Let's call Kansas' 2010 season a 5 step process: (1) Win the regular season Big XII conference title, (2) Win Big XII Tournament title, (3) Get best seed possible in tournemnt, (4) Reach Final Four, (5) Win National Championship. If you will notice, steps 1-3 have been accomplished at this point in the season.
Third time wasn't a charm for the K-State as KU was able to hold off the Wildcats for a 72-64 victory to claim the Big XII crown. Denis Clemente, Jacob Pullen and the Wildcats were a feisty bunch, but ultimately, KU's depth was too much for top-10 K-State squad.
This victory sealed KU's tournament seeding fate. It was a foregone conclusion that KU would be a number 1 seed but whether or not they would be the number OVERALL seed was dependent on if they won or not (and the outcome of a couple other games). Clinching the victory meant clinching the overall 1 seed, which, theoretically, would give them the easiest route to the Final Four and eventual National Championship. However, it appears the selection committee and the country's general bias towards the east coast and against the midwest continues. KU got one of the harder brackets it looks like with Ohio State, Georgetown, and Maryland the 2, 3, and 4 seeds in the bracket respectively. In comparison to the the draw the other number 1 seeds received, this seems a little unbalanced. However, if KU truly is the best team it all shouldn't matter right? Right.
Now, here we are. The month we've all been waiting for, March. KU has been touted as a near lock for the Final Four and a surefire bet for the National Championship since Collins and Aldrich returned and Xavier Henry signed, but now that we're on the cusp of the tournament, does it still seem like another National Championship is within reach?
KU has been here before. The Jayhawks have had many a team that was as good as any in the country. There have been many times when all the "pundits" picked KU to win it all and they fell short. Back in 1997 KU was 32-1 going into the tournament and had, what I still believe, to be the best team of my lifetime (a lifetimes which includes 7 Final Four teams and 2 National Champions). However, this team fell to the eventual National Champion Arizona Wildcats in the Elite Eight. The next year KU returned two of the best players in the country (Raef Lafrentz and Paul Pierce) and flamed out in the second round. In 2004 KU had a senior laden team that had the experience of two Final Fours and 3 Elite Eights under their belt, but a fast start gave way to a slow finish and falling the first round.
Why have I chosen to bring up past KU heartbreaks such as these? Well, this is just to put it in perspective that KU has been highly regarded before but not come through. We as KU fans have gone through too much heartbreak. How many teams have consistently had a team ranked as high in the tournament? Not many. This is why it seemed like KU was destined to lose when they were down by 9 with 2:12 to go in the National Championship game in 2008. However, the tide finally turned in KU's favor on that fateful day in April of 2008.
And that is exactly why this team has a different feel than all those other highly ranked teams of the past. With so many high rankings and good teams and no Championships to show for it, KU became a victim of their own success. You could see it when they played, with high expectations came intense pressure and KU would play tight and some part of their game would lapse and it would be lights out on another great season. But with the advent of 2008 all that has changed.
The reason KU won in 2008 was because all the pressure was off. It was clear throughout the year in '08 who the four best teams were, they all got 1 seeds in the tourney and they all made it to the Final Four. There was so much pressure on KU they almost blew the Elite Eight game to Davidson and barely won by 2 points. Once they won, KU was the lowest seed remaining (the 4th of the 1 seeds) and there was no pressure anymore. They made it as far as people said they would and there were no more expectations, they were then able to take this relieved amount of pressure and parlay it into a National Championship.
So what does that have to do with this year? Well part of the pressure KU always felt was from a fan base that was starved for a National Championship. That starvation has been quenched somewhat with the recent Championship, which gives this current team a luxury KU teams of the past haven't had. They have much less pressure and they can just let loose and go out and win another one. This is the difference from teams past and I think this is the difference that gives me a much better feeling about this team than years past. I am not saying KU is a lock to win the NC or even win at all, but the feeling I have had ever since the offseason was different with this team. We will all see how it plays out over the next three weeks and here's hoping KU can put together another 6 game run bring another Championship back to Lawrence.
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