Room for Growth

     The old Christmas song says “It’s the most wonderful time of the year”. In college basketball terms it is definitely the most wonderful time of the year to not be playing your best, and at three distinctly different levels, our three local squads are almost assuredly doing that.

     Is it possible for the number two team in the nation to not be playing that well while going against good competition and not losing yet?  My answer would be yes, that Kansas has fallen short of what they are capable of. That, of course, is a mighty good thing. Plenty of room for growth while not dropping games.

     The Jayhawks win last night over Wofford pushed the Jayhawks to 4-3 against the spread, and even in last night’s cover Kansas was in a two- point game half way through the second half. They have shown grit in some great comebacks, but have gotten themselves behind by nine points or more three times in the second half. They have been pushed to overtime twice, including at Allen Field House against a mediocre Stanford team.

     A couple of out of this world performances by Lagerald Vick, who almost no one thought would be in the team this year, have pulled games out of the fire for KU. Vick is the only outside shooter that the team has displayed so far this season, his teammates barely making over twenty percent from three, while he has sizzled at sixty percent.

     Of course, at Kansas the regular season, and particularly the non-conference portion of the schedule, is more of a laboratory than a competition. That will be even more of the case for perhaps a month now, as Bill self will get to experiment with Udoke Azibuke out of the lineup with an ankle sprain. Finding different ways to play should be quite valuable down the road.

     Jayhawk fans have gotten used to completely new teams from year-to-year, and this season is probably the most glaring example of that. But this fresh group has loads of talent, a great mix of veterans and youth, and seems to have a knack for rising to the occasion. To me, they CAN easily be the first or second-best team in the country, but they haven’t played like that so far. Nice problem to have.

     Kansas State parlayed their run to the Elite Eight into a lofty number 12 ranking to open the season, a rare show of respect for Bruce Weber and his program. Whether the team that returns virtually every significant piece, and two preseason first-team all-conference players, was reading their press clippings or not, they have been mediocre at best.

     They opened the season by scoring 64 points or less in three of their four wins against lesser lights like Kennesaw State, Denver, and Penn, before they clobbered Missouri at the Paradise Jam. When they played their next legit team last Saturday, they were outclassed from start to finish by Marquette, leaving Weber to trot out the tried and true thought that maybe his team needed the loss to wake them up.

     He criticized his teams practice habits strongly, noting that they seemed to merely wanted to show up for the games, and hoped that being “embarrassed” would wake them up. Stars Dean Wade and Barry Brown have been solid, but the ‘Cats need more than that from them, and the supporting players, particularly Kamau Stokes, have underachieved.

     When you make a big NCAA run, particularly when you do it without a star like Wade, great stories are written by others. That was certainly the case for Mikey McGuirl, who seemed an impact player in the making heading into the season, but instead has hardly played, averaging just over ten minutes, and under two points a game.

     It was a good time for a week between games, and probably a good time for some rugged practices, with K-State on the road Saturday against a middling Tulsa team. We probably won’t get many answers on the Wildcats until conference season, with only Vanderbilt at home a strong opponent, and the Commodores just lost their best player.

     Missouri lost their best player before the season, and thus far Cuonzo Martin’s tenure has largely been a story of bad luck. He has gotten about a third of the presence of Porters in the lineup, with Jontay gone for the season this year, after Michael virtually did the same last season.

     The Tigers have some pieces, but seemingly not enough. Jeremiah Tilmon continues to be effective when he is games, but that doesn’t happen enough. Last night’s walkover against Texas-Arlington was vintage Tilmon. He produced a double-double while managing just 21 minutes and fouling out.

     The only player to really up his game, which is what the Tigers needed, has been Jordan Geist, and when he is your leading scorer, and said leading scorer is at 12.8 points a game, you have problems. Added to that, Geist is gutting it out with a bad back, which barely allows him to practice.

     This is a very young team that needed the star power that Jontay Porter would have provided. Mark Smith, Javon Pickett, Terrence Watson, and Xavier Pinson all look promising, but they need growth, and vets like Kevin Puryear and Reed Nikko are what they are. The Tigers have already been clobbered by Iowa State and Kansas State, lost at home to Temple, and were a Geist clutch heave away from falling against Central Florida the other day.

      In the order that they were presented seems to be the order of hoped for improvement for the three teams. I think Kansas is a true national title contender that needs to iron out some kinks. Kansas State appears to be a trifle overrated from what we might have thought. And it’s hard for me to make a case that it isn’t going to be merely a season for hoped for growth for Missouri.

     But then again, it’s still only the most wonderful time of the year, which for hoops, is mighty early.