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College Basketball NewsFlash

By Adam Stanco

basketballwriter@cs.com

February 23rd

College Basketball NewsFlash

Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, CHN bringsyou the latest news and commentary from the world of college basketball.  Each NewsFlash will feature three important news stories, and sharp commentary on the relevancy of the story.  Check out old articles in the NewsFlash Archive.

The Story: Early Top 5?

An NBA scout for a Western Conference team passed along word that their Top Five collegiate player list currently falls in this order:

1) Andrew Bogut (Utah)

2) Marvin Williams (UNC)

3) Hakim Warrick (Syracuse)

4) Chris Paul (Wake Forest)

5) Rudy Gay (UConn)

My Take:

With the NBA Draft just four months away, the season’s stretch run and NCAA Tournament acts as pre-Draft camps for some of the nation’s top collegians. For the first time in a few years, an unimpressive high school class could finally unlock the college talent vault. All five of the aforementioned prospects will push to improve their Draft stock in March, for all of their teams will make the tourney. Despite the group’s obvious talents, they are collectively unable to claim experience as a strength. All of them – except for Syracuse’s Warrick, a senior – are freshmen or sophomores.

The Story: Kansas Drops Three Straight

After starting the season 20-1, the Jayhawks have dropped three straight games since February 14^th. A Kansas home defeat to Iowa State was sandwiched between two losses on the courts of Texas Tech and Oklahoma.

My Take: Apparently not everyone loves Valentine’s Day. While some men are still attempting to figure out how they sent their wives the flowers intended for their mistresses, the Jayhawks appear just as confused. Kansas was cruising to a certain number one seed in the NCAA Tournament and surfacing in talks of teams with an excellent shot to go to the Final Four. Now, even if they were to win out and snatch a Big XII Tournament title, earning a top seed is unlikely.

The three losses came from teams who will probably be dancing in March, yet this is not the time for Kansas to justify the setback. Bill Self should instead figure out a way to get some consistent scoring from anyone other than stars Wayne Simien and Keith Langford. During the losing streak, Aaron Miles and J.R. Giddens are shooting under 33% (18-of-57) combined from the field.

The Story: How ‘Bout Bobby Knight?

Twenty years ago Wednesday, Knight was bouncing a chair across the Assembly Hall floor in Bloomington, Indiana as part of a Purdue-IU bloodbath. On Tuesday, the coach’s nationally ranked Texas Tech squad knocked off Texas 69-65.

My Take: Two decades after his infamous show of chair-ity, Knight found himself spearheading another rivalry game, leading his Top 25 program over their more publicized Big XII counterpart. Interestingly, while Knight was winning with the Red Raiders, his opposing coach from the seat-soaring game – Purdue coach Gene Keady – was directing his finale in Bloomington. The Boilermakers lost to Indiana 79-62 on Tuesday, Keady’s last game at the former home of his hated rival.