SB Nation Kansas City - Kansas Makes An Argument For No. 1 With A Blowout Win Over Iowa State https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/48935/kc-fave.png2011-02-13T09:28:34-06:00http://kansascity.sbnation.com/rss/stream/17530442011-02-13T09:28:34-06:002011-02-13T09:28:34-06:00Kansas Jayhawks Players On Becoming No. 1 Team In NCAA Basketball Rankings
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<p>The Kansas Jayhawks are currently ranked No. 2 in the country but with Ohio State's loss to Wisconsin on Saturday it appears KU basketball is on their way to becoming the new No. 1 team in the country. Other possibilities include Ohio State remaining at No. 1 or Texas jumping Kansas into the top spot. My money, though, is on KU getting top billing.</p>
<p>It could be an interesting situation for Kansas because they'll be No. 1 in the country but No. 2 in the Big 12 conference behind the Texas Longhorns. Indeed, Texas, could end up ranked No. 2 in the country behind Kansas but hold an undefeated conference record. </p>
<p>"I want to be ranked number one," Marcus Morris said after beating Iowa State on Saturday. "I want to have that chip on our shoulder every time we go out. I want to get everybody's best shot because I think we can take it. T-Rob (Thomas Robinson) did go out, but we have other guys that can step up and I want that chip on our shoulders." </p>
<p>KU made a similar climb to the top last season taking over the top spot in the second half of the conference season.</p>
<p>Tyshawn Taylor says Kansas took it for granted last year. "We came out and thought we were going to win every game. I think being with guys who went through that and know how that team was last year and know how it feels to lose and it being over that fast. I feel like we won't let that happen. We don't want to feel that again. When it comes down to it this year, we aren't going home sad." </p>
https://kansascity.sbnation.com/kansas-jayhawks/2011/2/13/1991284/kansas-jayhawks-ncaa-basketball-rankingsJoel Thorman2011-02-12T16:47:42-06:002011-02-12T16:47:42-06:00Kansas Makes An Argument For No. 1 With A Blowout Win Over Iowa State
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<p>The <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/ncaa-basketball/teams/kansas-jayhawks" class="sbn-auto-link">Kansas Jayhawks</a> took to the court on Saturday shortly after the #1 team in the nation Ohio State had dropped their first game of the season in Wisconsin. For Kansas, the game against Iowa State presented an opportunity to grab the #1 ranking and the Jayhawks capitalized.</p>
<p>Kansas used a solid early defensive effort to jump out early and put the Cyclones away in the first half. With just under five minutes to play, the Jayhawks led by 23 and had only given up 14 points to the Cyclones. The defensive effort and focus crept a little closer to where Bill Self would like to see it, and Kansas continued to play as well as anyone in the country on the offensive end.</p>
<p>What makes the victory and the recent stretch of Kansas games more impressive is that the Jayhawks have been able to compete at such a high level with a pair of key contributors on the bench. <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/ncaa-basketball/players/123747/josh-selby" class="sbn-auto-link">Josh Selby</a> missed his third straight game on Saturday, while sophomore <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/ncaa-basketball/players/99945/thomas-robinson" class="sbn-auto-link">Thomas Robinson</a> missed his first of what will be a two week stretch recovering from knee surgery.</p>
<p>The Morris twins carried the Jayhawks on the afternoon picking up right where they left off a month ago against the Cyclones in Ames. Marcus scored 16 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, while Markieff contributed 14 points and 11 rebounds as well.</p>
<p>Kansas wins by a final score of 89-66 and now they wait until Monday to learn if they will find themselves as the #1 ranked team in the country headed into a Big Monday showdown with Kansas State.</p>
https://kansascity.sbnation.com/kansas-jayhawks/2011/2/12/1990534/kansas-makes-an-argument-for-1-with-a-blowout-win-over-iowa-stateOwen RCT2011-02-12T15:52:58-06:002011-02-12T15:52:58-06:00Kansas-Iowa State Score: Jayhawks Cruising, 45-26
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<p>The Kansas Jayhawks are en route to becoming the No. 1 team in the country. With Ohio State's to Wisconsin on Saturday afternoon, Kansas is in line to take over the top spot in the polls if they can pull out a victory against Iowa State.</p>
<p>It's looking good so far for Kansas who has dominated the Cyclones through the first half. KU leads 45-26 and it doesn't appear they're letting up (especially now that news has made it to every player and every fan in Allen Fieldhouse that No. 1 Ohio State lost shortly before they tipped off).</p>
<p>Marcus and Markieff Morris are killin' it inside combining for 20 points and 13 boards in the first half. Not only that -- both are efficient, too. Markieff has hit 5-of-6 shots while Marcus is 3-of-5. Oh, and they each have a three-pointer, too. Mario Little has six points off the bench while Tyrel Reed and Brady Morningstar have combined for five steals.</p>
<p>KU's looked, well...about what we thought they'd look like. They're dominating at just about everything. They were 20 point favorites heading into the game and they're on pace to win by more than that.</p>
<p>The Jayhawks are without Josh Selby and Thomas Robinson, both of whom are out with injury.</p>
https://kansascity.sbnation.com/kansas-jayhawks/2011/2/12/1990463/kansas-iowa-state-score-jayhawksJoel Thorman2011-02-12T15:12:16-06:002011-02-12T15:12:16-06:00Down Goes Ohio State Vs. Wisconsin; Iowa State-Kansas Now For No. 1 In Country
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<p>The Kansas Jayhawks are only a couple of hours from potentially becoming the No. 1 team in the country. The Ohio State Buckeyes just lost to Wisconsin, 71-67. That means the Kansas Jayhawks would likely move into No. 1 if they beat the Iowa State Cyclones on Saturday.</p>
<p>Ohio State was unbeaten up to this point so this is KU's first chance at toppling them. </p>
<p>The Ohio State-Wisconsin game ended right as the Iowa State-Kansas game was starting so everyone on the court may not be aware of Ohio State's loss. The score was announced to the Allen Fieldhouse crowd to a huge applause. </p>
<p>Ohio State is currently No. 1 followed by Kansas, No. 2, and Texas, No. 3. Texas is ranked behind Kansas despite beating them earlier in the season. Texas is the only loss Kansas has suffered this year while the Longhorns have three losses in their 21-3 season.</p>
<p>Kansas is a 20-point favorite against Iowa State so the heavy odds are on them assuming the No. 1 spot in the country. You think people are looking forward to that potential matchup in the Big 12 Tournament?</p>
https://kansascity.sbnation.com/kansas-jayhawks/2011/2/12/1990402/ohio-state-wisconsin-iowa-state-kansasJoel Thorman2011-02-12T10:14:33-06:002011-02-12T10:14:33-06:00Josh Selby, Thomas Robinson Out With Injury Is Good Test For Kansas Jayhawks
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<p>On Saturday the Kansas Jayhawks will host the Iowa State Cyclones at Allen Fieldhouse and they'll be doing so without some of their firepower. Freshman Josh Selby and sophomore Thomas Robinson both have injuries and aren't expected to play.</p>
<p>Selby is not expected to play, <a href="http://kansascity.sbnation.com/kansas-jayhawks/2011/2/11/1989003/bill-self-continues-to-stress-defense-as-kansas-prepares-for-iowa">head coach Bill Self announced on Friday night,</a> because of a stress reaction suffered nearly two weeks ago. He's been absent the last two games -- both big KU victories -- and it <a href="http://kansascity.sbnation.com/kansas-jayhawks/2011/2/10/1986803/kansas-josh-selby-return-injury-iowa-state">doesn't appear they've missed him much</a>. I'm not saying Kansas doesn't want/need Selby -- they do -- but it's pretty clear that this is a deep, deep team and one player missing doesn't mess with their mojo much.</p>
<p>Robinson also will not play,<a href="http://kansascity.sbnation.com/kansas-jayhawks/2011/2/11/1989247/thomas-robinson-surgery-torn-mcl-two-weeks-kansas-jayhawks"> Self announced</a>. His injury is expected to keep him out of 4-5 games or about two weeks. There's a small sample size for a Robinson-less KU team and the results aren't great. He didn't play against UMKC on January 5 -- KU smoked them by 47 points so his absence wasn't a factor. But he also only played eight minutes against Texas on January 22, and didn't play the following week against Colorado (because of his mother's sudden death). KU lost the Texas game and beat Colorado by just four points. I'm not saying that means they'll lose on Saturday against Iowa State, or any of the 4-5 games he's projected to miss, but it is an interesting note. (Editor's note: Also worth mentioning is that Kansas, as a team, may have been affected by the death of Robinson's mother, so it wasn't necessarily just a basketball issue with those games).</p>
<p>Those are two significant pieces of the pie but KU has shown they're not a one-dimensional team. They can play with, and beat you at any type of game you want to play. It will be a good test, though, to see how they respond. Ultimately I don't think missing these players is going to have a drastic effect. It's not ideal but this team is simply too good to be hurt with one or two missing players.</p>
https://kansascity.sbnation.com/kansas-jayhawks/2011/2/12/1989919/josh-selby-thomas-robinson-injury-kansas-jayhawksJoel Thorman2011-02-11T19:23:42-06:002011-02-11T19:23:42-06:00Josh Selby's Injury Now Expected To Keep Him Out For Kansas Vs. Iowa State
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<p>Maybe Josh Selby won't play after all. Selby, the Kansas Jayhawks' freshman guard, suffered a stress reaction and has been out of the lineup for two games. Head coach Bill Self said on Thursday that he was expecting Selby to play on Saturday against the Iowa State Cyclones.</p>
<p>Maybe not. Self reversed course on Friday evening<a href="http://www.kuathletics.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/021111aab.html"> in a statement issued by the school</a> (H/T Brady McCollough of KC Star) and said Selby is actually doubtful to play.</p>
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"Josh did practice today, limited," Self said. "I seriously doubt he will play tomorrow." </p>
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<p>Self said on Thursday that "we're going to let him go" when talking about Selby. Apparently Selby's injury hasn't progressed the way Self thought it would.</p>
<p>Kansas will be missing Selby and Thomas Robinson, <a href="http://kansascity.sbnation.com/kansas-jayhawks/2011/2/11/1989247/thomas-robinson-surgery-torn-mcl-two-weeks-kansas-jayhawks">who underwent surgery on Friday</a>, against Iowa State on Friday. Does that matter to Kansas? If the oddsmakers have anything to say, no it doesn't. KU was already a whopping 20-point favorite over Iowa State so they're still expected to take care of business. </p>
https://kansascity.sbnation.com/kansas-jayhawks/2011/2/11/1989262/josh-selby-injury-out-kansas-iowa-stateJoel Thorman2011-02-11T16:30:27-06:002011-02-11T16:30:27-06:00Bill Self Continues To Stress Defense As Kansas Prepares For Iowa State
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<p>The <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/ncaa-basketball/teams/kansas-jayhawks" class="sbn-auto-link">Kansas Jayhawks</a> take on the Iowa State Cyclones for the second time this season on Saturday, and this time the game is a home game for Kansas. Since the last meeting between these two teams the seasons and the play off the two have taken a decidedly different direction. </p>
<p>For the Cyclones things have gone downhill. Fred Hoibergs team now sits 14-10 overall and just 1-8 in conference play with 6 straight losses. For Kansas, they've dropped one game, but at the same time they have gone from a team that seemed to let everyone hang around, to somewhat of an offensive juggernaut. </p>
<p>Still for Kansas coach Bill Self, defense is the missing ingredient and what he's looking to see when Kansas takes on the Cyclones on Saturday.</p>
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<p>"I think our next step is that we've got to play defensive like we're not making shots."</p>
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<p>Here's the catch. The Jayhawks aren't missing many shots. At least they aren't missing at a rate that would prevent their talented offensive players from strictly outscoring teams. When asked whether coach Self believed his team thought they could outscore a team on any given night his response again turned to defense.</p>
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<p>"I think there's way too much of it. We talked about that for an hour yesterday. (We talked about) different things, but that was definitely one of the topics. In a game where you're not making shots, or a game where you're playing with foul trouble, can you get four or five stops in a row in the clutch part of the game? I don't think that this team does that consistently enough."</p>
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<p>Plain and simple the Jayhawks are a very good offensive team. To reach a championship level, they need to find that same level on the defensive end. Saturday against the Cyclones, Kansas has a chance to fine tune that piece of their game in a friendly environment in what should be a manageable win.</p>
https://kansascity.sbnation.com/2011/2/11/2329634/bill-self-continues-to-stress-defense-as-kansas-prepares-for-iowaOwen RCT