Remembering KU's 2008 Team

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To get pumped for this most recent NCAA Tournament and to remember a time when KU got the job done, I watched KU's 2008 Final Four game against the North Carolina Retards. It was the first time I had watched the game since rewatching it the day after it occurred. I couldn't wait to relive KU's famous first half run (which ran somewhere from 18-0 to 25-2) featuring multiple Chalmers/Russ-Rob steals, Colehelm's a plenty, and some big time Sherronergy, not to mention Billy Packer's somewhat infamous "This game...is...over" line. But, as is with all of my teams, no lead is ever safe. The Tardheels immediately responded with a 10-0 run, and put together a 14-0 run in the 2nd half, mostly spurred on by Danny Green's ass waddle and Tyler Hansbrough flopping around like a marathoner going commando. Perhaps by biggest intrigue of the game was how KU responded to blowing their lead (all the way down to 4). Well, it was a BRong Rush offensive rebound and putback, a lob to Darnell over the top, and back to back Sherron2Kaun's. Game over.

While watching the game, I couldn't help but think that no KU team could ever surpass that 2008 team. First of all, I won't be at the University at the same time as the team ever again. Second of all, it'd be very difficult to match the likeability of that team. And third of all, there's VERY little chance I'll ever do bong rips with one of the players in the middle of the season again. My only question is if any championship could ever compete with being a fan of the 2008 National Champions. I think the Chiefs are the only team with the potential, but I have little concept of how I'd feel if they were to win a Super Bowl. It wouldn't surprise me if it greatly surpassed or fell woefully short. I'll be sure to let everybody know come February 5, 2012.

So you're probably wandering where I'm taking this entry from here. Well, here goes. I'm interested to take note of how players from that team are remembered over time. I'm also infatuated with attaching overrated/underrated tags to people. Boom...lightbulb! So here are my personal reactions to how each and every (relevant) member of that team has been remembered since cutting down the nets...

UNDERRATED (presented in order of most to least)

*Sherron Collins - The inspiration for this column. It's as if his reputation has been tarnished by his off-the-court antics, his lack of an NBA career, and one loss from his college career. Are you freakin' kidding me? Lets not forget that he was the best point guard on the floor in a National Championship Game that included the likes of Derrick Rose and Mario Chalmers. Not to mention his ideality as a sixth man. He can carry a lesser a team on his back by scoring, brings great energy, and is a great leader on the floor.

*Darrell Arthur - Every team needs a go to scorer. Shadyyyyyyy was just that, only people never seemed to recognize that fact. Well, pay attention to the first plays of both the Final Four games and you'll see what I mean. Or the play that ignited the comeback against Memphis (comically called "the worst shot KU could've taken" by Packer when he shot it). I've actually seen him make Sportscenter a few times this year playing for the Memphis Grizzlies, ironically.

*Darnell Jackson - My favorite player from the team. One of two jerseys that hangs in my rafters to this day (along with Priest Holmes). D-Jax plays within himself more than any other KU player I've ever seen. He was a capable scorer, but never took bad shots. He put all his effort into defense and rebounding because that was exactly what the team needed. He was also loved by all of his teammates and seemed as genuinely nice as a basketball player at KU could.

*Rodrick Stewart - A player of little impact becoming the supposed driving force of the team at the Final Four? I tell myself, "Lets write this for Rod" before diving into any write-up ever since.

*Russell Robinson - The heart and soul of the team. His want to win was maybe somewhat taken for granted at the time, but boy have KU fans missed it since. Also, has to be underrated because of people's overall lack of appreciation for good defenders, despite that aspect representing 50% of the game of basketball. He was a spectacular on the ball defender.

VERY PROPERLY RATED (presented in no particular order)

*Sasha Kaun - I thought and I thought, but I couldn't relegate Kaun to being either over or underrated. He was exactly spot on rated. He was very replaceable, but he had a special skill (alley oops) that fit in very well with this team. I will never forget that he went on to make more money the next year than any player from that team.

OVERRATED (presented in order from least to most) - Let me start by saying that I hate labeling any of these players as overrated. Most all are near and dear to my heart (Cole isn't), and this isn't a reflection of how I feel about them, but simply a reaction to the public's perception of them.

*Brandon Rush - Because of his name. He was the biggest recruit on his team, and he might be the best pro from the team when it's all said and done. But, I wouldn't necessarily list him as the best player on that team. Therefore, he qualifies as overrated. Even though he did make the biggest play of the game in the game against UNC. Bet. Whip. Lil' Wayne. 'Nuff said.

*Mario Chalmers - Calm down, calm down. Yes, the man that gave me an alternate to that annoying "Kobe" saying, as well as my go to phrase in the bedroom ("Who's the best blogger in the world") is listed as overrated. But how could he not be? If I met Jesus I would tell him he was overrated too. It's not their fault. It's not his fault. It's not your fault. Look at me, Mario....It's not your fault. Lastly, it's funny when people seemed unaware of what KU would do down 3 to Memphis, when the exact same situation occurred the previous year in the Big 12 Championship. See if this looks familiar at all...



*Cole Aldrich - It is your fault, Cole. Actually, it's just that the game of College Basketball has passed you by. It's no longer a place for slow, plodding, 7 foot, traditional centers anymore. They slow your team down, and become counterproductive. It's just much more suitable to have an athletic 6'10 player nowadays. My last point of intrigue from KU-UNC was examining exactly how good Cole's stretch of play was (remember, he was a relative unknown then), of which I was blown away by how dominant it really was. Here's a simple breakdown of his carnage: block, tip-in, after the foul block, block, turnover, BENCH. Offensive rebound, 2 free throws (reshot 2nd because of UNC lane violation), rebound, offensive foul, after the foul block, offensive rebound, made shot, block, steal, offensive rebound, missed shot, block, and a grand finale of a ball being dunked off his dome. "Gosh, it was awesome yanno."

His dirkness

Big 12 College Basketball Postseason

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

All Big 12 First Team

G Sherron Collins, Kansas
G Jacob Pullen, Kansas St.
F James Anderson, Oklahoma St.
F Damion James, Texas
C Ekpe Udoh, Baylor

Player of the Year: James Anderson, Oklahoma St.

All Big 12 Second Team

G LaceDarius Dunn, Baylor
G Donald Sloan, Texas A&M
F Marquis Gilstrap, Iowa St.
F Curtis Kelly, Kansas St.
C Cole Aldrich, Kansas

Coach of the Year: Scott Drew, Baylor

Big 12 Tournament Predictions

1st Round
Colorado over Texas Tech
Missouri over Nebraska
Oklahoma St. over Oklahoma
Iowa St. over Texas

2nd Round
Kansas over Colorado
Missouri over Texas A&M
Kansas St. over Oklahoma St.
Baylor over Iowa St.

Semifinals
Kansas over Missouri
Baylor over Kansas St.

Finals
Kansas over Baylor

NCAA Tournament Seed Projections

Kansas - 1st overall
Kansas State - 2
Baylor - 4
Texas A&M - 6
Missouri - 7
Texas - 8
Oklahoma State - 8

Mucho more coming the next couple weeks on the Conference and NCAA Tournaments, including reactions to the field, predictions for the tournament, and breakdowns of Kansas games as they come.

'Dirkness

Kansas vs. Kansas St. Round 2!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ding! Ding! (Apollo Creed style)

My main question for tonight's game is does it matter?

There seems to be more pressure on Kansas, out of fear of facing a 3-game losing streak and a share of the Big 12 title all on the line at Missouri on Saturday. Thus, the game is much bigger for Kansas, and could serve as a springboard going into the tournament or a reason for them to start doubting themselves. Therefore, I will make the statement that KU cannot win the National Championship if they lose tonight, due to them not showing up for such a big game.

Kansas State is really coming in with nothing to lose in this game. Let's face it, every Wildcat supporter would be thrilled with reaching the Final Four this year. This is still very attainable with a loss tonight, and will most likely be staring at two seed. The key player tonight is Dennis Clemente, who's streaky shooting could be prove to be the difference when coupled with what I see as an even frontcourt matchup. Beard (Pullen) is more consistent in getting his, so if Clementine flings fire, then K-State wins.

Kansas' loss at Oklahoma State was somewhat of a fluke, which happens all the time in college basketball. If a team can't miss, they will win the game most of the time. Oky State's 60% shooting was something of a mirage, in the fact that I don't hold it against KU as bad defense. They hit numerous transition threes that they had no business making, and weren't forced to hit a shot the last ten minutes of the game due to tight officiating. The only way it becomes a deal is if they lose tonight, thus a big game for the Jayhawks.

I'll say this about tonight, I feel less confident then I did going to K-State and winning. People are saying the Senior Night will propel the Hawks to a victory, but I believe it just provides an added pressure for the home team and for Sherron Collins. I'm also worried that nobody is picking the Wildcats in a game I could easily see going either way. That being said, I will join everyone else in picking Kansas in a close game. Sherron Nasty does not want to deliver his speech after a loss and wills his team to a victory.

Kansas 67, Kansas State 63

State of the Union Address: Kansas Jayhawks

I'd like to start by accepting the shout out from ol' Billy Boy Self for reading the blog and yanking Tyshawn from the starting lineup, even though he had to go and one up me by choosing Brady Morningstar over Tyrel Reed- eh, the Tighty Whiteys are interchangeable. This move has resulted in, or at least contributed to, the best two-game stretch of the season (@Iowa St, Missouri) from the team, with only the Temple game being comparable. This should come as no surprise, as this is the time of year that KU always gets it in gear, right at the start of conference season. And since some of the players are confused about what's expected of them, and the fact that Self loves to read my blog so much, I will now lay out the roles for each player (ranked in importance to the team's success):


Sherron Nasty- The man. Has the balls necessary to lead a team to a National Championship. Doing a great job of figuring out when to take over games, and when to defer to teammates. Think of his legacy if he can lead Kansas to a National Championship this year.

'Cus Morris- Turning on beast mode. Averaging 19 and 8 in conference games so far. I rated him as more important than Cole because he has a better chance of becoming the go to low-post scorer. To win it all, you need a man you dump the ball down to and expect a basket. Shadyyyyyy.

Colehelm Aldrich- The Funnelcake. I've given up on Cole at the offensive end, and Herm Edwards tells me that's okayyyyy. It's okkkkk. Just focus on the defensive end. The rest of the defense funnels the offense into Cole sitting right under the basket for some sweet swat action. Funnelcakez.

Brady 'Cornbread' Morningstar- Dude does it all. Every KU fan would understand why he is this high on the list. Every non-KU fan would be confused why he's this high. Defense, passing, and court awareness are the reasons why. A mere 9 points as a season-high causes the confusion. There's more to basketball than scoring.

Xavier Henry- X-Man. The Phader. The Snipah. Has been in a shooting slump for a while now, but I prescribe for him to just shoot his way out of it. Needs his confidence to be high come tournament time.

Tyshawn Taylor- The Pine Cone. Should thrive coming off the bench. Seems to be playing with more passion since his inoffensive demotion, especially on the defensive end. At the beginning of the season, I wanted him to be the steady hand of Russ Rob from '07. Didn't work. Now he needs to become Sherron's spark off the bench from '07.

'Kief Morris- Rebound da ball like a man.

Tyrel Reed- Shoot 3's.

Jeff 'Kill' Whitey- I like him off the bench before Thomas Robinson. Needs to be ready in every first half in case two bigs pickup two fouls.

C.J. Henry- Kid X. Kid Snipah. I'm convinced he might be the best shooter on the team. I'm also convinced that he is definitely the worst defender on the team.

Thomas Robinson- Still makes too many dumb plays. Will be the man next year along with...

Elijah Johnson- Study Sherron's every move (except for elevator behavior).

Conner Teahan- Look pretty. And change your name if you ever want to play.

Chase Buford- Keep rockin that 'stache.

Jordan Juenemann- Work on those cankles Ju Wanna Man.


Prediction for tonight: Kansas @ Kansas St~~I feel like all the pressure is on Kansas State in this game. College Gameday. Just beat Texas. Kansas has the rematch at home to fall back on. I think the fans will be ready, I don't think the team will be. KU does not fear K-State in anyway. This is a game Kansas wins.

Kansas 71, Kansas State 64

Reaction to Kansas Jayhawks first loss vs. Tennessee

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The loss to Tennessee is nothing to fret about, even if they were severely undermanned. In the short-term that can bring teams together, and they certainly played fired up on Sunday. Don't freak when Tennessee starts to plummet because they won't be able to keep that effort up in the long-term. It will catch up to them.

Losses happen. The way to win it all in College Basketball is to respond well to losses. You have to be able to build from them. I'm sure Bill Self didn't mind seeing a loss at all, and is now able to get his point across to his players. They all have gigantic heads now (cough cough, Tyshawn), and now its time for Self to shrink those. I see no reason to think that Self won't get his team to respond well from this loss, and see little chance that KU isn't a number 1 seed come March.

Now why did KU lose? If I had to put blame on one soul, which is hard to do, I'd go with Xavier Henry. He took but 1 shot in the second half of the game, which happened to be an impressive blow by and easy layup. He has to be more aggressive. He looked scared, along with a number of other players, which forced Sherron Collins to take shot after shot. I'd blame Sherron, but he's seeing the same things I'm seeing, that nobody else WANTED to take a shot. We also might have to start admitting the fact that Cole Aldrich isn't the player that he was last year for whatever reason. He seems disinterested in getting involved on the offensive end.

I look for KU to implement the style of basketball that they hope leads to a championship this year starting Wednesday against Nebraska. Look for them to go high-low and hammer the ball inside until all 5 defensive players collapse, and then dish out it to any of the shooters on the outside. Self knows the way to win in March is with inside toughness. He thought that long before his National Championship proved the point. I predict a season-high in points for Cole Aldrich against Nebraska (19).

I would also suggest making a change to the starting lineup. I would insert Tyrel Reid in place of Tyshawn Taylor. The results of this are three-fold. First, I believe Taylor's ego is a little out of control, most likely from playing on the under-19 USA team, and this shrinks it down a bit. Second, they need more of a spark coming off the bench, not Reid and Morningstar, who are too similar of players (racist jokes aside). Think Sherron coming off the bench for the 2007-08 team. You need a scoring threat, an instigator, to come off the bench. This fits Tyshawn perfectly. He can be the main threat on the floor that he's looking to be and do it against the other team's bench, who he's more apt to go against. Thirdly, this frees up all the scoring threats to get more of their looks, and puts the best pure shooter just floating in the corner for when any of them get double-teamed. Reid has finally gotten big enough that he is no longer a liability on the defensive end. Think Lee Humphrey from the Florida Gators' championship teams.

In the long run, this loss is not a big deal to where KU wants to be come the end of the season. Nobody will look back at this season and remember anything about this game really. It's best chance to be remembered will be as the turning point in a National Championship season.

P.S. I smell upset-city in either Kentucky-Florida tonight or Texas-Iowa St. tomorrow

2009 Kansas Jayhawks Basketball Thoughts

I thought I'd throw down some random thoughts on some University of Kansas basketball action after seeing them walk over UCLA on Sunday. First things first, man has UCLA fallen off- they looked terrible out there. They played good defense, which is expected under Ben Howland, but I never feared KU losing their 10 point lead because they had an offense equivalent to that of a high school team.

I'd like to start by saying it has been harder for me to follow the Jayhawks this year with not being enrolled in the school. I've found it a little challenging to watch them blow out the lesser opponents so far this year. That must just come from not living in Lawrence anymore. But, I feel drawn in now, and why's that? Look at who's number 2...Texas. The next line of thought from my brain goes like this, F*** Texas, followed by an upside down hook 'em horns sign. I dunno if people can tell or not, but I currently have a strong distaste for Texas.

That being said, I would have no problem with Texas displacing KU as number 1 in the nation right now. I have not been impressed with them so far. I would say they haven't had an impressive game up to this point, which obviously means I'm not counting the blowouts of the little schools. In the Memphis and UCLA ballgames they seemed very ho-hum in their efforts and played sloppy, undisciplined basketball. I would argue their most impressive game of the year came against Oakland, a team picked to win their conference with a legitimate big man down low. Now, is this anything to worry about right now? Probably not, as long as it doesn't continue. They'll have a chance to impress with Michigan and Cal coming up in a 4 day span later this month. Although, I foresee their first loss coming at the hands of Tennessee in Knoxville.

The biggest problem I've seen out of the team this year has been players not knowing and/or not committing to their roles on the team. I believe a basketball team is at its best with three main scorers, and the other players filling roles around them. There just aren't enough basketballs to go around to feed four hungry scorers. This team has returnees Sherron Collins and Cole Aldrich as the main building blocks, along with freshman Xavier Henry stepping in as that third scorer. The person this leaves on the fence is Tyshawn Taylor, who has been struggling mightily this season. If I were Bill Self, the first thing I'd do (besides admiring myself in the mirror) is show Tyshawn tapes of Russell Robinson. Become him. Accept your role. Make good passes, don't turn the ball over, and lead your team. You win championships with a mix of star players and other players knowing and accepting their roles. Tyshawn fits the bill of a role player, atleast for now, and coming off the bench might be the best way for him to learn that.

The next biggest problem I've seen is just an overall lack of involvement from Cole Aldrich. He is your stud, you need to ride him. It might just be early in the season, so they are including everyone in the action, but Cole needs to take charge and demand the ball more. I'm almost wandering if he has leveled off and reached his full potential.

My final thought is about the overall improvement of the Morris twins. They seem to be everywhere this year. Although, I wander, is that because there are two of them and we think we're seeing them twice as much as we actually are? Does anybody have a strategy for differentiating the two? Because I just say "good play Morris" every time, and refer to the two of them as a whole, 'The Morrisi'. I say we make them wear different colored head bands. Or one grows an afro. Or one becomes point guard. They gotsta do something...

Rock Chalk,
His Dirkness