KUAD: Kansas vs OK State pregame notes


KUAD: Coach Self preps for OK State in weekly presser


OKStateAD: pregame notes

The U.S. Basketball Writers Association has selected 15 outstanding players as finalists for its Oscar Robertson National Player of the Year Trophy and six standout freshmen as finalists for the Integris Wayman Tisdale Award. The USBWA has also named ten head coaches as candidates for the Henry Iba National Coach of the Year Award.

Members of the association's board of directors chose the finalists and the entire 975-member USBWA will vote on the awards as well as the annual All-America and All-District teams. The ballots will be distributed Sunday evening and USBWA members may still write in candidates for the three individual honors.

The Oscar Robertson Trophy recipient will be announced on Friday, April 4, at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, at a press conference in conjunction with the NCAA Men's Final Four. Prior to that, on Mon., March 17, the Integris Wayman Tisdale Award winner will be announced and the following Monday, the winner of the Henry Iba National Coach of the Year Award will be revealed. All three award winners will be formally presented their awards at the Devon Energy College Basketball Awards on Mon., April 14, at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City.
Following are the finalsts for the Oscar Robertson National Player of the Year Trophy:
http://www.sportswriters.net/usbwa/news/2014/awards140227.html


The Atlanta Tipoff Club today announced the 10 national semifinalists for the 2014 Men’s Naismith Trophy presented by AT&T.  The entire list can be found below.
 
From March 3-17 the voting academy will select four finalists from this group.  Those finalists will be announced March 23.
Naismith Awards (Andrew Wiggins selected)

Liars figure. Figures lie. Sheer numbers don’t tell the story in reaching the right conclusion as to Big 12 Player of the Year.

“With three games left, it’s starting to get down to it, but I do think everybody should refrain from drawing any conclusions on what they think until the season’s over,” Kansas University basketball coach Bill Self said Thursday. “There are still a lot of things that can happen between now and then that could tip the scales one way or another.”

Nah.

Even with 17 percent of the Big 12 season remaining it’s difficult to imagine anything happening that could prevent Kansas freshman Andrew Wiggins from winning the honor.

Defensively, he routinely holds his man well under his scoring average. It’s not uncommon for him to ask onto the other team’s hot shooter in mid-game so that he can shut him down.

Offensively, if he looked to score as much when a game already has been won as he does when one is on the line, he would have no problem leading the Big 12 in scoring.

As it is, he’s the leading scorer on the team that has a three-game lead on the pack with three games remaining.

“He’s had the best year on our team to this point,” Self said. “He’s been the most consistent and best performer on our team. That’s pretty good when you really don’t have upperclassmen to teach you how to do it and you have all this expectation and hype. At least from the outside looking in, to me it looked like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders to start.”
LJW Keegan: Wiggins the right choice for Big 12 POY


“Jo and Andrew deserve the majority of the attention. I get that,” KU coach Bill Self said Thursday at his weekly news conference. “But it shouldn’t be lost, if we didn’t have those two, then obviously Wayne Selden would be used in a way where he could be strongly considered for Freshman of the Year in our league. There’s been a lot of years that there’s been a Freshman of the Year in our league that from a talent standpoint probably wasn’t superior to what we feel Wayne Selden is,” Self added.

A starter from his first day at KU, the 6-5 freshman from Roxbury, Mass., doesn’t feel slighted.
“In high school, I played with Nerlens Noel and Georges Niang, so I’m fine with the position I’m in,” said Selden, who at Tilton School was also used to being a complementary player.

…“Whether he’s making shots or not (46.4 percent), he’s figuring out a way to impact the game and he’s figuring out his role and the impact he can have and certainly taking a lot of pride on the defensive end,” Self said.

Of his own role, Selden said: “Play the game with intensity. Be able to defend the ball on the perimeter. Be strong help.”

…Self reiterated the Jayhawks would likely not be scheduling Wichita State anytime soon.

“I don’t want to say never, but we’re pretty locked in on what we’re trying to do from a scheduling standpoint and that’s not a knock to anybody, but without getting into it, I would say that’s probably not on the immediate horizon,” Self said.

“The scheduling deals come up way too much. There may be an opportunity for us to play them very soon, sooner than what even a regular season scheduled game would be played,” he added, referring to the 2014 NCAA Tournament. “But who knows if that’s the case, and I’m certainly not going to spend any time worrying about that.”

He was asked if KU-WSU would be a huge game for TV.

“Yes, it could be a huge TV game, and it could help us recruiting in that area. Could it help as much as if we played in L.A. or New York or Philly? There’s a lot of things that go into scheduling other than what is the immediate thought among fans,” Self said. “I’m going to do what’s best for Kansas, I’m not concerned with what’s best for anybody else or doing something because it would be nice.”
Self said undefeated Wichita State is worthy of a very high seed.

“I personally think they deserve the 1-line if they’re able to go ahead and take care of business. You hear the so-called pundits say, well, their schedule this or that. Well, it’s hard to win on the road, especially when you’re everybody’s Super Bowl game, and they’ve been able to do that, so you have to respect that,” Self said.

…Self credited assistants Kurtis Townsend, Norm Roberts and Jerrance Howard as well as director of basketball Fred Quartlebaum for the squad attaining at least a tie for a 10th straight Big 12 title heading into Saturday’s 8 p.m. game at Oklahoma State.

“We’ve kind of got a really nice blend (on staff) and we have for a while,” Self said.

He credited Quartlebaum for being “the most positive guy ever. He never has a bad day.” Of first-year assistant Howard he said; “He brings something totally different from an energy standpoint, from a fun standpoint, that I think is real important because none of us are getting any younger. Norm, although Norm is young, but Kurtis and I we are on the downside of everything,” Self kidded.
LJW

“They are going to come in and win (the Big 12) outright here,” Smart said. “We’re gonna try to stop them.”

The Cowboys (18-10, 6-9) have more than the Jayhawks to worry about. Thanks to a seven-game losing streak, OSU is fighting for its postseason life.

OSU is currently on the bubble to be invited to the NCAA tournament. The Cowboys need a signature win to boost their resume, and a win against Kansas could be what it takes for the tournament selection committee to call OSU’s name.

“It’s very important and it’s a great time to have it,” OSU guard Markel Brown said. “Big stage, (ESPN’s) College GameDay. If we get this win, we could possibly be locked into the tournament.”

Kansas touts two players who are in contention to be to be the No. 1 pick in this summer’s NBA Draft, but only one showed out in the two team’s previous meeting.

The Cowboys had no answer for 7-footer Embiid in Lawrence, Kan. Embiid had 13 points, 11 points and eight blocks.

“He’s a special player,” OSU coach Travis Ford said. “They don’t come around very often like him. He just continues to get better, better and better.”

KU coach Bill Self used Embiid to expose OSU’s lack of size and depth in the post, and Brown said he expects Self to do the same on Saturday. OSU has devised a ‘Red’ defense designed to make Embiid uncomfortable and to try to minimize his effectiveness.

“Trying to keep the ball out of his hands as much as possible, keeping him from around the rim, pushing him out four or five feet,” Brown said. “Not letting him be comfortable when he get the ball in the post. Just throw different things at him.”

OSU did a good job of limiting Wiggins in the first matchup, but he is not the same player he was in January. Perhaps the most hyped player to enter the college game in a long time, Wiggins has lived up to it. His 16 points and 6 rebounds a game is another concern for Ford.

“They have two guys that are going to be picked in the top three (of the NBA Draft) probably,” Ford said. “Embiid and Wiggins, they’re both going to be possibly Hall of Fame basketball players. I don’t say it lightly at all, I think they are that good.”
Daily O’Collegian


ESPN basketball analyst Jay Bilas will be part of the “College GameDay” crew in Stillwater and also call the Kansas-Oklahoma State game that night on the network. He discussed the teams and the Big 12 in a phone interview this week:

Do you think Kansas has a chance to make an NCAA Tournament run?

Kansas can beat anybody, but a lot of teams can beat them. That’s the thing about this year. I don’t think there is a great team. ... Kansas is good enough to win this thing, but their team is young in spots. When you’re young and you get in some spots you haven’t been in before, you don’t know how that youth is going to react. What Bill Self has done there is flat out remarkable. It goes with some of the great accomplishments in the game’s history. There are only five teams that have won 10 championships in a row in its league. That’s incredible.
The Oklahoman


Picture this: Both players are in separate elevators, only Wiggins' elevator reaches the roof, or floor 10, while Smart's tops out at floor 8. There's simply no arguing this—Wiggins' ceiling sits at a higher level than Smart's, and if both players maximize their potential, it's Wiggins who'll end up the more dangerous and valuable player.

But it's probably going to take Wiggins an extra few years in his elevator to reach that 10th floor, while Smart might be capable of reaching his ceiling at a much earlier stage in his career.

At 6'4", 220 pounds, Smart won't have any trouble matching up physically with NBA point guards, and given his size, strength and motor, he could probably even hold his own against plenty of 2-guards.

At 6'8", 200 pounds, Wiggins will be going head-to-head with some of the toughest defenders in the game—Paul George, Kawhi Leonard, LeBron James, Luol Deng, Andre Iguodala and more. And at this point, some of these guys have a 20-pound strength advantage on Wiggins, who's almost a year younger than Smart.

However, while Wiggins' elevator ride might take longer, Smart's could be bumpier.

…We're at the point now where we've seen plenty of each top prospect, specifically Kansas' Joel Embiid and Andrew Wiggins and Duke's Jabari Parker. And there still doesn't seem to be a consensus No. 1.

One scout anonymously told me, "People are going to flip back and forth now but really they [are] going to draw more meaningful conclusions during the tournament and once we get combine measurements and results."

From here on out, it looks like all the top dogs are on an equal playing field. And a good or bad performance in the NCAA tournament could be the difference between going No. 1 or No. 3—especially for guys like Parker and Wiggins, who scouts will be expecting to lead their teams down the stretch.
BR


Some of the people (Norm) Stewart thinks about would be less obvious.

Like legendary Kansas coach Phog Allen. History largely has glossed over that Allen recruited Stewart out of Shelbyville, Mo., and that they became friends.

Stewart recalled sitting with Allen at one Final Four.

“We thought the chairs were hooked together, but the damned chair wasn’t hooked. And I looked up and all I saw (were Allen’s feet),” Stewart said. “It scared the hell out of me, because I knew he had a little age.”

But Allen laughed at himself and said he was fine, Stewart recalled.

With lament, Stewart said, “We used to all sit there together. Now … a lot of changes have been made.”

Among those changes was MU’s decision to join the Southeastern Conference, which ended its series with KU for the foreseeable future.

Missouri “burnt some bridges, and it will take a long time,” Stewart said. “You’ve got to understand (KU’s) position.”

Speaking of which, Stewart admires KU coach Bill Self and said he has “a tremendous following” among coaches.

Then Stewart said, “Hey, this is a hell of a story” and related a perhaps-tall tale about Self coming to his assistance.

It seems Stewart’s family had converged for a Shawnee Mission East football game. (Yep, Stewart’s son Lindsey and family live in Kansas, in the house where Virginia Stewart grew up).

After the game, his daughter’s cell phone went missing but was tracked via computer by her husband.

“Hell,” Stewart recalled seeing, “that thing is in Lawrence, Kansas.”

Then Stewart somehow assembled a posse in Lawrence, where it turns out he has friends: a car dealer, for one, and it sounded like he said something about the postmaster getting involved.

Anyway, his deputies went to the site where the phone seemed to be, and his son-in-law “set off a signal like a depth charge,” as Stewart put it.

Shazam, the phone was retrieved. Next thing you know, Lawrence police are asking Stewart who can pick it up.

Upon reviewing the options, the Lawrence police rep said, “I’ll take Coach Self.”

So Stewart calls Self. Then Self picks it up and calls Stewart back.

“Now, this is how good Self is,” Stewart said, laughing. “He has got the classic line: `You know what, for a guy who won’t spend a dime in Kansas, you sure as hell got a lot of people working for you here.’ “
KC Star

Like most NBA Draft selections, Tyshawn Taylor probably didn’t envision ending up in the NBA D-League.

But that is where Taylor, the 23-year-old former St. Anthony High School and Kansas University star, now finds himself.

Having been traded by the Brooklyn Nets and then released by the New Orleans Pelicans, the 6-foot-3 Taylor is playing for the Maine Red Claws in the D-League.

“It wasn’t a tough situation until I found out I got cut from the Pelicans,” Taylor told SNY.tv earlier this week. “My whole thing was to try to get somewhere where I can play. I gotta figure it out, where I can go next.”

Taylor is averaging 8.8 points and 2.7 assists in nine games with the Red Claws. In Thursday’s win over the Canton Charge, Taylor had 6 points and 4 assists in 13 minutes.

Former West Virginia star and Mount Vernon, N.Y., native Kevin Jones went for 26 points and 15 rebounds in the loss for Canton.

“I think this is more for my confidence and being able to play on a consistent basis,” Taylor said. “In the NBA, I only played one out of every 16 games.

He added of his D-League experience. “I’ve been playing alright. I’m transitioning to a new situation, new coaches and a new team. I played alright and I could play better.”

His ultimate goal, of course, is to get a call-up to the NBA.

“Of course,” he said. “That’s why I’m here, to try to get a call-up.”

As previously reported by SNY.tv, Taylor has signed with Atléticos de San Germán in Puerto Rico and will join that team after the D-League season ends in April.
Zags Blog


Vote for Wiggs for the Wooden Award


“Pay Heed. The game you love began here. Respect those who came before you. Make their legacy your own. Because destiny favors the dedicated. And rings don’t replace work. In this game you don’t get what you want. You get what you earn. We are Kansas. Together we rise. Rock Chalk Jayhawk!

Swept by Arkansas. Wow. John Calipari's totally pulling an Incognito tonight & smashing his Ferrari with a baseball bat.
@LostLettermen


Power forward Julius Randle is an exceptional talent, but he’s not as comfortable on the perimeter against a genuine defense as might have been gleaned from his solid ballhandling ability and worthwhile shooting touch. In 2007-08, his one year at Kansas State, Michael Beasley connected on 36 3-pointers. Randle has made three.

…And then you have the Harrisons. Andrew was supposed to be the prize of the two, a 6-5 point guard whose consensus recruiting ranking in the Recruiting Services Consensus Index (RSCI) placed him ahead of Duke’s Jabari Parker. How this came to be is mystifying, because Parker arrived at Duke with a complete package of offensive skills — handle, pass, post and shoot, both off the catch and off the bounce — and Andrew is a point guard who is not an accomplished passer. On a team with three other double-figure scorers, he averages but 3.5 assists. Aaron Harrison, a shooting guard, was ranked directly behind Parker. Aaron is shooting only 30.8 percent from 3-point range.
TSN


The Terrapins are finishing their third straight disappointing season under Turgeon with no realistic chance of reaching the NCAA tournament -- barring a miraculous Atlantic Coast Conference tournament run -- and maybe not even an NIT appearance.

This is not acceptable.

Maybe Turgeon inherited a depleted roster when he arrived in 2011, but college basketball is a year-to-year sport, and everything after that first season is all on Turgeon. The current 15-13 team, 7-8 in the ACC, will probably finish 16-15 after traveling to Clemson March 2, and hosting Virginia Tech March 4 and Virginia March 9. With a first-round ACC tournament loss, Maryland would have a 16-16 season.

That's all on Turgeon. If he recruits players that don't execute plays as told, he picked the wrong players. If the Terps don't have a real point guard, that's on the coach.

The bottom line is winning. Turgeon is 57-41 overall at Maryland and 21-28 in the ACC. So far during his tenure, the Terps have finished eighth during the 2011-12 season and seventh during the 2012-13 season, and they are currently in a three-way tie for seventh in the conference.

Maryland is a basketball school. Anything football does is a bonus, despite university officials selling the school to the Big Ten for football TV revenues. Basketball has long dictated the pulse of College Park.
Link

Link to above video


New Mexico State suspended guard K.C. Ross-Miller on Friday morning, hours after he instigated a postgame brawl between the Aggies and Utah Valley.

Ross-Miller hurled the ball at Utah Valley's Holton Hunsaker as the final second expired in the Wolverines' 66-61 overtime victory at Orem, Utah, on Thursday night.

Ross-Miller picked up the ball at midcourt and fired it at Hunsaker -- the son of Utah Valley coach Dick Hunsaker -- from close range, hitting him in the leg.
ESPN


Specifics surrounding the health of West Virginia guard Terry Henderson remain scant, but the sophomore has been sick for almost three weeks now and might be out a bit longer as the Mountaineers push toward postseason play.

Randy Meador, WVU's coordinator of athletic training services who works primarily with the basketball team, told the Charleston Daily Mail on Thursday he and his staff have kept tabs on Henderson since the Feb. 8 loss to Kansas. Meador said Henderson hasn't been practicing or working out since a few days after the Texas game a week later and is only now showing signs of coming out of whatever's bothering him.

Meador declined to say what illness has kept Henderson, the team's third-leading scorer, out of the last two games, both losses in which WVU has shot below 40 percent.
Link


Texas will begin selling beer and wine at some athletic events, starting Friday at the Texas softball invitational tournament.

Texas has long banned alcohol sales at athletic events. New men's athletic director Steve Patterson said the school will sell beer and win at the final men's and women's basketball games, softball, baseball and the Texas Relays track event.

Alcohol sales could expand to football in the fall, although the April 19 spring scrimmage at Royal-Memorial Stadium will not be included.

Texas said the athletic department will consult with university police, state officials and the school's concessions contractor to evaluate safety and determine whether alcohol sales will be expanded.
AP


VIDEO: Greg Marshall is a 'pound puppy' not a papered breed like those other elitists
16:11 mark


Current Las Vegas odds put Florida as the favorite to win it all. If Donovan's team played out, and chalk prevailed, getting that third title would totally buttress -- and significantly boost -- the coach's legacy. He's already considered a top-10 coach in the game currently, but winning a third title would vault Donovan to top-five status, without question, and would also forever place him among the greats. You couldn't argue against him as a top-20 all-time coach, which I think you would get some pushback on right now.

More so, let's remember Donovan's age here. He's still only 48. Will Donovan live out his days in Gainesville? I don't know. He has flirted with the NBA before, even taking the Orlando Magic job before jumping back to UF, and maybe he'll want that challenge without hesitation some day in the future. But regardless, he has at least two decades of coaching left in him, if he so chooses. That he has accomplished this much before 50 speaks to his stature and formidable acumen.

His career record is 476-188, a .717 winning percentage. That also means he'll likely get to 500 wins next season, when he's 49 years old. He'll be one of only a few coaches ever to do that so soon. Last season, Bill Self became the youngest active coach (out of 22) to reach 500 when he did it at 50. Donovan will beat him by a year, in his 21st season.

What Donovan won't do is be among the fastest in getting to 500. The company atop that list is filled with names already attached to buildings and statues across college campuses. Adolph Rupp has a Cy Young-like unbreakable record in this regard -- no way anyone is going 500-83 in college basketball ever again. Here's the top 10:

1. Adolph Rupp (Kentucky) 583
2. Jerry Tarkanian (Long Beach State, UNLV) 604
3. Roy Williams (Kansas, North Carolina) 627
4. Herny Iba (Northeast Missouri State, Colorado, Oklahoma State) 633
5. Phog Allen (Baker U., Kansas) 646
6. John Calipari (UMass, Memphis, Kentucky) 652
6. John Wooden (Indiana State, UCLA) 652
8. Dean Smith (North Carolina) 653
9. John Chaney (Temple) 662
9. Bill Self (Oral Roberts, Tulsa, Illinois, Kanas) 662

Donovan's likely to get to 500 somewhere between career game 690 and 695. Still superb.

But that's for next season. For now, this group has emerged as Donovan's clear-cut best since the 2006-07 team that defended the Gators' first title. That group (definitely better than this one) was the rare club that was able to win back-to-back titles. That alone makes Donovan's career something special. And in making three Final Fours and three more Elite Eights (the latter all in the past three seasons), it seems like Donovan's truly entering the prime of his coaching career.
CBS


Big XII composite schedule (includes results, highlights, stats)


ESPN College GameDay Schedule


2013-14 TV Schedule

F Kelly Oubre Jr. (@K_Ctmd22): 23 PTS, 14 REB, 7 AST for Findlay Prep in a win over Planet Athlete @HoustonHoops17U d1circuit.com/roster_players…
@D1Circuit


He is 6-foot-11, 230 pounds and can play basketball anyplace he wants next season — Duke, Kansas, Ohio State and Texas have all offered. He just can’t play in the NBA. If the new NBA commissioner gets his way, there will never again be a straight-to-the-NBA path and the one-and-doners will become extinct as well.

Selfishly, it would be wonderful to see college basketball loaded with its best players staying for multiple seasons rather than the one-and-doners who have changed the game. Then you meet Turner and his father and you get it.

“You have to go get it while you can get it,” Turner said. “If I were blessed enough to be put in a lottery position, I would have to go to the NBA as well.”

You can’t blame him. In his sophomore season, he suffered a broken ankle. In that moment and during the hours of rehab the thoughts of having it all gone entered his mind.

“The difference is the broken ankle,” said David Turner, Myles’ father. “He knows how fast it can go away.”

It used to be “get an education to fall back on,” now it’s become “grab it while you can, and then get your education if you need it.”

With David Stern retiring after 30 years as commissioner, his successor, Adam Silver, almost immediately announced his intention to raise the NBA’s age limit to 20. That would likely mean college programs would have their soon-to-be NBA stars for two seasons rather than one.

The NBA requires its players to be 19, or one year removed from their senior year of high school, before they can enter the draft. The earliest Silver can address this divisive issue is after the 2016-17 season, when the league’s agreement with the players union can be reopened.

The rules began in 2006 and immediately put a stop to the scores of high school players skipping college in favor of the pros. One of the aims was to put a stop to sports agents and other “representatives” littering high school games, lobbying high school kids to represent them once they turned pro.

One Division I coach said, “There are more [agents] now than I can ever remember.”

Trinity coach Mark Villines said he received a call last summer from one coach, “And he asked me if Myles had an agent yet.”

And this from Turner’s dad: “People were spreading rumors that we had agents, and we were accepting money. I worked every day of my life. I’ve had the same job for 27 years. My wife works. So when I heard that, I was like, ‘Wow.’ ”

…Turner is not some dumb kid. He is bright and would attend college without basketball. Turner wants to be good. Both he, his dad, his mother and his coach all say he wants to earn a college degree.

“My goal is to go to the NBA,” Turner said. “A degree is important to me — that is all my family talked about.”

Turner is the highest-ranked remaining senior who has not signed. His finalists are Kentucky, Texas, Oklahoma State, Arizona, Kansas, Ohio State and Duke. He also has visited SMU.

“It’s going to be a win-win wherever he goes,” David Turner said.

The program that signs Myles Turner knows he will go as fast as he can.

He is scheduled to visit Kansas on March 5 — Senior Night. Ironic since, if things go right, Turner will never celebrate a Senior Night at college.
FW Star Telegram


The No. 2 large school in the STLhighschoolsports.com rankings, Chaminade (23-2) got another outstanding performance from Tatum. The 6-foot-9 Tatum scored 27 points as he dazzled with step-back 3-pointers, drives to the rack and an alley-oop jam on the break.
St Louis PD: Chaminade holds off Jennings


The photographer from People magazine pointed his camera at Julian Newman. Stripped along one side of the basketball court by the gym's few rows of metal bleachers was yellow tape that said CAUTION.

"Big smile," the photographer said.

This kid over the last 14 or so months has been on local TV and national TV. He has been on ESPN and Conan O'Brien. He has been on the front of the sports section of the Sunday New York Times.
He plays on the varsity team at small Downey Christian School in Orlando even though he's 12 years old and in the sixth grade. He's 4 feet 9, weighs barely more than 90 pounds, and wears midshin, multicolored socks and size 6 Nikes.

So here was People, celebrity culture's ultimate arbiter. A smiling Julian dribbled furiously, between his legs and back and forth, the sounds of the bouncing ball mixing with rapid camera clicks and brief, blinding bursts of flash.

"Turn yourself in toward the light," the photographer said.

The next night, on the same court, Downey lost for the third time in four games. Julian hit one of his two free throws and one of his three 2-point shots and one of his six 3-point shots to finish with 6 points. It was a statistical output similar to that of the previous week's losses.

…Over the last month, I've watched him play two regulation games, an exhibition game, a pickup game, many games of one on one, and a workout run by his dad. If I still worked for Prep Stars, I wouldn't offer an evaluation. Julian's too young. Coaches from colleges wouldn't want it or need it. But if I had to evaluate him, right now, here's what I'd say: He's above average for his age. In drills, he shoots well, including from three-point range, although he releases from his chest because he's not strong enough to shoot with proper form from that distance. In games, his accuracy dips considerably. He's quick, but not quick enough to get around a capable, motivated high school varsity defender. His dribbling tends to be more eye-catching than effective.

My opinion is, of course, only that.

…It was time to have with Jamie the kind of conversation it seems he has never been asked to have.
He admitted he hadn't been recruited the way he suggested in his online bio, which days later would no longer be viewable. He said his high school stats were kept by the team's student managers.
When I read to him what the other coaches had told me about his son, Jamie didn't get angry. He got talkative.

He said they were "envious" of the "attention." He said Julian and Jaden are "the best players, pound for pound, on the planet, no doubt, no doubt, no doubt in my mind." He said he said this to his uncle, who's a pastor in Apopka, and that his uncle said, "Amen, amen, that's right, that's right, keep saying it, keep saying it, it's going to happen. As long as we keep saying it, it's going to happen." Jamie knows this, he said, because he hasn't seen any other videos on YouTube like the ones of his son, or his daughter. Somebody would post videos. Answers to his.

"They just would," Jamie said. "Everybody has a phone. Everybody has this nowadays. Everybody's trying to compete with everybody."
Tampa Bay Times


Recruiting Calendar


My Late Night in the Phog videos, KU Alumni games videos, 2011-12 Border War videos, Legends of the Phog videos, KC Prep Invitational, & Jayhawk Invitational Videos and more now on YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/user/kcjcjhawk

2/27/14, 9:36 AM
Congratulations to @22wiggins on being announced as @TheBBPA 2014 Harry Jerome Athletics Award recipient!
@CanBball
Harry Jerome Awards


VIDEO Jason KIng: Joel Embiid Best Kansas Hoops Prospect since Danny Manning


Self spoke about freshman Andrew Wiggins on Doug Gottlieb’s radio show on CBS Sports Radio. “His consistency and his athletic ability are at an all-time high. I’ve seen more and more every day why NBA people have thought so highly of him. He’s just a couple years away, in my opinion, from being one of the premier players in the world — on any level,” Self said.
LJW


Before he was on the cover of Sports Illustrated, before he was anointed as the Second Coming, before he was built up and torn down more times than a Vegas casino, Andrew Wiggins was Little Bro.

To the Wichita State basketball team, he was brother Nick's right-hand man (and vice versa), the guy who turned up and played "NBA 2K" and "Call of Duty" until his eyelids gave up the fight. That dude.

"He's a big 'Call of Duty' (guy)," Nick Wiggins, senior reserve guard with the No. 2 Wichita State Shockers, says of little brother Andrew, the freshman wing sensation with the No. 8 Kansas Jayhawks. "He will stay up and play 'Call of Duty' by himself.

"When he comes, he kind of kicks it with us. He's just a little kid. Still 18-19 (years old)."

No star treatment. No pretense. No shock. No awe.

"They (The Shockers) don't look at him like that," Nick says of Andrew, who'll be an NBA lottery pick in a few months, a ray of hope for basketball-smelly towns such as Orlando, Philly and Boston. "He's just Little Bro."

Up all night. Again. Doing Little Bro things. Again.

"He's a cool dude," Shockers guard Tekele Cotton says of Andrew. "He's very humble. And he's a young kid and he's one of the best in college basketball, obviously; he's a great player. I know him as a friend. Me and Nick are real close, and Andrew, he's cool."

…"Nick (Wiggins and the Shockers), they're really good dudes," says Kansas forward Perry Ellis, one of two Wichita natives in the Jayhawks' rotation. "And I talk to them, sometimes, when I get a chance."

"I wouldn't say that we're buddy-buddy," Nick Wiggins says. "But we're cool.

"If I see them out somewhere, I will say, 'What's up?' Just out of (the) respect I have for those guys over there."
Fox Sports Keeler: Rivals and friends, Jayhawks and Shockers


LJW: What if Andrew Wiggins never came to Kansas?


Vote for Wiggs for the Wooden Award

2/26/14, 12:28 PM
Man all the nice things you fans come up and say makes it easy to keep working to get better each day !! Love y'all
@LandenLucas33


Nobody has yet reserved a spot on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for budding actor Justin Wesley.
Yet the Kansas University senior basketball power forward from Fort Worth, Texas, has certainly received local acclaim — from the 10,000 or so individuals who attended showings of the movie “Jayhawkers” Feb. 14-16 in the Lied Center.

“I must be really good at fooling people, I guess,” Wesley said Wednesday in giving his first public thoughts since the premiere of the picture. He had been quieted by NCAA rules that do not allow him to promote showings of the film, just discuss his role in general.

“I wouldn’t say ‘surprised’ is the right word,” he added of all the positive comments he has received about his portrayal of Wilt Chamberlain in the Kevin Willmott production. “I’m grateful everybody enjoyed it and liked it. I’m glad my family enjoyed it. It was an overwhelming experience, a great experience. I’m just happy about it.”

…Wesley, who will speak to the fans along with fellow seniors Tarik Black and Niko Roberts after Wednesday’s Senior Night game against Texas Tech, said he’s willing to continue his acting career.

“Kevin asked me if I’d be interested in doing it. I told him yes, so if he has any projects he thinks I’d fit in, I’d be more than willing to help him out with it,” Wesley said. “People seem to think I have a talent to do it. We’ll see what happens. I might roll the dice on it (as a career).

“It’s definitely something I didn’t see in theater arts class in elementary school,” Wesley added with a grin.
LJW


“Pay Heed. The game you love began here. Respect those who came before you. Make their legacy your own. Because destiny favors the dedicated. And rings don’t replace work. In this game you don’t get what you want. You get what you earn. We are Kansas. Together we rise. Rock Chalk Jayhawk!

The Big 12 Conference along with Brenda Tinnen, General Manager and Senior Vice President of Sprint Center/AEG Kansas City have confirmed that the 2014 Phillips 66 Big 12 Men’s Basketball Championship has once again sold out.

“Selling out the Phillips 66 Big 12 Men’s Basketball Championship at Sprint Center in five days is remarkable,” said Tim Allen, Senior Associate Commissioner and Championship Director. “It is a testament to the hard work and support of everyone in Kansas City and we look forward to another memorable experience for our student-athletes, coaches, administrators and fans.”

The 2014 Championship marks the sixth year that Sprint Center has hosted the four-day event, scheduled for March 12-15. The Championship has sold out in each year since returning to Kansas City in 2008 and from 2010-14.
Big12sports.com


Good thing Marcus Smart isn't superstitious. At least when it comes to his number.

Wearing No. 43, rather than his usual 33, after a team manager left his jersey back in Stillwater, Smart changed the game late and posted another of his strong stat lines: 17 points, seven assists, eight rebounds and five steals.

“It felt weird playing with it, especially when they announced my name and it was 43,” Smart said. “As you can see, I played a very decent game in it. So superstition isn't a very big deal right now.”

…It was a light crowd at TCU's Daniel Meyer Coliseum, where the announced attendance of 5,723 looked more like 2,500.

And maybe half were Cowboys fans — family and friends who showed up to cheer on six OSU players who were back in the Metroplex, where they all went to high school.
The Oklahoman


Words that appear on Stevie Clark's new website — difference maker, servant-leader and giver.
Words that don't — suspended, arrested and dismissed.

The latest chapter in the Stevie Clark drama is playing out online. Over the weekend, a website touting the former Oklahoma State point guard was launched. It is called IAmStevieClark.com, and it highlights “The Person”, “The Player” and “The Point”.

“The purpose of this site,” it says in the section titled “The Point”, “was developed to highlight Stevie Clark as a person with a vision and a plan to reach his full potential and add value in ALL environments.”

I've read that sentence half a dozen times, and in all seriousness, I'm not entirely sure what it means. Seems like a decent amount of mumbo jumbo.

But I have a pretty good idea what the website means: Clark is trying to rehab his reputation.
Hard to blame him. The fall has been fast and furious.

…There's talk that he could follow his younger football-playing brother, Deondre, to LSU. Deondre indicated as much when he signed with the Tigers earlier this month, saying that the LSU basketball team was interested in Stevie.

Maybe that will all work out, but the launch of IAmStevieClark.com would seem to indicate that more rehab might be necessary. Having three off-court issues during the course of a career is a lot. Having them in less than three months is a serious red flag.

I mean, after being suspended then arrested, wouldn't most players do everything in their power to keep their nose clean?

Instead, Clark gets arrested for peeing out a car window.

That doesn't mean he's a bad person, but at a minimum, he's acted like a knucklehead. And unless Clark had shown himself to be the second coming of LeBron, coaches are going to think long and hard about taking a chance on a proven dimwit.
The Oklahoman


Behind 21 points from Javan Felix and a Cam Ridley double-double, the Longhorns jumped out to a big first half lead and then withstood the Bears' comeback attempt to hold on for their 10th conference win.

And there it is: win number 10.

After knocking off Baylor 74-69 on Wednesday night in Austin [BOX SCORE], the Longhorns have reached the 10-win mark in Big 12 play.  Before the season began, we were laboring to find 9 wins on the conference schedule; this young group got there with three games still to play, and did it with a second win this season over a team that was considered among the pre-season favorites to win the conference.

It feels as though the universe is a little bit more orderly tonight, doesn't it?  Rick Barnes is coaching up a young, cohesive group and sweeping the season series with Baylor, while Scott Drew is manically conducting the Underahievement Express down the stretch as he tries to avoid another trainwreck season. And this group of Longhorns once again responded to adversity like the veteran team that they aren't, rebounding from consecutive losses with a solid, important win that keeps their strong season very much on track.
Austin Statesman


Georges Niang scored 24 points, DeAndre Kane had 17 and 11 rebounds and No. 15 Iowa State beat West Virginia 83-66 on Wednesday night for its seventh win in eight games.

Naz Long had 15 points on five 3-pointers for the Cyclones (22-5, 10-5 Big 12), who have recorded three straight 10-win seasons in league play for the first time.

Iowa State rolled despite playing nearly the entire second half without star Melvin Ejim, who sat because of foul trouble.

Dustin Hogue helped cover for Ejim’s absence inside with 15 points and nine rebounds, including a rare 3 with 3:17 left that put the Cyclones ahead 79-65.

Juwan Staten had 19 points and Eron Harris added 15 to lead West Virginia (15-13, 7-8), which lost its third straight.

West Virginia guard Terry Henderson, who averages 12.1 points, missed his second straight game with an undisclosed illness.
AP

JaQuan Lyle sat behind the Kansas bench for the Jayhawks’ 83-75 victory over Oklahoma Monday night, and Kansas-bound big man Cliff Alexander wants his friend to join the team.

“It’s great, still out here,” Lyle told SNY.tv by text.

Kansas expects to have several guards returning in Naadir Tharpe, Frank Mason, Conner Frankamp, Brannen Greene and possibly Wayne Selden, and also brings in wing Kelly Oubre.

Still, sources close to the program said Kansas is high on Lyle as a combo guard who can handle and pass better than their other guards and that he would have a chance to start next season for the Jayhawks.

Lyle and Alexander are tight and have talked about packaging.

“Me and Cliff, we’ve been tight since about our eighth-grade year and our relationship just grew, so now he’s like a brother to me,” Lyle told SNY.tv previously. “Just the opportunity to play with him would be wonderful. Cliff makes me better, I make him better. Every big man  wants a point guard who can get them the ball in the right place that they can score, make the job easier for them. And every point guard wants a big man who can get them open and get them an opportunity to make them look better.”

Lyle visited Oklahoma State Friday-Sunday and is at Kansas until Wednesday.
He has already visited Oregon and visits Memphis March 7. He’s expected to decide over spring break March 15-23.
Zags Blog


2/25/14, 12:14 PM
Rock chalk we gotta get @JMamba5 to commit to the family
@humblekid11


2/26/14, 7:46 PM
Tyler Ulis, Jahlil Okafor and Cliff Alexander will be recognized for their selection to the McDonalds AA team tonight at the Bulls game
@BLUEChip_Miller


SLAMonline: Recap Curie vs Whitney Young game


2/25/14, 10:15 AM
Good source telling me Cliff Alexander's eligibility has been cleared. So Curie may be punished, but Alexander likely won't be the reason.
@michaelsobrien


Curie coach Mike Oliver and his team was told on Wednesday morning that a statement regarding the Chicago Public Schools' investigation into the Condors' playoff eligibility would be released later in the day. A CPS spokesperson confirmed to the Sun-Times that a statement was forthcoming. At 6:30 p.m., the CPS changed course, saying no statement would be issued on Wednesday.

The Condors’ camp has more on their mind than just the investigation. Curie felt slighted by Mayor Rahm Emanuel after the win on Friday. Emanuel handed out the city championship medals to the first two Chicago Public League basketball champions during his tenure: Simeon and Young. He didn’t hand out medals on Friday. "He just got up, left and ignored us," Curie coach Mike Oliver said. "I really didn't expect that."

Emanuel watched the game in a front-row seat. He sat next to James Reynolds, the father of Young guard Miles Reynolds. "The mayor spent the entire game rooting for Young and sitting next to one of their parents,” said Crystal Robinson, the mother of Curie's Keenan Robinson.

“It feels like the mayor was very supportive of Whitney Young. I'm sorry, but both of these schools are in the city of Chicago.” Robinson wasn’t at the game, but she watched the broadcast at home. "I saw my son throw that winning ball in the air, we have that moment,” she said. “They can't take that away, whether the mayor wants to acknowledge it or not. How dare the mayor not go and congratulate them. It just hurts my heart that he didn't. We're not insignificant. I'm just a little parent that happens to live and work in Chicago."

Emanuel's communications director Sarah Hamilton said the perceived slight was not intentional. "The mayor enjoyed the thrilling quadruple-overtime game, but had to leave immediately after to attend the Home-Going Service for Father Charles Hayes, which he was late getting to because he wanted to stay and support the students until the end of the game,'' Hamilton said.
Link


Out on the court, inside the Jones Convocation Center at Chicago State University, a medal hung around the neck of Cliff Alexander. Curie’s star big man had just scored 20 points and grabbed 12 rebounds to lead the Condors to their first-ever Public League title. This was the matchup everyone in Chicago had hoped to see: two of the best big men in the country duking it out for city bragging rights.

More than 7,000 people, including Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel, attended. And they weren’t disappointed. The game, which led Friday night’s late edition of SportsCenter, included one overtime-forcing buzzer beater, four extra periods and a game-winner from a seldom-used senior.

“It was a legendary game,” Okafor said. “It was epic.”'

…Most scouts agree Alexander is a more explosive athlete than Okafor. The 6-foot-8, 240-pounder is an elite rebounder and a ferocious dunker. While he was on the court preparing for Friday night’s game, for instance, Alexander casually dribbled in from the three-point line and, without breaking stride, leapt so high his head was at the rim and flushed home a one-handed dunk. With less than a minute left in the first quarter, Alexander threw down another gym-shaking jam. Ask people who’ve spent hours watching Alexander, and they’ll tell you the same thing: that’s standard for the Curie standout. “Cliff is such a freak athlete,” sad Evan Daniels, a national recruiting analyst for Scout.com.

Scouts are also impressed with Alexander’s toughness, shot-blocking and motor. While he’s raw offensively and hasn’t yet developed a consistent jump shot, Alexander’s athleticism and physical skills should be big assets for the Jayhawks next season.

And based on the rapid developmental curve Alexander has followed, there’s reason to believe he’s just scratching the surface of his potential. “His calling card is rebounding and just being athletic and tough and contesting shots. That’s where he’s at his best right now,” Daniels said. “He certainly has gotten better and has plenty to work with. There’s some significant upside there.”

…Most national recruiting rankings currently peg Okafor ahead of Alexander, though there are some who believe Alexander could supplant Okafor at No. 1 (to say nothing of uncommitted five-star center Myles Turner). Both Alexander and Okafor are expected to spend just one year in college. They are projected as the No. 1 and No. 3 picks, respectively, in DraftExpress’ 2015 mock draft.

Before they reach the NBA, though, Okafor and Alexander will try to help two historic programs on track to earn top-three seeds in the NCAA tournament replace a crop of freshmen that could declare for this summer’s draft. Kansas forward Andrew Wiggins, center Joel Embiid and small forward Wayne Selden are considered first-round prospects, as is Duke forward Jabari Parker.

However many of those players do turn pro after this season, Alexander and Okafor will ensure that Kansas and Duke will not lack for talent next season.
SI


Curie High School and Cliff Alexander, who is No. 3 in the ESPN 100, recently won the Chicago Public League championship and will compete for a state championship in March.

Alexander is powerful and explosive in the paint both at scoring and rebounding. He is best utilized running the floor and then playing on the blocks. At times he can function at the foul line with a straight-line drive or a short jumper.

Joel Embiid is a paint player this year, but I can tell you, from watching him in high school, he could face up with an offseason of work. His jumper is accurate from the high post and even to the arc. If he were to come back, he could play up top in the high-low offense and be a good pick-and-pop big man.

Embiid and Alexander certainly could coexist and be hard to guard because they are extremely athletic with great size, length, power and mobility. Defensively, Kansas would protect the paint and control the defensive backboard as well as anyone in the nation.

Both would need to polish up and develop their face-up games while still staying dominant inside.

It would be a great problem for Kansas coach Bill Self, who has had tremendous success in developing his post players and winning Big 12 championships.
ESPN Biancardi


Myles Turner, a 6-foot-11 senior center from Trinity High in Euless, Texas, will make an official recruiting visit to Kansas University for next Wednesday’s Senior Night game against Texas Tech, Rivals.com reported today.

He’s ranked No. 6 nationally by Rivals.com.

Zagsblog.com reports he also will visit Duke on March 8. Turner is also considering Texas, Kentucky, Oklahoma State, SMU, Arizona and Ohio State.
LJW


2014 big man @Original_Turner visits Texas A&M Saturday. Considered a long shot, but they're giving it a go
@adamzagoria


2/25/14, 11:17 AM
Kurtis Townsend from Kansas will watch Justin Simon tonight.
@jacklegwin


2/26/14, 7:10 PM
Kansas in to see Stevenson star junior Jalen Brunson tonight in North Suburban Conference showdown vs. North Chicago
@joehoopsreport


2/26/14, 8:32 PM
G Jalen Brunson (@jbcrossover5): 39 PTS for Stevenson in a win over North Chicago
@D1Circuit


2/27/14, 8:20 AM
I love Chicago but wow it's freezing. Glad I'm heading to Dallas today.
@Coachjhoward


Recruiting Calendar


My Late Night in the Phog videos, KU Alumni games videos, 2011-12 Border War videos, Legends of the Phog videos, KC Prep Invitational, & Jayhawk Invitational Videos and more now on YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/user/kcjcjhawk

KUAD: Ten there, done that post game notes


KUAD: Box Score


KUAD Photos


ESPN Photos


KC Star Photos


LJW Photos


TCJ Photos


AUDIO: Highlights from Bob Davis and Greg Gurley


LJW Keegan Ratings: Tharpe top performer

10 straight...... DECADE of DOMINATION!!!!!We're not gonna share though#ontothenextone #kubball #WeAllFromAfrica
@jojo_embiid


10
@T_Self11


Happy Birthday to my boy who never fails me when I need him @evan_manning5
@Ntharpe1


Congrats to my Jayhawks on 10 straight Big 12 titles. Proud of you guys. Keep the tradition going. #RockChalk
@colea45


besides feeling older..I think about not winning it our junior year yr. If you count our 4 yrs its actually 12/13. #unreal
@keith_langford


av memory was that it was the 1st Big12 title of the Self era & against his alma mater who beat us the yr before
@waynesimien


10 in a row!!!! Kansas runs the big 12 and always will..... #teamfoe #jayhawknation
@keefmorris


S/O to coach self and KU all the great players and coaches that's been apart of the decade of… instagram.com/p/k2iPK5DV_J/
@tyshawntaylor


Good win team #RCJH
@humblekid11


Kansas just won its 10th straight Big 12 title. Seriously, every other team in the league should wear a dunce cap today.
@LostLettermen


Ten straight Big 12 titles for Kansas and Bill Self. Ridiculous success, and one of the game's remarkable achievements. Rock Chalk X
@JayBilas


In first 9 years of Kansas B12 title streak, KU 22-8 in NCAA play/2008 nat title. Rest of B12 no slouch: 7 Elite 8s, 44-40 overall
@vgregorian


So hard for perennial winners to get Coach of Year(Phill Jackson, Belichick, etc.) It's expected. This should be the year Bill Self gets it.
@franfraschilla


Three of KU's ten straight Big 12 titles were won without a single returning starter from the prior year. Wow.
@JayBilas


It's Back to Back to Back to Back to Back to Back to Back to Back to Back to Back #Big12 titles for Kansas.
@ESPNCBB

The ball swung to the wing and Andrew Wiggins set his feet. It was in the final minutes at Allen Fieldhouse on Monday night, and No. 5 Kansas was minutes away from clinching a share of its 10th straight Big 12 Championship.

Ten straight. It’s a dizzying feat in the modern era of college basketball. But in this moment, as the Jayhawks led by just five points and the anxiety began to grow, nobody was really thinking about the streak. Well, that’s not quite right. It’s safe to say probably everybody inside Allen Fieldhouse was thinking about the number 10.

In one sense, this was what this whole Andrew Wiggins-led experiment was all about. The Jayhawks had lost all five starters off last year’s team — four seniors and lottery pick. Kansas coach Bill Self had lost his five leading scorers for the first time. It was time for another turnover. So Self simply added the most heralded recruiting class in school history, and now his Jayhawks were going to win another conference title.

“I’m happy a bunch of young kids are growing up,” Self would say.

So here was Wiggins, lining up his feet, stepping into a three-pointer that could give the Jayhawks an eight-point lead and ice the victory with more than two minutes left. The shot went down, of course. Inside Allen Fieldhouse, they usually do.

No. 5 Kansas 83, Oklahoma 75.

"Just winning this whole championship," Wiggins said. "It was just a great feeling on the court.”
…The lane kept opening up, so Tharpe kept driving.

“The last 10 minutes,” Self said. “I think that’s as good as Naadir has played since he’s been here.”
In the moments after the game, Tharpe stood near half-court, waving his arms as the Kansas crowd began to chant. “10 straight! 10 straight!” The crowd stuck around for a party, and Self exited into the Allen Fieldhouse tunnel, flashing all 10 fingers.

"It's just a beautiful feeling," Tharpe said.
KC Star

Since The Streak first emerged from its cave to ravage the Plains -- the winter of 2004-05 -- the 13 Big 12 men's basketball programs not named Kansas have changed coaches an average of 1.46 times per school.

Throw out Rick Barnes at Texas and Scott Drew at Baylor, it's 1.73 coaching changes over the past decade. Throw out Texas, Baylor and newbies TCU and West Virginia, and it's 2.1 changes.

Think about that.

Players come, players go. Coaches come, coaches go.

There's KU, at the top, year after year after year after year after year after year after year after year after year after year.

"To be the deepest league in the country," KU coach Bill Self said after his No. 8 Jayhawks outlasted Oklahoma late Monday night, 83-75, to clinch at least a share of a tenth straight Big 12 regular-season crown, "(and) to have a three-game lead with three up (next) is pretty special."

…No trophy presentation. No court-storming. No net-cutting.

The players -- point guard Naadir Tharpe especially -- went bonkers, but the restraint was remarkable, all things considered.

…"That's the standard here," freshman shooting guard Wayne Selden said after dropping 15 points, three rebounds and three treys on the Sooners.

…Context? Anyone?

"Really, the only comparable run you can look at is John Wooden at UCLA," Gettys said. "Now he took it a step further, as far as a run of national championships. As far as dominance, I'm not a historian of college basketball, but it's the most remarkable streak of domination that I could ever imagine."

When Self started this run at Kansas, it was the beginning of the end for Quin Snyder at Mizzou, Jim Wooldridge was treading water at K-State, and Colorado and Baylor were the league walkovers.

Over that span, The Streak has endured 20 coaching changes, four Big 12 defections and two league additions.

That's staying power.

That's a dynasty.

"It's a remarkable run of domination," Gettys said.

"And to think about how many (players) they turned over in 10 years. You're not talking about three groups of four-year players. You're talking about an enormous amount of guys coming in and going out early and replacing three and four at a time. I mean, two years ago, he replaces his top six.

"It's just unreal to have a run like that."
Fox Sports Keeler

The lyrics and notes change, but the song remains the same. High school All-Americans around whom their teams revolved come to Kansas University with little clue just how hard they must compete to maintain a winning tradition like few others in sports.

Bit by bit, the teenagers surrender to their coach because they’re tired of sitting or getting yelled at or being left behind by more driven athletes. Singled out for selfish play, embraced for making teammates look good, they quickly understand it’s cool to be unselfish. Dive on the floor or be called the dreaded ‘S’ word: "Soft."

Big men who run faster than the other team’s big men. Everybody feeding off the roar of the best home crowd in college basketball. Young athletes popping out of shells of self-doubt by mimicking their coach’s personality when competing. They learn not to waltz through open doors. They don't wait for doors to open, after having had so many opened for them in younger years because of their magnificent basketball talent. They bust them open with lowered shoulders. They start to talk like Bill Self, using the word “aggressive” liberally. And when all the wins and losses are counted, they grab at least a share of the Big 12 title, this time with three games remaining.

The song has played that way for 10 years in a row now and Monday's 83-75 victory against visiting Oklahoma that nailed down at least a share of the 10th conference title featured so many of the elements that have resonated throughout the decade of dominance.

…Explaining the decade of dominance, Self said, “You don’t win unless you have better guys than the other guys and we’ve had better guys.”

Truer words never have been spoken.

And those players have played for a better coach than any in Big 12 history. Truer words never have been written.
LJW Keegan

Five Jayhawks scored in double-figures on Monday night, including four others that will likely end up being first round picks by the time they leave Lawrence. Two of them, Andrew Wiggins and Joel Embiid, will likely end up going No. 1 and No. 2 in the NBA Draft in June. But with Kansas up 76-71 with just over a minute left in the game, Bill Self called a timeout to draw up a play for Tharpe.

That play?

A simple 1-4 high-set, allowing his junior point guard to go one-on-one. Tharpe repayed him with a driving lay-in that put the Jayhawks up seven and all-but iced the game.

Oh, and did I mention that Tharpe is this team’s question mark?

Tharpe has had an up-and-down career with Kansas, but he’s been tremendous for the Jayhawks during conference play. He still has some bouts of inconsistency — the end of the Texas Tech game, for example, where he had two unforced turnovers and airballed a three in the final minutes — but the bottom-line is that when he is playing well, Kansas is near-unbeatable this season.

And he’s been playing well more often than not of late.

Which is why Kansas became the first power conference team to lock up at least a share of their league’s regular season title, the 10th consecutive season that is the case.

I hope all of you appreciate just how difficult that is to do, especially in a power conference.

…In a day and age where early entry to the NBA Draft has forced programs at the highest level of the sport into a cycle of rebuilding that is faster than ever, Self has kept Kansas in control of the league for an entire decade. Think about this: three of these ten league titles have come without Kansas returning a single starter.

Including this season!

He’s locked up the toughest conference in the country in February with three regular season games left on the schedule.

And this was supposed to be the season that the streak ended.
NBC Sports Dauster

Whether it's Blake Griffin's Oklahoma teams, Acie Law's Texas A&M teams or the Texas teams that starred LaMarcus Aldridge, Kevin Durant or D.J. Augustin, the Big 12 has produced some worthy challengers for Kansas over the past decade.

All of them have one thing in common: None managed to dethrone the Jayhawks.

Kansas secured at least a share of its 10th consecutive Big 12 championship on Monday with an 83-75 victory over Oklahoma. The Jayhawks replaced all five starters from last season's Sweet 16 team yet lead arguably the nation's toughest conference by 3.5 games over Texas and Iowa State.

To put into perspective how remarkable an accomplishment Kansas' league title streak is, consider that no other college basketball program currently has won more than three straight conference championships. Below is a look at how the Jayhawks' domination of the Big 12 compares to some of the great runs in college basketball history and in other sports:
Yahoo

They came for the party, and by now they've been through enough of these to know the rhythms.
"Enjoy the clinch," the guy checking parking passes in Lot 90 says.

Inside, the whole thing played out a bit like that same movie you've watched, oh, 10 times now. Brain-rattling noise in the beginning, talented opponent plays well enough to stay close for a while, then, blammo, a three-pointer here and an alley-oop there and No. 8 Kansas is finishing off an 83-75 win over Oklahoma and another Big 12 championship to a Rock Chalk Chant soundtrack at Allen Fieldhouse.

"We talked about it," coach Bill Self said of a 10th straight title. "But we didn't make a big deal out of it."

Self has done this enough now that he has a few rules, one of which is that nobody can celebrate with the trophy until it's won outright, which means Saturday in Stillwater at the earliest. And even then, they only celebrate with the understanding that bigger things are ahead.

Which is another way of saying this had everything that drives fans at other schools furious about this place and the people here treating it like something just short of a religious experience.

…"Every year," point guard Naadir Tharpe says. "That's what we say when we bring it in at the start of summer, all the way through the conference season: 'Big 12 champs.' Past teams have done the same thing, so we're glad we were able to do it as well."

Sixty-eight players have been part of what might be the most incredible streak in college sports. Sixty-eight players over 10 years, against 13 different teams coached by 32 different men.

Rick Barnes and Scott Drew are the only coaches in the league when Kansas started this streak, way back in 2005 on Wayne Simien's senior night. Freshmen on that team who didn't play much ended up being the nucleus of the 2008 national championship team. That's how it's been for Self's teams. Stars play right away. Everyone else waits their turn.

…The streak is long enough that Mario Chalmers wasn't here for the beginning of it, but now has his jersey hanging in the rafters. The streak started when Andrew Wiggins was 10 years old, and Joel Embiid was some seven years from playing his first organized basketball game.

…In a college basketball world where success is typically judged on the NCAA Tournament, Self probably emphasizes the conference season more than most other coaches.

He's always seen the conference season as a test of toughness, and there is nothing that Self enjoys more than tests of toughness. Win the Big 12, Self likes to say, and you have a chance at winning the national championship.
KC Star Mellinger


What Kansas is doing is not a streak. It is a dynasty. The roster has turned over how many times in that period? Not many of the star players remained four full seasons. Sherron Collins, the most underrated player in KU history, he did. But Cole Aldrich, the Morris twins, Mario Chalmers and Brandon Rush — they all left early. Xavier Henry stayed one year. It might be that way for a player or two on this season’s team.

It is so easily forgotten now, as we enjoy the talents of freshmen Andrew Wiggins and Joel Embiid and appreciate the quiet consistency of power forward Perry Ellis, that KU lost all five starters from last year’s Sweet 16 team, which entered the NCAA Tournament as a No. 1 seed but fell to eventual national runner-up Michigan.

How good is Self? This is his 13th year as a high-major coach, starting in 2000-01 at Illinois. In the previous 12 years — since the NCAA selection committee shafted his last, brilliant Tulsa team with a No. 7 seed — he never has coached a team that earned an NCAA seed lower than No. 4. There have been five No. 1s, a No. 2, two No. 3s and four No. 4s. That’s ridiculous.

We expect performances such as this from Self and Kansas, though because it’s what they deliver, every year. That does not mean it is not extraordinary.
The Sporting News DeCourcy (VIDEO highlights at the link)


It doesn’t always work for Kansas. These young players aren’t always where they’re supposed to be. They take questionable shots at times, forget to box out their opponents and let what appear to be safe leads evaporate in minutes, sometimes seconds.

Then you look up at the end of the night and five Jayhawks have scored in double figures. Seven-footer Joel Embiid, as raw as your last order at the sushi bar, has 12 points, 13 rebounds, three blocks, three assists and four steals. And it feels like he should be doing more.

Point guard Naadir Tharpe idles for so long, then kicks into another gear and finishes with 19 points, five assists and 6-of-7 shooting.

Wayne Selden lifts the Jayhawks with 13 of his 15 points in the first half, then grabs a rhythm guitar and plays backup the rest of the night.

Then there’s Andrew Wiggins, who seemingly can do no wrong even when everything he’s doing seems to be wrong. KU coach Bill Self, though, sticks with Wiggins and he comes through with one of the game’s biggest baskets, a three-pointer — his only one of the game — with 2:40 remaining to give the Jayhawks a 74-66 lead in a game they would eventually win, 83-75, over Oklahoma.

And if you’re counting — and if you’re a Kansas fan you’d be a fool not to — that’s 10 Big 12 championships in a row for the Jayhawks.

…“It’s a phenomenal accomplishment,” Kruger said. “It’s not like they’re doing that in a bad league. They’re doing that in a very good league. Certainly it’s a tribute to Bill and the job he’s done with the program in every way.”
Wichita Eagle Lutz

Kansas looks ready now. It is one of the few teams that no longer has a caveat after clinching at least a share of its 10th straight Big 12 regular-season title with an 83-75 win over Oklahoma on Monday.

In doing so the Jayhawks also unofficially served notice to the four potential No. 1 NCAA tournament seeds: Florida, Wichita State, Arizona and Syracuse -- all projected by ESPN’s Joe Lunardi as top seeds in Monday's Bracketology -- had better finish the regular season strong. KU is looking more and more like a top seed and already has constructed a resume strong enough to snatch one.

…It was Tharpe’s game-high 19 points that led Kansas, which had five players score in double figures. The Jayhawks have four players who average double figures scoring, led by Wiggins’ 16.4 points per game.

That kind of balance is what makes Kansas, which is also shooting more than 50 percent from the floor in conference play, so hard to defend.

…Rebounding is also a balanced affair for KU. Five players had at least four boards against the Sooners, and those same five players outrebounded Oklahoma 32-29.

Freshman center Joel Embiid grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds for KU. His continued development is another reason the Jayhawks look tournament-ready. The 7-footer entered Monday second in the Big 12 in blocks per game with 2.6 and collected six against the undersized Sooners.

If you aren't yet familiar with Embiid or any of the Jayhawks, you might want to learn their names. They look like a team that’s going to be playing for a while come tournament time.
ESPN Brown


Kansas' balance was on full display Monday night. Wiggins couldn't find his shot for most of the game, but the Jayhawks were able to overcome that because of the other options. Selden is capable of getting his own shot and knocking down jumpers from the perimeter; Perry Ellis a difficult matchup for most teams; Embiid is one of the best centers in the country; and then there's Tharpe.

Most people would say Tharpe being consistent is the biggest worry heading into the NCAA tournament, but he's been much improved this season. Before Monday, Tharpe had shot just 2-for-19 in his last three games, but he bounced back in a big way. And this isn't the first time he's come up big in a tight spot this season. He had 22 points at Baylor earlier this year, also going for 12 assists against Iowa State. Tharpe also went for back-to-back 20-point performances against Iowa State and Oklahoma State at the start of conference.

And he's the biggest personnel “concern” for Kansas in March. That's scary.

By the way, it's absolutely remarkable what Bill Self has done the past decade in Lawrence. Ten straight Big 12 titles is insane. As Jeff Eisenberg of Yahoo! Sports pointed out on Twitter, no other program in the country has a current streak longer than three. And it's not like the conference has been mediocre – at least one other Big 12 team has received a four-seed in the NCAA tournament in each season. There have been 14 top-four seeds given to Big 12 teams besides Kansas during the past 10 seasons. The Jayhawks have had stiff competition.

Yet Self continues to churn out conference championships. And it's going to be impossible to pick against the Jayhawks until they lose one. Whenever that happens.
CBS

Title number ten wasn’t happening without number ten — that’s Tharpe, of course — who walked off the court smiling, holding up ten fingers.

“I think the last ten minutes of the game,” Self would say, “that’s as good as Naadir has played since he’s been here.”

No arguments here.

Because with the Sooners threatening to spoil the celebration and the Jayhawks’ offense gone stale, Tharpe took over — dropping in 14 of his game-high 19 points with the game on the line.

“At the end,” Perry Ellis said, “he didn’t let us lose.”

He wasn’t the only one, of course. The roar-inducing stretch where a Joel Embiid swat, a Wayne Selden dish and a high-arching Andrew Wiggins trey helped plenty, too.

But, with ten minutes left and on, there was plenty of Tharpe, who snapped out of a three-game shooting funk in a big way.

First came a deep, step-back jumper that ended a mini OU run and pull KU within 58-59. Next, after an assist and a steal that helped the Jayhawks regain the lead, Tharpe sunk two free throws to extend the margin. And then, a few trips later, a driving layup in transition that gave Kansas a 71-66 cushion.

Two possessions later, with the Sooners tightening their defense on the wings and the shot clock winding down, Tharpe dribbled the ball at the top of the key before dipping into the lane, stopping, popping and floating a short jumper in over Ryan Spangler with 1:49 to play.

“The lane was open,” Tharpe explained. “So I just tried to be aggressive and make plays.”

OU answered again — as Buddy Hield sunk a 3-pointer that cut KU’s lead to 76-71 with 1:33 left — but so did Tharpe.

After Self took a timeout, he kept the ball in his point guard’s hands, and Tharpe responded by shaking loose of his man and slashing in for another layup.

“He closed the game the way good players close games,” Self said. “The way good point guards close games.”
TCJ Ward


“I’m proud of the guys’ ability to fight back and get back into it, but we’ll just keep learning,” Sooners coach Lon Kruger said. “We’ll learn that every possession is too significant. I thought a couple times we didn’t complete a play, and they converted on the other end.

“We’ve got to learn to be just a little stronger in those moments.”

Two of those thwarted plays came back to bite the Sooners in the closing minutes.

After Ryan Spangler missed a free throw that could’ve cut the Kansas’ lead to two points, Naadir Tharpe came up with a steal and then converted a layup to put the Jayhawks up by five.

Then, after Joel Embiid blocked a 15-foot jumper by Spangler, Andrew Wiggins nailed a 3-pointer to give the Jayhawks a cushion.

Wiggins, one of Kansas’ touted freshmen, usually doesn’t show much emotion on the court. But he pumped his fist after hitting a shot that all but sealed the game.

“The main thing is that we didn’t take care of the ball in critical times,” OU’s Cam Clark said. “We have to learn from that, and we know we are still growing and it’s just errors that we can get better on.”

“Kansas is so tough here for a lot of reasons,” Kruger said. “Bill does a great job, they are very talented, the atmosphere is great and the difference is in the runs they make. That’s what you have to try to avoid. It’s easier said than done.

“I thought for the most part, we handled the ball well and made tough plays. But again, those two or three stretches is why KU is so tough.”
The Oklahoman

KU players Jamari Traylor, Joel Embiid and others, like Self, rejoiced with their arms stretched high, thanks in large part to junior Naadir Tharpe, who pretty much saved the day against a gritty (20-8, 9-6) OU team.

Tharpe, who finished with 19 points off 6-of-7 shooting with five assists and one turnover, scored 12 of the Jayhawks’ final 18 points. He hit a driving left-handed layup to give KU a 71-66 lead at 3:08. That clutch bucket was followed by a tip in by Andrew Wiggins (15 points) at 2:44.

Tharpe also scored to up a 74-68 lead to 76-68 and up a 76-71 lead to 78-71. He calmly cashed four straight free throws in the final 33 seconds.

“Naadir closed the game the way point guards are supposed to close,” Self said. “The last 10 minutes is as good as Naadir has played since he’s been at KU. All teams that have a chance at having a great season have guys that can close, when you don’t run offense and put the ball in his hands. It’s what great teams have.”
LJW


OK, four times KU shared the title – with Oklahoma in 2005, Texas in 2006 and ’08, and, technically, Kansas State last season, in spite of sweeping the Wildcats. (Count that one, K-Staters, and you cannot conveniently forget that the Cats’ 2012 football title was shared with Oklahoma.)

Sometime, somehow, some Big 12 team needs to step up and dethrone Kansas, or else the league will continue to look as if it is overpowered – and, it is – by one program.

For his part, Self always plays up the Big 12. He did so again after the Oklahoma win.

“In a league this competitive and thought by many to be the hardest league in the country, to have a three-game lead with three left is pretty special,’’ Self said.
TCJ Haskin

Jeff Graves wasn’t about to miss this moment.

Sitting in the row behind Kansas’ bench, the former KU forward watched on as the fifth-ranked Jayhawks clinched a share of their 10th straight Big 12 championship with an 83-75 victory over Oklahoma.

“I wanted to be here for them tearing down the nets a week early,” Graves said with a smile.

The 32-year-old knows firsthand just how amazing this conference streak has been. He actually was a part of the last Jayhawks’ team that didn’t at least share the title — 2003-04, when KU tied for second in the conference with a 12-4 record, two games behind 14-2 Oklahoma State.

Every year since then, the Jayhawks have added to their banner for conference championships.

“That’s part of KU history. That’s part of tradition,” Graves said. “That’s why players that are recruited always come here.”

…"This is a game we would have lost in November or even January," Self said. "I thought OU played very well, and our guys just kind of figured out a way to do it."

As he walked out of the tunnel to leave the court, Self celebrated by holding up both hands with fingers extended, signifying the number of consecutive league titles his teams had accrued. The KU fans roared back in satisfaction.

"It means a lot, just to carry the tradition," KU sophomore forward Perry Ellis said. "It’s been happening before I got here. I wanted to come here and be a part of that and just try to continue to do the best I can to keep it going."

In the locker room, the Jayhawks didn't party with the Big 12 trophy — that's reserved for when they clinch it all to themselves — but they did get the joy of watching assistant coach Jerrance Howard do the "Nae Nae" dance.

The first-year assistant had only broken out the move once before: in KU's victory at Iowa State.

"He’s a helluva lot better dancer than I am," Self said. "We talked about (the title), but we didn’t make a big deal of it. Our deal is to try to go rest up a little bit and go try to win it outright in Stillwater."
TCJ Newell


KC Star Kerhoff: Breaking down Kansas’ amazing decade of Big 12 titles

Link to above video

University of Kansas alumni Kent and Missy McCarthy have donated the lead gift for the financing of Phase One of the Fieldhouse Apartments project at KU.
 
Kansas Athletics recognized the gift during Monday night's KU men's basketball game vs. Oklahoma.  The McCarthys were joined in Allen Fieldhouse by Kent's father, Charles, and their children -- Molly, Annie and Charlie.
 
The apartments, which will house the men's basketball team and an equal number of distinguished non-student-athletes, will be built on Naismith Drive, just south of Allen Fieldhouse.
 
The apartments will be named for Kent's late mother, Marie S. McCarthy.  Born in 1929, Marie grew up on a farm in central Kansas during the dust bowl days of the 1930's.  She attended KU on a math scholarship – a rarity for women in that era.
 
"My mother loved everything about the University of Kansas and the State of Kansas," Kent McCarthy said. "She never missed watching a KU basketball game.  My father Charles, who thankfully is still with us, and Marie were married for 62 years, and I think the only thing 'Grams' loved more than Kansas basketball was being a grandmother."
 
McCarthy said he and Missy appreciate the efforts of Kansas Athletics and KU Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little for their help getting the project off the ground.  "We are honored to kick off the campaign for this project," he said.  "We strongly believe this endeavor will help keep the Kansas Basketball brand among the strongest in the country, and will be an appropriate benefit for the student-athletes who do so much for the University and the State of Kansas."
KUAD


Vote for Wiggs for the Wooden Award



“Pay Heed. The game you love began here. Respect those who came before you. Make their legacy your own. Because destiny favors the dedicated. And rings don’t replace work. In this game you don’t get what you want. You get what you earn. We are Kansas. Together we rise. Rock Chalk Jayhawk!

FYI: If Kansas beats Oklahoma tonight, Bill Self will be the only coach in CBB history to win 10 straight major conference championships.
@clubtrillion

It's becoming more and more clear that the Big 12 will put at least one team into the tournament with a losing conference record. In particular, we're talking about Baylor (6-8, coming off a genuinely huge win at West Virginia) and Oklahoma State (5-9, but welcoming back Marcus Smart from a three-game, three-loss suspension).

The arithmetic is simple, really. With only 10 teams, anything above five bids is likely to produce an NCAA team in the bottom half of the Big 12 standings. This flies in the face of my longstanding belief that teams should be at least .500 in league play to qualify for at-large consideration (conference tournament games included). But it will be hard to argue against either the Bears -- with nonconference wins over Colorado, Dayton and Kentucky -- or the, ahem, "smarter" Cowboys (wins over Louisiana Tech, Memphis and Colorado) as tourney participants.

What such league woes effectively do is eliminate a bubble team's margin for error. Including the conference tournament, Baylor in all likelihood needs at least three more wins (in a minimum of five games) and Oklahoma State as many as four victories in the same window to have the odds in their favor on Selection Sunday.
ESPN ($) Lunardi


Texas Tech hopes to have 10,000 students in attendance on Tuesday when the Red Raiders take on Kansas State at 6 p.m. in United Spirit Arena.

The students, after setting attendance records during football season, have already set one during basketball when more than 4,000 showed up to support Tech against Kansas a week ago.

“We’re really excited,” head coach Tubby Smith said. “We know how important filling the stands here at Spirit arena is. The student body has been great all year long. Fans and students are realizing that there’s a lot of excitement around Red Raider basketball and this is a real happening in town. We’d appreciate it if they got out here in full force. I know there’s going to be a lot of events, a lot of opportunities to win prizes.”

Texas Tech athletics, in conjunction with University officials, look to offer an incentive for students to fill up the arena as they will have over 30 chances to win cash and prizes during the game.
Students have a chance for big money — $10,000 or $10,000 towards a new vehicle courtesy of Reagor-Dykes Automotive.

However, the $10,000 won’t just be given away.

Four half-court shots each are in place for both the cash and money toward a new vehicle.
A trip for two to Tech’s game against Kansas at Allen Fieldhouse is up for grabs, as well as two sets of four tickets each to Red Raider football games against Baylor and TCU.
Five sets of four tickets will be given away to see the Texas Rangers on May 20, and five $100 United gift cards will be available as well.
Also, the dorm with the most students will receive a shopping spree for Under Armour gear using Tech garage sale items.
Link


There comes a time in every season, whether it's at the end or the beginning of the end, when the reality is impossible to ignore and the inevitable is too much to overcome. It sounds like that moment may have come Saturday afternoon for West Virginia.

If the actions during an 88-75 loss to Baylor didn't illustrate the predicament the Mountaineers find themselves in late in a season that's suddenly heading in a very different direction than it was two weeks ago, than the words left no secret about what's happening inside the Coliseum.

After a week off, WVU was soundly outplayed inside, gave up another alarmingly high shooting percentage and lost for the third time in four games ­­- and the losses are by 14, 17 and 13 points. Afterward, Bob Huggins didn't talk to his team about NCAA Tournament possibilities. He instead questioned their "commitment to excellence."

…"We had a week. They all have iPads. They all have all the breakdowns and the breakdowns for the people they're going to guard. I'm not sure what they did. Maybe they played Spider on their iPads, but they sure as hell didn't watch tape."
Link


WMC also highlighted a study of female sports journalists — still a rare breed, despite the fact that more women than ever are sports fans. Sure, Meredith Vieira got the chance to host the Olympics in primetime last week, but she was the first woman ever to do so and it was only because regular host Bob Costas had double pinkeye and first-choice replacement Matt Lauer was too tired.

An Associated Press Sports Editors-commissioned report by the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport found that there was an increase in women of color sports journalists, but it still wasn’t enough to merit more than an F grade for gender representation in columnists and editors. And the majority of female columnists and editors worked for ESPN, which the report notes has made an effort to diversify its newsroom. Without ESPN, things would be far worse. As it is, 90 percent of sports editors are white and 90 percent are male.

And, it should be noted, the few female sports reporters we do have get to deal with Bleacher Report’s regular slideshows of the “50 Hottest Female Sports Broadcasters from Around the World” “20 Sexiest Sports Reporters of 2012,” “20 Sexiest Local Sports Broadcasters” or “40 Hottest College Football Reporters.” (Two of those lists were written by a woman, so there’s one female sports journalist byline, I guess.) Not to mention harassment from fans, the athletes they cover and even their own colleagues. Sports journalism is a uniquely difficult beat for the few women that are lucky enough to get the job.

It’s not just the journalists who tend to be white men; their sources are, too. According to Media Matters, non-MSNBC Sunday morning shows were more likely to feature a white man than a white woman or minority of either gender combined. (MSNBC, led by the Melissa Harris-Perry Show, was much more inclusive.) Another study showed that male sources in New York Times front-page stories outnumbered female sources 3.4 to 1 in January and February 2013.
Link


Big XII composite schedule (includes results, highlights, stats)


ESPN College GameDay Schedule


2013-14 TV Schedule

JaQuan Lyle visits KU today!


A Chicago Public Schools spokesperson confirmed Sunday that Curie is being investigated for possibly using ineligible players in the city championship game Friday.

According to Curie coach Mike Oliver, CPS was aware of the possible infraction before the title game began, but allowed the Condors to play. Curie beat Young in four overtimes.

“It’s an embarrassment if they try and take this back,” Oliver said. “It makes the city of Chicago and Young look like sore losers. [At 3 p.m.] they are asking about eligibility. But if they cancel the game they have to give back almost $60,000. So they let us play the game, get the money and then make us forfeit? That isn’t right.”

Oliver and his team arrived several hours late to Chicago State. They were waiting at Curie, unable to board the bus. Phillip Perry, Curie’s principal, told Oliver that the team had to wait because CPS Law Department had asked for Curie’s roster. Perry said someone called the CPS claiming Curie had ineligible players.

“The kids kept asking ‘Why haven’t we left?' '' Oliver said. “They wanted to get there and see the sophomore title game (at 4:30). At 5:00 the team started getting pretty worried. They knew we didn’t have enough time to get to the game, get dressed and warmed up. This was the city title game, there is a lot going on. At 5:30 [Perry] came in and said ‘Go to the game, we will deal with this on Monday.' ''

At 6:50, before Curie even arrived at Chicago State, Young coach Tyrone Slaughter was told to have his team take the court.

“I didn’t know what was going on exactly, what the particulars of the investigation were,” Slaughter said. “We knew it was something more than just them being late.”

Oliver said Young principal Joyce Kenner approached him after the game and told him Young had nothing to do with the investigation.

“We’re just trying to be happy right now,” Oliver said. “We are going to school tomorrow as the city champs. We can’t control if they want to take it away.”

The Illinois High School Association will have to determine if Curie is eligible for the state playoffs, which begin next Monday. According to a statement, they are awaiting the results of the CPS investigation.
Link


Recruiting Calendar


My Late Night in the Phog videos, KU Alumni games videos, 2011-12 Border War videos, Legends of the Phog videos, KC Prep Invitational, & Jayhawk Invitational Videos and more now on YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/user/kcjcjhawk

The top 25 teams in The Associated Press’ college basketball poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through Feb. 23, total points based on 25 points for a first-place vote through one point for a 25th-place vote and last week’s ranking:

                         Record   Pts Prv
1. Florida (47)          25-2  1,606   2
2. Wichita St. (14)    29-0  1,549   3
3. Arizona (4)           25-2  1,494   4
4. Syracuse              25-2  1,410   1
5. Kansas                 21-6  1,310   8
6. Duke                    22-6  1,286   5
7. Louisville              23-4  1,152  11
8. Villanova              24-3  1,113   9
9. Creighton             23-4  1,103  11
10. Saint Louis         25-2  1,047  10
11. Cincinnati           24-4    921   7
12. Virginia              23-5    909  14
13. San Diego St.     23-3    886   6
14. Wisconsin           22-5    818  16
15. Iowa St.             21-5    709  17
16. Michigan             19-7    653  20
17. Kentucky            21-6    629  18
18. Michigan St.        22-6    552  13
19. North Carolina     20-7    440   _
20. Iowa                  19-7    418  15
21. Memphis             21-6    288  22
22. Ohio St.              22-6    253  24
23. SMU                   22-6    155   _
24. Texas                 20-7    129  19
25. New Mexico         21-5    113   _

Others receiving votes: UConn 81, UCLA 41, Oklahoma 35, Stephen F. Austin 11, UMass 9, Gonzaga 2, Green Bay 2, NC Central 1

All Hail @TarikBlack25 #theairupthere
@evan_manning5


Tarik Black just floated for way longer than any man his size should be able to. This place is in shock. #KUbball
@Schustee19


Cross off 'Tarik Black impersonating Blake Griffin' on your Kansas basketball bingo card
@bm_dub


Sweet Mary Mother of God ... Tarik Black's dunk ... Ohhhhhh wwooooowwwww. Make sure to watch SportsCenter for this one
@JasonKingBR


Guess you can say, Tarik's magna dunk got me a little excited !
@WayneSeldenJr


The Kansas bench really enjoyed this Tarik Black dunk over Texas tonight. REALLY enjoyed it.
@SportsCenter


I'd like to thank everyone for your support. I'm blessed to have it and thankful for it.
@TarikBlack25

Tarik Black grinned when asked what he’ll give Andrew Wiggins today on Wiggins’ 19th birthday.

“In my family the tradition is you have to take as many punches as your age or take one punch and that one punch is very hard. You have that option,” Black said. “We’ll see how it works with him. I might cut a deal. I might say, ‘if you make these three three-pointers in a row, I won’t get at you.’ If not, sorry everybody,” Black added.

Black loved the reaction of his teammates after his one-handed skywalking slam dunk in the second half.

“I saw a video. The bench went nuts. Those are my guys, my brothers. You know everybody is excited when Niko Roberts can hold Wayne Selden up,” Black said with a laugh. “Wayne was climbing up his back.”

Black said his own back locked up a bit in the second half. “I’m good,” he noted of his physical health.
LJW

KUAD postgame notes


KUAD Box Score


ESPN Photos


KC Star Photos


LJW Photos


TCJ Photos


UDK Photos


#KUCMB Gameeeedayy! #LetsGetThisMoney
@K_Ctmd22


Ku blows out Texas and Alabama beats MU on the weekend of my bday! #RollTide #RockChalk #24
@T_2releFOUR


2/22/14, 7:27 PM
Yes, Kansas is erratic. Yes, Kansas is young. But the Jayhawks' best might be better than anyone else's best.
@JeffEisenberg


2/22/14, 9:48 PM
Arizona,Florida,Wisconsin,MSU,Kansas Duke,Cuse, all far more deserving of 1seed than Wichita State it isn't really close
@GottliebShow

Link to above video

All of the Jayhawks were running — even Joel Embiid.

So when Kansas’ big man ran the floor on a fast break and Embiid flashed open in the lane, Naadir Tharpe had to reward him. Embiid caught the ball at the free-throw line, took one step and bent his arm back as if he were a pitcher unloading a fastball. Then he fired a 100 mph strike into the hoop.

The dunk sent Allen Fieldhouse to a frenzy and was fast-break point No. 10 for the Jayhawks, who ran as frequently as they have all season. The result was a flurry of early baskets and Texas turnovers, and by halftime both teams and fans wondered if there was a point of playing the second half.

There wasn’t.
TCJ

“They put a beating on us in Austin (81-69 on Feb. 1) and we’re No. 1 and they are right behind us in the league race,” Black added “Coach (Bill) Self is a feisty guy. He wanted to win for the conference race. He also wanted this for a personal thing. It was kind of a vengeance type thing.

They beat us at their house pretty bad. We had to make sure it was just as bad. Really truly he (Self) wants to make it worse. That’s the mentality we took ... of our coach,” added Black, who finished with nine points and five boards.

As Black said, the victory was huge. Up three games with four to play, KU can wrap up at least a share of its 10th straight conference title with a win against Oklahoma (20-7, 9-5) on Monday night. Texas, like OU, is three games back.

“Coach said it was probably the most important weekend of the year to date,” said Black, whose dunk came long after the outcome was decided. KU led, 46-18, at halftime.

“I have two other dunks that might compare,” the Memphis transfer added. “I jumped over a guy vertically in high school. Two years ago in the Bahamas against Minnesota I had a nice little dunk where I caught a guy. I’ve heard Dr. J (Julius Erving) and Blake Griffin,” he added of others who could pull off this type of dunk. “I’m blessed to be Tarik Black.”
LJW


"I talk about our guys not being as tough as we'd like them to be, which we're not, but they are prideful," Kansas coach Bill Self said. "Texas whipped us down there the first time. I said all along this game wasn't about the league race as much as it was playing Texas."

The game actually played out in similar fashion to the first meeting, only this time it was Kansas that played flawlessly and Texas that looked like a mess.

After the Longhorns jumped out to an 8-3 lead, they managed just one field goal over an 11-minute stretch as the Jayhawks launched a 32-5 run that put the game away.

…Just how bad were the Longhorns in the first half? Try 6 of 29 from the field and 5 of 12 from the foul line, with five turnovers and three assists. They were dominated on the boards, dominated in the paint and, well, dominated just about everywhere else, too.

Taylor, who had 23 points in the first meeting with Kansas, was 0 for 10 from the field as the Jayhawks built a 46-18 halftime advantage. And even when Texas managed to score -- as it did out of the break -- Kansas often answered with two buckets in return.

It kept going like that throughout the second half as the Jayhawks outscored Texas 26-0 in transition and 38-22 in the paint, allowing them to empty their bench early.
AP

Statisticians have a number for everything else, so why not decapitation execution? Translation: Stop the opposing point guard’s dribble before he gets anywhere near the paint. Cut off the head and the body dies.

Since the nerds haven’t yet found a way to quantify that important aspect of winning basketball games, words must do.

Kansas University’s decapitation execution against Texas in Austin: Very poor. In Lawrence: Excellent.

One victory away from clinching at least a share of his 10th consecutive Big 12 title, Kansas coach Bill Self had never heard of the stat of the future, “decapitation execution,” but he always has been a big proponent of “cutting off the head,” of the other team by stopping the point guard’s penetration.

“We decapitated better today,” Self said.

…“Naadir was fabulous, even though he didn’t make shots,” Self said. “He set the tone defensively. We kept them out of the paint for the most part in the first half.”

Self was every bit as complimentary of Mason, saying, “Frank’s shot it really well in practice, but he hasn’t shot it worth a flip during games. He hasn’t scored and he’s just waiting to bust out.”
LJW


Nothing reverberated, though, like the dazzle of Andrew Wiggins, who turns 19 today and steadily enough has been coming of age and beginning to fulfill his immense promise.

But Wiggins' half (15 points) and night overall (21 points, six rebounds) was a quantum leap of sorts.

With two dunks and three three-pointers in a span of 6 minutes, Wiggins was evoking wows even as the echoes of the previous one were still caroming around Allen.

And then there was the fact that it came against Texas, the lead pretender to KU's throne and 81-69 victor over the Jayhawks on Feb. 1.

"We got embarrassed at their place; we wanted to do the same thing to them," he said, adding, "I was fired up for this game."

That was only six games back, and it was particularly exasperating for Wiggins. He was stranded somewhere between tentative and off-kilter as he made just two of 12 field goals. He finished with seven points before he fouled out for the first time in his collegiate career.

Never mind that it was the only time in the last 10 games Wiggins hasn't been in double figures and that it came immediately after he'd gone for 27 against TCU and 29 against Iowa State.

…"He's playing great; how can anybody say (otherwise?)," Self said. "The last game, he drove it for us to win the game. This game he shot for us to win the game. And look at the guy he guards.
"The guy he guards usually doesn't get very many. . . . I thought he was really good."

And now the Jayhawks can clinch at least a tie for their 10th straight Big 12 title on Monday against Oklahoma. That doesn't necessarily answer what will become of Kansas in March, which will go a long way towards defining Wiggins' legacy.

But it does say that Wiggins is arriving just in time.
KC Star Gregorian

A conference championship for Kansas now appears almost certain. But for this Kansas squad more is expected. This is a team that starts three former McDonald's high school All-Americans, and features a fourth player who is a future NBA lottery pick (Joel Embiid wasn't invited to the McDonald's game). The Jayhawks played like a Final Four team Saturday night in Lawrence, translating ability into performance at both ends of the floor. The question moving forward for Kansas is, how often can it play like this? Is a performance like Saturday's an infrequent event, or is Bill Self's team starting to hit its stride?

For the Longhorns, everyone knew coming in that this past week was the most difficult on the schedule. Now the Longhorns need to bounce back after two big losses for a home game against a reinvigorated Baylor, before travelling to Norman for a rematch against the Sooners.
burntorangenation.com


Former Kansas center Eric Chenowith was in the building on Saturday night. His timing could not have been better — or worse. KU freshman center Joel Embiid finished with six blocked shots, surpassing Chenowith’s KU freshman record of 62 blocks. Embiid now has 68 blocks on the season. He also finished with 13 points and seven rebounds in Kansas’ 85-54 victory over Texas.

“It was a great accomplishment for me,” Embiid said.

Kansas coach Bill Self was hopeful that Embiid’s minutes on Saturday — he played just 21 in the blowout — would allow him to be more healthy for Monday’s game against Oklahoma.

• KU freshman point guard Frank Mason finished with 14 points on six-of-seven shooting, spurring a transition attack that dominated Texas. The Jayhawks outscored the Longhorns 26-0 in fast-break points.

“You look at the fast-break points, that was a big deal right there,” Self said. “We blocked shots or had steals and long rebounds that led to baskets. He kind of spearheaded that.”

• Kansas’ 31-point victory was the largest in the all-time series with Texas. The Jayhawks also won 12 conference games for the 14th straight season, thought to be the longest such streak in the country.
KC Star


Wiggins put on an offensive show, contributing 17 points and 4 rebounds in the first 12 minutes.
“When I score early, I think that brings confidence to my game,” Wiggins said. “Especially if I hit a three, I feel like, ‘Ah, I’m on fire’ automatically.”

The Jayhawks pushed their lead to 46-18 at halftime as Texas made just 6 of 29 field goals in the opening 20 minutes (21 percent). Self later called it the best defensive half for his team this year.
The second-half highlight for KU came with 5:15 left, as Tarik Black took a pass in transition and rode the body of Texas' Cameron Ridley before tossing the ball into the hoop.

“Live, I thought that was the best dunk we had all year,” Self said. “I thought that was a pretty special play. I had no idea what he was going to do, and he just kept going up.”

Black said he took off so far away from the rim because it’s a play that opposing big men normally aren’t expecting.

KU’s bench erupted afterwards, with Wayne Selden Jr. jumping so much that he actually leapt over the bench.

“I didn’t see it during the game, but I saw a video of it after the game. Man, I love those guys,” Black said. “Those are my brothers. I love them to death, because they went crazy.”
TCJ

Andrew Wiggins, man. The KU freshman was so good in getting the KU offense going in this one that he simply could not catch and shoot the ball quick enough during one stretch in the first half when he appeared to be in the zone and feeling it perhaps as much as at any point this entire season. His numbers were good — 21 points and 6 rebounds on 7-of-12 shooting, 3-of-5 from three-point range — his defense was great and the whole package moved Wiggins higher on some pretty impressive freshman lists at KU. He now has 442 points this season, which puts him two points behind Brandon Rush for fourth place on the all-time freshman scoring list. With at least six games remaining and potentially as many as 13 more, expect Wiggins to continue to climb that list. He already owns the top spot for KU freshmen in free throws made (128), free throws attempted (169) and freshman scoring average at 16.4 points per game.
LJW Tait: The Day After


Eliminating Taylor as a scoring threat was a major focus for the eighth-ranked Jayhawks (21-6 overall, 12-2 Big 12), who used multiple defenders on the slithery guard and saw their efforts pay off. Of course, given that Saturday's meeting was the 21st all-time between Barnes and KU coach Bill Self — Self now leads 13-8 — none of that surprised the 16-year UT head coach.

“They didn't really do anything different than we expected them to do,” said Barnes, whose team missed a golden opportunity to pull within a game of KU in the conference race and fell to 20-7 overall and 9-5 in Big 12 play. “We just lost confidence because of the way we were playing and it snow-balled.”

“I think if we played Kansas again, we could beat Kansas if we do what we do,” Barnes said. “But we have to do it. I don't think we have the margin of error that they do.”

Because of that, along with a general lack of execution, 34 percent shooting, 11 missed free throws and an offensive output 23 points lower than average, Barnes left Lawrence compelled to borrow a line from Self.

“I think we should probably refund the fans,” Barnes began. “What was the team that Bill talked about? Topeka YMCA? They probably would've given 'em a little bit better game because we sure didn't give 'em a game.... They beat us and they beat us good.”
LJW


Texas coach Rick Barnes said something to make Bill Self laugh as they chatted in the handshake line following Kansas University’s 85-54 victory over the Longhorns on Saturday in Allen Fieldhouse.

“I don’t remember exactly what he said,” KU coach Self said after the Jayhawks upped their lead in the league standings to three games over five-loss teams UT, Iowa State and Oklahoma.

“We have a good relationship. He brings me Beef Jerky every time we play. I thought the Beef Jerky he gave me in Austin ... something was laced in it. Obviously it was not good because I ate half the bag before the game started,” Self added of KU’s 12-point loss to the Longhorns on Feb. 1 in Austin.

…Former KU guard Kenny Gregory, who has retired after playing overseas since his college days, attended his first game in Allen Fieldhouse since he left KU.

“It’s great to be able to finally get back to a game,” said Gregory, a 35-year-old native of Columbus, Ohio, who played at KU from 1997 to 2001.

Asked at halftime what impressed him the most about KU, he said: “Defense.”
LJW


LJW Keegan Ratings: Wiggins is KU’s top player vs Texas

Nothing in college basketball is more impressive than Bill Self winning 10 Big 12 titles in a row.
@Englishscope24


No statistic is cited more frequently in college basketball analysis. It is mind-blowing and unthinkable and hard to process. For the uninitiated, it sounds like something that could only happen before 1960. “Are you sure you’re not talking about John Wooden?” people will ask. Nope. It’s Kansas coach Bill Self that’s led the Jayhawks to at least a share of nine consecutive regular season Big 12 championships, and it’s all but guaranteed the streak will reach double digits after the No. 8 Jayhawks routed No. 19 Texas 85-54.

…When Self’s team began conference play on January 8 with a home game against Oklahoma, the continuation of Kansas’ crazy streak was no sure thing. Over the past seven weeks, with impressive wins over the best teams in arguably the top conference in the country, Kansas erased doubt whether it would finish the regular season atop the league standings. Among them: the big road win at then-No. 8 Iowa State on January 13, the home victory over then-No. 13 Oklahoma State on January 18 and, two days later, a 10-point decision at home over then-No. 24 Baylor.

Kansas had no trouble handling Texas on Saturday, thoroughly outclassing a team ranked No. 32 in Pomeroy’s team rankings that is on track to earn a top-six seed in the NCAA Tournament. The selection committee doesn’t factor margin of victory in the selection process, but its members do have eyes, and what they saw is hard to dispute: a legitimate national championship contender.
SI


The last time Kansas was swept in a Big 12 series was in 2001 by Iowa State, a feat that helped the Cyclones claim a second straight conference crown. Somewhere, Larry Eustachy has Polaroids of the celebration.

Since then, the Jayhawks have made it through 12 straight seasons without being swept in a Big 12 series. Most of those were when the league was split into two divisions. Yet this is the second year of the full round-robin, with nine home-and-home series comprising the league slate.

…Bill Self and his staff will have you scouted. KU students will know your every tick and get you flustered. The rest of the sellout crowd of 16,300 will chime in.

As for the Jayhawks, they will be enthused by all that, and more.

Add the extra motivation they felt after getting handled by Texas in Austin and, well, the Longhorns had no chance.

…A chance to claim at least a share of a 10th consecutive Big 12 championship now awaits when Oklahoma visits on Monday. Self again figures to gain his team’s attention.

“It’s not every day that you get a chance to clinch at least a piece of a championship at home,” he said, “so I think our guys will give us some good concentration.”

What the Jayhawks brought to the floor against Texas was too good for any Big 12 opponent to touch.
TCJ Haskin


I also posted this stat on Twitter, but I thought it accurately summed up just how dominant KU was against Texas: UT posted 0.83 PPP against KU (its previous worst this year was 0.88) while KU scored 1.31 PPP (the previous high against UT was 1.21).

Offensively, KU did a great job of limiting turnovers against a passive defense, as the Jayhawks' 11 percent offensive turnover percentage tied for their best mark of the season. KU also was strong on the offensive glass and especially efficient inside the arc, making 24 of 39 2-pointers (62 percent).
The real story was defensively, though, as KU took a step towards trying to show it's not Bill Self's worst KU team ever on that end. The Jayhawks jumped from 35th to 27th in KenPom's adjusted defensive efficiency, and though that's still not good for a Self team (25th is his worst ever), it's a positive step for a squad that hadn't shown this kind of intensity or effort in its two previous road games.
TCJ Newell


Less than a month before the NCAA tournament, Jayhawks coach Bill Self appears to have achieved another milestone in what is already a Hall of Fame-caliber career. Somehow he’s taken a roster filled with six freshmen and five new starters and molded it into a selfless, cohesive unit that is one win away from winning its 10th straight Big 12 title.

But there’s no need to stop there.

When the Jayhawks display the same type of chemistry on the court as they do off of it, they’re the best team in America. Kansas may not look like the country’s top squad every time it steps on the court.

But the Jayhawks’ A-game vs. anyone else’s A-game? Give me Kansas every time. Syracuse, Florida, Duke, Wichita State...none of them are capable of playing at a level as high as the one Self’s squad displayed Saturday night.

“At the end,” Texas coach Rick Barnes said, “I think they can be the best team in the country.”

Self didn’t try to downplay the subject.

“When we click on all cylinders,” he said, “we can play with anybody.”
Jason King


The good teams take away your pride. The Jayhawks snatch your kidneys.

Over the past nine seasons, Kansas coach Bill Self's teams had been given a chance to "avenge" 11 Big 12 losses -- there haven't been many -- via a rematch in the regular season or the league tournament.

The average margin of victory for KU in those 11 payback games: 16.3 points.

No ice. No bathtub. No note.

No mercy, either.

"I don't know if it means much, other than the fact our guys are pretty prideful," Self said after an 85-54 curb-stomping of No. 19 Texas on Saturday, a little payback for an 81-69 KU defeat in Austin on Feb. 1.

"And when somebody gets us, they may get us, that happens, but usually we've done a decent job of bouncing back."

Yeah. Yeah, you could say that.

"You've got to know, after we played as well as we played against them the first time," Longhorns coach Rick Barnes said of the eighth-ranked Jayhawks, "that they were going to be ready to play."
Ready? The band was ready. KU's roster was salivating. This puppy was over 12 minutes in, sometime between Andrew Wiggins' second 3-pointer, which made it 21-10 at the 8:57 mark of the first half, and his third, which pushed the lead to 24-10 with 8:20 to go until halftime.

The hosts blocked nine Texas shots -- seven in the first half, six by future millionaire Joel Embiid -- racked up seven steals and outscored the 'Horns on fast-break points by a margin of 26-0.

KU strung together a 25-2 run midway through the first period, a stretch so dominant, so one-sided, you half expected former Texas football coach Mack Brown to resign again, just on principle.
Fox Sports Keeler

VIDEO: KU half time show


Happy Birthday to @22wiggins. One of the coolest and nicest kids I have ever coach.
@Coachjhoward


Vote for Wiggs for the Wooden Award


Four-year-old Tarik Black was sure he could make it across the street, running behind his friends as they tried to beat a streetlight near an Atlanta park.

He never made it. A car struck Tarik from behind, the force knocking his shoes off and launching him into the air and onto a nearby patch of grass.

Tarik didn’t start crying until the ambulance came, and after looking him over, his older brother, Bilal, was surprised not to find any bruises.

When Bilal, 12 at the time, was asked whether Tarik needed medical attention, he turned to his young brother.

“You want to go to the hospital?” he asked.

Tarik shook his head.

“I just want to go home.”

...After loosening the laces on his blue hightops, Kansas senior forward Tarik Black leans forward in his chair as he begins to tell his story.

It’s a Friday afternoon in early January, and the 6-foot-9 Memphis transfer has just finished a practice at Allen Fieldhouse — something that would have seemed absurd a few years ago, when he was a 15-year-old who had never played organized basketball.

Black knows he’s a statistical improbability in other ways, too. Many of his peers in Memphis fell victim to the streets. Few others were blessed with the opportunities he’s received.

Those closest to him say there’s one way he’s made it this far, and that’s because his upbringing led to a different sort of toughness — one that is unique even to college basketball, where the term is often thrown around loosely.

Just ask KU coach Bill Self, who was surprised during one game when Tarik went down with an ankle injury. “ I didn’t know you could hurt him,” Self said.

Or teammate Naadir Tharpe, who says he never has seen his teammate lower his head during a practice or game, no matter how bad the situation was.

Or listen to Bilal, who said his brother didn’t back down from him, even though there was an eight-year gap between the two.

It’s this same toughness that has helped Black through this season — one that started with sizable expectations and a Big 12 preseason player of the year nod but hasn’t always gone the way he had hoped.
TCJ

“Pay Heed. The game you love began here. Respect those who came before you. Make their legacy your own. Because destiny favors the dedicated. And rings don’t replace work. In this game you don’t get what you want. You get what you earn. We are Kansas. Together we rise. Rock Chalk Jayhawk!

Florida's 75-71 road victory against Ole Miss was as unimpressive as the team's narrow home victory earlier in the week vs. Auburn. But the Gators' credentials (Just two losses on the season; wins vs. Kansas, Memphis, Kentucky) and winning momentum has them positioned to take over as the No. 1 team in the country and replace former No. 1 Syracuse, now loser of two in a row.

Although Wichita State's 29-0 record (the Shockers beat Drake on Saturday) will create an argument for the top team in the poll come Monday, this Florida team is too good and nationally respected to be outdone by a mid-major team.
USA Today


With six days to prepare for a team that has struggled all season on the road, Oklahoma turned Saturday's home game against Kansas State into a confidence booster heading into the final four games of the Big 12 season.

Buddy Hield scored 18 points and Isaiah Cousins added 17 to help Oklahoma beat Kansas State 86-73 and begin to clear up the Big 12 standings with four games remaining in league play.
"I was really, really happy for our guys. I thought they opened the game sharp on both ends of the floor and attacked offensively," Oklahoma coach Lon Kruger said.
Link


Kansas State coach Bruce Weber was not as big of a fan of the schedule and it's tough to blame him — the Wildcats were the only Big 12 team to play two teams coming off a week's rest this season.
Weber's team lost them both. The other came at Iowa State 81-75 on Jan. 25.

Eight conference teams had the break built into their schedules — Baylor and Kansas opened conference play later than the other schools and used the time for a nonconference game.

Only one, TCU, played their next game after the break on the road. TCU and West Virginia — in Saturday's loss to Baylor — were the only Big 12 teams to lose coming off the break.

“I hope the league looks at it — your number of double road games, your number of three-out-of-four road games,” Weber said. “Gotta make sure if we're going to have a good league to have a balanced schedule for everybody but credit to Oklahoma. They were rippin' and roarin' and we knew when they get going, they can score some points.”
The Oklahoman


OSU routed Texas Tech 84-62, a verdict that didn't so much revive the season as it revived morale. This was a team and a school and a town and a fan base that needed to remember how much fun winning can be.

And a coach, too. Most definitely the coach.

Ford's job status has become a major issue in this season-gone-sour, and lost in the speculation of how OSU could find $10 million to pay off a coach with five years left on his contract, was this. Who knows if Ford even would want to keep coaching at a place that was growing so disenchanted with his product?

No one wants to captain the Titanic.

But OSU hoops 2014 hasn't sunk yet. Not after Saturday, when the Cowboys took apart a Tech team that had been playing very well.

“Doesn't mean we're back,” Ford said, referring to the status that once had the Cowboys ranked fifth nationally but had slipped to ninth in the 10-team Big 12.

“Doesn't mean everything's perfect. It means we're capable. It's fragile. We can't take anything for granted.”

But at least this OSU season has a pulse. Ford was right. The return of Smart showed that this team is capable.

The Cowboys butchered what had been a tough Tech defense. Le'Bryan Nash was a dunking machine, Phil Forte scored 20 points and Markel Brown got to catch his breath, all because Smart was back. Not the Smart of January, but the Smart of November, who makes the game easier for his teammates because of quick hands and sharp eyes.

Smart was in triple-double territory, with 16 points, 10 assists and six steals.
The Oklahoman


"Do we deserve to be No. 1?" Wichita State coach Gregg Marshall asked rhetorically following Saturday's 83-54 win over Drake. "I can't say that. But if not, let's just have two divisions."

All the bluebloods above the line, and the mid-majors below. A section of elitist fans, coaches and -- yes -- some media have already seen to it in regards to Wichita State. They'd have a better point if the Shockers weren't, you know, coming off a Final Four season.

"That doesn't count," Marshall said sarcastically.

…So Marshall has embraced the undefeated chase. He digs his team being compared to Boise State and its BCS fight for respectability.

"I love Boise State," he said. "I watched them all the time, the Statue of Liberty against Oklahoma. We're the Boise State of college basketball."
CBS Dennis Dodd


Big XII composite schedule (includes results, highlights, stats)


ESPN College GameDay Schedule


2013-14 TV Schedule

JaQuan Lyle enjoyed his weekend visit to Oklahoma State and heads to Kansas on Monday.

“Great!! Loved it,” the 6-foot-5 Lyle told SNY.tv of his Oklahoma State visit.

Lyle was on hand to watch Marcus Smart’s return from suspension.

Smart went for 16 points, 10 assists and six steals in an 84-62 win over Texas Tech.
Oklahoma State coach Travis Ford has pitched Lyle on the the possibility of replacing Smart next season.

Lyle heads to Kansas on Monday and to Memphis March 7.  Oregon is the other school in his top four and he has already visited.

Lyle then plans to make a decision over spring break March 15-23.
zags blog


Saddled with foul trouble, Okafor played sparingly in the second half before fouling out late in the fourth quarter of Friday's Chicago Public League championship. The game was billed as Okafor vs. Curie's Cliff Alexander, but Okafor had to watch a record four overtimes before Young finally lost to top-ranked Curie, 69-66, on a last-second corner 3 from senior guard Kamar Marshall.

But even in his disappointment, Okafor could appreciate the magnitude of a game that just wouldn't end.

"Huge," he said. "It was a legendary game. It was epic."

Hey, it didn't lead the late SportsCenter for nothing.

Okafor, a 6-foot-10 center, and Alexander, a 6-foot-9 athletic dynamo, have big things ahead of them -- and I'm not talking about the state playoffs. Next year, maybe they'll meet in the Final Four.

Alexander, the third-ranked recruit in the ESPN 100, is heading to Kansas for one season after declaring himself a "one-and-done" player at his signing day event. Okafor has No. 1 pick written all over him.

If Parker goes No. 1 in the draft this year and Okafor the next, they would make it four Chicago Public League products in eight years as the top overall pick, joining Derrick Rose (2008) and Anthony Davis (2012).

Almost certainly, neither Okafor nor Alexander will see their sophomore year in college. That's why this title game was supposed to be so special. It was billed as their heavyweight matchup, the rare confluence of two top-ranked big men in a city typically dominated by hard-driving guards. So, naturally, it didn't quite turn out that way.

There were few one-on-one moments and Okafor didn't play for much of the second half because of foul trouble, and Alexander plays on a team where the guards, though talented, seem to suffer from a rare form of half-court amnesia where they forget the most explosive player in the country is on their team.

Unrequited post-ups aside, Alexander played the entire game and had 20 points and 12 rebounds. More important, he was the guy with the cheap medal hanging around his neck after the game.

…The two stars are friends, just like Okafor was buddies with former Simeon star Jabari Parker, who is now starring for Duke. But the big question around Chicago is who will be a better college and pro player, Alexander or Okafor?

When asked who's better, Alexander laughed and said, "I'll let you all answer that one."

He had the bragging rights, that's for sure.

The consensus seems to be that Okafor is better now, while Alexander has the higher ceiling.

Okafor, a true center, is more polished and efficient, from his footwork in the paint to his media interactions. He has slimmed down, but still looks heavy at times. Meanwhile, there is something magnetic about Alexander, who skies for one-handed snatch rebounds and transition dunks.

Okafor, used to competing with Parker for top dog status, is enjoying the competition with Alexander.

"It's a lot of fun for the fans, and he's playing great," Okafor said. "So he deserve to be in that conversation."

Both will gain immediate dividends from better teaching, conditioning and coaching in college. Alexander, in particular, will enjoy getting regular touches from guards instructed to feed him at all costs.

I believe Alexander is still calling for the ball in the low blocks, maybe even in his dreams. Before the fourth overtime, I snapped a picture of Alexander seemingly instructing one of the guards to get him the ball. He said it's frustrating at times, especially when Curie held the ball for long stretches during each overtime period, but he soldiered through.
ESPN


KeVaughn Allen, a 6-2 junior shooting guard from North Little Rock (Ark.) High, attended Saturday’s game on an unofficial visit. He’s currently ranked No. 90 in the Class of 2015.
LJW


Recruiting Calendar


My Late Night in the Phog videos, KU Alumni games videos, 2011-12 Border War videos, Legends of the Phog videos, KC Prep Invitational, & Jayhawk Invitational Videos and more now on YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/user/kcjcjhawk

Today, Kansas University’s basketball team can take a huge step toward claiming a 10th-straight Big 12 Conference championship.

The first-place Jayhawks, who possess an 11-2 record in league play, take on second-place Texas, which at 9-4 is a full two games back with five remaining.

“To me, it’s not even about the league race Saturday,” KU coach Bill Self said in previewing the 6:30 p.m. KU-UT battle in Allen Fieldhouse.

“It’s about playing Texas and playing a team that’s already handled us once. One of the residual effects is that it’s big for the league race, but it’s also just an opportunity for us to try to play better against a team that smacked us around pretty good.”

KU’s motivation today may simply be trying to atone for an 81-69 defeat to the Longhorns on Feb. 1 in Austin. The Longhorns, who like KU enter today’s game with a 20-6 record, led by 15 points at halftime and 20 in the second half.

In other words, it never really was close.

“Our big guys should look forward to the challenge of going against their front line. They kicked our butt on the glass,” Self said. “We never put any game pressure on them. They controlled that game pretty well.”

…If KU does win today, it could wrap up at least a share of its 10th consecutive league title Monday vs. Oklahoma (8 p.m., Allen). The NCAA Div. I record is held by UCLA, which won 13 straight league titles. Gonzaga had a streak of 11 league crowns snapped in 2012.

…KU athletic director Sheahon Zenger at Friday’s athletic advisory committee meeting was asked about the status of plans to build a $17.5 million apartment building for KU basketball players and other students. On Tuesday, the university dropped its legislative request for bonding authority to build the apartments. The House Education Budget Committee last week rejected the bonding proposal.

“We’ve regrouped and will pursue other strategies (to raise the funds),” Zenger said. “That project is alive and well.”

It is believed the apartment complex will be built by money raised from KU donors.
LJW


LJW Smithology: Getting reacquainted with the Longhorns


Looking back, Self says, he probably overestimated his team’s defensive potential. Last season, Kansas finished No. 1 in the nation in field-goal percentage defense, riding a tough group of veterans to a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. This year, the Jayhawks rank just 67th nationally in field-goal percentage, allowing opponents to shoot 41.2 percent.

The advanced defensive numbers tell a similar story. For the last seven years, Kansas has ranked in the top 11 in defensive efficiency, according to KenPom.com. Self’s defenses were so good, for so long, it almost seemed like a birthright. If Self is the coach, his team will feature a top-10 defense.
This year, they rank 35th in defensive efficiency.

Maybe some of this should have been expected. The Jayhawks lost the best shot-blocker in the country (Jeff Withey) and a lock-down perimeter defender (Travis Releford). New foul guidelines have opened up the game, increasing scoring and offensive numbers.

But back in October, Self still believed in his team’s defensive promise. He envisioned Andrew Wiggins blowing up the passing lane, and Wayne Selden Jr. slaloming past opponents in transition.

…It is, of course, in Self’s nature to worry about every microscopic detail on the defensive end. Defense travels, he says. If you want to establish success in the long-term, it starts with stops.

But the Jayhawks are still just a few victories away from lapping the field in the Big 12 race. They still rank among the best defenses in the conference, and they rank in the top 40 nationally in most defensive categories. Most programs would probably take those numbers. But for Self, it’s just not up to standards.

In the end, there’s no secret sauce for March success. But four months into the season, Self says his players are not resigned to just being good on defense. They can still get better. He’s trying, at least.

“I’m a big believer that you can teach kids to do anything,” Self says. “If we’re not good defensively, that’s on me because I haven’t done a good-enough job of getting them to play that way. There’s no excuse for not being good on that end.”
KC Star


Self says Tharpe faces a big challenge on that end because he’s not as big as some of KU’s previous point guards like Sherron Collins, Mario Chalmers and Tyshawn Taylor.

“He’s the one to me, and (freshman) Frank (Mason), that can do a better job of maybe making other teams play poorly because their point guard isn’t comfortable, and we haven’t done a good job of that lately,” Self said. “I’m not just picking on them. It’s kind of the way we’re playing, but it’s also basically body type and physical ability and things like that. They’re just not very big.”

As mentioned before, this game will have a huge impact on the Big 12 standings.

With a victory, KU will take a three-game lead over Texas with four games remaining, meaning the Jayhawks could clinch a tie of the league title in their following home game Monday against Oklahoma.

With a loss, though, KU would maintain just a one-game lead over Texas with a pair of tough road games left at Oklahoma State and West Virginia.

The contest also will be a renewal of a rivalry that featured some great games in the early-to-mid-2000s.

Self was reminded of that Wednesday, as during a ball signing, he looked up to the TV and saw a KU-Texas game from 2002 playing on ESPN Classic.

The stakes — and emotions — should be just as high in Saturday’s game at Allen Fieldhouse.
“Hopefully,” Self said, “it’ll be a classic as well.”
TCJ


ABOUT TEXAS (20-6, 9-4 Big 12):When Texas handled Kansas 81-69 in Austin on Feb. 2, the Longhorns became just the second team since 1997 to beat top 25 teams in four straight games. The other team: Kansas, which had accomplished the feat just a few weeks earlier. So now Texas makes the return trip to Allen Fieldhouse for Round 2. … The Longhorns are coming off an 85-76 loss at Iowa State, falling two games behind Kansas in the Big 12 race. But they do feature the goods to test Kansas — even inside the Phog. … Texas is tied for 13th nationally with 6.1 blocks per game, and the Longhorns ferociously protected the rim in the first game against Kansas. Texas had a season-high 12 blocks while the Jayhawks kept attacking the basket. Sophomore post players Cameron Ridley and Prince Ibeh can both alter shots, and junior forward Jonathan Holmes is another athletic presence in the frontcourt. … Texas entered the weekend ranked in the top 30 in defensive efficiency, according to KenPom.com.

…BOTTOM LINE: KU must stop dribble penetration, and freshman center Joel Embiid must find a way to score against Texas’ rim protectors. But playing at home, the Jayhawks should be properly motivated to score a payback victory.
KC Star


Offensive rebounding: Texas ranks 15th nationally in offensive rebounding percentage, and in Big 12 play, the Longhorns also are best in the conference at grabbing their misses. Though KU has struggled with defensive rebounding in a few games (including at Texas), the Jayhawks overall have done a good job at cleaning the glass, ranking 81st nationally in defensive rebounding percentage.

• Rim protection: Texas ranks sixth nationally in defensive block percentage and features a pair of top-200 shot-blockers in Cameron Ridley and Jonathan Holmes. According to Hoop-Math.com, Texas' defense has limited opposing teams' close shots, as only 28.8 percent of opponents' field goals have been at the rim (28th nationally). KU struggled against UT in the teams' last meeting, as the Jayhawks made just 19 of 51 2-pointers (37 percent).

• Defensive rebounding: Texas ranks 31st nationally in defensive rebounding percentage, and again, most of this advantage comes because from the combination of Holmes and Ridley. Quietly, KU has been the Big 12's third-best offensive rebounding team in conference play, but it'll be tougher to have success in that area against a tall and talented UT front line.

…I'll be honest: I expected a much more impressive statistical profile from 6-foot-1 guard Isaiah Taylor (No. 1) following his 23-point effort against KU three weeks ago. Truth is, Taylor isn't that efficient of an offensive option, mostly because of poor shooting and an inability to make 3-pointers. One of the freshman's biggest struggles has come at the rim, where he's made just 48 percent of his shots. He's an above-average 2-point jump-shooter that features a lightning-quick floater, but again, that's a lower-probability shot that isn't usually going to help a player's overall line. The one place Taylor does bring elite value is with free throws; he draws 6.0 fouls per 40 minutes (159th nationally), ranks 134th in free-throw rate and also has made 75 percent of his freebies. Keep him off the line, though, and Taylor shouldn't repeat the standout performance he had in Austin.
TCJ Newell 5 minute scout

Greatness !
@WayneSeldenJr

Ben Kastner, the 12-year-old Michigan boy who last September completed his goal of proving his unwavering Jayhawk loyalty by wearing KU gear every day for a year, on Friday began the final steps toward his ultimate goal: attending a men’s basketball game in Allen Field House.

Joined by his mother, Gina Defeo Kastner, n’89, and his brother, Ian, Ben arrived on campus early Friday afternoon after a long drive from Grand Rapids, Mich.
kualumni.org

Vote for Wiggs for the Wooden Award


“Pay Heed. The game you love began here. Respect those who came before you. Make their legacy your own. Because destiny favors the dedicated. And rings don’t replace work. In this game you don’t get what you want. You get what you earn. We are Kansas. Together we rise. Rock Chalk Jayhawk!

@Hugeshow says to Tom Izzo, "I think Wichita State would be the 6th-best team in the Big Ten."
Izzo: "I think that's fair."
@BFQuinn


The University of North Carolina has brought on a former U.S. attorney to conduct an independent investigation of academic irregularities at the Chapel Hill campus.

Kenneth L. Wainstein, a 19-year veteran of the U.S. Justice Department, will have access to "new information that may become available," UNC system President Tom Ross and UNC-Chapel Hill Chancellor Carol L. Folt said in a joint announcement Friday.

The appointment of Wainstein by the university system comes amid increased national scrutiny on the matter.

The institution has been under the microscope for two years, ever since the revelation that students -- mostly athletes -- were taking classes where little or no work was required.

…The UNC statement said Wainstein's finding will be made public.

"Based on information that the district attorney is able to offer, Wainstein will take any further steps necessary to address any questions left unanswered during previous reviews commissioned by the university," the UNC press release said. "While there is no set timetable for completing the inquiry, the university will cooperate fully with Wainstein and ensure he has the full access he needs to complete his work. ...."

UNC has done several other internal investigations since The News & Observer newspaper first broke the story about the fake classes. Each time, the findings have raised more questions.

Among them, the question of who came up with the idea for the fake classes, and how so many athletes were directed toward them. Initially, the university denied that athletics was tied to the scandal, and the NCAA declined to take any action against the university, saying it was an academic scandal, not an athletic one.

Officials now appear to be backing away from that claim and leaving open the possibility that there was a stronger athletic tie.

"We have directed Mr. Wainstein to ask the tough questions," Folt said. "Follow the facts wherever they lead, and get the job done."
CNN


ESPN's "College Basketball GameDay" show makes its first visit to the University of Colorado campus Saturday. And two of the show's regulars, host Rece Davis and analyst Digger Phelps, said Friday they expect Colorado (20-7, 9-5 Pac-12) to earn one of the 36 at-large bids to the men's NCAA Tournament.

"To me, it's Arizona, UCLA and Colorado (right now), and the Pac-12 is going to get four or five teams in the tournament," said Phelps, a legendary coach at Notre Dame decades ago. "If Colorado beats Arizona (on Saturday night), that seals the deal."

Said Davis of the Buffaloes: "Right now, they're in. I think it would have to be a situation that they play their way out of the tournament than have to play their way in."
Denver Post


Marcus Smart returns.

Oklahoma State resets.

That's the plan anyway. Starting Saturday afternoon against Texas Tech, the Cowboys have two weeks to save their basketball season. Break this losing streak that started long before Smart got suspended, win at least four of five games, and they have a great chance of getting into the NCAA Tournament.

And if they get there, who knows? Anything can happen.

But the Cowboys aren't the only ones hitting the reset button. The incident at Texas Tech that started with a fan making an unseemly comment and ended with the shove seen round the world has given everyone reason to pause, look in the mirror and reflect on their behavior.

Good has come from the bad.

Because what happened that night in Lubbock was bad. What Texas Tech fan Jeff Orr said to Smart. What Smart did to Orr. All of it turned your stomach.

Orr has said that he called Smart a “piece of crap”. Whether that's what Orr actually said, I have no idea. I've watched the videos that are floating around the Internet, and I can't make out anything. But even if that was the totality of what he said, that's still ugly.

A 52-year-old man telling a 19-year-old college student that he's a piece of crap?

Orr is an air traffic controller who presumably holds thousands of lives in his hands every time he goes to work. He doesn't have to act at basketball games like he acts in the control tower, but surely he now understands why it's unseemly for him to have said what he did.

Maybe others are realizing the same thing about the way that they act at games.

Fan behavior is being emphasized. Schools are being proactive. We've seen it around the Big 12 and even in other parts of the country.

The Wednesday after the Smart incident, officials calling Memphis-Central Florida ejected a fan sitting in some nice seats but saying some not-so-nice things. Romeo Khazen is a Memphis megabooster, a casino bigwig, and apparently, he didn't like the way UCF was clogging the lane and let the officials know about it.
The Oklahoman


Big XII composite schedule (includes results, highlights, stats)


ESPN College GameDay Schedule


2013-14 TV Schedule

ESPN Sportscenter game of the night is the CPS Championship @humblekid11 it's your night boy #CHI #KU
@Trealo_G


Curie vs Whitney Young 4OT highlights on SportsCenter right now !
@SwagAir


Jahlil and Cliff embrace after 4OT battle instagram.com/p/ktUfYIvf0w/
@SwagAir

Chicago Sun-Times Photos


It was billed by some local basketball analysts as the "Game of the Decade" in Illinois high school basketball, and Friday's city title game at Chicago State between No. 1 Curie and No. 4 Whitney Young certainly didn't disappoint.

In a matchup that was headlined by the country's top two high school basketball players — Curie 6-foot-8 senior Cliff Alexander and Whitney Young 6-foot-10 senior Jahlil Okafor — it was Curie and Alexander that got the best of the Dolphins with a 69-66 quadruple-overtime win.

…The Condors (24-1) led most of the game and had a huge first quarter from Stamps as the lefty guard scored 15 of his game-high 26 points in the first quarter before Alexander settled in and started producing.

Alexander, a Kansas commit, finished with 20 points and 14 rebounds for Curie as the Condors held off a second-half surge from the Dolphins to earn the city title.

…"We fought through it, we stuck through it and fought through the whole game," Alexander said. "We ran extra sprints in practice, and we wanted to be city champions."

The Condors captured their first-ever city championship, bolstering their already impressive resume that includes a win in the Pontiac Holiday Tournament and the Public League Red-Central Conference title, as well as a win over former national No. 1 Montverde. It's the state's most impressive resume heading into the Class 4A state playoffs, and Curie figures to be the favorite for that championship following Friday's win. The city championship and the win in the Pontiac tournament were both firsts for the Condors, and they're hoping to pick up another first in the playoffs — a state title.

But the Dolphins could get in the way of the Condors' state-title hopes. The two teams could meet in sectional play as part of a loaded Marist Sectional which also includes De La Salle, Mount Carmel, St. Rita and Simeon. Whitney Young and Curie will be two of the four big favorites to win the Class 4A state championship, along with No. 2 Stevenson and No. 3 Marian Catholic.

Friday's win also gives Alexander a 2-1 career varsity record against Okafor. During the pair's sophomore season, Alexander and Curie won, 59-47, at the Whitney Young Shootout. And last year, Okafor and the Dolphins emerged victorious, winning, 62-58, in a Class 4A sectional matchup.

But, even if the teams don't meet up in this season's playoffs, Friday won't be the final time Alexander and Okafor play against each other. They'll be on opposite teams in the McDonald's All-American Game at the United Center on April 2.
CSN Chicago

"I got kind of scared when Joe (Stamps) fouled out (in the fourth OT), but I had faith in Kamar," Alexander said. "I told him if he's open to shoot, and he did. We all had confidence in him."

Curie — Cliff Alexander, 20 points, 14 rebounds, 4 blocks.
Chicago Tribune

Marshall played significant minutes for Curie at the beginning of the season, but was inconsistent and spent most of the last two months on the bench. When Stamps fouled out with 2:14 left in the fourth overtime, he checked into the game.

“I was a little scared,” said Marshall. “But (Curie coach Mike Oliver) says to always be ready.

Marshall says he has hit five three-pointers this season, Stamps thought that might have been his first. Regardless, it will go down as the biggest shot in Curie history.

…Curie held the ball for the majority of the first, second and third overtimes. Alexander made two free throws with 1:47 to play in the fourth overtime. Those were the last points until Marshall’s heroics.
highschoolcubenews.com

The biggest game of the year lived up to its billing.

In a four-overtime slugfest, Curie prevailed over Whitney Young 69-66 Friday night on a corner three by senior Kamar Marshall in the game’s final seconds. The Condors hoisted their first-ever Chicago Public League championship after an extremely close contest that will go down in history as one of the most exciting games to ever take place in the state of Illinois.

“We just kept our composure,” said Curie head coach Mike Oliver. “I told our guys to keep grinding it out. In a heavyweight fight, when you’ve got the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the state, No. 1 and No. 2 players in the country, nothing’s going to be easy. We just had to keep playing.”

The battle between talented big men Jahlil Okafor and Cliff Alexander was widely hyped entering the game, and for good reason. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel looked on as Whitney Young’s Okafor and his Curie counterpart Alexander traded blows and buckets the entire way. Both made sure to leave it on the court, Alexander posting 20 points and 12 rebounds and Okafor with 16 points of his own.

It looked like the game was all over at the end of regulation. Okafor fouled out with 2:17 in the fourth quarter, attempting to block a shot by Alexander that temporarily dashed Young’s title hopes. Curie took a six-point lead in the ensuing minute behind a monster dunk from Alexander, but the Dolphins clawed back…

…Despite the theatrics, the spotlight remained on the Okafor-Alexander matchup—even after the final buzzer sounded.

“I don’t wanna put rankings on these guys, but Cliff is a hell of a player,” said Oliver. “He deserves the No. 1 ranking, but if he doesn’t get it, it doesn’t put any blemish on what he did tonight.”

Though Okafor and Alexander are close friends and former AAU teammates, Okafor said the matchup was “strictly business.”

“Because of the hype, I was pretty surprised they came out in a [2-3] zone,” he said. “I told my coach I wanted to play man to man the whole game, and he trusted me to do that. Cliff played hard like he always does. I wish I could be in his shoes and be a city champion.”
Zags Blog

Curie HS Video highlights/games