The end is almost always a brutal beast for the best basketball programs. Early endings are especially rough, and there is enough in this one to drive everyone around Kansas basketball mad. NCAA Tournament games — and the reputations that are built within them — are decided without safety nets. Kansas plunged in an overtime loss to Michigan in the Sweet 16 on Friday, carving new pain in a proud program’s history.
While top-seeded Notre Dame, 33-1, wants to play spoiler to KU’s Cinderella story, Irish coach Muffet McGraw said it will be tougher than advertised against the Jayhawks, 20-13, who are trying to become the first No. 12 seed to reach the Elite Eight of the women’s NCAA Tournament.
This is how it ends for Kansas. A stunning collapse. An overtime loss. A 2-minute, 52-second stretch that will linger in infamy, the latest NCAA Tournament disappointment for No. 1 seed KU. Sophomore guard Naadir Tharpe’s off-balance three-pointer was off target in the final seconds of overtime as the Jayhawks fell 87-85 to No. 4 Michigan in the South Regional semifinal on Friday night.
The worst moment of a basketball life is a young man slumped over in front of the people who love him and those who don’t. Eyes closed, ears unable to block out the painful noise. There is no way to know exactly what this feels like. Later, someone will ask, and Elijah Johnson will shake his head. He doesn’t know what else to do.
A series of mistakes and bad decisions — all the way down to the final field-goal attempt in overtime — doomed the top-seeded Kansas Jayhawks to one of their most painful NCAA Tournament losses, 87-85 to No. 4 seed Michigan in the South Regional semifinals.
Any conversation about Ben McLemore must now begin with the obvious question — was Kansas’ 87-85 loss to Michigan in the Sweet 16 his final game in a Kansas uniform?
It’s a mistake to think Michigan guard Trey Burke only dominated after halftime in the Wolverines’ 87-85 NCAA Tournament victory over top-seeded Kansas. He finished with 23 points in a dazzling shooting display that included one of the tournament’s signature moments — a long-distance three-pointer that send the game into overtime.
Kansas coach Bill Self fell to 7-3 in Sweet 16 games, a number that includes his stops at Tulsa and Illinois. He dropped to 6-1 in Sweet 16 games in which his team was the better seed.
Kansas fans traveled in throngs to Cowboys Stadium on Friday, but they will be returning home with a mixture of shock and disappointment after the Jayhawks lost to Michigan 87-85 in overtime.
It’s gotta be the fro, right? How else do you explain Kansas senior Kevin Young, the 6-foot-8 human pogo stick with the never-ending supply of energy? How else do you explain a mid-major power forward transferring to a tradition-rich blue-blood and becoming a key catalyst on a top-seeded NCAA Tournament team?
Elijah Johnson says he’s not ready to put his KU career in perspective. He won’t sum it up, not until it’s done, and he’s not ready for it to be done yet. Johnson talks almost exclusively in terms of team, which is how a point guard should speak. Personal sacrifice is not a problem for him, and that’s never been more evident than this season.
KU’s top-ranked field-goal percentage defense figures to factor in Friday’s game against Michigan. If the Jayhawks want to advance to the Elite Eight for the third straight year, senior center Jeff Withey conceded that they will need to do two things: Stop the Wolverines’ Trey Burke from penetrating into the lane — and find a way to recover when he does.
WHEN/WHERE: 6:37 p.m. Friday at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas
Friday’s game against KU could define Trey Burke’s time at Michigan if the 6-foot sophomore and Big Ten player of the year can take down the top-seeded Jayhawks by doing what he’s done all year — making big plays at the most opportune moments. A run to the Final Four could also hasten his exit to the NBA.
Here we are, Cowboys Stadium, the NCAA regional site with a video board longer than the basketball court. As the clock ticks down to KU-Michigan, let's take a look back at Bill Self's record in the round of 16.
Kansas freshman guard Ben McLemore and senior center Jeff Withey were chosen to All-America teams released Thursday by the National Association of Basketball Coaches. McLemore, an All-Big 12 first-team selection, was selected to the NABC’s second team, while Withey landed on the third team.
Kansas coach Bill Self has heard about the cavernous and regal confines of Cowboys Stadium, the behemoth football stadium that will play host to top-seeded KU’s Sweet 16 game against No. 4 seed Michigan at 6:37 p.m. on Friday at the NCAA South Regional in Arlington, Texas.
For the last two weeks, the Kansas Jayhawks have been opportunists on offense, picking up stellar performances from an assorted concoction of options. But with two potential heavyweight clashes looming this weekend, the Jayhawks will need Ben McLemore.
The Jayhawks senior has rebounded from a mediocre junior season to provide her team with scoring punch. No game was bigger that Kansas’ NCAA Tournament upset of South Carolina, when she scored a career-high 27 points.
Where are the fans of the Sweet 16 teams? The proof is in two Facebook maps that show the more than 1 million users who liked a page of one of the 16 remaining teams in the NCAA Tournament.
When KU coach Bill Self was asked about Wichita State’s surprise victory over No. 1 seed Gonzaga, he responded with some textbook wit — the kind that might also strike a tender nerve.
Kansas is the only Division I school that has produced Sweet 16 teams in both the men’s and women’s programs for the last two years. On Monday night, Bonnie Henrickson’s Jayhawks upset No. 4 seed South Carolina 75-69 in Boulder, Colo.
Kansas junior Jake Heaps entered spring practice the No. 1 quarterback on the Jayhawks’ depth chart. But after five spring practices, KU coach Charlie Weis has added stronger signals that Heaps, a transfer from BYU, will be the KU starter when the Jayhawks open practice in the fall.
Kansas’ Sweet 16 opponent Friday is a young, offensive-oriented team that is ranked second in the nation in offensive efficiency. But while Michigan is among the nation’s best at putting the ball in the basket, the veteran Jayhawks rank first in the nation in field-goal percentage defense and fifth in defensive efficiency, a statistic that factors in the tempo of games.
The Kansas Jayhawks dispatched No. 4 seed South Carolina 75-69 in the second round of the NCAA women’s basketball tournament Monday behind a 27-point masterpiece from Monica Engelman and 20 from all-Big 12 point guard Angel Goodrich. KU reached the Sweet 16 as a No. 12 seed, a year after making it as a No. 11 seed.
The drumbeat is only going to grow louder for mighty Kansas to start scheduling games against Wichita State.
Did the Jayhawks’ NCAA title odds improve after they survived the first weekend of the tournament? The answer is no, if you choose to believe Nate Silver, the statistical wunderkind who predicts presidential elections, writes best-selling books and projects the NCAA Tournament on the side.
Back home on campus after a successful trip to Kansas City, the No. 1 seed Kansas Jayhawks now have four days to prepare for their next challenge: No. 4 seed Michigan at 6:37 p.m. on Friday in palatial Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
After trailing by nine points at halftime, the Jayhawks rallied to beat North Carolina 70-58 in the NCAA Tournament on Sunday at the Sprint Center. Travis Releford had 22 points and eight rebounds for KU, which plays Michigan in the Sweet 16 at 6:37 p.m. Friday in Arlington, Texas. “I think it’s the best game he’s ever played,” KU coach Bill Self said of Releford, a Kansas City native.
Kansas coach Bill Self picked up his 300th victory at Kansas while continuing his personal dominance over North Carolina coach Roy Williams on Sunday. He improved to 4-1 against Williams, with the only loss coming during the 2002 NCAA Tournament while Self was still at Illinois.
