It’s Learning, Not Losing

At least, that’s what John Calipari said in his pregame interview. We’ll see exactly what Coach Self learned about the team, and what they learned about one another, fairly quickly. Here’s what I learned from the loss: 1. @T_2ReleFOUR is going to have to be The Man. It never has crossed my mind yet that Travis is the most tenured Jayhawk. He’s been on campus the longest, he’s been on the roster the longest, he’s practiced the most, he’s been privy to Coach Self’s tutelage the most. This is big. This is important. That makes this, for all intents and purposes, his team. That translated to the most minutes on the floor on Tuesday. It translated to TRele being in charge of leading this team down the stretch. And, finally, it translated to him taking the final three for the tie. It seems to me, on all of those counts, he has a lot of work to do. #24 needs to step up his game; quick, fast, and in a hurry. 2. The Return of Mr. Big Shot. Elijah is not going to be the leader of this team. He is much more comfortable propping the young guys up, than breathing fire into a team spiraling out-of-control. Those are the facts. But the other fact is: when you need a cold-blooded shooter, he will knock them down. He hit some mammoth shots last night, and I imagine we will see some monumental, world-class, all-time shots from him throughout the season. 3. The introduction of @J_Mari31 . Woo. I don’t know what else to say. Jamari Traylor was relegated to coming off the bench, and limited to 25 minutes of playtime. But, boy, did he make the most of it. His alley-oop dunk in the first half blew the roof off of The Georgia Dome, and set twitter afire with tweets of admiration. His backboard stick of a Gary Harris breakaway layup in the second half was equally highlight-worthy. He may not break the starting lineup down the stretch, but he made every case to secure a spot for now. 4. On the other end of the spectrum, @PElliz was less impressive in his debut. Although he was the sole McDonald’s All-American in Crimson and Blue, and the most highly touted freshman on the floor, he was limited to 17 minutes and only four points. Worse, he had a bad turnover. Bad, in that, it looked awful. For everything that Jamari did to accentuate his stature, Perry did the opposite. I’m sure that by the time that the Big XII conference schedule is under way, Perry Ellis will be the superstar that we all expect him to be. But, as of Tuesday night, he has a long way to go. 5. The second half should have belonged to BMac. @Humb1e_Hungry23 was invisible to bad in the first half. But he also had some highlight reel moments in the early second half, helping to push the Hawks to their biggest lead. Unfortunately down the stretch, he could not maintain his heat, and, worse, his defense was awful. I’ve touted him as the phenomenal scorer that Coach Self has been missing at KU. He needs to do a lot more than he did at The Champions’ Classic. So, the resultant loss drops us to 1-1, and 0-2 at The Champions’ Classic. In the early years of Bill Self Basketball, those numbers would have been devastating to me. But, worry not, I saw very good things last night. We wasted a lot of possessions, that’s what we do. We had 16 turnovers and missed a third of our free throws. That is also what we do. But, we were in a trench war with Tom Izzo, and we looked in control for 38 minutes of the game. I hate to channel Coach Cal, but, for me, on Tuesday night we learned more than we lost.

Before we lift the curtain for America...

Basketball's version of College Gameday will kickoff Tuesday's 2nd Annual "Champion's Classic" event at Atlanta's Georgiadome. For those of us outside of the Kansas Jayhawk Television Network viewing area, which is most of America, this will be the introductory view of the 2012-13 KU Jayhawks Men's basketball team. This is what America should expect: 1. The team. Contrary to what I reported after the ESU exhibition, Bill Self seems to have already settled upon his eight-man rotation. Releford, Withey, BMac, Naadir, Perry Ellis, Elijah, and Jamari Traylor all played the bulk of the minutes in Friday's game against SEMO. I expect Kevin Young to clock a similar amount of minutes in The ATL, cutting into Perry and Jamari's minutes. This is the team that will be introduced to America, and the team that will become household names by January. 2. @PElliz and @Humb1e_Hungry23 - I truly expect that Tuesday will be the national coming out party for these two exciting freshmen. Perry Ellis has been so smooth, with 8 rebounds and 15 points in the season opener. He's a threat to score every time that he touches the ball. But, the Sportscenter highlight reels belong to Ben McLemore. His put back dunks and alley-oops will blow the roof off of The Dome. 3. Angry Jeff Withey. The gentle giant was invisible through the first two exhibition games, playing at times as if he were just troubled to be there. That changed on Friday night. Angry Withey was back in the lineup, and a double-double ensued. Expect Angry Withey to make the trip to Hotlanta. 4. Shooting Naadir Tharpe. Since his less than auspicious debut against Emporia State, point guard Naadir Tharpe has had several runs on offensive. When he heats up, he's as good of a shooter as you'll see in Atlanta. Here's hoping to America seeing that show. 5. Elijah Johnson = Tyshawn 2? Elijah fouled out of Friday's premiere, and was absent for great stretches of both exhibitions. Coach Self sat him out of the starting lineup of the ESU exhibition for missing class. So, we've seen this challenge of character with Jayhawks before. I am interested in nothing more than how EJ15 will respond. Nothing. Rock chalk, Jayhawks.

The point of exhibitions

There is a lot of hand-wringing and consternation about the tepid performance against the Ichabods in Allen Fieldhouse on Monday night. In some ways there should be. The biggest concern of the evening was, foremost, the score. Absent Ben McLemore's 1st half coming out party, the score was basically a draw. And, regardless of how good Washburn will be in Division II, playing to a draw with a Division II school ain't good. No matter how you slice it. Secondly, KU looked bad. There were a ton of wasted possessions. 24 turnovers. 24. Two of our best ball-handling options: Elijah Johnson and Rio Adams, accounted for 7 of them. Our two anchors in the paint: Jeff Withey and Perry Ellis, accounted for another 8. That ain't good. And lastly, and perhaps most importantly, there appeared to be no one in charge. If this is Elijah and Withey's team, it sure didn't feel like it. From the best that I could tell, Elijah was playing by himself for great stretches, and, for the second game in a row, Jeff Withey seemed burdened to even show up. Those are not gleeming testimonies of leadership characteristics. And with a road trip to The ATL for a primetime national TV game versus an always-prepared Tom Izzo Michigan State team in The Champions Classic just around the corner, leadership deficiency is not optimal. The early season could get out of hand quickly. These are all feelings that I have heard expressed from the KU faithful since Monday night. But, I do not share their fears. Frankie says, "Relax". This is Bill Self Jayhawk Basketball. The leadership deficiency of November is a consistent issue. The horrendous free-throw shooting (16-27) is a consistent issue. The barrage of wasted possessions and ungodly turnovers is a consistent issue. All issues that Bill Self Jayhawk Basketball overcomes. As I have stated previously, the development of Tyshawn Taylor as a team leader was the highlight of the 2011-12 run to the National Title game for me. The development of Chicago football star Sherron Collins into one of college basketball's premier point guards was the highlight of the 2010-11 Elite Eight run. Whoever the leader of the 2012-13 crew will be - Bill Self will foster that. I have no doubts. But, that is a season-long process. I have come to believe, it is Bill Self's joie de vive. Also, know this: the scoring will come. Over the first two exhibitions, we have seen offensive spurts from Perry Ellis, Naadir Tharpe, Andrew White III, Ben McLemore, and Elijah Johnson. Once they develop synchronicity with one another, I honestly believe, special things are going to happen. Coach Self breaks the season into fourths: the non-conference schedule, the Big XII regular season, the conference tournament, and the NCAA tournament. Although the objective is to win each of the four seasons, the secondary goal is progression, and it has become clinical to watch it happen. I have no doubt that by March, this team looks strikingly like the other Bill Self Jayhawk teams: a fine-tuned High-Low Motion Machine. So, remember, it was just an exhibition.