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Summary The Kansas Jayhawks hosted the Colorado Buffaloes at Allen Fieldhouse today in a game they were supposed to win. Kansas, favored by 17, did much more than that... making it a very ugly game and leading by over 40 late in the ballgame. When the smoke cleared, the Jayhawks had a 100-73 win, but the game was not nearly as close as the final score. Kansas held a 100-60 lead before Colorado finished on a 13-0 run against mostly walk-ons to close the gap. Three Kansas players tied for team lead with 20 points apiece. Senior guard Jeff Boschee scored his 20 on 8-13 shooting, including 4-8 from behind the 3 point arc. Nick Collison and Drew Gooden also kicked in 20 apiece. Gooden added 11 rebounds, dished out 3 assists, snatched a couple of steals, and didn't turn the ball over as he solidified his position as the leading candidate for Big 12 Player of the Year. Kirk Hinrich joined in the fun with 16 points, 6 assists, and 5 boards. Kansas had a very balanced attack (inside and out) for the entire game. This was the 26th straight time that a Kansas team had beaten the Buffaloes, and the Jayhawks ran their record to 19-2 and 8-0 in the Big 12 conference. Analysis The Kansas offense was an absolute juggernaut in this game. From the perimeter, on the interior, in transition... Colorado had no answer for anything that the Jayhawks did. At times, it was a beautiful thing to watch. Hinrich dribble penetration to Boschee for a 3, Boschee penetration to Hinrich for a 3, ball reversal on the perimeter for an easy entry pass to Collison or Gooden. The Jayhawks put on an offensive clinic in this game and forced their will on the Colorado defense. Colorado never really slowed down the Jayhawks until the regulars were sitting on the bench. Here's some key (and fun) statistics from the game. 1. Kansas only turned the ball over 13 times in the contest, matching their season low for the 2nd game in a row. The Jayhawks haven't had 20 or more turnovers since the UCLA loss and have shown much improvement as of late in that category. This was an area for concern early in the season, but I'm very impressed with the way the Jayhawks have lowered their turnover count without slowing down their transition game. I think this is a prime example of the team (players and coaches) directly addressing an area of the game that even us regular fans can see as an obvious weakness. If this team continues to address and minimize its weaknesses, it will be very, very dangerous as the season moves along. 2. Shooting percentage. Kansas shot 49% to Colorado's 38%. That was pretty much the key to the game. Kansas made shots and Colorado didn't. This isn't just attributed to the Jayhawks being better shooters. KU ran their offense very well today to get themselves easy looks. After a torrid start by the Buffaloes in which they executed well against the Kansas defense to get (and make) good shots, the Jayhawks turned up the defensive intensity and began forcing the Buffaloes to take harder and harder shots. Eventually, Colorado starting missing and the Jayhawks converted offensively to throw a couple of nice runs at the Buffs and put this game out of reach early. 3. Who would you guess led the Jayhawks in steals today? Gooden? He's second in the conference in that category. That would a good guess, but wrong. Aaron Miles? Lightening quick point guard, he would be sure to get some steals. Nope. Jeff Carey led Kansas in steals with FOUR in just 11 minutes. This was one of Jeff's best games, as he contributed 5 points, 5 rebounds, and the 4 steals. Carey's performance in this game was exactly what the Jayhawks need out of him. Limited minutes, positive contributions, no play that is outside of his abilities. Jeff did a nice job of filling that role today. Maybe it's petty and immature, but I really enjoyed watching David Harrison get into foul trouble and seeing his team get blown out of the gym. For those that don't know, Harrison was quoted this week as saying Kansas "will get theirs" among other things. Harrison is quickly showing that he has the biggest mouth in the conference as his team struggles to win conference games. If I could have a word with David, I would say "You'll be a good player, but you'd better temper that cockiness. You DO NOT want to give bulletin board material to teams that are considerably better than you." He's a true freshman, and I'm sure he'll learn, but it hasn't happened, yet. Late in the game, he was issued a technical foul for (apparently) having words with an official. I know I shouldn't expect too much maturity from an 18 year old kid, but Harrison is handling things even worse than most. This is kind of a hard game to analyze. Kansas, playing in their own gym, soundly beat a team that they were much better than. It's hard to find points of the game that you can point to as positives or negatives for the rest of the year. My advice, don't try to do that. Enjoy this game for the big win it is and start getting ready for a pesky Kansas State team that the Jayhawks travel to battle in Manhattan on Monday night. The Wildcats, coming off home wins over Texas and #9 Oklahoma State, are as confident and dangerous as they've been in a few years. As a Jayhawk fan, we can just hope this isn't the year that KU finally loses in Bramlage Coliseum, the "new" gym. The Monday night game worries me much more today than it did a week ago. KSU is playing pretty good basketball and will be fired up and ready to give the Jayhawks a game. It could be the first Sunflower Showdown in quite some time to be in doubt after halftime. Hopefully, the visitors will be ready.

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Rock Chalk.... Robert