**6:34 p.m.**: There’s no convincing this guy that Beasley won’t get at least 30 and 15 against KU, win or lose. Not after the three minutes we just witnessed.First, Beasley leapt and snatched a rebound on the defensive end with such ferocity that it forced me to turn to Tom Keegan and label it a ‘man’s rebound.’Then, he just continued with the same ease on the offensive end he’s shown all night to this point, currently with 33 points to go with his 15 rebounds. One of the last buckets he scored before taking a breather was just a riot to watch. First, he leaned in after knifing through traffic, and missed short off the iron. Andre Gilbert jumped in to grab the offensive board, but then went crashing to the floor on his back. Beasley simply bent down and took the ball from Gilbert and laid it in. The guy just does whatever it takes to get the job done. I know that sounds cliched, but it’s the only thing you can say after watching him for a stretch of clock.As for Bill Walker, tonight he has 10 points and nine boards, but it just looks so pedestrian. His body language is light years away from what I’m sure it’ll be Wednesday. He kinda looks like he’s going through the motions and loafing a bit. Then again, this game has not at all been in question, so it’s not _that_ big a deal.Here’s another thought…Imagine Wesley Johnson of Iowa State in a KU uniform. Just like he did in Allen Fieldhouse in a blowout the other night, he’s looking sensational on the sour end of the scoreboard. Despite his team’s overall struggles, the 6-7 soph has 20 points for the third straight game, five rebounds and four three-pointers. He’s now officially a two-guard, and the move has paid off. This ISU team won’t be that bad in a year.**5:49 p.m.**: Scratch that, 17 points from Beasley in the first half, as he just hit another ho-hum three with a hand in his face to end the opening stanza. The guy is sick.**5:46 p.m.**: We arrived at Bramlage just in time to watch Mike Beasley score seven of his 14 first half points, including a beauty of a three-pointer. I’m most impressed already with his rebounding. The guy just needs to be anywhere within five feet of the rim and he can just make a simple leap and get up for it.K-State’s up 41-27 here with about a minute to play in the first half, and this place is _packed_. We had heard earlier they’ve sold out the rest of the season, and I can only imagine what this place will be like Wednesday. Be back in a bit.**3:50 p.m.**: Well, Tom Keegan and I are in the car headed for Bramlage to watch K-State and Iowa State. I’m almost as excited for the game as I am about a stop at Vista Burger.As far as postgame today, the points of interest pertained more to the game coming up Wednesday night.The players did a good job of brushing off responding to Michael Beasley’s guaranteeing a win late last week. KU seems to want to take the big brother high road into this one, and that’s probably a good idea.Some notes and numbers…-Alex Maric’s final line: 0-6 FG, 0-2 FT, 0 pts., 9 reb., 3 TO, 3 fouls-Darrell Arthur, who tweaked a calf Tuesday in practice, was active on the boards after grabbing just one rebound against ISU Wednesday. He had 7 to go with 18 points.-Brandon Rush was 5-of-7 from three-point range Saturday, making him 10-of-14 from deep against the Huskers this year. He had 17 points today.-Nebraska had 5 assists to 16 turnovers. KU had 25 to 14.Talk to you from Bramlage…**2:23 p.m.**: Mario Chalmers didn’t score his first field goal of the day until there were nearly eight minutes left in the game. Something tells me that’s the longest he’s ever gone without one in a game as a Jayhawk. But that’s the beauty of this team – it doesn’t matter. You hardly notice when one guy’s having an off night, because there’s enough other stuff going on, such as Brandon Rush’s five three-pointers, Darnell Jackson going inside and out, and Darrell Arthur again flirting with the 20-point mark.How’s this for cockiness from the KU student section? They just started chanting ‘Lets-play-foot-ball.’ After two wins over the Huskers in how many years? Sheesh.Be back after postgame interviews with some notes and nuggets.**2:06 p.m.**: Well, at least the fans are still into it. Sherron Collins drew a traveling call with his team up 31 points and 12 minutes to play, drawing a chorus of boos directed at the refs.Collins, however, has worked into the flow of this game well. He hit a three in front of the KU bench on the previous possession and has seven points.As far as the Maric Meter, it’s at about a 2.2. He’s still scoreless, but now has three fouls.I’m already looking ahead a bit to tonight, heading out to Manhattan to watch Mike Beasley and Bill Walker play for the first time.**1:41 p.m.**: A team of gymnasts from North Dakota are impressing the masses during the half, though I’m just happy they did so to the Rocky theme song. Always a solid option.Here’s some first half numbers:-Aleks Maric was 0-for-4 from the floor with zero points, five rebounds, two fouls and two turnovers. His struggles against KU continue. His numbers are rarely this bad, but he has always looked uncomfortable against the Jayhawks big men.-Brandon Rush is now 9-of-12 from three-point range in three halves of basketball against Nebraska this season. He was 4-of-5 in the first half, including hitting three of four from the left corner.-Nebraska, like it did in the Lincoln meeting, is struggling from deep. The Huskers were 1-for-8 in the first half. **1:27 p.m.**: Just noticed that Nebraska went from both the first to the second television timeout without scoring, then went from the third to the fourth full break by accomplishing the same feat.**1:23 p.m.**: Right now, it’s a legitimate question: Will Nebraska’s men’s basketball team score more than its football team did in _its_ trip to Lawrence this fall? The Huskers, as I’m sure you haven’t yet forgotten, fell 76-39 to KU in Memorial Stadium.Nebraska simply can’t score right now. With under five minutes to play in the first half, Aleks Maric is still scoreless and has two fouls to boot. Their guards are having beyond a tough time creating their own shots.Funny sidenote…While lining up for a Darnell Jackson free throw after the last media timeout, the ref along the side witnessed some pushing and shoving for potential position before the attempt went up. He quickly threw a blanket on the smoldering squabble, yelling ‘Come on guys, respect one another!’ Good stuff.**1:03 p.m.**: This game is looking eerily similar to the one these two teams played in Allen a year ago, when KU won by 50-plus. Nebraska can’t get anything going on offense, and Aleks Maric – their only consistent scoring threat – can’t score. Maric is now on the bench midway through the first half, and the KU bigs are trying to go to work hard on undersized guys like Chris Balham – an SM West product. Nebraska might not score 40 points in this game. Eesh.Also, the KU offensive All-Big 12 performers from the gridiron were recognized during the last timeout. Kudos to Todd Reesing for rockin’ the cowboy boots on the Fieldhouse floor.**12:32 p.m.**: Well, looks like KU won’t be making a jump to No. 1 in the polls come Monday. Memphis came out blazin’ against Gonzaga, jumping off to a 10-0 lead, and that has proven to be the difference so far. Currently, it’s 62-50 Memphis with about nine minutes to play.Not a huge deal, though. No need to head to Bramlage Wednesday with the pressure of being No. 1 on top of everything else at stake.(Not that any readers genuinely care, but Micah Downs is 4-of-4 from the floor with 11 points and a pair of three-pointers in the game)Nothing major to report so far except for the presence in the Fieldhouse today of [Tyrone Appleton][1], a 6-foot-3 point guard from Midland (TX) Community College. He’ll be sitting behind the bench, and so will the aforementioned Travis Releford.**9:45 a.m.**: Man, it’s early for hoops.The first thing I checked on our site this morning was the latest results in our [weekly poll][2], which asks who you consider to be the second-best team in the Big 12, given the Jayhawks’ dominant romp to this point.Never did I think I’d see the day where Baylor and K-State are duking it out. My vote still goes for Texas, since they have the best signature win out of any of ’em, having beaten UCLA. Plus, behind the Jayhawks, they have the league’s best backcourt and its most underrated player (Damion James, averaging 14 ppg and 11 rpg)…**Finally, before getting to today’s game**, I went and checked out the Miege-BV Northwest game last night while swinging through Overland Park and saw Travis Releford play.If you’ve seen him perform this season, my guess would be that you shouldn’t judge how he’ll translate to the college game based on his high school contests. First off, he was the tallest player on the floor for Miege in several instances, meaning he was in the post quite a bit. Also, every time he touches the ball, he gets the double- and triple-team treatments. He only scored seven points, aired a couple of jumpers in traffic and only had one shot at a highlight-reel dunk, which he threw home in the third quarter.But what made him impressive was that he did everything with great ease. He never looked uncomfortable on offense, just couldn’t get the ball to fall much of the night. He was a human springboard on the glass, and he really only got abused defensively once. In a heated contest, Miege won by nine.The player to watch in the coming years will be his brother, Trevor, who as just a sophomore starts at the point for the Stags and plays almost the entire game. He’s an above-average ballhandler, can get to the rack and has both a killer short-range jumper and floater (led Miege with 14 points).**-As far as today’s game goes**, I say this one is pretty much a mortal lock to go down as nothing more than a tune-up for this Wednesday.Watching KU defeat Nebraska up in Lincoln a couple of weeks ago, 79-58, I thought NU had some nice pieces. Aleks Maric will obviously always be Aleks Maric, which means today he’ll get his numbers, but KU’s plethora of post players will find ways to make him look uncomfortable repeatedly in doing so. Ryan Anderson’s as good a three-point shooter as I’ve seen in the league, but that’s an unreliable form of offense night-in and night-out.Two factors, though, going against Nebraska the most in this one. 1) This one’s not at home, where the Red Zone provided a great environment, but not enough to will the Huskers to a win. 2) They don’t have the momentum they had a couple weeks back. Then, Nebraska was 11-2 with quality wins over Oregon and Arizona State in the non-con season, ready to start Big 12 play with NCAA Tournament aspirations. Now, the Huskers are 0-3 after disappointing losses at Colorado and in Lincoln to Baylor by two points, with dreams of March Madness fading fast. An 0-4 start in Big 12 play would only further that process.**Prediction**: KU 88, Nebraska 62Talk to you before the tip. [1]: http://kansas.rivals.com/viewprospect.asp?pr_key=28907&sport=2 [2]: http://www2.kusports.com/polls/2008/jan/its_pretty_clear_ku_class_big_12_mens_hoops_year_w/results/
