Even the unnamed professor — you remember, the guy who wrote Kansas coach Roy Williams an unflattering letter several weeks ago — had to be impressed by KU’s just-completed basketball season.
For the third time in the past four years, Kansas won 27 games.
Just four teams in KU history won more in a single season. To put it in perspective, that’s the same number of wins as the 1990-91 Jayhawks, who fell to Duke in the national championship game.
And, it’s the same number of wins as the 1991-92 Jayhawks, who were stunned by UTEP in a second-round NCAA Tournament game. Only two Roy Williams-coached teams have won more — the 29-7 team of 1992-93 that reached the Final Four and the 30-5 squad of ’89-90.
“I’ve coached 21 years. I don’t think I’ve ever been prouder of a group, and I know I’ve never had a group that I’ve enjoyed as much,” Williams said.
His pride is understandale. It’s hard to imagine many teams in college basketball history winning 27 games after losing four starters. And that’s what KU lost off last year’s Final Four club — Adonis Jordan, Rex Walters, eric Pauley and Darrin Hancock.
Here’s a look at some of this year’s highlights and accomplishments:
As usual, Kansas had balance. Ten players averaged 10 or more minutes per game, led by Steve Woodbury’s 31.9 average.
Seven Jayhawks averaged 6.8 or more points. Again, Woodberry led the way with 15.5. Richard Scott and Greg Ostertag also were in double figures at 13.7 and 10.3 points, respectively.
KU hit just 47 percent of its shots, the first time in Williams’ six years the team dipped below 50. The Jayhawks held their foes to 38.3 percent shooting, keeping 33 or 85 opponents under 50 percent. It marked KU’s lowest defensive field goal percentage since the 1966-67 season. Just four KU teams in the last 40 years have held the opposition under 40 percent shooting.
The Jayhawks totaled 1,497 rebounds, or 42.8 a game, the most by any team since 1972-73. KU, which had a school-record 72 boards versus Colorado, outrebounded 28 of 35 foes. Greg Ostertag had 307 boards (8.8 average), the most since Danny Manning averaged 9.0 in 1987-88.
Ostertag finished with 97 blocks and shattered Manning’s single-season mark of 73. Also, he tied a KU record with eight blocks in a game (against Oklahoma State). What’s more, Ostertag set a Preseason NIT record with 17 blocks in four games, including an NIT single-game record seven versus Western Michigan.
As a team, KU set a school record with 192 blocks.
The Jayhawks totaled 628 assists. Jacque Vaughn set a KU freshman record with 181 assists, surpassing Mark Turgeon, who had 138 in 1983-84.
Led by Vaughn, who had 11 assists, KU totaled an NCAA Southeast Regional record 33 in its 102-73 win over Tennessee-Chattanooga.
Vaughn was the second Jayhawk to start every game as a rookie. Norm Cook was the other, in 1974.
The Jayhawks picked up some hardware, though not as much as in past seasons.
For instance, no KU player was named first-team AP all-Big Eight for the first time since 1989. However, Woodberry earned second-team mention for the second consecutive year. He also was named first-team NABC all-district. Woodverry was MVP of the Kuppenheimer Classic and was honored as Big Eight Player of the Week.
Scott, Ostertag and Vaughn logged honorable mention all-league plaudits. Scott was MVP of the Preseason NIT and Golden Harvest Classic and was a Big Eight Player of the Week.
Vaughn was the AP’s newcomer of the year in the Big Eight. He also was first-team all-academic and made all-tourney teams at the NIT, Kuppenheimer Classic and Golden Harvest Classic.
Freshman Nick Proud played in just 16 games. His recurring knee problems not only crippled him this season but likely ended his college career.
Scott suffered a subluxation of the left shoulder at practice in late January. The Jayhawks went 4-4 immediately following the injury, then picked up steam as Scott’s shoulder became stronger.
Patrick Richey suffered a bruised tailbone in the Big Eight postseason tournament and played in pain the rest of the season. He also suffered bruised ribs and wore a flak jacket for nearly two week.s
It took eight stitches to close a cut under Woodberry’s eye after OSU’s Bryant Reeves elbowed the KU senior in Stillwater. Also, Woodberry, along with Greg Gurley, had back problems and Vaughn had a hip pointer.
The Jayhawks won 15 of 16 nonconference games to open the season and vaulted to No. 1 in the polls for a week. Included were wins over Western Michigan, California, Minnesota and Massachusetts in the Preseason NIT.
Home nonconference highlights included a 73-56 win over Jason Kidd-led Cal, plus an 86-83 overtime victory over Indiana, won on a last-second three by Vaughn. The Jayhawks also won impressively at DePaul (79-74), Georgia (89-79) and NC State (74-57) and claimed the Golden Harvest Classic by topping Rhode Island (73-60) and SMU (84-64).
KU stumbled once, falling at home to Temple, 73-59.
It was an up-and-down conference season. KU won for the 11th-straight year at Kansas State (65-56), but lost to the Wildcats at home (68-64). KU also lost at home (81-74) and on the road (79-67) to Missouri and at Nebraska (96-87) and Oklahoma State (63-59 in OT).
The Jayhawks beat the Cowpokes, 62-61, in overtime at Allen on a three by Woodberry with 1.5 seconds left.
Also, KU handed Colorado its worst-ever home loss (87-53) and had a school-record 72 boards in a 106-62 trouncing of the Buffs at Allen.
In the Big Eight Tourney, KU held Kansas State to 13 first-half points in a 73-52 win, but then the Jayhawks dropped a 69-68 decision to OSU in the second round.
In the NCAA Tourney, the Jayhawks annihilated Tennessee-Chattanooga, 102-73, and clipped Wake Forest, 69-58, in Lexington, Ky., then ran into Glenn Robinson and Cuonzo Martin, who combined for 73 points in Purdue’s 83-78 win.
As far as KU’s style of play — strong defense, rugged rebounding and shaky shooting — Williams had the line of the year midway through the season:
“We’re like one of those big-wheel trucks. We get there, but pretty it ain’t,” he said.
