BearTalk

The Golden Bears aspire to be an NCAA Tournament team, and that’s a good thing because over the past 10-plus seasons Kansas has lost just one game at Allen Fieldhouse to an opponent that did not go on to play in the NCAAs.

Cal (6-3) tries to add its name to the short list of teams that recently have won in the house that Phog Allen built. It won’t be easy. Kansas (10-0) is ranked No. 1 in both polls and has won 48 consecutive home games, the longest streak in the nation.

The Jayhawks have lost only nine home games since the start of the 1999-2000 season, and eight of those rare winners were pretty good teams.

The exception was the Kansas State club that posted a 59-55 upset back on Jan. 14, 2006. K-State had lost 67-42 to Nebraska three days earlier and went on to a pedestrian 15-13 season. But the Wildcats held KU to 32-percent shooting and won the Big 12 rivalry game.

 Here are the other eight games Kansas has lost at home since 1999-2000, with the final season record of the visiting teams in parenthesis:

   — Feb. 3, 2007: lost 69-66 to Texas A&M (27-7)

   — Nov. 14, 2006: lost 78-71 to Oral Roberts (23-11)

   — Nov. 23, 2005: lost 72-70 to Nevada (27-6)

   — Feb.19, 2005: lost 63-61 in overtime to Iowa State (19-12)

   — Jan. 22, 2004: lost 69-68 to Richmond (20-13)

   — Jan. 25, 2003: lost 91-74 to No. 1 Arizona (28-4)  

   — Feb. 5, 2001: lost 79-77 to Iowa State (25-6)

   — Feb. 16, 2000: lost 64-62 to Iowa State (32-5)

SELF ON BEARS: KU coach Bill Self expects his team to get its stiffest test of the season tonight.

“Cal is the best team we’ve played, without question. Cal can beat just about anybody. The reason they’ve lost some games is primarily because one of their best players – maybe their most valuable player — has been hurt and he’s back now,” Self said, referring to Theo Robertson. “It’ll be a tough game.”

Robertson missed six games with a right foot injury, but played 22 minutes in Cal’s most recent game, Dec. 9, against Pacific. He is expected to start against Jayhawks. “He changes their whole team,” Self said. “He may be the best three-point shooter in America – at least he was last year.”

Self said the Bears have the offensive firepower to hang with his high-scoring club.

“They are great in transtion, they score really well in early offense, they shoot a ton of threes, make a  ton of threes,” he said. “They are by far the best team we’ve played. They could easily win the Pac 10. They’re good and nobody is coached better than what they are with coach Montgomery.”

Self said he looks forward to the matchup of senior point guards Sherron Collins and Jerome Randle, both former high school stars in Chicago. Collins averaged 33 ppg his senior season at Crane Tech and played in the McDonald’s All-America game. Randle, who played at Hales Franciscan HS, averaged 25 ppg the same season.

“It’ll be two inner-city Chicago guys going at it with Randle and Collins,” Self said. Montgomery hinted last week that Randle may not always be paired against Collins.

“He’s somebody I played against all four years of high school,” Collins said of Randle. “We played on the same AAU team a little bit. We beat ‘em in high school, so right now I’ve got one on him. This is for a little bragging rights.”

NO LUMP OF COLE: Kansas junior center Cole Aldrich, a preseason All-America pick, has gotten a good look at Cal sophomore Max Zhang on video.

“I’ve got the scouting report right here; he’s big. obviously being 7-3, he’s gonna be good,” Aldrich said. “He’s kind of like (teammate) Jeff (Withey) in a small little way.”

Yes, in a little way — Withey is only 7-0.

Aldrich said he’s trying to battle through a patch where he hasn’t been at his best physically. Self told reporters in Kansas that his center had bronchitis, but Aldrich stopped short of that diagnosis.

“Everybody goes through some diferent stuff. You get little colds here, you get little aches and pains there. You’ve got to keep fighting through it,” Aldrich said.
“It’s one of those times of the year you are really going through a lot. It’s not necessarily the dog days of the season because that is still another month away. We just had finals. For any college kid, it’s a tough time. You lose a little sleep but you’ve got to keep going through it. 

“Me personally, I never make excuses for anything so you just keep on fighting.”

KANSAS SCOUT: The Jayhawks are big and deep. They have two preseason All-Americans in Aldrich and Collins, and a budding star in freshman wing Xavier Henry. Plus, they have junior guard Brady Morningstar — a good defender and 3-point shooter — back in action after he sat out the fall term following an arrest for DUI in October.

The Jayhawks are averaging 88.8 ppg, allowing just 58.7. They are shooting 51.3 percent from the field and allowing opponents to convert just 34.5. Only one KU opponent — Radford — has hit 40 percent of its shots. Kansas has won seven of its 10 games by at least 25 points, six of 10 by 30 points or more.

Very few cracks in the armor.

Patrick Christopher said this will be the latest in a series of pre-conference games that will prepare the Bears for the Pac-10. He believes the Bears will have the same energy with which they played in wins over Iowa State and Pacific before their break for exams.

“I think this game will be a good test for us to see if we can continue to do that against a great team,” he said. “Our schedule is great. We’ll definitely be battle-tested for conference and post-season play.

“I don’t think we’ve played our best basketball or anything close to it. It was great to go back (to New York) and play against that type of competition. We’re not going to sit here and make any excuses. Excuses are for losers. Not it’s just about getting better every day and trying to define our team and just make progress.”

MISCELLANY: Jerome Randle enters tonight’s game with 1,360 career points, ranking him 13th on Cal’s career list. He is 22 points behind Roy Fisher (1988-91) and 24 behind Ansley Truitt (1970-72) . . . Patrick Christopher is 15th on the same list with 1,294 points . . . Cal is 3-14 all-time against Kansas, 2-23 all-time vs. No. 1-ranked teams . . . This is just the third meeting between the two schools at Allen Fieldhouse. They also have met in Kansas City, Mo., Kansas City, Kan., Manhattan, Kan., St. Louis, Lahaina, Hawaii, Ancorage, Alaska, Oakland and Berkeley.

TIPOFF: 6 p.m.

WHERE: Allen Fieldhouse, Lawrence, Kan.

TV: ESPN2

RADIO: 1550-AM

PROBABLE LINEUPS

CAL (6-3)
Starters                                 Ht   Yr   Pts   Rebs
SF Theo Robertson                  6-6   Sr.  14.7  3.7
PF Jamal Boykin                      6-8  Sr.  12.2  6.9
C  Max Zhang                         7-2  So.   4.5   3.8
SG Patrick Christopher             6-5  Sr.  15.5  5.6
PG Jerome Randle                  5-10  Sr.  19.6  5.1*

Key reserves
G  Jorge Gutierrez                  6-2  So.   7.0  3.0*
F  Omondi Amoke                   6-7  So.   5.8  7.2
C  Markhuri Sanders-Frison       6-8  Jr.   2.9  4.4

KANSAS (10-0)
Starters                             Ht   Yr   Pts   Rebs
SF Xavier Henry                   6-6  Fr.   17.7   3.8
PF Marcus Morris                  6-8  So.  11.1   5.8
C  Cole Aldrich                   6-11  Jr.   11.3   9.7
SG Tyshawn Taylor              6-3  So.    6.8  4.0*
PG Sherron Collins              5-11   Sr.  13.9  4.2*

Key reserves
C  Markieff Morris                  6-9  So.   8.1  5.7
G  Brady Morningstar             6-3  Jr.   2.0  3.0*
F  Thomas Robinson               6-9  Fr.   5.1   4.8
* – Assists