It was the 1700th win for the Jayhawk program. North Carolina and Kentucky are the only other programs to reach that lofty plateau.

The Jayhawks trailed by four points at the half and by eight points only a few seconds into the second half, but outscored the Buffs by 30 points over the next 17 minutes. The Jayhawks led by 22 points, 82-60, their biggest lead of the the game, with 2:30 to play, and the Rock Chalk Chant was wafting through the rafters of the Coors Events Center as the approximately 3000 KU fans in attendance serenaded the 8000 or so Buff fans who, at that point, were streaming to the exists.

Not a bad way at all for this young Jayhawk team to start the conference season.

Unlike years past, when CU was the doormat of the old Big 8, Colorado is a good basketball team, making this opening road win an important accomplishment and one that KU's rivals will have a difficult time duplicating. The odds-makers had the Jayhawks as an underdog in this game. CU was undefeated at home this season, had beaten a good Gonzaga team on a neutral court, had beaten Cal and had beaten Villanova in their own gym. Colorado was second in the conference behind the Jayhawks in offensive rebounding and plays a very physical brand of basketball. Beyond that, the Buffs were very focused on beating the Jayhawks. KU owned a 20-game win streak against Colorado heading into the contest, and Colorado was eager to start the conference season by ending that string and sending a message to the rest of the league. Coming out of the game with a solid win, consequently, was a meaningful accomplishment for the Jayhawks.

For most of the game it looked like the Buffs had a very good shot at snapping the Jayhawks' win streak. The Jayhawks were out-muscled and out-hustled in the first half and were playing a very poor game overall. In the first half the Jayhawks committed a whopping 17 fouls, gave up numerous offensive rebounds to the Buffs, attempted 12 three-pointers (making only one) and had only four assists as a team. When KU attempts 12 three pointers in a half and has only four assists you can bet that Coach Roy Williams will be unhappy with the team and that they haven't been able to get the offense flowing.

The Jayhawks were lucky to be down by only four at the break. As poorly as the the offense performed, the Jayhawks were able to hold CU to only 29% shooting in the first half, two percentage points below the 31% managed by the Jayhawks, which kept the home team from building a big lead. Still, when CU came out at the start of the second half and immediately opened up an eight-point lead, it looked grim for the Jayhawks.

Then the Jayhawks found themselves and simply took over the game. Two important things led to the turn-around. The first was that Jeff Boschee started contributing to the offense. In the first half he had been held scoreless and played only 8 minutes after picking up two early fouls. Boschee started strongly in the second half, though, and jump-started the Jayhawk comeback. He hit his first three-pointer at 17:25, cutting what had been an eight-point CU lead moments before down to one point. Two minutes later he drained another, giving KU their first lead of the second half, 47-45. The Jayhawks never trailed again. Boschee's two three-pointers contributed to an 18-4 Jayhawk run that saw the Jayhawks go from eight down to a six-point, 53-47 lead at the 13-minute mark. Boschee scored 13 points in the second half, tying him for high-point honors with Kenny Gregory.

That run didn't end the game. The Buffs were within two points, 59-57, at the ten-minute mark. But it set the stage for the bigger run to come, which turned that two-point lead into a 22-point lead, 82-60, with 2:30 to play.

The second factor fueling the Jayhawks second-half resurgence was vastly improved rebounding. The Buffs had out-rebounded the Jayhawks 28-27 in the first half, and it seemed as though half of those rebounds were offensive rebounds that more often than not were turned into Colorado scores. In the second half the Jayhawks out-rebounded the Buffs 26-19. The net effect, obviously, was to cut down on Colorado's second-chance points. But beyond that the increased rebounding was a symptom of much more aggressive play. The Jayhawks were not only getting more rebounds, the ones they were getting they were grabbing more cleanly and much more decisively. That allowed the Jayhawks to make much quicker outlet passes, to push the ball in transition, to get behind the CU defense and to get easy points.

In the second half the Jayhawks shot 59% after hitting only 31% in the first. To my eye the increased shooting efficiency was a direct result of the better rebounding which allowed the Jayhawks to get into their running game.

Five Jayhawks scored in double figures. In addition to Boschee and Gregory with 13 each, Bradford and Chenowith each scored 11 and Gooden scored 10. Gooden again led the team in rebounds with 9. Bradford blocked 5 shots, had 6 rebounds and 3 assists in a team-leading 30 minutes. Although the Buffs shot 34 free throws to the Jayhawks 18, the Jayhawks were effective at the stripe, hitting 14.

Thoughts:
This was a great win for the Jayhawks. The first half was pretty dismal, really, and the Jayhawks seemed unable to go a Colorado possession without either fouling or giving up an offensive rebound or both. When CU opened up a quick eight-point lead at the start of the second half, it looked like the Jayhawks might find themselves in a big hole quickly. On the road against a quality team that could easily garner an NCAA tournament spot it takes some character to stop such a down-hill slide in a hostile gym, especially against a team that really, really, really wants to beat you. But that is what the Jayhawks did, turning the game into a laugher in the closing minutes.

This was the first time this season that the Jayhawks have won after trailing at the half and it was the first time that the Jayhawks have faced a stiff test in an opponent's home gym. This is the kind of win that builds confidence and character and which a team can draw upon the next time they find themselves in a tight contest in a hostile environment. And the Jayhawks are certainly likely to find themselves in such a situation as the conference season continues. Oklahoma, Oklahoma St. and Texas are all ranked in the Top 25, and KU has to play OSU and UT on the road this year.

Beyond that, getting a win at Colorado puts the Jayhawks a leg up on everyone else in the league that has to play them in Boulder. With a tough conference race in store for the Jayhawks, that is no small thing. Although this win is only one step and only the first step toward the conference championship, it was a very important one.

Resurgent London: Bob and Max named Marlon London KU's Player-of-the-Game, and although five Jayhawks out-scored him it's hard to argue with their decision. In 18 minutes, Marlon scored 6 points, grabbed 7 rebounds, 5 of which were offensive rebounds, dished 4 assists, didn't commit a turnover and picked 2 steals. Not only is that a great line, but it marks a continuation of London's post-Christmas resurgence. London was a key reserve for the Jayhawks last season, especially in the second half of the season, but had struggled the first half of this season. He seemed tentative and unsure of his role on this deep team. Since coming back from the break, though, he again looks like the steady wing player that some thought had a chance at a starting spot this season. If he can keep his play close to the level he's shown the last several games, there will be very little drop-off when he comes in for Gregory.

Hinrich: Kirk Hinrich also continued his post-Christmas rejuvenation. He scored 8 points in 16 minutes and was much more patient with the ball. He has gone through a period in which he was pressing too hard trying to make things happen, and his turnovers had gone way up. He had only one tonight and was a steady back-up for Boschee, especially in the first half when Boschee was hampered by fouls.

Downtown Nick: Nick Collison nailed a three-pointer for the second straight game. He's now two-of-three on the season. It remains to be seen whether he will be allowed to continue to take that shot from the top of the key, but I like seeing him take it. He's got the range to hit that shot regularly, and it will drive defenses nuts. Especially when Gooden is in the game, the threat that he will take that shot will open up some easy drop down passes to other post players..

In the Zone: The Jayhawks played quite a bit of zone defense in the second half. Coach Williams said in his post-game comments that he went to the zone because of KU's foul troubles and that he hoped not to have to use it that much. I like seeing the zone, though, as a change-up to the man-to-man. It was very effective in both this game and the St. Louis game at disrupting the opponent's rhythm. It's a weapon that the Jayhawks should keep at the ready.

Notes:
The Jayhawks have yet to play a game where the final margin was less than 10 points.

The Jayhawks have won nine straight conference openers with their last loss coming at Oklahoma on Jan. 8, 1991.

The Jayhawks have won 11 out of 12 league openers under Roy Williams.

Heading into this game the Jayhawks were shooting a solid 49.7 percent from the floor and holding opponents to just 40.2 percent. KU's rebound margin (+13.1) is the largest in the Big 12.

The Jayhawks have won the last 21 games against Colorado. Colorado's last win over Kansas came on Feb. 20, 1991 when the Buffaloes beat the eighth-ranked Jayhawks, 79-71.

Colorado coach Ricardo Patton is 0-10 all-time versus the Jayhawks.

Among all Big 12 freshmen, Gooden ranks second in scoring and second in rebounding. He is making a good case for Freshman-of-the-Year despite not being a starter.

The Jayhawks are ranked 9th in the polls, but are No. 7 this week in the RPI Report and No. 13 in Jeff Sagarin's Power Ratings.

The Jayhawk bench has outscored the opponent's bench in all 14 games this season by an average (after 13 games) of 32.9 to 17.8.

The Jayhawk bench scored 48 points Tuesday night against Penn, outscoring the Quaker starters, 48-43.

Future Game Summaries: For the rest of the season, weekday game summaries are likely to get posted the evening of the day following games. I start student-teaching this week, and out of 200-plus schools in Wichita I was assigned to the one that is being innovative by starting the day at 7:05 in the morning....and the school is 25 minutes a way. As a lawyer I could stay up at night after a game, get a summary done and still make it to the office by 8:30 or 9:00, but this 7:00 a.m. business is going to tax this non-morning person even when there isn't a game summary. I appreciate your patience.