Win over Baylor Shows Kansas Will Go As Far As Josh Jackson Takes It

LAWRENCE, Kan. — Eight days ago in West Virginia, Kansas got run off the floor on a night the box score said freshman forward Josh Jackson was a star.     

But Jackson got torched—28 points on him in man-to-man defense, according to Bleacher Report tracking—and it could turn out to be the best thing that ever happened to KU and Jackson.

The Jackson who has responded in the last two games is the version that could carry Kansas to a national championship.

The one who showed up is the competitive dude scouts raved about before he ever stepped foot on campus.

In a 73-68 win over No. 2 Baylor on Wednesday night at Allen Fieldhouse, Jackson again was a star in the box score (23 points, 10 rebounds and two blocks), but the hustle plays he made down the stretch are what helped lock up the game.

Those plays could turn No. 3 Kansas from a mediocre defensive team into a very good one.

"Everything that he does is not a surprise to me," Jayhawks head coach Bill Self said of his freshman. "We've gotten to the point where we expect it. And he'd be disappointed in us if we did not."

Publicly, Self is not going to be critical of Jackson. There's enough pressure on a one-and-done freshman that it's probably not wise to light him up in the media.

But behind closed doors, you better believe Self is challenging Jackson, because he's well aware Jackson is the key to getting him his second national title ring.

It sounds weird to say that someone other than Frank Mason III, a guy who is a National Player of the Year favorite, is the key for the Jayhawks.

But Mason is going to get his—even on a terrible shooting night (3-of-12), he managed to score 19 points. The Jayhawks do not always need buckets from Jackson; they need him flying around the floor like every possession could be the last he ever plays.

Jamie Squire/Getty Images

That's what sent Baylor back to Waco, Texas, with dreams of what could have been.

Because in the last half-minute of the game, Baylor guard Manu Lecomte had a clear lane to the basket and a would-be layup that would have tied it.

But here came Jackson, flying through the air and forcing Lecomte to pass the ball to teammate Ishmail Wainright, who shot a rushed three.

On its final possession, Baylor was trailing by three, and the Jayhawks trapped Lecomte when he came off a ball screen, leaving Bears star Johnathan Motley open at the top of the key. But again, Jackson arrived before he could think to shoot, and Motley ended up throwing the ball back to an unsuspecting Lecomte.

Turnover. Ballgame.

Jackson had other moments of brilliance. A shot fake beyond the three-point line and then one dribble to the basket for a dunk was one example of why the man is a lottery pick.

The 6'8" freshman has also found his outside shot, "which makes him even that much harder to guard," Baylor head coach Scott Drew said. Jackson made two threes against the Bears and has now made 10 of his last 18 after shooting 23.7 percent from deep over KU's first 18 games of the season.

But the Jayhawks had one of the best offenses in the country before he started making jumpers. That's just gravy.

The Jackson the Jayhawks need is the guy who is locked in defensively, disrupting possessions with his quickness and his length.

That guy has come and gone this season, but he was present in a 79-73 win against No. 4 Kentucky on Saturday and put together one heck of a sequel Wednesday night.

If he had not shown, Baylor would have won the game. The Bears arrived in Allen Fieldhouse with a confidence they've never had in this old building, where they've yet to be victorious. They were good enough to win and proved in defeat they should have their own Final Four aspirations.

Jamie Squire/Getty Images

But Jackson was better.

And if he shows like that in March, the Jayhawks have the best combination of talent, experience and ability to thrive on both ends as any team in the country. 

Is it fair to put that on a freshman? Maybe not. But Jackson is unlike any other freshman phenom Self has landed. Andrew Wiggins, the best before him, disappeared in his one NCAA tournament in a round-of-32 loss to Stanford. He was not ready to dominate games as a defender. He did not have the passing skills Jackson has to make those around him better. 

Jackson has so many tools and so many ways to impact a game. He also has the mentality and the skill set to dominate an NCAA tournament similar to the way Duke's Justise Winslow, another small-ball power forward, did in 2015. 

It all comes down to which Josh Jackson shows up in the tournament: the box-score star or the man who finished off Baylor with two hustle plays.  

C.J. Moore covers college basketball and football for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter: @CJMooreBR.