Kenny Gregory led Kansas with 20 points.  All twelve of the Jayhawks who suited up scored and seven scored in double figures, including all three of KU's highly-touted freshmen.  Nick Collison was 6-of-7 from the field and scored 16 points. Kirk Hinrich hit two three-pointers and scored 10 points.  Drew Gooden scored 12 points, led the team with 12 rebounds and nearly completed a rare triple-double with eight assists.

The Jayhawks opened the game with an 8-0 run, but were unable to stretch that lead to double digits the rest of the half against a solid, experienced All-Stars team that had beaten Kansas State the night before and played UMass to three points and Syracuse to six points earlier in the week.

The Jayhawks led by only six at the half, 53-47.  They Jayhawks shot 53% from the field the first half but hit only one of their seven first-half three-point attempts.

The Jayhawks appeared to have knocked out the visitors early in the second half.  They had outscored the All-Stars 21-8 over the first four minutes of the first half and seemed to have them buried when Boschee hit a three-pointer with 16 minutes to play to put the Jayhawks up 74-55.  But the Jayhawks got sloppy on both ends of the court and the visitors made them pay, laying a 15-2 run on the home team, which cut the lead to only six points, 76-70, with 12:50 to play.

Then Bradford almost single-handedly put the game away.  Freshman Kirk Hinrich got things started, hitting a three-pointer.  A few seconds later, Bradford drained a three of his own.  On the ensuing inbounds pass, Bradford stole the ball and scored.  On the next possession Bradford stole the ball again before the visitors could cross mid-court and dished to London for two more.  On the All-Stars next attempt to get the ball in, London stole the ball, poking it from behind an All-Stars guard toward Bradford at mid-court.  Bradford dived out for it, stretching parallel to the floor at mid-court, and flipped it back to Marlon for another easy bucket.  KU was up by 20 points and the visitors never challenged again.

Analysis:
Any KU basketball fan who doesn't feel a little giddy after watching the Jayhawks take down a very solid California All-Stars squad 124-101 Saturday night is too much of a curmudgeon for me.  Granted, the All-Stars shredded KU's full-court press at times.  Granted the Jayhawks had 24 turnovers.  Sure, the team looked ragged at times.  But what do you expect, really, only three weeks after the start of practice?

What should have KU fans giggling is the incredible potential displayed by this very young team. Start with Drew Gooden who despite being a wet-behind-the ears freshman very nearly had a triple-double tonight with 12 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists.  And the eight assists were no fluke.  Drew has the passing instincts of a point guard when he gets the ball in the high post or in the middle on the break.  His assists came from unselfish passes on the interior which punished the defense for challenging him in the high lane.  They came from no-look passes to wide open players under the hoop.  They came from behind the back passes on the break.  Yes, he turned the ball over too often trying to make even more assists.  That's what freshman do.  Just a little time with Williams, though, and Drew is going to give KU an interior passing dimension in the paint that they haven't had in some time.

Oh yeah, the guy can rebound like crazy, and a soft touch around the hoop and runs the floor like a small forward.  He's going to drive defenses nuts.

KU fans have likened him to Manning.  To me he looks like a younger, slightly shorter Tim Duncan.  Physically they look something alike and Drew combines Duncan's power and finesse.  He has a long way to go, obviously, to get to Duncan's level, but he has the raw materials.

I'd pencil him in for the starting power forward spot but that would mean putting fellow freshman Nick Collison on the bench, and that would be hard to do.  Collison's line was just as good with 16 points on 6-of-7 shooting, five rebounds and four assists.  And most of those shots weren't two-foot gimmies.  They were 10- and 12-foot jumpers that will stretch defenses. Collison isn't as physically developed as Gooden, but he looks even less like a freshman.  Chalk that up to having a coach for a father and lots of international experience.  He rebounds well, runs the floor well and shoots from the baseline much the way Raef did.  In the middle of the second half he twice took the ball on the baseline 10 feet from the hoop, faked to the inside and then buried the turn-around shot from the baseline.  Shade the hair a bit darker, add an inch or two and 15 pounds and you would have sworn it was Raef.

Coach Williams avoided picking between Gooden and Collison for the starting spot by starting both and leaving Chenowith on the bench. The other starters were not particularly surprising--Bradford at small forward, Gregory at off-guard and Boschee at the point.  Word out of practices in Lawrence is that Gregory has been playing like a new man, and he showed that tonight scoring 20 points, taking only one shot from further than 12 feet.  He was a demon inside, getting his points off of offensive rebounds and filling the lane in transition.

I'm not sure what to read into that starting lineup.  Coach Williams said earlier in the week that he wouldn't pick a starting lineup until just before the game and that there wouldn't be much rhyme or reason to who he put out there. He put it like this: 'I might start the five guys who eat the most in the pregame meal or the five guys who eat the least. It really has no bearing. I might start the five guys who had the best first fifteen days of practice.' It was the latter approach that he apparently used. Williams said after the game that the starting lineup was based on a vote of all the coaches of who had had played the best over the last ten days of practice.

Williams started the second half with  a different lineup--Chenowith, Hinrich, Collison, Bradford and Gregory.

The thing is, that wouldn't be a bad starting lineup, either.  Hinrich was at least as impressive as the other two freshmen.  He finished with 10 points and four assists, which doesn't nearly tell the story.  When you recruit a skinny guard from Iowa you tend to buy into the stereotype and expect to get a hard-working kid who as a freshman struggles to keep pace with the faster more physical college players and who has to learn that the offensive and defensive moves that worked in high school go nowhere in college.  You don't expect to get a guy who already plays tenacious on-the-ball defense, deftly dribbles through traffic and runs the break like a vet. Hinrich may be one of the most under-rated players in last year's recruiting class. Sure, he's still got lots to learn--he got beat a few times on defense last night-- but he is going to contribute significantly right away in the back court. I don't think he's going to beat out Boschee, but the drop-off at the point when Kirk comes into the game isn't going to be very noticeable.  Heck, he hit two three pointers in three tries.

I don't mean to discount the rest of the team.  I guess I'm like a kid who can't help but play with the new toys.  Of the returning players, Gregory put up the biggest numbers, but Bradford was equally impressive.  Williams has praised his hard work and leadership in practice and it was evident tonight.  He was scrappy on defense and opportunistic on offense.  He was both a leader and a role player.  He didn't try to force the action, didn't take bad shots and was content to get his points out of the offense.  But when KU had gone flat after the All-Stars run it was Bradford who turned things around with tenacious defense.  He finished the game with a team-leading seven steals.  He also led the team in minutes played with 26.

Nick also buried a three-pointer from the top of the key.  The notable thing about that was that his form looked terrific.  There have been rumblings from the Fieldhouse that Nick's shooting from the outside is much improved.  One shot doesn't prove anything, but it sure looked different from Nick's "old" shot.  If defenses have to guard Nick from the perimeter KU is going to be that much harder to defend.

Boschee's numbers were relatively ordinary--seven points and six assists-- but I really liked the way he played.  His game looks to have matured.  He passed up a number of three-pointers he might have taken last year, took good care of the ball, and played very solid defense.  With as many scorers as KU has this season it will rarely be a bad thing when Jeff has more assists than points.  I expect he will score in bunches at times this year.  But unlike last year I suspect it will be a rare thing for him to simply pull up and shoot.  KU has too many scorers for that to be the best option.  But when teams start to sag in to control Eric, Nick and Drew, Jeff is going to be wide open for a lot of wide open threes.  For KU to take advantage of its depth and talent Jeff will need to look to pass first and shoot second.  He seemed very much in that mindset tonight.  His six assists against two turnovers had to have made Coach smile.

Chenowith was solid, with 16 points and 7 rebounds, and looked like the Chenowith we are familiar with from last season.  The good news for him is that he will have a ton of help this season.  With Gooden and Collison around he can get more rest when he needs it and will see fewer double teams.

London added 12 points and was the versatile utility infielder we remember from last season.  He logged some minutes at the point, played solid on-the-ball defense and overall was very steady.

Luke Axtell didn't play, as he is still nursing a broken bone in his hand.  When he joins the lineup KU's depth will be awesome.  A lineup of Axtell, London, Hinrich, Gooden and Lester Earl is pretty formidable, and that could be the Jayhawks second five off the bench.  No wonder Williams is interested in playing a full court press.  He's got 10 players good enough to start for about any other team in the conference.  He might as well exhaust them while they are on the court.

The bottom line is that this team is going to score in bunches, as it did tonight.  Luke, Gooden and Collison add a lot of scoring punch all by themselves.  And because teams will need to defend them, it will open a lot of cuts to the basket for players like Bradford and Gregory.  I suspect Williams will have some unfavorable reviews of the defensive play tonight.  Many too many times KU failed to get back on defense or missed assignments trying to press and was burned for easy buckets.  But, teams learn to play defense, the raw material is there, and Williams is a master at teaching it.  Once the defense comes together and the new guys learn to protect the ball a bit better, this team is going to be very, very good and will be a whale of a lot of fun to watch.

Hang onto your hats. The next five months are going to be fun.

Notes:
Kansas has won 11 straight preseason exhibition games including a 96-89 win over the California All-Stars last season. The Jayhawks' last exhibition loss was in 1983 to Australia.

Preseason Honors: Eric Chenowith was selected to the preseason All-Big 12 team by both the league's coaches and the media.

Both groups also named Nick Collison Big 12 Preseason Freshman of the Year and picked KU to win the league title. Texas was second in both polls followed by Oklahoma St., Oklahoma and Missouri.

Rankings:The Jayhawks start the season ranked No. 11 in the USA Today/ESPN Preseason poll. That seems about right. I expect KU to be a solid Top 10 team by the end of the season, but until Luke and the three freshmen are fully integrated it is unreasonable to expect the national pollsters to give the Jayhawks a higher ranking. KU’s No. 11 ranking in the ESPN poll is the team’s lowest preseason ranking in that poll since being ranked 12th in 1994-95. Last year the Jayhawks were ranked No. 8 and finished the year ranked No. 23.

Best in the ‘90s:KU finished with both the most wins and the highest winning percentage of any team in the 1990s.  During the decade the Jayhawks compiled a 286-60 record for a .827 winning percentage.  Kentucky was second in both categories with a 282-63 record and a .817 winning percentage.

Assistant Coaches:The new face on the bench next to Coach Williams is Ben Miller who was promoted last spring to the non-recruiting assistant coach position formerly held by  Joe Holladay. Holladay became a full assistant after Matt Doherty took the head coaching position at Notre Dame. Miller is no stranger to the KU staff. He worked the last four years in a variety of roles in the basketball office including video coordinator and equipment manager. 

Here is how the assistant coaches have changed over the years during the Williams’ era.

Original staff: Jerry Green, Kevin Stallings, Steve Robinson, Mark Turgeon.

After the 1992 season, Green and Turgeon left for Oregon. Matt Doherty replaced Green, but Turgeon was not replaced since a change in NCAA rules limited the number of assistants to 3 in '93. I believe that Doherty was the 'restricted' (or no road recruiting) coach as Green had been before him. 

After the 1993 season, Stallings left for Illinois St. and was replaced by Joe Holladay. Doherty became a full assistant with Holladay as the restricted assistant

After the 1995 season, Robinson left for Tulsa and was replaced by Neil Daugherty. After the 1999 season, Doherty left for Notre Dame and has been replaced by Ben Miller.