It’s official. There has been a Chicken Little sighting in Jayhawk Nation.
Kansas basketball teams don’t lose three out of four very often. This year’s team hasn’t won a game by double figure points since Dec. 29. And they’ve only done so five times all season. They’ve lost by double figures twice this month.
Hello, Chicken Little.
No doubt, the team has its flaws. Kansas can’t shoot from the outside. The Jayhawk aren’t strong enough to pound the ball repeatedly to the inside. They don’t rebound well.
Let’s face it, Quinten Grimes is not a lottery pick about to find his game. He’s good, but he’s border-line NBA talent. Much like Wayne Seldon a few years back, solid but perhaps over-hyped a bit coming in.
Devon Dotson is legit at the point. But when is the last time Bill Self started a freshman at the most important position on the floor? Frank Mason? Nope, his freshman year was Naadir Tharpe’s final season. Remember him? I’ve tried to forget him. In fact Mason played just 16 minutes a game his first season in Lawrence.
Tyshawn Taylor? Nope, Sherron Collins was around. And when Collins was a freshman, Mario Chalmers was running things. Chalmers freshman year, Russell Robinson was running the point. Before that, when Self arrived at Kansas, a fella named Aaron Miles was in his junior season at the point.
So, in Self’s 15 previous seasons at Kansas, while freshmen have played a lot at the point, Dotson is the first to start there and log as many minutes as he has.
Then there is LaGerald Vick. Perhaps the worst thing that could have happened to Kansas was his hot streak early in the year. He is still the same ol’ LaGerald – 55 turnovers and just 39 assists in 21 games. His 3-point shooting is 38 percent since that hot start. But, for some reason, people are expecting big things from him.
If Chicken Little is looking at anyone, it’s LaGerald.
However, I’m an optimist. Chicken Little figured out the sky really wasn’t falling and Jayhawk Nation will do the same.
Dotson will continue to drive to hole with success. Dedric Lawson will not have another night like Texas. Marcus Garrett will keep penetrating, playing great defense and not shoot another 3 all season.
Grimes will keep improving as will new-found talent Ochai Agbaji. And Vick, well, he is what he is. Bill Self has been here before. He won’t panic and neither will I -- at least not yet. I am still a believer in 15 straight titles.
But if the Jayhawks lose their next two – Saturday v Texas Tech and Tuesday at Kansas State – then I’m with Chicken Little. It will be time to get a hard hat.
Prep Thoughts
100. It’s a crazy number for many things, but a winning streak in basketball. It’s just stupid.
But that is exactly the door the Central Plains girls’ basketball team is knocking on. Well, I don’t know if they are knocking so much as they are taking a battering ram to it.
The Oilers have 98 straight in the books. Number 99 will take place Friday at St. John and the century mark will be reached Saturday when Concordia visits Claflin.
The state record for the girls’ is 107 by Hoxie. That, too, will fall in due time.
What is almost as mind boggling as 98 straight wins in the fact the Oilers are 143-1 the past six seasons. The girls from that Ellinwood team in 2015 can walk proudly. They are the only reason the winning streak is not at 144 already.
So soak the history-making run by this group of girls. It’s one of the ages.
Former Barton Athlete/Coach update
Since we last checked in on Fort Hays State and Toby Hobson, the Tigers women did something they haven’t done all year – lose. But a loss at Emporia State isn’t horrible by any means. The Hornets are a traditional power that is 14-5 this season.
The Tigers then rebounded to hand Washburn its first MIAA loss then rolled to a couple easy wins to stand at 18-1 on the year and 9-1 in the MIAA. Ft Hays is ranked No. 6 in the latest NCAA D-II poll.
The Tigers will play three straight road games, including a trip to No. 23 Pitt State one week from today.
And Finally
I am not a fan of the cold weather. Thankfully, it is going to warm back up today.
I think I have actually just gotten soft over the years because, let’s be honest, it really didn’t get that cold Wednesday. I think maybe as low as what 8 degrees in the morning and still warmed into the 20’s. That’s not that cold, but yet it was cold enough to complain about it a bit.
It seems to takes\ me a bit longer to get in motion in the cold. I drink more coffee because by joints need a little more lubrication in the cold. I could break out the referee bag and the Icy Hot, perhaps that would help.
But, seriously, our cold snap is nothing like our fellow Americans to the north. Former Barton soccer coach Joe Burger is living in Minnesota now. He has posted on social media about the snowfall, driving his pick up on a frozen lake and the like as the winter has progressed.
He posted a -27 temp that feels like -49 screen shot Wednesday morning. You know while me might be acting all tough with the natives of the state, under his breathe he is cussing the cold. Those are ridiculous numbers. The post office isn’t delivering mail in some of those states for Pete’s sake.
The post office delivers through rain, hail, sleet and snow. I know because it’s in a song or a poem or something. I’ve heard it. So for them to take the day off, you know it’s serious.
At eight degrees it was cold enough for me. I do not have any desire for a negative sign in front of the number. At all.
Bambi, our chihuahua, isn’t a fan either. Fortunately, she doesn’t mess around outside when it’s cold. But you know there are days she thinks to herself ‘I could probably just go in the house. Yeah, I would get put in my kennel, but really, the kennel is in the house and there is a bed and a blanket in it. It’s not all that bad’.
Not to worry, though, my phone tells me it is going to be in the 60’s again this weekend. Those numbers I like.
Mike Marzolf is a guest columnist for the Great Bend Tribune and his views don’t necessarily reflect those of the paper. He can be reached at MarzolfM@bartonccc.edu.
