South Regional General Information:

Regional Site: Atlanta, GA - Georgia Dome

Conference Tournament Champions: 7

At Large Teams: 10

Pods: Louisville, Portland, Albuquerqe, Greensboro

Interesting Facts:

• The numer 9 seed, UCONN, is the defending champion. That was hard to type.
• The #12 seed, VCU, is the champion of the CAA. Somehow, they were seeded better a year ago, despite not winning their conference.
• This region represents 3 (UK, Duke, UNLV) of North Carolina's 5 losses.
• 11 seed, Colorado, deserved a bid over VCU last year. Since they weren't going to get one this year either, they won the PAC 12 Tournament.
• Kentucky coach John Calipari has been to the Final Four three times. Only 1 remains in the record books, and the night is still young.

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With the conference champion now crowned, this seems an opportune time to start the All-League discussion. I'm not trying to pick the 5 best players, but rather, assemble a team that could take the floor. And given what Missouri has done this year, I would be free to take some big liberties, should I be so inclined. But I'm a traditionalist at heart, so I'm sticking to the lineup as much as possible.

1^st Team

1 – Tyshawn Taylor

2 – Marcus Denmon

3 – Royce White

4 – Ricardo Ratliffe

5 – Thomas Robinson

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Allen Field House is always special. It's special on a Tuesday in November against Ohio. So you know it won't disappoint when you get a worthy adversary in town. Jacque's three to beat Indiana. The UCLA comeback. Paul's "Senior night." The Oklahoma comeback. The Durant Game comeback. And there are countless others. But this one just might have topped them all.

Ever since February 4th, I was convinced we were better than Missouri. Even without old Withey, let alone new Withey, we outplayed them and gave one away. Get us in The Phog and we would have no trouble evening the score. But oddly enough, as I sat waiting for tipoff, I found myself wishing we had a vintage Kansas team. I love this team. But for that moment, I was wishing that we had a team that I knew would bury the Tigers. Don't get me wrong; that would have been fun. But this was better.

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The updated polls came out today and Kansas is now ranked no. 5 in the coaches poll and no. 4 in the AP poll. While I'm not one who cares about rankings, particularly in college basketball, I sit here somewhat amazed that we're deservedly in the top 5 on February 13^th.

I went into this season thinking we were the class of the Big 12 and probably a top 12-16 type of team. The Final Four never really entered my thought process. But I sit here somewhat amazed that we're deservedly in the top 5 on February 13^th. With that in mind, I thought it was time for us to discuss the national landscape.

Tier 1: Kentucky

And right now, it's not even close. Despite some top-heavy opposition early, they haven't had to endure a very arduous schedule. I suppose that could come back to haunt them. But when you watch that team click, it's hard to imagine them losing. If they are to get toppled, it will be the product of youth, and specifically, Marquis Teague. This is their title to lose.

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When it was all said and done, yesterday was probably exactly what this team needed. The first half was about as pretty as it gets, but just as quickly, we were all reminded how ordinary they are when they're not dialed in. If they can re-focus and take care of business in Bramlage tomorrow, they'll be in phenomenal shape.

Kansas Beats Okie State

Whole lotta love: Clyde Lovelette gushes over Jayhawks (LJW)

All of it deserved for the first half. Second half, not so much...

Offense nice, but for Elijah Johnson 'D' is key (LJW)

Could not agree more. I'd still like him to venture inside the three point line every once in a while though.

Self Unhappy with second half (KC Star)

Well, yeah.

Big Twelve

Three point barrage helps Missouri beat Baylor (KC Star)

If you were hoping to get some help from Baylor, you should have known better. Everyone who chooses to play for Scott Drew is getting exactly what they deserve.

Texas Roars Back, Rolls K-State 75-64 (BON)

Had I not seen the halftime score, this wouldn't have surprised me at all. I didn't see the second half, so I'm in no position to comment, but the free throw disparity (Texas 26, KSU 0) made me chuckle. I have to imagine that's the only way Texas could put up 48 in a half.

Jayhawks head to Kansas State for Marquee Big 12 Matchup (Wash Post)

The next three for KSU: vs. Kansas, @ Baylor, @ Missouri. Think they need this one tomorrow?

Head Coach: Mack Brown

Coaching Changes: Lots of them.  But the one all Texas fans can rejoice about is the departure of offensive coordinator, Greg Davis.  He's replaced by the combo platter of Bryan Harsin (formerly the OC at Boise State) and Major Applewhite (he of Texas legend, and former stints leading the offenses at Rice and Alabama).  There are others, but these are obviously the big ones.

2010 Record: 5-7 (2-6 Big XII)

They return a lot of starters on both sides of the ball.  The losses are minimal.  And the recruiting class, led by running back Malcolm Brown, is unsurprisingly fantastic - I seem to remember Rivals ranking it #1 in the country.  And if memory serves again, I'm pretty sure they only had to go out of state for a single player to assemble such a class. Must be nice.  Let's just move on.

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A very short set of links for you today.  It's clear that the sports world needs football to start - there just isn't anything interesting going on out there.

Basketball Recruiting

Random update from the LJW. Somehow, it appears that right now, Texas A&M has a better chance of getting Shabazz Muhammad than we do.  I have to be missing something here. 

Mario Chalmers

Mario Chalmers has used his foundation to open up Mario's Closet - a specialty shop for cancer patients - at Lawrence Memorial Hospital.  Great to see him giving back to the Lawrence community.

Big 12 Media Days

It has begun.  And reporters, looking for anything to drive page views, will of course ask everyone about the Longhorn Network. 

Matt Tait, friendly as always and representing the LJW, is down there following the action.

What are you reading?

Just over a year ago, I wrote an article on The State of College Basketball. Thirteen months later, I'm even more concerned.

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Josh Selby made a bad decision and you cannot convince me otherwise.  In every walk of life, you want to avoid selling low.  Well, Josh is selling himself at the lowest point of his career. 

In terms of the decision, there were a few ways this could go.  Josh Selby could choose the following:

1. Choose to sell himself at his current valuation, which is the lowest of his career.

In this scenario, he has a chance to get drafted in the first round and guarantee himself some nice money.  If this happens, even if he flames out because he wasn't ready, things have worked out decently well, particularly for a kid that didn't grow up with much.

That doesn't mean it was a good decision.  Especially because, a just as likely outcome is that he gets drafted in the second round, has no guarantee (with a small chance that he doesn't make a team), has trouble developing much, and is able to do very little work towards a nice second contract.

2. Return to Kansas and show (what he and we believe is) his true form. 

Depending on the results, this would likely put himself in position to sell himself at either his highest valuation ever, or at the very least, a level much higher than his current price.  He would, invariably, get drafted in the first round and possibly the lottery. Not only has he sold himself at a much better initial price, but he's also put himself in a better long-term position.

3. Return to Kansas, continue to struggle, or even get injured. 

In this scenario, he obviously is even more exposed and less valuable than right now. And that's certainly a possibility and a risk not to be taken for granted.  But you don't get return without taking risk.  And if you've seen him play, you know the likelihood of 2 is much greater than 3.

The choices are:

A) Sell himself at his lowest ever valuation and hope for the best; or

B) Bet on himself to improve his standing and his value.  If it's me, I bet on myself every time, particularly when I've reached a point where I don't have all that much to lose.  In March of 2009, I didn't know if the S&P 500 would go lower or not.  What I did know was that I wasn't going to be selling anything at the point.  That's where Josh Selby is about to sell himself.

I love Bill Self. I would not trade him for any coach in the country. Brad Stevens is making a pretty hard push, but even so, I like our chances with Bill. He's the perfect fit for our program and he took us to the promised land. But he has two things to figure out.

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Four teams remain in the Southwest Region. To no one's surprise, one of them is the #1 seeded Kansas Jayhawks. The other three you might not know as much about. Let's take a look at them each of the potential hurdles standing in front of Kansas in San Antonio on the road to the Final Four.

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I was checking out the expert picks at ESPN.com this morning, and in them, I found a hearty little nugget of gold. You see, Fran Fraschilla predicted way back in November that Ohio State, Duke, Kansas and Pitt would be in the Final Four. Lo and behold, those are your four #1 seeds, and so Fran wanted to capitalize by proving his prognosis with a link.  Obviously we have a few weeks to go here before anything is official, but if you weren't questioning the "expert" label ESPN provides their employees, perhaps now you will.

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Southwest Regional General Information:

Regional Site: San Antonio, Texas - Alamodome

Conference Tournament Champions:  6

At Large Teams:  10 (11 if you count VCU)

Power Conference Teams:  10

Mid Majors:  6 (7 with VCU)

Pods: (Dayton), Tulsa, Denver, Chicago

Interesting Facts: 

• Jay Bilas properly eviscerated the committee yesterday, but VCU in this field over Colorado is indefensible. And that's likely why Gene Smith couldn't defend it yesterday.
  
• Kansas has the longest active streak of tournament appearances, now at 22.
  
• Louisville coach Rick Pitino is the only coach to have taken 3 different schools to the Final Four.
  
• At the 2007 Final Four, Purdue alums were saying that Bill Self didn't have what it took to make a Final Four. Among other things, I loudly retorted that they were ones to talk, considering they were depending on Matt Painter to take them there. Matt Painter was 2 feet away. Here's to hoping he doesn't exact his revenge this year.

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If you were hoping to see the Jayhawks locked in for a full forty minutes, you must be supremely disappointed right now.  But despite that fact, their big guns stepped up and led them to a 90-83 win over a game, and dangerous, Colorado team.  Now they must turn their attention to either Texas A&M or avenging their earlier loss to the Texas Longhorns.

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