So Many Memorable Seasons!
The uncertainty surrounding the Jayhawks basketball team for
the 2013-2014 season is part of the fun of following college basketball. It is, of course, extremely enjoyable to find
KU ranked number one in the polls, virtually guaranteed yet another Big 12
championship and loaded with enough talent to make a run for the NCAA title. That is a different type of enjoyment,
however—one that carries with it unique burdens that sometimes diminishes the
joy that should be felt through witnessing basketball excellence.
When a team is so good it is always favored to win, the
expectations are exactly that—every game should be a victory. This makes fans relieved when the Jayhawks
win, but extremely disappointed on the rare occasion they do lose. With the exception of Phog Allen’s 1952 team
and Bill Self’s superb 2008 squad, none of the amazing Kansas teams have won
the NCAA title (I don’t include the 1988 squad, a team that battled adversity
all year long to win the title). Every other powerhouse team has ultimately
fallen short of the expectation that KU should win every game and waltz to an
NCAA championship. These expectations
are unfair and unrealistic, of course, but they persist.
Flash back to the 2012 season, which critics and fans alike
believed was the year the Jayhawks would take a step backwards. The Morris twins, Tyrel Reed and Brady
Morningstar were all gone. Thomas
Robinson was good but still unproven. No
one knew if Tyshawn Taylor could lead a team.
Bill Self warned everyone that he had the type of players on his roster
that he used to recruit to Tulsa,
and they did fine. No one really
believed him, however—at least, not completely.
With expectations diminished, the wins were more enjoyable
and the losses less painful. Upset
victories were back in the equation.
Winning didn’t offer just a sense of relief—it was downright fun. The losses weren’t as painful, either. Even close losses that made fans feel the
Jayhawks let the other team off the hook didn’t sting as badly. When the Jayhawks played Kentucky for the
NCAA championship, there would be no sense of disappointment or lost chances,
no matter what the outcome.
This same feeling of anticipation surrounds the 2014
squad. It will be extremely talented
with returning players Perry Ellis, Naadir Tharpe, Andrew White and Jamari Traylor
as its nucleus. This quartet will be
joined by what might be Coach Bill Self’s best recruiting class, anchored by #1
prospect Andrew Wiggins. It will
certainly be more talented overall than the previous year’s team, but because
eight new players will be on the roster, there are myriad questions to be
answered. It will be a fascinating
season watching the players grow and improve, similar to the 2006 team with
Brandon Rush, Julian Wright and Mario Chalmers.
Everyone knew they would be good someday—they just didn’t quite know
when.
My Personal List of
the Most Enjoyable Kansas Basketball Teams
In celebration of KU’s storied basketball tradition, I would
like to list the ten KU Basketball teams I found most fun to watch over the
years. Some turned out to be great
teams, others were solid with overachievers—all were fun. For the sake of my list, I excluded the two
NCAA championship teams of my era.
Winning a title is an entirely different category of fun. Here is my list:
2012: An overachieving Jayhawks team played one of
the most difficult schedules in KU history en route to the NCAA Championship
game. KU won against Top 10 opponents
Ohio State (twice), Georgetown, Missouri, Baylor (twice) and North
Carolina. They lost to Kentucky (twice),
Baylor, Missouri and Duke. Their home
game against Missouri was an instant classic, and the Jayhawks made a habit of
mounting comebacks to steal victories when defeat seemed inevitable.
1974: KU played Kentucky, Indiana and a classic game
against Notre Dame on their way to one of the greatest Final Fours in NCAA
History. Time and again Danny Knight,
Rick Suttle, Roger Morningstar and their teammates seemingly took a lead for
the first time with under a minute to play (ten games were won or lost by four
points or less). The NCAA Regional Final
game against Oral Roberts was a game that will never be forgotten.
1978: Freshman Darnell Valentine led a talented
group of veterans that included Paul Mokeski, John Douglas, Donnie Von Moore
and Ken Koenigs. Their battles with
Kentucky, Arkansas and Big 8 rivals were entertaining and intense. They received a poor draw in the NCAA
Tournament and faced UCLA on the West Coast in the first round (this was before
the NCAA Tournament was seeded), but their season remained memorable in spite
of their premature exit from the Tournament.
1986: Larry Brown created a virtually unstoppable
offensive machine featuring Danny Manning, Greg Dreiling, Ron Kellogg and
Calvin Thompson. Their 35-4 record included
wins against Kentucky, Temple, Michigan State and two victories each against
North Carolina State and NCAA Champion Louisville. The Jayhawks disappointed only in losing
twice to Duke—once in the NCAA Final Four.
1990: This unheralded Jayhawk team went from
unranked to 4th in the polls with victories over #2 LSU (with
Shaquille O’Neal, Stanley Roberts and Mark Jackson), #1 UNLV (with Stacey
Augmon, Larry Johnson and Greg Anthony) and 25th ranked Saint John’s
in Madison Square Garden. Most enjoyable
was Kansas’ 150-95 victory over the Kentucky Wildcats, led by legendary coach
Rick Pitino. This was a game that
shocked the world.
1981: This team of gritty overachievers rarely
played more than seven men, led by senior Darnell Valentine and junior Tony
Guy. Dave Magley, John Crawford, Booty
Neal, Art Housey and Victor Mitchell rounded out the rotation. A strong schedule featuring Michigan,
Kentucky, Southern California, North Carolina and Memphis State tested the
Jayhawks. In the end they pounded a
powerful Arizona State team in the NCAA Tournament before losing by one point
to perhaps the strongest Wichita State team of all time (including the 2013
Final Four squad that “shocked” the nation!).
1991: Roy Williams was at it again, pitting his underdog
Jayhawks against the likes of Arizona State, Marquette, Kentucky and North
Carolina State. They won the Big 8
Championship and landed in the NCAA Tournament as a #3 seed. After an ugly game against Pittsburgh, the
Jayhawks destroyed #3 ranked Indiana and #2 Arkansas to reach the Final
Four. There they defeated Dean Smith’s
North Carolina team before falling in the NCAA Championship game to Duke.
2002: Kansas started the season #2 in the nation
but staggered out of the gate with losses to powerhouse teams North Carolina,
Florida and Oregon. In Roy Williams’
final season at Kansas, he teamed seniors Nick Collison and Kirk Hinrich with
Wayne Simien, Kieth Langford and Aaron Miles to return to the Final Four. Collison and Hinrich were brilliant against
Arizona, Duke, UCLA, Texas and Oklahoma.
They annihilated Dwayne Wade and Marquette in the Final Four before
succumbing to Carmelo Anthony and the Syracuse Orangemen.
2006: An extremely young Kansas team lost to
Arizona and Arkansas in the Maui Invitational Tournament, followed by losses to
Nevada and St. Joseph. They began to see
how good they could be when they defeated Kentucky and Rajon Rondo in Allen
Field House. After this, they grew as
individuals and as a team and played more often to their capabilities. After losing to #7 Texas in Austin, the
Jayhawks took revenge in the Big 12 Tournament by pounding the Longhorns
80-68. This group of players was two
years away from an NCAA Championship.
2014: It is in anticipation of the upcoming season
that I include a team I have yet to see play.
Veterans Perry Ellis, Naadir Tharpe, Andrew White and Jamari Traylor
will be joined by Bill Self’s “Magnificent Seven” recruiting class, led by #1
player Andrew Wiggins. Wiggins will be
joined by #12 ranked Wayne Selden, #25 Joel Embiid, #29 Brannen Greene, #34
Conner Frankamp and #76 Frank Mason. Also
in the mix are three more big men: third
year player Justin Wesley, senior Tarik Black, a transfer from Memphis who will
be immediately eligible and redshirt freshman Landen Lucas. The new players will have fans watching
intently, searching for indications of who might break out first and become a
star. There will be growing pains to
endure, but certainly many good times, as well.
What Teams Were on Your List?
This is my list of some of the most enjoyable teams to watch
in the storied history of Kansas basketball.
This list is not meant to diminish the accomplishments of other great KU
teams like the 1997 and 1998 Jayhawks of Raef LaFrentz and Paul Pierce, the
1971 team featuring Dave Robisch, Roger Brown and Bud Stallworth or the 2002
team starring Drew Gooden, Nick Collison and Kirk Hinrich. Those teams were amazing and will always be
remembered for their talent and skills. I look for KU to someday achieve the
same stature with their current roster. There
are many great squads in KU history, but the teams listed here—
Man, they were fun to watch….
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