Rocky Mountain High

This is what we've been waiting for.

The genius of all of the seemingly hare-brained decisions that Bill Self has made over the past year and a half is starting to show. The constant lineup shifting, the benching of players, the extreme emphasis on defense; the investment in his own system paid off in spades last night in Boulder.

You knew Colorado would be ready to play. They were off to their best start in over 20 years. They could smell blood with a young and inexperienced KU team coming into their environment. They have a lot of athletes and an aggressive defense. But the beauty of Bill Self's coaching shined through. The Jayhawks held their ground in the opening minutes against Colorado's attacking style of play. The young players seemed rattled at first, but stuck to playing the tough defense that Self has been preaching. And that defense is what kept them in this game and will keep them in every game this season. If your opponent is missing two-thirds of their shots, you almost always have a chance to win.

Additionally, Christian Moody provided a settling influence with what might have been his best game. Moody reverted to what made him such an effective player last year, picking his spots and, save for his 3-pointer, not trying to do too much. He provided some much-needed stability until Brandon Rush could find his game.

And, boy did he. After looking lost and intimidated in the first half, Rush flipped on the same switch that he triggered during the Kentucky game, scoring all of his 17 points in the second half. Offensively, this team will go as Rush goes. And luckily for KU, Rush was feeling it in the second half. His highlight dunk sent the message that you won't be able to hold him down for very long.

And Self's insistence that defense and protecting the basketball come first justifies his haphazard substitution patterns. If those messages had not been emphasized early on to Russell Robinson and Mario Chalmers, we would not have beat Colorado. The young guards combined for 20 points, 11 assists and only 3 turnovers in addition to their relentless pressure on the opposing guards. And their numerous forays into the lane kept the Colorado defense honest, regardless of the fact that many of the shots were blocked and no one could knock down a 3-pointer.

One of the unsung heroes was Darnell Jackson. Jackson provided high levels of energy and picked up the slumping Sasha Kaun and C.J. Giles. Neither Kaun nor Giles could seem to get anything going, but it didn't matter as Jackson stepped up with 10 points and 7 rebounds in 17 minutes. He and with Moody provided the Jayhawks with an inside presence that was desperately needed.

To be fair to Kaun, though, Moody's inspired play kept Julian Wright on the bench. How does that affect Kaun? Wright opens up the offense more than anyone besides Rush. He seems to be the only person who can consistently get the ball inside to Kaun. Of all Self's lineup machinations, Wright and Kaun together is a combination that he hasn't taken full advantage of yet.

Amazingly, though Giles and Kaun only played a total of 25 minutes, the Jayhawks annihilated the Buffaloes on the boards, 50-28. Colorado had ranked second in the conference in rebounding, yet Kansas managed to beat them on the offensive glass as well by a margin of 13-8.

Really, the only blemish was the poor performance of Jeff Hawkins. And it looked like we might have been spared as he got into early foul trouble. Unfortunately, so did Robinson and Chalmers, forcing Hawkins back in the game. Hawkins was clearly overmatched handling the ball and chimed in with a team-high 4 turnovers. But Self managed to steal a few minutes with Stephen Vinson and Jeremy Case until the time was right to get Chalmers and Robinson back in the game.

Any road win in the Big XII is significant, but this one was particularly special. After suffering through the ups and downs of the non-conference season, the lessons that Self has been teaching have begun to reap some benefits. And if the Jayhawks continue to stay tough and execute like they have the last two games, this could be a very dangerous team come March.