This was not supposed to be one of Kansas' better teams, and maybe it
isn't. But here's the problem with evaluating Kansas teams: When every
Kansas team wins the conference championship, it gets really difficult
to distinguish them.
See, last year was supposed to
be a rebuilding year for Kansas. All the Jayhawks really had were Thomas
Robinson and Tyshawn Taylor, neither of whom had ever played in a lead
role before. The bench was shallow and the 3-point shooting was going to
be dicey. The Jayhawks were one big injury away from missing the NCAA
Tournament.
Instead, they won the Big 12 title and
played in the national championship game.
But this,
surely, would be a tough year. Robinson and Taylor are off to the NBA,
the Jayhawks are young and, well, everybody has a down year
sometimes.
Once again, this does not look like that
year at KU. The Jayhawks are 11-1 and ranked sixth, with their only loss
coming in the second game of the year to Michigan State. Beating No. 7
Ohio State on its home floor on Dec. 22 showed the Jayhawks once again
need to be taken seriously as a Final Four
contender.
There are three main reasons for
this:
1) Jeff
Withey
The senior center is the best
shot-blocker in the country, and as a result some opponents are
basically giving up and chucking 3-pointers. Three of KU's past four
opponents have attempted at least 30 3's. The trouble is, opponents are
making just 31 percent of their 3-pointers against the Jayhawks. Withey
also is virtually never in foul trouble and is an effective free-throw
shooter.
2) Ben
McLemore
McLemore was a partial qualifier
and redshirted last season, which appeared to have been a blessing in
disguise for KU. He's now the team's leading scorer (15.8 ppg),
second-leading rebounder (5.5) and is widely regarded as KU's best
"freshman" since Paul Pierce. McLemore, a former McDonald's
All-American, was supposed to be good, but not many expected him to be
quite this good.
3) Bill
Self
What is there to say about Self that
hasn't already been said many times over? His teams always play good
defense and run disciplined offense, but the key to the remarkable run
he has been on his whole career – Self has never finished worse than
third in a conference race and has won 12 of a possible 15 conference
championships in his career – is that he is able to smoothly adapt to
each individual roster's strengths.
Kansas does have
some question marks, of course. Although backup point guard Naadir
Tharpe had what appeared to be a breakout game Saturday against
American, he has a history of decision-making that makes that
position a reason for concern. And KU is still a bit unsettled with its
rotation, especially in the frontcourt.
But with
conference play about to begin, the Jayhawks are clear favorites to win
their ninth Big 12 title in a row and appear to have all the makings of a
Final Four team.
Missed
opportunity for the Mountain
West
The Mountain West has earned
a lot of respect over the past three or four years. I was a reluctant
believer in the league, but in this very space nonetheless ranked the
MWC ahead of the Pac-12 in our conference power
rankings.
MWC teams have performed well against
so-called "major college" competition the past two years, but here is
the counter argument: When was the last time you saw a MWC team that you
really believed was good enough to win the national title? Make the
Final Four? When was the last time the best Mountain West team was
better than the best team in any of the six major
conferences?
Last week was a chance for the MWC's two
best teams to make that kind of a statement. UNLV had a game at
(unranked, but still) North Carolina and San Diego State had a game
against No. 3 Arizona on a neutral floor.
Guess how
that turned out.
Maybe it's not totally fair, but for
the MWC (or any other such league) to get the respect it wants, its
best teams are going to need to win some marquee games, or get to some
Final Fours. Or something.
It's nice for the Colorado
States and Wyomings of the world to beat teams like Washington and
Colorado, but it's a bit like when Miller Lite wins a gold medal at some
obscure beer contest. Facts and truth are not always the same
thing.
How good is Flip
Pressey?
You know about
Michigan's Trey Burke and Baylor's Pierre Jackson, but what about Phil
Pressey of Missouri?
I mean, I don't want to
overreact to one game, but did you see him last week against
UCLA?
He had 19 points and 19 assists. The assists
tied the SEC record and were the most by a major-college player since
Michigan State's Mateen Cleaves had 20 in a game in
2000.
Two major points here: (1) Missouri lost, and
(2) you don't get 19 assists without dominating the
ball.
And Pressey certainly dominated the ball.
Missouri had 21 total assists and, as mentioned, lost the game,
signifying either that this might not be the ideal way for Missouri to
play or that Pressey is simply that much better than the rest of the
team.
Pressey could be the quickest player in the
country. He breaks down a defense off the dribble like nobody else I've
seen and I'm not sure the Tigers have anybody else who is nearly that
creative.
OK, so Pressey is just a 35 percent shooter
and averages a modest 12.8 points. Burke shoots 54 percent and averages
17.8 points. Jackson shoots 44 percent and averages 19.6 points. And
Pressey's assist-to-turnover ratio (2.20), while better than Jackson's
(1.90), is nowhere near Burke's (3.84)
There
are better point guards, but you gotta keep an eye on
Pressey.
Telling
stats
28 of 46
– Combined shooting line for UCLA's Shabazz Muhammad, Travis Wear and
David Wear in an overtime win over Missouri. Their 61 percent shooting
close to doubled that of the rest of the team, which shot 36
percent.
9 – Total points scored
against North Carolina by UNLV frontcourt players other than Anthony
Bennett.
They said
it
"We're going to call
an attorney and see about a name change, maybe. But his mother said she
still loved him, so I guess that'll probably pass." – Kansas
coach Bill Self on his son, Tyler, who put up an airball late in KU's
game against American.
"I hit the first
couple and after that I got my confidence going and I shot the ball with
confidence and that's what happens when you play with confidence."
– UCLA forward David Wear, who confidently went 7 for 7 from
the field in a win over
Missouri.
Player of the year
watch
1. Trey Burke,
Michigan
He's scoring 17.8 points per game
on just 12.9 field goal attempts while also averaging 7.4 assists and
shooting 54 percent for the No. 2 team. He's, like, the perfect
player.
2. Mason Plumlee,
Duke
He's been a double-double machine,
averaging 19.5 points and 11.6 rebounds for the No. 1
team.
3. Deshaun Thomas, Ohio
State
A great pro prospect does not
necessarily make a player of the year, but Thomas is a great pro
prospect, despite struggling in the Dec. 22 loss to
Kansas.
4. C.J. McCollum,
Lehigh
I know he has no hope of winning
this award because he plays for Lehigh. But he is the nation's leading
scorer, and I do wonder what it would be like if he played for some team
like Indiana.
Conference power
rankings
1. Big
Ten
Not much really needs to be said here.
The Big Ten has three teams that appear to be good enough to win the
national title, and that doesn't even include Michigan State, which
seems like it always ends up being good enough to win a national title.
2. Big
East
It's so sad that this league is going
away, because it's as good as ever.
3. Big
12
Looks to be a bit of a one-team league
right now, although Oklahoma State has enough talent to beat just about
anybody.
4.
SEC
Florida's loss to Kansas State
notwithstanding, the SEC has two strong teams, plus Kentucky, which …
oh, who knows?
5.
ACC
Surely sometime soon we'll find out
exactly how good N.C. State is. The Wolfpack has a great roster, but no
wins of any real significance so far. The Duke game is Jan.
12.
6.
Pac-12
Although the Mountain West may be
stronger than the Pac-12 from top to bottom, the opinion here is that a
Pac-12 team (namely, Arizona) is far more likely to win a national
championship than any member of the MWC. While this is not the only
criteria I use in these rankings, I can't justify calling a conference
with no serious national title contenders better than a conference that
has one, and I believe Arizona is such a
team.
Ups and
downs
Up:
UCLA
For the first time this year, the
Bruins look like they're figuring it out. It's a young team and
talented, so this was bound to happen.
Down:
UNLV
Anthony Bennett is a legitimately
great college player, and Anthony Marshall is excellent as well. But
against most ranked teams the Rebels are going to be a little bit
physically overwhelmed at too many other
spots.
Up:
Kansas
The Jayhawks appear to have grown
rapidly. They're very difficult to score against, and in Ben McLemore
have one of the most thrilling players in the
country.
Down:
Kentucky
If you hadn't noticed already,
Kentucky is 1-4 against members of BCS
conferences.
Up: Kansas
State
Well, how about that? The Wildcats
beat No. 8 Florida in Kansas City and are in the Top 25 for the first
time this year.
Crystal
ball
Wednesday, Illinois loses a
preposterously low-scoring game at Purdue and gets hammered for it in
the polls.
Wednesday, Providence's Bryce Cottons
scores 31, but the Friars commit 21 turnovers and lose to Louisville by
14.
Thursday, the unraveling of Colorado continues
with a 24-point thrashing at Arizona.
