It should be Final Four weekend. In a normal year, would KU have clipped the nets?
Huge numbers of college basketball coaches, players, analysts and fans were supposed to be glued to CBS Saturday and Monday watching what figured to be a compelling 2020 Final Four in Atlanta.
Instead, worldwide COVID-19 coronavirus concerns put an end to the NCAA Tournament on March 12 before it even started, leaving a national championship vacancy in the record books that will stand for the rest of time.
So had this been a normal year, which team would have hoisted the trophy and clipped down the nets amid a sea of confetti dropping from the rafters Monday night? That, too, will forever be debated.
Analyst Evan Daniels of 247sports.com polled 115 NCAA Division I head coaches and assistant coaches who gave the nod to .... Kansas.
Bill Self’s Jayhawks (28-3), who won the Big 12 regular-season title, were the choice of 49 coaches as the most likely to win the 2020 crown.
Gonzaga was the pick of 17 of the 115 coaches. The Zags were followed by Dayton, 14 coaches, then Florida State (9), Michigan State (7) and Baylor (6). In all, 15 teams received votes.
Daniels recently asked ESPN’s Jay Bilas to identify the team Bilas thought “would have won the tournament or was the best team going into it.”
“I thought Kansas had established itself as the best team,” Bilas said, “but I don’t think anybody could say, ‘OK well that’s a for-sure Final Four team.’ I kind of look back at (say) 2015 as one of those years where you go, ‘OK, we know who is good this year. We know who is going to be there absent from something extraordinary happening.’ You knew Kentucky was the best team. You knew Duke and Wisconsin with their talent and experience were going to be there (in 2015 Final Four) absent an incredible upset.”
Duke defeated Wisconsin in the 2015 title game. Michigan State and Kentucky were the other two teams to play on the final weekend that season.
“This year was not like that,” Bilas told 247sports.com, indicating it was more like “2010, 2011, where you couldn’t wrap your arms around who was any good and everybody was a little bit flawed and the metrics proved it. “
Duke beat Butler in the 2010 title game. West Virginia and Michigan State were the other two Final Four participants. In 2011, UConn beat Butler in the title game, with VCU and Kentucky thre other two participants.
“I think it would have been a pretty wild ride. My belief is it would have come out the same as it normally does where you would have mostly Power Five teams in the Sweet 16 with some interlopers,” Bilas told 247sports.com. “ It might have been some different Power Five teams. We might have seen Penn State in the Sweet 16, something like that. It was a little bit different of a year in that regard.”
Next year’s odds
Kansas, Kentucky, Duke and Gonzaga are all 10-1 favorites to win the 2021 NCAA Tournament title according to the William Hill Sportsbook, the Las Vegas Review-Journal has reported.
Virginia is at 12-1, followed by Baylor (14-1) and Michigan State (18-1). Creighton and Villanova are 20-1, while Oregon is 25-1.
Oklahoma State is listed at 150-1, Wichita State 250-1, Missouri 300-1 and Kansas State 500-1.
Manning praised by TSN
Former KU phenom Danny Manning has been ranked No. 2 overall in the Sporting News’ list of the “68 greatest players of the expanded bracket era, which began with the 1984-85 season and has continued through the 2019-20 season.”
Duke’s Christian Laettner was listed No. 1 overall. KU’s Frank Mason made the list at No. 66.
“Manning’s performance in the 1988 tournament, particularly the national championship victory over Oklahoma, ranks with the greatest ever,” wrote Mike DeCourcy of the Sporting News. “He averaged 27.2 points and 9.3 rebounds during the tournament. It was his willingness to take as many shots as necessary to elevate the team known as ‘Danny and the Miracles’ to the championship that made the difference for Kansas following a somewhat indifferent regular season. Manning also was a major contributor on the 1986 Kansas team that lost in the national semifinal,” DeCourcy added.
Svi is having fine season
Former KU shooting guard Svi Mykhailiuk of the Detroit Pistons averaged 9 points per game in 56 games before the 2019-20 NBA season was put on hold because of coronavirus. He hit 40.4% of his threes and 41 percent from the field overall.
But Mykhailiuk really blossomed in the 28 games between Dec. 30 and the March 11 suspension of the season. In filling in for the injured Luke Kennard, the 6-7 Mykhailiuk averaged 12.0 points per game on 39% three-point marksmanship.
“The Pistons have a team option on Mykhailiuk’s contract for the 2020-21 season and there is little question that they’ll exercise it,” writes Keith Langiois of nba.com. “He’s got enough size to play anywhere on the perimeter and even guard power forwards in small-ball lineups. His ability off the dribble makes him a great fit in (Dwane) Casey’s offense.
“The crush of injuries that overwhelmed the Pistons in 2019-20 opened the door for playing time for a number of young players and no one benefited more than Mykhailiuk. Still only 22 — the youngest player on the 15-man roster other than Sekou Doumbouya — Mykhailiuk at minimum has established himself as a solid NBA rotation player with the potential to be a key piece of the Pistons not only during their transition phase but well beyond.”
This story was originally published April 3, 2020 at 10:36 AM.
