1. If you’re like us, you may have skipped last night’s Davidson/Kansas matchup in favor of other activities. Hey, after all, it appeared the Wildcats would be outclassed, having lost by 23 in their last outing at Charlotte. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why they don’t play basketball on paper: Davidson upset KU 80-74 last night at the Sprint Center in Kansas City, making those of us that missed the game do a double-take. This isn’t the first time a revamped Bill Self team has dropped a headscratcher at the Sprint Center, though. Back in 2008-09, the Jayhawks lost to Massachusetts in the same building after losing their entire starting lineup from a national title squad. The loss isn’t good news for Kansas, but it’s not the end of the world either. At the very least, Tyshawn Taylor returned from his injury to finish with seven assists — although you can’t ignore his five pesky turnovers.
2. Stepping away from the court in Lawrence for a moment, the Kansas City Star had a nice breakdown of the men’s basketball program’s role at the KU. The school’s struggling football program actually brought in about $2 million less than the basketball program, and that’s not surprising considering the historical precedent. Basketball will always be king at Kansas — always. And as Self puts it, “men’s basketball has to be good here… Has to be. We don’t talk about it, but I think (the players) understand that.” That’s a pretty telling quote from the man in charge.
3. Missouri may be 11-0 and ranked in the top 10, but the focus shifted to the future on Monday with the announcement that former Oregon five-star recruit Jabari Brown will join the Tigers next year. Brown bolted from Eugene after just two games out west, and he’ll likely be eligible to play in December 2012. Frank Haith’s 2012-13 roster is starting to get interesting. He already added two transfers in Keion Bell (Pepperdine) and Earnest Ross (Auburn), so he’ll have a lot of new faces from a lot of different places (pun intended). That’s always a risk, as we’ve seen with Iowa State, but there’s no doubt that Missouri will have a lot of talented basketball players in the fold next year as well.
4. With a young squad, Travis Ford is finding out during the non-conference season that he’s got a lot of questions to answer. At 6-4, Oklahoma State most recently dropped a game in Oklahoma City to New Mexico, and the team seemed out of sync for the better part of the game. This team is one of the most athletic in the Big 12, and LeBryan Nash is one of the league’s most gifted players. Still, there’s just something off about Ford’s team right now. Without consistent point guard play from a variety of candidates, the Cowboys looked frustrated against the Lobos. It got to the point where ESPN commentator Doug Gottlieb even suggested moving Keiton Page to the point, although it sounded as if Ford has ruled that out as an option.
5. The other program in the state of Oklahoma is doing just fine, though. Oklahoma is off to an 8-1 start and recently rallied for a victory against Houston, and that’s a good sign for this revitalized group under Lon Kruger. The Sooners fell behind in the second half but stormed back, thanks in large part to 31 points and a double-double from Steven Pledger. If there’s one theme to this season for OU, it’s change. Pardon the cliche, but this team plays with a whole different attitude under its new head coach. The Houston win is just another example that this program appears ready to turn the corner.

dnspewak (343 Posts)

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 20th, 2011 at 7:00 am by dnspewak and is filed under big 12, microsites. Tagged: bill self, davidson, houston, jabari brown, kansas, keiton page, lebryan nash, lon kruger, missouri, new mexico, oklahoma, oklahoma state, oregon, steven pledger, travis ford, tyshawn taylor. 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.