Why Kansas Jayhawks’ One Shining Moment vs. North Carolina was 5 months in making
David McCormack emerged from Kansas’ locker room without a shirt, which only made his new necklace stand out more.
It was about an hour after KU’s 72-69 victory over North Carolina in Monday’s national championship game at the Superdome, and McCormack smiled after plopping into a golf cart when asked about his new accessory: the game’s net dangling from his neck.
McCormack hadn’t won Most Outstanding Player of the men’s Final Four — that honor went to teammate Ochai Agbaji — but in KU coach Bill Self’s eyes, the big man deserved something for delivering the Jayhawks a national title with clutch plays late.
So Self gave him the net after the game ended, telling McCormack to keep it for all time.
“He said I finished strong,” McCormack said of Self. “He just had faith in me and trusted me.”
The final sentence is important, because McCormack is correct.
Self did trust his big man — even after he struggled in the first half, even through inconsistency this season.
And even after McCormack hadn’t come through on this exact same play during a KU loss earlier this season.
To fully appreciate Monday’s moment — and McCormack going over North Carolina forward Brady Manek for a hook in the biggest shot of his life — you have to go back five months to KU’s first setback of the season.
The Jayhawks were up 1 against Dayton in a less meaningful championship game then: November’s ESPN Events Invitational in Orlando. With 30 seconds left, Self went to one of his favorite plays to get McCormack a post touch; after Remy Martin ran to the wrong place, though, McCormack tried to do too much, lowering his shoulder to pick up a charge.
It was just the start of McCormack — and Self — taking some heat over the next few weeks.
Many KU fans were angry then, saying the ball should’ve been put in Martin’s hands. McCormack hadn’t proven he could come through in these situations. So why would Self go to him here?
The coach couldn’t have known it at the time, but an honest response in the press conference then would’ve been this:
“I ran this play because Dave needs to practice before running it in the final minute of the national championship game.”
Seriously.
Let’s examine this again.
After North Carolina center Armando Bacot exited the game after tweaking his ankle in the final minute Monday, North Carolina was forced to play small with the undersized Manek at the 5. So with 38 seconds left and KU up 1 — sound familiar? — Self knew exactly where he wanted the ball to end up.
“We were going to the big man,” KU assistant Norm Roberts said.
“We weren’t doing anything else,” added assistant Jeremy Case.
“Coach called the play and said, ‘We’re going to throw it inside,’” McCormack said, “’and we have trust in you and faith in you to deliver and get us a basket.’”
The motions from there should look all too familiar.
A KU guard circling to the top for a fake ball screen. Then receiving the pass on the left wing with the court spread, and McCormack working to pin his man inside.
The execution was precise this time. Christian Braun spaced in the corner. McCormack posted Manek deep, catching it with a foot in the lane before taking one dribble and putting up a jump-hook over his left shoulder.
Manek was helpless. He watched as the jumper cradled the back rim and fell in — a sequence that provided the defining shot in CBS’s One Shining Moment video.
“We know Dave can produce. He did it last game, and he did it against Providence,” Case said. “(Shoot), Dave can perform, man, and especially when he has kind of a smaller guy on him. He dominates those dudes.”
McCormack’s inside shot would be the final points of the 2021-22 season, giving KU its final margin in its first national championship since 2008.
And Self, afterward, said he couldn’t help but say he was “so happy for” his oft-criticized big man.
“David is as maligned a player that we’ve had, in large part because he can be a little bit of a tease sometimes,” Self said. “He’s 6-10, built like a Greek god. But sometimes it doesn’t always go his way.”
No one on KU’s roster tried harder, though. And no one worked more diligently to be ready, as Self revealed Monday night that over the last 10 months, McCormack had averaged three hours of training each day for his injured foot.
“He’s been a stud all year,” Roberts said. “A lot of people don’t understand: David’s been playing on one foot all year. He’s been hurt. But that kid battles every day. He tried every day. He’s got a great attitude.
“It couldn’t have happened to a better person than that kid.”
Everything before now will be erased from McCormack’s previous record.
The frustration. The fan angst. All of it gone now thanks to this singular performance, with McCormack delivering in the clutch as few Jayhawks in history have.
Only one question remains now: Will McCormack get his rightful spot in the Allen Fieldhouse rafters? That’s typically given to all Final Four Most Outstanding Players, and though McCormack technically didn’t win this one, he would’ve had the media vote taken place at a reasonable time instead of being requested while the game was still taking place.
It’s a question for another day, though. McCormack didn’t seem worried at all about his legacy when seated in a golf cart Monday, a few seconds away from returning to KU’s postgame team bus for the final time.
He had a black national championship hat tilted to the left side of his head, and a net remained plastered to the skin on his chest.
He delivered KU a title, and also his own Shining Moment.
While making good for a coach that trusted him to the end.
This story was originally published April 5, 2022 at 4:36 AM.
