Two teams whose seasons are headed in different directions: the Kansas Jayhawks are likely headed for a finish near the top of the Big 12 while the USC Trojans will probably hang around the middle of the pack in a mediocre Pac-12.

Kansas is coming off a loss to Davidson on Monday night and would like to get back on the winning track. Also on Monday, USC beat TCU but a win tonight would do wonders for a young team.

The KU-USC breakdown is waiting for you after the jump.

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Kansas Jayhawks guard Tyshawn Taylor is recovering from surgery on a torn meniscus in his right knee. The surgery, performed Sunday morning, reportedly went well and Taylor is supposed to be out two to three weeks.

Taylor tore the meniscus during practice last Monday, but played in KU wins over Long Beach State and Ohio State before opting to have the surgery. After consulting with doctors, Taylor decided to hold off on surgery until after the the highly anticipated game against the Buckeyes. No additional damage could have resulted from playing in the two games, it was simply a matter of Taylor's pain threshold.

KU head coach Bill self released a statement on the Taylor injury, saying "Nothing had changed in the time frame for recovery, which is one to three weeks. He will be up and around tomorrow morning and will be back in the shortest time possible. The time for recovery depends on swelling and how he reacts to rehab."

If recovery takes the longest estimated time, Taylor would return to the floor in time for KU's first conference game, January 4 vs. Kansas St in Lawrence.

Taylor is the second Big 12 star to tear a meniscus after Texas A&M Aggies forward Khris Middleton was sidelined earlier after tearing his in the Aggies' first game of the season. Middelton returned on Saturday and scored a team high 24 points in the Aggies victory over Louisiana-Monroe.

There might not be a better matchup to watch this year than Thomas Robinson squaring off against Jared Sullinger when Robinson's Kansas Jayhawks host Sullinger's Ohio St. Buckeyes Saturday in Lawrence. That is, if the matchup of the top two leaders on CBS Sports' Player of the Year watch list happens.

Going into the game, Sullinger is averaging 19.1 ppg while pulling down 10.3 rebounds a game. Robinson is right there with him, averaging 17.4 ppg and 12 rpg. So, while every college basketball fan would love to see these two bang the boards, the real key to this matchup may be Sullinger's back.

The 6-9 sophomore All-American missed the Buckeyes last game with back spasms, but according to OSU head coach, Thad Matta, Sullinger may be ready to play Saturday. "It's kind of on him, just sort of how he feels," Matta told the AP.

With Sullinger, second-ranked Ohio State has one of the best teams in the country, and will give Kansas its third meeting against top ten schools this season, after losses to the then #2 Kentucky Wildcats and the then #6 Duke Blue Devils. Ironically it was after Duke beat Kansas to win the Maui Invitational that they traveled to Columbus and got blown out by OSU, in a game where Sullinger led the team in points and rebounds, but got great supporting effort from the Buckeyes lesser-known (nationally) heroes.

That supporting cast includes senior William Buford (16 ppg), sophomore Deshaun Thomas (12.9 ppg) and sophomore guard Aaron Craft (9.8 ppg and 5.5 apg).

Assuming Sullinger plays, for KU to win they need to a combination of Robinson and Jeff Withey to limit his touches. Duke doesn't have a physical big man like T-Rob, so his presence should challenge Sullinger. Also, Tyshawn Taylor will need to keep the crafty (eh?) Craft in front of him. Though he doesn't look like it, Craft is a wiry, speedy guard and deceptively blows past defenders with ease.

This is a must watch game for any college basketball fan and can be seen on Saturday at 2:15 p.m. CST on ESPN.

College basketball "began" last week and we all learned a little bit more about our Big 12 teams. But now it's time to get serious with the premier preseason tournament in the game today, the EA Sports Maui Invitational. This year's field may be the deepest ever with Tennessee, UCLA, Georgetown, Memphis, Duke, Kansas, Michigan and of course the tournament host, Chaminade, all participating.

Kansas is coming off a loss to No. 2 Kentucky 75-65 on Tuesday night. They hung tough with the Wildcats, tying them at halftime 28-28, but UK got all five starters in double figure scoring to pull away in the second half. Georgetown comes in undefeated at 2-0, facing their first real competition of the season. 

Will the Jayhawks rebound or the Hoyas stay perfect? We continue after The Jump. 

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This glorious day of college hoops comes to a fitting close with the inaugural edition of the Champions Classic doubleheader at Madison Square Garden. While the other game has some coach trying to set a new record or something, Kentucky-Kansas is the only one we really care about. John Calipari hasn't met Bill Self in a game since Memphis played Kansas in that epic national championship three years ago. 

Who has the edge tonight? The answer after The Jump.

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Kentucky Sports Radio founder Matt Jones wrote an article for Grantland discussing Kentucky's National Title hopes this week in a series looking at the top five contenders. Most of the article is very insightful. But one point caught my eye in a big way: "[Calipari] knows that he is as good as or better than others in the coaching elite and that his résumé should certainly be considered greater than that of lesser coaches with national titles, like Bill Self, Billy Donovan, and Tubby Smith."

Is Jones implying that John Calipari's resume is that much better than Bill Self? Because looking at facts, they're very similar (with one glaring omission). Jones includes Mike Krzyzewski, Roy Williams, Tom Izzo, Jim Boeheim and Jim Calhoun in the top tier. I think there's an argument that Self has coached better than Boeheim, and Izzo and Self aren't irreconcilably separated either (nor for that matter are Boeheim, Izzo and Calipari). Coach K and Calhoun are probably tops with seven National Championships between them, though Calhoun's lack of consistency over the years makes his legacy a little harder to pin down. Regardless, let's get back to Bill Self and John Calipari.

Self was consensus Coach of the Year in 2009 and won TSN's Coach of the Year in 2000. Calipari was consensus Coach of the Year in 1996 and won awards in 2008 and 2009. Both are tremendous coaches with tremendous resumes.

We'll look at the numbers after the jump...

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So remember how Josh Selby was a consensus top three recruit out of high school but saw his stock plummet after a lackluster season with Kansas?

I'd say the Grizzlies did pretty well with the 49th pick of the draft based on these highlights from "Melo League" in Baltimore (Selby's hometown).

Clearly, we don't want to take too much from a summer league game with very little of what some like to call "defense", but this still looks a lot like the Selby many Jayhawk fans were expecting to show up in Lawrence this season. Selby thrives as the alpha-dog; the question is will he ever get the chance to play as the number one option in NBA.

Selby averaged 20 minutes and eight points a game for Kansas during his freshman season. His playing time was inconsistent due to an early suspension and multiple injuries.

More Selby highlights after the jump.

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For anyone that could put 2 and 2 together it should come as no surprise that Kansas Jayhawks freshman Josh Selby tweeted today that he is declaring for the NBA draft.  

Selby was the No. 1 rated high school senior last season and went to KU with the unstated knowledge that he'd leave Lawrence after one season.

After sitting out the first nine games of the season due to NCAA suspension, Selby burst onto the scene with a 21 point outburst - including the game winning 3-pointer - in KU's victory over USC in December.

That game turned out to be his best of the season.

Selby played well for the first 13 games of his career, registering double figure scoring outputs in nine of those games. Then he suffered a foot injury that forced him to miss three games, and he never returned to form.

After the foot injury, Selby's high scoring output was a nine point effort in an NCAA tournament win against Richmond. During the final 13 games of the season Selby was held scoreless more times - three - than he registered at least seven points in a game.

Everyone is free to make their own decisions, and many times familial responsibilities outweigh logical choices, but Selby really didn't prove anything in his one year in the Big 12 that would make me think he is NBA ready. But as we know, NBA GMs pay a pretty penny for potential, and Selby definitely has that.

Selby has been in Las Vegas since KU was knocked out of the tournament by VCU and missed the team's basketball banquet earlier this week.

For the season, Selby averaged 7.9 points, 2.2 assists and 2.2 rebounds per game while shooting 37.3 percent from the field and 36.2 percent from behind the arc.