Of all the ifs and buts in Saturday’s pulsating roller-coaster of a basketball game between DUke and Kansas, it’s practically impossible to pick out the most critical suppositional play.
I have a nominee, though. it was Kevin Strickland’s stick-back with :52 remaining in overtime. It was the 6-5 senior’s second attempt to follow teammate Billy King’s brick and it gave the Blue Devils the lead for good at 69-68.
Had Kansas been able to capture that carom…well, who knows what would have happened? But it sure would have been nice to have a one-point lead and the ball in the last minute.
After the game, Kansas coach Larry Brown didn’t mention Strickland by name, but it was pretty obvious which instance he was referring to when he said: “We can defend as well as anybody, but second shots kill us. I think this team is doing the best it can. We just don’t have a lot of strength in terms of rebounding.”
First of all, let me emphasize what Brown said about the Jayhawks’ defense. It really is terrific. Kansas ranked No. 4 nationally in field goal percentage defense (41.3) in last week’s NCAA stats, and the Jayhawks held sixth-ranked Duke to 38.5 percent. The Devils were shooting 51.5 percent going in.
In truth, it wouldn’t surprise me if Brown saved the tape of the first 13 minutes of so minute of Saturday’s game for use in future clinics. I doubt if a team ever played better man-to-man defense than Kansas did during that stretch when Duke, clearly flustered, missed 16 of its first 18 shots.
Obviously, Kansas couldn’t keep it up forever…and didn’t, but while it lasted it was something to behold.
Scoring may very well sell tickets, but defense and rebounding definitely win games. Defense AND rebounding. Kansas 11-3 and nationally ranked when starting center Marvin Branch, the team’s second-leading rebounder, came up ineligible at the semester.
Even though the Jayhawks had a five-game winning streak halted by Duke’s 74-70 overtime victory in Allen Fieldhouse, Kansas is still just a .500 team without Branch. KU has won six and lost six since the 6-10 juco transfer last played against Missouri.
Now, with consecutive road trips to nationally ranked Oklahoma and Missouri plus Colorado – when’s the last time KU played well in Boulder? – on the schedule, it’s possible the Jayhawks may limp into their home finale against Oklahoma State on March 5.
“I hope we’re ready to deal with that kind of pressure,” said Kansas junior Milt Newton about the road grind ahead. “I think those games will have a lot to do with whether we got to the NCAA or not.”
I saw an item in the USA Today the other day that listed Kansas as a lock for the NCAA Tournament field. Maybe so, but I’d sure like to see their evidence – particularly since three of KU’s 17 victories are throwaways because they weren’t against Division I schools.
In the NCAA’s eyes, Kansas is a 14-9 team right now. And if the Jayhawks split their remaining regular season games, they’re a 16-11 team heading into the Big Eight Tournament. That’s a lock…?
Of this I’m sure, though…a victory over Duke would have been a giant step on the NCAA ladder.
“We played great against a great team,” said Kansas senior Chris Piper after the narrow defeat, “but playing great and losing isn’t anything big.”
On the positive side, Kansas has won its last two road games, and in unusual fashion at that. The Jayhawks whipped both Oklahoma State and Kansas State because they made 14 three-point goals – about a third of their entire season total – in those two games.
For some inexplicable reason, Kansas shoots three-pointers better outside of Allen Fieldhouse where the Jayhawks’ accuracy is a miserable 20 percent (12 of 60). On the road, it’s a respectable 38.5 percent (32 of 83).
So if you’re looking for a bright spot as the Jayhawks pack their bags for Norman, Columbia and Boulder, those three-point numbers have to be it.
