Column: KU’s ideal starting five becoming more clear

Kansas forward Cliff Alexander (2) gets up to reject a shot from Kent State forward Jimmy Hall (35) during the second half on Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2014 at Allen Fieldhouse.

KANSAS 78, KENT STATE 62

• Box score

Consider the Kansas University basketball team’s final game of 2014, a 78-62 victory against Kent State in Allen Fieldhouse, a small move in the right direction.

Not just toward becoming a better team, but in settling on a starting lineup that gives KU its best blend of pure talent and experience. It’s not difficult to formulate a guess as to which five players form that starting lineup, one that took the court for one game, which also happened to be the worst game Kansas has played in years.

Here’s a hint: KU’s four McDonald’s All-Americans, plus its best player, sophomore point guard Frank Mason III. (By the way, Kansas has four of the Big 12’s seven McDonald’s All-Americans, Cameron Ridley and Myles Turner of Texas and Oklahoma State’s Le’Bryan Nash being the others.)

For those who can’t rattle off the names of the hamburger All-Americans — you know, the dozen or so among 16,300 paying customers who crammed into the fieldhouse Tuesday night — they are Cliff Alexander, Perry Ellis, Kelly Oubre Jr. and Wayne Selden Jr.

The four Mickey D’s AA’s somnambulated onto the court for the opening tip just once, joining Mason, so far, and 40 minutes of game clock later, the scoreboard read Temple 77, Kansas 52. A deeper look revealed KU, sans Mason and Oubre, was empty from the left temple to the right that night against Temple.

Alexander, Ellis and Selden combined to make just 3 of 19 shots in that one, but come on, what are the odds that three guys would forget to set their mental alarm clocks for the opening tip on the same night again?

Oubre, playing the first half Tuesday night against Kent State like a guy who should have been ranked higher than No. 12 by rivals.com, has established himself as a starter to go with Mason and returning starters Ellis and Selden.

The final domino falls when Alexander puts together two halves like his second half against Kent State. Unlike in the first half, in the second, Alexander tuned in well enough to run the floor hard and chase rebounds, and in eight minutes produced eight points, three rebounds, two blocked shots and a steal. Alexander’s five first-half minutes, played on Mars, produced one rebound. True, it takes long arms to rebound from Mars to Allen Fieldhouse, and Alexander is equipped with those, but he’s more than a big body. He’ll  show a lot more than that soon because this is the time of year when freshmen, especially such talented ones, improve most. Just look at Oubre.

Kent State didn’t provide the test for Kansas that UNLV will Sunday –Rebels 6-foot-11 sophomore center Christian Wood dropped 24 and 10 on Arizona — but the Jayhawks did show more of those defensively initiated scoring spurts that were the trademarks of some of the better recent KU teams, including the 2008 national champions. And Kansas did play faster in transition in both directions, as illustrated by the box score showing 19 points in transition for the home team and a zero for the visitors.

It amounted to an entertaining night and a needed sparring session before Sunday’s game against Vegas.

More news and notes from Kansas vs. Kent State