65-64 in a nailbiter. KU played much better, but they just couldn’t put it togther on the final play. Very disappointed by a loss, but heck, at least we’ll be playing during primetime tomorrow night.

For 7th place.

A couple of stats stick out to me:

2-5: Free throws for the game. KU has got to be more agressive in order to get to the line more often. Arkansas fouled more than KU, and yet Arkansas scored 10 points from the line. In two games in Maui, KU has been outscored 33-9 on the foul line. Pit Bull aggressiveness? Not yet. Pit poodle is more like it. Come on guys, you can do better.

1-2: Our record at present. It’s worse than I would have thought (I really thought we could have and should have beaten Arkansas), but at the end of the year, no one will care. These tough games in a tough environment will prove an inexpensive education at the end of the year.

KU played considerably better, but still played sloppy. They flat out gave away 8-10 points in the second half and gave up a few key possessions with STUPID turnovers. Most notable among these was Jeff Hawkins’ dribble off the foot in the closing minutes when he simply took his eye off the ball.

A good loss?

I suppose so, but I sure do hate losing.

It will be a good game I think. Vegas thinks so, if it’s any comfort -they have Arizona favored by 5, which is a lot less than I would have suspected.

Arizona lost a lot since last year - Adams is their top returning scorer at around 13 points a game, I believe. I do think that Arizona will likely win, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see the ‘Hawks pull one out.

It’s just so easy in the season that it’s very difficult to know what to expect.

Arizona will very likely press. If that rattles our team, we could get run out of the building. If our ballhandlers, particularly Julian Wright, can maintain poise and not panic, we should be able to hang with them very well. Arizona is more experienced, but they are not more talented.

Because I’m a homer, I’ll predict that KU squeaks by in a very high scoring game, and gets the entire nation talking about this team well before even the turn of the year.

My pick:

KU: 87
Arizona: 83

UPDATE: I am not alone. Tony Mejia at Sportsline picks KU 83-79.

Something about Hawaii:

Ken Pomeroy explores the Hawaian magic in this post, as well as naming Sasha Kaun winner of Friday’s “Line of the Night”. Great props for Sasha to have the best line in college basketball on Friday.

You read that right. MSU picked up a quick game in Oahu en route to the Maui Classic. I guess this will give them more motivation, but I wouldn’t have expected MSU, picked #1 in the land by the Sporting News, to get pounded by Hawaii.

But that’s college hoops.

An interesting, if not overly-deep preview of the Maui Invitational.

What they say about KU:

#

Kansas

J.R. Giddens transferred, and Wayne Simien and Aaron Miles graduated. So what’s left for head coach Bill Self?

Three walk-ons turned into scholarship players, and in came four incoming freshmen who make as good of a recruiting class as any in the nation.

Guards Mario Chalmers, Micah Downs and Brandon Rush, brother of the Charlotte Bobcats’ Kareem Rush and ex-UCLA player JaRon Rush, join forward Julian Wright, as all four are expected to contribute.

# Go-to player: Sophomore forward C.J. Giles (2.8 points, 2.4 rebounds)

# What they have to do win: Let the freshmen loose.

Don’t forget about the Sophomores, either. It’s Self’s team now.

Mike DeCourcy, who covers college basketball for The Sporting News, was nice enough to join us for episode 3 of PhogCasts.

Download PhogCast Episode 3 here.

In this episode we cover many a thing to get a KU fan excited, including, but not limited to:

Mike’s thoughts on the strenth of the college game this year.

Kansas’ national prospects (including an interesting story about why KU wasn’t ranked in their top 25 that might surprise you)

The Big 12 Conference

Quin Snyder’s job and why he’s still around.

Mike’s thoughts on Arizona

and

Some information on Maui that you shouldn’t miss. As always, we welcome any feedback you may have. We’re looking at providing some cool coverage from the beach at Maui.

Thanks a lot and happy listening.

As always, you can listen on your computer by downloading above, or by clicking play on the handy device below.

Today was the 2005 Maui Invitational Conference Call (pdf), wherein both Arizona’s Lute Olson and Bill Self commented.

This exchange I found particularly interesting:

(Jeffery Parson): (Coach Olson), this is (Jeffery Parson) from Wichita Eagle, and can you compare this field to - is there any field that sticks out in your mind in these pre-season tournaments you’ve been in that you thought, “Oh this is tough, or looks as loaded as this one?”

(Lute Olson): No, this in my opinion is the best pre-season match-ups in a tournament situation that I’ve ever seen. And that includes NIT pre-season or anyone you want to mention. You know, when you got six teams that have won National Championship’s, the seventh team that’s been invited is (Gonzaga) who’s been ranked in the top 6, 7, 8 and even higher. I saw fourth in one poll. So I mean it is loaded. It’s going to be - there are going to be some great basketball games. And I feel very strongly that every team is going to come out of that tournament with some positives to build on.

Worth a read, definitely.

I’ve been kicking around the idea of having a phogblog.com happy hour at the Rusty Harpoon on Saturday night before the tournament starts. The Harpoon is a great bar with a heck of a view. It’s next to The Westin and The Hyatt which is where I’m staying, and I think where the players are as well. Will any of our regular readers be making the trip? If I can get enough interest I’ll set it up. They have 2 for 1 Mai Tais at happy hour if you needed any more convincing. Feel free to comment on this post or email me offline at ryno@phogblog.com

ryno

One thing that hasn’t been discussed too much is how we match up against Zona. While they are a consensus top 10 team, they have lost three of their top six players from a year ago. In addition to NBA players Channing Frye and Salim Stoudamire, Arizona is missing Jawann McClellan. According to Athlon, this could be a big deal, as he was expected to start:

Jawann McClellan, a potential star, was pegged to be Arizona’s starter at shooting guard, but was ruled academically ineligible for the first semester after failing a summer-school class. In ‘04-05, McClellan replaced Chris Rodgers as Arizona’s sixth man in the NCAA tournament.

He only averaged 6 points a game last year, but he was pretty productive when he was in.

I’m glad that somebody agrees with me about this team, which I believe will be much better than last year’s team was at the end of last year by the end of this year, dig? Keegan says KU will start climbing in the polls. Like most Keegan yarns, this one is a must read:

And don’t blame the panel. Christian Moody is the leading returning scorer and rebounder. Once word spreads about 6-foot-1 Mario Chalmers’ dunk over 6-foot-8 Micah Downs at Saturday’s coaches’ clinic, and once C.J. Giles shows the world what he’s shown in practice, the Jayhawks will crack the back end of the Top 25 and should keep climbing.

Leaps and bounds people - this years team will improve leaps and bounds over the course of the season. And with Arizona and UConn both hobbled by injuries, KU could break into the top 25 earlier rather than later.

By the way, I think KU will go 2 and 1 in Maui. Look at the bracket and tell me I’m wrong.

That’s the first and last time you’ll read the word “vilifies” in a headline this year. Of that I am certain. I am also certain that you will not read a more stunning, poisonous indictment of a college coach’s character this year than Gregg Doyel’s pedal to the metal screed against UConn’s Jim Calhoun. Calhoun’s got a sailor’s mouth, and I’m sure his office was filled with what Spock called “colorful metaphors” when he read this article. It’s unbelieveable. Thanks to Mic for pointing it out to me.

Parents, are you listening?

But Calhoun honors nothing but his own program. That is why Calhoun, er, the school, suspended reserve point guard A.J. Price for the entire 2005-06 season but suspended All-American point guard Marcus Williams for just the first semester — despite their involvement in the same criminal case. Price was expendable. Williams was not. This is justice, Jim Calhoun style.

How much sweeter will it now be when we take them out in round two in Maui?

Three pointers in Maui will be a little longer, and the lane will be a little wider when KU squares off in a month or so against Arizona in the Maui Invitational. The NCAA will be experimenting, once again, with slight changes to the current line distances, to see how they affect play.

The NCAA said Thursday that it will continue to study new dimensions for the 3-point line, a wider lane and a restricted-area arc during certified men’s tournaments such as the Maui Invitational.

In men’s basketball, the lane would be widened by a foot rather than the 1 1/2 feet used last season. The arc will be drawn 3 feet from the center of the basket, a foot farther than last season, and the 3-point line will be 20 feet, 9 inches — a foot longer than the current 3-point line.

What’s interesting is that the changes last year showed no statistical difference in three pointers made, three point percentage, offensive rebounds or defensive rebounds. Nor was there a change in the number of three second calls or the number of fouls after free throws.

In short, nothing changed.

That’s better than most polls.

We don’t even get a writeup though.

Here’s the link

Here’s an early scouting report on Maui foe Arizona though:

Arizona Wildcats (30-7)Michigan State has the Izzo show for Midnight Madness. For McKale Madness, the Wildcats have “Special Guest Host John Salley” … who went to Georgia Tech. (Book Salley for your event now
– his reps told me it’ll probably run somewhere in the range of
$15-25K.) Perhaps Arizona could pay Salley extra to use his celebrity
influence to lobby the NCAA on behalf of guard Jawann McClellan,
who was ruled academically ineligible for the fall semester after
failing a summer class due to distress over the death of his father. Lute Olson has reason to be upset. The NCAA’s decision just doesn’t seem fair.