#1 Sports
Kansas at Texas A&M
Kansas (27-3, 12-3 Big 12, #5 AP) crushed Texas Tech Monday night by the score of 109-51, out-rebounding the Red Raiders 54-24 and finishing with six players in double digits, to post their 24th consecutive victory at Allen Field House, as well as their 24th consecutive Senior Night win. Because of the event, senior backups 6'4" G Rodrick Stewart (3.1p, 2.5r, 1.6a) and 6'11" 250 C Sasha Kaun (7.5p, 3.9r, 42 blocks) did get more shooting opportunities than they usually do, as did senior starter 6'1" G Russell Robinson (7.7, 2.9r, 4.2a, 61 steals, 29 of 85 from 3-point), but the truth is Head Coach Bill Self (133-22 in 5th season at Lawrence) regularly prefers to go deep most nights to keep opponents guessing with their flexibility.
Already this season, seven Jayhawks have led a game in scoring, seven in rebounding, five in assists, eight in steals, and seven in blocks, while no less than six different Kansas players have posted 20+ point games in 2007-2008. With no single player to load up on, opponents have been topped in field goal percentage in 29 of 30 contests, while the Hawks have finished above the 50% mark from the field twenty times, and have outscored their foes 785-498 from the bench.
Starting forwards 6'9" 225 sophomore Darrell Arthur (13.3p, 6.0r, 43 blocks) and 6'8" 250 senior Darnell Jackson (12.2p, 6.9r, 1.1a) have great court awareness and maintain disciplined spacing, key to Kansas' 39.4-31.2 per game edge on the glass, while guards 6'1" junior Mario Chalmers (12.0p, 2.9r, 4.7a, 68 steals), 6'6" junior Big 12 Player of the Week Brandon Rush (12.4p, 5.1r, 2.2a, 56 of 135 from 3-point), and Robinson dominate the perimeter with a per game assist edge of 18.8 to 11.3 and an incredible team assist to turnover ratio of 1.4 to 1, compared with 0.7 to 1 for their opponents. Rush especially has been playing extremely well as of late, and the torn ACL that caused him to pull out of the 2007 NBA Draft seems to be back to nearly 100%.
Key off the bench for the 3-time defending conference champs are the energy of 5'11" sophomore G Sherron Collins (9.2p, 1.9r, 2.6a, 29 of 81 from 3-point) and the size of 6'11" 240 Cole Aldrich (3.0p, 3.4r, 28 blocks), who looks very promising for seasons to come.
Thought you caught a glimpse of a legend on the bench? You did! 1988 NCAA Player of the Year and all-time Kansas leading scorer (2951 points) and rebounder (1187 boards) Danny Manning has been an assistant at Lawrence since Coach Self signed on, beginning as team manager, ordering and distributing equipment, moving up to travel coordinator, where he booked transportation and lodgings, before finally becoming a top assistant on the bench in addition to being a member of the US Olympic Team Selection Committee.
Texas A&M (21-8, 7-7 Big 12, NR) is coming off their worst game of the season, a 37-64 loss in Norman to the Sooners, in which they shot 13 of 51 from the field, 2 of 16 from behind the arc, were out-rebounded 28-42, had no answer for Oklahoma's 6'11" 234 Longar Longar, who came off the bench to rack up 14 points and 8 boards, and were held scoreless for a post shot clock (added in 1986) NCAA record 16 minutes and 12 seconds. As shocking as these numbers are, they are more shocking considering that they came at the expense of this team in particular.
The Aggies have averaged a very respectable 72.8 points per game this season on strong shooting numbers of .473 from the field and .356 from downtown, led by 6'7" junior G/F Josh Carter (12.6p, 4.2r, 1.5a, 63 of 168 from 3-point). The Aggies have also dominated the paint with a 39.7 to 32.0 rebounding advantage per game, led by 6'9" 255 senior F Joseph Jones (10.7p, 5.2r, 1.4a, 124 consecutive starts), 7'0" 260 freshman C DeAndre Jordan (9.0p, 6.4r, 37 blocks), and 6'9" 250 sophomore F Bryan Davis (8.6p, 5.0r, 1.3a, 31 steals, 33 blocks). The Aggies are more than capable at handling the ball (13.8 assists per game versus just 12.8 turnovers per game), led by 6'4" senior G Dominique Kirk (7.9p, 3.5r, 3.5a, 34 of 79 from 3-point, 125 consecutive starts) plus Seagoville High School teammates in Dallas 6'3" sophomore G Donald Sloan (9.4p, 3.9r, 3.2a) and 6'4" sophomore G Derrick Roland (6.1p, 2.2r, 1.2a). So just how the hell does a team - who was leading 10-9 at the time their scoring drought began - with all this talent and size fail to score a single point in better than 16 minutes of game time, much less get beaten on the glass by Oklahoma?
You could blame it on youth; nine of A&M's thirteen scholarship players are underclassmen, and just two players on Head Coach Mark Turgeon's (21-8 in 1st season at College Station) roster are seniors. Frankly, we write it off to the one million monkeys pounding away on one million typewriters theory of the world. In other words, watch enough basketball and you'll see some pretty strange stuff. Not only are the Aggies a pretty darn fine ball club, they have bagged a legitimate blue-chip player in Jordan.
At Christian Life High School in Houston, Jordan averaged 26.1 points, 15.2 boards, and 8.1 blocks per game as a senior, earning Parade All-American Honors, and entered the collegiate level ranked as the #8 recruit in the nation overall and the #2 recruit in the nation among centers by Rivals.com. With sixteen of the squad's eighteen players born and raised in the great state of Texas, there is plenty for the faithful at Reed Arena to root for this season and for campaigns to come.
Free winner from #1 Sports: This is a dangerous game for the Jayhawks. It's tough to remain sharp following such an easy game. A first of the season meeting with a crew the caliber of the Aggies, who are 16-3 on their home court, is no skate, and the record-setting nature of Coach Turgeon's squad's last game will certainly get you a generous number. Take Texas A&M on Saturday.
