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Man, was that ugly or what? I wanted to see a college basketball game real bad, but had to settle for a real bad college basketball game. The title of my last article was Maui Can’t Foretell the Future for KU. I’ve already added that fact to the list of things I’m thankful for this holiday season. The game wasn’t ugly because KU lost. Well, not just that anyway. Coach Lute Olson can’t be pleased with his squad at all. Winning ugly is better than losing pretty and a far sight better than losing ugly. Let’s face it, if someone would have told you before the game that KU would hold Arizona to 29.8 percent from the floor, force 15 turnovers and hold the Wildcats to 61 points, you’d have liked KU’s chances, right? I know I would have. If Arizona was unattractive, KU was homely. Coach Self’s concerns about foul trouble are evidently justified, as the Jayhawks had 28 fouls to just 17 for Arizona, who took advantage by making 11 more free throws than KU attempted. The possession analysis should prove uncomely as well; I can’t find out how many possessions KU had, but with 27 turnovers the analysis should be quite repugnant. (71 possessions, 38.0 LoB%.) Can we get you some antacids, Coach? There are some positives to drag away from this game. This may be as athletic a team as we’ve seen at KU in quite a while, and quickness wasn’t an issue in the game. They looked good defensively at the beginning of the second half. Despite being down by 16 early and in danger of getting blown off the island the KU demonstrated the heart and determination of a champion, eventually tying the game at 41 with 11:46 to play. It was still a six point game with two minutes to go. But this best thing about this situation is that there’s another game to play tomorrow (Tuesday.) There’s no time for the guys to sit around and feel bad. 11 A.M. Hawaii time can hardly come soon enough. And I wish I had ESPNU to see it! Mark Howe is a freelance writer currently residing in Milford, IN. He is a former ticket taker, usher and security worker at Allen Fieldhouse, and can be reached at mhowe (at) rockchalk (dot) com.