And suddenly, the entire complexion of the season has changed.  Heading into Saturday, it was generally believed that KU was a full tier below Mizzou in quality, and that they wouldn't stand a chance against Oklahoma or Texas Tech. Skeptics saw the one good performance by Jake Sharp as a fluke, and still were assuming that KU couldn't run the football.

What a difference 24 hours makes.

Today, KU is in sole possesion of first place in the Big 12 North.  Mizzou faced a quality opponent for really the first time all season (I know I'm not the only Jayhawker out there that's glad we don't have to face OSU), and couldn't put up the kind of fight at home that KU showed against South Florida down in Tampa. KU now has blueprints to follow in how to beat both the Sooners and the Red Raiders (should Tech even be ranked at this point? They haven't accomplished anything of note to this point). Oklahoma also lost key MLB Ryan Reynolds to a torn ACL.  How important was Reynolds? Texas outscored the Sooners 25-3 after he went down.  And Jake Sharp now has back to back 100 yard rushing games.

Yesterday was an especially great day to be a Jayhawk.  How did yesterday's events change your impression of this season? With a game in hand, are we now the favorites to win the Big 12 North? If you were to do a power rankings of the Big 12, where does KU stack up after yesterday's craziness?

With less than a month before the new football season (Hallelujah!), the previews are out in full force. Of course, most of them are so shallow, they're completely worthless (really? So you're saying KU's schedule should be more difficult this year? How long did it take you to figure THAT out?). 

But Rivals.com has a solid one as part of their preseason Top 25 (they rank the Jayhawks #11, btw-- not too shabby!).  It goes in depth, grading the offense (B), defense (B+), and coaching (B, which is way too low IMO- what other coach could accomplish as much as Mangenius has with the available talent level?).

 Here's the link.

What are you most confident about heading into the new season? What are your concerns?

In case you haven't already heard, Sean Sutton has resigned as Oklahoma State's basketball coach. You can read about it here:

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=3323779

Of course, this immediately ramps up the "HCBS heading back to his alma mater?" rumor mill.

Here are just a couple of reasons I think these are full of BS:

* His career path. Every stop on Self's trip to Kansas has been higher in stature. To me, stature doesn't just mean reputation- it means a committment to doing whatever it takes to have a powerhouse basketball program. Kansas has one of the highest men's basketball budgets in the nation. They we're willing to spend millions on renovating the Field House to keep us as competitive as possible in recruiting (these renovations are still ongoing). I remember once reading about the Jayhawk-shaped cheese the players snack on while riding their chartered jet.

While T. Boone "ToothPick" Pickens may be able to equal KU's expenditures, it cannot simply buy the tradition and passion that exists at a place like Kansas. There's an amazing video over on Deadspin about the scene on Mass Street on Sunday night. While Okie Staters would surely enjoy another Final Four run, you just wouldn't see a scene like that.

• He's not Roy Williams. Local boy returning home to save the program is a cute story, but HCBS isn't the sentimentalist that Roy was. Sure he's gotten over one hump in becoming a Final Four coach. But I don't think HCBS is satisfied with that at all. Look at how the man recruits: before last season, Self had what looked to be the most talented team in the country coming back. Did he take the summer off, Roy Williams- style? No. Instead, he went and got a likely lottery pick in Darrel Arthur to join the mix. Cold blooded.
• Self's coaching personality. HCBS runs a very basic, at times repetitive offense. For it to be successful, it depends on having superior athletes than the oppponent. Again, recruiting will never be as good to Stillwater as it is to Naismith Drive.
• Off the court reasons. The Selfs have two young children. Putting them through yet another move in what amounts to nothing more than a money grab just doesn't make sense. As zealous as many in Jayhawk Nation are, moving in-conference would inevitably be very hard on his family. The rumor right now is that Pickens would offer something like $5 million a season, more than double his current deal. However, Self is a not-so-simple win over Carolina from being a God in the state of Kansas. He could literally name his price if that happens.

Time for everyone to show off just how much (little?) they know about Big 12 Mens Hoops! Post your picks here. The bracket (seed in parenthesis):

(8) Texas Tech vs. (9) Oklahoma State --> Winner plays (1) Texas
(5) Baylor vs. (12) Colorado --> Winner plays (4) Oklahoma
(7) Nebraska vs. (10) Missouri --> Winner plays (2) Kansas
(6) Texas A&M vs. (11) Iowa State --> Winner plays (3) Kansas State

BONUS: What seed will Kansas end up in the Big Dance?

Continue reading this post »

A lotta buzz flyin around the interwebs right now involving LSU, Bobby Knight, and uber recruit J'Mison Morgan.

Let's go through this one step at a time.

First, if you haven't heard, LSU fired head coach John Brady just 2 years removed from a trip to the Final Four.

Link:  

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=3236726

Why should this interest Kansas fans? Mr. Morgan, a five star center, signed with Brady at LSU after heavy recruitment by Coach Self. With the coach gone, it is quite possible that Morgan will be re-opening his recruitment (unless they pull a KState and let him pick the coach, of course).

More on J'Mison Morgan can be found here (check out the highlight video):

http://lsu.rivals.com/viewprospect.asp?Sport=2&pr_key=47799

The first thing you'll notice is his massive size, but surprisingly nimble feet.

OK, so where does Bobby Knight fit into all of this? Apparently, Dickie V was speculating during the Dook-Roy's Boys game that Knight isn't done, but instead wants to head somewhere where recruiting won't be so much of a challenge. Why anyone would want to play for that insecure bully is beyond me, but I digress.  LSU is likely looking to make a big name hire to compete in the SEC, and he's the biggest name out there right now.

Given Knight's histrionics, I have to think this would push Morgan out the door. No elite level talent has wanted to play for that guy since Isiah Thomas.

Keep an eye on how the dominoes here may fall in this scenario. If Bobby K does make this move, it'll be interesting to see how his steadfast supporters will spin this into anything but a sheisty ass move.

KUsports.com is reporting that Defensive Coordinator Bill Young has accepted a job at the University of Miami as the same position.  While KUSports has been burned before on "scoops" like this, I would imagine that they were especially careful with this one, given their recent issues.

You can read the story here:

http://www2.kusports.com/news/2008/jan/17/young_accepts_miami_assistant_coaching_job/

The gist of it seems to be that Mr. Young enjoys the reclamation aspects of the position, and is ready for a new challenge after completing a Top 10 season with the Jayhawks.

Of course, the extra money can't hurt either.  Not to mention the opportunity to work with premier athletes. Even with their recent down turn, "The U" is still an NFL factory, especially on the defensive side of the ball.  

I expect the 'Canes to be a dominant defensive football team in the coming years once again, and wish Coach Young the best of luck in doing so.

As for us, we once again put our faith behind Mangino to go out and find another brilliant football mind. It'll be interesting to see if he promotes from within the program, or looks for outside help. Here's hoping whomever we do hire can help in continuing to upgrade the quality of players we recruit into the program.

Rock Chalk

We'll be talking about last night for 50 years. What was your favorite part?

I think I'll go with the fake punt. For the past month, we've heard nothing but how great Beamerball's special teams were, and we were able to outsmart them at their own game. Kind of a microcosm for the whole season- superior coaching overcoming any perceived difference in talent level.