Year in Recap

I submit:

Before season starts Self structured a team that was going to be a typical KU team of inside out. The plan looked good as Dwight Coleby had emerged as a solid contributor worthy of minutes backing up the McD AA Billy Preston and Udoka Azubuike. Evan Maxwell was an intriguing 4th option with good athleticism. Also we had undersized but big in heart Mitch Lightfoot who is really more of a 3 but could give minutes in a pinch at the 4. We knew we were strong in the backcourt. We had Devonte' Graham who had played in the shadow of the consensus national player of the year Frank Mason. Would Devonte' be ready and able to carry the load without his backcourt mate? Newman was hyped but unproven. Vick was athletic but it was questionable how many minutes he would be able to effectively provide. Svi was now a senior and still had not fully emerged as an aggressive offensive force and was always a question on defense with his slow first step reaction and less than quick lateral ability. But it was KU basketball and hopes were high.

Then......

Evan Maxwell and Dwight Coleby announced they were leaving. These were not 2 projected starters but they did comprise what was expected to be the bench for the frontcourt. But we were still loaded on the starting 5 frontcourt with Azubuike and Preston. We would be very young but very talented.

Then...

Billy Preston and the mystery car issue. Now KU is effectively down to Udoka Azubuike as the only real frontcourt presence with Mitch Lightfoot called on to give minutes in a position he is physically and talent wise ill suited for. But concerns waned as our backcourt looked like world beaters out of the gate. We were crushing lesser teams and managed to beat a young Kentucky team. We were flying high but there were questions. Newman did not appear to be on the same page all the time. Svi was starting off his senior year as a different player but was still a little streaky. LaGerald was a huge surprise and was dominant as we played the so-called cupcakes. LaGerald even dominated against Syracuse and Washington when other players were waning. Mitch was giving it his all but when faced with big strong centers he was unable to give effective minutes. Talk began that we may not have the horses to be really competitive this year. This may be the year we lose the Big 12. We were cruising through the first 7 games and dominating but the cracks were starting to show.

Then...

Washington came to the Sprint Center. Devonte' was completely neutralized. Our leader was shut down and made ineffective. It appeared that Svi was connected to Devonte' and if Devonte' was unable to lead, Svi was not one who would step in. Malik was minimally effective but it seemed that he was not yet ready to step up and lead when Devonte' had an off day. LaGerald was effective against Washington largely because they allowed him to shoot at will. It was a devastating loss, one of the worst in years. Questions screamed out, "Is Devonte' really ready to lead this team?, "Is there anyone who can step in and lead when Devonte' is off?", "Can Svi be effective without Devonte' on point?", "Is Udoka truly going to be simply a solid role player or can he ever step up and use his size to be dominant?", "Does this team have the mental toughness to take a lick keep on ticking?", "Will Malik ever get on the same page with the rest of the team and the coaches?", "OMG, we need Billy, when will he be available?" But one game should not get us too alarmed even a game as bad as Washington.

Then...

The very next game we went home to get well against Arizona St. We did not get well. We were thinking more and more we were going to need to be a perimeter team with Evan and Dwight gone and with Billy out indefinitely. We need to show at least on the backcourt we can stay with anyone. Then in the sacred confines of the greatest arena on the planet and the home court of our beloved Jayhawks we saw another self-professed backcourt juggernaut run us out of the gym and completely dominate for a never acceptable home loss and an ugly home loss at that. Malik was clearly marching to a different drummer. We seemed to utilize Udoka effectively. We were not terrible but our lack of depth hurt us badly. Marcus and Mitch both had terrible games. The specter of having only 7 players and a freshman and undersized sophomore as the two on the bench proved to be too big of a weakness against Arizona St. And they beat us at our own new game in our own gym. We needed more depth or this season was over.

Then..

We finished non-conference 10-2 (with Texas A&M later in January). Hope was still alive but the cracks were readily apparent. But we knew Preston would be back eventually and boy did we need him. Dok had shown great growth and was surprising to the upside. Devonte' did not have another meltdown like at Washington and was a strong consistent leader. LaGerald was the big suprise, putting up big numbers and playing aggressively. Svi started strong but had fallen back to many oler patterns and was appearing to be weakening. Malik was still not on the same page and even now his numbers were decreasing. Lots of talk about Malik's attitude or "want-to". The Big 12 looked stronger than ever and this Jayhawk team was thin, undermanned, lacking full buy in, and appeared to be regressing rather than progressing at least Marcus, Svi and Malik. We were clearly not hitting on all cylinders.

Then...

COnference play started with Texas in Austin. They boasted an All-American and lottery pick center. It was a tough game but we grinded it out for a 92-86 win. We opened conference play on the road against a perennial rival and we prevailed. All was good in Jayhawk land. Our oh so important run for 14 was off to a great start. Devonte' had one of his best games ever as a Jayhawk and appeared to be fully embracing the leadership. Svi bounced back a little and Udoka continued as a strong presence. Marcus also bounced back but Mitch showed one of our greatest weaknesses. Against much bigger and/or stronger centers, Mitch's heart adn toughness is simply not enough and he was completely ineffective against those Texas bigs. But we won.

Then...

Texas Tech came to Lawrence. Tech was looking already like the team to beat. They had two outstanding freshman and an all-conference player. They were playing great basketball and the computers were putting them as favorites to win the league. And catastrophe struck. A 2nd home loss, a conference loss. Mitch was completely ineffective again against their bigs. Malik seemed to be in a major funk of ineffectiveness. Talk of "bust" was now associated with Malik. But the real story was LaGerald. LaGerald had been the brightest spot on the team. As so many things had conspired to make this season a down season, LaGerald had thus far far exceeded our expectations. But not only was he ineffective against Texas Tech, he was a detriment to the team. Maybe the worst game any Jayahwk has had until...

The very next game when we traveled to Fort Worth to take on a once defeated 13-1 TCU team. We edged them out in a great game, 88-84 but Malik Newman appeared to be completely disengaged and disenchanted and played an even worse game than LaGerald the previous game. LaGerald was not much better and Svi was continuing to be mediocre. Thanks to a two man show that was going to become a common theme, Devonte' and Udoka simply dominated but can we win many games with 3 of 5 sdtarters so underperforming?

Then...

We managed to win 4 more games going 6-1 to start the Big 12. We were on top and right where we should be, But we were clearly not playing as well as we needed. Preston announced he was leaving. De Sousa announced he was coming. We beat Iowa St. by 5 and Kansas St. by 1 at home, both of which were nailbiters. We went to Morgantown and played a great game and won by 5 with a great late surge. We beat Baylor at home by 3. We were 6-1 but our margin was razor thin. LaGerald was sinking deeper into whatever abyss he was in. Malik continued to be disengaged and ineffective until he was benched. It seemed to have an impact for after a 12 game stretch where Malik was pretty bad to terrible, he played a strong game against Baylor. Devonte' was proving to be All-American material and Udoka seemed to be getting better each game. Svi was up and down. We were not playing anything like a championship team but things fell our way and thanks mostly to Devonte' and Udoka we managed to eke out close wins.

Then...

Pok-a-Dok!!! We went to Norman and did our typical play just well enough to win. We were out front and only needed to hold the thin lead. Then the great free throw escapade. Losses in the Big 12 were not good in our quest for a 14th crown. Especially a loss like this where we clearly should have won. Malik had a 2nd game in a row where he seemed back in the fold. Svi showed that when he was on he was a force with one of his better games. Mitch played what would be his best game of the year which makes the Udoka free throw escapade all the more confusing. Mitch was playing on fire and had been very effective. We are now 6-2 and even with the loss we are riding high because Texas TEch and West Virginia had suffered some serious losses. We were still a game up. We got a break to host Texas A&M and won. Then we got the rematch against K-State in Manhattan where we dominated them 70-56. Even with all the weaknesses and cracks, the season was going our way. Could we really overcome the losses of Coleby, Maxwell and Preston? We were 7-2 halway through and a game up on Oklahoma and Texas Tech and 2 games up on West Virginia. Life is good.

Then...

The next 3 games saw KU go 1-2 with losses to Oklahoma St. at home and Baylor on the road, both crushing defeats. Oklahoma St. was ultimately only a 5 point defeat but we were really crushed. Baylor was a 16 point drubbing. We had now lost three home games. Our probability of winning an outright Big 12 title had dwindled to 6%. Thankfully West Virginia had stumbled as well so we retained a game lead over them. But we were down a game to Texas Tech and Tech looked like they were on a total roll. LaGerald had been benched "indefinitely" since he had completely lost his way and was pretty much ineffective for the last 12 games. Malik was gradually improving and seeming to buy into the system. Devonte' was putting together an epic season. But what happened to Svi. During this bad run Svi was absent ahving his three worst games of the year by far. Rumors about an illness but for 3 games? Worse rumors that teams had figured out how to stop Svi. He was completely ineffective and KU was paying for it. That old demon of lack of depth. Mitch was once again proving that heart was valuable but not enough for a skinny 6-8 guy to be effective against the true centers. It was looking like this was the year we lose the Big 12 and even get bounced early in the NCAA Tourney.

Then....

The stars aligned, the basketball gods convened, the universe settled in and KU took off. It was clear that De Sousa was not going to contribute this season...or was it. He was so completely ineffective thus far that he was being summarily dismissed. We were resigning ourselves to writing off LaGerald as well. People questions "has Self lost this team?" But we have Devonte', we have Coach Self and it is abundantly clear to us now that Self had not lost this team. In fact, to quote Gene Kranz from Apollo 13 when overhearing "this could be the worst disaster in NASA's history, he responded, "With all due respect gentlemen, I think this is going to be our finest hour." The next 9 games were going to be KU's finest hour. The meaningless game in Stillwater nothwithstanding, the Jayhawks won 8 of those 9 games including another comeback win at home against West Virginia, a dominant victory over Oklahoma, a gutsy win to take the title against Texas Tech in Lubbock, and a strong performance against Texas in Allen Fieldhouse to take the Big 12 crown outright for a record 14th straight time. Amazing. Malik had proven we were premature in calling him a bust. Udoka continued to show imporvement. Devonte' played himself into Big 12 player of the year and even getting talk of National player of the year. Svi righted the ship from his mini funck and has continued solid. LaGerald is not quite back to his former glory but has emerged from the abyss. Marcus has matured into a solid backup. We were 7 strong. We had weaknesses and we still have work to do but there is hope.

Then...

Udoka gets hurt and is out for the Big 12 tourney. De Sousa had provided solid minutes in short duty but was he ready for prime time. Doubtful. The rest of the Big 12 was locked and loaded and gunning for Kansas. We were public enemy number 1. We were the hunted. 9 teams were rooting for anyone but Kansas. With Udoka out, this was the path for KU to be beaten. Then the sweet aroma of sporting revenge. We got Oklahoma St. who trounced us the precious game. Welcome to reality. We dominated Okie St.. Then tragedy struck Kansas St. We felt for them as they lost their best two players but no one knows better than Kansas the sorrow of losing key players down the stretch. (do the names Haase, LaFrentz or Embiid ring a bell). Then it was the arch rival West Virginia. They provided KU with all the bulletin board material we could want. Konate, Carter and Miles were guaranteeing West Virginia would not go home empty handed. This was their year. Maybe the biggest baddest center in the league was going to feast on Lightfoot. The senior guards of West Virginia were going to dominate the senior duo of Kansas. But they forgot about the red-shirt sophomore guard from Kansas named Newman. And Konate feasted on Lightfoot so we fed him a dose of De Sousa. 40 minutes and a few curse words later, Kansas had shown West Virginia who is king of the Big 12.

So we enter the NCAA with a team that is nothing like Self projected it 12 months ago. We have overcome restructuring the team after losing Preston, Maxwell and Coleby. We have worked through Newman buying into the system, Vick's journey through the abyss, a freshman key backcourt backup, a completely undersized center backup, a high school kid turned super stud and most importantly of all, one of the best seasons by any Jayhawk ever. A coaching staff that never gave up or lost control and maybe we are more primed than at any point this season to make a tourney run. What a ride. 14 in a row, another senior All-American, another Big 12 tourney title and against all odds. Ain't it great being a Jayhawk?