College basketball world reacts to KU's Round of 32 exit
Posted by Benton Smith
March 23, 2015 at 5:55 p.m.Advertisement
When the season ends for Kansas, it doesn’t just move the needle in the Sunflower State, the college basketball nation takes notice.
When the Jayhawks lose before the Sweet 16, it becomes an even bigger deal. Throw in the whole in-state, previously unplayed rivalry game angle and you’ve got all sorts of intrigue surrounding KU’s Round of 32 loss to Wichita State on Sunday in Omaha.
Below is some of the Twitter chatter, photos, stories — and trash talk — that showed up after the Shockers bounced Kansas from the NCAA Tournament.
Jeff Eisenberg went as far as to include one Kansas player in his “Best and worst of the NCAA tourney’s opening weekend” feature.
Spoiler alert: The Jayhawk didn’t land in the best category.
Wayne Selden Jr. received the unappealing label of “Player who shrank in the spotlight”:
“Selden scored a quiet six points in a victory over New Mexico State on Friday and then went scoreless on five shots in a 78-65 loss to Wichita State two days later. Granted Kansas' game plan was to pound the ball inside against the smaller Shockers, but Selden still acknowledged after the game that he had let down his team by not being aggressive on offense and not playing well on defense.”
A couple of former KU players felt pretty good about their Jayhawks before the game, but since then we have social media silence on the subject.
and 4 others
Comments
Craig Alexander 7 years, 1 month ago
Boy I wish Chalmers and other alumni could come back to show this team what hard core competing looks like. Difference between this team and 2012 is the 2012 team never thought they would lose and they competed like it.
Kristen Downing 7 years, 1 month ago
Ok, enough wallowing for me.....time to move on. Report on the player's future plans, recruiting news and Go Royals. Oh yeah, and I will root for Oklahoma, West Virginia and (gasp) Wichita State.
Marisa Lahm 7 years, 1 month ago
That game was an embarrassment to me as a fan, but you can't always win. Wichita State is a great team, and it showed during that game. The fact of the matter, however, is that KU goes every year. Statistically, you cannot WIN every year and you cannot get to the sweet sixteen, elite eight, or final four every year. What's so great about the NCAA tournament is that anything can happen. There will be upsets, cinderella stories, and just all around amazing games. Wichita State had an amazing game last night; KU didn't. End of story. Everyone's so damn bold and critical when they can hide behind a little screen. This doesn't bother me as a fan; It bothers me as a person. I can't even imagine how those players feel with all of that pressure of them and to receive all of this hate. Instead of bashing the loser, go congratulate the winner.
Sylvia Davis 7 years, 1 month ago
Where is the support for the refs that didn't call blatant fouls against the foulkers but nailed KU? What about the play book shared with the coaches?
WVU to beat KY and GO IRISH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Aaron Paisley 7 years, 1 month ago
Refs didn't determine this game and Bill Self's game plans aren't exactly a surprise after running the same stuff for 15+ years.
Greg Lux 7 years, 1 month ago
The problems with this team were obvious all year. We don't screen well, we don't pass well, we can't stop penetration, We don't have enough movement on offense ( to many guys just standing around all the time. When you run an offense dependent on a strong post presents its a good idea to have a strong post player. We did not. HCBS is a great basketball coach and I would never disagree with his game plans. But this team seems to be more 5 players on the court then a team. Our passes were slow. We misses open players because we hesitated to often and the get it inside at all costs ended in far to many turnovers, far to often. Frank was great as a guard but not a great point guard. Wayne was too on and off from game to game. Perry for all his ability has the worst hands in basketball. He just can't hang on to the ball. Greene is the laziest player on the team and needs to transfer or get with the program. Bottom line is we played so many different combinations we never developed into the team, far to often just 5 players out on the floor playing back yard basketball and having fun. Maybe next years team will learn from this groups lack of consistency.
Joe Ingalls 7 years, 1 month ago
First, the writing was on the wall after the Kentucky game. Not because we lost, and not because we lost by a lot, but any team that can't rebound a missed free throw is going to be in trouble. Second, trying to make someone the "go to guy", doesn't make him the " go to guy". He's got to earn it. Not by the scoring column and certainly not by leading the world in "and ones" for the other team. Watching Perry foul on purpose in the Wichita game and then watching Oubre foul in the exact same situation says it all.
Sherry McGowan 7 years, 1 month ago
The 'hawks were 1-1 against this year's Final Four teams. Parallel to the 4-4 against this year's Sweet Sixteen. How is it that we seemed so completely unable to compete when tournament time rolled around?
by Sherry McGowan
Arthur Ankeney 7 years, 1 month ago
With regards to the 1-1 against Final Four teams... Michigan St is a COMPLETELY different team right now than when we played them. As per usual, Izzo had his guys developing throughout the year and peaking at the right time. I'm not sure how he does it, but he does it better than anybody else.
Commenting has been disabled for this item.