Good News in Mizzou’s Quest to Not Lose to Kansas: DeAndre Daniels Picks UConn

After two straight years of landing top recruits (that didn’t quite pan out that well) in Xavier Henry and Josh Selby, Kansas lost in one of the last big basketball recruiting battles over DeAndre Daniels, who recently committed to reigning national champion UConn. KUsports.com had this to say on the big recruiting war that took place over Daniels:

"Daniels, a 6-foot-8, 200-pound forward originally from Woodland Hills, Calif., who is ranked No. 10 overall in his class by Rivals.com and has been on KU’s radar for months, announced his much-anticipated decision via the IMG Academies web site Tuesday afternoon.Daniels was heavily recruited by Texas, Kansas, Duke, Florida, Tennessee, Oklahoma State and others. A hybrid guard/forward, Daniels can attack the basket off the dribble, finish in traffic and knock down the three-point shot with consistency well beyond the college line, said Andy Borman, Director of the IMG Basketball Academy."

This news bodes very well for Frank Haith and the Tigers, who will be looking to prevent Kansas from winning its eighth straight regular season championship along with the other likely contenders in the Big 12 (Texas, Baylor, and Kansas State). While I do think that Kansas won’t be quite as dominant as they were during the last two seasons, they still should be considered the favorites to win the Big 12, because, well, they’re Kansas, and we all know that Kansas will find their path to victory in one way or another. It’s a streak as old as Bill Self’s toupee, and it deserves our respect.

This news bodes even better for Missouri’s more-attainable quest to not lose to the Jayhawks on the hardwood; the Tigers haven’t beaten KU since Zaire Taylor’s last-second jumper back in 2009.

The Jayhawk roster for the 2001-2012 season includes returning starter Tyshawn Taylor, role players Travis Releford, Elijah Johnson and Thomas Robinson (I expect the latter two to make huge jumps in terms of minutes and production), and a recruiting class of four players, the stand-outs being Ben McLemore and Naadir Tharpe (both 4-star recruits on Rivals.com)

Mizzou’s Quest to Not Lose to Kansas

At home: 65% chance of not losing to Kansas

At Kansas: 15% chance of not losing to Kansas