March has been maddening for Kansas coach Bill Self. Back in 2000, when he was at Tulsa, he guided the Golden Hurricane to a regional final as a seven seed, only to lose to eighth-seeded North Carolina. A season later, his first at Illinois, he led the top-seeded Illini to a regional final only to lose again to a lower seed, No. 2 Arizona.
But those were just warm-up acts, omens of what has befallen him since he landed in Lawrence. In 2004, playing before a friendly crowd in St. Louis, his fourth-seeded Jayhawks lost in overtime to third-seeded Georgia Tech in a regional final.
A year later, as a third seed, they fell to No. 14 Bucknell in the opening round, and in 2006, as a fourth seed, they did the same in the opening round, losing to No. 13 Bradley. Finally, as a top seed just last season, they again reached a regional final, only to lose once more to a lower seed, No. 2 UCLA.
Fairly or not, those failures now dominate Self’s resume, no matter how well his teams perform in the months that precede March. That is why he fretted openly in Omaha last weekend before his top-seeded Jayhawks’ opening game with Portland State. “It’s going to happen,” he said of a 16 seed eventually beating a one.
And, after the Jayhawks’ easy victory, he hardly seemed sanguine about their chances of making a deep tournament run.
“To be candid, I felt really good about a lot of teams we had going into the tournament making runs,” Self said. “We’ve had some teams make some good runs. I think winning three games in a tournament is a pretty good run. Maybe not great by expectations of what you hope to do …
“I think this team is equipped to perform at the highest level. But I also think this: I’ve seen us play at a level well below that, which all teams do at some point. When we don’t perform at a high level, then we can be pretty average.”
His Jayhawks were hardly average in Omaha, ripping off impressive wins over Portland State and UNLV to move onto a regional semifinal in Detroit on Friday against No. 12 seed Villanova. They showed off their size, speed, depth and versatility. And they’re not afraid to hoist up shots, but why should they be; throughout the postseason Kansas has demonstrated a jeweler’s touch.
Against Texas A&M in the second round of the Big 12 tournament the Jayhawks hit 52.8 percent of their shots and 46.2 percent of their threes. In their championship game victory over Texas they dropped a staggering 15 of 25 three-point attempts (60 percent).
Their accuracy continued in Omaha, where they shot 54.1 percent against Portland State and 58 percent against the Rebels.
But Kansas’ success was not founded on shooting alone, which is important.
The outside shot, and especially the three-pointer, is a fickle mistress, a temptress that can disappoint as well as please. After their teams lost (respectively) to Wisconsin and Michigan State last weekend, Kansas State coach Frank Martin and Pitt coach Jamie Dixon moaned that they were beaten largely because they missed shots they normally make.
“If you have to bank on making shots in order to win, then you probably are going to have a night where you don’t and you lose,” Self said.
The Jayhawks do much more than shoot, accepting the guidance of a veteran point guard, senior Russell Robinson, and defending with vigor, holding opponents to an average of 61.4 points and 38 percent shooting.
They run and they rebound, they take care of the ball and they feature double-figure scorers in both the frontcourt (forwards Darrell Arthur and Darnell Jackson) and the backcourt (guards Brandon Rush and Mario Chalmers). That is why these Jayhawks, like their predecessors, are saddled with expectations that they will be the ones to get their coach to the Final Four.
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“It’s a players’ thing,” said sophomore guard Sherron Collins of Crane. “Coach, I think he wants it more for us than he wants it for himself, but it would be great for him to get it at this point.”
Collins, who shares time with Robinson, is averaging 9.5 points off the bench.
“It’s been a great ride, a great season, but it would be good to get [the seniors] there,” Collins said. “I think [Self] would appreciate it. But we’ve got seniors on our team, and I think it’s more important to get them there.”
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