Big 12: Kansas Jayhawks Pull Away From Kansas State Wildcats. Again.

I’m not going to sit here and say Kansas State would have won tonight if Jacob Pullen would have been his usual self, but it sure would have been nice to find out.

Instead, Pullen scored just 13 and shot 5-17 from the field, including just 1-of-8 on threes, a few of which were wide open. Sure, that’s kind of evened out by the fact that Jamar Samuels made his first four, but he was left wide alone all night. I’m left with no other conclusion than that KU’s scouting report inexplicably said Samuels has no range.

It sure was tough to watch Pullen play for 37 minutes and struggle as much as he did, although his defense on Collins was outstanding for most of the night. For a guy that has been at his best in big games and done well historically against KU, it was a terribly unfortunate time to have an off-night.

When you’re as good as Kansas State, it’s not too hard to find missed opportunities in every loss, and tonight was no different.

In reality, Pullen’s struggles were just the latest in a long line of excuses to cover up the fact that Kansas has been better than Kansas State for almost my entire life.

Kansas earned the win tonight, and they’ll deservedly get a lot of credit for their performance. You’ll just have to pardon me if I don’t want to give it. Feel free to insert “and Kansas made it difficult” after every sentence that reads like an excuse.

For someone whose memory doesn’t extend beyond the early ’90s, it’s difficult to even imagine a Kansas State loss against Kansas. In my mind, a single digit loss like tonight is counted as a partial victory. Losing to Kansas is like posing for pictures on a family vacation. I hate doing it, but I’ve learned to live with it because I feel like I have no choice.

In years like this where it happens three times, it’s a bit more painful.

I was at least encouraged tonight by the crowd split, which was only about 60-40 Kansas fans, rather than 80-20 like past Big 12 tourney battles. That might have something to do with the fact that K-State was facing No. 1 seed KU as a No. 2 seed in the championship instead of as an 8 or 9 seed in the quarterfinals. Just a guess.

I could go on with several personal tales of tragedy in the KU-KSU series, or type out some numbers for those of you who don’t understand how bad it truly has been. In the interest of my self-esteem, though, let’s skip that part and take a look at some of the things Kansas State did right tonight.

Again, the ‘Cats brought the energy and proved beyond a doubt that they are not the team that lost to Iowa State last week and will be tough in the tourney. They couldn’t out-rebound the Jayhawks, but the Wildcats did force 11 turnovers and prevented KU from making one of its patented “time-to-take-over-this-game” runs.

Speaking of turnovers, Kansas State committed just five, which is incredible against a Kansas defense that forced almost 14 per game in Big 12 play. Denis and Jake had just one each, while Colon touched the ball and even dribbled it once without ever giving it to the Jayhawks. Amazing.

Clemente was Kansas State’s player of the tournament, and he did his best to make up for Pullen’s lack of offense Saturday night. The three-pointer he hit while trying to draw a foul from the baseline was perhaps the most ridiculous shot he’s made all season, which is really saying something.*

Jamar Samuels was excellent again, as noted earlier. I challenge anyone to find another team whose sixth man can play 33 minutes and not have it be too unusual. I’m not sure what this means, but if it’s what Samuels needs to be successful, then let’s keep it going.

Kansas State also did a decent job of adapting to the different Kansas defenses.

The Jayhawks did play a significant amount of the triangle-and-two that baffled the Wildcats in Lawrence (even when Clemente was out for a bit, which was odd), and Frank had obviously prepared a strategy. It worked fairly well, although it would have been a lot more effective if guys like Curtis Kelly could have actually made the shots found in the open spots in the zone.

After about 10 minutes of settling for too many jump shots, the Wildcats did a decent job of attacking the rim and challenging Kansas’ big men.

Kansas State even succeeded in the virtually impossible task of fouling out Cole Aldrich, for only the second time in the big man’s career.

Curiously, the team that leads the country with more than 30 free throws attempted each game got only 14 Saturday night, including zero (ZERO!) in the first half. I don’t like to blame officials, but that is one heck of a statistical anomaly.

At the end of the night, though, it’s going to be tough to beat the No. 1 team in the country when you’re only shooting 35 percent, missing layups, and can never seem to make more than two shots in a row. Kansas State’s Achilles heel, bench scoring, was especially weak Saturday.

I’m getting sick of writing about this, but it seems like the gap between Kansas State’s five best players and the rest of the team is widening, which is the opposite of good news. Frank has noticed, which is why four of those five played 30-plus minutes tonight, including 37 each for Pullen and Clemente. Kelly only played 22 minutes because he was in foul trouble the majority of the night.

Luis Colon and bench players who weren’t named Big 12 Sixth Man of the Year scored just nine points on 4-of-15 shooting, and seven of those points came from Wally Judge. That would be the same Wally Judge who was a McDonald’s All-American and now looks so tentative and unaware going up inside that most 5′11″ guards could probably block half the layups he puts up in traffic. Wally, why not use that strength and incredible ups you possess?

Selection Sunday, of course, is tomorrow and it’s almost a lock that Kansas and Kansas State will be playing in the same building again next weekend in Oklahoma City. Fortunately, it won’t be in the same game. Kansas will be the No. 1 overall seed, and Kansas State will be a No. 2 seed.

It would be wonderful if the ‘Cats could get in a region with Duke, and then maybe Wisconsin or Purdue as a No. 3 seed, especially after the way the Boilermakers played today.^ Then again, Lunardi actually has dropped Purdue to a four-seed in his latest bracketology. Right now, Lunardi has Kansas State with Syracuse and Pitt, which terrifies me. Let’s hope that doesn’t happen.

The records show that in 1988, Kansas State beat Kansas in Lawrence and Kansas City by double digits. Sure, the Jayhawks won in Manhattan by a point, but it’s easy to see who dominated the first three games.

Of course, then Danny Manning and the miracles, as a No. 6 seed, shocked the fourth-seeded Wildcats by 13 in the Elite Eight en route to the school’s most improbable national championship. It’s time for some payback.

In my dream world, Kansas State would beat Kansas in Indianapolis on April 5, preferably by double digits. A last-second Jacob Pullen three to win would also be acceptable. I’m not sure if that could erase all the pain Kansas basketball has inflicted upon me in my lifetime, but it would be a great start.

I’ll be watching closely tomorrow to see if the committee can keep that dream alive. Here’s to hope….

*It should be noted it wasn’t even close to the craziest shot he’s attempted all season, but that’s a concern I’m going to overlook for now. He was surprisingly under control against Kansas, and I’m still amazed that he averaged seven assists per game this weekend.

^I exchanged the following text messages with my brother, a Purdue grad student, when the score was 36-9: Me–“Just saw the Purdue score. What the fuck?”
My brother–“Only etwaun has taken shots. He has not made any.”

This article was written by hongabear of Ahearn Alley  

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