Rebuilding in Lawrence

Well, this is something new for my Jayhawks. It’s this thing called rebuilding. Yeah the Kansas got a little unlucky by having their two top recruits ruled ineligible for the season, but even then this is a down year for Kansas basketball. If there is one positive you can take out of this season so far, it has been the emergence of Thomas Robinson as a National Player of the Year candidate. He has been an absolute beast, including last night putting together what is becoming a very typical stat line for him, 21 points and 18 rebounds. On the season T-Rob is averaging 18 points and 12 rebounds a game, as well as a steal, block and assist a game. He has an NBA ready body now and will be a sure-fire lottery pick.

If you are looking at one player to describe how Kansas’ season is going thus far, look at Tyshawn Taylor. The immensely talented point guard is one of the most inconsistent players in college basketball. Already this year, he has a 13 assist game and an 11 turnover game. Talk about frustrating.

Really the one key piece Kansas is missing is a legit outside threat. Going back to their dominant days with Pierce to Brandon Rush to Sherron Collins to Brady Morningstar to Xavier Henry to Tyrell Reed to whomever, they have always had a consistent outside threat. Right now, they are trying to get that out of Elijah Johnson, former walk-on Connor Teahan and Travis Relaford and that’s just not happening. To Taylor’s credit right now he is hitting about 50 percent of his shots from 3, but just doesn’t take many shots from there. This is where Ben McLemore (the Jayhawks prized recruit), would have improved them tremendously. McLemore is a long wing player than would immediately start or could be a spark of the bench and could knock down long range shots. Defenses are currently collapsing down on Robinson and Jeff Withey, making it a very predictable offense.

All of this is shown in last night’s loss to Davidson. Kansas didn’t hit a 3 in the second half until about 3 minutes left in the game. Kansas shot 26 percent from 3 for the game and only 58 percent from the free throw line. Those are things you need to have, as well as consistent point guard play to be successful.

The Jayhawks go on the road Thursday night at USC then have 2 more games until Big 12 play. Consistency is going to be key going forward. On the plus side, I would rather no one but Coach Bill Self to lead my squad. You know the defense is going to be there and you will get 100% effort from Robinson. Rock Chalk Jayhawk into Los Angeles.

-The Boss

Posted in: Matt,NCAA