Welcome back, Kansas.
For a time, the product on the floor was unrecognizable given the talent – albeit young talent – the Jayhawks possess. And a loss to Kansas State? At home? Unacceptable.
But lately the Jayhawks are playing like they want their national name back and, more notably, up to that immense talent level. Kansas has moved back near the top of the Big 12 standings with smarter play, a dose of maturity and a dash of confidence.
KU is one of a group of traditionally powerful teams that started slow but have picked up their play.
“Our thinking is it takes a semester (with young players),” Kansas coach Bill Self said. “And that’s about what it took for us.”
KU’s recent schedule hasn’t hurt, with victories over Nebraska, Texas A&M, Iowa State and Texas Tech. But the Jayhawks’ overall game has improved in the past month, and that fact is underscored by the play of freshman Brandon Rush.
Starting with the Jan. 7 game against Kentucky, Rush has become Kansas’ most indispensable player, and his playing time reflects that.
Before playing Kentucky, Rush played 30 or more minutes three times. In seven of the eight games since, he has played more than 30 minutes, including a season-high 39 on Jan. 14 against Kansas State.
Rush’s production has picked up as well. In Kansas’ first 12 games, he averaged 11.8 points and 4.6 rebounds. In the past eight, he has averaged 18.7 points and 8.0 rebounds.
“The biggest thing with him was he’s a talented guy that knew he didn’t know,” Self said. “I think there’s so many young kids that come into school that think that they have an idea of what the game is all about and what they need to be doing to be the best player.
“He’s become a solid defender – at times very, very good – and he’s a pretty good rebounder. He’s always been able to score the ball decently. He’s really worked on his game.”
Meanwhile, Kentucky has won five straight since starting the season 10-6, 0-2 in SEC play. The Wildcats will see how far they’ve come with back-to-back games at No. 8 Florida on Saturday and home against No. 13 Tennessee on Tuesday.
Stanford has quietly crept near the top of the Pac-10, buoyed by a three-game winning streak that includes a victory over No. 16 Washington. In the Cardinal’s case, moving Chris Hernandez from the point to shooting guard has helped. Center Matt Haryasz is scoring more, too. Other than that, it appears it just took some time for things to click.
Boston College started its inaugural ACC season with an 0-3 mark but has rebounded to win four of its past five. And Temple, in the Atlantic 10, has won six of seven after a 6-6 start. Senior guard Mardy Collins has been on fire for the Owls, averaging 25.0 points and shooting 49 percent from the field.
Each case emphasizes that there’s no reason to panic in December and January.
RPI returns in
On Wednesday, the NCAA released its ratings percentage index rankings for the first time, and two things jumped out.
First, as expected, there were some differences in the NCAA’s official rankings and those replicated by others. But the replicas are close.
Second, the Big Ten must be the NCAA’s highest-rated conference. Seven of its teams are in the top 20, headed by Michigan State at No. 6.
Other observations:
The Missouri Valley is holding up well with four teams in the top 30: Northern Iowa (No. 14), Southern Illinois (No. 22), Creighton (No. 24) and Wichita State (No. 25). That’s good on two levels for the conference. First, the RPI top 30 is a good place to be when NCAA Tournament bids come out. Second, it means playing each other during conference action won’t drop the league’s profile much. In the past, that was a problem for mid-major conferences, dragging down the RPIs of teams that were legitimate NCAA Tournament contenders.
The Big 12 has work to do. The recent success of Kansas and Oklahoma helps, but just two of its teams are in the RPI top 30. Colorado (No. 47) is the third highest-rated team in the conference and firmly in bubble territory. Kansas (14-6) is at No. 60.
The Pac-10 needs a miracle turnaround. A beaten-up UCLA squad is its best team and checks in at No. 12, and despite an unimpressive 13-7 mark, Arizona is at No. 16. Next is Washington at No. 54.
The RPI isn’t the end-all in determining who gets into the tournament, but it remains a good measure for sizing up teams’ relative strength. It will be interesting to see how these numbers shake out as the regular season heads toward the stretch run.
Award time
With most conference races at the halfway point, here are my award winners to this point.
My first-team All-Americans would be: Duke guard J.J. Redick, Villanova guard Randy Foye, Gonzaga forward Adam Morrison, Connecticut forward Rudy Gay and Michigan State center Paul Davis. On the periphery: Illinois guard Dee Brown, Nevada forward (and former Ralston Valley High standout) Nick Fazekas, Texas forward LaMarcus Aldridge, Duke forward Shelden Williams, Michigan State guard Maurice Ager, Villanova guard Allan Ray, Boston College forward Jared Dudley and LSU forward Glen Davis.
As for coaches, that’s a bit harder to pin down, but we’ll start our list with these: Florida’s Billy Donovan, Memphis’ John Calipari, Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski, West Virginia’s John Beilein, Georgetown’s John Thompson III and Tennessee’s Bruce Pearl.
Footnotes
Who says there’s no good college basketball in Colorado? Two state teams have played their way into ESPN’s cross hairs. Air Force and Colorado have been featured in recent weeks on ESPN.com, the Buffs just this week. And the Denver Pioneers have won 16 in a row at home, tied for the sixth best in the nation. They will be put to a major test Thursday in their next home game, against Sun Belt-leading Western Kentucky. … No team in the land is more snake-bitten than Notre Dame. During a current four-game losing streak, the Irish have lost by an average of two points. They have two double-overtime losses. … A scheduling quirk had many Horizon League teams playing an NBA-like three games this week. … Former Wyoming coach Don Devoe has joined the National Invitation Tournament selection committee, replacing Gene Keady, an ex-Purdue coach, who recently accepted an assistant coaching job with the NBA’s Toronto Raptors. … Word is growing that if West Virginia coach John Beilein ever leaves, former Cincinnati coach Bob Huggins, who graduated from WVU in 1977, would be interested in the job.
