Kansas Basketball: Jayhawks fall off the wagon

Kansas Basketball is in unfamiliar territory. The Jayhawks now find themselves a game back of the conference lead with a flurry of tough games remaining.

It’s almost unthinkable. The Jayhawks look bad. That in itself may be an understatement. Kansas Basketball looks lost, they look tired, and quite frankly look like they don’t belong anywhere near the top 10 teams in the country.

The season isn’t lost by no means, but the ingredients are there to see Kansas fall faster than a cinder block off the Empire State building. The Jayhawks needed to win the games they were supposed to. That has been their game. Win the games you are supposed to. Steal some that you shouldn’t.

This season has been the complete opposite. If the Jayhawks have the potential most of us think they have, each loss this season is uncalled for. The one true game they should have lost the Jayhawks actually won in Morgantown against West Virginia.

The loss to Baylor on Saturday afternoon didn’t hurt as bad as it could have. West Virginia and Oklahoma both came up with losses. The Wildcats found a way to hurt Kansas by not showing up against Texas Tech, playing one of the worst halves of the season. So the Red Raiders have sole possession of first place in the conference.

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This Kansas team is tired and it’s obvious. Bill Self is silently scrambling to save the season with different lineups but so far, no luck. Against Baylor Marcus Garrett got the start over Malik Newman but Newman played 12 more minutes than Garrett did with 32. Lagerald Vick had 32 minutes off the bench as well. Udoka Azubuike scored 8 points in 19 minutes, sitting with foul trouble the majority of the game. Svi Mykhailiuk scored 2 points.

The road ahead

It doesn’t get any easier. Back to back games against the bottom of the conference should have been a spot where Self could have spared some minutes with his main talent. Doesn’t appear to be the case. Up next is the low team of the conference, Iowa State, in Ames, Iowa. The Cyclones are always a tough place to play for Kansas.

After the game against the Cyclones Kansas welcomes West Virginia and Oklahoma to Lawrence. These two games should be winnable games any other season, this season the Jayhawks may find themselves as underdogs at home.

If, and it’s a mighty big one, the Jayhawks get past those three games, it sets up the premier conference game of the season. The Jayhawks will travel to Lubbock, Texas to face the current leader in the conference race. Texas Tech has a tough schedule ahead, but the quality of basketball they are playing is head over heels better than that of Kansas.

Senior night against Texas should be a win, and then the Jayhawks close with Oklahoma State in Stillwater, another team that came to Lawrence and won on the Jayhawks home court.

In a rut

If Svi can get out of his slump and Vick can find his early season mojo these Jayhawks should be fine going down the stretch. Kansas shouldn’t win games in all honesty if Svi is scoring below ten anyway.

Udoka must find a way to get out of foul trouble. Mitch Lightfoot needs help from his teammates, but if he gets that help, he can contribute more than just trying to take a charge each trip defensively.

Fans should petition Self to put Vick and Newman back in the starting lineup, they give Kansas the best chance to win. Sam Cunliffe should also see some playing time pop up, especially when Devonte’ Graham hasn’t rode the pine in almost two months.

Next: Best seasons ever for Kansas Basketball

Kansas isn’t out of this by no means, but the writing is becoming more clear up on that wall.

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