Following the Kansas basketball team’s Elite Eight loss to Villanova, in Louisville, Kentucky, Wayne Selden Jr. described what he’ll remember most about the Jayhawks’ 33-5 season.
“It’s just a great group of guys. They gave it their all, you know, and they worked hard,” Selden said. “I just feel bad for the seniors, and stuff like that. Perry (Ellis) and ‘Mari (Traylor), everybody sees how hard they work, but nobody sees how hard Evan (Manning) works. Nobody sees how hard Hunter (Mickelson) works. And they may go unnoticed, but our seniors were really big this year.”
KU’s ability to play loose and not feel too pressured had taken the team far the final weeks of the season, and Selden said the Jayhawks still performed with that approach against the Wildcats, even though they fell in the regional final.
“In the past when stuff went south, we would get mad and panic and stuff like that,” Selden said. “But even when we got down (by as many as nine against Villanova in the first half), we knew we were fine. ‘We’ve been here before. We’re fine.’ We knew we would make a run to come back, but when we took the lead we wanted to extend it, and we didn’t do that.”
