Long shot should be a layup
DETROIT | The pain would be unimaginable, a Kansas Jayhawk loss before reaching the Final Four.
The path to San Antonio has been cleared of seemingly all obstacles except for a tiny guard with Larry Bird’s feathery touch, Tiger Woods’ calm in the clutch, Magic Johnson’s charisma and an aura of destiny.
Davidson’s Stephen Curry may in fact own the Midwest Regional, but there’s little doubt about the best team.
Bill Self’s Jayhawks followed Curry’s latest solo masterpiece — a 33-point outburst in a drubbing of Big Ten champion Wisconsin — with an overwhelming shock-and-awe trampling of Villanova, 72-57, setting up a David vs. Goliath showdown inside coliseumlike Ford Field on Sunday.
Every bit of the pressure is on the top-seeded Jayhawks. A defeat at the hands of a spunky midmajor would be a colossal tragedy for Self and his players. Their road to the Final Four has been too easy for Kansas fans to accept a setback now.
The whole country might have fallen in love with Stephen Curry, his smooth shot and 13-year-old frame, but Kansas fans want him buried on Sunday.
The cute, little story must end, and it’s time for the Jayhawks to take advantage of a bracket that has fed them a 16 seed (Portland State), a terrible 8 seed (UNLV), a lucky-to-get-in 12 seed (Villanova) and now a one-man-band 10 seed (Davidson).
There’s so much cake to KU’s walk to San Antonio that Bill Snyder called CBS complaining about KU’s easy nonconference schedule.
“We played a team that I think you guys would agree wasn’t a 12 seed,” Self said. “They were a 12 seed because the Big East is a monster. But they’re better than that. And certainly I think Davidson can play with anybody.”
I disagree. Villanova might have been the worst team KU’s played during the postseason. The Wildcats, 22-13, were so overmatched that Self felt comfortable playing Jeremy Case, Rodrick Stewart and Tyrel Reed in the first half.
Have those three played together in the first half of any game this year?
A three-pointer by Case staked Kansas to a 41-22 halftime lead. The Hawks could have named their score. They got pretty much any shot they wanted outside of 10 feet. Villanova concentrated on slowing Darrell Arthur and Darnell Jackson in the paint. That plan actually worked quite well.
But Russell Robinson, Brandon Rush and Mario Chalmers combined to score 32 first-half points. They hit six of 12 three-point attempts. They also keyed a defensive effort that limited Villanova to 26-percent shooting in the opening 20 minutes.
This was never a game.
And Sunday’s shouldn’t be competitive, either. Curry isn’t enough. Yeah, he’s averaging 34 points in the tournament. But no one, especially not the Badgers, has been creative about defending Curry. Opponents seem to size him up and assume he’ll wilt against major-college talent.
“Curry is unbelievable,” Kansas center Sasha Kaun said. “He’s on a run right now. I know he’s scoring 30 points a game and stuff. We just have to kind of contain, play D, do kind of what we did (Friday). Play as a team, you know, play good D.”
I can’t imagine Self not rotating Robinson, Chalmers and Rush on Curry. Rush, at 6 feet 6, might really be a problem for Curry. It will take some effort for Rush to move with Curry and fight through all of Davidson’s screens, but Rush will only have to do it for short bursts. His teammates can relieve him.
To reach Jason Whitlock, call 816-234-4869 or send e-mail to jwhitlock@kcstar.com. For previous columns, go to KansasCity.com.
