Jayhawk Football

Thank goodness basketball season is here. After a terribly disappointing loss at home to Nebraska, I find myself motivated to blog. I plan on composing my thoughts this evening and leaving a detailed post tomorrow. Speaking of tomorrow, Alicia, my sisters, and I are going to see Wicked with my mom in Kansas City. It should be a great show!

KU in Manhattan

00:31 left, and we are up by eight. I am really hoping that it is safe to start typing now. Ok, final score: 85 - 74.

Left, right, left, right, left, right, standing...standing...standing...SIT DOWN!**

If you closed your eyes, would you think you were sitting in a high school basketball game? 1 win in the last 26 home games against the Jayhawks, and suddenly the Grapes have some swagger. And, with this win, KU enters its 20th straight 20-win season; now that calls for some swagger. The Hawks showed some serious moxie to win this basketball game, coming off a tough game at Missouri, into a hostile environment in Manhattan, and being down 16 early in the first half.


In my opinion, the obvious MVP of this game was Cole Aldrich. The guy puts up 21 points and grabs 7 rebounds; the new Rip Hamiltonesque mask works well. As KU fans have come to expect, Collins came to play as well, scoring 19 points just over a 1:1 (6 and 5) assist to turnover ratio. But, the unsung MVP of this game has got to go to Marcus Morris. McMorris was an absolute spark plug for the Hawks today, effective from all over the floor on both ends. He was the catalyst for our team when we started our comeback in the first half. He finished up with 15 points, 7 boards, 4 assists, 3 steals, and only 1 TO. Sherron Collins had this to say:

“That’s the real Marcus, aggressive, making plays, hitting threes, jumpers, posting, doing it all. He keeps teasing us, showing glimpses of it, but he is coming around, turning the corner. I look forward to seeing more of that from him.”

It is great to watch Wildcat fans leave their own building with over 1:00 left in the game, and, as a fan, I could not be more impressed with the poise of our young team.

To throw K-State a bone, I have been pretty impressed with Denny Clemente over the last couple of weeks. He makes shots from all over the floor, and plays pretty solid defense. It really is too bad he's such a thug... Oh, and KU has won 38 of the last 40 meetings with the Wildcats.

**In reference to the KSU student section after Tyshawn Taylor and Brady Morningstar fouled out. After rewatching the game, I have concluded that Tyshawn is a genius. After his 5th, he waited until Denis Clemente was in the middle of shooting his free throws to sit down. Those Grapes, thick-headed and short-sighted, still yelled, and Clemente missed both free throw attempts. It was beautiful.

The Border War

It's never good to go to bed when you are depressed. The feeling usually carries over into the following day, and you have a seemingly extra long hour commute to work. Then, your day at the office seems a little slow, so things start to look up. It's a nice day outside, and you think, "Hey, maybe everything will be alright." Lunch is good (leftover taco salad), and the weekly team meeting starts off as per usual. Then, out of nowhere...BAM! Your project manager informs you that he has put in his letter of resignation.

It just goes to show, life is bad after losing a close one in Columbia. Seriously, let's look at this ballgame after .7 seconds left in the first half. Tyshawn Taylor converts a fantastic finish to put the Hawks up by 14 going into the break. A 14 point lead! Obviously, you can guess how the second half went. All we had to do was play a bad second half, that's it! Not good, decent, or mediocre. Just plain bad. A "bad" half is one that you lose by 10 points; a bad half wins the game. Instead, our entire team decides to lay one huge, far-past-its-expiration-date egg. But, it's the first Border War for a majority of our team! But, Missouri plays "40 Minutes of Hell" defense! But... Bill Self said it best:

"I can handle getting beat,” Self said. “We can learn from getting beat. We didn’t expect to run the table or anything like that. When you put yourself in position to be up 14 at halftime, 11 under 10 minutes and seven under four (minutes), as a coach you feel you need to win those games"

Looking at his quote, maybe I'm exagerating a little bit on the full half being so unbelievably pitiful. For fairness' sake, let's peg the final 8 minutes of the game as terrible: missed free throws, not looking inside, not making a bucket from 8:00 remaining until 0:29. And, most importantly, giving up 46 points!

The only silver lining, here, is that thick-headed Mizzou fans still rush the court. That exemplifies the light in which we are portrayed by fans o' the Tigers.

Oh, and Leo Lyons had this to say: "I just know this means more to them (fans) than a national championship does."

It's good to see they have the right goal in mind.