Month: March 2018 (Page 1 of 3)

Some week.

We’ve had a stomach bug run through the house. There’s been plenty of middle-of-the-night puking and I’ve had a sick kid home three different days. As I mentioned yesterday, the weather has been strange, careening between February snows and April showers. We are hosting our family Easter celebration on Saturday, so in between dealing with kids I’ve been trying to get the house prepped. It was also kickball jersey week, so our bonus room has piles of uniforms I’ve sorted out for St. P’s five spring teams.

Oh, and then there are the hoops.

It’s been a fine week to be a KU fan. I’ve spent approximately 87 hours reading articles, posts, and Tweets about last Sunday’s Duke game and tomorrow’s Villanova game. I’ve watched countless videos of celebrations by the team after the Duke game, the fantastic footage of kids running at full speed to get from campus to Mass Street after the game, and highlight packages.

Usually during Final Four week, I’m focused on what is ahead. But this week has been a long look back at how this team came together over the last month or so to play their best ball of the year in the season’s biggest moment. I hope the team isn’t suffering from the same hangover of the Duke game that us fans seem to be afflicted with. But as a fan it is hard not to want to hold on to one of the best games in the history of the program.

I wanted to try to put the Duke game in perspective. There is a fundamental difference between a great game in December and one in March. Those December games can be immense fun, but win or lose, there is another game a few days later. March’s win or go home nature adds at least 25% to every emotion surrounding the games played then. So I figured I’d compare it to KU games in March over the years. Even that felt too broad, though. So I decided to take the years that KU has made the Final Four in my fan life and compare the Duke game to the Elite 8 game in each of those years. Turns out there are some doozies.

Ranked, in reverse order, here’s how they stack up to me:

• 9 – NC State, 1986. I really don’t remember this game that well. I know KU came back from a deficit in the second half, Danny Manning was huge late, and Jim Valvano mock complained about having to play in Kansas City. But the bigger game that year was the overtime win over Michigan State in the Sweet 16.

• 8 – Davidson, 2008. Despite what happened in San Antonio the next weekend, I still hate this game. This, infamously, was the game that made me flip out. When Davidson took a 7-point lead midway through the second half, I just could not deal with KU losing in the Elite 8 again. I turned the TV off, got in my car, and drove aimlessly, avoiding the game until I began getting texts from happy/relieved KU fans after Davidson’s potential game-winner missed.

• 7 – Indiana, 1993. Felt bigger at the time. It was a really good game that KU took control of in the last 10 minutes with a few huge defensive plays and some back-breaking 3-pointers. But compared to others on this list, it doesn’t hold up as well.

• 6 – Oregon, 2002. Oregon decided they wanted to run with the Jayhawks. Then they got run out of the building. This was the game I invented my patented “Run around the house and act like a fool” celebration when KU was kicking ass.

• 5 – Kansas State, 1988. Mitch Richmond and the Cats had ended KU’s 55 game home winning streak six weeks earlier. Paybacks are a bitch.

• 4 – Arizona, 2003. Back-to-back Final Fours by beating one of KU’s biggest non-conference rivals of that era was great. This was a terrific game, too, going down to the final seconds. KU also got revenge for a 20-point loss to Arizona earlier in the season.

• 3 – UNC, 2012. Beating Roy is always fresh. To do so with a junk defense he couldn’t figure out and by out-toughing his team in crunch time was even better. Elijah Johnson’s 3-pointer with about 2:00 left broke a tie and kicked off a 12–0 closing run. We watched this game outside in Kansas City with friends on an absolutely perfect day. And the next day, while driving back to Indy, we saw a parade of happy Jayhawk cars returning from St. Louis. Along with last week’s game, probably the best KU has ever played in an Elite 8.

• 2 – Arkansas, 1991. The first Elite 8 of my college years, and it was an incredible game. #1 seed Arkansas had been killing people all year with their 40 Minutes of Hell attack. The first half went according to plan and the Hogs led by 12 at the break. But KU wiped out that lead before the first TV timeout, took control in the final four minutes, and inspired guard Adonis Jordan’s classic line that evening when the team returned to a packed Allen Fieldhouse, “We down by 12, we win by 12!”

• 1 – Duke, 2018. Yes, recently bias is a bitch. But that was the best game of the tournament, KU beat a team with more talent that was also favored, they beat Duke/Coach K, the game went to OT, and this is arguably the weakest team of the Bill Self era, yet they did something the 2004, 2007, 2011, 2016, and 2017 teams could not do. All the good feelings.

What about tomorrow? KU-Villanova is a fascinating match up because the teams have so many similarities with some glaring points of difference. Both teams like to shoot the 3, and do so well. Both teams are efficient on offense. Both teams can play good D but neither plays the level of defense their programs are traditionally known for.

Villanova flat can’t guard Udoka Azubuike. But Udoka can’t chase Omari Spellman around the arc, either. How each team manages the other’s big man will go a long way in determining who wins.

But I think it will come down to the most basic thing in basketball: making shots. I bet casual fans would love it if both teams come out firing and hitting and get to see an exciting shootout. I think there’s about a 25% chance of that. I think it is far more likely one team hits and the other doesn’t. I worry KU will be the team that doesn’t hit, as Devonté Graham has been ice cold since the first half of the Penn game and Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk has been streaky as hell lately. Even with Malik Newman’s tear over the past three weeks, is that enough if he doesn’t get help? I think Nova is more likely to have 2–3 guys all hitting.

But…Bill Self and his staff tend to do a great job finding ways to attack other teams when given a week to game plan. Will he be able to limit Villanova on offense while making sure his guys get shots of their own?

But…Villanova is super experienced and will not be phased by whatever KU throws at them. They seemed to be losing contact with West Virginia last week and then flipped a switch and blew the Mountaineers out in the last 5:00. Some of the things that worked last week on a very young Duke team will not work on Brunson, Booth, etc.

Villanova is the best team in the country. They’re tough, have been through dozens of battles in the last three years, and are well coached. KU had to play a nearly perfect game last week and still needed overtime to beat Duke. KU has to play a completely perfect game tomorrow to even have a chance of winning.

I hope they have it in them.

It’s a little after 11:00 Sunday night as I begin this post. I just watched the replay of today’s Midwest Regional final, or at least the last five or so minutes of regulation plus overtime, on the CBS Sports Network.[1] I’ve been texting, emailing, and reading coverage of that game since it wrapped up in real time. I’ve just poured some celebratory bourbon. What better time than now to start putting words down about my Jayhawks getting back to the Final Four?

(Sip)

Man, what a freaking great game. No, I would not be saying that if KU had lost. Which would make me a hypocrite. All year I’ve been saying that if KU made it to the second weekend of the tournament, I would be fine with however the season ended. And for years I’ve said I just once wanted KU to play well in a tournament loss. If Grayson Allen’s last-second shot in regulation had crawled in – and how in the hell did that not go in???[2] – if I was a man of my word I would have been fine with the result. KU played a fabulous game and it came down to a tough-ass shot dropping at the very end.

Nope. I would have been devastated. That game would have utterly crushed me. It would have passed VCU as the worst March loss ever for KU. I would have fallen to the floor and not moved until S came down and asked me if I was ok sometime Monday morning.

Why the change in reaction? Because KU had that damn game won and then seemingly pissed it away. They had two seven point leads in the second half. At the 7:30 mark they had a five-point lead, got a steal, and had Malik Newman and Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk behind the defense for an easy layup. Devonté Graham tossed the ball up court, but too far and it rolled out of bounds. During the TV timeout that immediately followed, I had flashbacks to the 1996 regional final against Syracuse. With KU leading by 5 or 6 at about the same point, Billy Thomas got behind the Syracuse D on a break and had a dead, unguarded layup. He put the ball off his foot out-of-bounds and Syracuse came back and won. Fuck me.

(Sip)

KU went through a four-minute stretch where they missed six straight 3-point shots. Only one of those was guarded. Devonte, for some reason, hoisted up a 30-footer early in the shot clock. Svi missed two where there was no one within five feet of him. With a minute left, down three, Malik pulled up from 25-feet and missed. I fell back into the couch and felt a pain in my stomach. The game was over.

Only it wasn’t. Silvio De Sousa nudged Wendell Carter Jr. just far enough from the basket to force his shot to come up short and grabbed the rebound. Devonte juked Gary Trent Jr, spun away, nearly fell, was likely fouled by Trevon Duval, but somehow tossed the ball out to Svi, who calmly took one dribble and stepped into the biggest shot of his life.

Bang, tie game!

It felt a little like the legendary Chop play run at the end of regulation in San Antonio 10 years ago, when Sherron Collins was likely fouled by Derrick Rose but somehow got the ball to Mario Chalmers as he was falling down. You all know what happened next.

Still, KU had to survive Grayson’s hero-boy attempts.

(Sip)

Then it was time for Malik to shine. A personal 13–9 run put the game away.

He had a lot of help though. For a team that has been maligned over-and-over for not being good on defense, KU made a ton of huge defensive plays late in the game. They rebounded their asses off all day, somehow grabbing 15 more boards than Duke, who normally out-rebound their opponents by 10.

Svi has not guarded anyone in the four years he’s been at KU. Somehow he limited Marvin Bagley III from being the decisive player. Svi, the guy that teams mercilessly isolated and drove for buckets or fouls just a year ago. Dude played his ass off. The tying shot was just the icing on the cake for him.

That effort highlighted what a great game this was for Bill Self. The last two years we’ve heard how Self is always tight in the Elite 8, thus his teams play tight, thus they lose more often than not. He had an incredible game plan. He made great adjustments throughout the game. This was his finest March effort ever.

But the players deserve the credit. It would not matter how great Self’s game plan was if they didn’t execute it. Svi slowing Bagley, Lagerald Vick continuing his hot streak, the entire team committing to rebounding, the new approach to attacking a zone, De Sousa out-playing Duke’s bigs in overtime. All of that was because of execution. They could have easily screwed all that up, or just missed shots all day, and then we’d be talking about another Bill Self collapse in the Elite 8 and how Coach K coached circles around him.[3]

(Sip)

But it worked and the Jayhawks are going back to San Antonio, the site of Self’s biggest triumph.[4] Waiting is Villanova, the team that knocked KU out two years ago in the Elite 8. The Wildcats are already 5.5 point favorites. That’s great. They will have KU’s attention. As Self said today after the game, he thought his players were very much focused on beating Duke, not worrying about the implications of the win. I don’t think KU will be looking ahead next Saturday night.

So now another week to keep healing Udoka Azubuike. Another week to try to figure out what’s up with Devonte. I think he has to be injured; he’s looked like a completely different player the last three games, bricking shots, getting roasted on defense, making uncharacteristic turnovers. I’m hopefully it’s something nagging that will be better by Saturday night and not something we’ll hear about him having surgery for in two weeks. A full week to prep for likely the most complete and best team in the country after beating the most talented team in the country.

(Sip)

Plenty of time to work up nerves and angst about that. Tonight, I know this group gets their own banner, something a KU team hasn’t done since T-Rob, Tyshawn, Elijah, T-Rel, and Withey got their squad to New Orleans.

Rock Chalk, bitches!

An Elite 8 with two Kansas teams in it is enough to earn a very rare Saturday post. Mark down the date, folks, because these don’t happen very often!

First off, the important stuff: the Jayhawks are in the Elite 8 for the third-straight season, the second time in school history they have done that (2002–2004). In both of those runs, the third team was clearly the weakest of each group. In 2004 that “weaker” team lost to a higher seeded ACC team, #3 Georgia Tech, in overtime in St. Louis. This year’s team gets to face a lower seeded ACC team, #2 Duke, in Omaha. That Georgia Tech game is one of only two games Bill Self has lost to ACC teams at Kansas. But, of course, he is 2–5 in Elite 8s at KU, and 2–7 in his career.

So lots of angles and parallels and history to pull from.

As a KU fan you feel good because the team has played its best in games that were challenges. They’ve also faced zones several times this year, and seem well-equipped to face Duke’s. And they’ve won three tournament games with their best player only really playing well for about 20 total minutes. As talented as Duke is, we can also hope that the moment is too big for their freshmen.

But Duke is so damn talented, and in areas that are nightmare matchups for KU. Duke is big, and their bigs are versatile; they don’t stay stuck in the low post all night. I just don’t see how KU guards Duke’s bigs without putting Udoka Azubuike in foul trouble early, or wearing him out by having him chase guys on each possession.

This game seems well suited to some kind of junk defense. But as smarter people than me have pointed out, Self’s various junk defenses are usually implemented to slow down perimeter players. They are tougher to use on mobile big men. I imagine they’re trying to cook something up today that can limit Bagley, Carter, and Trent.

I guess my hope is that KU can come out red hot and build a big lead that they can defend better than they did their lead against Clemson last night. If not that, I hope KU can at least stay within a couple possessions of Duke until late in the game, and then take their chances that a bunch of experienced guards can handle the pressure of needing scores and stops to get to the Final Four better than a bunch of young big men. And I’m hoping that Devonté Graham finally plays the way he had all season and maybe that’s enough to pull the team to San Antonio.

I don’t know how realistic either of those scenarios are. But this is the year of the crazy result, so I don’t go into the game thinking KU has zero chance to win. Strangely even though KU would have had a much better chance of beating Syracuse, I think they’ll play better against Duke. I’d rather they go down swinging than in some terrible 51–48 mess that Syracuse would have turned that game into. Then again, Duke could win by 25.

But at least we have a shot.

In Atlanta tonight, Kansas State plays Loyola-Chicago for a chance to go to their first Final Four since 1964. We just happen to have plans to dine at one of our neighbors homes around game time. The husband of the couple is a K-State alum. His wife, who is a Carolina alum, has been a little savage with him now that he’s all fired up for his Cats. In a text exchange about timing of dinner and what we could bring, she suggested we ask him to name a player on the team. The implication is that he could not. Daaaaaamn!

Anyway, Thursday’s K-State – Kentucky game was entertaining. Well, not the game so much which was ugly, sloppy, marred by horrific officiating and terrible coaching. What amused me most was the text and emails threads I was in with other KU fans. A lot of folks were really stressing about who to pull for. There were even some arguments between people who didn’t buy why other fans were cheering for one team or the other.

It broke down something like this:

Some KU fans hate John Calipari and everything he stands for. They hate that his team seemed to have an insanely easy path to the Final Four. They hate Kentucky. This was enough to pull for K-State. Most of these people said they will be pulling hard for Loyola today if K-State pulled off the upset. A lot of those folks also felt that a K-State win, along with wins by Texas Tech and West Virginia, would validate how strong the Big 12 was this year and make KU’s sweep of the conference title look more impressive.

Some KU fans understand all this, but feel that it would be even worse if K-State was the team that took advantage of the Chaos Bracket and made it to San Antonio when so many great KU teams have come up short in recent years. Most of these folks were the angry ones. There were a lot of “How on earth can you pull for one of our biggest rivals to potentially go to a Final Four?!?!?”

There was also an argument about which coach we hated more, Calipari or Bruce Weber.

How did I fit into these views? Well, I wasn’t rooting for either team really. I was ok with K-State winning. But I freaking hate Weber so I would also have been just fine if they lost on some heart-breaking shot or series of plays in the last minute. I really like their team. It’s full of guys that play hard, have gotten better over time, and are playing without fear. I love that. But fucking Weber, man…no way am I interested in him spending the off-season gloating about getting a team to the Final Four. Especially if KU can’t knock off Duke tomorrow.

So I just enjoyed what a terrible game it was. I enjoyed how both coaches seemed to be doing more to torpedo their teams rather than help them. I looked forward gleefully to the losing coach whining after the game. In a true upset, there was a little controversy after the game when I guess Kentucky, or some of their players, didn’t shake the K-State players’ hands. The comments after made both sides look petty, which for me was absolutely fantastic.

As for tonight, I’ll be polite to my hosts. But inside I’ll be pulling for Loyola and their two Kansas City kids. And I’ll be spending more time worrying about Duke and whether Devonté, Malik, Lagerald, Svi, and Udoka can keep winning.

Since my bracket is allllllll messed up, I might as well re-pick the field based on who is left. Either that or finish the Reader’s Notebook post that has been languishing for a few days.

To the games it is, then!

South Region

No. 11 Loyola-Chicago vs. No. 7 Nevada.
I’ve only caught bits of both teams’ games. In each case the good bits, too, as I saw Loyola win their two games at the buzzer and most of Nevada’s big comeback vs. Cincinnati. Nevada seems to have a higher level of talent while Loyola has Sister Jean on their side. Talent usually wins out in this round, so I’ll go with the Wolfpack.

No. 9 Kansas State vs. No. 5 Kentucky.
Wildcat on Wildcat crime! I’m sorry, really I am.
This seems like an easy pick to me. Kentucky is so much more talented than K-State and have been on a roll for the last 3–4 weeks. I want to go with a blowout UK win here. But if K-State plays smart, takes care of the ball, and most importantly if Dean Wade can play productive minutes, I think the Purples can stay in the game. Their best hope, though, is if UK falls in love with the 3 but can’t hit it. Blue Cats win.

West Region

No. 7 Texas A&M vs. No. 3 Michigan.
This one is tough. It’s easy to fall in love with blowout wins in March. The thing is the momentum they build doesn’t always carry over to the next game. See KU destroying Purdue in the last 10 minutes of their Sweet 16 game last year then never getting it going two nights later against Oregon. That makes me wary of picking A&M. They’ve been a bit of a mess all year, but seem to have gotten past their roster issues and are finally playing to their potential.

John Beilein is one of the best coaches in the game. When he gets his teams rolling, they are incredibly tough to beat. I’m leaning Michigan’s way because of their experience – they lost in the Sweet 16 by one point last year – and Beilein’s coaching. Although the Wolverines did not look good in the first two rounds, I think they pull out a tight win.

No. 9 Florida State vs. No. 4 Gonzaga.
I’m still not really sure how Florida State won that Xavier game last week. Gonzaga had its share of dicey moments in week one.

As long as Leonard Hamilton has been at FSU, it seems like he always has tons of athletic talent but is never sure how to put it all together. You see the pieces and expect something dazzling and are left with disappointment, even when they win.

I’m going with Mark Few and the Zags.

East Region

No. 5 West Virginia vs. No. 1 Villanova
Man, what a matchup! I wish it wasn’t on opposite the KU game because I would love to watch it.

As a Big 12 fan, I do not trust WVU. Yeah, they rolled through week one, but who did they play again? I don’t care how locked in Jevon Carter was last weekend, I’ve seen this team blow too many leads as their offense went to shit in the last five minutes of a game to trust them.

I say the Mountaineers have ’Nova on the ropes and blow it late.

No. 3 Texas Tech vs. No. 2 Purdue
Another fantastic matchup, although this one dulled a bit by Isaac Haas’ broken elbow. With Haas, I think it is a coin toss game that would come down to whether Tech’s hyper-athletic but smaller forwards could guard him on one end, and whether they could force to chase them on the other end.

Without Haas, I think Tech is just too athletic to be denied. And it’s too much to ask Matt Haarms to play 30 minutes against Tech’s front line. Oh, and Keenan Evans is healthy and playing like a beast again. Tech wins.

Midwest Region

No. 5 Clemson vs. No. 1 Kansas
Clemson played maybe the best game in the history of the program last Sunday to advance. Do they have another big effort in them? They’ll need it against a healthy KU team in front of a heavy KU crowd.

I’ve seen Clemson compared to Virginia a little in how they slow the game down. That scares me a little given how KU often struggles on offense. Clemson also has athletic wings who can shoot it, similar to teams that have given KU fits this season. And they have an athletic shot blocker similar to Jordan Bell, who just abused KU at the rim in last year’s Elite 8.

If Udoka Azubuike is healthy and can play 25 minutes, KU wins easily. If not, KU will need all three perimeter players hitting to advance.

I think KU plays their best game of the tournament so far and makes it to the Elite 8 for the third-straight year.

No. 11 Syracuse vs. No. 2 Duke
Duke wins this one easy and by a large margin.

Elite 8

Kentucky over Nevada
Michigan over Gonzaga
Villanova over Texas Tech
Duke over Kansas

Now for some KU talk.

Looking back on the weekend, I have to laugh at myself – and other KU fans – a little. After all that talk about Penn having a decent chance to upset KU, 10 minutes into the game on Thursday the Quakers led by 10 points and most of us were ready to throw up. Or throw things. Or both. It was a good thing the girls were at school as the expletives were flying in our basement.

Fortunately Devonté Graham said, “Hell no,” and scored 19 points in about 11 minutes to turn the game around. Penn made two runs in the second half, but never got the ball with a chance to tie and KU won by double digits.

I was thankful for that late first-half run, as I had to go pick the girls up and then sit through L’s kickball practice during the second half. I did my best to listen/watch the game on my phone. But if it had been tight down to the wire, I would have been a disaster, yelling at happy third graders to leave me alone.

Saturday’s round of 32 win was an important one for KU. Not because they survived the first weekend when so many other highly seeded teams didn’t. But because A) Udoka Azubuike came back, played important minutes, and was arguably KU’s most important player in the game and B) Graham played his worst game of the year and KU still won by two possessions.

Getting Udoka back was huge. He definitely did not look like himself on offense. He wasn’t jumping as high or quickly as normal. He labored a bit making moves with the ball. It was a big deal to get him on the court last weekend, though, so that he’s confident in his knee for this weekend. Oh, and KU was much, much better with him on the court. Angel Delgado absolutely abused Mitch Lightfoot and Silvio De Sousa. If Udoka did not play, or even been able to only go 10–15 minutes, I think Seton Hall wins that game.

Graham has carried KU all year. Whenever things get tight and the offense gets sloppy, he has always been there to bail them out. That was not the case on Saturday. He looked off from the beginning, both with the ball and shooting. That got worse when he took a Udoka shoulder to the face right before halftime. I’m not convinced whatever concussion protocol he passed was the most stringent one. He looked dazed the entire second half. But he hit four big free throws late and still managed to deal some dimes to the other guys.

Malik Newman was fantastic. Lagerald Vick was the steady guy KU needs him to be. Svi hit a huge three late.

All in all, an encouraging weekend. You figure Udoka is going to be a little more healthy and comfortable by Friday. And you expect that Devonté isn’t having two terrible games in a row.

Oh, and there’s no way Clemson is going to play out of their minds again like they did last Sunday against Auburn, right? Right?!?! I saw one writer list Clemson as one of the four best teams left in the tournament. I think that’s good for KU, as this team seems to play better when they see a challenge.

On the other side of the Omaha bracket there is Duke and surprise Syracuse. There’s no way Duke doesn’t advance, right? Marvin Bagley III has been unstoppable, their defense has improved, and they have an above average player at all five starting spots. They have the length and shooting to handle ‘Cuse’s zone easily for the second time this year.

Then again, I told some friends after Syracuse beat Michigan State last weekend that we were totally losing to the Orange in the Elite 8 now.

The past two years during Sweet 16 week I carefully examined the matchups and tried to find the best path for KU back to the Final Four. I day dreamed not just of the Final Four, but of who KU would play once they got there and how those matchups worked out.

This year I’m leaving those happy thoughts to other fans. This entire season has been one of limited expectations. I didn’t think KU could win the Big 12 until they grabbed that huge win in Lubbock on the next-to-last Saturday of the season. I didn’t think they could win the conference tournament once Udoka went down. All year my hope was that, whatever seed KU was, they could survive the first weekend of the NCAA tournament.

They’ve over-performed by most measures and made it through those first two games of the NCAAs. I think they should beat Clemson, but this year proves as much as any that “should” means nothing in March. Beyond that, I don’t think the Jayhawks have the talent to play with Duke. Maybe pride keeps them in the game, but I think a 10-point loss is the most likely outcome. And I would fear playing a Syracuse team that, while limited offensively, has mastered how to muddy up the game and get it to the final minute. Oh, and KU whipping Syracuse in Miami three-plus months ago makes that an even more dangerous game.

I figure KU’s season is ending this weekend, so I’m not looking ahead to how things would work out in San Antonio if the Jayhawks somehow get there. I’m just hopeful they give us one more great performance before they’re done.