Q: Who has been the most disappointing team so far?
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Barb, Evansville, Ind.

A: Barb, I hate to add to Billy Gillispie’s problems but I think it’s a one-team race at this point in the season. I thought maybe Kentucky could do something to change my mind Tuesday night, but the Wildcats got blown out at Houston 83-69. That dropped Kentucky to 4-5 and the Wildcats have lost four consecutive games for the first time since 1989-90 (Rick Pitino’s first season at Kentucky). Jodie Meeks scored 21 points and looked terrific in his first game back from a stress fracture in his pelvic area. But freshman Patrick Patterson, Kentucky’s leading rebounder, was sidelined with an ankle injury. There’s no doubt it would be beneficial to get more players out of the trainer’s room and back on the floor, but Kentucky’s problems run deeper than that. The Wildcats are having enormous difficulty adjusting to Gillispie’s philosophy. That was obvious last month against Gardner-Webb and it was evident again in the Houston game. At times, they simply look lost.

“At the biggest times in games, you have to get stops,” Gillispie told reporters after losing to Tom Penders and the Cougars. “We haven’t gotten a stop all year when we’ve really needed to, I think.” Kentucky fans need to be patient. This won’t last. It took time for Gillispie’s system to take hold at Texas A&M. But patience is kind of tough, especially when former Kentucky coach Tubby Smith is off to a 7-1 start at Minnesota.

Q: Do you think Kansas will win the national championship behind the big men?
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Colton Lovelace, Lawrence, Kan.

A: Right now Kansas is among an elite group of teams with national championship potential. North Carolina, Memphis, Texas, Georgetown and UCLA are the others — with Duke gaining ground. There are a couple of ways to interpret your question, Colton. If Kansas wins its first title since 1988, I think it be because the Jayhawks have the best group of guards in the country and they play tremendous defense. College basketball championships are won with guard play. Russell Robinson, Mario Chalmers, Sherron Collins and Brandon Rush give the Jayhawks depth and versatility on the perimeter. They love to play defense and create turnovers that lead to easy points. Since Kansas doesn’t shoot extremely well, those transition points are huge. When one or two of those guards are stroking the three-pointer, Kansas is almost unbeatable.

But your point about the big men is extremely valid in this sense: A guy like Darrell Arthur could really put Kansas over the top. Arthur has developed into a top power forward. He leads KU in scoring with a 13.2 average, but he needs to assert himself more on offense. Darnell Jackson may be the most improved player in the nation and Sasha Kaun is bringing tremendous energy off the bench now. Together, they certainly could elevate Kansas. If the Jayhawks attack the boards, start looking inside for points more often, and Rush continues to get back into shape, they may emerge as the team to beat.

Q: Do you think South Carolina has a chance to make the NCAA tournament? Will Dave Odom retire after this season?
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Andy Rawl, Greenville, S.C.

A: It’s going to be an uphill battle for South Carolina to reach the NCAA field. The Gamecocks were 5-4 going into their game against a very improved Baylor team. And is there any neighborhood tougher than the Southeastern Conference East with Florida, Vanderbilt, Tennessee, Georgia and Kentucky? The conference schedule might be South Carolina’s biggest obstacle. The Gamecocks picked up a big road win at Providence despite a second-half stretch of almost six minutes without a field goal. Odom is trying to get it done with transfers Devan Downey and Zam Frederick, along with a rather mediocre recruiting class. It’s understandable that the natives are a bit restless. We haven’t heard anything about retirement plans for Odom, but with only one NCAA appearance in six seasons with the Gamecocks, his tenure might be limited.

Q: What is a "team" rebound? Is it included in the total rebounds for the team? Does it get attributed to any individual player's statistics?
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Quigley, San Diego

A: There are three kinds of rebounds: individual, team and dead-ball. According to the NCAA 2008 Basketball Statistical Rules, a team rebound “is credited to the team that is entitled to the ball for a throw-in if the ball has gone out of bounds after a missed goal but before there was player control.” Team rebounds are included in a team’s total rebounds but are separate from player totals. If the ball becomes dead before it meets the requirement for either an individual or a team rebound, then a dead-ball rebound is recorded. Dead-ball rebounds are not included in the team total. So why keep the dead-ball stat? Again, according to the rules book, “Analysis of game statistics indicates that each — team and dead-ball rebounds — accounts for about five percent of a team’s rebounds. Therefore, if dead-ball rebounds are counted as team rebounds, it could affect the national rankings.”

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