I wouldn’t look to Andy Katz for tactical insight or high-level critical thinking, I think he understands this about himself as his ESPN blog (Insider) reads as a transcription of what people have said to him (no matter how ridiculous) in the last day or so.

From today’s blog (Insider):

Kansas coach Bill Self is still confident that Brandon Rush can return to play in games by Dec. 1 after having ACL surgery. He’s hoping to have him practicing by Nov. 1.

It may be plausible. It may or may not be true, but I’m confident that Bill Self said that to Andy Katz.

He may just be trying to make (very slight) amends to those of us for whom this game (It took me a good 15 minutes to come up with even that link. NCAASports.org appears to have a policy against providing useful information and I don’t believe you can link to particular page of the KU Media Guide.) still represents an instance of youthful trauma in advance of his arrival in Lawrence this weekend, but here’s what Mr. Bilas signed off with today:

� Kansas is better than people choose to believe, and so is Bill Self.

I can recap that game in five lines:

1) Bradley, points per 100 possessions vs. DePaul: 121
2) Northwestern, points per 100 possessions vs. DePaul: 109
3) Kentucky, points per 100 possessions vs. DePaul: 127
4) Purdue, points per 100 possessions vs. DePaul: 106
5) Kansas, points per 100 possessions vs. DePaul: 90

…from the unfamiliar mood swings caused by rooting for a talented but slightly underachieving football team.

UNABASHED PRE-SEASON OPTIMISM ABOUT KANSAS BASKETBALL

SI.com’s Luke Winn supports his claim that “at only one place in the country does a truly great backcourt reside: Kansas” with a brief interview of Bill Self.

Most interestingly, Self mentions Julian Wright as his first choice to play on the wing when Brandon Rush is out of the game.

Look out world, this team just learned what it takes to win in a big-time environment.

The win is great, but I think it’s the lessons learned in the last few weeks that will prove the most important.

How about Julian Wright tossing down two of the sickest in-game dunks I’ve ever seen in the last 5 minutes.

I tell you, I screamed the Rock Chalk Chant all over Fairway and Westwood.

ROCK CHALK JAYHAWK, KU!

Now throw us a 4 seed selection committee. 9-1 over the last 10.

If you missed Bill Self’s interview with Jim Rome today, you can catch it here. I didn’t do most of the work to put this together, so no promises as to quality, but it should work pretty well.

Let me know if you have any issues.

Or download here.

And if you’re into national attention, Andy Katz’ latest is a must read:

How many teams are led by two freshmen in scoring — Rush (14.2 ppg) and Chalmers (10.7 ppg) — and have a legit chance to reach the Final Four? How many have only two double-figure scorers and have that shot? Only one: Kansas (although in Big 12 games, Rush, Chalmers and Robinson are all in double figures).

READ THE WHOLE THING.

UT is a good team, but as Mark pointed out, they are a vulnerable team. This strikes me as an important point and one that I should have considered more.

Last year, we were a good team, but we were an extremely vulnerable team, particularly once JR started going cold. Indeed, a lot of Roy’s teams were vulnerable - to athleticism, to cold shooting, to slobberknocking fisticuffs. I hadn’t considered it before, but Self seems to want to build teams that don’t have these vulnerabilities.

Using one primary ballhandler leaves you up a creek if he gets injured or foul prone. Self’s solution: have two to three guys who can handle and dish the rock. Not only does this work as a sort of insurance policy, but it also makes it harder for opposing coaches to prepare for you.

Having guards that can penetrate and create offense leaves you much less reliant on warm shooting. Heck, on Monday we shot 1/7 from behind the arc and still won by 15 on the road in Stillwater to a team that owned UT (and by the way, OSU may have played better on offense against UT, but I think you have to give credit to KU’s defense for that).

And in slobberknocking fisticuffs we’ve shown ourselves more than capable of knocking more slobber and cuffing more fists. Want to slow up the game and keep it ugly? Fine. You’ll be tired at about the 8 minute mark and we’ll run you silly from then on out.

I’ve been a big Self supporter, but I think that was more a result of my dovish personality towards KU hoops than any keen understanding of exactly what he was doing. But now his vision for the program is coming into focus for me, and I really like what I’m seeing. This Self team is tough, athletic and enthusiastic, and I love it.

And this team is not very vulnerable, at least not in the Williamsian sense. Our key vulnerabilities are probabably intense ball pressure at the guard spots and really hot three point shooting (but for whom is this not true?). I would add cold free throw shooting as well, but we’ve really excelled at that over the last 8 weeks, so I don’t think I can.

I just love where this team is going. I got to watch a lot of college basketball this weekend and I must echo the comments from Jayhawk fans everywhere - when national media folks ignore or denigrate Kansas, they shine a harsh light on their overpaid ignorance. The Seth Davis OU thing was perfect. We’ll probably beat OU in the league by 2-3 games and a tiebreaker, and they’re the threat?

That’s rich. This is the same guy who ELEVEN DAYS AGO called KSU - with UT, CU, OU, TT and KU still left on their schedule - a possible NCAA tournament team.

Seth, bubby! Tell me you don’t believe the things you say on TV!

KU is up to 18 in the ESPN/USA Today poll as well.