Season Recap

I think it is safe to say that none of us would have anticipated the season ending without a shot.  But alas, it is now a fact so the charge at this point is to turn to fond memories of what will go down as one of KU's greatest seasons.  

First of all, thank you to these fine young men and all of our great dedicated coaching staff for providing us with a source of entertainment that brought many many hours of joy and fun.  It is always the dream to end the season on a winning streak since only one team gets that pleasure.  KU ended this season on an amazing 16 game winning streak.  It was not exactly the winning streak we were hoping for but it is certainly a wonderful way to end the season.  While I feel for these players who worked so hard for the opportunity to experience a run for another Big 12 Tournament and NCAA Tournament title, wisdom tells us that great things are in store for these young men.  Life is filled with setbacks and one of the absolute keys to life is turning these setbacks into opportunities.  I have no doubt that will happen here.  

Just a sneak peak looking forward.  Every senior class is special.  The 2018 class with Devonte' and Svi was pretty special and throw in walk-on Clay Young.  In 2017 we had Frank Mason and Landon Lucas along with Tyler Self.  That was truly a special class.  In 2016 we had Perry and Jamari along with Evan and Hunter.  I could go on.  This season we had Udoka.  A young man who has been through so much and probably grew more his final year than any player I can remember.  But next season we will have two true blue Jayhawks in Mitch Lightfoot and Marcus Garrett.  How special will that be,  I love them all but one class that was certainly special to me was the 2008 class of RussRob, Darnell, Case  and Sasha along with Brad.  Theoretically Udoka could apply for a medical redshirt 5th season and almost surely have it granted.  But the chances of that are pretty much nil.  

Sadly we have likely seen the last of the best 2 year PG under Self and maybe in the last 40 years.  Devon Dotson was a unique player with some amazing skills.  He developed so rapidly it was mind-boggling.  Early on last season it was obvious that Self was building an offense around Udoka, Grimes and LaGerald.  With the melt-down of LaGerald, the failure to launch of Grimes and the injury to Udoka, Devon emerged as the go-to guy as a freshman.  And boy oh boy, did his sophomore season non disappoint.  He is not the best point guard we have had in every single category, but the package was unique and wonderful.  He was not nearly the passer of RussRob, Mario, Sherron and probably several others.  He was not the perimeter shooter of Marion, Sherron and a host of others.  He was not the floor leader (although he was very quickly becoming that) of others, at least as juniors and seniors.  He was the most explosive slasher in my judgment.  But you wrap it all together and I defy anyone to name a PG who had more of an impact in 2 years.  Wiggins and McLemore were not PG's and they were OAD's anyway.  

Udoka was a force through his 1st three seasons but never quite got over the hump of being a little (and I mean a very little) disappointing based on the huge expectations from when he was a freshman.  Of course, the two injury seasons were not his fault.  But boy oh boy, he more than made up for it his senior season.  He was quite simply stated, a different player this past season.  He was improved and significantly so in just about every way.  He was completely deserving of Big 12 Player of the Year.  His thunderous dunks and in your face shot blocks were the stuff that brought fans out of their seats even sitting at home in the easy chair.  I lost track of the smiles I had as a result of Udoka's monstrous dominating performances this season.  I will not soon forget the 23 point, 19 rebound, 3 block performance against Baylor in Waco to what turned out to be in retrospect, the end for Baylor and the rise of Kansas.  He left Baylor wondering like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, "who is that guy."  Of course he followed it up with a 19 point, 16 rebound, 3 blocks and 2 assists against OSU.  And now posterity will hold his next to last game as a Jayhawk as a career high 31 points to go along with 14 rebounds and 5 blocks against TCU to clinch a Big 12 title.  Way to go big guy.  And channeling my inner Bob Hope, thanks for the memories. 

Kansas opened the season as the No. 3 tam in the country against the No. 4 team Duke in the Champions Classic.  Self had decided on a 3 guard 2 big lineup. so McCormak had 29 minutes and played well grabbing a game high 13 rebounds.  At that point Tristan Enaruna looked to be KU's 6th man, playing 16 minutes against Duke.  Tragedy struck when after only 2:08 of court time, Jalen Wilson's season was ended by an ankle injury.  That combined with a 28 turnover, 2 point loss to Duke caused many fans to wonder if this was going to be another 2019 season, which by all measures was a major disappointment.  At the same time we saw flourishes of what would become one of our secret weapons, namely, Devon Dotson blowing by the competition time after time.  It was a tough loss, especially considering we had led by 9 points in the 2nd half.  Duke had not played well, nor had Kansas.  But it was clear that neither team was clearly the better team.  We stood toe to toe with Duke and all their 5 star recruits.  

  That loss dropped KU to 5th in the polls but that would not be the lowest point of the season.  We followed the Duke game up with a game against a very solid UNC Greensboro who would finish the season ranked just outside the top quadrant of teams (88th).  Self was still in the 2 big lineup.  We won the game by 12 which was a 5 point underperformance.  So things were pretty lackluster after two games.  But Devon had averaged 19 points in those two games and was showing us what we  were in store for.  Udoka's dominance had not yet emerged with only 9 points per game.  We were only two games in and while we were not looking like world beaters, hope sprung eternal.  

Then Monmouth came to Lawrence.  This was to be the Jayhawks best overall performance of the season.  Monmouth finished the season ranked 190th.  They were not a strong team and KU was favored by 33 points.  But in a blitz of sheer execution perfection, Kansas led by 54 points at the 12:31 mark of the 2nd half.  It was a blowout of epic proportions.  KU completely let up off the gas or this would have been a 75 point blowout.  We finished with a 55 point victory, 22 points above expectation, the best of the year.  12 players played for KU (remember when we had 12 players) and all of them scored.  Devon was once again the leader and was clearly showing he was a man on a mission in this, his sophomore season.  De Sousa got the not in the starting lineup and played well.  But David McCormack got the message and played possibly the most inspired 15 minutes of his career, scoring 17 points and grabbing 11 rebounds.  Do you remember when Self benched hi for that game and how he responded?  That was fun.  Speaking of unforgettable memories, the steal at the end of the game by George Papas will go down in KU lore and hopefully taught Enaruna a lesson.  Papas received a technical and had his 15 minutes of fame.  So after three games, we have seen a glimpse of that KU could do when they were in sync.  Excitement was mounting.  

The next 5 games would in many ways set the pace for Kansas 2020 season.  KU would play, in order, ETSU, who finished a very respectable 46th in the DPPI , BYU, who finished an amazing 15th in the DPPI, Dayton, the 4th best team as per the DPPI and Colorado, who finished 43rd in the DPPI.  Throw in a Div II Chaminade.  What a murderer's row of teams.  Based on the final DPPI probabilities, KU should have won 4 of those 5 games.  But KU swept all 5.  The Dayton game was in OT.  Kansas played amazingly consistently within an average of 3.5 points of expectation.  KU played well, KU was beginning to show the dominant defense they would ultimately have, but most importantly, they were steady and consistent.  KU shot 59.3% eff FG% in that stretch compared to 55.6% for the season.  That is impressive because it was such a tough SOS.  But what was amazing was we hald the competition to 0.87 points per possession.  COnsidering the final rankings of these teams offenses, that was truly amazing.  KU was making a statement that defense was back on the menu and was the main dish.  

Devon continued his torrid pace averaging 20 points per game in those 5 games.  Udoka was coming to life and averaged 18 points per game.  The other development was the deft ball defense of Marcus.  He led the team with 13 steals in those games.  But Devon had 11 steals as well.  Udoka was also starting to assert himself underneath with more than 2 blocks per game.  Self was still sticking with the 2 big lineup but that was slowly changing.  Enaruna was still getting the most minutes off the bench as well.  KU came away from Maui with a tournament championship and back in the No. 3 spot in the AP Poll.  After defeating Colorado, Kansas moved up to No. 2.  Perhaps the most salient thing we learned through this stretch was about Udoka Azubuike in the Dayton game.  This would turn out to be the toughest opponent we would play all season, barely edging out Baylor.  Well, Baylor in Waco probably rated out the toughest game since Dayton was on a neutral court.  But faced with a very tough opponent in a money game since it was for the Maui Championship, Udoka emerged as the dominant force.  Udoka had 29 points in 30 minutes before fouling out.  We would see this tendency of Udoka to really emerge in big games.  

After that murderer's row we hit the slow days of December where we had 5 games in 38 days.  The next two games were truly cupcakes in Milwaukee and UMKC.  KU was favored by an average of 24 points in those 2 games and won by an average of 34 points.  Mostly due to the blowout of UMKC by 41 points.  Thos games are always kind of fun.  Especially for the walk-ons.  But Then KU was set to travel to Philadelphia to play Villanova in that fateful pre-Christmas game.  That game has always been a nemesis for Kansas.  Why we schedule a decent team in that slot is beyond me.  The guys all get to leave stright from that game to go home and they always seem to be focused on something other than the game.  Well we took our 9-1 record and our newly minted No. 1 in the AP poll ranking to Philadelphia.  It did not go well.  Based on the final DPPI KU should have won that game by 3.6 points but lost by 1 point.  So all in all well within the range of probability.  But what made this loss especially unnerving was, with 1:10 to go, Kansas had a 4 point lead and the ball.  Remember that TO by Dotson that led to where Gillespie stole the ball and made a layup?  But with 1:07 we still had a 2 point lead and the ball. Then with 5 seconds on the shot clock, McCormack missed the shot and Samuals made maybe the most painful shot against Kansas all season when Dotson backed off enough to let him shoot and he swished a 3 pointer.  The good news is, Dotson never made that mistake again this season.  The bad news was it cost us the game.  Then with 17 seconds to go, Dotson is fouled and misses the front-end of a 1-1.  Amazingly, Villanova turns the ball over with 11 seconds left.  KU goes down the court but with time expiring, Dotson misses the jumper that would have won the game.  It was just not meant to be.  It is often said that after a tough loss the team has a learning opportunity.  I don;t always believe that is true.  I believe now, with 20-20 hindsight, that the loss to Villanova was truly a beneficial loss.  I believe it was a great learning opportunity for this team and I think the took those lessons to heart.  Their game close-outs were far better for the rest of the season.  You hate to lose ever, but this game may have been one of those that was truly a blessing.  

Well, KU lost the No. 1 ranking after just 1 week.  But losing the No. 1 ranking would become a thing in the 2019-20 season.  Michigan St. opened the season the the pre-season No.1.  But in the first game against No.2 Kentucky Michigan St. lost and with it the No. ranking to Kentucky.  Kentucky in short order lost to not only an unranked Evansville team but they lost in Rupp Arena.  Truly an epic upset.  That put 4-0 and undefeated Duke in the top spot.  That lasted 2 weeks until Duke was also defeated by an unranked Stephen F. Austin also at home in Cameron.  Wow!  Louisville was the next on the chopping block.  They also lasted 2 weeks before being Taken out by the inconsistent Texas Tech Red Raiders in New York.  At least it was a decent team and not at home.  Kansas by way of a 9-1 record and murderer's row SOS rose to the top spot.  Then the Villanova game.  That loss dropped Kansas once again to No. 5 with 1 more tune-up against a strong Stanford team on the road before conference play.  

KU traveled to Palo Alto to take on Jerod Haase's Cardinal as a 3 point favorite but came away with a 16 point victory.  This was one of the more impressive games of the season for KU.  This was truly a team win.  Udoka scored only 2 points for a season low, but grabbed 13 rebounds.  KU's offense sputtered and was not impressive, but against a top 50 team, KU's defense was smothering, holding Stanford to only 0.767 PPP.  Holding any team under 0.8 PPP is amazing but holding a top 50 team under 0.8 PPP is outstanding.  KU would hold 7 opponents to under 0.8 PPP this season.  But the two that stand out are the BYU game at 0.789 and Stanford at o.767.  The best defensive game of the season regardless of rank was the 2nd TCU game where KU held the Horned Frogs to 0.697 PPP.  So Kansas was 10-2 and ready for the fun part of the season, conference play.  

West Virginia was the surprise team in the country.  They were on no one's radar at the beginning of the season receiving not a single vote by the AP or coaches.  But when they traveled to Lawrence on January 4th, they were ranked 16th in the country and 8th in the DPPI.  This was looking to be a very tight contest.  The DPPI had the Jayhawks as a 12.2 point favorite.  But freshman phenom Oscar Tschiebwe had other ideas and took WVU into the locker room with a 6 point 30-24 lead.  Oscar had completely dominated in every aspect of the game scoring 15 points and grabbing 10 rebounds in the 1st half.  But this is the 2019-20 version of the Jayhawks.  They would not continue to allow that.  Udoka would arise from his slumber and score 11 points on 5-5 shooting in the 2nd half and block 3 shots.  But the lessons of Villanova had been learned.  West Virginia was pushing to come back in the last moments and with 45 seconds left had close KU's lead to 3 points.  But unlike the Villanova game, KU buckled down and Dotson took over the game, drawing 2 fouls and making 4-4 FT's to seal a 7 point win.  This marked the 29th consecutive victory in a conference opener.  What an amazing record.  

Next up was Iowa St. where KU was a 9 point favorite.  KU traveled to Ames and shredded the hapless Cyclones by 26.  That would mark the third best performance relative to expectation of the season.  This game is most notable as the coming out party of Christian Braun.  Self is still playing quite a bit of 2 bigs.  But Braun is given his first chance to shine and shine he does.  He hit 3-4 from long range and grabbed 5 rebounds in 24 minutes.  At the time we were not sure if this was just a fluke or if this young man was a rising star.  The following games would answer that question definitively.  Welcome to the Jayhawks Mr. Braun.  The other thing that we saw in this game that was becoming a thing was watching the defensive prowess of Marcus Garrett against an elite talent.  Tyrese Halliburton is projected as a lottery pick.  But Marcus held him to 5 points on 2-7 from the floor.  Simply amazing.  

West Virginia had turned many heads and was getting lots of love as surprise team of the year.  But another Big 12 foe was now surpassing WVU.  Baylor had lost in a very close 3 point game to Washington way back in the 2nd game of the season.  Since then they had won 11 in a row and were climbing the rankings.  When the Bears showed up in Lawrence on January 11th, Kansas was ranked No. 3 and Baylor was ranked No. 4.  This was going to be a game that defined in many ways the theme of the rest of the season.  It would also be the worst game of the season in terms of relative to projection.  KU was a 7.2 point favorite.  But Baylor came in and played a near perfect game and rode away with a 12 point victory,  You have to give Baylor credit.  This game ended up as far and away the est game of the season for Baylor.  They shut down Devon and Udoka on offense.  Udoka did manage rebounds and 7 huge blocks, though.  This would be KU's worst defensive performance of the season allowing 1.098 PPP.  The absolute key to the game was the same one for the Duke game.  KU committed 14 TO's while Baylor had only 5.  That was all she wrote.  KU held strong on the boards and KU's shooting defense was decent but not great.  But the low TO percentage for Baylor was the death knell.  The really bad news was this put KU a game behind Baylor in the race for the Big 12.  It was only the 3rd game of the season but a home loss to your main competition bodes badly for winning the Big 12.  The loss resulted in Baylor ultimately taking the top spot in the poll and Kansas dropping to a season low 6th.  We were in our lowest ranking, we were in 2nd place in the Big 12, we had lost at home and Baylor was looking stronger and stronger.  The positive news for those of us who pay attention to the computer rankings was that while Baylor was winning and had a lead, Kansas was still projecting well over the 18 game conference schedule.  

Now, every game was all about picking back up that game we lost to Baylor.  Surely Baylor would have a bad game and drop a game soon.  But Baylor became the modicum of consistency.  In fact, over the next 13 games, Baylor would play an average of 4.4 points within expectation.  To give you a perspective, that is amazingly incredibly consistent.  Baylor simply would not have a bad game the until the last 3 games.  And then it was only 10 points below expectation.  But as it turns out, that was enough.  But then, it is more fun to have to go earn the championship versus having Baylor give it away.  I would have taken Baylor giving it away but they would not do that.  Their worst game over the next 13 would be 5.5 points below expectation against Oklahoma.  So Baylor took control of the Big 12 and ascended to the top place in the AP and were the talk of the NCAA.  There was scuttlebutt about Baylor being the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA.  But it was still a little early.  

Kansas started their quest to get back into the champions seat in Norman against OU.  KU was a 7.2 point favorite and won by 14.  Self was still clinging to the 3 big starting lineup but it was in it;s last throes.  MOss had been inserted into the starting lineup for an injured Dotson.  Fans were fretting over the severity of Dotson's hip pointer he suffered against Baylor.  Could this be the season swallowed up by the injury monster?  At least for 1 game against Oklahoma, Kansas came through with nextman up and dominated OU defensively.  OU could only manage 30% FG% after boasting 3 of the best offensive threats in the conference.  We were now clearly a top 2 or  3 defense in the country by now and getting better.  But without Dotson, we had no serious hope of making a run.  We were all waiting for news of Devon's status.  

Next up was Texas and there was Devon in the starting lineup.  But how would he play?  No worries.  He may have been sore but Devon put up 21 points and grabbed 6 rebounds resting for only about 1-1/2 minutes.  This would also be the next to last game that Self used the 2 big lineup for anything other than a spot need.  KU was a 9 point favorite and won by 9.  We were now 13-3 with all of our players at least somewhat healthy.  We were getting demonstrably better every game and our defense was steady and strong.  We still trailed Baylor but surely they would lose soon, right?  

The next game brought one of the more notable events of the season.  Back in Allen Fieldhouse to face our sort of arch rival K-State.  Kansas St. was pretty solidly in the cellar of the Big 12 at that point.  KU was an 18.7 point favorite.  KU put a smackdown on the Tigers on the back of Christian Braun's best game as a Jayhawk and 6 3-pointers and 20 points.  Then the 2nd time this season, a humiliated foe decided he was not satisfied to run out the clock and stole the ball from De Sousa in the waning seconds.  Well, we don;t need to recount blow by blow.  We all remember the ugly incident.  De Sousa's season was effectively over and McCormack was suspended 2 games.  There was a fear that this incident would define the season.  But thanks to the quick decisiveness of the Big 12 and the KU and K-State admins, this thing was put to bed in a couple days.  It faded from the news and quickly became a non-thing,  Thank you God.  We did not need this to overshadow a great conference race and one of the best seasons KU has had in a while.  

After a brief respite from the Big 12 race for the SEC-Big 12 challenge where KU defeated a solid but overmatched Tennessee team, it was time for a trip to that dangerous place, Stillwater, OK.  Next to Morgantown, Stillwater is the place where KU has had the worst record.  OSU was in a major funk.  They had entered Big 12 play on a roll and were looking like a 5th place finisher.  But they were 0-6 in the Big 12 and something was clearly wrong with the Cowboys.  But Stillwater is always a crapshoot.  This game would cause no worries.  KU jumped out to a 24-7 lead and looked like they would run away with this.  Then OSU scored 15 straight to bring back that Stillwater scariness.  KU finished the half up by 5.  But even though OSU made a game of it, KU finished with a 15 point win, 6 points above expectation.  Braun continued his little hot streak with a team high 16 points.  But Baylor is keeping pace and KU is still a game back.  KU is hanging tough as the 3rd ranked team and Baylor is now the No. 1 team.  

Texas Tech and Texas were coming into Lawrence for a 2 game homestand.  Texas Tech had been up and down.  When they arrived in Lawrence they had fallen from the top 25 but they were still scary.  Kansas was a 10.1 point favorite and won by only 3.  We really struggled with stopping Texas Tech's offense.  We allowed 1.056 PPP which was 2nd worst only to the first Baylor game.  There were worries that Marcus Garrett was hurt worse than had been anticipated.  His defense on Ramsey was not what we had come to expect.  But you would never really know it other than the 26 points Ramsey scored.  Marcus is a real trooper.  

Next up Texas was another slight under performance, but only by 4.3 points.  Andrea Hudy returned to Allen Fieldhouse and surely had some fond reminiscences.  The big news at tip-off was that Udoka Azubuike was not in the game, but on the bench.  When asked why Udoka did not start the game, Self simply said "We did not have a good day yesterday" referring to Azubuike.  Once again, Self's willingness to use all tools in the toolkit to motivate players seemed to work.  Azubuike never again showed any attitude other than intense motivation.  He did play 25 minutes and had a double-double.  Also, Marcus had 4 steals demonstrating his defensive prowess and making his case for National Defensive player of the year.  Kansas finishes the 1st half of the conference at 8-1 but Baylor is stubbornly refusing to give back that game and is 9-0.  

On Saturday, Feb 8th, KU travels to Ft. Worth to take on TCU.  Bill Self has 699 victories and a win would give him 700 for his career, only the 30th coach to reach that milestone and 9th among active coaches.  The Jayhawks rewarded him with that win as KU had their best defensive game of the season holding TCU to 0.697 PPP.  After being benched in the previous game, Azubuike was in full on monster status against one of the better big men in the Big 12 in Kevin Samuel.  Udoka had 20 points, 15 rebounds and 5 blocks.  It was a good thing that KU's defense was on because the offense was not.  The offense managed 0.909 PPP, the 5th worst of the season.  Devon also had a banner game with a career high 11 assists to go along with 18 points.  KU remains at No. 3 in the polls and goes to 9-1 in the Big 12.  But Baylor goes to 10-0.  Time is starting to grow short and it is looking now like KU will have to beat No. 1 Baylor in Waco.  The Big 12 race is hot and exciting.  

Things are looking very problematic for Kansas.  We are trailing Baylor by a game and our next game is in Morgantown where we are only 2-5.  The Mountaineers are up to 14th in the polls and 8th in the computer rankings.  Kansas is still a 2.2 point favorite as KU is now No. 2 in the computer just a notch behind Duke.  Uncannily, this game is almost a carbon copy of the game in Lawrence in the 1st half.  Oscar Tshiebwe dominates Azubuike something fierce and on the back of his 12 points and 5 rebounds goes into the locker room at half with an identical 30-24 lead over Kansas that they had in Lawrence.  KU was 1-8 from 3 in the 1st half and was outrebounded 20-14.  It looked like another loss for Kansas in Morgantown.  Meanwhile, Baylor had already defeated Texas on Monday so KU was seriously in jeopardy of slipping 2 games behind.  Halfway through the 2nd half, KU had seen the deficit climb to 9 points and at the 9:48 minute mark the lead for West Virginia stood at 7.  KU could not make any headway and had even lost a point in the 2nd half.  The score was 44-37.  Well, long story short, KU outscored WVU 21-5 the rest of the way and held them scoreless over the last 5:07.  I dare say, visions of Villanova were dancing in their head and KU showed why they were about to become the prohibitive No. 1 team in the country.  If there was a seminal moment that demarcated the point when KU became the dominant and prohibitive No. 1, this victory was it.  KU was now 10-1 while Baylor is 11-0.    The KU-Baylor game is now 10 days away and looming large.  

Oklahoma comes to Lawrence and they are hot and surging.  They boast three of the top scorers in the conference.  But KU has built such a dominant rating they are a strong 13.6 point favorite.  KU's offense was centered around Devon getting close to 20, mostly by driving to the rim, Udoka dunking, and Ochai or Moss hitting a few 3 pointers and Marcus cleaning up where opportunities presented.  But while Doolittle was having a field day and KU had their hands full in containing the OU shooters, Marcus Garrett had the offensive game of his career hitting 6-9 from 3 point line and scoring a team high 24 points.  If that was not enough, he had 7 assists to boot.  What a game by Marcus.  Udoka and Devon were their usual with Udoka having a double-double and Devon hitting for 18 points.  The outburst by Marcus gave KU their 5th best offensive performance of the season at 1.208 PPP but considering the competition, one of the top 2 offensive performances, 2nd only to perhaps Dayton.  KU is looking very strong and this victory solidly moves them to No. 1 in the computer polls, even though they are still No. 3 in the AP.  But Baylor is matching win for win.  KU 11-1, Baylor 12-0.  Baylor game just a week away.  

While KU was looking forward to the Saturday matchup with Baylor, they must first host the Cyclones who are now playing without their star Tyrese Halliburton.  KU is almost a 19 point favorite and the projection holds.  KU wins by 20 with their statistically best offensive game of the year with a PPP of 1.300.  Devon, not to be upstaged by Marcus's offensive output against OU, had 29 points and went an even better than Marcus, 6 for from 3 point range.  While KU won by 20, they led by as many as 28 with 4 minutes to go.  This was a true blow out.  KU was clearly not looking forward to Baylor so much that they lost sight of the goal at hand.  Or perhaps it was to honor Marcus Morris who had his jersey retired at halftime.  It was yet another data point that this KU team was rounding into a juggernaut and the prohibitive best team in the country.  So KU had done their part.  They had run their win streak to 11-0 after the loss to Baylor.  But Baylor had now set a new Big 12 record with a 23 game win streak.  Baylor was 12-0 in the Big 13-0 and had a huge game lead on Kansas.  All the other teams had fallen hopelessly behind.  It was a 2 team race and Baylor had the upper hand.  A win in Waco was almost a must for Kansas.  Saturday is looming large. 

ESPN game day comes to Lawrence and Coach Drew is basking in the glow.  Baylor is drinking in the adulation and hype of game day.  Meanwhile, back at the ranch, otherwise known as the KU locker room, the Jayhawks are all business.  They have a mission.  They have a plan.  They are locked and loaded.  Depending on whose projection you look at, KU is favored by a point or two or the underdog by a point or 2.   This is the game for which this season will largely be defined.  This is the epic rematch everyone has been awaiting.  This is No. 3 Kansas against No. 1 Baylor.  A Baylor win and they extend their record win streak and gain an almost insurmountable lead for the Big 12 race.  A victory and Baylor will be the odds on favorite for overall No. 1 seed in the NCAA.  Games do not get any larger than this.  

Baylor wins the tip and before you can blink, Teague drains a three and Baylor takes the lead.  Next possession Baylor makes it 5-0.  Then KU kicks it into that championship gear and goes on a 14-2 run run and goes up 14-7.  No one was fooled to think that would keep going.  Baylor went on an 11-4 run to tie it up at 18 a piece.  KU builds and builds and has a 34-35, 9 point lead with 1:55 left in the half after Braun drains a 2.  But Baylor finishes the half on a 6 point run and goes into the locker room down by 3 but with strong momentum.  KU comes out strong in the 2nd half and makes it look like they are going to run away from Baylor for a double digit win.  At the 11:53 mark it is KU by 11, 48-37.  KU is dominating and things are looking strong for the good guys.  Over the next 5 minutes, Baylor can only cut the lead to 10.  They cannot stop Udoka.  At the 6:17 mark, Davion Mitchell sinks a 2 to take the lead to single digits.  That starts a 9-2 run by Baylor to pull the game to within 3, 56-53 at the 4:03 mark.  At the 3:20 mark, Udoka grabs that "Don;t mess with me" defensive rebound.  15 seconds later Marcus draws a foul and sinks both FT's.  At the 2:08 mark, Udoka grabs his 17th rebound on a monster offensive board (we should all remember that one) and slams it home to put KU up by 7, 60-53.  That play right there probably earned him player of the year int eh Big 12.  But the game was far from over.  Despite Udoka grabbing his 18th and 19th rebound, Baylor manages to pull with 1 point 62-61 with 18 seconds left.  KU had the ball and Moss drew the foul.  Ice in his veins Moss hit the two biggest FT's of the season to take the lead up to 64-61.  Baylor had 8 seconds and pretty much had to make 3.  Jerod Butler got the shot off and clang, it missed.  KU wins.  Baylor 13-1, KU 13-1.  But KU had all the momentum at that point.  KU would ascend to No. 1 in the AP and soon thereafter the unanimous No. 1.  Udoka had 23 points, 19 rebounds and 3 blocks.  And was a dominant presence the entire game.  KU played only 7 players, and McCormack played only 4:10.  KU outrebounded Baylor by only 2 and Baylor had 2 fewer TO's.   Both teams acquitted themselves well.  Baylor is clearly a top 5 team and maybe top 4.  But Kansas beat a top 5 team on the road on game day.  The season had just been defined.  
 
So Kansas had evened the Big 12 race but there were plenty of pitfalls ahead for both Kansas and Baylor.  Who would navigate those pitfalls would determine who would emerge as Big 12 champs.  KU had three bottom 5 teams in OSU, TCU and K-State while Baylor had the same TCU and K-State but Baylor also had the gauntlet of Texas Tech at home and West Virginia on the road.  Plus, Kansas was looking to be the stronger team.  Things were looking up for the Jayhawks.  There was a reasonable chance that KU could win the Big 12 outright but it could also go the other way.  

Baylor looked like they were unfazed by the home loss to Kansas as they destroyed Kansas St. by 19 3 days later.  Meanwhile, Kansas has Oklahoma St. back in Lawrence.  KU was favored by 15.4 and blew through that to a 25 point victory.  Udoka continued his domination with a 19 point, 16 rebound game.  

The following weekend would be a shocker.  KU was headed to K-State for the fateful rematch after the game-ending brawl in Lawrence.  K-State played an inspired game and despite being a 12.3 point underdog, managed to make it very close finishing with a 4 point victory.  But down in Ft. Worth, TCU was upsetting Baylor by 3.  Kansas had gone in 7 days from a game behind the No. 1 team in the country to a 1 game lead and KU was now the No. 1 team in the country.  The universe is as it should be.  Baylor would go on to beat Texas Tech by 3 but lose in Morgantown to West Virginia by 12.  KU went from less than a 10% of winning the Big 12 outright to winning the Big 12 by 2 full games.  

Even though the Jayhawks knew with 8 minutes to go in the Texas Tech game that they had won the Big 12 outfight, they still had to compete against a very good Texas Tech team in their gym.  But lets not skip over the TCU game.  With much still on the line KU hosts TCU.  Devon had his usual 18 points and ran the team but the story was Udoka.  Udoka had a career high 31 points, 14 rebounds abd 5 blocks and was clearly a man amongst boys as the saying goes.  Then we got to see him thank every single person associated with the Jayhawks hoops program in a wonderful senior night speech.  Thank you Udoka and good luck my friend.  

In what sadly turned out to be the last game of KU's season, the Jayhawks travel to Lubbock to take on a team fighting for seed in the NCAA.  Beard and company would surely have a game plan for the Jayhawks.  They had only lost by 3 to the Jayhawks in Lawrence.  KU had locked up at least a share of the lead but needed to win this game to have an outright championship.  This was going to reveal the heart of a champion.  And it did.  

Texas Tech literally gave it all they had.  They played a great game with a great game plan.  This was strength on strength and Texas Tech executed about as well as they could hope.  KU was just the better team and despite the home court advantage, KU finished their season with a 66-62 victory and a 16 game winning streak.  They were a lock for the top seed in the NCAA and a 23% probability of winning it all.  

I hope you enjoyed this walk down memory lane of this amazing season.  Who knows what the future holds.  But we no know what the past 4 months held.  An amazing team that grew each game and became the best team in the country.  We will never know what could have been so I choose to focus on what was and what is.  And hope springs eternal for next season.  Have a wonderful off season and stay safe.  I have been around the block a few times and I can say with pretty much experiential certainty, what goes up will come down and vice versa.  It is never as dark as it seems.  This too shall pass.  Okay, you get the message.  Great times are ahead.  

Rock Chalk Jayhawk,

Don

That was terrific. Very well done.