1. Wednesday was a busy day for Kansas players, past and present. In Stillwater, the Jayhawks and Cowboys played a hotly contested basketball game even though they were both offensively challenged. There were so many heroes for KU in its one-point victory. Naadir Tharpe’s game-winning floater was the Jayhawks’ only field goal in either of the overtime periods. Travis Releford caused Marcus Smart to foul out in OT. Jeff Withey was fouled early and often and he made the most of it (11-of-14 on free throws). With two winnable road games remaining, the Jayhawks are once again in the driver’s seat to win another Big 12 regular season title.
2. There was perhaps a game just as big as KU-OSU going on at the same time last night in Waco. Iowa State and Baylor came into the game each in desperate need of a resume-building victory, and for right now at least, the Cyclones appear to be on the good side of the bubble. With the win, ISU now has a profile featuring two wins versus Baylor, one against Kansas State, and another against Oklahoma. The downside of it is if Baylor continues to slide, the luster of those wins will fade away quickly. That’s what makes their Big Monday game at home against Kansas so huge. They need that win no matter what.
3. Fresh off of a draining overtime loss to Oklahoma State, Oklahoma head coach Lon Kruger doesn’t worry about his team’s ability to bounce back in its next game. It was a close game to start but Oklahoma was able to create some distance between itself and Texas Tech with an 86-71 win on the road. By the looks of it, the Sooners have a solid enough profile to make the field with an RPI of #17 and the fourth toughest strength of schedule in college basketball. Though Kruger may not stay anywhere for a very long time, he’s still an outstanding coach.
4. As weird as it is to say, Myck Kabongo is officially one week and one day into his sophomore season, which raises questions about his future at Texas. Mac Engel of The Fort-Worth Star Telegram seems to agree with me: Kabongo needs to stay on campus one more year. I think he needs to play a full season at the college level where his youth or eligibility issues won’t get in the way, and hopefully in turn, he’ll grow into more of an attractive NBA point guard prospects for the 2014 draft.
5. With three seconds left in the first overtime of KU-OSU, the Cowboys gained possession of the ball and prompted Bill Self to unintentionally give the Internet this beauty of a GIF. As is, it’s a masterpiece. The movements are natural and repeated, so what could possibly make it better? Music. So enjoy it in all its glory and clap to the beat with Self. Sound the bell… school’s in sucka.

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 21st, 2013 at 7:31 am by Nate Kotisso and is filed under big 12, microsites, morning 5. Tagged: baylor, bill self, hammertime, iowa state, jeff withey, kansas, lon kruger, myck kabongo, naadir tharpe, oklahoma, texas, travis releford. 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.