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Thursday, February 7, 2013
Should Kansas be concerned?

By Luke Lapinski

Kansas has had a remarkable season up to this point -- especially considering the fact that the program lost Thomas Robinson and Tyshawn Taylor to the NBA after last year's impressive run. But the Jayhawks have now dropped two straight, and last night's defeat at the hands of TCU has to be considered college basketball's biggest upset of the 2012-13 campaign so far.

So just how worried should Bill Self's group be? On the one hand, they're still 19-3. And a strong case could be made that they lost last night simply because their shots would not fall. As a team, KU made baskets at just a 29.5 percent clip from the field. Even though the Frogs were 0-8 in Big 12 play entering last night, it's tough to win when nothing's going in.

With that said, the Jayhawks have some potential weaknesses they need to fix if they truly intend on contending for a National Championship. As Jeff Borzello of CBS Sports points out, point guard is a bit of an issue. Elijah Johnson and Naadir Tharpe are solid players -- but is either of them built to run the show and distribute the ball for a team as it makes a run through the best programs in the country in a single elimination format? And can anyone emerge as a consistent scorer alongside Ben McLemore? He's been absolutely phenomenal this year, but he's still a freshman. Depending on a first-year player to provide most of the offense is a risky proposition. KenPom.com has Kansas rated No. 24 in adjusted offensive efficiency. That's not bad by any means, but is it enough to win it all? This team clearly has the talent to win most nights -- even without playing at the top of its game. But, if the goal is to be the absolute best in the country, there's still room for improvement.

Eamonn Brennan
The bigger storyline?
""Good for the Horned Frogs -- this is a rare moment in the sun for a program with almost no historical relevance whatsoever, and it should be enjoyed as such. But it was Kansas that failed to pressure the Horned Frogs well enough to generate easy points; it was Kansas that squandered mini-run after mini-run, and flung brick after increasingly forlorn brick into the unforgiving iron.""