Contender or Pretender?

I mostly agree with this article. I disagree on Purdue. I think they are legit although his point of freshmen guards in the NCAA is a valid point. But they have looked like a championship contender up to this point. There are two teams that he did not include that I would include as potential contenders. UCLA ranks 4th in my DPPI and is looking quite dominant. Plus they are only 1 of 6 teams ranked in the top 20 in both offense and defense in my DPPI (UConn, Houston, UCLA, Purdue, Kansas, West Virginia). The other team that I think is a real sleeper is West Virginia. They may be the no-name team but they have been very solid thus far this season. The Big 12 conference games are going to separate the men from the boys. The Big 12 is just insanely dominant with unprecedented parity. Based on my DPPI, 8 Big 12 teams would make the NCAA right now. And TCU, the currently lowest rated Big 12 team would be right in the middle of the pack of the ACC. The ACC is currently ranked as the 7th best conference by the DPPI and by the consensus of computer algorithms.

KU is an interesting case. We played pretty mediocre for the first 7 games (mediocre for a top 30 team or so). But the light seems to have com on. The last 4 games have been amazing both statistically ad from the eye test. Let's hope we keep it up. I currently have Kansas ranked 6th overall.

As for Tennessee, Rick Barnes is a great coach but his record in the NCAA is among the worst all-time.

I know HCBS said a lot of good things about West Virginia in his press conference the other day. What I find interesting every year is the teams that mentally can't handle loosing a few games at the start of the Big XII season. The conference is so tough that everyone is going to lose some games. Can you stay hungry and confident after a couple loses. We will find out but it is always interesting.

KU is an interesting case. We played pretty mediocre for the first 7 games (mediocre for a top 30 team or so). But the light seems to have com on. The last 4 games have been amazing both statistically ad from the eye test. Let's hope we keep it up. I currently have Kansas ranked 6th overall.

Good observation and I concur. I think a big factor is the cadence of our schedule. We played 8 games in November, and with the tournament that was 3 games in a row, followed by a 4th 3 days later. For those of you keeping score at home, that's 4 games in a 6 day stretch.

By contrast, we've only played 3 times in the past 3 weeks and will only wind up playing 5 games in the month. With so much downtime, I think a couple things are happening:

1.) We're not seeing the incremental development as much because the majority of it is happening behind the closed doors of practice. There were 9 days of no Jayhawks between Seton Hall and Mizzou and we looked very good in Columbia. Then we had another 7 days under wraps before another great showing vs. Indiana. With only 2 games over a 16 day stretch, it's unlikely that the guys were just sitting on the couch.

2.) During this time, and without the distraction of travel or game days, Self has the advantage of these guys' undivided attention. When they DO get to go out and play, they're fresh and VERY motivated to do what they love to do: play basketball against actual opponents.

Granted, December is also finals time, so they guys have to deal with academics, but it does seem to me as if we've had a little extra space between games this year than normal.

Good point NotO. I think when you have a hall of fame coach with a great staff as well and 9 days to game plan for an opponent, you have a phenomenal advantage. All the players talked about scouting and videos and player tendencies and of course defensive sets and rotations, I think Self is at the top of his game right now. His coaching is as good as it has been and having Dooley back is no insignificant factor. And I may be a little biased but I think losing Howard and gaining Jeremy Case was a giant leap forward for this team. I was never on the Howard bandwagon and I have thought Case was a future hall of fame potential candidate for years. We all know Norm is a great assistant and KT is a great recruiter and scout coach. But Self, always a great coach is at the very top of his game. I think we beat Mizzou by 12-14 on talent and 14-16 on game plan and coaching superiority. Same for Indiana. Of course, that all levels out a bit in the rapid fire world of conference play with familiarity, but having a HOF coach is worth quite a few points a game on average.