KU Men’s Basketball: Ten of the Most Enjoyable KU Teams in History!

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 4^th 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 25^th 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….

Andrew Wiggins Headed to Kansas for Summer School

#1 high school basketball player and Kansas recruit Andrew Wiggins announced his plans to attend summer school at KU, foregoing an opportunity to play basketball this summer for the FIBU U19 Canadian Team.  In a situation reminiscent of his signing day, Wiggins gave little advance notice of his intentions, surprising Kansas Coach Bill Self with the decision to head for Lawrence.  While Coach Self might wish for clearer lines of communication with this freshman star that values his privacy so very much, he can’t complain too much—Self has been pleasantly surprised twice in a row now by the soft-spoken Wiggins.

Andrew Wiggins’ decision to attend summer school in Lawrence gives him the opportunity to bond with his future teammates at KU, a situation that will only make his time with the Jayhawks basketball team go more smoothly.  For Wiggins to be the leader Bill Self likely expects him to become, it is important for him to be with his teammates and bond with them.  The media will look at him as someone different and special, but his fellow Jayhawks need to see him first as one of the guys.  Only then will he truly be a leader on the court.  Former Jayhawk forward Xavier Henry stayed in Oklahoma the summer before his only season on Mt. Oread.  There might have been no cause and effect whatsoever, but Henry always seemed an outsider, ostensibly “doing what the team wanted him to” instead of taking the responsibility that comes with being one of the team’s best player—at least from this outsider’s perspective.  Andrew Wiggins has already proven himself a better teammate by taking a different path than Henry did. 

Wiggins will also have a chance to become acclimated with the city of Lawrence, the KU campus and the community.  He will be able to take a little more time getting used to his new environment, so far removed from his home in Ontario, Canada.  Most significant for KU fans, every minute spent with the other players working on their games and getting comfortable with each other will be to KU’s and Wiggins’ mutual advantage.  His decision mirrors those made by several members of the University of Kentucky’s star-studded freshman class, and Self must be relieved to have the same opportunities for his players to work together that UK’s freshmen will enjoy.  These early pickup games help determine who is the team’s Alpha Dog, who will vie for minutes when the season opens, and who will be a good teammate and who might not be.  Summer pickup games don’t decide anything, but they lay the groundwork for decisions Coach Self will have to make when practice begins in October.  It is encouraging to see that Andrew Wiggins is thinking of what will make his first (and likely only) season at the University of Kansas as successful as it can be.  In a college career measured in months, there is no time to waste.

Rock Chalk, Jayhawk!