Thoughts from row 8

Before we talk about the new Hawks, lets give a shout out to Mario Chalmers, maybe you remember him.
But tonight he set the Heat record for most steals in a game, go ahead and let that sink in. More steal than D Wade has ever had, more than Eddie Jones who was known for his D, more than Tim Hardaway, although that's not that impressive.
Kudos Chalmers, you are off to a great start keep it up.

New School Hawks-
Let's talk about the game as I believe it will pertain to the rest of the season.
Mario Little, who will be a starter and counted on to do a lot, did not play due to a stress fracture.
Twins, did not make the Canada trip so they will take some time to jel.
Kief and Marcus both have talent, that's very apparent, they are skilled.

Sitting mad close was a blessing and curse in a way, they are great seats and I got to sit by Cindy Self, Morningstar and Teahan's families and Joc Crawford, which was cool
It was kind of a bummer because you could see some things you might not see from a different seat or TV.

Collins, WOW, he knows what is ahead of him and what he needs to do, lead. He was telling the twins where to go and every other frosh for that matter, and encouraging and coaching, he was very intense. He's always been solid, but you can tell that this is HIS team, and he wants it to be successful.

Releford, was a little shaky, but he had a look on his face while he was playing that you could tell that he was having a great time but remaining serious, I saw him ask questions on multiple times, he wants to be better and he will be a good player for us.

Before I forget, all of the frosh, would look at Self after a bad play, and from what I could gather, it was they WANT to be coached, they WANT to be better, they WANT to represent KU. This was so encouraging to me, you never know how they will act or care and its clear that they all understand what it means to be a Jayhawk.

Taylor, or fake Mario Chalmers as we were calling him last night, Piotr and I discussed him having the "it" and I still think that. He made turnovers, 5 of em', but Chalmers, Adonis Jordan, Vaughn, and Kirk all did the same thing when they were little, and just for the record me and 193950 talk about this anytime KU has a frosh PG.
Taylor did have some good moves and is good / great in transition.

Brady, is athletic and balled out a bit last night, played good and I could see him and Reed giving us some quality minutes off the pine this year. Both need to get a little bit better at D, but the whole team does so I'm not going to sit here and throw daggers from the couch. It was good to see both of them shine a bit after red-shirting and riding pine respectively last year.

Aldrich, didn't really do anything, but I predict he will at the very least be the all time leader at KU for draawing lane violations with his silly FT motion. He will get better and have better days if for no other reason than NCHCBS (national champion head coach Bill Self) will make sure of it.

Trying to figure out who I have missed... you can't think of it can you.
I didn't forget him, But Q Thomas, was the guy last night. Plays hard, smart and kept going. 10 points, 6 boards, hit the charities and got to the line. With the depth we have if he can go in and play hard and draw fouls and hit from the stripe, he will be invaluable to us. People are saying he's Darnell or Richard Scott, either would be great, but I like his play.

The most important thing of QT playing the way he did, is that it will ratchet up the pressure on twins. They have another week to practice and then another handful of days before the games count.
The first 2 real games are at home and against inferior competition also Little should be back in early December and this team can get going.

Its very weird and different not getting the "NEW YORK NEEEEEEW YORK" before the game but we'll never forget those guys and you know what when you are a freshman at KU you have to do something big in your 4 years if you want to be remembered forever and the best way to do that is to throw up some banners, and last years Seniors did that and this years frosh are working towards that a little bit everyday.
Relax and enjoy the growth.
Rock Chalk