The ‘experts’ don’t think you’ll read this column about KU being disrespected; prove them wrong!

Here in a cramped locker room sit guys who make up the best college basketball team in the country, and if you are the type who likes to be ignored or dismissed, you should tell them that. They do not want to hear such things.

Criticize them, however, and the players on this Kansas basketball team will remember you forever. This is among their gifts.

In one corner, for instance, Jamari Traylor is talking about people “bashing” and “crushing” his teammate and friend Landen Lucas. For the most part, Lucas has been widely praised this season as a key reason the Jayhawks escaped a two-week slump in January to become the top-ranked and top-seeded team in the NCAA Tournament.

But that kind of thing is useless to Traylor. So, instead, he is talking about other stuff, negative stuff, even if it’s a stretch to say television commenters mentioning that Lucas is unlikely to play in the NBA qualifies as “bashing” or “crushing.” But the best part is when you ask Traylor where he heard the criticism.

“Just, like, stuff on Twitter,” he says.

Traylor is a smart guy. He has to know you can find anything on Twitter if you look for it, including people saying the Warriors (stink) and will lose in the first round of the NBA playoffs. Traylor is smart. Which is why he’s, um, stretching the truth and talking about people bashing Lucas. All part of the plan. All part of the machine.

The Jayhawks are now one game away from the Final Four — they play Villanova at 7:49 Central on Saturday night — for a lot of reasons. They are among the best defensive teams in the country, play each possession like stray dogs looking for a meal, and carry an easy confidence as if they already know the result and just want to see your face when you find out.

But, more and more, it is becoming obvious that this group is 33-4 and has not lost in 61 days at least in part because it has developed a collective mastery of turning outside doubts — real or otherwise — into an internal fire. They are playing to be remembered as one of the best basketball teams in KU history, but already they have proven themselves as great masters of propaganda — it’s an undeniable strength.

“Yeah, that’s probably true,” says KU assistant coach Kurtis Townsend. “We’ve got those kind of guys, and you like that.”

Most recently, this came up as KU guard Wayne Selden used his time with reporters after KU’s win over Maryland on Thursday to do a touchdown dance on a “pros against Joes” line that CBS commentator Doug Gottlieb uttered during the tourney’s selection show. Never mind that what Gottlieb said about Maryland having more NBA talent than Kansas is factually accurate, and openly acknowledged by KU coach Bill Self, or even that Gottlieb couched the point by saying it didn’t make Kansas the inferior team.

The point is, the Jayhawks saw an opportunity, and carried that 15-second moment of a two-hour show nearly two weeks ago onto the court with them.

This is the rule, not the exception. They outwardly downplayed it, but internally they stewed upon hearing K-State’s Wesley Iwundu invite fans to storm the court if the Wildcats could beat KU in Manhattan. KU guard Devonte Graham referenced the widespread (and deserved) praise of national player of the year candidate Buddy Hield after an all-time performance in KU’s win at Oklahoma.

The Jayhawks do this as well as anyone. Townsend mentions the 2014 team as one that could’ve done better with more of this in them.

This kind of thing has been part of sports longer than the national anthem. Everyone does this, on every level, and in every sport. Sometimes, if sufficient doubt is hard to find, adults will go to bizarre lengths — an OU football coach once wrote and printed out a story made to look like it appeared in The Star, filled with make-believe and disrespectful quotes from Missouri players.

This KU basketball team isn’t at that level, but it’s still fun to see guys in one of the most tradition-rich programs in college sports remake themselves into the 1954 Milan High Indians. The President of the United States picked Kansas in the world’s most famous bracket, but you get the feeling these guys will most remember that Obama joked about how Bill Self “owes me” after past years when the President’s pick lost early.

Kansas is the top overall seed, No. 1 in the polls, the betting favorite and No. 1 in many advanced metrics. If you’re not one to think much about a politician’s bracket, maybe you’d be interested to know that Jay Bilas — arguably the highest-profile and most-respected college basketball mind out there — also picked KU. If you’re not one for the pundits, maybe you’d be interested to know that the most popular pick in both the CBS and ESPN bracket challenges is Kansas.

Then again, none of that does much good for the greater mission, so bring on the hate. And now that we think about it, there have been an awful lot of people talking about how well Villanova is shooting. Spread that message.

“You have to block out the good stuff,” Kansas senior Evan Manning said, chuckling. “You don’t want to let that get to your head.”

Even if it means squeezing disrespect from a place where none exists.

“Yeah,” Manning said. “Kind of seems that way.”

On that point, Kansas is going to have to search a little harder for disrespect this time. Villanova has no projected first-round picks, and just as importantly, is not giving the Jayhawks much material to work with. The closest thing might be senior forward Daniel Ochefu saying, “If any team is shooting the way we’re shooting right now, they’ll easily be the most dangerous team in the country.”

That kind of trash talk — if we shoot really well you will have a hard time defeating us in today’s athletic contest! — would get you laughed off a playground court. Ochefu’s line is also tempered by this exchange between a reporter and guard Jalen Brunson.

Reporter: Are you worried about them?

Brunson: Yeah, a little bit, yeah.

Reporter: Kansas?

Brunson: Um-hmm.

That, obviously, will not be shared with KU’s players.

There was a telling moment with Kansas guard Frank Mason on Friday afternoon. He was talking about the need to shut off outside noise, to focus only on the people who matter. But that clearly doesn’t always happen, because in the literal sense people on TV do not matter. So Mason was explaining how he hears about negativity. Some of it comes directly through social media, and more of it comes from friends or family who mention what they saw on social media.

That’s when I asked Mason if those people ever share the nice things said about him or his team, and I swear he smiled a little bit.

“Never,” he said.

Fear not. Even on the off-chance that Mason does not hear about criticism on social media, Self has promised to remind him that Villanova guard Ryan Arcidiacono hit the go-ahead jumper over Mason with 10 seconds left in a game two years ago.

This story was originally published March 25, 2016 at 5:41 PM with the headline "The ‘experts’ don’t think you’ll read this column about KU being disrespected; prove them wrong!."