USA TODAY International Edition
Kansas climbs back toward peak
OMAHA – In a locker room crammed so full of media there was no room for emotion, someone asked Svi Mykhailiuk how he felt. Other than smothered, that is, by the cameras and microphones.
After getting by Clemson 80-76 — after a 20-point second-half lead almost evaporated, after the Kansas Jayhawks had to hold on through a tense final few minutes — was it relief ? Joy? Or was he just focused on what came next?
The senior guard looked up, paused for a moment, and said, “Everything.”
When you think about it — for this Kansas team — that’s probably just about right. What to make of that victory depends on what you make of these Jayhawks.
Kansas is headed to the Elite Eight for the third consecutive season; it will face No. 2 Duke. Considering, well, everything, it’s a significant accomplishment. Given the program’s standard, it’s just a step. In the postgame locker room, senior guard Devonte’ Graham told his teammates: “This year, we’ve got to get over that hump” — meaning, into the Final Four for the first time since 2012.
Whether they can do it might depend on what the real takeaway is from the win against Clemson. Kansas shot its way to a huge lead, three-pointer following three-pointer following three-pointer, and seemed ready to cruise into Sunday with a dominant performance. Then, hampered by foul trouble and maybe a little too comfortable, the Jayhawks sputtered to the finish.
During the first 35 minutes, we saw all the things that so often make this team so very good. In the last five, we saw the stuff that makes you worry.
With that four-guard lineup, they have the potential to heat up and race past any opponent. With sophomore center Udoka Azubuike, who appears all the way back from sprained knee, they have a 7-foot, 280-pound monster in the middle.
And yet unlike most Kansas teams, there’s not a no-doubt NBA first-rounder. The Jayhawks go eight deep only because they have to. If the shots stop falling or the fouls pile up — Friday, the Jayhawks weathered foul trouble from both Azubuike and Graham, probably the two players they could least afford to lose — things can go awry in a hurry.
“There’s less margin for error,” Kansas coach Bill Self said, “but these guys have certainly rallied around that.”
Against Clemson, the 20-point margin made up for a collection of errors in the last few minutes (as Mykhailiuk put it, “turnovers, a couple of rebounds, a couple of dumb fouls”). But against Duke, in a 1 vs. 2 matchup of college basketball’s biggest brands, there obviously will be even less margin for error. How then to view Friday’s victory?
“I’ll think about how we got up 20 as opposed to how we almost let it get away,” Self said.
Kansas earned its 30th win Friday night and advanced to the Elite Eight for the eighth time in Self ’s 15 seasons. That brings us to the next statistic. The Jayhawks have reached the Final Four only twice in that span; premature exits — often, as an upset victim — have become an unwanted story line for the program.
When Azubuike, talking about his perception that each round in the NCAA tournament has “a different vibe,” described getting to the Elite Eight as “you feel like you’ve accomplished something, like all that hard work all season paid off ” — well, that’s how it should be. It’s how it is for most teams in most programs.
Things are different at Kansas. “It’s been a great year,” Self said. “For this team to win 30 games and (the Big 12), and to play (Sunday) in the biggest game of the year so far, it’s been a great year — but it would be nice to make it special-special.
“And I think in order to do that at Kansas you’ve got to get to a Final Four.”
However improbably, the Jayhawks head into Sunday with yet another shot to get there. Duke presents a significant obstacle. The Blue Devils have been inconsistent this season, but they might have the most talented team in the tournament, very young but loaded with future NBA players. It’s why Self planned to tell his players to just “let it fly” on Sunday.
“We should play free and loose,” he said. “There’s no reason we shouldn’t. These guys have overcome more than most of our teams have to get to this point.”
It’s weird to note this, also: Where some of those more talented predecessors played lights out to get to the Elite Eight and then faltered, these Jayhawks have been solid but unspectacular in the NCAA tournament. In beating Pennsylvania, Seton Hall and Clemson, the Jayhawks haven’t come particularly close to their peak performance level of late February and early March, when they surged to win the Big 12’s regular-season and tournament titles.
They clearly have been feeling their way back to normalcy as Azubuike’s knee healed. And Graham, a consensus All-American and their best player and floor leader, hasn’t played all that well in the tournament.
“We haven’t seen the real Devonte’ yet,” Self said.
Yet here they are. Azubuike said the knee felt better Friday, and it sure looked like it. Graham has been so good this season it’s only a matter of time. Instead of heading for a breakdown, maybe they’re due to break out.
This being Kansas, the weight of expectations remain. So do the Jayhawks’ deficits. But so far, neither has been crippling. Come Sunday, they have a chance to let it fly.
“Of all the teams that we’ve had here, this would be the team that everyone would have thought would not be in this game,” Self said. “And so, ‘Hey, we’re in this game.’ ”