Summit League Memories For Kansas Not Pleasant Ones

The Summit League. One of the many mid-major leagues in the college basketball world that gives its champion the opportunity to play for the national title in March.

The Kansas Jayhawks' opponent tonight, Oakland University, hails from the Summit League. This is the same league that produced Kansas' first-round opponent in last year's NCAA Tournament, the North Dakota State Bison.

As all first round games are, the North Dakota State clash with Kansas last year was a true nail-biter for most Kansas fans. Although KU was coming off of a national title the previous year, memories of the two consecutive first-round exists of the 2004 and 2006 seasons may have been lingering during last year's first round matchup.

The game was tight the whole way through thanks to Summit League Player of the Year Ben Woodside, who put up a staggering 37 points against the Jayhawks.

"Sherron is still having nightmares about that," coach Bill Self said in his pregame conference for tonight's matchup against the Rochester, Mich. school.

While most Kansas fans will be predicting a dominating performance, perhaps another opportunity for the Jayhawks to hit triple-digits again, some may not be that over-confident.

Oakland has arguably the league's best guard in Johnathon Jones. He's 5-foot-11, possesses great speed and handles the ball well. However, he is known more for his ability to distribute the ball to his teammates.

Jones needs just eight assists to set the conference record. Chances are he'll get the record in what is arguably the Mecca of college basketball, Allen Fieldhouse.

You can bet that he'll be guarded by Sherron Collins, and when Collins is getting a blow on the bench, Tyshawn Taylor will have the honor.

Judging by Oakland's preseason schedule, which includes trips to Kansas, Memphis, Michigan State, Oregon and Syracuse, coach Greg Kampe has to be thinking big-name competition will prepare his team for the rigors of the conference schedule and run in the conference tournament.

Kampe won't just be relying on Jones tonight, though. His big man, 6-11 Junior Keith Benson, is averaging a double-double which includes nearly 15 rebounds a game.

There will likely be plenty of NBA scouts in the Fieldhouse tonight as Benson, along with Sherron Collins, Cole Aldrich and Xavier Henry should all be taken in the first round of next year's NBA draft.

It will be interesting to see if Kansas can overcome its trend of sputtering out of the gate and on the flipside, whether or not Oakland can take advantage of it if Kansas does start slowly.

It'll be important for Benson to stay out of foul trouble, which may not be all that easy. If he can stay disciplined on defense and let his guards do a lot of the work on offense, he could have a chance at reaching his averages.

As a team, Oakland will be looking to get another defensive performance like they had against Wisconsin earlier in the season, when they held the Badgers to 58 points.

My hunch is that they'll have a hard time holding Kansas under 80 points, as the talent discrepancy between Wisconsin and Kansas is, in a word, large.

Oakland may have an opportunity to beat a Memphis, or an Oregon, or even a Syracuse this season, but the chances of them beating KU in the Fieldhouse are slim-to-none.

It should be a fun game to watch tonight as Kansas will look to move to 4-0 on the year. I think Kansas fans should watch and see whether or not Collins plays with a little chip on his shoulder after the last Summit League guard he faced hung 37 points on the Jayhawks.

One thing is for sure. The final score of tonight's game may not indicate a competitive game, but this Oakland-Kansas matchup sure produces plenty of must-watch storylines.