A few links to start off your Thursday …

• We’ll start with the Kansas-Kansas State highlights from KU Athletics following the Jayhawks’ 59-55 victory.

The best part of the video is actually a shot of the bench 45 seconds in, as KU freshman guard Rio Adams becomes the latest Jayhawk to show off his dancing skills, this time on the KU bench.

This clip comes a month after Ben McLemore received national attention for his dance moves in the KU locker room following a road win over Ohio State.

Anyone have an official term for the dance move Adams is doing? I only know that I am not capable of it.

• SI.com’s Luke Winn released his weekly Power Ratings, and the Jayhawks have moved to the No. 1 spot.

In the column, Winn updates his Jeff Withey shot-block chart, commenting that according to his logs, KU has retained possession on 72 percent of the senior’s blocks. That’s an astounding number if you think about it.

Winn wasn’t the only national writer to bump KU up to No. 1, as FoxSports.com’s Ken Davis also has the Jayhawks in the top spot (and both of these rankings came out before Duke’s loss Wednesday night.

• In a chat with readers, ESPN.com’s Chad Ford calls McLemore the best player I’ve watched in college this season.”

Ford’s response comes about one-fifth of the way down the page. When he’s asked if McLemore has a chance to go No. 1 overall, Ford responds, in part, by saying:

I do. In fact he’s strongly trending
in that direction. I spoke with five
different GMs this week who told me
they’d take him No. 1.

• I retweeted this Wednesday (shameless plug: @jessenewell), but if you haven’t seen Thomas Heying’s photo of KSU’s Thomas Gipson putting Withey in a chokehold during Tuesday’s game from the Wichita Eagle, then it’s definitely worth checking out.

• ESPN.com’s Jason King had a short video interview with KU guard Elijah Johnson following the KSU victory. Johnson says the win meant a lot because he didn’t want to finish with a career .500 record at Bramlage Coliseum.

• KU basketball signee Wayne Selden shows off his athleticism with a couple of exhibition dunks to start this video. Twice, Selden throws the ball off the gym wall, lets it bounce once, then elevates to slam it in.

• Here’s a first-person account of Hall of Fame basketball coach Tex Winter meeting with the KU basketball team on Tuesday morning from Larry Weigel in the Manhattan Mercury.

• Kansas State forward Shane Southwell had an interesting way of describing Withey, telling FoxSports.com’s Sean Keeler, “He’s like the best goalie in the country.”

• Ken Pomeroy wrote a well-thought-out blog post Thursday morning about the importance of margin of victory and why Butler coach Brad Stevens didn’t go crazy after his team pulled off a remarkable, last-second comeback against Gonzaga last week.

I really liked this quote from Pomeroy:

It would be in any analyst’s best
interest to understand this and not
parrot the cliché that said team (not
naming names!) just “knows how to
win”. The teams that truly know how to win
are the ones that have a cushion at
the end of the game. They aren’t at
the mercy of wacky officiating,
whimsical replay reviews, or
half-court heaves.

It’s something to keep in mind with KU this year (and the reason the Jayhawks are still seventh in the KenPom statistical rankings). While it’s beneficial to have a team play well in tight-game situations, the best teams are the ones that can build up enough of a lead (especially against marginal competition … I’m looking at you, Texas) to avoid those scenarios altogether.

• And finally, CBSsports.com senior blogger Matt Norlander looks at the success of the three Div. I teams in the state of Kansas. Norlander reported before Tuesday’s games that during the last 3 1/2 seasons, KU, KSU and Wichita State were a combined 303-72 — good for an 81-percent winning percentage.