The Jayhawks of Kansas welcome longstanding rival K-State into their arena today for a Big-12 conference showdown. While Kansas has been the more ballyhooed program, the Wildcats are 12-3 and newly ranked thanks to a ten game win streak which has included victories over Ole Miss, Gonzaga and Oklahoma State.
At times, Kansas has looked like a championship caliber team, but they still have struggled and shown their youthfulness on more than one occasion. Most recently, the Jayhawks fell to San Diego State at home in a rather surprising performance which witnessed them struggle severely.
That Aztecs team was able to challenge them at the rim and exhibited the type of athleticism needed to beat Bill Self’s team. For all the talk of Kansas’ issues, their losses have come to very good programs, SDSU included. Kansas State is certainly improving, but the big question here is just how legitimate they really are given that this is a road game and will take place in a tough environment.
The Gonzaga game was a home game and good match-up for them. The Oklahoma State win came right after news broke that Cowboy forward Michael Cobbins would be out for the year. Those wins are still nice, but going into Lawrence and facing the wrath of Self as he comes off a home loss will be different.
K-State has the defensive resume to hang in this game. They are 17th in defensive field goal percentage and feature a nice mix of veterans and youngsters. Marcus Foster,a freshman guard who has been provided the green light since day one, provides them a go to player when a bucket is needed.
But one of the alarming concerns about them hinges on point guard play. They rank 179 in assists per field goal made, have the 180th best turnover efficiency number in the country, and are even worse when it comes to effective field goal percentage.
There is also an issue surrounding interior depth in this match-up. Kansas has some good bodies inside, but second leading scorer Thomas Gipson only plays right around 25 minutes per game. Shane Southwell is a do-it-all sort of bell cow for Weber, and freshman Wesley Iwundu is also capable of making important contributions here.
But those are there only players capable of banging down low here and they are all 6’7. They will be giving up a lot of size and their defense is not built to be a great transition bunch, an important consideration given the likelihood for turnovers in this game.
Kansas has been a media sensation because of criticism sent their way in the midst of a few losses. Realistically, this is a young team still growing up. They know how to play, but are still learning to play with each other. The defensive potential and abilities they have will show in this game, and I do not believe Kansas State can keep this too close.
Kansas -10
