The Fieldhouse: Correction

So I assume everyone has a friend that loves to prove everyone else wrong, I have one of those friends. Anyway, he read my blog today and informed me that ESPN did an "Insider" article on the best college basketball arenas in the country. He was polite enough to give the article and it shows that Allen Fieldhouse is actually the best college basketball in the entire country! It is said "1. Allen Fieldhouse Kansas
Jayhawks' record at Allen 633-106 (.857)
Capacity: 16,300 | Student Seating: 4,000 (24.5%)
Student Alias: Phog Phanatics

Surprised to see Allen Fieldhouse at No. 1? You shouldn't be. Not only is it home to the longest current winning streak in college basketball (59 games), but Bill Self is 113-6 at the Phog in his seven seasons as coach.

Simply put, it is the perfect combo of dimension, students-to-court proximity and low-absorption materials. But if you want the down-low on KU's acoustics? Here are three factors that turn the Phog into a sonic storm:

The Seats
They have no padded backs to absorb the crowd clamor. The Phog is filled with aluminum bleachers that are made for stomping -- not to mention reflecting the eerie strains of "Rock Chalk Jayhawk" after yet another home W.

The Students
Yes, a committed student section is key. But the most thunderous undergrads won't do much good if they're stuck in the rafters while boosters schmooze politely courtside. Not only does Kansas welcome a high percentage of campus kids, it keeps them close to the action, too.

The Ceiling
Unlike more modern domes, the Fieldhouse roof is fairly flat and hangs relatively close to the floor. Plus, there are no sound panels attached to the ceiling. So sonic booms bounce around rather than get swallowed up" (Ian Gordon ESPN The Magazine).

Here is the full article if you have an Insider account with ESPN.

Thanks Goldfine, for once I am glad you proved me wrong!

The Fieldhouse

So I graduated from the University of Kansas and made my way to something like 50+ basketball games in my four and a half years at KU and one thing that gets me truly excited about KU is how non-KU people talk about Allen Fieldhouse. I read this article today, which is just a preview of the game tonight, and got goosebumps when they spoke about Allen and when they spoke about the possibility of a 63-game home win streak! So as any Jayhawk fan would do, I decided to share one of the most amazing articles I have ever read regarding Phog Allen Fieldhouse. It was featured on csbsports.com while their college basketball analysts did a cool "arena vs. arena" series of articles. What was a little weird is that Allen Fieldhouse was put up against Gallagher-Iba Arena (OSU Cowboys Arena). This is the article and I hope the chills are running through your body once you read this! I would also like to inform you that Allen Filedhouse was actually second in voting for this entire series of articles and was second to Cameron Indoor. I hope you all enjoy these articles because on a boring day like today, especially when I am awaiting my flight to Austin, nothing creates excitement like Phog Allen Fieldhouse! "Pay Heed, All Who Enter, Beware of the Phog!" Eerie!

Selbymania Begins!

Yes as I am sure you all have heard, Josh Selby will be eligible to play December 18, 2010. I really hope you are all as excited as I am about this! This means a couple of things that I have theories about. Take them for what they are; theories. The first is that yes Selby will dominate at the point guard position and yes that will move us from a 23-27 game winning team to the 27+ range which is great! I also believe that this means Selby, unless he has a spectacular March and April, will be sticking around for another year! Let's be honest, he is missing some high profile match-ups that can determine what kind of player he can be in the NBA. He will be missing Memphis, UCLA and Arizona. His first game back will be USC and even then he won't get much p/t because he is not ready for the high levels quite yet. He will need to have a phenomenal tourney to even turn the heads of scouts and project him in next year's draft. He will also be battling with Tyshawn Taylor for the "go-to" assist man and that's tough since Tyshawn has been averaging seven assists a game! This team, come December 18, is going to be a lot more fun to watch as if they weren't already. I am so excited, I feel like Derek Zoolander on opening day of the Center for Kids Who Can't Read Good! Yes I had a Zoolander reference! Here is Se;by's youtube video once again to get you more excited!

Well, well, well...

So after the two games that started off the season, I don't know what to think! Marcus and Markieff Morris are awesome!! They remind me of the infamous twins Kenny and Antoine Taylor (The Sixth Man reference)! Where if one brother is having an awesome game, the other brother has a good game as well. They are the best complimentary players to ever step foot on Naismith Court!

Tyshawn Taylor, you looked incredible the first game! I cannot remember, in my 20 years of being a KU Basketball fan, that we had a 10 assist game from the point guard position. However, you didn't look so hot last night but I will take an 8 point 5 assist day from you every game.

Even though Mario Little is an interesting looking guy, looks like a Gremlin, I still think you are an amazing player. He looked good last night and very poised. Shooting with confidence and making 4 of 5 from the field and the lone miss was an air balled three pointer but no one will remember that ;).

Brady Morningstar, you suck!!!

Thomas Robinson, since you can kick my butt easily, you played alright. Good hustle! I'm just kidding. Looking good man. One thing to work on is those Dean Garret hands otherwise you looked good!

Travis Releford, way to finally get noticed. More p/t in your future.

Tyrel Reed, you tried to hard to be the next Riddick last night. You don't need to pop threes just to get points. You have the ability to drive to the basket. Just because your sister is smoking hot, and yes even the commentators last night mentioned her, doesn't mean you can be weak in the paint!

Jeff Withey, damn you are tall and lazy! How does one man get three fouls in six minutes of playing? Answer me that! You remind me of another black hole, Michael Olowakandi, never moved his feet and if you passed him the ball you would never see it again, just like an object into a black hole.

All in all, I believe there are some improvements to be made however we are looking quite good. Last night, against a team that scored 111 points in their first game, Jayhawks managed to keep them to 44 for the entire game. One thing is for sure, we have some great depth and the ability to score seems like it will always be there. Turnovers seem to be a problem but we made up for it on defense on the other end which is a huge positive. Good win fellas!

Rock Chalk Jayhawks! Go KU!

Jayhawk Nation

For those of you who are actually following this blog, the Nation is the real deal.
This is a picture of a woman in India!

Sensational Selby

So here is the deal. I was going to write about Marcus Morris but I decided that after watching this video Josh Selby is the man to talk about today.

This player is amazing. "Adding Selby to the mix, though, would allow Kansas to take its up-tempo style to a new level. Self has already said that Selby is the top prospect he’s ever signed, which is a significant comment from a man who recruited Deron Williams, Dee Brown, Luther Head, Brandon Rush, Mario Chalmers and Darrell Arthur, Xavier Henry, Sherron Collins and Cole Aldrich." (Yahoo! Sports November 3, 2010 http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/news;_ylt=Alc_YFoUjfYhQYLe8LzHz4nevbYF?slug=jn-selbykanter110410)

Josh Selby may be the best player he has ever recruited, but does that mean he is another one and done player? Maybe! Does the Jayhawk Nation care if he is a one and done? Hell no!! If you think about past one and done players (i.e. Derrick Rose, and the entire 2009-10 Kentucky team) you see that one and done players can make a good team a spectacular team. Yes I know they didn't win in the end but man they could have if Calipari wasn't cursed by God for being the all time jack-ass of college basketball. I could go on about him, but today it Selby's day.

With the addition of Selby to our team would create some great match up problems as well as establishing a better perimeter shooting game plan. KU teams have been great, recently, on the inside out game plan. Our big men do not score and we do not have a problem with that. It is more fun to watch a guard drive to the whole then a player who resembles boring, stupid Kevin Mchale. If you haven't seen Selby's highlight reels I strongly recommend it. I would agree with Self in that Selby is the best player he has ever recruited.

Selby's amateur status is obviously on everyone's mind right now and the NCAA's probe into this is getting outrageous. Everyone is scared s**tless about whether he is going to play or not. This could be the best thing for the Jayhawk's program. Put it into prospective here. If Selby doesn't see the light of day on the court, he will either think about going pro or staying another year. Now as of right now, the NBA is on the verge of a lock out for the 2011-12 season and if you think Selby is going to go pro just to be placed on the picketlines and not get paid, you are sorely mistaken. The NCAA will see that Selby is still an amateur athlete and their probe may go so deep as to find that Jenna Jameson may still be an amateur as well. Who cares? In the end Selby has one year here now to learn Self's system and if he stays he will be better off and so will the team, if he leaves, he is just as dumb as J.R. Giddens thinking himself was a lottery pick!

Goldfine, I am sorry but the Marcus Morris versus Paul Pierce post will have to be next week. I was too intrigued by the Selby highlight videos to pass it up! Rock Chalk Jayhawks! Win #3 this Saturday? Doubtful.

What will the Jayhawks do?

Yesterday was the first pre-season game for the Kansas Jayhawks and everyone who watched or has read about the game is truly excited about our boy, Marcus Morris. I am also really excited to watch him play, especially since he has been compared to the world-renown player, Paul Pierce (article http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2010/may/17/marcus-similar-pierce/?print). I am not going to sit here and talk about his difference and similarities between them because that's like comparing Quinton's Bar and Grill to Burrito King, totally different!

So KU vs. Washburn. Let's be honest here, Washburn should not have shot 57% from the field in the second half! Washburn should not have held our Jayhawks to 21% three point shooting. Now I get it, it is the first game they have all played together with new role players. There are some holes that need to be filled and there are some parts of the game that have been greatly improved upon (i.e. free throws). Nonetheless this game does not show the true potential that the Jayhawks can achieve this year. It seems to be another "killer instinct" problem that the team last year had. Marcus Morris played awesome but he played against a terrible team and giving him accolades for it is ridiculous. He should beat up on smaller teams! Tyrel Reed, the next Hinrich as I like to call him, did not play up to his potential making 2 of 8 shots. Tyshawn got a good number of points, 12, but his assist number should be higher! Without Selby he needs to be our go to play maker which means he shoots and dishes the ball, not take shots and when feels like it toss the ball to Marcus.

In truth, I firmly believe that this team is nothing compared to last year's bust but they can definitely run with the big boys this year. This team is like the Minnesota Vikings, great team on paper but when it comes to game time they just don's achieve their potential greatness. We will need to see later on down the road. Next game is exhibition on November 9 and you can expect me to be hearing, watching or reading about it. There will be another post by me mid-week on a great topic of conversation given to me by a genius of sports, A Goldfine.