SB Nation User Blog: rockchalk

C.J. Henry: One-and-Done or Role Player?

rockchalk — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 21:25:20 -0000

"I don’t like stepping on people’s toes," Carl says, "but I just know what I know. I watch them play, all the Kansas kids. I like all these kids, (Sherron) Collins, (Tyshawn Taylor), they’re good kids, man. But they’re not better than C.J."

-- Kansas City Star - "Getting to the pros the Henry family plan"

J. Brady's article caused quite a stir. It was going to no matter what, but instead of just instigating thousands of message board discussions and blog comments, it hit the subjects, the Henry family (particularly Carl), and they created a fuss about it. Maybe they weren't coming to Kansas, after all. But with that potential issue seemingly behind us now, given the handful of media sources claiming that, in fact, Xavier and C.J. are still coming to Lawrence, let's talk about what just might have been the most interesting aspect of the article.

The quote above.

It was preceded by the claim that Carl considers C.J. to be a "one-and-done player."

I'm not really sure how to take this. I mean, I suppose it's impossible to tell anyone that they will spend more than one year in college. It's his right to declare for the Draft. Lots of hopefuls declare every year that have no shot at getting drafted. But unless C.J. is way better than I figure him to be, then him declaring for the NBA after this year wouldn't be too intelligent.

But first, let's take a look at the depth chart. C.J. could probably play either the 1 or the 2, so we'll put him up for both positions. With that in mind, he's positively behind Sherron, almost assuredly behind Tyshawn and probably even slightly behind Elijah Johnson. His chance to capitalize on Elijah's injury, learning how to play with his teammates and such, gaining ground on Elijah has gone away as C.J. continues to work out with his brother in Oklahoma City. Opportunity wasted.

And that isn't even including Tyrel Reed and Brady Morningstar. Hell, Xavier could even see some time at the 2, taking away some more of the 80 minutes a game the two positions get. But, assuming that there are 5 minutes-or-so a game of three-guard alignment, we'll go with 90 minutes a game to divy up between Sherron, Tyshawn, Tyrel, Brady, Elijah and C.J. This is just a ballpark estimate, and the calendar just turned to July. So, lots of stuff can change.

Sherron -- 30
Tyshawn -- 25
Elijah --15
C.J. -- 15
Brady/Tyrel -- 5

Damn. And that isn't even including Travis Releford, who I think should redshirt this season because of the sheer depth here. That is just ridiculous.

But back to the point. How is C.J., picking up something around 15 minutes a night, going to end up declaring for the Draft? Now, again, I've never seen C.J. play. No one really has, at least not since he was a high schooler. And that was a helluva long time ago. I don't doubt he has talent; there is a reason we were recruiting him heavily as a high school senior. But if he wants to pick up loads of playing time and make an early exit to the League, 2010-11 would be the better year to do it. Think about it. Sherron will be gone. Tyshawn probably will, too.

If C.J. is half as good as his dad thinks he is, he can beat out Travis and Tyrel and Brady for the starting gig along with Elijah. Ignoring incoming recruits, of course, but whatever. The point remains the same.

C.J. probably isn't a one-and-done player. At least, not if he plays at Kansas. If he stayed at Memphis or something. then yeah, maybe. But not in Lawerence. Too much talent. Way too much.

USA Today's Feature on Todd Reesing

rockchalk — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 06:58:06 -0000

USA Today's Feature on Todd Reesing

Just to get everyone's mind off of Xavier and C.J. and Carl. USA Today previewed 6 top senior quarterbacks; one of them is our own Todd.

My Take on the Ridiculous Henry Saga

rockchalk — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 04:49:43 -0000

More photos » AP

Browse more photos »

(deep breath)

The Background

Most of this is basic stuff everyone knows, but I felt it was necessary to set the whole thing up. If for nothing else than to put all of the ridiculousness of the entire situation into one, tidy package.

So, basically, this is where we're at right now. Xavier and C.J. Henry, sons of ex-Jayhawks Carl Henry and Barbara Henry, grew up fans of Kansas. So, when college decisions rolled around, and coaches from across the country came a-callin', Kansas was the natural fit. C.J. picked the Hawks, but his collegiate career was put in hold when he was drafted by those damn Yankees.

After an entirely failed baseball career, where he appeared in the news for but a day in 3 years-and-change, when he was the headliner in Bobby Abreu's trade to the Bronx, C.J. wanted to return to college basketball. Xavier, his younger brother, was down to Memphis and Kansas, so C.J. was too. He chose Coach Calipari, and Xavier subsequently picked Memphis the following November.

Coach Calipari left to go to Kentucky, in a move that completely and entirely changed so many recruiting decisions, it'd take days to fully account for the carnage.* They subsequently reopened their recruitment, with C.J., as a walk-on, able to transfer without sitting out a year, this time choosing between Kansas and Kentucky.

* I mean, not to go all JoePo on you, but it's mind-boggling. John Wall, who wasn't really considering Kentucky, and was probably going to Memphis, ends up in Lexington. Same with DeMarcus Cousins, although he had already committed. Same with Xavier Henry, except he (most likely) ended up in Lawrence. Lance Stephenson, who was announcing his decision to attend Kansas (according to multiple sources, at least), just decides today on the Cincinnati Bearcats. I'm not a huge recruiting guy, but wow. It would be interesting to do a retrospective in a couple of years, figuring out how everything would have been different if Calipari would have just stayed at Memphis. Hell, it'd be interesting to read one in a month-or-so.

They chose Kansas. It may or may not have had anything to do with Barbara Henry's desire, or lack thereof, to live in the Bluegrass State. But whatever the reason, they chose the Jayhawks. On Sunday, J. Brady McCullogh penned what I thought to be a wonderful article about the lives of the Henrys. In it, the Henrys were portrayed as, well, stuck-up, spoiled-out-of-their-mind kids. And yes, that includes Carl. They didn't like such a portrayal, naturally. I would hope nobody would. Of course, instead of just realizing that, hey, we do kinda sound like that, don't we Xav, they freaked out. And now, they might switch back to Kentucky. Over a freaking newspaper article. I have no idea what this world is coming to.

Now, word is coming out that, after all, the Henrys are coming to Kansas. So, take it for what you want.

My own, personal thoughts on the matter after the jump.

The news that the Henrys are coming back, which appears to be flying from everywhere now (610 Sports, Shay over at JS, etc.), should be the final drop in this ridiculous roller coaster ride. But, is it a good thing? Sure. A bad thing? As an magic 8-ball would say: "possibility looks promising".

So, in fairness to all sides, and to provide some positives so I don't get a nasty email from Carl Henry telling me that my post has reopened their recruitment for the 18th time. Most aren't really either 'good' or 'bad', but I'll break out the two best and two worst reasons into their own sections. I'm sure I'll have plenty more to say in the coming days, but this is just the opening stanza.

Why I'll be Super Stoked if the Henrys Come to Kansas. No, Really, I Can't Wait.

Talent, Stupid. With Xavier at the 2, or the 3, or whatever he ends up playing, getting 25-30 minutes a night, and C.J. Henry getting 10-15 off the bench (whatever Carl says, he isn't better than Sherron or Tyshawn), we are a better team with those minutes instead going to, say, Brady Morningstar and Marcus Morris. From a sheer, winning-is-the-goal point of view, it's a no-brainer. And I think we can all agree that we want to win a National Championship this year. So, yeah. If they come to Lawerence, we have as big of a talent gap over the rest of the country as North Carolina had this year. They won the National Championship, with an inferior coach too (yes, I went there, sorry, couldn't hlep it). That bodes well, to say the least.
No NCAA Violations. Yeah, this is an ordeal. A saga. A ridiculous event that has drawn out months longer than necessary. But, at the very least, they at least appear to be doing everything within the NCAA's rules and regulations. So, while it's frustrating, and they are merely using Kansas as a springboard to get to riches in the NBA, at least they won't leave us a big heap of a mess once they left, like O.J. Mayo.

You Know What, It'd Be Okay if You All Just Decided to Slum it with Calipari. No, Really.

They don't even want to come to Kansas! This is what irks me the most. I mean, I don't want to act like we're better than everybody else, and you should have to jump through hoops showing your dedication to Kansas and everything Jayhawk before you're allowed to come to school. That's ridiculous. But I would, at the very least, like to hear something about looking forward to chasing after a National Championship or something. Anything other than "this is a one-year thing that we have to get through, even if we really don't want to." I tend to prefer players who act appreciative of getting to go to college for free and play at one of the more prestigous basketball programs in the world. Call me crazy.
It wouldn't be the same. Last year was my favorite season of Kansas basketball in my lifetime. Now, obviously, it didn't have the bestest end result. I'm not stupid or nothing. But being the underdog, if only for awhile, was fun as shit, man. Now, obviously, we won't be the underdog to just about anybody next season, Henrys or no Henrys. But still, wouldn't it be way more fun to win it all with the same team that grew together as a team last season, adding only the extra pieces to take the next step? I think it would. Way more fun. It would feel way more special, like it was a multi-year process of growing as a team, making whatever end result more satisfying. Obviously, winning is the most important. But, as J. Brady put it in his article, this isn't any type of romantic. Like, at all.

In Summary

Basically, with the news all-but-confirmed they are coming now, I suppose I'm excited. They are good players. They make us better. They probably will realize that the best way to get noticed is to not destroy the team's chemistry and let the team go as far as possible. A winning Kansas team gets the press, and plenty of the press will go to Xavier and C.J., and good press boosts draft stock, yadda yadda yadda. You get the message. They should get the message.

Really, I bet there isn't too much of an issue on the team. Winning a National Championship would be fucking awesome, obviously, even if we went the Calipari route and tried to one-and-done the entire thing. It wouldn't be quite as sweet with the Henry mercenaries aiding, but I'd rather win with mercenaries (or whatever you want to call them) than lose with diehard Hawk fans.

So, let me be the first to say:

"Let's start over, Xavier and C.J. Hell, you too Carl. We're all fighting for the same thing (kind of), so let's just move on and work together."

Rockchalk's Ramblings // 6-25-09

rockchalk — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 18:23:37 -0000

I don't really know what to say. I'll try and be way more consistent with the RR postings, as well as actually posting other stuff at the same time. As for right now, there is understandably a large mass of links to pass along your way.

Kansas Football

2009 Kansas College Football Predictions | NCAA Football Lines

This is basically just a simple summary of our team, but still interesting.

Berry Tramel ranks Big 12 football games from 1-96 | NewsOK.com

This is a really interesting link. This guy, Berry Tramel, takes every single Big 12 schedule and ranks the games, 1-96, conference-wide. Kansas' games are as follows:

#9 -- vs. Missouri
#14 -- vs. Nebraska
#18 -- vs. Oklahoma
#28 -- @ Kansas State
#30 -- @ Colorado
#38 -- @ Texas Tech
#42 -- @ Texas (guess they don't really give us a shot at winning)
#44 -- vs. Southern Miss
#46 -- @ UTEP
#54 -- vs. Duke
#74 -- vs. Iowa State
#95 -- vs. Northern Colorado (ouch!)

Quigley's crash course | KUsports.com

The Angus Quigley-to-linebacker angle is a very interesting one. I mean, on one hand, it is cool that he's making the switch so late in his collegiate career, and he definitely has the body for the position (and the fumbleitis to keep him away from the ball on offense. But, it isn't like he's going to be seeing some big-time PT. At least, I don't think so.

BMOC: Collins vs. Reesing | CJOnline.com

There are a helluva lot more basketball links today, so I'll put this intersport link in with the pigskin ones. I have to disagree with Tully on this one, too. It has to be Hot Toddy. Sure, Sherron is awesome and great and probably more recognizable, given the fact that basketball players don't wear masks. But Todd Reesing's face has to be well-known by now, right? And given our sketchy football history, which Todd has entirely changed, he has to have a greater on the fanbase. Maybe I'm way off, here, but I don't think so.

Kansas Basketball

Lance Stephenson is still without a school, and here's why - The Dagger - NCAA Hoops - Rivals.com

The Lance Stephenson saga has yet to find an end, and may not ever, really. I feel bad for the kid, considering that he was almost assuredly picking Kansas before John Calipari changed the entire recruiting landscape, and now he is getting shunned by Florida International, but it isn't like he's some goodie two-shoes getting screwed left-and-right. As the post says, he has 4 strikes going against him in a 3-strike world, and an NCAA investigation is almost assuredly pending when he commits, if he ever does at all. Let's just say it ain't lookin' pretty.

Wondering about : Kansan.com

June -- the time to wonder. Apparently, at least.

Tulsa World: KU widely favored for next season

Why yes, of course we'll be favored. Thanks for the reinforcement, though, Tulsa World. A nice batch of quotes from ESPN talking heads, though. And I mean that.

KU's Robinson embracing life on the hill | KUsports.com

Good. As stacked as we are, Mr. Robinson should still see plenty of playing time.

Sherron Collins is heavy again | CJOnline.com

Oh boy. Here we go again. As long as he's all better by September, I suppose it isn't a huge deal. But, um, yeah. Not good.

An excuse to write about Nate Erdmann | CJOnline.com

A list of some of the more forgotten Big 12 draft picks ever.

Tyshawn Taylor at No. 17: An exploration | CJOnline.com

I haven't heard too much T2-to-the-NBA speculation so far, but I'm sure it will start fairly soon. And if he leaves, and Cole leaves and Sherron leaves and Xavier leaves, we could be in a similar position to last year. As long as they leave a National Championship behind, though, I couldn't be happier. Obviously.

"It's Draft Day in the NBA: Does anyone care?" by 'Hawks in the NBA | KUsports.com

(Raises hand). No, really, I'll watch it. I love the Draft.

Offering no regrets | KUsports.com

It's nice to hear and all, but I mean what do you expect them to say?

"Yeah, not entering the Draft was the biggest mistake of my life. Every day I wake up and wish I would have left this school. I wish I wasn't even here right now."

I mean, I believe them and everything. It just seems like a funny article to write.

KU freshman Elijah Johnson undergoes knee scope | KUsports.com

Oh boys. As long as everything ends up OK, which it sounds like it will, then sweet. That doesn't make it any less scary, though, that's for sure. Hopefully he's back in the expected 6 weeks, or whatever, and he won't miss a second of practice.

Holy Cross search includes KU's Dooley | KUsports.com

This isn't shocking in the least. Dooley is going to be leaving for a Head Coaching job at sometime, and probably sooner rather than later. But, I mean, how does Holy Cross still not have a Head Coach? It's good to be deliberate and everything, not to make a mistake, but geez. It's nearly July. They might want to speed this thing up, right about now.

Xavier Henry completes stellar offseason for Kansas basketball - Luke Winn - SI.com

My favorite of the basketball links, probably, but that's just because I looove Luke Winn. At this point, though, the top half of both the best and worst offseasons pretty much write themself. Kansas and Kentucky for the best, in that order, with USC and Memphis topping the worst. Game over.

Kansas Other Sports

USA picks KU's McCray | CJOnline.com

Tyshawn won't be the only Jayhawk on a Team USA roster this summer. Danielle McCray will be on the woman's team. And as a senior next year, she'll (hopefully) lead us to a NCAA Tournament for the first time since forever.

KU's Walz on Team USA roster | CJOnline.com

Add another one to the Team USA bandwagon! T.J. will be on the baseball one, obviously.

KU hires softball coach | CJOnline.com

New softball coach. Old LSU assistant. That's all I know. Sorry.

KU releases athletics GPAs | CJOnline.com

What a way to end this endless array of links, hey? With a mindless list of GPA's broken up by sport. I have no comment on them, sorry.

RCT -- 200,000 Visitors!

rockchalk — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 18:21:59 -0000

RCT -- 200,000 Visitors!

Late last night, 11:43 EST, the 200,000th person visited RCT. It was a quick visit, lasting only 13 seconds, but hey. They all count the same.

Rockchalk's Ramblings // 6-22-09

rockchalk — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 19:15:34 -0000

Hope that everybody had a wonderful weekend. And Happy Father's Day to all of you dads out there.

This is links-heavy, so you might want to go get a snack. Just an idea.

Kansas Football

Column: KU defining toughness? It's no dream | CJOnline.com

No, it isn't. A little late for such a "column" to be written, as Mangino's toughness isn't some newfound trait, but hey. Whatever.

KUsports.com | Extreme makeover: Stadium edition

A switch to Field Turf well, well overdue. I mean, my frickin' high school has a Field Turf football field. That AstroPlay nonsense sucks, man. I'm a fan of the newly-added turf, let's just say that.

KUsports.com | O-lineman finds new life at Kansas

A nice little article on the forgotten member of the Kansas offensive line, Brad Thorson. We are replacing the three interior positions, and while Jeremiah Hatch at center is basically done, the two guard positions are well open. And Thorson is definitely a legitimate possibility.

Why They Will Win the Big 12 North - A Focus On Strengths - Corn Nation

SBN Nebraska blog Corn Nation focuses on the North teams' strengths, giving a reason (or two!) for every team to hope that, just maybe, they can win the North this year. That's quite optimistic for about half of the division, but hey. It's June. Optimism reigns supreme.

Unit Rankings: Big 12 North Offenses - Rock M Nation

Rock M Nation, i.e. the greatest team-specific college blog out there, uses numbers and non-biased opinions to break down the North's Offenses. If you want a quote that sums up the North battle, here you go (from the comments section):

The bottom line is that KU, NU, and MU have more proven quantities than the rest of the division, the others are a couple of steps behind, and, in NU’s case, NU is nowhere close to being more proven than MU or (especially) KU.

Unit Rankings: Big 12 North Defenses - Rock M Nation

And now, the Defensive rankings. This one is just as good, albeit with worse results from a Kansas' fans perspective. In the end, though, including Special Teams and Coaching and everything, we end up first. So, yay.

K-State's Athletic Department Priorities - Bring On The Cats

And finally, to complete the trip around the Big 12 North here at SBN, BOTC's plan to fix up the entire mess that Bob Krause left. As per usual, TB knows what he's talking about.

Oread Boom Kings " Blog Archive " Interesting JoePo Trivia Question

One last link, even though it isn't necessarily football-related. Here is how JoePo framed the question:

How many BCS colleges have not had ANY of the following …

1. Football national championship
2. Basketball national championship
3. Basketball Final Four appearance
4. BCS Bowl appearance (1998 to present)
5. Naismith Award Winner (best basketball player in America)
6. Heisman Trophy Winner (most oustanding football player)
7. No. 1 overall pick in the NFL Draft
8. No. 1 overall pick in the NBA Draft

And the answers? Missouri and Arizona State. Admittedly, it's kind of arbitary, and I'm not buying a 1931 Helms Championship by Northwestern as qualification to get off the list, but whatever.

Kansas Basketball

DraftExpress: USA Basketball Tryout Interviews: Tyshawn Taylor & Gordon Hayward

Great interview with T2 and a Butler basketball player (please) about trying out for the USA Basketball team.

KUsports.com | Iowa prep Barnes not typical standout

We've talked a lot about Harrison Barnes around here recently, and here's another article that just goes to show how he really is different than your average mega-recruit. I want Harrison. Let's start a campaign or something.

KUsports.com | KU’s past, present make Self’s camp a hit

Kinda-fluffy, just talking about Self's camp. Blah.

Rockchalk's Ramblings // 6-19-09

rockchalk — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 18:37:11 -0000

Naturally, I apologize for missing yesterday. I'll try to make up for it by providing double the links, which sounds exciting but really just means that the articles from yesterday are included as well.

Kansas Football

Premature Assessments: Huskers hurtling toward The Leap - Dr. Saturday - NCAA Football - Rivals.com

The always outstanding-and-fantastic Matt Hinton takes a look at the Cornhuskers, the team that would appear to be our primary competition for the North title. It's good, naturally.

If it's the 'team of the decade' you want, at least consider them all - Dr.... - NCAA Football - Rivals.com

And while I was there, I found this really interesting as well.

Big 12 coaches' records -- as head coach and assistant - Big 12 - ESPN

This is from Tim Griffin's ESPN blog, and runs with an idea given to him by Tim Brewster. Minnesota's football coach boasted on his bio page of having a career record of 113-61-1. Except, he's only been a head coach for two years, where he's gone 8-17. So, with Brewster counting his record as a coach, period, assistant or head, Griffin looks at all of the Big 12 coaches and their records as assistant coaches. It's cool.

Questions would be answered with a conference challenge - ESPN

And for one, final non-Kansas (kind of) related football link, that Conference Challenge thing they did last week that I missed. Schlabach has us playing Kentucky; I don't think it'd really be that interesting of a game, but hey, I'm biased. Of course, given Schlabach's history, so is he.

Kansas Basketball

KUsports.com | Gary Bedore's KU Basketball Notebook

A little Notebook-action from Bedore. The primary topic of interest: both Withey and Reed are battling injuries, with Withey's being considerably more serious. Reed's is just a sore groin that is listed as day-to-day in June, which means it's basically nothing. Withey's isn't a huge deal, just a sprained thumb, but he's likely out 2-4 weeks.

KUsports.com | It’s time to change NBA Draft rule

Everyone's favorite topic: the NBA and draft eligibility. Included are some quotes from Bill Self, though, which make the whole take kind of more interesting.

KUsports.com | KU basketball alumni outlast current players, 67-63

Well, at least it wasn't as big of a blowout as last week. The alumni scored the same 67 as last game, but we scored 11 more this game. Unsurprisingly, we had one Travis Releford this time around, and he played well, scoring 9 points. The star was Marcus Morris, though, who piled in 20 points. 20. And yes, he's still my favorite player.

KUsports.com | "Jayhawk Flashback: Roy Williams introductory press conference, July 8, 1988" by The Newell Post

I love Jesse Newell, like I said, and this Jayhawk Flashback is really cool. Roy's intro press conference.

KU's Tyshawn Taylor named to 19-and-under U.S. team for Fiba championship - Kansas City Star

As Denver noted in the FanShot, Tyshawn made the 19-and-under team. It's awesome for him.

Kansas Baseball

KUsports.com | Thompson named to ABCA 2nd team

Another All-American list for Tony Thompson to be listed on. This guy's a stud, man.

Smyth Signs with Oakland : Kansan.com

Paul Smyth becomes the what, 4th Jayhawk to sign. Brian Heere remains unsigned, although all indications are that he's coming back to school. And hopefully Heere does come back.

Rosenblatt Stadium Hosts Its Last CWS : Kansan.com

Nice little story on Rosenblatt. He makes it sound like this is its last year, though, while I'm almost positive that it has one more year, 2010, before Rosenblatt says goodbye. I hope so, because I am already working on setting things up so I can go. I'm definitely going to a CWS at Rosenblatt. And with next year being the last year ever...

Rockchalk's Ramblings // 6-17-09

rockchalk — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 18:14:51 -0000

Slow day in the Kansas-related sports world. I think this is the fewest links we've had yet.

Kansas Football

Bruce Feldman: Top 10 softest nonconference schedules - ESPN (Insider)

I'm not an Insider, so I can just see the list through T7 Arkansas, but I'm hoping we aren't on this list. We don't deserve it. It is no gauntlet, sure, but it is not one of the "softest" in the country. Of the 9 teams I can see, 5 of them belong to the most precious conferences in the MSM's eyes; the Big Ten/Eleven and the Ess Eee See.

Rating the clipboard kings - ColumbiaTribune.com

This is a really good one. It runs through the best coordinators in the Big 12, with our own Ed Warriner clocking in at #6. The two Texas coordinators get spots 1 and 3 (Muschamp and Davis, respectively), while Oklahoma's go 2 and 4 (Wilson and Venables, respectively). So, in the non Red River Shootout-division, the top two are: Bill Young, ex-Jayhawk coordinator, and Ed Warriner. That's awesome. Not really sure how an Iowa State coordinator made the list, though.

Kansas Basketball

http://cjonline.com/sports/basketball/2009-06-16/column_familiarity_breeds_respect_in_big_12_hoops

The link is really bothering me, but whatever. Basically, it's one of those run-of-the-mill "we're all excited for hoops season!" posts. The league will be ridiculously strong this year, though, so that'll be fun to watch. It's tough to top the Big East, just because they have 16 teams and so many of them are just ridiculous, but we very well may be the second-best conference in college basketball next season.

Big 12 men’s basketball predicted to top the U.S. charts | Sports | Star-Telegram.com

Or is this one the run-of-the-mill story? This is from way down south, Dallas, and actually proclaims the Big 12 to be the best conference. So, I suppose we'll see.

KUsports.com | Ready to rumble

Sweet news. Travis Releford is all better from his skin condition, which is really good news. Releford, as everyone knows around here, is a personal favorite of mine. I hope that, amidst the ridiculous amount of talent, he can find a way to get significant minutes.

Kansas Baseball

KUsports.com | KU has filled void at short

And finally, a nice little story on Kansas' heir apparent at shortstop, Brandon Macias. I found Price's admission that he only expects Macias for a year kind of odd, but I suppose that's the plan. Play well enough to get drafted right away.

Ramble-less today, because I'm working on an actual story. Hopefully, it'll be posted today. Hopefully.

Rockchalk's Ramblings // 6-16-09

rockchalk — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 20:51:44 -0000

Here we go, at it again. Real content, non-links style, should be up later otnight, and continue throughout the week. Hopefully.

Kansas Basketball

Andy Katz: Final top 25 before the fall - ESPN

We're #1, very unsurprisingly. The whole list is worth checking out, though. Kentucky is at #7. Yes, #7. I understand they have a ridiculous amount of talent, but I'm not buying it. And Texas is already scaring the absolute shit out of me. Appears to be another epic Kansas-Texas basketball game is on its way.

Winners and losers in this year's NBA Draft - FOX Sports on MSN

Yeah duh, we're winners. Well, technically, only Bill Self is a winner; not us. So, don't feel good about Sherron Collins and Cole Aldrich coming back. Only Bill Self can. Seriously, though, it's crazy how many people are staying in the Draft that aren't as good as either of them, particularly Cole. And who the hell knows what is going on with Nick Calathes. Greece over the NBA? I'm assuming Russel Robinson wasn't a reference point.

Collins to skip University Games | CJOnline.com

All that's being told is that it was a "family situation", so hopefully it's nothing serious and everything can get worked out. As long as the situation isn't anything serious, then everything is fine. And from the sound of it, he just wanted to hang out with his family. Perfectly understandable and everything. Good decision, Sherron. Just please don't show up overweight again.

Mix of old and new faces bring smiles to Big 12 basketball coaches - Kansas City Star

Some three-packs from Kerkhoff. Also of note, there are audio interviews up, including this one from FHOFNCOYNCHCBS himself.

KU wants Withey to bulk up the Jayhawks’ frontcourt - Kansas City Star

And finally, an interesting look into Withey's Michael Phelps-ian diet. 3,500 calories a day, eating breakfast every morning with the nutritionist to make sure he was eating his fatty foods. It's all kind of odd. But, we'll get (or is it only Bill Self again?) a stockier, thicker Jeff Withey. In this case, that's a good thing.

Kansas Football

"History says Huskers should be favorites to win Big 12 North" by The Newell Post / LJWorld.com

Jesse Newell has quickly become my absolute favorite part of the LJ World/KU Sports combo. He's fantastic, in nearly every way. And again, this is a great article, even if it provides a less-than-pleasing result. Can't we win the North, just once?

Early questions to consider before football season : Kansan.com

The title's pretty much self-explanatory. It's from over the weekend, but I missed it yesterday. My badz.

Kansas Baseball

Not to steal JQ's thunder or anything, but two players signed. One, David Narodowski, was a draftee of the Diamondbacks. Afenir, on the other hand, was a senior who went undrafted. He will be joining Shaffer in the Yankees' farm system, though.

KUsports.com | KU's Narodowski signs with Arizona Diamondbacks

KUsports.com | KU's Afenir signs with Yankees

Where Should Kentucky Be Ranked?

I realize that John Calipari has stocked a ridiculous amount of talent in Lexington over the past two-or-so months on the job. And I realize that they already had two bonafide superstars, and a host of other talented players; enough talent, certainly, to make the NCAA Tournament. But I'm not buying that a team of talent can simply waltz in to school and earn a Top 10 ranking.

Obviously, they have the potential to win a Championship this season. But with Jodie Meeks staying in the NBA Draft, they are left with one player (Patrick Patterson) that is a significant piece to the puzzle that's actually played in a NCAA game. The other keys players are all newcomers. Sure, it just may be the "Greatest Recruiting Class Evar!!!11", but they are all still freshmen. Ridiculously talented freshmen, sure, like John Wall and Daniel Orton and DeMarcus Cousins, but they still have a ways to go.

Now, if they all get better over the year, then sure, by the time March Madness rolls around they should be taken seriously. Ridiculously seriously. But as we stand right now, I'm not buying it. Prove something, anything to me first. The one-and-done player is an interesting collegiate proposition. On one hand, there are some incredible talents that have gone that route (see: Mayo, O.J. and Love, Kevin among a host of others). There is no doubting that you can pick up some crazy talent going after the kid who is simply going to college because he's forced to. But only one has ever led his team to a title (do I have to tell you who?), that's all. They've added depth to teams (like Marvin Williams), but only once have served as the central focus and made it all worth it by winning a title.

And basically, Kentucky is a team made up of one-and-dones, at least potentially, combined with Patrick Patterson (who is a stud, by the way) and a couple of other freshmen. There are other pieces, sure, but this is a team that only made the NIT last year. Blame it on Gillespie all you want, Jammie Foxx wannabe, but it isn't like there was a Final Four team hiding amidst the coaching screwups.

So, basically, here is what we have. We have a team that went to the NIT last season. Subtract the team's best perimeter player, the SEC's Player of the Year and a stud from three-point range (all the same player). Add in a pretty good coach, and a whole mess of recruits. Some of them incredibly touted, like John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins, but is this batch of recruits alone enough to get this team a Top 10 preseason standing?

I've spent way too much time on such a topic. And it isn't as if this is a bad team; it is most certainly a good team, maybe even a very good team, that could be a Title contender by the time the calendar flips to March 2010. Just make them prove something first, please, before annointing them with such preseason praise.

They seem to belong comfortably in the bottom-half of the 'teens, right now. Definitely a candidate to quickly shoot up the polls, given some impressive early-season performances, but at least let them beat up on the patsies in November before putting them so high.

Rockchalk's Ramblings // 6-15-09

rockchalk — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 21:05:09 -0000

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Sorry for this being late. I'm going to try and start posting these in the morning, but with it being summer (yay!) and me being 3 hours behind, it's tough. Still, I'm not making excuses. Just sayin'. In any case, here are the links. A special, and very large section, is appropriately designated to ex-AD Bob Frederick, who passed away over the weekend after a fatal biking accident, as I'm sure all of you know by now. It was overshadowed by ESPN by Jim Calhoun breaking ribs on a bike, but hey, what are you going to do?

Obviously, the best of wishes go out to the Frederick family and all of his friends for their loss.

Bob Frederick

Column: Frederick loved KU, Lawrence | CJOnline.com -- Rick Dean

Bob Frederick was a gentleman and a gentle man - Kansas City Star -- Joe Posnanski

KUsports.com | Freddy’s integrity inspiring -- Andrew Hartsock

KUsports.com | Frederick, a friend, will be missed by all -- Gary Bedore

KUsports.com | Freddy exuded class -- Chuck Woodling

KUsports.com | Ex-Lions remember ‘Coach’ -- Tom Keegan

Kansas Basketball

KUsports.com | KU hoops players welcome Johnson

Nice, introductory-type story on Elijah Johnson. I'm quickly becoming a fan.

KUsports.com | Chasing his dream

Russell Robinson, sharing the common sentiment that European basketball isn't all that fun. He'll be playing summer ball with the Magic, so hopefully he can stick with the defending Eastern Conference Champions.

Kansas Football

KUsports.com | Football camp attracts national prospects

Denver posted the video of the Super Jayhawk Camp, and now here is a story from Keegan on it. Usually, there are a couple of commitments following the Camp, so we'll see if those roll in the next couple of weeks this year.

Quarterback Chris Harper to join K-State football team - Kansas City Star

I know this isn't Kansas-related, but it is interesting. Chris Harper is a fabulous athlete, and while there were doubts when he was coming out of HS (Class of 2008) about whether he could stick at QB, he's the type of athletic, run-pass option, spread QB Bill Snyder was looking for. It's hard to tell the old man no, from what I've heard, so Harper is coming back from Oregon to play in Manhattan.

We'll forgo the topic, today.