- Although Kansas fell just short against Duke in the finals of the Maui Invitational last week, the Big 12 still voted Kansas forward Thomas Robinson as its Player of the Week. Robinson played like a man possessed during the tournament and kept the Jayhawks competitive in spite of their rough point guard play (Tyshawn Taylor’s 11 turnovers against the Blue Devils). He grabbed 15 rebounds to help give the Jayhawks a +5 margin in the game. We all knew this would be Robinson’s breakout year, and he certainly showed his potential last week.
- By now, you’re probably also familiar with the tragic story of Robinson’s personal life. The forward lost three close family members last winter, and the aforementioned article is a reflection of the emotion surrounding his situation. No matter who you pull for– even if it’s Missouri— it’s hard not to root for Robinson, who’s had to overcome such a great deal of adversity to continue playing for the Jayhawks. It’s amazing Robinson is still on the court much less grabbing 15 rebounds and dominating the competition.
- And speaking of dominating the competition, Chris Babb did that last week en route to earning Big 12 Rookie of the Week honors. Babb also made the All-Tournament team for the South Padre Invitational. In three games last week, he made 13 of 25 three-pointers, seven of which came against Rice in the tournament finals. The Cyclones haven’t been tested yet (yes, they did lose to Drake on the road), but this is still a team to keep an eye on as the season progresses, and Babb obviously looks like one of their leaders.
- An update on the Oklahoma State plane crash: a preliminary crash report shows nobody made any emergency calls before the plane went down earlier this month, killing four people (two of which were members of the OSU women’s basketball coaching staff). It could apparently still take as long as a year to figure out exactly what happened and what caused the crash, but it appears weather was not a factor.
- ESPN’s Andy Katz reflected on last week’s college basketball action in an article published on Monday, and he gave Missouri a little love. Katz said “Mizzou looks like the best team in the Big 12 early in the season,” and it’s hard to disagree with that assessment after the Tigers beat down Notre Dame and California in the CBE Classic by a combined 58 points. We will still need to find out how Frank Haith‘s team plays on the road, however, before we make any sweeping judgments.