FANtastic Friday

I figured we should be more like EDSBS and have a weekly picture post to fulfill our post quota and to hopefully provide some humor during another Royals losing streak. Since I will never be clever enough to come up with something like Mustache Wednesdays, you will have to take what you get with our random fan photos...bitches.


A couple of my favorites for the inaugural FANtastic friday picture post. What about hot chicks and fat Oklahoma fans you ask? They will come, perhaps in the Year 2000.

Nobody probably cares, but the Royals sent Billy Butler down to AAA and brought up SS Mike Aviles who apparently should help score runs...yeah and Jessica Alba is an A-lister because of her acting abilities. But what the hell, gotta try something. He should spell Tony Pena and maybe, just maybe, hit better than .160.

Another interesting tidbit concerning the Royals is a little blog post by the Joe Posnanski, detailing exactly how little all-star talent the hapless boys in blue have. Pretty accurate and very disheartening when you actually step back and realize what it all means. Football season can not come fast enough.

And lastly, a look at how valuable the, well, most-valuable sports blogs are. KJ-IBT comes in at number 9301 with a value just ahead of Hello Kitty Sporting News and just behind the Mormon Tabernacle Fishing Hole Blog, talk about disheartening. Our little slice of interweb heaven is listed as being worth $111, throw in a picture of Bea Arthur naked and you got yourself a deal.

The Bulls and the Bease

As we all know by now, the Chicago Bulls managed to win the lottery last night, even though they only had a 1.7% chance of doing so. Perhaps this was karma feeling bad for John Paxson after he gave away Tyson Chandler, only to sign Ben Wallace's corpse for $60 million and have Chandler turn into the Big Ben they for some reason thought they were getting. Or perhaps it was because they gave away LaMarcus Aldridge and passed on Brandon Roy when the two things they needed were low post scoring and a bigger guard. But hey, they got Tyrus Thomas and Victor Khryapa instead.

Whatever the reason may be, they are now in an incredibly envious position and have a chance to correct at least one of those mistakes and begin competing again in the East. But who do they choose – Derrick Rose or Michael Beasley.

Here's what Rick Morrissey had to say…I think he's leaning towards Rose.

"If the Bulls don't take this kid [Rose], they are absolutely out of their organizational minds."

Ok, let me get this straight. Even though the Bulls already have Kirk Hinrich, Chris Duhon, Ben Gordon and Larry Hughes on the books for well over $25 million next year (not including Duhon), you think they would be absolutely crazy to not take another guard with the coveted first pick in the draft? Never mind that in order to do so they would have to pass on the best talent in the draft, who, oh by the way, scored over 26 points a game this year, while also leading the nation in rebounding. One more thing, the Bulls current crop of low post players consists of Drew Gooden, Tyrus Thomas, Joakim Noah and Aaron Gray.

"Forget the need for a low-post scorer"

Excuse you? Clearly the hand check rules have made good point guards even more valuable than ever before (See: Chris Paul, Deron Williams, & Tony Parker). Secondly, this is something that Kirk Hinrich probably won't ever be able to take full advantage of because of his lack of size. But try and find me a team that can win without a low post scorer. Aside from Michael Jordan's Bulls teams (Witness 4/7/08: Derrick Rose is great but he is not Michael Jordan), you have to go all the way back to the '89-'90 Pistons team to find a champion that did not have a dominant low-post scorer. And let's not forget that even they had Bill Laimbeer, who is one of only 19 players to ever amass 10,000 points and rebounds. Call me crazy, but with 12 spots available on the roster, it seems to me like filling one of them with a guy that can score in the paint might not be a terrible idea. Now, if the Bulls really do like Rose better and can find a way to package their plethora of guards for a legitimate low post scorer, then we may have an argument. But DO NOT forget the need of a low post scorer.

"If last season showed anything, it's that the Bulls lacked a leader. Maybe Rose doesn't offer leadership his first season in the NBA, but eventually that leadership will assert itself."

So even though the team was two wins away from facing a beatable Cavs team in the East Finals just two years ago and arguably have a better roster now, you think they should begin focusing on the long-term? Well, they did regress last year, so I guess I'll play along. Just remember though, the two biggest contracts on the Bulls belong to PG Kirk Hinrich and some sort of guard, Larry Hughes. It might also be wise to consider how much they will have to pay John Paxson's "untouchable" Luol Deng. And likely Ben Gordon as well. But alright, let's focus on the long-term.

"What should the Bulls do about point guard Kirk Hinrich and his large contract? Worry about it later. You do what's necessary now. You choose Rose because he can right a listing ship."

Whoa, whoa, whoa. I thought we were looking long-term? Monetary issues aside, you just said yourself that Rose's leadership will take time to develop so how exactly is he righting a ship so quickly? And if you need a reminder what happens when you "worry about it [$36.5mm over 4 years] later," look no further than the New York Knickerbockers. The Bulls had a rough year, sure, but for now they have plenty of flexibility to fix their problems. If they start "worry about it later" that could quickly change.

"Rose isn't Jordan."

Good, I'm glad we agree.

"But he might be Chris Paul."

Yes, he might. And if he is, the Bulls will definitely wish they had him. But even Chris Paul needs David West in order to valiantly compete in the second round, but ultimately fall short of the conference finals.

If you haven't guessed, I'm in the Michael Beasley corner. I hear the Derrick Coleman comparisons and if I were a GM whose job may be riding on this decision that might scare me too. And though it hasn't been brought up all that often, there is other off court issues that might scare me. For example, his mother had to move to Manhattan, KS this year because he wasn't responsible enough to live that far away from her. And his infatuation with Sponge Bob Square Pants is just plain weird. To put it bluntly, the guy is dumb. But on a basketball court, which is typically where NBA players have their biggest impact on the team paying their salary, the guy is incredible. More than that though, he fills the biggest need of the Bulls. I'm not sure how long it will take him to average 20/10, but know that Al Horford just put up a 10/10 in his rookie season while sharing the post with Josh Smith. Horford is great and will be for a long time, but on the offensive end, he doesn't even approach Beasley. Conservatively, you can count on a 15/10 out of him next year and who knows beyond that.

Think about the impact each would have…

Drafting Rose certainly improves the point guard position. By doing that, Rose will likely be able to create a few more open looks for spot-up shooters like Ben Gordon and Andres Nocioni. If he's really good, he may even be able to draw post defenders to him in order to create some easy baskets for the offensively inept Joakim Noah and Tyrus Thomas. Clearly, the Bulls are better with Rose than Hinrich. Truth be told, they look like New Orleans Lite. Paul > Rose, Peterson = Gordon, Deng > Peja, West > Gooden, Chandler > Noah, with the Chicago bench holding a large advantage. But when they're on the road in the playoffs and the threes aren't falling, who are they going to in order to score an easy bucket.

If they had a legitimate low-post scorer like Beasley, perhaps they fix this problem. Right now, as far as I can see it, the biggest issue the Bulls have is that no one can really create their own shot (possible exception of Deng) and they're all jump shooters. If Beasley gives them nothing else, he would alleviate this problem. All year, even with a nothing team around him, he created his own shots to the tune of almost 27 points a game. Not to mention that he led the nation in rebounding at just under 13 per. In case you were curious, Tim Duncan's stats his senior year were 21/15. For his career, they were 17/12. The college game was much different then and stats only take you so far, but it's hard to argue with those figures. Now, I'm not saying Beasley is the next Tim Duncan (for one thing, he doesn't play much defense), but there's not a whole lot of shame in that considering that he's probably the best power forward to ever play the game.

With that in mind, I think the Bulls are a whole lot better off with Hinrich running the point, Gordon at the two, Deng at SF and Beasley at PF. Personally, I'd play Noah at center and ask him to play great defense and rebound. Between Gordon, Deng and Beasley, the points will come. With this line-up you have a great outside shooter, a slasher, and a low post scorer. Bookending those three you have an above average PG and a Center that can do the dirty work. I certainly wouldn't call this the best starting lineup in the league, but it's much better than average and consider the bench they still have. Backing up Hinrich and Gordon is Hughes, Duhon and Sefalosha. Backing up Deng is Nocioni. And backing up Beasley and Noah is Gooden and Thomas.

Do they win the East next year? Doubtful, but they're certainly back in the playoffs and could make some noise. Look, they caught a huge break and either way they go, they'll be better off. Rose is a phenomenal player and in the current NBA seems like a lock to succeed. But if you've ever watched the Bulls and not thought about how badly they need an inside scorer, then I don't know what to tell you. Add in Kirk Hinrich's contract (not to mention Larry Hughes' even larger one) and the Bulls simply can't afford to take a PG right now. I wonder if Mike D'Antoni is having any regrets these days. It would have been fun to watch him turn Beasley into Amare 2.0.

By the way, here is Jay Mariotti's column, John Paxson's no-brainer: A Rose is a Rose is a Bull .

"Some hoops cognoscenti will insist the Bulls take Michael Beasley, the 6-10, 240-pound force who would bring the low-post scoring and rebounding they sorely need. But this is no time for Paxson, the embattled general manager coming off a disastrous two years, to think technically. He must make a public-relations move, a ticket-selling move."

I won't even bother...

Flight of the Conchords in Concert

As some of you may know, I was afforded the opportunity to see Flight of the Conchords last night at the beautiful and historic Chicago Theatre. And as you may have guessed, it did not disappoint.

Even before FotC came on stage I was pleasantly surprised as the opening act was done by Arj Barker. Or for those of you familiar with the show, Dave. And let me tell you, Dave is a pretty solid comedian. He went on for roughly 30 minutes and there was never a dull moment. The highlight probably came when he was discussing how he often thinks at night about how deeply he's sleeping and how he'd give anything in the world to have a mini-him in the next room screaming and shitting everywhere. Obviously, it was delivered much better than I am describing it. And I can't vouch for this since I didn't stick around to chat him up, but I also found it pretty cool that he hung around in the lobby afterwards with anyone and everyone.

As soon as Arj was done, he immediately introduced FotC and they walked on stage. This gets major points from me as I'm used to waiting quite a while between the opening and feature act. Immediately, they broke into Robots (set list below) and it was just like we were watching the TV show, only live and without any of the other characters. Which of course meant that Murray was not prezent. And after a fan asked about this, Jemaine responded by informing us that he always has to remind at least one fan that Murray is a fictional character played by Rhys Darby. Another highlight was when a man yelled at them to "take of their pants." As you would imagine, this guy didn't come off as the brightest bulb in the box and Jemaine imitated his request several times while also providing his own guesses as to the fan's thought process. Good stuff. But as funny as all their meandering back and forth between songs was, as always, the songs are what carry these guys and they definitely did not disappoint.

In addition to playing most of their classics, they also played a few songs I had never heard before. I would imagine some or all of them will be featured during season two. As Sun-Times columnist, Jim Derogatis also notes, the funniest of them all was one in which Jemaine sang about his ex-girlfriends and Bret provided the chorus, but informed us that we had to picture him as a group of women. It's also worth mentioning that Bret's work on the keytar, especially during Mutha Uckas was phenomenal. There is very little I could have asked to be different from their set list, except I wish that it had included Boom and one of my favorites, Inner City Pressure. Bret, You've Got It Going On was also missing.

Overall, it was just a great show. And if they are coming anywhere near you, I highly recommend you attend. In addition to their sharp and clever wit, there is just something about the way words sound coming out of their Kiwi mouths that makes me laugh. I know that I can't wait to see them again.

New Zealand…Rocks!!!

Set List

Robots
The Most Beautiful Girl in the Room
Mutha Uckas
Never heard it – About Past Girlfriends
Think About It
Albi the Racist Dragon
Never heard it
Hiphopopotamus vs. the Rhymenocerous
I'm Not Crying
Pencils in the Wind
It's Business Time
Never heard
If You're Into It
Bowie
Encores:
New one called I Told You I was Freaky
Angels

Not Played…
Inner City Pressure
Boom
Bret, You've Got it Going On

Where to Eat In Lawrence

As you all know, this is a relatively slow time for sports nationally, and even more so at the University of Kansas. Which, if you have yet to notice, is where we here at It's Business Time focus most of our efforts. But despite this downturn in the wide world of sports, I continue to rather blog than do my actual job. So, for reasons known only to me (or those who might have read Burnt Orange Nation a few days ago), I have decided to put together a restaurant list for the city of Lawrence. Feel free to disagree. But you better substantiate any arguments.

The Top 5 (In no particular order)

Free State Brewery

Pros: First off, when it opened in 1989 it became the first legal brewery in Kansas in over 100 years. And to run with that fact, they brew several damn good beers – enough so that they have at least one for everyone's taste. Taking a big step further, nearly everything on the menu can sound good at some time and they always come up with delicious and original specials.

Cons: Typically occupied by a few too many hippies, especially in summer.

Papa Keno's

Pros: It's the best pizza in town. And a "best places to eat" list that doesn't include a pizza joint has no credibility whatsoever. In addition to the fresh ingredients and original menu, they also offer gigantic, fresh-baked slices. If that weren't enough, despite not really being a bar, they have TV and beer.

Cons: Too many screaming kids sometimes.

Border Bandido

Pros: It has an all you can eat Mexican buffet! That's probably all that needs to be said, but for those unfamiliar, here are some of the highlights. For $5.75, you have unlimited reign on any type of taco you want to make, be it hard, soft or burger. On top of that the buffet includes some delicious queso and tater tots. That ought to about do it.

Cons: No alcohol. But given how much dirty Mexican food you're consuming, that's not necessarily a bad thing when it comes to the 'Dido.

Teller's

Pros: Quite simply, the best restaurant in the city. Much like Free State, it has an all-encompassing menu that always has something to offer for everyone and typically has a special or two that won't let you down. This is one of those places that you're bound to spend quite a bit of money because you'll want to enjoy wine, appetizers, an entrée, and possibly desert. And yet, you'll never leave disappointed.

Cons: None come to mind. Except that it can't be frequented too often due to cost.

La Familia

Pros: Yes, we've already represented Mexican food with Border Bandido. But if you've been to both you'll know they're nothing alike, and more importantly, that neither could be left off. Whereas 'Dido offers you quantity, Familia goes for quality – both highly important factors. Among other things, La Familia presents you with a sweet salsa that simply can't be matched. Oh, and they have some excellent margaritas, a must for any Mexican restaurant.

Cons: Size? Personally I like this, but it can be an issue if you're out with a big group.

As you may have noticed, I didn't include a single bar in this group. Partly because none were deserving, but also because they really need to be their own group in a place like Lawrence. And since I'm busy not working, here's that list (again in no particular order).

The Wheel

Pros: In all likelihood, this is where to go for the best burger in the city. SVP and Neil Everett have made it a cliche, but I don't enjoy any burger more than the Wang. Throw in the country fried steak special on Friday and some fantastic late night pizza from creepy Pizza Pete and there's no way you miss this list.

Cons: It's in no way a sports bar. The Wheel is great and I'll forever love it, but you can't actually watch a game there and more often than not on a weekend night you can't even move in there. It also gets docked a few points because you can't eat dinner there – the Wang burger is a lunch time item only.

Ten & the Jayhawker

Pros: Easily the nicest bar in the city and of course gets major points for: being partly owned by KU great Bobby Douglas, residing in The Eldridge Hotel, co-existing with the Big Six room, and serving some damn good food. If you don't like their French Dip we probably can't be friends.

Cons: Unless you're at the actual bar, it's not great for watching games. Along that same line, it's also not really a sports bar, but rather a hotel bar that has some decent TV coverage and ample KU paraphanalia. Also, it attracts an "I'm too old to be out looking to hook up" crowd.

Yacht Club

Pros: Now this is a place to watch a game. In addition to the several big screens throughout the place, there is also a TV in every booth and several on every corner. No matter where you're standing/sitting or how crowded it is you'll always be able to see a tube. To take that a step further, I've still yet to find a place anywhere with nearly as comfortable of chairs as those at the Yacht. On the consumption side of things, the food is hit or miss depending on how high the cooks are, but they've got a solid overall menu. As for alcohol, they rarely have great specials, but they do have beer towers, which for those of you that don't know are either 2 or 3 liter towers that have a stand and a spigot.

Cons: I alluded to them in the pros listing, but the food is pretty inconsistent and they never really offer any good drink specials. Also, they have a great patio with a bar that is extremely under-utilized.

Louise's West

Pros: Schooners, Bloody Mary's, darts and the best jukebox in the city. Also, you likely won't have to deal with anyone underage (you can decide if that's a pro or not).

Cons: If you're looking for food other than a bag of chips you've come to the wrong place. Also, it's only a good place to watch a game if that game holds no significance to the city of Lawrence. It Kansas is involved, stay far away. But if it's Tuesday and you want to get drunk while you watch CP3 tear up the flopping Spurs, by all means.

Quinton's

Pros: First and foremost, the food is fantastic. Soups, sandwiches and Spinach Dip. That may not sound like your typical bar food, but no matter what time of day you eat it, it's incredible. And because of their phenomenal food and downtown location, Quinton's has effectively turned into a place you can drink for free. Their daily specials can be ok, but more importantly, if you frequent the place, you're likely to know the bartender(s) and since the place doesn't police how alcohol is charged, you're likely to get hammered for the extremely discounted price of whatever you choose to tip your friend.

Cons: Another terrible place to watch a game. Aside from that, I rarely have any complaints other than the amount of yeyo typically making its way through the patrons/employees. Not that there's anything wrong with that…

The Hawk

Cons: There truly is no worse place to watch a game. The only food is when they decide to fire up the grill during the afternoon of a nice day. And unless you're hammered, you probably won't enjoy yourself.

Pros: This is in no way a sports bar and obviously you've already read the cons. But I simply could not, in good conscience do a write-up about Lawrence establishments and not mention The Hawk. It's already damn near killing me to leave off The Cadillac Ranch, but ever since a man we'll call W took over, it just hasn't been the same.

Your thoughts?

Mario Can't Be a Spur

As you all know, there isn't a lot to report out of Jayhawk Nation these days – which is probably a good thing considering how Mother's Day went at USC. Even the LJW started covering the baseball team so as to dispel the common misconception that they're unaware Kansas does have an NCAA sanctioned team. Unfortunately, it wasn't a great weekend for the Hawks, going 1-2 against Methzou, bringing it to an even 2-2 split on the season (only the games this weekend counted toward the league record, though). If this upsets you, go ahead and take this link to the best championship video that I have seen. It's 16 minutes, but worth every second. On that same note, if any of you are interested in purchasing a square foot of the Final Four court, autographed by the Jayhawks, take this link. Before you buy though, take note that it is not the actual floor and in no way licensed, but does look to be a nicely autographed piece of wood with a Final Four logo.

It seems the Jayhawks-to-be all received sizeable bumps in their national ranking. As you already knew, Rivals has all five high schoolers in their top 150 (only Thomas lower than 77). But now, USA Today has moved all five into the top 79. Personally, I guess it's good to see. But honestly, it just gives more fuel to the fire of my belief that half of these rankings are based on the schools interested rather than actual ability. Hence, why Brian Zoubek, etc. get named McDonald's All Americans once they commit to Duke. Meanwhile, Stephen Curry gets rejected by Va Tech and ends up at Davidson.

Sticking with basketball, it looks like all of those salivating NBA GMs will have to wait another year. Yes, it's true. Leo "The Lion" Lyons (he had to be born in August, right?) has pulled his name out of the draft and will be returning to Methzou.

Unfortunately, I don't think Jayhawk fans will be hearing the same out of either Darrell or Mario any time soon. Call me naïve, optimistic or just plain dumb, but I really thought Mario would return. Now, Chad Ford is by no means the authority on this, but clearly he has talked with GMs/scouts and the early consensus is that all three are moving on up. Here's his latest Top 100. And here's a snippet of his reasoning for moving all three up the board: "KU forwards Darrell Arthur and Brandon Rush, along with point guard Mario Chalmers, are all still seeing a bump in their draft stock off their NCAA championship run. I've had a number of GMs and scouts tell me that I have all three ranked too low in our Top 100. GMs are now saying they have Arthur ranked anywhere from 10-15 in the draft. Rush is ranked as high as 15 on many boards and no lower than 25 on the boards of the teams I spoke with. Chalmers sneaks into the late first round on many of the boards and doesn't drop below 35 on any. It will be interesting to see if the bump continues once they get into individual workouts. We now have Arthur at No. 13, Rush at No. 20 and Chalmers at No. 31 in our Top 100."

Of course I'm happy for them and clearly it will do wonders for recruiting to have three early entrants drafted in the first round, but I would really like Mario Chalmers to have a senior night in Allen Fieldhouse. If this is not meant to be though, hopefully he at least won't go to the Spurs because it's physically impossible for me to root for them and Jacque makes it hard enough as it is.

More on Blogging...

Ok so I was watching a replay of thurs daily show and KU professor David D. Perlmutter was on there talking about political blogs (but you could expand it to sports as well). And also why traditional media looks down on blogs. But the real reason for the post is in the first 15 seconds where you can hear Jon Stewart saying go jayhawks. Pure television magic... Now if he said something about the orange bowl and/or national championship it would have been the cherry on top but I will take it... I mean I am sure if a methzou prof was relevant enough to be on the show he would be greeted with a rousing go tigers... not...

No More Yanky My Wanky

Since ginger actually stepped up and added something to the blog instead of letting our much better versed co-writer just continue to blog I felt I had to add something.


First off a long overdue hats off from KJ-IBT to the new championship team at KU, the debate team! That is right 2 out of the last 3 years. Of course we will not put up a sign about this like our purple cousins to the west as our signs are getting a bit full right now. That's how you debate!


This has nothing to do with anything other than I was watching it when I read gingers drivel (so what if I find mrs. olson (whoops now miss, rock on!) attractive). As he counts down to hanna montana's sweet date of freedom he might take some advise from the donger...



Oh and just because you know know how to use photoshop does not mean you should... Technology frightens and confuses you! Like matching a font...

Tasteless is my middle name

While this may not be in good taste, nevertheless it had to be done.  As Hiphopotamus pointed out to me some clever bastards have had a little fun with Montana's Meth Project ad campaign posters ...at the expense of some notorious football schools.  We here at KJ-IBT think of ourselves as equal opportunity bashers(even if Missouri gets the brunt), so I figured let's get ol' Methzou involved for good measure.

(only one I saw that hadn't been edited yet, so what the hell)

Oh, and just for shits and giggles...type Methzou in Google and guess which blog pops up in 2nd and 3rd rank... Air Five bitches!  *sidenote- 4th link down is the hilarious MU one shining moment

Here is a little tidbit from Mr. Katz via ESPNinsider, luckily I scoff at ESPN thinking I won't cut/paste their premium content:

In discussing potential lottery picks with decision makers in the NBA, one thing is starting to become clearer: Fence sitters like West Virginia junior Joe Alexander, Syracuse freshman Donte Greene, NC State freshman J.J. Hickson and UCLA sophomore Russell Westbrook are highly thought of at this point, three weeks before the Orlando draft camp (May 27-30). That means that they'll all have tough decisions to make since they could be potential lottery picks.

That's why all four will likely take their decision down to the June 16 withdrawal date. Workouts and interviews will be a key for all these players if they're going to convince teams to take them in the lottery.

A few other players are receiving positive feedback, like Kansas junior Mario Chalmers, Arizona sophomore Chase Budinger, Cal sophomore Ryan Anderson and North Carolina sophomore Ty Lawson. All four have said they won't sign with an agent to retain their

amateur status.

So...that didn't really tell us anything except he has heard positive feedback, 5 fucking bucks a month for this folks.

Breaking news:  K-State made up a Mitch Richmond Mr. Basketball Award to keep the Purple Popcorn Eater happy.  I agree Mitch was a hell of a player and deserves recognition, but if I was him and they just gave the award bearing my name to Peepants, I would become incommunacado with my former university.  

As someone on Phog.net pointed out, where is the Pervis Pasco Irrational Exuberance Award?

Arizona will not renew Assistant Miles Simon's contract, could be due to the fact that Simon was reportedly sexing up the former Mrs. Olsen(shown right).  Seriously?  What the hell, isn't Miles like 31 or something, I wouldn't fuck her with Robo Boogie's dick.

I don't know if everyone will find this as interesting as I do, but the guys who wrote one of my favorite books(I have only read like 3 books...so it's an easy feat) Freakonomics have an article on sports data posted in the NY Times.  Pretty interesting read, as they point out it might not yield the same results in basketball as baseball, but I wouldn't be surprised to see more teams in an array of sports try it(I am looking at you Bill Self, I can extrapolate with the best of 'em!).

Found this picture of Joey Dorsey predicting his teams inevitable choke during the championship game and thought it was too classic not to post.

Let this statline sink in one more time bro.

Alright, back to my nightly practice of "waiting" for Miley Cyrus to turn 18...

A Look at the Big 12

As my colleague GingerBalls – who did not workout throughout the month of April – told me yesterday, it's starting to look like I don't actually do any work. And today, much like yesterday, I can't refute that criticism. So to highlight that fact, I want to bring to your attention the "America's Best Colleges" list for 2008.

Kansas comes in at a respectable 85.

Ahead of them, from the Big 12 conference…

University of Texas (# 44) – If anyone else had been higher, that would have been much more surprising.

Texas A&M University (# 62) – This one caught me off guard a little bit. I think it speaks more to the general level of league schools than it does to A&M.

Baylor University (# 75) – Not exactly a dazzling performance for the league's only private school.

University of Colorado (# 79)

- Iowa State tied with Kansas for the # 85 ranking – Damn it, we couldn't beat the Cyclones?

Now, rounding out those that came in below the Jayhawks…

University of Methzouri & University of Nebraska (#91) – They also tied with (drumroll)…Alabama. Ouch.

University of Oklahoma (# 109) – This seems about right.

Kansas State University (# 124) – Out of 124! It appears that they're tied for last place with NJIT, Clarkson, Colorado St., Michigan Tech, Arkansas, & Arizona State. But given this picture of the ASU cheerleaders, I'd go ahead and place them a notch or two ahead of the purple wildcats.

Apparently, Oklahoma State and Texas Tech were ineligible. I can't say I'm shocked by this.

Going along with today's theme of unsurprising news, Ryan Perrilloux was kicked off the LSU football team. It's crazy to think back about how upset Mack was on losing out on this guy that was "going to steal Vince's job." At this point, I'm not so sure UT didn't catch a break.

At Indiana, new head coach Tom Crean won't have to wait long to get "his team" in there as IU is down to THREE returning scholarship players. One of which, Jordan Crawford, averaged over 1.5 ppg last year.

Moving the focus to something that did catch me a little off guard… Karl Malone apparently impregnated a 13 year old girl. Not recently, but when he was 20 years old and in college at Louisiana Tech. In case you were curious, the kid reach out to him when he was 18 and the Mailman told him it was too late for him to be his father and he would have to "earn his money on his own." I always hated Malone when he was playing. Though I feel for Demetrius Bell, I'm glad this is now public and that I have better reasons for continuing to despise the Mailman.

To close, we'll leave the news and move into a link that may interest you. Here is a podcast interview with Michael Schur/Mose Schrute/Ken Tremendous.

NBA Draft Lookahead

Before we get to the meat of today's post I thought I'd pass along a couple of quick links of interest. The first is to announce that the son of Orlando Woolridge, Royce, has orally committed to Kansas for the 2010 season. I can honestly say that I know absolutely nothing about him except that he is listed at 6'2", is from Phoenix, Arizona and averaged 16 ppg this past season. One would like to think, though, that if Bill has already offered him, he must be pretty solid.

The news from the purple is that KSU AD, Bob Krause, is in negotiations with Ron Prince on a possible extension to his current contract. It should be noted that his current contract extends through the 2011 season and in his two seasons, Prince has led the Wildcats to a 12-13 overall record and he has yet to beat: Kansas, Methzou or Nebraska.

Yesterday, we linked to an article that highlighted the draft performance of ESPN experts Mel Kiper and Todd McShay. Hard to say if they saw this one coming?? In light of their sterling performance, we decided to craft an entire post about the upcoming NBA draft. Most of all, we are just interested in looking back and seeing just how futile these projections prove to be, but we will also make a point to look at each projection from a Jayhawk perspective as well.

Here's a look at the current projections provided by nbadraft.net. Depending on your feelings, it can be seen as either incredibly favorable or disheartening for Jayhawk fans. I say this because of how extremely well represented Kansas is with five players projected and all three early entrants going in the first round. I sure hope they're right about Kaun and Jackson.

Contrarily, this next site is not nearly as kind to the draft eligible Jayhawks. For one thing, the aforementioned Kaun and Jackson are not even represented on this list. And whereas the previous site had Arthur, Rush and Chalmers at 10, 24, & 26, respectively, this one places them at 21, 24 & 34 (2nd round). Though I obviously wish the best for him, I can't say I hate them having Chalmers in the 2nd round.

Similarly, this site caters to those hoping for Mario to return. Unfortunately, it doesn't list a second round projection, so it's hard to say what they think of Kaun or Jackson. It's also the only site I've seen that projects Rush (22) higher than Arthur (23), which I found…interesting.

This next one is a personal blog, rather than an accredited draft prediction site. And since Buzz Bissinger won't bother to give it a look, we will. On that note, this site offers the most favorable projection for the draft eligible Jayhawks. First off, it has DA going in the lottery (10) and Mario (24) going ahead of Brandon (25). Furthermore, not only does he have Kaun (52) and Jackson (58) going, but he has them higher than any other board I've seen.

This one comes courtesy of The Draft Review. And as far as Jayhawk fans are concerned, it's not too favorable. For starters, it has DA going in the lottery (12), with Brandon (21) and Mario (26) also going in the first round. That's all fine and good as we're all hoping for the best for those players. But if we have to deal with losing all of them, we can at least hope that Jackson and Kaun are selected as well. This site has neither being tapped. Then again, despite being updated after he announced he was staying, this site has Sam Young projected at # 45. And even worse than that, it has Leo Lyons at # 57, so how trustworthy can it really be? I mean, really, Leo "The Lion" Lyons?!

What does all of this mean? Probably a little less than nothing. As I mentioned earlier, we just know way too little at this point. According to Chad Ford, 51 underclassmen have declared. However, only 16 of them have signed with agents. Given that there are only 60 available spots and there will also be seniors and foreigners hoping to be selected, you'd like to think that number will dissipate at some point. Furthermore, the first round of the playoffs isn't even over and the lottery hasn't happened, so we're not all that close to determining an order. And lastly, half of the teams in the league aren't even thinking about the draft yet. With that said, take this for what you will, but I thought it was worth passing along.