Bill Self calls it Kansas math. It's the math that takes the 2009-10 Jayhawks, subtracts the school's winningest player and two lottery picks, then expects more from the 2010-11 team.
With the way the football team has played the past two years, hoops is our hope. "Wait 'til basketball season" is a common refrain. It's our sport. Our source of bragging rights. And if Kansas State takes that away this year and steals the rightful king's crown, it'd be a crippling blow to our sports ego.
Even in preseason, it is painful that our in-state rivals have been picked among college basketball's best. There's little respect for the Wildcats in Lawrence. Bramlage Coliseum is called Allen Fieldhouse West. Since 1994, the Sunflower Showdown hasn't been so much a rivalry as it has been a little brother trying to pick fights with a stronger big brother to prove his worth -- and failing.
I remember when the visiting Jayhawks lost to Michael Beasley's Wildcats a few years back. KSU fans across the state celebrated (the two-disc DVD set was probably a little over the top, though), and Beasley said they'd beat KU in Manhattan, in Lawrence, in Africa. The place didn't matter. A few weeks later in Lawrence, an 88-74 whooping by the Jayhawks set the world back on its proper axis.
Even in preseason, it is painful that our in-state rivals have been picked among college basketball's best. There's little respect for the Wildcats in Lawrence. Bramlage Coliseum is called Allen Fieldhouse West. Since 1994, the Sunflower Showdown hasn't been so much a rivalry as it has been a little brother trying to pick fights with a stronger big brother to prove his worth -- and failing.
I remember when the visiting Jayhawks lost to Michael Beasley's Wildcats a few years back. KSU fans across the state celebrated (the two-disc DVD set was probably a little over the top, though), and Beasley said they'd beat KU in Manhattan, in Lawrence, in Africa. The place didn't matter. A few weeks later in Lawrence, an 88-74 whooping by the Jayhawks set the world back on its proper axis.
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