- What’s wrong with this headline: “Big Ten pace OK with KU’s Self.” Kansas under Bill Self hasn’t played very Big Ten-like, but that showdown with Kansas State on Tuesday sure seemed like a Big Ten battle. It was physical. Ugly. Tons of bricks from every player on the floor. But, as every coach likes to point out, the sign of an elite team is its ability to handle adversity and win even when it’s not on its so-called “A” game. That’s how Self viewed the victory in Manhattan. “A testimony to a team’s toughness is to figure out a way to win when things aren’t going well.” Agreed on all counts. So no matter how ugly that win was, you’ve got to give Kansas credit for scrapping out a win in the most difficult road environment it’ll see all season.
- Bruce Weber isn’t Bill Self’s best friend by any stretch of the imagination, but even he’s admitting the Kansas State head coach is doing a terrific job with his new program thus far. “Bruce can coach… There’s no question he can coach. I think he’s done a great job,” Self was quoted in Jason King’s ESPN.com article. It’d be easy to write off Weber for winning with a team Frank Martin assembled, especially since his national title appearance in 2005 happened with none other than a Self-recruited team. But, as King points out, any coach who can get to a Final Four clearly has some sort of talent. And considering what Weber built at Southern Illinois, there’s no reason for Kansas State fans to become concerned about a major drop-off after Martin’s players all graduate. Maybe a change of scenery will help Weber learn from the mistakes he made at the end of his Illinois tenure.
- You know how Myck Kabongo‘s still out for a few more weeks? That’s bad for Texas. And it’s even worse now that Jonathan Holmes will miss three to six weeks with a broken right hand. Rick Barnes already had to deal with an injury to forward Jaylen Bond earlier in the year, so it’s like there’s a curse in Austin this season on the hardwood. Holmes is the team’s leading rebounder — and it’s not even really very close — and he’s also the most talented offensive option in the frontcourt for Texas. When it rains, it really, really pours in Texas, apparently.
- Marcus Smart may have already set a record in the category Most Feature Stories Written About a Freshman. It’s unprecedented how much hype this guy got after signing with Oklahoma State. He’s lived up to every single expectation, and he certainly deserves the attention. Most of the feature stories have been similar, but this one’s worth your time. It came from USA Today, so you know it’s solid. It’ll also give you an idea of where Marcus Smart is coming from, and why he is the way he is. Chilling stuff.
- Oklahoma is good. Are the Sooners great? Probably not. Will they make the NCAA Tournament? Perhaps. All we know right now, though, is Lon Kruger has a pretty good team, and it’s definitely the best team in the state right now. At 4-1, Oklahoma is miraculously just a game behind Kansas in the Big 12. The next five games will entirely define Kruger’s second season, and that’s not an exaggeration. Look at this murderer’s row: at Kansas, at Baylor, vs. Kansas State, at Iowa State and vs. Kansas. Lose all five of those and the NCAA Tournament’s a goner. A few wins might put this team in solid position, though. Even a 2-3 record in that stretch might be considered terrific for Kruger’s team.