Volume 124 Issue 126
kansan.com
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
COMMENTARY
A season full of memories
NEW ORLEANS — It wasn't supposed to hurt this bad, right? Wrong.
When the clock ran out on Kansas' miracle tournament run, Tyshawn Taylor's mom, Jeanell Taylor, sobbed in the stands with Taylor's two younger sisters. That is, until Angel Morris tried to ease the pain.
The supposed icing on the cake for Kansas turned sour on Monday night, leaving us all nauseous, dazed and numb.
So while our arms are hugging our legs, let's remember how special of a season this was. A season that was never supposed to be so sweet. A season that started with a disclaimer.
We will all remember Late Night in the Phog when head coach Bill Self said this season would be a process. He said to enjoy the ride. Easier than said than done. Bill.
We will all remember Maui, and the game against Georgetown that had us fuming in the morning's first hours. Then UCLA, when Kansas easily handled Ben Howland's Bruins. And we'll especially remember that game against Duke, when Bill Self and Coach K left the island with matching red faces.
We'll remember Ohio State, when we first learned this team was good. Really good. When Sullinger never played, Kevin Young made us jump and the Fieldhouse structure took a beating.
And then there was Davidson, when everything changed. Kansas was bad. So bad, in fact, that some over-zealous fans questioned if Kansas was even to make the NCAA tournament. We will always remember how Kansas' season went from the gutter to the throne after that uldv, uldv game.
We will all also remember what that game set up. Missouri, part two. We will all remember what felt like the longest week ever waiting for that game. We'll remember the tip off thunder and then going down by 19 points. We'll remember the team chipping away. We'll remember the loudest moment in college basketball history — the block.
And then we'll remember this magical NCAA tournament run. One that had comeback after comeback. One that involved a Roy Williams smack down and a 13 point come-from-behind victory against Ohio State.
Yes, it's been a basketball season that every single one of us will remember for the rest of our lives.
Yes, we'll all remember these comeback kids — our classmates who never quit. Not when they were trailing by 18 against Kentucky. We'll always remember that miracul run that never was.
We will all remember Missouri, part one, when the Tigers did exactly what Kansas learned to do for five NCAA tournament games — play from behind.
RUN IS DONE
Storming Massachusetts Street will be remembered, as Lawrence was bliss, strangers were hugged and friends were embraced.
We will always remember the Baylor game, when Thomas Robinson made us all feel sorry for the rim after an alley-oop that will stay in the pre-game video for years. That is when Kansas made its opening Big 12 statement.
And that's what led Angel Morris to grab leann Taylor.
"Those should be tears of joy," Morris said. "You've had an incredible four years here."
Edited by Christine Curtin
TRAVIS YOUNG/KANSAN
Junior center Jeff Withey shoots against Kentucky freshman forward Anthony Davis during the first half of the NCAA National Championship. Withey scored five points.
MAX ROTHMAN
mrothman@kansan.com
NEW ORLEANS — You can grow into the best player you can be, figure how to make it work with your teammates and take this progression all the way to the championship game.
Sometimes, it just doesn't matter. On a night when the Kansas Jayhawks had to play just about perfectly to defeat the vaunted Kentucky Wildcats, in many ways, they did themselves in.
"You make it to the national championship," senior guard Tyshawn Taylor said, "and it still feels like you lose in the first round."
Kentucky was brilliant early, but some Jayhawks in the locker room said that they were their own undoing in Monday night's 67-59 loss in the championship game at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.
After all the games they should have never won, but did, and all the steps it took to get this far, it's over
now.
"When you get a puppy and you watch that puppy grow up and die," junior guard Elijah Johnson said, "that hurts."
Kentucky forward Anthony Davis was forceful as expected, swatting and retaining just about every shot that approached him. When he wasn't blocking, he was driving the Jayhawks away from where he stood, forcing long shots that have never been their forte. In the first half, the Wildcats scored with grace and efficiency as expected, knocking down dagger three-pointers and throwing momentum-draining dunks.
But in the second half, the Jayhawks clamped down and allowed just 26 points. Their defense revived their spirits. The same heads that hung dejectedly in the first half were facilitating runs. Despite trailing by 14 points at halftime, they fully believed that they were going to win this game. They brought the deficit to just five points with 1:37 to play.
"If they were going to beat us,
they were going to remember us," Johnson said. "They were going to feel the last of us."
"No one could tell us that we were going to lose except for the scoreboard," he said.
But it wasn't enough. They routinely missed layups and dunks. They turned the ball over, into a Wildcat's hands or soaring out of bounds, just when they seemed poised for a comeback. When they finally seized momentum, they were out of time.
"We've been working on this since October," Johnson said, "just dreaming about it."
And now it's over. This surprising team that rallied behind Self's system and each player's trust in one another made it to the championship game. It just wasn't enough.
The Wildcats were fully expected to win this game. Their talent-stacked rotation had consistently blown opponents away. But on Monday night, this wasn't the case.
hands, the magnets of fate, compelled comeback teases with quick dribble drives, then eluded victory with five turnovers, one that was in the final minute of the game.
Senior guard Tyshawn Taylor's
"I can't get this back." Taylor said. "That was my last time putting on a Kansas jersey."
It seems that junior forward Thomas Robinson, through all the tragedies and familial support from loving fans, has also played his last game as a lawhawk.
Now all that's left is time to reflect. Coach Self, take it away.
"From start to finish, there's been no team I've been around compete this hard. There's been no team I've been around that was able to take whatever situation dealt them and respond to it favorably. And there's no team I've been around that represented our University or ourselves, or their families, any better than this one has."
Edited by Christine Curtin
TRAVIS YOUNG/KANSAN
Junior guard Travis Reelford puts his hands on his head in the locker room after Kansas fell to the number one seed Kentucky.
CHRIS NEAL/KANSAN
Tears stream down senior guard Conner Teahan's face as he talks to reporters in the locker room after the Jayhaws lost the NCAA Championship to the Kentucky Wildcats, 67-59.