If you can’t beat ’em, compliment the heck out of ’em and pray that your generosity is enough to keep them from stalking you outside of your team bus ready to take a second helping.While it’s not written out anywhere, that has certainly appeared to be the mantra for KU’s 15 defeated non-conference foes this season.As the new year is underway, 15 have come and 15 have gone, leaving the Jayhawks with an unscathed record heading into Saturday’s Big 12 opener against Nebraska. With that said, I took a dip into the Journal-World records to bring you some opposition praise sent KU’s way from the 2007-08 non-conference season.Sometimes it’s funny. Sometimes it’s just a defeatist attitude.Enjoy…**Nov. 9, KU defeats Louisiana-Monroe 107-78. ULM senior guard Lance Brasher on when he realized the Warhawks were up against a pretty stiff opponent**: “The opening tip-off.”**Nov. 15, Washburn coach Bob Chipman lauds the Jayhawks following a 92-60 loss**: “KU teams for the past 20 years have been pretty comparable. Man, they’re so good, and this team, their guards are so explosive. I always feel like you’re as good as your guards, and they’ve got special guards in this group, and we didn’t even see Sherron. The guard play here is…wow. Wow, wow. With a big ‘W.'”**Nov. 21, Northern Arizona serves as pre-Thanksgiving grub for KU in an 87-46 loss. NAU coach Mike Adras was dizzied**: “The ball was going everywhere. We weren’t getting shots. Then, not only do they get a turnover, they take it down to the other end and capitalize on you. It’s a 1-2 punch, and all of it lasted approximately five to eight seconds. Then you’re on your heels, and you know what? Here they come again…I hope there’s not a better team that we play this year. They’re good. They’re very, very good. I watched them play Louisiana-Monroe, and I went ‘Oh no.’ I really did.”**Dec. 5, Eastern Washington’s Kirk Earlywine speaks with the tone of another overmatched non-con victim**: “I think there’s probably less than 20 teams in the country who can look at San Antonio and the Final Four as a realistic goal, and Kansas is certainly one of those teams. But Kansas is a whole other animal in terms of length and athletic ability and style of play. They just overwhelmed us.”**Dec. 8, Three days later, KU punished DePaul 84-66. Just like everyone else, Jerry Wainright tried to think of some other kind of way to stop the Jayhawks in hindsight**: “Try to find out where the house lights are, and do something to cause a blackout…They lull you into a little bit of a comfort, and then, bang, all the sudden they strike. Those kids are good.”**Senior guard Draelon Burns was equally impressed**: “They played real good D. Once I got past one guy and got ready to shoot, they’d send a big guy, and then another guy was jumping up from the side. I had to pass up a lot of shots or shoot with a higher arc.”**Dec. 15, Ohio coach Tim O’Shea at least had the consolation of an upcoming trip to Hawaii to help absorb the pain after a nightmarish trip to the Sprint Center**: “The good thing is I get to lick my wounds on Waikiki Beach…We knew we would have to play our A-game and it would have to be a C- or D-game for them.”**Jan. 5, Boston College coach Al Skinner, after watching his team lose 85-60 on its home floor in front of essentially a neutral crowd, well, just conceded to genetics in some cases**: “It’s just one of those things. When someone’s just faster than you, they’re faster than you, and that’s just something you have to accept. That’s the reality of it. Sometimes athletics are like that. It put us at a disadvantage.”You get the point. Thought that’d be a little something fun to kick off Big 12 season with. **_Now a few more thoughts…_****-The [final AP college football poll][1] bothered me a tad**. No, I don’t think KU shouldn’t have been ahead of MU, since the Tigers beat the Jayhawks and had a tougher schedule.It should have read, in my opinion: 1) LSU 2) Georgia 3) West Virginia 4) Missouri 5) Kansas.Southern Cal was way too high. Even if they stomped Illinois, they _still lost to Stanford_. How are voters so forgiving of that? A friend of mine used the excuse that USC had a bunch of injuries.I don’t care. Even at 33 percent, USC should beat Stanford (at home, mind you) by three touchdowns. As for Ohio State, well, they’ve taken enough of a bath. No need for more…well, hold on. All I can say is KU finished with one loss compared to OSU’s two, and the two teams played very comparable schedules.**-As for preseason in 2008**, I’ll go against the majority selection of USC as the No. 1 team in the land. They constantly gain huge preseason voter support after rallying from disappointing losses and winning a bowl game below where they should have been. I, personally, am going with Georgia. Not only did they play the best football in the nation the past eight weeks, but just about everyone’s back…plus their coach isn’t rumored to be going anywhere. KU should be in the top 10 for the same reasons…but behind MU for the same reasons, plus the reasons in the previous note.**-I really hope Colt Brennan’s NFL stock doesn’t plummet** after the Sugar Bowl. Personally, he’s my favorite college player in the nation, and you had to feel bad for him going up against Georgia’s massive defensive front. He was a sitting duck the whole game, as the Bulldogs were blitzing against an offense sans a tight end. He had no chance. That sucked. Though maybe now the Bears can nab him later than expected?**-Have you seen** [this guy][2] yet? Wild…**-Also, as a disgruntled Chicago Bulls fan**, I took great interest in watching [this][3] and [this][4]. I had no idea KU ended Scott Skiles’ Michigan State career. Thank you, to the anonymous tipster who e-mailed those my way.**-Finally, if I could have my choice between coaching men’s or women’s basketball at the collegiate level**, I’m choosing women’s. I had this epiphany after watching the KU-Oklahoma State game Wednesday night in Allen Fieldhouse (a 59-54 OSU win to open conference play).OSU coach Kurt Budke, a Salina native, was beaming after the game about his star player – sophomore point guard Andrea Riley. Riley entered the game as the Big 12’s leading scorer, averaging 20.5 points per game. She dropped 26 on KU, including a pair of awe-inspiring crossover/step-back 18-foot jumpers late in the game, then a similar move and penetration which created an easy layup for a teammate underneath.Budke after the game recalled coaching in the National Junior College tournament in 1995 and losing a game to a team in the same fashion his squad pulled away late from KU, and said one day if he had a player of that caliber, he hoped to win a game like that.The great thing about the women’s game is that he’ll have more chances to do it again for the next 2.5 years. Players truly develop on a regular basis in the women’s game and don’t leave early for pro ball. In the men’s game, there’s the feel-good story of Darnell Jackson, who blossomed over four up-and-down (now mostly up) years, but those stories are far too rare. I can promise you that if I’m still living in Lawrence two years from now, I’ll go to the Fieldhouse to watch Riley’s return as a senior.If she were, say, a male basketball player and the NBA were a viable option after this season, she’d never be coming back to AFH. Trust me.Talk to you Saturday from Lincoln. [1]: http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/rankingsindex [2]: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WctBazFZAMc [3]: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_1EG6hiRrU [4]: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eCxxuJsE8k&feature=related
