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Sometimes you want to make a quick pit stop, empty the bladder, grab a bag of salty snacks and limber up the limbs before hitting the open road again. For the fast-minded who enjoy simple $2 scratchers hoping to uncover the jackpot-winning image, here are quick thoughts and the lean on Kansas vs. Houston.
Kansas (19-10, 10-8) at No. 4 Houston (25-4, 17-1)
Date: Monday, March 3
Time: 9 p.m. ET
TV: ESPN
Kansas last fell out of the Associated Press rankings 1,477 days before last week's slide out of the Top 25. Back then, this follicle-challenged individual had long-flowing locks and a chiseled physique that rivaled Brad Pitt's in “Fight Club.” If only …
Regardless, it’s been a minute. A long one.
College basketball's No. 1-ranked preseason team has shed its once sparkling five-star rating. Resembling a roadside roach motel where murder stains lie within every occupancy, the Jayhawks have turned uncharacteristically sketchy.
With 10 losses — including three unbelievably at the Phog — KU is a far cry from the national title pick dozens of pundits made in October.
As a result, Bill Self is strangely issuing post-loss press releases to either display public catharsis, make a case for his job, defend his team or self-talk his way to a turnaround. Whatever the motivation, reversing the season’s course seems a lost cause.
The pick — SGP: Houston -5.5, Game UNDER 140.5 (+100, Caesars)
Kansas’ retina-burning film and advanced data trends paint a grim picture.
Over the last 30 days, Rock Chalk is No. 139 in effective field goal percentage offense and No. 63 in effective field goal percentage defense. Yes, Hunter Dickinson continues to bruise bodies inside, but detonated opponent bombs — the Jayhawks are No. 338 in 3-point rate defense over their last eight games — have left them in ruins. Their underwhelming backcourt only adds to the misery.
Kansas, a projected No. 7 seed on the latest Bracket Big Board, will be lucky to win a game in the NCAA Tournament.
Houston is winding a very different path.
[ Bracket Big Board: Brad Evans' latest NCAA Tournament projections ]
Kelvin Sampson’s Cougars are blossoming. Though locked on the No. 1-seed line, the outright Big 12 champions continue to display voracity.
Tenacious on the glass (34.5 offensive rebound percentage since February 1), suffocating on defense (0.949 points per possession allowed) and pulsating along the perimeter (40.8 3PT%), Houston owns the necessary ingredients to reach San Antonio. At No. 5 on BartTorvik since the beginning of February, it ranks top-20 nationally in adjusted offensive and adjusted defensive efficiency.
On Monday night at the Fertitta Center, L.J. Cryer and Emanuel Sharp alone could crush KU. Their smooth and consistent outside strokes are a significant matchup problem. That’s the case virtually everywhere else.
Dickinson will again likely flirt or record a double-double. However, unless guards Zeke Mayo, Dajuan Harris Jr. and Rylan Griffen go berserk, a Jayhawks beatdown will ensue.
Bleeding Kansas is about to write another fateful chapter.
Season record: 23-23, -0.58 units