Wow, I’m impressed!  What a great recruiting job Bill Self has done this year.  Actually, I was pretty impressed last November, when Self roped in 6’11 center Alexander “Sasha” Kaun, 6’1 guard Russell Robinson, and 6’9 power forward Darnell Jackson.  But, following that, this spring Self  added 6’7 wing Alex Galindo, and 6’10 center C. J. Giles to the mix. Several recruiting analysts rate this class as the second best in the country. While this group doesn’t have the press that Michigan’s Fab Five had several years ago, this is a fabulous quintet that should keep KU at the top of the heap for several years. 

If that wasn’t all, Self also got commitments from two top-ten high school juniors, forward Micah Downs and combo guard Mario Chalmers.  Not a Kansas kid in the bunch, but Giles does have KU credentials, as his dad Chester played for KU in 1979 and 1980 after transferring from Independence (KS) Juco, where he led that team to the 1977 national juco championship.  However, he tore knee ligaments during the first week of preseason drills in 1977-78 and missed the entire season, and never fully recovered during the next two seasons, averaging 3.1 ppg and 2.8 rpg.

So, here’s what the powerful 2004-05 Jayhawks will look like.

The frontcourt will be ably manned by 6’9 senior Wayne Simien, a pre-season All-American, along with Kaun and Giles battling for the starting center position.  They will be backed up by 6’7 junior Christian Moody and Jackson.

The backcourt will return three starters: 6’1 senior point guard Aaron Miles, 6’5 senior off guard Keith Langford, and 6’5 sophomore swing guard J. R. Giddens. Backing up Miles at the point will be Robinson, 5’11 junior Jeff Hawkins, and 6’0 soph Jeremy Case.  Backing up Langford and Giddens will be 6’3 senior Michael Lee, and Galindo. 

Also on the team will be junior center Moulaye Niang, soph guard Nick Bahe, and junior guard Stephen Vinson.

With that lineup, the loaded Jayhawks should be a shoo-in for the Final Four, even if the injury bug hits again.

The season started great for the Jayhawks, who won their first 14 games, including victories over ranked Georgia Tech, Kentucky (without Wayne Simien) and six other NCAA Tournament teams.  A nonconference road loss to Villanova stunned the team, but KU bounced back with six straight victories.  They stumbled down the Big 12 stretch, however, losing four of their final six league games, to tie OU for the conference crown.

Despite struggles during that span, KU won it's 30th straight victory over K-State, and whomped them a 31st time in the quarter-finals of the league tourney.

KU got a 3-seed in the NCAA tourney, and were upset by Bucknell (that's right, BUCKNELL!!!), ending what most of us Jayhawks thought would be the year we took it all.

Recap from KUSports.com

KU vs. OSU, 2/27/2005: http://www2.kusports.com/weblogs/newell_post/2009/may/22/jayhawk-flashback-oklahoma-state-22705/