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[cf0102]

The Jayhawks are 19-1 (4-1) with wins over Arizona in Las Vegas, UCLA, Memphis in New York and Colorado State in Kansas City and a loss to Texas. I guess they're afraid of true road games. The Jayhawks return 2 starters from last season (a squad that posted a 33-3 overall record, including a 15-1 mark in the Big XII Conference). The Jayhawks were projected to finish 2nd in the Big XII Conference.

The Jayhawks are lead by F's Marcus Morris and Markieff Morris and G's Josh Selby and Tyrel Reed. Marcus Morris is averaging 17 points/game (leads the team), 7 rebounds/game and 1 assist/game. He is a gifted face-up four-man who moves unusually nimbly on his unusually small feet. He has soft hands and feathery touch and has become an aggressive rebounder. He is a sneaky good 3 point shooter as well.

Markieff Morris is averaging 13 points/game, 9 rebounds/game (leads the team) and 1 assist/game. Markieff is certainly the more traditional of KU's twin forwards in that he is taller, less agile and more of a back-to-the-basket big man than his brother. Markieff's experience and shooting touch carry him.

Selby is averaging 12 points/game, 3 rebounds/game and 3 assists/game. NBA Draft people are high on Selby and he is supposed to be the best High School player that Bill Self has ever recruited. He obviously has a lack of maturity as he was suspended 9 games for taking money to go to KU in the first place. I guess you have to have some reason to go there on purpose.

Reed is averaging 10 points/game, 3 rebounds/game and 2 assists/game. Reed is KU's Christian music-listening, straight-A getting, occasional-trash talking shooter. He isn't particularly good at creating his own shot, although he did develop a floater off the baseline that served him well last season, and his physical gifts have left him better on offense than defense. But the guy has a major knack for drilling the timely three-pointer and led the team in three-point percentage last year. Other than that he's an anomaly because he's white kid from Kansas named Tyrel. 

G Tyshawn Taylor leads the team in assists with 5 assists/game. Taylor's "claim to fame" is being injured in a fight with football players and complaining about his role with the team. Both things that he was dumb enough to admit to on his Facebook page. By midseason last season, though, Taylor had regained his spot in the lineup and by the end of the year had seemingly resolved his behavioral issues or the school looked past them which they're known to do.

Kansas' record can be easily explained by the fact that 1. they haven't played anyone and 2. even when they decided to play someone they refuse to travel to do so. A fact that won't soon change until they travel to the Octagon of Doom on February 14. Until then they will continue to be overrated at least a little bit until they lose this game on Saturday. The Cats should easily win this game by double digits.

[Felis Silvestris]

Outstanding work, cf.

Any word on the availability of McGruder (after getting his bell rung against Baylor)?  I'm pretty sure I heard that it was not classified a concussion but am not 100% sure.

[Lynch]

Great Job.
http://kstatenation.com/basketball-m/41-basketball/79-a-look-at-kansas

[Albatross]

McGruder is good to go!!  The team is very focused and has a nothing-to-lose attitude.  Mentality of the underdog, lets do this!!

[KSUftw]

McGruder is good to go!!  The team is very focused and has a nothing-to-lose attitude.  Mentality of the underdog, lets do this!!

This brightens my day.  Thanks for the update!

[Felis Silvestris]

Does this team have the capability to be focused?  There I said it.


On a brighter note, McGrudz is a warrior.  Stitches, lost tooth, nor concussion could keep this kid from playing.  Make us proud, BEAT KU! 

[Lynch]

"Sunflower Showdown" Time

Jan. 29, 2011

Also See: Happy Birthday Game for the State of Kansas

By Mark Janssen

MANHATTAN, Kan. - Allen Fieldhouse. Historic Allen Fieldhouse.

It's where Kansas State has not won a game since 2006 - Remember, even coach Jim Wooldridge exclaimed afterward, "Can you believe it?" - and not since 1994 before that has a Wildcat team won in Lawrence.

Oh, Kansas can lose in its storied facility, in fact they did last Saturday to Texas, 74-63. But one has to go back into the 1980s to find the last time that a KU team lost two in a row on its home Jayhawk floor.

That's where 2-4, 14-7 Kansas State and 4-1, 19-1 and No. 6 Kansas will play at 6 p.m., this evening on ESPN.

"It's the loudest building I've ever played in. Its way different than any place else," said K-State junior Jamar Samuels. "It feels like the crowd is breathing on your neck. They know the name of your parents, and what you're going to name your grandchildren. It's tough, but fun."

Senior Jacob Pullen has enjoyed 20-point games in Allen, but as he says, "It doesn't matter because I've never won in Allen.

"Most fans don't like you because you're playing them this week," said Pullen. "Kansas fans don't like you, period."

As for what he can tell freshmen teammates like Will Spradling and Shane Southwell, Pullen said, "I can't tell them anything. It's something you have to learn on your own. I don't want to scare them, but I don't want to let them think it will be easy. It's a place like I've never seen before, but you can't let the crowd make you do things you don't normally do."

Freshman Will Spradling, a Kansas Citian, said he watched a KU-MU game in Allen Fieldhouse while in high school, and admits, "It's loud. There's nothing like it."

Coach Frank Martin admits that the thought of how his two freshmen will handle the atmosphere has crossed his mind, and added, "We just need to make sure that the upperclassmen help the young kids get through the early portion of the game."

If handling the Allen Fieldhouse atmosphere is one key, here are several others:
1) Staying in the Game Early: Frank Martin is 0-3 in Allen Fieldhouse having lost games by 14, 16 and 17 points. "We put ourselves in a hole from the word go," Martin said of the games. "The first year Mike (Beasley) and Bill (Walker) each had two fouls in the first two minutes; the following year we got down 18-0 and needed more than a couple touchdowns and a field goal to get back in it; and, last year we didn't dig a very big hole, but we were always going uphill. They're good everywhere, but they're really good at home."
Martin added,  "First, they are well coached and have good players, but it's also so loud in there that it tends to get you playing fast on offense and rush shots."

2) Limit Turnovers: "We have to stay the course and not make dumb turnovers," said Samuels

3) Rebound, Defend: "Rebounding and transition defense," said Pullen. "We can't allow easy buckets.

To Martin, K-State is starting to play, well, K-State basketball. The Wildcat coach was pleased with the play in the loss to Texas A&M a week ago, which was followed with a victory over Baylor.

To the Wildcat coach, K-State is playing a better brand of inside-outside basketball.

Reciting figures given to him by assistant coach Matt Figger, Martin said, "We lead the country in offensive rebounding and we're in the top 10 in free throws attempted. We're also near the top in 3-pointers attempted and made. That all means we're pressuring the rim and getting perimeter shots."

But Kansas has an inside-outside game of its own with the junior Morris twins - Marcus (6-9) and Markieff (6-10) - who are averaging 17.0 and 12.7, respectively, plus getting just over 30 points from the starting guard trio of Josh Selby, Tyrel Reed and Tyshawn Taylor.

"The twins can both post up, but also step out and shoot it, and can dribble-drive to score," said Martin. "Then they have other guys who have been in their system for a long time. They have some grown men out there."

And then on defense, as assistant coach Brad Underwood says, they're as good as they come.

"They don't quite have the size as last year, so they approach things a little differently, but Bill always throws in a box-and-one and triangle-and-two at times," said Underwood. "They're just very, very solid."