1. It appears Missouri may have a new basketball player. Andrew Jones, a backup tight end on the football team, practiced with Frank Haith’s team on Wednesday. He was an All-State basketball player in high school, and at 6’5” 255 pounds, he may be able to help this team somehow. No decisions have been made yet, and Jones has said he will play in Missouri’s football bowl game. Jones, who never materialized into a star on the gridiron after a high hopes to start his career, will probably also never strike it big on the basketball court. Still, this could be an interesting story to follow.
2. It has been quiet on the Kansas State front lately, but that’s about to change. After facing Cupcake City, Frank Martin‘s players will face a stiffer test with Virginia Tech, West Virginia, and Alabama on the horizon. Keep an eye on that WVU game in particular– remember, coach Bob Huggins left Kansas State  in 2007 to return home to West Virginia. Even though Martin has established a fine program, Huggins’ departure did not sit well with anybody in Manhattan.
3. Staying in the state of Kansas, Bill Self has to be happy he landed prized recruit Perry Ellis. Ellis could have played at any school in the nation next season, but he chose the Jayhawks– and he brings more than just basketball skill. Ellis is a star student, averaging a 4.0 GPA despite taking pre-calculus and physics classes. Most normal students cannot get straight A’s with that kind of a demanding schedule, but Ellis is able to do it while playing basketball at the highest level, which is pretty extraordinary.
4. As for the players currently on Self’s roster, there may be a bit of a depth issue early on here. No, it’s not going to hold Self back from competing for an eighth straight Big 12 title, but Self is playing less players in his rotation so far, and he’s even given big minutes to former walk-on Connor Teahan. It’s a different Kansas team this year, no doubt, but it’s not necessarily less talented. It’s just a little more blue-collar and workmanlike.
5. Here’s another edition of the fascinating “Behind the Numbers” series at Burnt Orange Nation giving you every statistic known to man pertaining to the Texas Longhorns basketball team. There’s a lot of numbers, that’s for sure. Too many for us to comprehend– I mean, who do you think we are, Perry Ellis? But one thing is clear: Texas is relying on its perimeter shooting right now. As the writer mentions, the Longhorns are “clearly a team built to punish its opponents who don’t guard the three-point line.” And when the shots start falling even more consistently, we may see a different team emerge under Rick Barnes. 

dnspewak (343 Posts)

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 1st, 2011 at 7:00 am by dnspewak and is filed under big 12, microsites. Tagged: alabama, andrew jones, bill self, bob huggins, connor teahan, frank haith, kansas state, missouri, perry ellis, rick barnes, virginia tech, west virginia. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.