Post by MizzouTiger on Feb 16, 2008 9:31:58 GMT -5
www.kansascity.com/sports/story/492178.html
KU seeks to bolster resume
By J. BRADY McCOLLOUGH
The Kansas City Star
LAWRENCE | Darrell Arthur had to think for a second. The question was pretty simple, yet there was no obvious answer. Do the Kansas Jayhawks have a great win 25 games into this season?
“A great win?” Arthur pondered. “So far, not as great as Coach wants us to have.”
High-quality wins and bad losses. The interaction of those two forces often determines where a team is seeded in the NCAA Tournament. The Jayhawks have wins over four teams with a legitimate shot at making the tournament: at home, Arizona, Oklahoma and Baylor. On the road, Southern California. None of those teams is currently ranked.
Next up is 10-13 Colorado today at Allen Fieldhouse, and, judging by the way this season has gone, No. 3 KU will be 24-2 by day’s end. That’s not too much of a jump to make. After all, if the Jayhawks have proved anything this season, it’s that they’re too good to slip up and add one of those bad losses to their resume.
So that’s where KU is right now in the race for a No. 1 seed come March. It is armed with a few respectable wins and no bad losses. Will that be enough? Is a team like Texas — with four losses and a bad loss at Missouri, but three great wins against UCLA, Tennessee and Kansas — more worthy?
“Good wins are always better than bad losses are bad,” said Jerry Palm, who runs the Web site collegerpi.com. “I think a good win in general will more than make up for a bad loss.”
Still, Palm had KU as the top seed in the Phoenix region as of Friday.
“It’s a borderline No. 1 seed kind of profile right now,” Palm said. “There are other teams out there with better wins, that’s for sure. But then UCLA has lost to Washington, North Carolina lost at home to Maryland. It has been a struggle for a lot of those teams up there. Kansas is still kind of hanging on.”
It could be argued that, given the way their schedule has shaken out, the Jayhawks’ only chance for a signature win came on Monday night against Texas. KU’s nonconference slate — scheduled years ago — didn’t pan out as the gauntlet it could have been. Arizona (16-8, 6-5) and USC (15-8, 6-5) are stuck in the middle of the Pacific-10. Georgia Tech (11-12, 4-5) and Boston College (13-10, 4-6) are going nowhere in the ACC.
Looking ahead, KU’s best shot for an impressive, resume-building win will come March 8 at Texas A&M in the season finale and then in the Big 12 tournament.
But Palm says it’s not a big issue for Kansas.
“It’s hard for teams like Kansas to get signature wins,” Palm said. “It’s not like teams like UCLA and North Carolina before the season are looking to get Kansas on the schedule. Teams like that, they end up being the signature victim more often than they get a signature win.”
When asked the same question as Arthur, KU point guard Russell Robinson seemed to understand what Palm was saying.
“We have some good wins,” Robinson said, “but the really important ones don’t come until everything is laid on the line. We’re putting ourselves in a good position to get those wins. Hopefully, we can get that win when it comes.”
KU seeks to bolster resume
By J. BRADY McCOLLOUGH
The Kansas City Star
LAWRENCE | Darrell Arthur had to think for a second. The question was pretty simple, yet there was no obvious answer. Do the Kansas Jayhawks have a great win 25 games into this season?
“A great win?” Arthur pondered. “So far, not as great as Coach wants us to have.”
High-quality wins and bad losses. The interaction of those two forces often determines where a team is seeded in the NCAA Tournament. The Jayhawks have wins over four teams with a legitimate shot at making the tournament: at home, Arizona, Oklahoma and Baylor. On the road, Southern California. None of those teams is currently ranked.
Next up is 10-13 Colorado today at Allen Fieldhouse, and, judging by the way this season has gone, No. 3 KU will be 24-2 by day’s end. That’s not too much of a jump to make. After all, if the Jayhawks have proved anything this season, it’s that they’re too good to slip up and add one of those bad losses to their resume.
So that’s where KU is right now in the race for a No. 1 seed come March. It is armed with a few respectable wins and no bad losses. Will that be enough? Is a team like Texas — with four losses and a bad loss at Missouri, but three great wins against UCLA, Tennessee and Kansas — more worthy?
“Good wins are always better than bad losses are bad,” said Jerry Palm, who runs the Web site collegerpi.com. “I think a good win in general will more than make up for a bad loss.”
Still, Palm had KU as the top seed in the Phoenix region as of Friday.
“It’s a borderline No. 1 seed kind of profile right now,” Palm said. “There are other teams out there with better wins, that’s for sure. But then UCLA has lost to Washington, North Carolina lost at home to Maryland. It has been a struggle for a lot of those teams up there. Kansas is still kind of hanging on.”
It could be argued that, given the way their schedule has shaken out, the Jayhawks’ only chance for a signature win came on Monday night against Texas. KU’s nonconference slate — scheduled years ago — didn’t pan out as the gauntlet it could have been. Arizona (16-8, 6-5) and USC (15-8, 6-5) are stuck in the middle of the Pacific-10. Georgia Tech (11-12, 4-5) and Boston College (13-10, 4-6) are going nowhere in the ACC.
Looking ahead, KU’s best shot for an impressive, resume-building win will come March 8 at Texas A&M in the season finale and then in the Big 12 tournament.
But Palm says it’s not a big issue for Kansas.
“It’s hard for teams like Kansas to get signature wins,” Palm said. “It’s not like teams like UCLA and North Carolina before the season are looking to get Kansas on the schedule. Teams like that, they end up being the signature victim more often than they get a signature win.”
When asked the same question as Arthur, KU point guard Russell Robinson seemed to understand what Palm was saying.
“We have some good wins,” Robinson said, “but the really important ones don’t come until everything is laid on the line. We’re putting ourselves in a good position to get those wins. Hopefully, we can get that win when it comes.”