After top-seeded Kansas struggled to defeat 16th-seeded Holy Cross in the Midwest Regional’s opening round last week, Jayhawks coach Roy Williams told his players not to read the newspapers. The newspapers were speculating that the Jayhawks were going to fall flat on their seed, as they have been known to do.
“There’s nothing wrong with you guys,” Williams told his team.
It was a brilliant stroke by Williams. Fortunately, some of his players ignored him. After the Jayhawks dismantled eighth-seeded Stanford 86-63 Saturday night, Kansas center Nick Collison explained the motivation behind his 17-point, 13-rebound performance.
“I saw an article in the [Lawrence] Journal-World saying we’ll be good in 2003, basically writing us off,” Collison said. “You don’t want to pay too much attention to the media, but on the other hand it can motivate you.”
All-American forward Drew Gooden also didn’t like what he had been seeing and hearing in the sports sections and highlight shows. “A lot of people were ripping us and making us angry,” Gooden said. “That was firepower.”
And so the Jayhawks moved on to the Sweet Sixteen and a rematch with fourth-seeded Illinois, which eliminated Kansas in the same round last spring.
If Illinois coach Bill Self is smart, he’ll have his Fighting Illini ready to play two teams in the Midwest semifinal Friday night in Madison, Wis.
One is the team that “stumbled and bumbled,” as Williams put it, to an ugly 70-59 opening-round victory over Holy Cross.
The other is the team that scored the first 15 points of the game against Stanford, which finished second in the mighty Pac-10.
Which will show up in the Kohl Center? Kansas’ spotty NCAA tournament record provides few clues.
Last year, the Jayhawks annihilated Syracuse by 29 points in the second round. Five days later, the Jayhawks lost to Illinois. In 1998, top-seeded Kansas blasted Prairie View A&M by 58. Two days later, the Jayhawks lost to eighth-seeded Rhode Island. In 1997, top-seeded KU won each of its first two games by 14, then lost to fourth-seeded Arizona, which went on to win the national championship. In 1992, top-seeded Kansas ripped Howard 100-67 and lost to No. 9 UTEP two days later.
Given the Jayhawks’ inconsistency, it was easy to be skeptical when they declared their troubles over after romping past Stanford. But Gooden insisted this team is different.
“We know what type of team this is compared to last year,” Gooden said. “Coach says we have more want-to. We have more heart.”
The Jayhawks also have a different look than they did a year ago. After watching his team lose a bruising game to the Illini last spring, Williams decided to switch to a three-guard offense and take advantage of his team’s speed.
Kansas led the nation in scoring this season, averaging 92 points per game heading into the tourney. Kansas feared an ankle injury to speedy guard Kirk Hinrich would slow the attack, but Hinrich showed few effects of the injury against Stanford, scoring 15 points and dishing out eight assists in 21 minutes.
Asked how a team could best attack the Jayhawks, Stanford coach Mike Montgomery said, “You’re going to have to have perimeter people who can put it on the floor for sure. Quick perimeter people might be something that might bother them.”
Hello, Frank Williams?
Oklahoma provided a blueprint for beating Kansas in the Big 12 final March 10 in Kansas City, Mo. Playing in front of a pro-Jayhawk crowd, the Sooners held Kansas to 55 points and 33.3 percent field-goal accuracy, its lowest output in both categories.
“The teams that have had a little more success have gotten them into more of a halfcourt game and out of transition,” Montgomery said.
That’s what Illinois will doubtless try to do. A year ago, Illinois outrebounded Kansas 45-30 and harried the Jayhawks into 20 turnovers.
If Illinois can produce similar numbers in the rematch, its chances of an upset are strong. But Gooden said the Jayhawks aren’t going to be a pushover this time.
“That was a good team a year ago,” Gooden said. “This is a great team.”
