KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The mannerisms were all familiar Friday, yet few in the Sprint Center seemed interested … or perturbed.
There was Roy Williams putting his glasses on and off as if he was adjusting from headlines to agate type.
And there Roy was bent over as if in some sort of gastric distress over a call.
And there Roy was saving timeouts like Indian head pennies.
Yet Williams may just as well have been Andy Enfield.
LAWRENCE — The 6th day of February was when fashionable overkill favoring prohibitive underdogs went viral.
Kansas triggered the sentiment. It lost at TCU.
What had been a mere whisper suddenly swelled into an uproar: This is the year a No. 16 seed beats a No. 1 in the NCAA Tournament!
Well, the time has come. The NCAA bracket was unveiled Sunday.
And, as fate would have it, Kansas was seeded on the 1-line.
“It’s going to happen, a 16 is going to beat a one. Eventually,’’ KU coach Bill Self said.
Kansas and Kansas State’s postseasons will continue in Kansas City.
The Jayhawks (29-5) earned a No. 1 seed after winning the Big 12 Tournament and will open against Western Kentucky (20-15) on Friday at Sprint Center.
Kansas State (27-7) is seeded fourth and plays the winner of a play-in game between Boise State (21-10) and La Salle (21-9).
A KU win would set up a potential rematch with former coach Roy Williams and North Carolina.
The eighth-seeded Tarheels (24-10) play No. 9 Villanova (20-13) in another first-round game in Kansas City.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas State and Kansas tied for the regular-season Big 12 title.
That doesn’t mean they feel very good about themselves entering the league tournament.
The Wildcats lost a road game against Oklahoma State on Saturday, while the Jayhawks were routed by Baylor a few hours later in a game that would have given them the outright title.
Consider it proof that the Big 12 Tournament, which starts Wednesday night at Sprint Center, promises to be among the most intriguing and unpredictable in conference history.
FIRST TEAM
Pierre Jackson, Baylor, 5-10, 180, senior, Las Vegas.
Rodney McGruder, Kansas St., 6-4, 205, senior, Washington, D.C.
Ben McLemore, Kansas, 6-5, 185, freshman, St. Louis.
Marcus Smart, Oklahoma St., 6-4, 225, freshman, Flower Mound, Texas… Continue reading
Mark Mangino is returning to the sideline, three years after his ouster as the coach at Kansas.
Mangino was announced Friday as the new tight ends coach and assistant head coach at Youngstown State, his alma mater. The Penguins are coached by Eric Wolf… Continue reading
AMES, Iowa — Kansas couldn’t answer Iowa State’s balanced scoring and lost to the Cyclones 83-68 on Wednesday night.
Chelsea Poppens led four Cyclones in double figures with 22 points and Hallie Christofferson added 20.
KU (16-11, 7-9) did battle back from a 12-point deficit at the 15-minute mark. The Jayhawks went on a 13-4 tear to trail by just 60-57. Iowa State put together a 13-0 run to put the game away.
AUSTIN, Texas — Chassidy Fussell’s 26 points led five players in double figures as Texas beat Kansas 93-83 at the Erwin Center.
The Longhorns’ balance was able to overcome Kansas’ two-woman tandem of Angel Goodrich and Carolyn Davis, which combined for 54 points.
Goodrich finished with a career-best 31 points, while Davis tossed in 23 to account for 65 percent of Kansas’ scoring.
KU couldn’t stop Texas in the first half trailing 47-35 at intermission.
LAWRENCE — Kansas knows a thing or two about how fragile a big lead can be.
It was only four days before that the Jayhawks came back from a 23-point deficit on the road against TCU. So when KU had a 19-point second-half lead of its own against No. 22 Oklahoma, there would be no letting up from the Jayhawks.
The recent lesson came into to play when the Sooners started notching the pressure up late against KU by forcing turnovers and scoring quick baskets. That’s when Bonnie Henrickson called a timeout to remind her team of the Jayhawks’ previous game.
LAWRENCE — On Jan. 22, 1974, Digger Phelps brought No. 1-ranked Notre Dame to face Kansas at Allen Fieldhouse.
Basketball fans might not recognize the date, but they’ll know what happened three days earlier.
That day — Jan. 19, 1974 — was the day Phelps and the Irish upset UCLA 71-70 to end the Bruins’ 88-game winning streak.