Kansas Jayhawks' Two All-Americans Straighten the Learning Curve

The nation's best college basketball team, the Kansas Jayhawks, failed to impress any of the suspected millions watching in their 57-55 win over the Memphis Tigers.

Most of the credit for such a close result should go to the Memphis Tigers, who chased down every lose ball, got offensive rebounds, and made clutch baskets late in the game. Their rookie coach, 32-year-old Josh Pastner, looks like a tenured guy already and deserves a lot of credit for having his team ready to compete against the Jayhawks.

In the end, the result befitted the night in college basketball overall. The nation's No. 2 squad, Michigan State, won a nail-biter at the end of its game in East Lansing. Likewise, UConn had a tough time putting away a skilled Hofstra squad and Georgetown narrowly avoided defeat in D.C. at the hands of Temple.

A couple of things became very evident as the Memphis-Kansas game progressed. The over-arching theme was that KU still has quite the learning curve. While it returns nine players, Kansas added freshman blue-chipper Xavier Henry, guard Elijah Johnson, and big man Thomas Robinson.

While Henry finished with 11 points and six rebounds, his presence on the floor seemed to confuse other guards Tyrell Reed and especially Tyshawn Taylor.

Now don't confuse what I am getting at here. I don't think this is remotely a serious concern, but there was an air of misunderstanding between Taylor and Henry on a couple of passes and plays.

Most of that can fall on the freshman who I think has yet to understand just how big of an influence he can make on a game with his size and scoring ability. What appears to be confusion now will certainly be ironed out by late January. Instead of silly turnovers caused by misunderstanding the offense, we'll likely be seeing plenty of "Top 10 Play" appearances on SportsCenter as the season progresses.

Despite Kansas' overall inability to take care of the basketball, something coach Bill Self has been concerned about since practice got underway about a month ago, two factors have proved big already this season, and their names are Sherron Collins and Cole Aldrich.

The reason I, and likely many other Kansas fans, weren't all that nervous last night, with the exception of the final shot of the game floating towards the rim, is the fact that fans trust and believe that the two All-Americans will lead the team to victory this year.

It has to be comforting to all of Jayhawk nation that the team, when it really doesn't play like a team at all, can still win because of the reliability of Aldrich and Collins.

The game last night bodes well for the future of this season, where KU will inevitably find itself in a similar situation where no "supporting player" can play within the team, and overall the team just seems to struggle and will have to rely on the consistent play of both Sherron and Cole.

Sherron didn't play much of the second half due to nagging cramps, but after an IV in the dressing room, he returned to the floor and made sure the game didn't slip away from Kansas. Upon his return, he made one of the best plays of the night, on a fast break drive, where he hung in the air long enough to deliver to Aldrich who finished with authority.

He also added a free-throw in the waning moments that extended the lead to two, instead of one.

Speaking of  Cole Aldrich, he was there all night long. He was a workhorse, and judging by coach Bill Self's comments going into halftime, Cole wasn't getting enough touches, thanks in large part to Memphis' effort on defense.

Aldrich finished with 18 points on 7-of-10 shooting and  pulled down 11 rebounds, and could have easily scored 30. Memphis couldn't solve the high-low, which resulted in a ton of high-percentage attempts for the KU big men—Marcus Morris had ten points off 4-of-7 shooting.

In a game where both teams shot the ball badly, and generally played a sloppy game, overall it has to be comforting for Kansas fans to see their team grind out a victory, especially on the big stage of ESPN and on a neutral court.

KU's gritty win can be attributed to the play of its two All-Americans who showed that they can weather the bigger-than-expected learning curve KU still has to get over.

With a trip to L.A. and Pauley Pavillion to face UCLA, trips to Knoxville and Philadelphia to face great teams in Tennessee and Temple, respectively, as well as home fixtures against Michigan and California still on the schedule, Kansas' grit and determination still has much testing to go.

Fear not however, because I'm sure by the time they begin that stretch of tough games, (they're at UCLA on Dec. 6), and Bill Self will have the team performing closer to expectations.

One thing is for sure, and that is it's certainly nice for coach Self and all of the Kansas basketball fans alike, to know that they will always get the steady, reliable play out of their two All-Americans, Cole Aldrich and Sherron Collins.