Kansas City, Mo. — With just one day between monster games in the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight, the Kansas men’s basketball team has its work cut out for it in preparing for Saturday’s 7:49 p.m. tip-off against third-seeded Oregon with a trip to the Final Four on the line.
Luckily for Kansas, a good chunk of what they’ll be preparing for should seem pretty familiar.
“They’ve got an athletic, terrific team,” KU coach Bill Self said of Dana Altman’s Ducks following a 98-66 pasting of Purdue that was the nightcap to Oregon’s 69-68 victory over Michigan. “They’re like us; they’re going to play small a lot of the time because they will play Dillon (Brooks) at the 4 like we play Josh (Jackson) and then play the best defender in the Pac-12, Defensive Player of the Year (Jordan Bell) around the middle, kind of like we do Landen (Lucas). So I think it will be two teams that at least match-up with each other pretty well.”
“I’ve seen Oregon,” Self added. “But I haven’t studied them like I need to study ’em. I was so focused on Purdue. But this is what I do know: They’re athletic like we’re athletic. And they’re gonna play small just like we play small.”
One of the most intriguing match-ups in Saturday’s Elite Eight showdown will feature two players that Self briefly mentioned during his breakdown of the Ducks.
KU freshman Josh Jackson versus Oregon junior Dillon Brooks promises to be an absolute battle, inside and out, on the glass and the perimeter, on the stat sheet and all over the floor.
While it remains to be seen exactly how the Jayhawks have scouted and will game plan for Brooks, who, in addition to being one of the most dramatically clutch players in all of college basketball this season, was named Pac-12 Player of the Year, there’s no question that their similar size and usage make Jackson and Brooks a natural pairing.
Asked after his team’s pounding of Purdue how he felt about the assignment, should it come to him, the 6-foot-8, 207-pound Jackson said he welcomed the match-up with the 6-7, 225-pound junior forward.
“I would guard anybody,” Jackson said. “Most of the time I find myself guarding the best player on the other team at some point in the game, even if it’s not the whole game. I’m up for the challenge. I like a challenge.”
KU coach Bill Self seemed just as eager to see what Jackson could do against yet another talented opponent.
“You think of the match-ups Josh has had at the 4, in (Michigan State’s) Miles Bridges and now Dillon Brooks, I mean, those are some big time match-ups, the best college basketball has to offer. So that’ll be great,” Self said. “I see a lot of similarities (between the two teams) and, of course, they’ve shot the ball unbelievably well so far in the tournament. It’ll be a great match-up. It’s gonna be a fun game, two teams that like to get up and down.”
One other intriguing note about the match-up between top-seeded Kansas (31-4) and third-seeded Oregon (32-5) is that it will pit two teams against one another who lost in the Elite Eight a season ago, Kansas to eventual national champion Villanova in Louisville, and Oregon to Oklahoma in Anaheim, California.
“It’s great (for our players),” Self said of being one win away from a trip to the Final Four. “And they care so much. But Oregon’s kids care a lot too, and they’re one win away also. And they lost the Elite Eight game just like we did last year. So I’m sure that’s something that’s motivated them all year long, let’s get back and play this game different than we did the year before. And, of course, that’ll be the same thing with us. It’ll be a highly competitive game.”
*Stay in touch with KUsports.com throughout the day Friday and Saturday for more on this match-up from the coaches and players at Sprint Center.*
