Jamari Traylor has watched closely from nearby as a Kansas basketball team made a deep run through the postseason. An NCAA partial qualifier, Traylor sat out his first year in Lawrence, only practicing in the spring semester with what turned out to be a Final Four squad.
But the senior power forward from Chicago never has personally contributed to anything better than a Sweet 16 berth for KU in 2013, his freshman season. Back then, Traylor didn’t have [Bill Self’s trust like he does now][1]. Traylor played a combined 13 minutes as the Jayhawks moved past Western Kentucky and North Carolina, and lost to Michigan. He took three shots, made two of them, scored four points, but didn’t even collect a rebound.
Each of the following two seasons, Traylor’s role increased, but Kansas faltered early in March Madness, exiting with just a single tourney victory in both 2014 and 2015.
Traylor, like the most of his teammates, struggled to score inside (1-for-8 shooting) in a 60-57 second-round loss to Stanford his sophomore year, two days after dominating against Eastern Kentucky, with 17 points and 14 boards.
As a junior, Traylor’s season concluded with him contributing four points (2-for-5 shooting) and five rebounds off the bench as KU lost, 78-65, to Wichita State.
Those back-to-back Round of 32 losses don’t fall solely on Traylor’s broad shoulders, of course. KU’s core of veterans — Perry Ellis, Wayne Selden Jr. and Frank Mason III — also played key roles in those season-ending head-scratchers. But Traylor takes ownership in the program’s successes and shortcomings. That’s one reason why, as the Jayhawks head into the postseason this March, the 6-foot-8 leader senses this team can actually live up to KU’s lofty expectations.
> “It’s pretty much a different
> feeling,” Traylor said of the vibe,
> compared to the other KU teams he has
> played for. “I feel like we’ve got a
> group of guys who’s a little more
> hungry. We’ve tasted defeat in the
> postseason, so we know what’s around
> the corner for us. I’m a senior now.
> Perry’s a senior now. So we know it’s
> our last opportunity, so we’re more
> locked in.”
Even before the season began, [Traylor thought the final Kansas team he played on could be as good defensively][2] as the one he watched reach the 2012 national championship game.
What’s more, the closer the KU’s veterans get to the NCAAs, [the better their defense looks][3]. In Big 12 play, the Jayhawks held opponents to 39.2% shooting. No other team registered better than 42.9% — by both West Virginia and Oklahoma State.
KU’s improving defensive effort, coinciding with the emergence of junior big man Landen Lucas, is a sign of the hunger Traylor described.
> “As a younger team, I guess guys
> probably could feel like we could come
> back next year or come back the year
> after,” Traylor explained of the more
> youthful KU rosters who fell short in
> past postseasons. “We don’t have that
> opportunity. I feel like we’re more
> focused in and we’ve just gotta be in
> tune, because we know one bad mistake
> or one bad game we can be over.”
In March, intangibles tend to push teams closer to a Final Four. Self pointed to an immeasurable characteristic when asked what he admired most about this year’s Jayhawks.
> “I would say, I would probably never
> give my teams that much credit for
> being pretty tough, but I think they
> are pretty tough in crucial
> situations,” Self said. “I think that
> they usually — not always — usually
> rise to the level of what needs to be
> done at that particular moment, and,
> you know, they like each other.”
Ellis may be best known for his soft shooting touch from inside and outside, but Traylor noticed the team’s leading scorer getting tough in the final minutes of KU’s regular-season finale, an 85-78 home victory over Iowa State.
> “He’s just a winner,” Traylor said of
> Ellis. “The last play you could tell,
> because he put it all out there. He
> dove on the court. It was the defining
> moment for the game. It just shows how
> much you want to win if you do that.”
Traylor, Ellis, Selden and Mason all will have plenty of chances, beginning this weekend at the Big 12 Tournament, to prove with their play if March victories mean even more to them now than they did in the past.
[1]: http://www2.kusports.com/news/2016/mar/05/jamari-traylors-senior-day-speech-brings-bill-self/
[2]: http://www2.kusports.com/weblogs/smithology/2015/dec/7/jamari-traylor-compares-current-jayhawks/
[3]: http://www2.kusports.com/news/2016/mar/05/benton-smith-self-sees-jayhawks-making-progress-de/?mens_basketball
