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LAWRENCE, Kan. -- Kansas coach Bill Self was asked not long ago about the Jayhawks early schedule, and he wryly gazed across the room at several school administrators and responded with his own question.Who thought this was a good idea? he said.Few teams play tougher nonconference schedules than the third-ranked Jayhawks, which is a big reason why their RPI is always among the best in the country. But theyve taken it up a notch this year, playing No. 11 Indiana in their opener Friday night before facing top-ranked Duke on Tuesday.Oh, and those two games will take place 5,000 miles apart.I think to get a couple of blue-bloods to play, I think it will be a great game, said Self, whose Jayhawks face the Hoosiers in Honolulu before turning around to play the Blue Devils in New York.Self may have poked fun at school officials for their brutal first week, but in reality he wouldnt have it any other way. The game in Hawaii is part of the Armed Forces Classic, and roughly coincides with the anniversary of Pearl Harbor, while the game at Madison Square Garden is part of the Champions Classic doubleheader that also features second-ranked Kentucky and No. 14 Michigan State.These are the kinds of games that top-rated recruits want to play, and the kind that give Kansas the national exposure that it takes to reel them in.I mean, its hard. You play national, traditional powers, the league will be great, all these things, Self said. But when it was brought to me to have a chance to play in kind of the 75th anniversary of Pearl Harbor and what that could mean from an educational standpoint with our guys and everything, I think that was something like, `Yeah, emotionally weve got to do that.Of course, then he realized how the flight itinerary will look.Were taking three planes over there. Weve got to take three planes back to New York. We cant even travel together, Self said. And its certainly not going to be easy coming back to play after that trip, and all we did was set ourselves up to have a tough opening start.At least Spartans coach Tom Izzo can commiserate.Michigan State plays No. 10 Arizona in the other part of the Armed Forces Classic on Friday night, then will take a similar trip to New York for its game against the Wildcats.In fact, the Spartans may have an even more daunting November than Kansas. They return from New York for two games at the Breslin Center before visiting the Blue Devils in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge.Weve never had a November where we played three or four top teams, opponents. This year were going to probably have a minimum of four, Izzo said. I dont know what that means. It means that were going to find out early exactly where we are, like we always do. The travel makes it a little more brutal, a little more concerning with the number of young guys.Likewise, Hoosiers coach Tom Crean welcomes the challenge of facing the Jayhawks to start the year.Were going to go against one of the hardest-nosed, toughest-minded, best-coached teams in the country, he said. And really, what it does is it just kind of increases your urgency a little bit in the non-season. And theres not a day that goes by that I dont reference one of those two teams at least four or five times in something that were doing.Two teams? Oh, right. The Hoosiers wrap November by playing sixth-ranked North Carolina .But the marquee nonconference matchups are part of college basketballs appeal. Even a team that loses one -- or all -- of its high-profile games wont hurt its chances of making the NCAA Tournament, while a similar loss or two in college football can end a teams championship hopes.Rather, the games serve as an early barometer for where a team stands, exposes flaws that can be addressed before league play, and toughens teams up for the brutal grind of March.I think our guys will rally around that, Self said of the grinding start to the season, and certainly if they are fatigued, they wont play fatigued.---For more AP college basketball coverage: http://collegebasketball.ap.org/ NCAA Jerseys China . According to a report from the Vancouver Province, the Lions are expected to replace former DC Rich Stubler with defensive backs coach Mark Washington. Wholesale NCAA Jerseys Free Shipping . Bryant, who signed a five-year, $34 million contract as a free agent with Cleveland in March, reported symptoms on Monday morning, a team spokesman said. http://www.cheapcollegejerseysoutletonline.com/ . After a first half in which he thought "the lid was on the basket," the Toronto Raptors coach watched his squad mount a second half surge to defeat the Cleveland Cavaliers 98-91. Cheap College Jerseys Basketball .Y. -- Vancouver Canucks goaltender Roberto Luongo had little trouble picking up his first shutout of the season against a Buffalo Sabres team thats having trouble scoring goals. Cheap NCAA Jerseys Online .B. -- The Baie-Comeau Drakkar took over sole possession of first place atop the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League on Thursday with their sixth straight win. COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- Another early season blowout by No. 4 Maryland provided coach Brenda Frese with another opportunity to prepare her squad for tougher games ahead.Brionna Jones and Shatori Walker-Kimbrough each scored 19 points before leaving early in a 97-63 rout of Towson on Tuesday night.Jones had 18 points in the first half and Walker-Kimbrough had 16. Together, they outscored the Tigers in helping Maryland (9-0) to a 56-29 lead at the break.The margin swelled to 34 points when Frese removed Jones and Walker-Kimbrough for good with 6:36 left in the third quarter, leaving the Terps bench players to finish up.Obviously were continuing to try to work through our depth and rest some of our starters with the minutes theyre bringing, Frese said.Jones collected eight rebounds during her 14 minutes of playing time, and Walker-Kimbrough saw enough action during her 18-minute stint to move into eighth place on the schools career scoring list with 1,647 points.As competitive as our starters are, I know they want to play more minutes, Frese said. But weve got to be able to extend our depth and bring everyone along.Thats OK with Walker-Kimbrough, who quite enjoyed the view from the bench.Its more about the bigger picture, the senior guard said. Weve got a lot of new players on the team and were trying to get the chemistry rolling. With the great team that we have, the versatility, its not a drop-off when we go out.Kristen Confroy scored 11 for Maryland, which entered with a nations best 38.0 scoring margin. This lopsided victory did little to affect that statistic.Sianni Martin led Towson (6-2) with 19 points and Raven Bankston added 14. The Tigers were outrebounded 46-28.We played the No. 4 team in the country. I just wanted to see if our kids were going to come out and compete, coach Niki Reid Geckeler said. They definitely did.After scoring the final two points of the first quarter to make it 22-10, the 6-foot-33 Jones scored Marylands first 12 points of the second quarter.dddddddddddd All the shots were layups, and two of them resulted in 3-point plays.Jones personal scoring spree ended when Walker-Kimbrough made a 3-point play for a 37-14 lead. The layup was set up by the unyielding hustle of freshman Destiny Slocum, who raced from midcourt to the baseline to whisk a bouncing ball headed out of bounds into the waiting hands of Walker-Kimbrough.They shared a hug after the ball dropped through the hoop. It was one of Slocums team-high six assists.BENCH PRESSTowson: The Tigers got only six points from their reserves, a basket apiece by three players.Maryland: Blair Watson and Brianna Fraser each scored 10 of the Terps 38 points off the bench.POLL IMPLICATIONSThis certainly shouldnt hurt Marylands stature as one of the top four teams in the country.Very good team. They rebound well, dont make too many mistakes, and the bench is strong, Reid Geckeler said. It will be interesting to see how far this team goes. They should be one of those Final Four teams.BIG PICTURETowson: Though the Tigers dont have the size or talent to stick with Maryland, the inside play of Brianna Bush (11 points, six rebounds) and the court savvy of Martin should enable Towson to be competitive in the Colonial Athletic Association.If you want to be the best, youve got to play the best, Reid Geckeler said. Well look back on this game and say it prepared us for CAA play.Maryland: The Terrapins put on a dazzling display in the first half as they continue to gain momentum for their Dec. 29 home game against No. 1 Connecticut.UP NEXTTowson faces Colgate on the road Thursday night.Maryland play at home Thursday night against St. Peters, which lost its first six games by an average of 29 points before beating Marist on Sunday. ' ' '