There was this great line in the The Color Purple when Shug looked quizzically at Celie and blurted mockingly: “You sho’ is ugly.”
Too bad she wasn’t at the Kansas-Kansas State basketball game last night in Lawrence to deliver that line. The two teams combined for 39 turnovers and 45 fouls with mental mistake after mental mistake adding to the clutter, disorder, confusion and muddle.
Kansas State won the negative battle and lost the game 77-59. The No. 7 Jayhawks, now 18-4 overall and 6-3 in the Big 12, posted their 36th straight victory on their home court while the Wildcats, now 2-7 and 13-9, dropped their season road record to 1-6. They haven’t beaten a conference team on the road in more than a year.
While KU sleep-walked the first 10 minutes of the game, Kansas State played with energy and held a 16-7 lead at 10:43.
That’s when Perry Ellis went to work for KU. Early on, he was ineffective inside so he moved outside and made the most of it — scoring eight points in four minutes to give KU a 23-20 lead at 5:18. He wound up with 19 points on 8 of 11 shooting, including 3 for 3 from treyland.
During a halftime TV interview, Coach Bill Self said, “They played harder than we did the first 10 minutes.” Okay! Then after the game, he told reporters, “I’ll be candid, they outplayed us. They beat us to loose balls, they outhustled us. That’s about as soft as I can remember one of our teams playing.” Hmm, and your team won by 18. Gee!
The Cats also out-rebounded KU 36-21.
Self praised the KU defense, saying that it shrunk the floor for the Cats, who didn’t find many open holes.
The Cats kept making moves to cut the lead but ultimately the mistakes caught up with them — miscommunicating on defense, failing to execute in-bounds plays, not finishing on layups, rushing shots. The Cats committed 23 turnovers and 27 fouls. Yet, with 12 minutes remaining, they trailed just 47-45. But then those darn mistakes.
Wesley Iwundu led K-State with 15 points while Stephen Hurt had 14 points and 11 rebounds. However, the big man was 0 for 4 on three-point shots. Justin Edwards was 1 for 9 and Carlbe Ervin II, starting in place of injured point guard Kamau Stokes, was 0 for 6 from the field. The Cats shot 42 percent and KU 55 percent.
Wayne Selden, who had a career-best 33 points in last Saturday’s overtime victory against Kentucky, was shut out in the first half before finishing with seven points.
KU will play at TCU Saturday while K-State will be host to No. 1 Oklahoma. …
The hype is winding down for Sunday’s Super Bowl game. If you’re a bettor, have you made up your mind up yet on which side you’re taking? After Carolina’s impressive performance in the NFC title game in hammering Arizona, the betting line moved rapidly from a 3½-point favorite over the Denver Broncos to 5½.
The money line is just wild. If you like Carolina, you must bet $230 to win $100. Yes, you get what you bet back, too, if you win. Now if you are a truly, truly Orange Crush Denver fan, you can bet a hundred to cash in $190. Of course, you know you don’t get the points when you bet the money line. If you factor in the points, you just bet the usual 10 percent vigorish, like $110 to win a hundred. If you’re on Denver, you get the 5½.
Peyton Manning certainly isn’t the quarterback of old and questions are many whether he can stand up to the Panther pressure. The Broncos, on the other hand, have been superb on defense, too, under the direction of defensive coordinator Wade Phillips.
I’m almost tempted to take the money line bet with Denver. But I just don’t see how the Broncos can beat the Panthers, who are terrific on both sides of the ball and have a dynamic leader in Cam Newton. Just take a look at those betting stats in the chart.
PR HF HD RF RD Cover Streak APF APA Record
Carolina 20.5 8-1-0 1-0-0 3-3-0 2-0-0 15-4-0 c3 32.2 19.7 17-1
Denver 20.5 1-5-1 2-1-0 3-2-0 2-1-0 9-8-1 c1 22.1 18.3 14-4
Those are impressive numbers. I think I’ll stick with my tried and true plan and go with Carolina giving the 5½for $33.
I am up $320 in the NFL. …
Of course, Kansas State and Kansas drew low marks in the football recruiting wars with the Wildcats ranked ninth in the Big 12 and the Jayhawks tenth. K-State announced the signing of 22 players while KU picked up 20.
But the Cats sure are happy about their four-star quarterback out of Fort Osage — Skylar Thompson. He has already enrolled and will be available for spring practice. He led Fort Osage to the Missouri state title and chose the Cats over Colorado, Iowa State and KU. He was the Kansas City Star’s All-Metro Player of the Year, the Missouri Gatorade Player of the Year and the KC Simone Award winner.
As expected, KU relied heavily on Texas players, signing eight. The Jayhawks signed only one Kansas native and Coach David Beatty offered: “It wasn’t from a lack of trying.”
However, there was good news. A week after learning that local prospect Amani Bledsoe, the top-ranked player in Kansas, was headed to Oklahoma instead of joining the Jayhawks, Lawrence Free State High quarterback Bryce Torneden, who figures to play safety in college, announced that he would join the KU program instead of heading to North Dakota State. …
A couple of Kansas Staters, Cody Whitehair and Glenn Gronkowski, certainly made their selections to play in the Senior Bowl pay off.
Scouts said Whitehair was an exception to the overall struggles of offensive linemen against the pass rush during practices. They said he could be the first guard taken in this year’s NFL draft. You rarely heard his name in the telecast but scouts pointed out he won almost every snap he took. One scout said Whitehair was NFL ready right now. Another noted the 6-3, 309-pounder would go in the Top 25.
Gronkowski caught three passes for 37 yards in the game. Scouts said his versatility could make him available for three spots on a 46-man roster. He can play fullback and tight end, along with special team play. He had a lot of cheering during the week in Mobile, Alabama, what with all three of his brothers, including New England standout Rob, attending the practices.