I imagine Houston was favored (or at least close) against Arizona last year. And if they weren't, they should have been.

If we get through the issues Howard poses, there are also very good reasons to be worried about Arkansas. The biggest being that they are physical and foul a ton. With our depth, we can't afford any kind of foul trouble/a foul filled game at all.

Be VERY concerned

Howard unfortunately was the last team we wanted to see on Thursday. They are as hot as any team in the country (winning 14 of 16) and have exactly the kind of statistical profile that is capable of pulling off a major upset.

On the offensive side, they are an excellent three point shooting team (37.2% for 31st in the country) and disturbingly run out a lineup where their two bigs are capable of pulling up and knocking down a three (Wood and Settle are each 6'9/6'10 and have taken nearly 250 of them on the season combined). One of KU's biggest issues throughout the years has been when teams play five out like that and force our bigs to guard the perimeter. Look for that to happen often on Thursday.

Howard's two guards (Hawkins and Dockery) are also two of the best shooters in the nation, each shooting at a clip of about 45% between the two of them. In addition, Hawkins is one of the best passers/creators of anybody we've faced all year, with the eight highest assist rate in the country. Even more alarming is their very high offensive rebounding rate (33.8 OREB%, 28th in the country) as they crash the boards on the rare threes they do miss. Defensive rebounding has been a season long problem for KU, particularly when KJ Adams is on the floor, and it would hardly be surprising if it proved to be again this week.

Defensively, Howard is also a very aggressive team and force a particularly high turnover rate (20.7%, 54th in the country). They will be looking to make the game physical and get KU into foul trouble (and into their bench) early, which is exactly what KU will be looking to avoid.

And to top it all off, we have Bobby Pettiford and Howard doesn't. While it might be pretty easy for some to look ahead to Arkansas already, we're going to be need to be ready for this one. Howard is dangerous.

Howard cannot - and will not - beat us.

Oh they most certainly can. We'll soon find out whether they will.

I was feeling confident until I read this.

We are twenty three point favorites.

Jalen Wilson and DaJuan Harris are not letting us lose to...HOWARD.

STOP THIS NONSENSE.

Did you read their profile? Both have gotta be on the floor to do that and there's no guarantees either one stays out of foul trouble against a team as physical as Howard. Remember who the backup PG is.

Do you seriously not know his shtick?

I have been a KU fan since 1986. I have seen all but 4 games since then, many at AFH.

And, with this KU team, I would take Howard and the points (23) all day, every day. However, I never bet against my teams.

If we win, the final spread will probably be more like 13-16, or something like that.

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It really underestimates the grind of the Big 12 schedule, plus Houston had a non-con SoS of 152... and that's with Houston playing Virginia and Alabama.

I feel like they could maybe have more of a case if they really shot for a top 20 non-con schedule, but to say KU's bar for the Midwest region is being a goddamn machine for 5 months straight while Houston's is set to beating up on teams that can't score 50 points to warm up for decent competition once every couple weeks... :shrug:

All this has proven is that strength of both non conference/conference schedule, strength of conference, & quad 1 record are meaningless. KU would be better off joining the Mountain West, destroying the conference every year, taking their #1 seed, and then only worrying about the NCAA Tourney.

This year, anyway... other years, it's explained that quad 1 wins and non-con SoS are deciding factors, and teams need to beef up their schedule and will be awarded for it.

We’ll find out this weekend how much playing a grinding schedule prepares teams for the tournament.

Will the Big 12 come out and dominate? Or be worn down?

I’m curious if these teams from other conferences will look like the Eagles defense playing their first elite QB of the season in the Super Bowl.