10 things to know about the Kansas Jayhawks

Tomorrow night, Kentucky will take on Kansas in the Champions Classic in Indianapolis, and to get ready, let’s get to know the 2014-2015 version of the Jayhawks.

Like Kentucky, they lost two great players to the pros, but have key returning veterans

Kansas and Kentucky had similar roster turnover during the offseason, with Andrew Wiggins and Joel Embiid going first and third in the NBA Draft. Like Kentucky, they have some key returning players (junior forward Perry Ellis and sophomore guard Wayne Selden) and another crop of talented freshmen (Cliff Alexander, Devonte Graham, Kelly Oubre). While freshmen-laden teams are the norm at Kentucky, having freshmen as the core of his squad is something Bill Self’s still getting used to. Self has called this group his youngest and most inexperienced team ever.

They only beat UC Santa Barbara by ten points

Yes, Kentucky didn’t look great vs. Buffalo yesterday or at times vs. Grand Canyon on Friday; however, Kansas didn’t exactly shoot the lights out in their opener either. In fact, the Jayhawks only beat UC Santa Barbara by ten points. For most of the game, Kansas looked choppy and awkward, thanks in part to UCSB’s zone, and struggled to contain Alan Williams, who could be an All-American candidate. Kansas only made three of its first ten shots and went more than five minutes without a field goal. The Shiver’s Matt Scott called it “brutal basketball to watch.” Sound familiar? Eventually, Kansas figured out UC-Santa Barbara’s zone and got their act together, thanks in part to a stellar performance by a freshman, which should also sound pretty familiar.

Devonte’ Graham has been their most impressive freshman so far

Cliff Alexander and Kelly Oubre are by far the most heralded of Kansas’ freshmen, both McDonald’s All-Americans who were recruited by Kentucky; however, it was Devonte’ Graham who stole the show Friday night. Like Tyler Ulis against Buffalo, the freshman guard helped save Kansas from an upset with a team-high 14 points on 5-8 shooting, including a key jumper to spark a 9-0 run in the first half. More importantly, he showed poise beyond his years and steadied the ship when Kansas’ starting guard Frank Mason picked up two early fouls.

They’ve got a Ukrainian on the team

Freshman guard Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk is from Cherkasy, Ukraine, which means he’ll get the Mike Krzrylakjsdfl;kajsdf treatment during the live blog. Ain’t nobody got time to correctly spell that. Mykasldjfa;d (see? Already an improvement) speaks three languages and also played ping pong in high school. Since coming to the States, he’s already managed to hurt himself in the most American way possible: eating too much Halloween candy.

Damn. My candies destroyed my tooth. Need to go to the dentist😫😫😷😷

— Svi Mykhailiuk (@Sviat_10) October 27, 2014

Kelly Oubre didn’t have a great opener

The freshman only played four minutes and sat the entire second half during Kansas’ opener. When asked about it after the game, Self said Oubre’s limited playing time was intentional. “It was a coach’s decision,” Self said, “just trying to do what’s best for our team. It’s not a knock to Kelly. It’s just, he’s young.”

But, he does have this tattoo…

…which looks like it should be on the cover of an RL Stine book. In a contest of ugly tattoos, which one wins: this one or the mushroom cloud tattoo on Willie’s neck?

Bill Self really likes to talk about Kentucky and Calipari

Bill Self has been talking about Kentucky a lot lately, but then again, so has everyone in college basketball. Last week, Self raved about UK’s talent to USA Today. “There’s not a talented team in the last several years like Kentucky is going to have on paper,” Self said. “You have nine McDonald’s All-Americans. They have more McDonald’s All-Americans than the Lakers.”

In the same article, SMU head coach Larry Brown said that if you take UK’s first and second teams and split them up, they’d be #1 and #2 in the nation, and that Calipari “should go 45-0 with that talent.” When asked about Brown’s comments, Self said what we’re all thinking: why is Brown puffing Cal up for a fall? “Who knows what Larry’s doing; he may be mad at (Cal) about something,” Self said.

But back to praising the Cats. We like that. “Their program is so tradition-rich. It’s the bluest of the blue bloods. Ours is right with them,” Self said. “It’ll be fun. There’s a lot of history there.” I’d change that “right with them” to “right after them,” but hey, nice sentiment.

I can’t help but like their throwback jerseys

 

Normally adidas craps the bed when it comes to jerseys, but these throwbacks are pretty sweet. Or, maybe the designers at adidas just save all of their ugliest designs for Louisville, which I’m totally fine with.

Bill Self Bill Self’s toupee is the most interesting man thing in the world

This promo ran before Kansas’ annual Late Night in the Phog festivities and features Self dressing up as Ron Burgandy from “Anchorman,” which included him wearing a hairpiece on top of his hairpiece, by far the most interesting part of the promo for me.

Remember when Cliff Alexander’s dad did this?

I know Aaron Flener does. Not awesome enough for you? His dad can also do 360-degree dunks at age 40:

Wow.

They haven’t beaten Kentucky in 7 years

The last time the Jayhawks got the best of the Cats was the 2007 West Regional in Tubby Smith’s final game as coach. Since then, Kentucky has beaten them twice, first in the 2011 Champions Classic in New York, and of course, later that season in the 2012 National Championship.

Let’s push that streak to three tomorrow night.