Later this week, Kansas basketball coach Bill Self will be taking his fourth KU team to the Final Four, where he will look to improve on his 3-2 record on college basketball’s biggest stage.
The lone remaining top seed in the tourney, Self and his squad will take on No. 2 seed Villanova at 5:09 p.m. Saturday at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans.
A win there would put the Jayhawks in Monday night’s national championship game, where they would face the winner of Saturday’s other national semifinal game between Duke and North Carolina.
The outcome of either of those games would go a long way toward defining where this team ranks on the list of Self’s all-time greats and how it stacks up against the three other teams Self brought this far in the past.
For now, though, let’s take a look at how they compare going into the final weekend of the college basketball season.
Let’s start with the 2008 national champs. That team was otherworldly and featured a bunch of pros and so much talent at all five positions. Even if these Jayhawks win the title, I’m not sure they’ll ever be ranked above that bunch.
The 2012 and 2018 teams were led by absolute alphas without outstanding supporting casts.
Thomas Robinson and Tyshawn Taylor shared the alpha title for the 2012 team and did everything together like Batman and Robin. That, without question, was their team. And those two, along with stellar sidekicks like Jeff Withey, Elijah Johnson, Travis Releford, Kevin Young and Conner Teahan led the Jayhawks on a wild ride through the tournament, coming back and surviving time and time again before coming up just short in the title game against a ridiculously talented Kentucky team in New Orleans.
Devonte’ Graham was the star of the show in 2018, in terms of talent, role and personality, and he loved every second of being that guy. He was born for it. His teammates loved it too, and they played off of him and around him as well as any group could have hoped to in advancing to the Final Four with an epic Elite Eight win over Duke
Three great teams, all with big personalities who had the belief that they were better than everybody else and went out and showed it on a regular basis.
This team has that belief, but it’s not quite as boisterous about it.
Like Robinson in 2012 and Graham in 2018, this group has a first-team All-American in senior guard Ochai Agbaji. But Agbaji does not possess the same alpha qualities as those two KU legends. Know why? Because he doesn’t care to and his team doesn’t need him to.
This group is where it is today in large part because of Agbaji but also because they all genuinely love each other and are happy and willing to share the load of leadership.
When talking last weekend about super-senior transfer Remy Martin and his willingness and ability to lead by example, KU sophomore Jalen Wilson said something that perfectly sums up what this team is about.
“We all follow each other,” Wilson said. “No one’s afraid to lead. No one’s afraid to listen.”
Experience often dictates who steps into the leadership roles on any team. And that’s in play with this group, too. Mitch Lightfoot, Ochai Agbaji and even walk-on Chris Teahan all have been terrific leaders regardless of their roles.
But this squad does not have a superstar who is cut from the same cloth as Robinson or Graham. It is not a team of tiers nor is it made up of players who believe there is any kind of limit on what they can contribute on any given night or even a given possession.
Agbaji’s consistency has been off the charts. Self said Sunday that the Kansas City, Missouri native had “carried us all year long.”
But he did it in a way that left room for others to flex their muscles, too. That approach was critical in helping Martin find his role and his way when he was finally healthy again. But it also allowed Christian Braun, David McCormack, Jalen Wilson and even Dajuan Harris Jr. to shine on any given night.
This is not a team in which you would rank the order of importance of its players with a guy in first, a guy in second, another in third and so on down the line. This, if ever there were one, is a team that has a primary option — Agbaji — and then a handful of players who register as 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D and more.
This is not a team in which you would rank the order of importance of its players with a guy in first, a guy in second, another in third and so on down the line. This is a team that has Agbaji as the primary option and a bunch of guys behind him as 1A, 1B, 1C and more.
They’re close. They love each other. They fought for each other. And they fought for their coach. That’s what made Sunday’s celebration so special.
Hats and shirts have been handed out hundreds at times at Kansas over the years. But this was a group — parents and family members included — that literally had to be thrown out of the United Center because their celebration lingered so long.
That kind of bond, from top to bottom and devoid of cliques, is rare most years. And, with the rise of the transfer portal, it may be on the verge of becoming extinct.
This team has it, though. It’s why they’re still standing. And it’s why they’ll head to New Orleans believing they’re the team to beat.
