Jayhawks

For What it's Worth---March 5 -- If Denver's Rahim Moore doesn't miss-time his jump in the final 0:30 seconds of regulation in their playoff with the Raven's Joe Flacco is just another quarterback cashing a good check. Instead, Jacoby Jones reels in a 71 yard prayer, the Ravens force overtime and Flacco goes on to have one of the greatest post-seasons in NFL history. Timing is everything. The payoff--- So, Flacco goes from the 25th rated quarterback in the regular season to the richest man in football because of his post-season.

Head coach Bill Self and KU sent off four seniors in style Monday night over Texas Tech. As expected, the Jayhawks clobbered the Red Raiders 79-42 at Allen Fieldhouse on Senior Night. Every single player on KU's team played Monday night but the seniors led in scoring. Jeff Withey had a game high 22 points, followed by Kevin Young with 14. Travis Releford and Ben McLemore had 13 a piece and Elijah Johnson finished with seven points. McLemore wasn't included in the senior year festivities but that could have been his final game in Lawrence.

The February Revenge Tour for KU ended on Saturday at home against TCU. The Jayhawks tried as hard as they could to get rid of the memories of an inexplicable loss to the Horned Frogs two weeks ago, by completely crushing TCU 73-48 at Allen Fieldhouse. KU (23-4) held TCU to nine points in the first half. Ben McLemore outscored the entire team with 10 points, capped off with a thunderous dunk on the baseline. He finished with 14 points, four less than a game 18 from senior Jeff Withey.

Plenty of Kansas basketball fans remember Horizon League darlings Detroit.  In KU's first game of the NCAA tournament last season the Jayhawks soundly defeated the Titans 65-50, advancing to play Purdue.  It was Thomas Robinson who had the big game for KU posting 16 points and grabbing 13 rebounds.  Doug Anderson was the leading scorer for Detroit in that game and their center Eli Holman had a double-double.  Anderson is still around for...

It would be a lot easier to just forget how badly Kansas played against T.C.U. the first time around but it's best to remember where they went wrong. It was ugly from the opening tip for KU; the Jayhawks didn't score until the 12:43 mark in the first half after starting 0-4 with 6 turnovers.  Kansas was shooting just under 6 percent in the first half on 1 of 17 shooting until Jeff Withey hit the Jayhawks' second field goal of the game with 4:47 remaining in the matchup.  That's not just bad, that's obscene.  Kansas also faced its worst deficit of the season in that game when they were down 16 points to the Horned Frogs.  Their 13 point first-half perofrmance was the worst by a Bill Self coached Kansas team.

When Travis Releford knocked a loose ball forward as time struck zero, Kansas head coach Bill Self punched the sky the hardest he ever has since the Jayhawks beat Missouri in the final Border War game. Clearly, beating Oklahoma State 68-67 in double overtime Wednesday night meant just as much as any of the biggest rivalry games for Kansas. The play that won the game came from a rather unlikely source. With Elijah Johnson sitting on the bench with five fouls, Naadir Tharpe backed his way into the lane and rolled to his right, dropping in a bucket for the lead and ultimately the win. "The just made a huge play right there - biggest play of his life, I'm sure," Self said.

Do you ever wonder if Kansas head basketball coach Bill Self was angry at his team for losing to Oklahoma State because it was a loss, or because his alma mater topped his Jayhawks in Lawrence? What was part of a seven game win streak for the Cowboys was also the start of an unprecedented three-game losing streak for the Jayhawks. KU then lost to TCU and Oklahoma, leaving fans wondering if the team had lost their edge, or if they ever had one at all. Since that game on February, 2nd - KU has clawed back to the Top 10 with two dominant wins over K-State and Texas, both in Lawrence.

Jeff Withey had 15 points and 11 rebounds while becoming the Big 12's career blocked shots leader, Elijah Johnson emerged from a season-long slump and No. 14 Kansas walloped Texas 73-47 on a festive Saturday night at Allen Fieldhouse. Johnson finished with 12 points for the Jayhawks (21-4, 9-3 Big 12). Travis Releford added 15 and Ben McLemore had 13, including a 360 jam in the closing minutes that capped off quite a show against the Longhorns (11-14, 3-9) for more than a dozen former players in attendance.

The keys to the Kansas offense are being slowly handed to a sophomore point guard who hardly played last season, and whose performance this year has swung between maddening and marvelous. Sometimes all in the span of a week. Naadir Tharpe has gone from the also-ran bench guy playing garbage minutes to the guy getting the ball in the hands of Ben McLemore and Jeff Withey, the two best players for No. 14 Kansas, when the game is on the line. He's emerging as the next Tyshawn Taylor, the next Aaron Miles, the next Sherron Collins - the next guy to run the offense for one of the nation's marquee programs.