Kansas shapes up as deep and dangerous

BasX · Apr 14, 2009

Just a little more than a year after cutting down the nets and then watching six of his top seven players leave, Bill Self and the Kansas Jayhawks are back on top.

After Sherron Collins and Cole Aldrich made it public that they will both return to school next year at Monday night's team banquet, Kansas just became the clear-cut favorite to win the national title.

"It's unbelievable," Self told FOXSports.com late Monday night after hearing the news.

Everyone lost something.

Except for the Jayhawks.

North Carolina lost Tyler Hansbrough, Danny Green and almost certainly Ty Lawson and Wayne Ellington. Goran Suton and Travis Walton graduated from Michigan State. Villanova lost three starters and UConn will be without A.J. Price, Jeff Adrien and, barring a near-miracle, junior big man Hasheem Thabeet.

Self brings back everyone from a team that won 27 games and nearly knocked off Michigan State in the Sweet 16 last month.

Collins is arguably the top returning point guard in the country.

Aldrich will come back as one of the elite big men in the nation.

"Neither of them even wanted me to get info on where they stood in terms of the NBA Draft," Self said. "They both told me they knew they were coming back regardless."

Both, according to multiple NBA executives, could have been first-round picks in June.

Starters Tyshawn Taylor, Brady Morningstar and Marcus Morris all return. So, too, do reserves Tyrel Reed, Mario Little, Markieff Morris and Travis Releford.

That's the top nine scorers if you are counting.

In fact, the two most significant losses — Quintrell Thomas and Tyrone Appleton — combined to average 2.3 points per game. They both left due to a lack of playing time.

It wouldn't have gotten any better, either.

Kansas has brought in one of the nation's top recruiting classes.

Thomas Robinson is a relentless, athletic 6-foot-8 power forward from Washington, D.C., who averaged 16 points and 13 rebounds this past season at Brewster Academy — one of the elite prep schools in the country.

Robinson is ranked 20th in the country, according to Scout.com, five spots in front of his future teammate, Las Vegas combo guard Elijah Johnson — a Mario Chalmers-type.

Then toss in a near-McDonald's All-American from a year ago in talented 6-foot-11 Jeff Withey, who opted to leave Arizona before he ever played a game in a Wildcats uniform due to Lute Olson's abrupt retirement shortly before the season began.

Self may add another big-time player because of a coaching move: either Xavier Henry or Lance Stephenson — two guys ranked in the top 10 in the country by every recruiting service.

"If we're able to get one more recruit ...," Self said.

Henry, one the most talented players in the entire incoming freshman class (he's ranked No. 3 by Rivals.com and No. 4 by Scout.com), has opted to re-open his recruitment after John Calipari left Memphis for Kentucky. Stephenson is ranked No. 7 in the nation by Scout.com and is debating between KU and St. John's.

Henry chose Memphis in the early signing period, but had a clause that allowed him to be let out of his letter-of-intent in the event Calipari wasn't coaching the Tigers.

Now Henry will choose between Kentucky, Kansas and Memphis (a distant third, according to numerous sources). According to one source, it's a coin flip between Kentucky and Kansas and the key may be Henry's older brother, C.J., who also plays minor league baseball and sat out this past season at Memphis due to injury.

If Henry does fall back into the lap of Self (both of Henry's parents graduated from KU) or the Jayhawks end up with Stephenson, you are looking at the clear-cut favorite to cut down the nets again — this time at Indianapolis' Lucas Oil Stadium on April 5.

Just as North Carolina was the runaway preseason pick to win it all, Kansas could be in a similar position.

What do you want to start with in building a championship team?

A point guard and a big man.

Check, check.

The 5-foot-11 Collins, who will be a senior next season, led the team in scoring (18.9) and assists (5.0) and found a way to balance making his teammates better and also getting his when necessary.

Aldrich, who barely played as a freshman two years ago when Kansas won the national title, averaged a double-double with 14.9 points and 11.1 rebounds and became one of the most dominant big men in the nation.

Two years after Florida's team was ravaged by NBA defections following consecutive national titles, Billy Donovan is still trying to get the Gators back to the Big Dance.

Remarkably, Self and the Jayhawks are the front-runners to dance in Indy next season.
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http://msn.foxsports.com/cbk/story/9454852/Kansas-shapes-up-as-deep-and-dangerous

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Kansas shapes up as deep and dangerous

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