4B SPORTS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 30,2007
COMMENTARY
The 10 best KU basketball games of the decade
The decade is young, but with the current trend of short-term nostalgia - thank "I" Love the '90s
— it's not too early to pick the top 10 KU basketball games of the 2000s. The task of deciding the top 10 games was not a one-person job, so I turned to an expert to help choose the best games so far this decade; my roommate, Kyle Martin. Martin is a sophomore from Worth, Texas, and a fifth-generation Jayhawk. He was born on the exact day of Kansas' last national championship, April 4, 1988, easily making him qualified to help put together a list of the top 10 games of the decade up to this point.
Here is our list:
1) KANSAS 88, TEXAS 84
— BIG 12 CHAMPIONSHIP (2007)
Kelly: I have to choose between one of the two Texas games from last year, and this one probably has to be No. 1 because it was the tournament championship. This was the game in which Kevin Durant, for the second time, proved that he was a one-half player. He set the record for the most points scored in a Big 12 tournament in that game, but he just forgot to show up for the second half and overtime.
Kyle: I think, based on the fact that we were down 32-10 in the first half, I had to go with the championship game as the greatest game since 2000. It went into overtime on Mario Chalmer's last-second shot. We had four players score in double figures. Sherron Collins had 20 points. We overcame Kevin Durant's 37 points to win back-to-back championships.
BY KELLY BRECKUNITCH
KBRECKUNITCH@KANSAN.COM
2) KANSAS 82, FLORIDA 80 — LAS VEGAS
INVITATIONAL (2007)
Kelly: This was a game of a lot of people hyped up because it was two top-10 teams, one being the defending national champion and one being one of the most storied programs in college basketball history, playing on a neutral court in Vegas. Tell me a lot of people weren't betting on this game. The best part about winning this game, though, was Urban Meyer's defending the Florida team after the loss. He was talking about how Florida didn't have so many fans travel to the game because they had a big home football game in "the Swamp" and Florida was a football school: priceless.
Kyle: This was Kansas' first victory against a No. 1 ranked opponent since it beat Massachusetts in 1994, back when Marcus Camby was good. Someone made this point to me today, and I thought it was excellent. The thing about the Florida game is that it was the game that reasserted Kansas' dominance as a college basketball program. The Jayhawks were coming off two disappointing years, working through their new coach transition, losing two straight in the first round of the NCAA tournament, and then they got to play Florida on a neutral court. It was also Julian Wright's coming-out party
3) KANSAS 90, TEXAS 86 ——REGULAR SEASON (2007)
Kelly: The games against Texas last year may have been the best games Kansas has had against any one conference school in a season. Texas came into Lawrence and had everybody's jaws on the floor at halftime. Kevin Durant destroyed us in the first half, but we came back to win it.
Kyle: This is the game that gave the Jayhawks their 50th conference championship; it gave it to them outright. This was one of the two times we got to play against maybe the best player in college basketball history. Kevin Durant, and he had 32 points in this game.
3) KANSAS 90, TEXAS 86
— everyone knew he was athletic, and this was the game they figured out that maybe he could score, too. We turned that place into Allen Fieldhouse Superwest.
top 10 games of this decade
Kelly: Yeah, Durant was probably the best college basketball player we'll see for a while.
1) No. 2 Kansas 88, No. 14 Texas 84 (2007)
2) No. 10 Kansas 82, No. 1 Florida 80, OT (2006)
3) No. 3 Kansas 90, No. 15 Texas 86 (2007)
4) No. 6 Kansas 78, No. 2 Arizona 75 Elite Eight (2003)
5) No. 12 Kansas 90, No. 3 Texas 87 (2003)
6) No. 21 Kansas 84, Missouri 82 (2004)
7) No. 6 Kansas 69, No. 7 Duke 65 Sweet Sixteen (2003)
8) No. 2 Kansas 70, No. 9 Georgia Tech 68 OT (2005)
9) Kansas 73, No. 19 Kentucky 46 (2006)
10) No. 6 Kansas 66, No. 8 Texas A&M 69 (2007)
Kyle: Yeah, unless Michael Beasley ...
wait, no.
4) KANSAS 78, ARIZONA 75 — ELITE EIGHT (2003)
Honorable Mention: Kansas vs. Texas, Big 12 championship (2006), Kansas vs. Oklahoma State (2005), Kansas vs. Vermont (2005), Kansas vs. Oklahoma on Super Bowl Sunday (2006)
**Kelly:** I still remember where I was when Kansas played Arizona to go to the Final Four. I was doing concessions for a fundraiser for my high school in the Bicentennial Center in Salina. Obviously, we had to listen to the game on the radio and everyone was going crazy. Also, just for some useless information, the Bicentennial Center was home to the Kansas Cagterz of the United States Basketball league, for whom Jeff Graves, a member of that 2003 Kansas squad, played for a while.
**Kyle:** Arizona was the No. 1 seed in that bracket, the No. 2 team in the country, and basically Kirk Hinrich just went off with 28 points. Big daddy Jeff Graves had 13 points and 15 rebounds. This game got Hinrich the MVP of the region. It was an incredible game, tight the whole way, and Luke Walton just couldn't get it done.
5) KANSAS 90, TEXAS 87
BIG MONDAY (2003)
Kelly: I am partial to Hinrich and Nick Collison. They are two of my favorite Jayhawks because my dad grew up in
Iowa, and this game goes in the top 10 for me because it is the game where Collison set the record, at the time, for most rebounds in a game in the Big 12. It was a tight game and, as always, important in the Big 12 standings, considering it was against Texas, and considering that Kansas barely won the conference outright.
Kyle: Maybe it's the Texas boy in me, but Texas enters my list for the third time here. Collison had 24 points and 23 rebounds and got a standing ovation from Dick Vitale. I remember pacing in my living room watching that game when I was in high school. Collison was one of the best fundamental post players Kansas has ever had, the way he pivoted down low. Anytime you can get a standing ovation from Dickie "Duke-lover" V, you gotta take it.
6) KANSAS 84, MISSOURI 82
- REGULAR SEASON (2004)
7) KANSAS 69, DUKE 65 — SWEET SIXTEEN (2003)
Kelly: Kansas versus Missouri, in any sport, has to be one of the biggest rivalries in college athletics. It is the oldest rivalry west of the Mississippi River. This was Missouri's last game in its old arena, too, so we got to play spoiler.
Kyle: Yeah, in a favorite for all Kansas fans, Kansas won the game on a little David Padgett turnaround. The final game at the Hearnes Center, last-second heartbreak, poetic.
Kelly: Anytime Kansas can beat Duke during the season, it's a good year. Beating Duke in the NCAA tournament is all that much sweeter. This is a team that had Shelden Williams, Chris Duhon and J.Redick at the beginning of his Duke career. There may not be any greater feeling for Kansas fans than sending Duke packing in the NCAA tournament.
Kyle: In this game, Duke was ranked seventh and Kansas was ranked sixth. If you thought Collison's game against Texas was incredible, which it was, look at this one: He went off for 33 points and 19 rebounds against Duke. Two outstanding performances in back-to-back games by two of the best players KU has seen, especially playing together: the Iowa connection of Hinrich and Collison.
Kyle: Interesting thing I found out about this game was that Kansas' first lead was in overtime and the second lead won the game. Keith Langford was a beast. That game had a fantastic finish, if nothing else. That was an excellent game.
Kelly: This game was not close like the rest, but it was a great game because we absolutely dominated another perennial college basketball power. Ashley Judd showed up to cheer on her beloved Kentucky squad, but she had nothing to cheer about for the entire game. It was Tubby Smith's worst loss of his coaching career, and it came about a week after Indiana had set that record. It was also one of the best defensive moments for Russell Robinson because he completely owned Patrick Sparks on an open-court block that made it into SportsCenter's top 10 plays that night.
8) KANSAS 70, GEORGIA TECH 68 -- REGULAR SEA-SON (2005)
9) KANSAS 73, KENTUCKY 46
— REGULAR SEASON (2006)
Kelly: This gets in the top 10 because it was the revenge game. The previous year Georgia Tech bounced us from the NCAA tournament in the Elite Eight. Keith Langford saved that game at the end. Kansas was out of it for most of the game but fought back to win in the end. It was two top-10 teams playing again, as well.
Kyle: For that reason, you have to go with that game, because it was such a blowout.
10) KANSAS 95, MISSOURI 92
- REGULAR SEASON (2002)
Kelly: Missouri had to get on the list twice. It's the Border Showdown and one of the nastiest rivalries in the Big 12. This was the game where Kansas cemented the perfect season in Big 12 conference play. Collien had 28 points, and Hinrich added 25 to get the jayhawks the victory. Kyle: Every year, they talk about parity in whatever conference. I don't think it's necessarily a parity thing, but rivalties are so intense in conference play and road conditions are so hostile sometimes that to pull off not only eight home wins but eight wins on the road in the Big 12 conference, I don't know if it will happen again. That was an outstanding year. That was a Final Four team, obviously.
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