It’s not the best feeling in the world to wake up and discover that you’re working the same side of the street as octogenarian Lawrence Journal-World sports columnist Bill Mayer.

Hoopinion, on PhogBlog, 9/16/06: “…seven days from today, Kansas plays a must-win game.”

Headline in the LJW today:

Mayer: Kansas must win Saturday

All credit due, Mayer does, in his column, beat me to the punch in comparing the Oklahoma/Oregon refereeing debacle to the blown call which determined the winner of the 1940 Dartmouth/Cornell game.

I was saving that for a bye week.

The LJW site has an article up in which Bill Self seems to imply that he’s found ‘the solution’ to the team’s offensive woes:

“We have to be really good at something and have something we can hang our hat on. We think we know what it is. We need to get really good at it and the players believe they can score out of it whenever we run it.”

Additional commentary from Self implies that he is pushing the team to run, run, run. If this scenario were to actually materialize, there would be a lot of enthusiastic fans around here. But can a team this young handle the demands of a fast-paced offense? Bill Self is probably asking himself this very question. Any thoughts?

Last night’s nail-biter revealed that the Jayhawks are still a team in search of a game plan. The high-low offense name-dropped by Self and the players didn’t really take effect. As well, KU’s transition defense proved to be full of seams, as illustrated by numerous Sessions-Fazekas collaborations. It’s no wonder that Coach Self continues to mention “defense” with every other breath. Defense fuels offense, and the Hawks are not a team in rhythm.

The sexy thing to do after a close loss like this is to tag a player who could have made the crucial difference. The Lawrence Journal World’s Tom Keegan picked Micah Downs as deserving of more minutes, and it’s hard to argue with his take. But as I watched the game, I settled on a different lynchpin.

Brandon Rush.

In the first half, Rush seemed to be chasing the ball around the court like it was a yo-yo. His dribbling was infected by a lack of certainty, as if the bouncing ball was full of surprises: 2 points for the half. After Bill Self tore into him at half time, Rush went on to score 15 in the second twenty minutes. It’s hard to analyze inequities like this, but I have the feeling that once Rush gets his head game sorted out, this team will take on new life.

An active fire-starter on the perimeter will pick up the offensive slack that is giving KU enough rope to hang themselves in close games. I suspect that it will be Rush, not Downs or Chalmers, who will make the baby Jayhawks look like contenders.

The LJW provided an updated list today of those basketball recruits that will be in attendance on October 14 at Late Early Night in the Phog:

The high school basketball recruiting guest list keeps growing for Late Night in the Phog, set for Oct. 14 at Allen Fieldhouse.

On Friday, a pair of recruits — Cole Aldrich, a 6-foot-10 junior from Bloomington, Minn., and Obi Muonelo, a 6-4 senior from Edmond, Okla., told rivals.com they would attend Late Night, which actually will start during prime time this year — though no exact time has been announced. Aldrich is considering KU, North Carolina and Minnesota; Muonelo KU and Oklahoma State.

Others to attend Late Night: Darrell Arthur, 6-9, Sr., Dallas; Jeremy Price, 6-9, Jr., Decatur, Ga.; Lance Storrs, 6-5, Jr., Decatur, Ga.; Alex Legion, 6-3, Jr., Detroit.

I hope to see lots of signs welcoming these guys! I’ll be waving my Aldrich and Arthur signs.

Brandon Rush visited Strong Hall on Friday. According to the Lawrence Journal World, he has officially enrolled in classes at KU. If he attends class on Monday, he will be committed to KU and can’t choose another school without transfer penalties.

Rush has been notably quiet during this process, which has been agonizing for this Jayhawk fan. He did tell the paper, though, that all of his paperwork is in to the NCAA Clearinghouse and that he expect final academic approval to be granted on Monday.

When he gets the NCAA’s blessing to accept a scholarship and play, Brandon will likely issue a statement to the press. Anticlimactic?!?! We’ve known for almost two weeks that he has been spending lots of time in Lawrence with team members. He has been playing in pickup games with team members. Hopefully, academic advisors had him auditing classes or working with tutors so he isn’t too far behind (KU’s classes started several days ago).

One final thing: Did anyone see any of the pickup games involving Rush, Travis Releford, and several of the KU players? I’d love a report!

Discretion is proving to be the better part of valor for Marian Washington and Lynette Woodard, who have decided to more research before speaking to the press officially. Blue horseshoes says this is the last time we’ll hear of this.

“We are actually going to do our own research on this whole thing and have a release or press conference,” Washington said Monday. “Lynette (Woodard) will be able to speak to things once we are very clear as to what has happened. She has a lawyer. Everything will happen through her lawyer…I want to make sure to take my time in going through things,” Washington said. “Obviously, there is disappointment. In time we’ll talk about these things.”

I think that Coaches Woodard and Washington have made a great decision. Both have made tremendous contributions to the University. If they bring too much attention to this, it will be their legacy - why do that?

Phog Blog reader Clock writes in expressing disappointment that we haven’t mentioned Bahe’s transfer. On the news last night, Fox’s sports reporter called him “Nick Bay - Hee” over and over.

I wish only the best for Nick - I think he’ll get more minutes at Creighton and he still gets to have the word “Jay” in his mascot name.

You can read more on the story here.

Had DeAndre Thomas not opted to go to the Dark Side, that scholarship could have been made available to him. My guess is that now we’ll hold onto it for next year, where the class is a little better. Or maybe CJ Henry will join the team. He will surprise people if so.