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2008 NCAA Tournament
Full video coverage of the Kansas Jayhawks in the 2008 NCAA Tournament
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KU vs. UNLV press conference
A sensational play by Sherron Collins last Sunday could have been the virus to sustain, even heighten, a fever that will drive Kansas University to the NCAA basketball championship. The caper was huge.
Super-sub Collins had just bungled an attempt at an alley-oop scoring pass and may have been desperate to compensate. Did he ever! The ball was drifting out of bounds on the sideline, and it would belong to Texas. From clear across the court, Collins exploded to the site, leaped up as the ball hung and slammed it against a Texan. Instead of a potentially lethal trip toward the UT goal, it was KU's ball.
Against Nebraska in the league tournament quarterfinals, KU struggled mightily. For a spell, folks were about to put Darrell Arthur on a milk box to learn where he'd vanished. But after a gut-wrencher against Texas A&M, everybody showed up for Texas, including Collins, whose Tasmanian Devil deportment is so vital.
When Sherron made that crucial out-of-bounds play, he may have triggered an enduring Kansas mind-set that will produce five more victories starting tonight in Omaha.
KU has its diehard zealots who over-praise the guys even when they play like sausages. In some eyes, they can do no wrong no matter what. But the truth is that a lot of members of the Kansas Nation admit they had a hard time generating a deep and abiding love because this team has been so long in developing the kind of personality that grabs fans by the throat.
Too much balance, too little focus, on-again, off-again, guys who star one night, take disappearing potion the next. Often KU has been a bland, drifting entity that's been too fluffy to sink your teeth into. That changed after the big-league victory over Texas in the Big 12 finals. A lot of followers are envisioning a KU-Texas rubber game in the national finals. KU probably would get there by beating Roy Williams and North Carolina in the semifinals. What a tasty delight, that, huh?
A healthy, agile, hostile and mobile Collins is one of the factors that could give KU something this year it lacked for the '07 NCAA bid when UCLA ousted the Jayhawks, again. Frontliners Brandon Rush, Arthur, Darnell Jackson and Sasha Kaun appear to have generated a focus of ferocity that can vanquish anyone. The Russell Robinson-Mario Chalmers duo never has been in doubt; now that Collins is a constant time bomb ticking to explode at critical moments, a 5-0 finish is well within reach.
¢ Charity alert! Lousy free-throwing cost Kansas the 2002 title against Syracuse ... 12-of-30, when a mere 60 percent (18 of 30) would have won the 81-78 game. Some think bad charity work will kill bricklaying Memphis this year. KU had a paltry 7-15 effort against Portland State. Time to eye the prize via the rim, Jayhawks.
¢ Coaches desert trusting basketball players all the time to grab nifty jobs at other schools, so I guess I'm out of line rapping JamesOn Curry for fleeing Oklahoma State for the pros with a year left. His departure wrecked the OSU lineup, and he owed the school better. As a high schooler, Curry had drug-related crimes that caused Carolina's Roy Williams to withdraw a scholarship. Charitable Eddie Sutton, with his own demons, gave Curry a full ride. JamesOn owed the Cowboys four years, not three.
Useless Fieldhouse Trivia with D.J. Whetter December 1, 2008
6Sports preview: KU vs. Kent State December 1, 2008
GameDay Cram Session: Kent State December 1, 2008
KU women top New Orleans November 30, 2008
Jayhawks triumph in Border War November 30, 2008
Comments
JNgohawks (anonymous) says...
Big 12 is looking great!! Only one loss by Baylor so far. I even found myself rooting for K-State! I would love to see the ACC crumble. Duke got so lucky, but I bet that game could not be a confidence boost for those guys! It looks like our bracket got a lot easier with Clemson and Vandy gone, it seems like smooth sailing to sweet 16,
March 22, 2008 at 7:30 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
JNgohawks (anonymous) says...
Make that elite eight
March 22, 2008 at 7:31 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
melrank (anonymous) says...
Bill - excellent article with lots of great points. That out of bounds play vs Texas was huge in maintaining the emotional momentum we had accumulated. Sherron is a big key in our success.
I hope our FT's in the last game was not a trend.
JN - knock on wood with your comments, but I'm glad you said (wrote) what I was thinking. Playing a 12 seed to advance is way better than playing a 4 seed.
March 22, 2008 at 8:22 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
kc_wildfire (anonymous) says...
http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaab/news;_y...
Great article to remind us how much these kids have gone through.
March 22, 2008 at 8:39 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
ChicagoJHawk (anonymous) says...
Good article Bill, but when Syracuse beat us that was in 2003, not 2002. I have a really good feeling about this year. I can't wait 'til game time!! Rock Chalk Jayhawk - NATIONAL CHAMPS 2008!!!!!
March 22, 2008 at 9:57 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
ralsterKUMed95 (anonymous) says...
Would probably say that any upcoming FT% will be better than the 7-for-15 vs. PortlandSt. Im not sounding the alarm on FTs yet. Nice story about a watershed play (Sherron's Save) that gives us a more determined mindset, that we hopefully take advantage of.
Just NOT SURE where the leap to JamesOn Curry's early departure from OSU last year fits in with THIS story???
March 22, 2008 at 9:58 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
hobrauer (anonymous) says...
Come on Bill, we lost to Syracuse in 2003.
March 22, 2008 at 10:23 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
ChicagoJHawk (anonymous) says...
Wow, that was a really good article kc_wildfire!
March 22, 2008 at 10:38 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Speakeasy (anonymous) says...
Your math is too simplistic. 18-30 would not necessarily have won us the Syracuse game--unless they were the RIGHT 18. The reason for that is we got three put-backs off of missed free throws in that game on the front end of one-and-one's, thus talllying six points that we would not have gotten had we made those free throws.
In other words, say we had made those three front ends and also converted on the back end all three times. Then our free-throwing would have stood at 18-33 for the game--but our point total would have been exactly the same.
So really, I'm thinking it would have taken about 22 or 23 of 33 in free-throw shooting to win the game.
March 22, 2008 at 11:41 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
KEITHMILES05 (anonymous) says...
Bill.......sorry, but you are an IDIOT to blame Curry for the demise of OSU. If the coaches can't plan better than their pathetic coach that is his problem.
Coaches all the time are lying straight out to schools, the kids, and fans and do it with a straight face and then hop on a plane and leave said school.
No, don't feel sorry for any coach who sits there and lies to his kids.
Don't blame the kids. They are the victims. Any kid who wants to go league then more power to him.
March 22, 2008 at 12:48 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
ralsterKUMed95 (anonymous) says...
I agree with speakeasy in the bigger sense: always want your FT% over 70%. I still remember walking away from watching the Syracuse loss thinking "we beat them in live action, but lost the game on the stripe with the clock stopped, no one in our face..." Occasionally when I play bball and wear the KU shorts and someone brings up KUs FT shooting over the YEARS, I am reminded of the pinnacle of that FT% frustration, which was that Syracuse championship loss. And I do my damndest to hit my own FT...(lol!)
March 22, 2008 at 1:02 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
milehighhawk (anonymous) says...
Bill,
1. We lost to Syracuse in 2003, not 2002.
2. Rush is not a "frontcourt" player, he's a guard.
3. Our free throws as a team were "paltry" because Kaun shot nearly half of the 15.
And you are right: you are out of line rapping JamesOn Curry for "fleeing" OSU.
March 22, 2008 at 1:40 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
KEITHMILES05 (anonymous) says...
Bill isn't the only person to blame Curry. Last week I read another sports analyst who did the same thing.
Poor, POOR, writing.
Leave these kids alone. The coach is paid millions to run the program. Part of that responsiblity is to plan for the future.
March 22, 2008 at 11:19 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
actorman (anonymous) says...
Absolutely ridiculous that anyone would blame a kid for grabbing a chance at millions of dollars. It's the height of hypocrisy, because I'll be there's not a SINGLE one of these writers who wouldn't do the same thing.
As for the incredibly painful memories of 2003, there's been a fair amount of focus on the free throws, but the thing that still rubs me the wrong way is the fifth foul on Langford. He was dominating the game at that point, the best player out there (yes, even better than the sainted Carmelo), and got called out on a foul where he didn't even touch the guy. The worst thing is that I could see it coming. I was yelling at the TV to not go near him but he didn't stay far enough away. I still maintain that if it were not for that phantom foul call, KU could have overcome its FT shooting and won that game anyway.
March 23, 2008 at 11:46 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
halogenlamps (anonymous) says...
speakeasy,
we were already at 18 of 30. If we made three that we missed, we would be 21 out of 30. If those three were on the front end of 1-1s, and then we made the back end on all three, we would be 24 of 33 and still have the same point total, if those three were ones that we would have gotten a put back basket for two points from the missed free throw.
March 23, 2008 at 8:51 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
halogenlamps (anonymous) says...
oops, i lied. sorry. we were 12 of 30. then 15 of 30, then 18 of 33 for the same score...you are correct...i am embarassed.
March 23, 2008 at 8:55 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )