Kansas Jayhawks: "Last Week Cole Aldrich Messed Around and Got a Triple Double!"

Here we go again! Friday night in Indianapolis, the Kansas Jayhawks will look to get revenge against Michigan State a team who slapped them around pretty good on Jan. 10, in East Lansing. 

The revamped, 2008-'09 version of the Defending National Champion Jayhawks have come a long way since the whipping that Tom Izzo and his Spartans gave them. Winning the Big 12 regular season title, finishing as one of the top 15 teams in both poles and earning a three seed in the Big Dance are proof of that.

As someone who has closely followed the Jayhawks basketball team for over 20 years, I find several aspects of this matchup that I'm concerned about.

Since blowing out fellow three seed Missouri Tigers on Mar. 1 in Allen Fieldhouse, coach Bill Self and his band of youngsters have not blown me away with their play at any point. 

For starters, they should have defeated the Dayton Flyers in the second round by 30 points or more. While watching that game, I pictured Dayton as the ninth best team in the Big 12. I'm still wondering how they even got into the tournament despite winning their first round game against West Virginia. 

In round one, North Dakota State and little known guard Ben Woodside gave them all they could handle for 30 minutes. Woodside finished with 37 points often scoring way to easily. 

Late in Big 12 play, the Jayhawks look exhausted both mentally and physically in losing to the 10th and 11th (Texas Tech and Baylor) place teams.

Baylor has been playing like most preseason publications predicted they would by advancing deep in the NIT tournament rather impressively despite only winning five games in the Big 12 conference regular season.

Fresh off only the sixth "Triple Double" in NCAA Tournament history, All-Big 12 Center Cole Aldrich and fiery, second Team All-American Point Guard Sherron Collins are playing like lottery picks.

Team leader Collins will hold up his end of the bargain as far as the team advances.  He has been playing great and can be counted on as much as any player left in the tournament.

Aldrich is a very skilled, true "Big Man", but he does dominate smaller players and can be slowed a bit when playing against players his size and strength. Not many teams have this type of player, but the Spartans do. 

KU's "Big Two" are capable of keeping KU in any game against any opponent, but they will need a third player to step up in this Sweet 16 matchup.

Forward Mario Little is my top candidate for doing so. Little, has been inconsistent since coming out strong returning from injury. In a seven-game streak from Jan. 19 to Feb. 9 (seven games), Mario averaged nine points and four rebounds.

Not seeing as many minutes as during that stretch since, Little made the most of of his 16 minutes against the Flyers scoring seven points and snatching six boards. He has the athleticism to give the Spartans fits.

Freshman guard Tyshawn Taylor has had big games more than once scoring over 20 points in three contests and averaging almost 10 points per game could be the player, but he has to limit his silly turnovers and hit the five or six wide-open shots he gets courtesy of Aldrich and Collins. 

Freshman Forward Marcus Morris has shown flashes and usually has a solid stat line so it would not surprise me if he stepped up.  He has the talent to do it.

In the first game in East Lansing, Kansas shot 5-20 from the three-point line. That's not going to cut it. Sophomores Tyrell Reed (38.7 percent) and Brady Morningstar (42.7 percent) need to hit their shots to open up the floor and keep a great MSU defense honest. 

The Spartans are a well coached, physical team led by Big 10 Player of the Year Kalin Lucas. Lucas' quickness and smart play make him hard to handle. Fellow guard Travis Walton is a great defender on the perimeter and is coming off one of his best games of the season against USC.

Center Goran Suton is a formidable player due to his combination of size, strength and ability to hit the open jump shot. Not nearly as skilled as Aldrich is, Suton has the size to make him work hard for every point.

Troubled by a season battling mononucleosis, forward Raymar Morgan is the Wild Card for the Spartans. Morgan is a multi-talented player, but has been up and down since coming back for his illness.

Coach Self's Hawks will be tested physically. Will they be ready to answer the bell? Self has a great record in his career when playing a team for the second time (56-10) in a season and an even better record (16-4) when he lost that first contest. 

When I got to the Sweet 16 filling out my bracket, I went with my head and not my heart and picked Michigan State to advance to the Elite Eight. I hope this pick follows the rest of my bracket.