LJWorld.com

Comparing a team as young as this season’s to one as polished as the defending national champion is as unfair as it is inevitable.

Kansas always strives to be the best basketball team in the nation, even when it returns just one player, Sherron Collins, who played more than four minutes in the 45-minute national-title game.

Nobody shies from expectations around here, and nobody makes youth-driven excuses. So it’s natural to measure this year’s team against last year’s. In doing so, it’s no secret where this one comes up short: front-court depth.

Vastly improved sophomore Cole Aldrich, a shot-blocker who scores in a wide variety of ways, dominates the defensive boards and delivers quick, long outlet passes, plays even bigger than 6-foot-11 and already ranks among the top centers in the nation.

But the search for a reliable sidekick continues. Freshman Quintrell Thomas had a very productive Wednesday night in KU’s 100-79 blowout of New Mexico State, but the long-term answer lies with one of two players who have more pure talent, higher ceilings than Thomas (10 points, seven rebounds in 17 minutes).

Starting power forward Marcus Morris and reserve Markieff Morris, more than anyone on the team, remain something of a mystery.

Both appear to be gifted passers. Markieff has a knack for blocking shots, but turns the ball over too often (seventh in minutes, tied for second with 15 turnovers). Marcus has a knack for hanging around the bucket to pick up offensive rebounds, but misses easy shots.

What remains to be seen is whether they grasp just how much intensity and attention to detail is required to play for a coach as intense and detail-oriented as Bill Self.

Also, just how explosive are they as athletes?

Aldrich handled the second question.

“They pick and choose when they’re explosive,” Aldrich said. “That’s one thing a young kid’s got to learn. You’ve got to be explosive every possession, and you can’t take possessions off.”

Do the twins dunk more often in practice than games?

“They do once in a while, you know, they struggle sometimes,” Aldrich said before cutting a joke. “I usually don’t let them get that dunk or the alley-oop because of my stellar defense on them.”

Aldrich establishes position with physical play and throws down dunks with authority.

“That’s one thing we want to do this year is attack the hoop like we did last year with our bigs,” Aldrich said. “Our bigs last year were freakishly athletic, with Sasha (Kaun), Darnell (Jackson) and Shady (Darrell Arthur). They’d go up, touch the top of the backboard and just go and slam one down.”

That sort of athleticism can’t be duplicated, but the effort and attention to detail can be. Lack of that led to Aldrich playing five first-half minutes, sitting with two fouls. Self took him off the hook for the second foul.

“Somebody else didn’t pay attention to the scouting report and put him in harm’s way,” Self said. “And that’s the whole thing. We’ve got to figure out a way to find that other big guy to play next to him who doesn’t do that. I don’t think we really gather yet the importance of having Cole in the game.”

The sooner the better.