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.
The top-seeded Kansas Jayhawks trailed North Carolina at halftime, but Jeff Withey wasn’t ready for his KU career to be finished. The rest of the players in Kansas’ locker room apparently weren’t ready for the season to end either, rallying to the Sweet 16 behind a dominant second-half performance during a 70-58 victory.
With KU’s game against North Carolina in doubt in the second half, it was Naadir Tharpe, a 5-foot-11 sophomore, who coach Bill Self chose to share backcourt responsibilities with senior Elijah Johnson, not all-Big 12 first-teamer Ben McLemore. Tharpe finished with 12 points, three rebounds and two assists in 27 minutes as KU won 70-58 and reached the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament.
Out there, panic. Frustration. A touch of fear. This is what happens in March, when the ball won’t go down. But in the Kansas locker room, there is anger. Focus. A touch of swagger. The Jayhawks used that to turn their second NCAA Tournament game from disaster to party, a 70-58 win over North Carolina that put them into this week’s Sweet 16.
It was there before they arrived in Ames. By the time they reached Manhattan. Waiting for them at the Sprint Center.
Maybe it was the imposing presence of Kansas 7-foot center Jeff Withey. Or it might have been the intimidating and hostile crowd in the Sprint Center that rattled North Carolina. Whatever the reasons, the Tar Heels shot a season-worst 30.1 percent — making just 22 of 73 shots — in their 70-58 loss to Kansas in the NCAA Tournament on Sunday night.
South Carolina coach Dawn Staley knows something about point-guard play. She established her own credentials in triplicate as one of the game’s greatest point guards as a three-time All-America at Virginia and three-time Olympic gold medalist.
The Kansas Jayhawks are gearing up to take on North Carolina this afternoon in the NCAA Tournament at Sprint Center. KU considers itself battle-tested. Follow along with The Star's college team on Twitter throughout the game.
Almost 10 years ago, as the KU athletic department was in turmoil, three men brought Bill Self to Kansas to replace Roy Williams as the Jayhawks’ basketball coach. The key figures in Self’s hiring are no longer at KU, but the story of what could be the most crucial 14 days in KU sports history lives on.
The Jawhawks face off against North Carolina and former coach Roy Williams at 4:15 p.m. Sunday at the Sprint Center.
Bill Self likes mean. Or, at least, he likes guys who play mean. Calls them assassins. But there is no one like that on this KU team, so Self is left to cultivate meanness. And nobody personifies that better than Jeff Withey as Kansas and North Carolina play Sunday at the Sprint Center for a spot in the NCAA Tournament’s Sweet 16.
For the second straight year, Kansas has knocked out a former Big 12 foe in the first round of the NCAA women’s basketball tournament. This time, the 12th-seeded Jayhawks ran Colorado out of its own Coors Events Center, winning 67-52 on Saturday afternoon. Last year, KU opened the tourney as a No. 11 seed and beat Nebraska on the way to the Sweet 16.
Given the bloodlines, it would been difficult for North Carolina’s James Michael McAdoo not to have been an excellent basketball player. His father and mother played at Old Dominion and his second cousin Bob helped take North Carolina to the Final Four in 1972 and is a member of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.
Jeff Withey rescued the Jayhawks, scoring 17 points, grabbing six rebounds and blocking seven shots in their 64-57 win against Western Kentucky at the Sprint Center. Kansas plays North Carolina at 4:15 p.m. Sunday for a berth in the Sweet 16.
There were 5 minutes left and Kansas had a chance for a transition slam, the kind of dunk that would have blown the roof off the Sprint Center — and brought a much-needed release from an anxious Jayhawks crowd.
Kansas sophomore Naadir Tharpe simply said the Jayhawks’ guards had been sped up. But whatever it was, Kansas didn’t handle Western Kentucky’s ball pressure well on Friday night. Kansas finished with 17 turnovers, and Tharpe, Elijah Johnson and Ben McLemore combined for nine turnovers.
Not too far from the Sprint Center, Kansas walk-on Evan Manning’s dad, Danny, rocketed to national stardom 25 years ago as he led the Jayhawks to the 1988 NCAA men’s basketball national title at Kemper Arena.
When the Kansas women’s basketball team made its surprise run to the Sweet 16 last season, forward Carolyn Davis had to enjoy the breakthrough from the sideline.
On Friday night, Kansas senior Travis Releford will start for the top-seeded Jayhawks in their NCAA Tournament opener against Western Kentucky. In a glistening arena just a few miles from where he was raised, Releford will make a final run through his hometown. In some ways, it’s the culmination of a story of perseverance and quiet determination. When so many wondered if Releford could cut it at Kansas, he stuck it out, waiting his turn, never complaining.
They almost built a statue for Roy Williams. A decade later, Bill Self is mentioned in the same breath. Williams is 0-2 against Kansas, with both losses coming in the NCAA Tournament. There could be a third game Sunday, if both teams win Friday at the Sprint Center. The truth is, Kansas basketball is better than Williams left it, and who saw that coming 10 years ago?
For the NCAA Tournament’s top teams, the ultimate humiliation — a loss to a No. 16 seed — is lurking the first time they take the court. It’s a possibility that the Jayhawks acknowledge and mean to turn in their favor.
Western Kentucky, KU’s first opponent in the NCAA Tournament on Friday night, is anything but a typical No. 16 seed in the NCAA Tournament. “We have banners hanging in the rafters …” said second-year coach Ray Harper. “Final Four, Sweet 16s … We’re in the process of trying to get this program back and be a perennial power in the country.”
It’s taken a while for the 6-foot-8 forward from Wichita to find a measure of comfort in coach Bill Self’s system. But last week in Kansas City, the player who KU has been waiting for poured in points and heard fans chanting his name.
WHEN/WHERE: About 8:50 p.m. Friday at the Sprint Center
Julius Randle, the No. 2 overall recruit in the Class of 2013 and one of KU coach Bill Self’s top targets, announced his decision to attend Kentucky on Wednesday, spurning Kansas in the process. Randle, a 6-foot-9 power forward from Prestonwood Christian Academy, would have fit seamlessly into Kansas’ frontcourt, filling a large void in a program that will be trying to reload for a 10th straight Big 12 regular-season title in 2013-14.
They couldn’t score. They couldn’t defend. And as Kansas coach Bill Self declared after an 85-80 loss to Oklahoma State on Feb. 2, the Jayhawks didn’t have a point guard. Things feel so much better for KU now than they did in mid-February. It’s easy to forget now, that grisly eight-day stretch of basketball.
The No. 1 seed Kansas Jayhawks got an early dose of the Big Dance on Tuesday, when Sports Illustrated released its regional covers for its NCAA Tournament preview edition.
