Ku

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.

For What it's Worth---on this February 12 -- The Phog has lifted---now all of my KU friends who were worried about this game, can act like they knew it all along. What is it in this series? Kansas wins for the 46th time in the last 49 meetings with the 'Cats who, for all their well-earned toughness, seem to dribble down their….chins-- a lot more than they do the floor when they're facing the Jayhawks. How did it happen? Kansas, coming off what Bill Self called one of his team's best recent practices, shot 59 percent in the opening half against a usually stingy defense.

Both KU and K-State are known for their devoted fans.  So, what's it like in a house with one Wildcat fan and one Jayhawk fan? We visited the Devlins during the Sunflower Showdown Monday.  Sandi Devlin is a big K-State fan, her husband roots for KU. Their kids are also divided with some joining the KU side and others cheering for K-State. They say there is some trash talking during and after the game, but it doesn't last long.  Because, as Sandi puts it, "...what happens, happens!"

The impossible happened a little after 5 p.m. CST in Norman, OK. The Jayhawks couldn't lose three in a row, not to lowly Big 12 opponents, could they? Ask Lon Kruger and the rest of his Oklahoma Basketball team. The Sooner stayed hot at home all afternoon and dropped Kansas, 72-66. This is the Jayhawks third straight loss in nearly seven years, a streak that dates back to February 21st 2005 that started against, oddly enough, Oklahoma. All Kansas needed to do was play Kansas basketball - fly around to the ball, make three-pointers, finish dunks and fast break and defend like you're playing against JV. That didn't happen, not all of it. KU didn't shoot awful, 46 percent on the road is very good but it came too late.

The 5th ranked Kansas Jayhawks ( 19-3, 7-2 ) travel to Norman on Saturday to face the Oklahoma Sooners (14-7, 5-4) . For the first time since the 2005-06 season the Jayhawks find themselves on a two-game losing streak.  Kansas scored just 13 points in the first half at TCU on Wednesday en route to a 62-55 loss to the Horned Frogs. Since that infamous 2006 season, however, the Jayhawks have won ten straight games against Oklahoma. Oklahoma head coach Lon Kruger has yet to beat the Jayhawks in his time at Oklahoma but is 5-13 overall against the University of Kansas.

Asked where KU fans were when TCU upset #5 Kansas - most fans will tell you, others will say they woke up to the shock this morning. That's where a matchup between the Jayhawks and Horned Frogs registered before Wednesday night. TCU led by as many as 16 against Kansas before winning 62-55, giving KU back to back losses for the first time in seven years. Let that sink in for a second: first back to back loss for Kansas in nearly seven years. College basketball is a game where teams go through lulls and highs, runs of wins and losses but Kansas hasn't dropped back to back games in nearly seven years.

KU made some headlines they would rather not read Thursday morning. Shooting a near decade worst 29.5 percent, #5 KU lost to TCU, 62-55 Wednesday night in Fort Worth. The Horned Frogs were previously winless in the Big 12 Conference. "It's not a bad loss, it's an unbelievably bad loss," Bill Self told CBS Sports after the game. "Everyone now thinks they can whip us. "  TCU was winless in the Big 12 before tonight's game, ranking 344th nationally in scoring average. Of the Horned Frogs eight losses previously, seven of them were by double digits.