Kansas Jayhawks: Season Was Sweet Despite Loss to State

The Kansas Jayhawks' season and dance as the defending National Champions came to a bitter end against the Michigan State Spartans in the Sweet 16.

It was a hard-fought game in which the Jayhawks came out strong, building a 13-point lead in the first half and a seven-point advantage into the break.

The lead was cut from nine to seven by the closest buzzer replay I've ever seen.  Suton, who kept the Spartans in the game in the first half, hit a deep jumper just as the red light went on.  It took multiple replays before giving the refs enough evidence to call the shot good.  Michigan State seemed to grab momentum from this shot and came out strong in the last frame. 

It was a classic struggle between two talented teams in the second half.  The matchups of centers Cole Aldrich and Suton and point guards Kalin Lucas and Sherron Collins lived up to the billing. 

MSU's Goran Sutan had a season-high 20 points to go with nine rebounds and five steals.  His ability to hit his open jump shots was the key to victory for the Spartans.

Kansas center Cole Aldrich played very strong, scoring 17 points and grabbing 14 rebounds to go with four blocks.  The size of MSU caused him to miss a few close shots that he might have hit against a smaller opponent, but this sophomore big man showed he can bang with anyone. 

All-American point guard Collins led his team in scoring with 20 points, but his few flaws that concerned me from the start of the season showed up in the last few minutes of this game.  I questioned his conditioning from the start of the season. 

Lucas, the Spartans team leader and Big 10 player of the year, took over the game at the end.  He struggled to hit his shots for most of the game, going 5-15 from the floor.  When it came down to crunch time, he was the best player on the court. He finished with 18 points, seven assists, and only two turnovers.

In what proved to be the most critical possession of the ball game, Lucas and Collins were matched up 1-1. With the game tied, Lucas took him off the dribble, got into the lane, and hit a tough leaner while drawing a foul.  Hit hit the free throw to give State a three-point lead with about 40 seconds to go.

Freshman Tyshawn Taylor showed great poise, hitting two free throws with 33 seconds left to cut the lead to one.  Lucas was fouled just after that and hit both himself. 

Collins was then fouled with 20 seconds to go.  He missed the front end of the one-and-one and Michigan State came up with the ball.  Lucas was money on two more free throws with 14.4 seconds left to secure the Spartans 67-62 victory. 

In a mid-season loss to the Missouri Tigers, Collins had a chance to ice the game by making two free throws.  He missed both, allowing the Tigers to hit a game-winning shot as the buzzer sounded.  He seemed very exhausted in both instances. 

Let's not get it twisted though.  Collins played like rock all season and was the main reason for the team's Big 12 championship and 27 victories after losing six of the top seven scorers from last year's squad.  He played well enough to start really looking at his NBA prospects. 

The young Jayhawks battled all the way in the second half, but the Spartans were getting to most of the 50/50 loose balls, causing turnovers, and their physicality seemed to wear KU down.

In the loss to MSU, Kansas needed another player to step up and take the pressure off of Collins and Aldrich.  Brady Morningstar and Taylor made some plays, but both had too many bad turnovers to be counted on.  This may have contributed to Collins only having three assists vs. six turnovers. 

Coach Bill Self did one of the best coaching jobs of his career this season.  I watched every game and often got amused when he would give his young players a tongue lashing after every bad play they made.  Taylor and fellow starter Marcus Morris got the brunt of these all season long.  As well as they both played, I felt like down the stretch they worried about making mistakes and not letting the game come to them.

All this being said, the Jayhawks had a fabulous season.  At one point after losses to Syracuse and U-Mass, I was starting to worry if they were even a tournament team.  The future in Lawrence Kansas is bright.  Coach Self is recruiting at a very high level and if Collins and Aldrich return next season, KU will be one of the top teams in the nation again. 

ROCK CHALK JAYHAWK!!!