Scott McClurg/Journal-World PhotoSpring semester classes will begin today on the Kansas University campus.
And that raises, in the wake of KU’s desultory 59-57 basketball victory over Nebraska on Wednesday night in Allen Fieldhouse, the question of grades.
Clearly the Jayhawks did not bring their A game to their test with the Cornhuskers. And they sure as heck didn’t bring their B game, or even their C game.
So give them a D. That’s the lowest grade you can earn and still pass.
In racing to a 14-0 record and maintaining a stranglehold on the No. 2 spot in the national polls, the Jayhawks have played more close games at home than you would expect from a national power.
Who can forget the regular-season opener, when KU struggled to outlast Vermont, 68-61?
Then there was the 64-60 squeaker over South Carolina.
And the 65-60 victory over Texas A&M.
Sure, there have been plenty of double-digit wins, too, but it’s curious the Jayhawks have compiled a 4-0 record in Big 12 games, and their biggest win was on the road (over Colorado, 76-61).
Until Wednesday night, the Jayhawks’ narrowest victory had been that 70-68 overtime triumph over Georgia Tech on New Year’s Day. But that was nothing like two-point win No. 2. The Jayhawks rallied from a huge deficit against Tech, and they defeated a quality team in the process.
Against Nebraska, an average team at best, the Jayhawks just flat didn’t show up. And yet they won, making me wonder if this is a team of destiny, a team augured for a charmed life.
Nobody goes undefeated without winning a game they don’t deserve to win, and KU coach Bill Self noted this was the first time all season the Jayhawks won because they were lucky.
In all those other close games, KU’s veteran players took charge down the stretch and made things happen. Not Wednesday night.
“This is the only time I felt we didn’t play better than our opponent in the last five minutes,” Self said. “Tonight, (Nebraska) played better than us.”
In those last five minutes, the Cornhuskers were playing without two starters who had fouled out (John Turek and Jake Muhleisen). Another Husker who had started every game, forward Jason Dourisseau, didn’t play at all because of a sprained ankle.
The Jayhawks barely capitalized. They were afforded bonus free throw opportunities with 11 1/2 minutes remaining and put on the worst free-throw shooting exhibition by a KU team since that inexplicable charity collapse in the NCAA championship game against Syracuse two years ago in New Orleans.
It was almost as if NU coach Barry Collier had called Syracuse counterpart Jim Boeheim and mined his secrets about defending the Jayhawks at the free-throw line.
During those last five minutes, if the Jayhawks weren’t missing free throws, they were posturing when they were whistled for a foul. Nebraska made nine of 11 free throws in crunch time. KU converted four of nine foul shots when the outcome was in doubt.
All that posturing helped produce a handful of noisy boo-bird outbursts from a fieldhouse crowd frustrated by the Jayhawks’ sluggish performance.
Fortunately, the officiating crew of John Higgins, Mike Thibodeaux and Verne Harris kept close tabs on both teams. All three are veteran whistle-tooters. Harris, in fact, worked March’s NCAA championship game between UConn and Georgia Tech.
In the course of a long season, it’s inevitable that teams will show up in their home arena from time to time and play only well enough to defeat the competition.
Sometimes that mental approach backfires — remember last season’s stunning home loss to Richmond? — but other times the underachieving home team will escape by the skin of its teeth.
That’s what happened Wednesday night. And, in the big picture, those are the kind of victories that separate a great season from a very good season.
6Sports video: KU survives Nebraska
Hear Bill, players: Nebraska postgame comments
Photo Gallery: KU vs. Nebraska
Get the stats: KU vs. Nebraska box score
Scorecard: Grade KU’s performance against Nebraska
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