Four No. 1 seeds entered. Only one remains. It's white unis from this point on.
I think we all need to pray to the basketball gods that our current shooting prowess will continue -- I can't believe how good our guards were vs. Richmond, esp. Brady. But TT's resurgence continues, and Selby's showing signs too -- his 3's really blew the game open.
Did anyone think at the beginning of the season -- or even in all the midseason turmoil -- that this team would be capable of mounting a 35-2 record, second-most wins in Kansas history? Someone pointed out, too, that for all our status as Big Dogs, this team actually has only one McDonald's guy, and he doesn't even start. This could be Self's best coaching job.
ESPN noted that Kansas has now reached four Elite 8's in the last eight years, but never mind that -- how about six in the last 10 years, baby! If we can win Sunday, it'll be four Final 4's in the last decade.
UFR's Manley reports that KU now has the best five-year stretch of any NCAA team in history -- coinciding of course with the 5-year existence of this blog. But we shouldn't take all the credit.
Lots of commentary on trash-talking. From Pat Forde of ESPN:
ReplyDelete"The Kansas Jayhawks are not in this tournament to win the sportsmanship trophy. They’re not here to go along and get along. They’re not terribly interested in playing nice.
They made that perfectly clear before and during their Sweet 16 stomping of Richmond on Friday night, a 77-57 beating that was Kansas at its best. And cockiest. And most intimidating.
The Jayhawks shoved their way inside the Spiders’ heads more than 24 hours before the game and never left, not until the final horn sounded."
And The Star's Sam Mellinger:
"If you’re a KU fan who thinks the talk is ugly — and there is a clear generation gap on this — then maybe you should ask yourself something.
Do you want a team that manufactures motivation in a way that might make you cringe at times?
Or do you want one that loses to Bucknell and Northern Iowa?"
There's some truth to this, but the fact is that when Brady got T'd up for trash-talking (or when Elijah did the same vs. K-State), it helped the other team, not Kansas.
Great stats in the main post, DGL.
ReplyDeleteI have mixed feelings about the trash talk, but I love the coaching. Keegan's column about the defensive adjustments was very good, and leaves me very impressed with Self and coaching staff.
Dammit Self.
ReplyDelete