4B
KU 90 - UT 86
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Anna Faltermeler/KANSAN
Guard Mario Chalmers goes up for a basket in the second half of the game against Saturday Chalmers led the Jayhawks in scoring, finishing with 21 point and five assists.
Six Jayhawks pick up honors from conference coaches
Six Jayhawks received postseason awards from the Big 12 Conference coaches on Sunday.
Leading the way was sophomore guard Mario Chalermers; who was named Co-Defensive Player of the Year along with Oklahoma State's Marcus Dove.
Making the All-Big 12 first team were sophomore guard Brandon Rush and sophomore forward Julian Wright. Due to voting ties, six players made the first team this year.
Coach Bill Self said in a statement that he was pleased that the Big 12 recognized several players from the team.
"This just shows we have a team full of good players," he said.
Chalmer was also named to the All-Big 12 third team, and freshmen Darrell Arthur and Sherron Collins received honorable mention. Rounding out the awards, junior guard Russell Robinson was named to the all-defensive team along with Chalmer, and Arthur and Collins both made the all-rookie队.
As expected, Texas forward Kevin Durant swept the big awards, including Big 12 Player of the Year Durant and Texas A&M guard Ace Law were the two players unanimously selected to the All-Big 12 first team.
Conference hopes high for Atlanta
If you believe the so-called college basketball experts, then the Big 12 Conference is experiencing a down year. But in reality, it's exactly the opposite.
Michael Phillips
The Big 12 is the only conference in the country where any of its top three teams could make their way to Atlanta for the Final Four. Kansas, Texas and Texas A&M are all capable of continuing their hot runs in the NCAA tournament. No other conference can top that.
The Big Ten has two teams capable, but that's still one short of the Big 12. The Pacific-10, Atlantic Coast, Big East and Southeastern Conferences all only have one team able to make it to Atlanta.
The reasons that Kansas can make it to the Final Four are well-documented. The depth, defense and talent of the lahayhs make them one of the nation's best teams.
Texas A&M, of course, defeated Kansas at Allen Fieldhouse last month and split the regular season series with rival Texas. Guard Acie Law leads the Aggies, who boast one of the country's top defenses.
Texas is led by the nation's best player, freshman forward Kevin Durant. He proved in the first half Saturday that he's capable of single-handedly beating the opponent. Looking at the way Durant played before his second half ankle injury, it's hard to see how the Longhorns lost eight games this season.
Kansas, Texas, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State have all sent teams to the Final Four in the 11-year history of the league. It's not hard to imagine the league's top three teams this season knocking off at least a couple of those teams.
The middle- and lower-tier teams in the Big 12 have been better in years past, but theyre not the reason
the Big 12 is the best conference in the country. The way to measure the strength of a conference is based on how its top teams perform in the NCAA tournament.
It shouldn't be a stretch to pencil Texas, Texas A&M and Kansas in at least the Sweet Sixteen based on the way all three have played in the past few weeks. Again, outside of the Big Ten, it's hard to imagine any other conference having more than two teams advance that far in the tournament.
Even the Big 12's "bubble teams" Texas Tech and Kansas State, are capable of putting together a run in the tournament. I don't expect either team to make it past the second round, but with Bob Knight and Bob Huggins, either team is capable of an upset. But the Big 12 doesn't need either of those teams to make it to solidify its spot as the nation's top conference, Kansas, Texas and Texas A&M have done that in the last few weeks.
The Big 12 won't have the most tournament bids, or even multiple No.1 seeds, but its top three teams are a better trio than any other conference can put together.
Schneider is a Lawrence senior in Journalism. He is Kansan sports editor.
Edited by Stacey Couch
Michael Phillips/KANSAN
it's not hard to notice that Texas was on fire from behind the three-point line in the first half, but it's also interesting to note that each of those clumps represents a different player's spot. The lowest one was Kevin Durant, the top one is AJ. Abrams and most of the dots at the top of the arc belong to D.J. Augustin. For the Jayhawks their success this year has often been a result of getting the ball inside the paint, and Saturday was no different. In the first half, Kansas scored just 12 points in the paint. The team increased that number to 22 in the second半场.
Sarah Leonard/KANSAN
Julian Wright, sophomore
forward, powers through the
lane against Texas forward Kevin
Durant. Wright finished with a
double-double, scoring 17 points
and bringing down 13 rebounds.
Sarah Leonard/KANSAN
Sherron Collins, freshman guard, drives to the basket through Texas defense. The Jayhawks hit the road for Oklahoma City this week for an 11:30 a.m. game on Friday. They will play the winner of Thursday night's game between Iowa State and Oklahoma.