2 minutes in heaven is better than one minute in heaven

I haven't posted in quite a while, I guess I am still shaking off some football cobwebs and I have been a bit ashamed of my effort so far. So for the ladies, I will be giving out maximum output tonight and provide some verbal gymnastics on the intrawebs.

The Jayhawks are off to their best start since Paul Pierce was shakin' crackers, Scott Pollard was the poor man's Dennis Rodman, T.J. Pugh was frightening the beejesus out of school children and Roy Williams didn't give a shit about the babyblueballbouncers. 17-0 is special no matter what the schedule, but our SOS is a low 82 right now. We are number 7 in the college bball version of the RPI even given that, but playing and beating names such as USC(away), Arizona, Georgia Tech(away), Boston College(away) and Oklahoma usually carry more weight than so far this year.

Some other stats that stick out that are impressive:
83.8 points per game, 14th in nation
52.3 team field goal percentage, 2nd in nation
11 steals per game, 3rd in nation
17.1 assists per game, 8th in nation
1.6 assist to turnover ratio, 2nd in nation
6.6 blocks per game, 10th in nation
41. rebounds per game, 7th in nation
25.1 scoring margin, 1st in nation
and the last and most important, 100% won/lost percentage, tied for first in nation

Also, Bill "But, But Uh" Self passed King Roy for best win percentage at KU via the victory over Nebraska on Saturday...
Bill Self 122-29 .808 (updated with OU win included)
Roy Williams 418-101 .805
Larry Brown 135-44 .754
as a side note, with Bruce "Left Hand" Weber losing in bunches this year, Bill is also the win percentage leader at Illinois once again. For some reason I don't foresee Mr. Orange Sportcoat retaking that position.

So the Hawks have looked no less than spectacular this year and it is hard not to compare this team to some of the best recent Kansas teams. Whats that you say? Compare away? Oh, I'll feed you baby birds...

Lineups in order of year, I am throwing in '96-'97, '01-'02, and '07-'08 as the premiere teams
(Argument could be made for '02-'03, just kinda going on talent since the major difference between the '02 run and the '03 run is a lack of Gooden and arrival of the Gravy Train, even though '03 went further and Graves was huge in the tourney.)

Point...Vaughn(Sr.) - Miles(Fr.) - Robinson(Sr.)
Shooting...Haase(Sr.) - Hinrich(Jr.) - Chalmers(Jr.)
Small...Pierce(Jr.) - Boschee(Sr.) - Rush(Jr.)
Power...LaFrentz (Jr.)- Collison(Jr.) - Arthur(So.)
Center...Pollard(Sr.) - Gooden(Jr.) - Jackson(Sr.)

Bench
97-Thomas(Jr.)-Robertson(So.)-Pugh(So.)-Williams(Sr.)
02-Langford(Fr.)-Carey(Sr.)-Nash(So.)-Simien(Fr.)
08-Collins(So.)-Kaun(Sr.)-Stewart(Sr.)-Aldrich(Fr.)

And for good measure
Coach
'97, '02-Roy Williams
'08-Bill Self

I think that the biggest differences here in favor of the '08 team are:
1. Experienced depth
2. Diverse scoring
3. Defensive quickness
4. Top to bottom athletic ability
5. Bill Self

It is obviously still early and looking at the '97 team still makes me wonder how Roy blew that one to Arizona, yet I think this is one of the most sound teams top to bottom Kansas has ever had. As many of the pundits will tell you, this year is shaping up to look like the big 4 (KU, Memphis, UCLA and UNC) are the ones that have the best shot at taking down the nets.

Anyway, this year is going to get crazier before anything gets settled. Kansas is going to be on upset watch in every other game that it plays this year, outside of the Final Four. Getting everyones best shot is nothing new to us, but how we handle the added pressure of being undefeated and an improved Big 12 will show us a lot about this teams moxie.

I am getting tired, lets beat the living crap out of Missouri and shut them up for a bit. One game at a time and all that b.s.

read this Whitlock article...