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Kansas Jayhawks Odds to Win 2008 NCAA Tournament
Lawrence, Kansas is in the mist of another great season from their Kansas Jayhawks. With only 9 regular season games and the Big 12 tournament remaining, Kansas currently sits #4 in the AP Poll, with a 22 -1 record. Kansas was ranked as high as #2 just a week ago, before a tough loss at #20 Kansas State. While Kansas hasn’t had the toughest schedule so far, they have beat quality teams such as USC and Arizona. Though they haven’t played the toughest teams, they have handled those teams very easily and looked as though they were much better than the competition they were playing. A lot will be learned about just how good these Jayhawks are, as they face a pretty tough schedule the rest of the way.
Kansas is coached by Bill Self and is coming off a season in which they reached the Elite 8 before losing to UCLA. They are trying to keep their ranking high in hopes for another #1 seed in the tournament. They are led by a balance attack of scores, where Darrell Arthur, Brandon Rush, Darnell Jackson, and Mario Chalmers, all average with in one point of each other from 12 to 13 pts. They did lose star forward Julian Wright from last years squad to the NBA. They do return a number of players off last year’s squad, and should be ready to make another run at the National Championship. Junior Rush and Sophomore Arthur will be the key in just how good this team can be. The team has been greatly surprised by the senior play of Jackson, who has raised his scoring average from 5.5 to 12.5 and his rebounding average from 5.1 to 7.1. Jackson moved into the staring forward spot this year, taking over for the loss of Wright.
As we mentioned before Kansas faces a very tough schedule before the NCAA Tournament. 7 of their 9 games remaining come against teams with current winning records. The toughest opponents are definitely going to be, home games against Baylor and Kansas State, and road games against Texas and Texas A&M. These 4 games will tell a lot of just how good this team really is. Its only true road test so far was their win at USC. That’s not all, as they still will have to play in the Big 12 Tournament. Where they will most likely face at least one of these 4 teams again. So if teams such as North Carolina, Duke, Memphis, and UCLA continue to win, Kansas will have to win almost everyone of their remaining games if they want a number one seed in this years tournament. While a number one seed does not guarantee a nation championship, it does make the path a little easier. So even if Kansas is to slip up along the way, we can still see them doing serious damage as a two or three seed. As for their chances to win the National Championship, we believe they are very good. They will need to prove themselves in the weeks leading up to selection Sunday before we put them as our favorites to win it all.
Kansas Jayhawks Odds to Win 2008 NCAA Tournament 7 – 2
If you think that this is the Jayhawk’s year to win it all head over to Sportsbook.com and get your bet in early. If you aren’t sure just yet go ahead and get your account set up, so that way you won’t miss any of the action. Also, as always feel free to leave a comment in the comments box.
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