or so I thought.

But then Arizona knocked down some shots, we made some stupid freshmen mistakes, they started to get on a mini-run. And once that run began, there was no one who was stopping them. While the Wildcats are talented, sure, I'm pretty sure that their run of near-domination had more to do with our collective look of 'Deer in Headlights' than anything Zona did. Not to say they weren't impressive; Jordan Hill ate Cole Aldrich for lunch and Jamel Horne outhustled us on about eighteen hundred plays.

It wasn't all negative, though. LIke I said, the first half was generally positive, and even in the second half, there were some highlights that a young team can build off of.

Other, less-general thoughts on the game are after the jump...

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As I said, who the hell knows how this will all turn out. Should be fun, though, and definitely a good test to see where we're at.

The key will be Brady on Budinger, IMO. If Brady can keep Budinger from completely going insane, our superior talent just about everywhere else (Hill is good, yes, but Aldrich is better and I'll take Collins + Taylor against t heir backcourt duo any day of the week and twice on Tuesday nights) should allow us to win. So, Brady, I'm looking at you. Make us all proud.

My prediction? I'll say that Brady does a pretty good job on Chase, and one of the Morris twins (my bias will take Marcus, but I wouldn't be surprised to see it be Markieff at all) blows up. Kansas 78 Arizona 67

But again, that is purely a guess. There are far too many teams to identify which one is going to show up for both teams, making predictions pretty much impossible.

I should be here for game time, by the way, if you want to stop by and chat during the game. I'll be flipping back-and-forth between the KU-AZ game and the end of the sure-to-be-epic San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl between Boise State and TCU, but should still be plenty active.

ROCK CHALK!

Tonight's game against the Arizona Wildcats, being the first road test and all, reminds me a lot of the 2005 contest against Kentucky at Rupp Arena, as that was that year's first road game. That team, just like this one, was jam-packed with youngsters with some veterans mixed in (Aaron Miles and Keith Langford, namely) to make it competitive.

So, that got me thinking about the two teams' rosters. And, after a couple of obvious pair-ups, I figured there were enough similarities between the two squads to make it interesting. Of course, there are some noticeable differences, like there is no one comparable to Cole Aldrich (not by a long shot) on the 04/05 team, but it ends up doing pretty OK overall.

The comparison isn't perfect, but here's what I was able to come up with comparing that 2004/2005 team as it stood on January 9th (remember, Simien is hurt at the time...) to the current unit. We, of course, were undefeated way-back-when in 2005, beat Kentucky and ended up starting 20-0 before falling to Villanova. This year's unit boasts a much-worse record with even less experience, but it is still pretty valid overall.

Comparisons after the jump...

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“I’m used to having people cheering for me,” KU freshman Tyshawn Taylor said. “Nobody has not cheered for me.”

And that, right there, is what makes tonight so interesting. Just saying Arizona-Kansas makes it sound exciting enough, sure, but that does little in this year, where both programs are rebuilding. Of course, as every announcer likes to say, Kansas is more reloading than rebuilding, whlie the Wildcats, post-Lute Olsen version, are actually rebuilding for the first time in over 20 years. These two teams have made the most consecutive NCAA Tournaments (Arizona has like 21; Kansas has 18 straight appearances, since the '89 Probation), but this year looks to provide the most nerve-rattling Selection Sunday since the respective Streaks started.

So, as opposed to merely being a non-conference Clash of the Titans garnering multitudes of name drops from ESPN and laying host to a plethora of NBA scouts, it is a potential step to benefit the Continue-the-Streak cause. That isn't to say the two sides don't have talent; they both clearly do. But Arizona's Existing Threesome of Chase Budinger, Nic Wise and Jordan Hill, while passable, isn't nearly as exciting as what might have been. Even with all of the Kevin O'Neil/Lute Olsen drama, Arizona could have been a legitimate National Title contender if Jerryd Bayless came back for his sophomore campaign and Brandon Jennings scored high enough on his ACTs. Alas, it wasn't to be, and the Wildcat faithful are left with Budinger, Wise and HIll. All very good players, sure, but not quite the star-studded Threesome that could have been.

Syracuse is a better team, of course, with a better interior (Odunkwe > Hill), a better star (Jonny Flynn > Budinger) and much better depth behind the two leaders (Harris + Devendorf [doucheyness isn't included in this basketball-only comparison, luckily enough for Devendorf] + Rautins >> Wise + Horne + Whoever Else), but that game was in a Kansas fan-filled Sprint Center. This one will be on the road, in at least a semi-loud environment; it is a Pac 10 gym, after all.

So, it should be really interesting as to how we handle all of the pressure of playing on the road. We obviously know how Sherron will react, but we even  aren't exactly sure how Cole will deal with being a key member of a team playing away from AFH/Sprint Center. Tonight's all about learning. It's about learning how to play on the road, about learning who on our team can tune out the chants-and-yells and who can't. It's another opporunity for growth for our freshmen, and another game for Tyrel Reed to find his stroke from the outside.

In summary, I'm here to tell you I have absolutely no idea what's going down tonight. Your guess is just as good as mine. Although I will say that the outcome is probably more determined by the Wildcat's bi-polar disorder than by how we perform on the road. If the Arizona team that beat Gonzaga shows up, we'll probably fall short assuming there is no Career Game from a Jayhawk. However, if the same Arizona team that got plastered on Saturday by UNLV shows up, then, well, we could win by 15.

I do know, though, that it should be fun. I'm excited to see how we react, and how we can defend Budinger. I would imagine that Brady draws the assignment again, so we'll all see just how good that turns out.

I know I've missed the past five-or-so basketball games, but the idea is still to recap all of this year's basketball games. And so, here are my assorted thoughts on Saturday's semi-comfortable victory over the Temple Owls. None are terribly insightful, necessarily, but it brings up some interesting discussion topics that we will dicuss plenty more after tomorrow night's game. After said matchup with the Arizona Wildcats, we will be focusing plenty of our attention, when it isn't on holiday dinners and gift-wrapping, on the upcoming bowl matchup with the Minnesota Golden Gophers. However, we will also be discussing plenty of the storylines of the early basketball season, including giving recap-type-features of the key contributors and predictions for the rest of the season.

• That was a much, much better performance by Sherron Collins. Even when the game was seriously in question, when they made their mini-run in the first half to tie the game, he continued to run the offense and not simply throw up a contested eighteen-footer off his back foot with :30 left on the shot clock. He only did it once (which was an airball, IIRC), but other than that did a tremendous job of giving the ball to his teammates. There is a big difference between taking the game over and simply taking a lot of shots trying to 'take the game over', and he learned the difference after the UMASS game, it would appear. If he plays like he did on Saturday, we could be going places in March. I just wish he would have kept his haircut...
• That is the Tyshawn Taylor that I am expecting to show up every game. He was virtually non-existent against the Minutemen, but he played a big role against the Owls. He is dynomite at getting into the lane, and while he is still struggling with the entry pass, it is getting better.
  
• OK, be honest. Who saw this out of Brady Morningstar? All along, I've acknowledged that, for us to be a contender in March, one of the the White Boys, as I call them, would have to improve big time. Conner Teahan and Tyrel Reed would have to improve on defense or Brady Morningstar would have to come out of the woodworks and be competent on the offensive end. Originally, I expected Tyrel to be the starter, but I suppose I forgot Self's fetish for defense, so it did make sense that Morningstar got the early starts. Still, I was simply waiting for Tyrel or Travis Releford to breakout, sending Brady back to the bench for good. And yet, here we are, on December 23rd, and Brady is firmly entrenched in the Starting 5. He ain't leaving, folks. Only a healthy Mario LIttle could possibly replace him, IMO, and even then, I wouldn't be surprised to see Bill leave the kid out there, at least until Little proves he can play defense. Seriously, though. Brady played perfect D on Christmas the entire gam and knocked down the open shots, namely the huge, momentum-garnering three he nailed at the end of the first half.
• On another note, I sure do love me some Morris twins. I personally prefer Marcus to Markieff, but they took their turns yesterday, with Marcus dominating the first half and Kieff taking charge of the second. Marucs' minutes were particularly important, given the immsne foul trouble of our bigs that we'll get into in a second. He had to play the last 10-12 minutes of the first half without rest, and still hustled up and down the court and picked up some fast break buckets. And while Markieff got in far too much foul trouble for my liking (4 fouls in only 16 minutes), he did receive the start and played very well in the second half. Both players are getting much, much better, which is definintely nice to see.
• And lastly, I just want to say good job to Matt Kleinmann for his first half performance. He played well in his four minutes of important action, but I'd rather not see him out on the floor in any capacity other than simply finishing out a blowout. Cole Aldrch, especially, needs to stay out of foul trouble, but Quintrell Thomas is the one who needs to improve on something. I mean, two fouls on illegal screens? How long have we been setting screens, second grade? Bill was obviously pissed off at him, too, as seen by his complete lack of playing time in the second. And how do we get this far along in this recap-type-thing without even mentioning another double-double by Big Cole. The kid puts up so many, it's hardly newsworthy anymore.

On a similar note, anyone know the Kansas record for most double-doubles in a season? I would have to imagine it would be Wilt Chamberlain who holds it, but I bet that Cole has a good chance to break the post-1960 record.

Plenty on the AZ-KU matchup coming later tonight (maybe) and tomorrow...