KU's 2007-08 season, game by game

Kansas 107, Louisiana-Monroe 78

Leading scorer: Sherron Collins, 22

What we learned: Darnell Jackson is a new man. He poured in 21 points off the bench.

Nov. 11

Kansas 85, UMKC 62

Leading scorer: Mario Chalmers, 23

What we learned: Collins has a stress fracture in his left foot and will miss four weeks.

Nov. 15

Kansas 92, Washburn 60

Leading scorer: Darrell Arthur, 14

What we learned: Brandon Rush is back. He scored seven points in his season debut after rehabbing a torn right ACL.

Nov. 21

Kansas 87, Northern Arizona 46

Leading scorer: Arthur, 17

What we learned: KU sure can ‘D’ up. The Lumberjacks had 10 points at halftime.

Nov. 25

Kansas 76, Arizona 72 (OT)

Leading scorer: Arthur, 20

What we learned: Rush will be himself at some point this season. He had 17 points in 36 minutes and spent the game chasing Arizona’s Chase Budinger around screens.

Nov. 28

Kansas 87, Fla. Atlantic 49

Leading scorer: Rush, 17

What we learned: Former KU great Rex Walters, the head coach at Florida Atlantic, hasn’t quite built his program into Allen Fieldhouse South Florida.

Dec. 2

Kansas 59, Southern California 55

Leading scorer: Chalmers, 20

What we learned: Russell Robinson can guard with the best of them. He held USC freshman O.J. Mayo to 19 points on six-of-21 shooting.

Dec. 5

Kansas 85, Eastern Washington 47

Leading scorer: Jackson, 17

What we learned: Kansas should schedule these guys every year.

Dec. 8

Kansas 84, DePaul 66

Leading scorer: Sasha Kaun, 15

What we learned: Kaun actually has a pulse. The big Russian finally played with the urgency of a senior.

Dec. 15

Kansas 88, Ohio 51

Leading scorer: Chalmers, 17

What we learned: The Jayhawks look pretty good in the Sprint Center. Talk about foreshadowing.

Dec. 18

Kansas 71, Georgia Tech 66

Leading scorer: Russell Robinson, 17

What we learned: Robinson can score when he needs to. He looked like the kid from Brother Rice High in Harlem, again for a night.

Dec. 22

Kansas 78, Miami (Ohio) 54

Leading scorer: Arthur and Jackson, 14

What we learned: Not much.

Dec. 29

Kansas 86, Yale 53

Leading scorer: Jackson, 20

What we learned: If this one were about learning, we’re pretty sure Yale wouldn’t have lost by 33.

Jan. 5

Kansas 85, Boston College 60

Leading scorer: Jackson, 25

What we learned: With his third 20-point game of the season, Jackson is truly a different player than he was a year ago.

Jan. 8

Kansas 90, Loyola (Md.) 60

Leading scorer: Collins, 18

What we learned: KU coach Bill Self is tired of Rush’s lack of aggressiveness on offense. He rails on Rush to the media for scoring nine points and taking seven shots.

Jan. 12

Kansas 79, Nebraska 58

Leading scorer: Rush, 19

What we learned: Rush is a good listener, and Self knows how to pull the right strings.

Jan. 14

Kansas 85, Oklahoma 55

Leading scorer: Jackson, 17

What we learned: ESPN’s “Big Monday” in Allen Fieldhouse is a nightmare for opposing teams. OU’s Blake Griffin went down after 5 minutes, and it was never close.

Jan. 19

Kansas 76, Missouri 70

Leading scorer: Chalmers, 18

What we learned: The Jayhawks are good enough to win despite playing on the road and shooting only 40 percent from the field. Or maybe the Tigers were just that bad. Hey, we have to ask!

Jan. 23

Kansas 83, Iowa State 59

Leading scorer: Jackson, 21

What we learned: Jackson isn’t a “trick” anymore. That’s what KU assistant coach Danny Manning had named him because he kept coming close to getting a double-double but not finishing. No tease this time. Jackson had 11 rebounds.

Jan. 26

Kansas 84, Nebraska 49

Leading scorer: Arthur, 18

What we learned: The Cornhuskers should probably play someone other than 6-foot-4 Ryan Anderson on Arthur and Jackson.

Jan. 30

Kansas State 84, Kansas 75

Leading scorer: Chalmers, 19

What we learned: The Jayhawks are beatable. There will be no undefeated regular season. Still, in defeat, they held K-State’s Michael Beasley to 25 points and forced him to do his damage from three (he made all four attempts).

Feb. 2

Kansas 72, Colorado 59

Leading scorer: Jackson, 18

What we learned: Self can give a bang-up halftime speech. Tied 30-30 at halftime, he told the Jayhawks that nobody took pity on them for losing to the Wildcats.

Feb. 4

Kansas 90, Missouri 71

Leading scorer: Rush, 19

What we learned: Freshman big man Cole Aldrich can play. In 12 minutes, he had six points and nine rebounds — by far his best showing of the season to that point.

Feb. 9

Kansas 100, Baylor 90

Leading scorer: Arthur, 23

What we learned: So that’s why no teams try to run with Kansas. The Jayhawks were so good in transition, it didn’t matter that they didn’t make a three for the first time in 271 games.

Feb. 11

Texas 72, Kansas 69

Leading scorer: Arthur, 22

What we learned: KU needs to toughen up. The Jayhawks were outrebounded 23-12 in the second half and coughed up a four-point halftime lead.

Feb. 16

Kansas 69, Colorado 45

Leading scorer: Chalmers, 13

What we learned: Kansas should invite its old-timers back every night. The Jayhawks weren’t going to lose with the 110-year celebration of KU basketball in town.

Feb. 23

Okla. State 61, Kansas 60

Leading scorer: Jackson, 16

What we learned: A bloodbath might not work in KU’s favor. Forty-seven fouls were called, and the Jayhawks could never get a rhythm.

Feb. 27

Kansas 75, Iowa State 64

Leading scorer: Arthur, 18

What we learned: The chicken wings at Henry T’s Bar & Grill in Lawrence must have been pretty good. The Jayhawks had their players-only meeting and were back on track.

March 3

Kansas 109, Texas Tech 51

Leading scorer: Robinson, 15

What we learned: Two things. First, you know it’s Senior Night when Robinson hits five of five from the field and three of three from beyond the arc. Second, Texas Tech coach Pat Knight is funny. He said it felt as if his players had walked into a lion’s den wearing a meat necklace.

March 8

Kansas 72, Texas A&M 55

Leading scorer: Arthur and Chalmers, 16

What we learned: Collins is healthy enough to score 13 points and dish out seven assists in 32 minutes.

March 14

Kansas 64, Nebraska 54

Leading scorer: Collins, 13

What we learned: The Jayhawks’ heads weren’t in it against the Cornhuskers in the Big 12 tournament first round.

March 15

Kansas 77, Texas A&M 71

Leading scorer: Rush, 28

What we learned: Rush loves playing in KC. His career-high game was the first sign that he was headed for big things in the NCAAs.

March 20

Kansas 85, Portland State 61

Leading scorer: Rush, 18

What we learned: KU’s best scorers led the charge in round one of the NCAA Tournament. Arthur had 17, and Chalmers had 16.

March 22

Kansas 75, UNLV 56

Leading scorer: Chalmers, 17

What we learned: Maybe Kansas should play four guards more often. Going against a small UNLV team, Self went with a lineup of Robinson, Rush, Collins and Chalmers with one big man, and KU ran away from the Runnin’ Rebels.

March 28

Kansas 72, Villanova 57

Leading scorer: Rush, 16

What we learned: Robinson is hot, hot, hot. He scored 13 points in the first 10 minutes, and KU moved on to the Elite Eight.

March 30

Kansas 59, Davidson 57

Leading scorer: Chalmers and Kaun, 13

What we learned: Sometimes, it’s better to be lucky than good.

April 5

Kansas 84, N. Carolina 66

Leading scorer: Rush, 25

What we learned: Maybe Roy Williams does look better in Carolina blue. The Jayhawks jumped ahead 40-12 and held on for dear life in the second half to advance to the title game for the first time since 2003.

April 7

Kansas 75, Memphis 68 (OT)

Leading scorer: Arthur, 20

What we learned: The Jayhawks have a spine. With their backs firmly against the wall, KU didn’t give up. Chalmers’ three-pointer with 2.1 seconds on the clock sent it to overtime. Right then, the Jayhawks knew it was their game.