Early Tuesday morning, before the hoopla and hysteria took over Finals Week in Lawrence, Kansas coach Bill Self sent a text to number one high school prospect Andrew Wiggins who was set to sign his letter of intent at 11:15 a.m. “Have a great day,” Self said. Wiggins shot back a simple “thank you,” with [...]
ARLINGTON, Texas – Senior Jeff Withey sat at his locker, trying to explain what happened, how a team that starts four seniors and won 31 games and a ninth Big 12 title could let a 14-point lead evaporate in the final seven minutes of regulation and let a 10-point lead go in the final three [...]
Arlington, Texas — There’s no question that Michigan has dedicated a lot of time to figuring out how to get around Kansas center Jeff Withey. Heck, any team that didn’t certainly wouldn’t be playing in the Sweet Sixteen. But with the Wolverines’ players, you get the feeling there isn’t much else to worry about inside. [...]
How long does it take to get over a breakup? Six months? One year? Five years? For some Kansas fans, not even ten years has been enough. When current North Carolina coach Roy Williams left the program in 2003, the heart got ripped out of Jayhawk Nation. The breakup was public, and it was nasty. [...]
Kansas is playing its best half of the postseason. Jeff Withey is dunking and blocking. Naadir Tharpe is making step-back threes. Travis Releford is making spine-twisting layups. And Ben McLemore is on the bench, cheering them on. This was the scene in the second half Sunday at the Sprint Center, as the Jayhawks beat North [...]
For the first 60 minutes during Kansas’ NCAA Tournament run this season, 3-pointers were hard to come by. They were impossible to come by, in fact. Against Western Kentucky, four players attempted six total 3-pointers, and all six of those shots missed. Kansas actually attempted only one 3-pointer in the second half against the Hilltoppers, [...]
The shine returned to the Kansas offense during the second half of Sunday’s game against North Carolina. Transition dunks, 3-pointers on the secondary break and dominant post-play from their big men helped the Jayhawks outscore the Tar Heels 49-28 in the deciding half, including a 33-10 run during the half’s first 11 minutes. Senior guard [...]
Kansas City, Mo. — History tends to repeat itself. Not all the time, but with the Kansas’ coaching it’s a good bet. More than anything, Kansas coach Bill Self relies on his four seniors, and that’s exactly what the team needed at the Sprint Center on Sunday. Still it took a bad first half of [...]
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — There were no rousing halftime speeches. No venom spewed from his mouth, nor did he express disbelief at his team’s miserable 25 percent shooting in the first half. Instead, Bill Self told his team to talk among themselves at halftime and walked out of the locker room. When he was gone, [...]
The Kansas Jayhawks are gung-ho on getting to the Final Four consistently, which is riveting, but I want to take a step back from all the madness, and start thinking about next year. I’m starting to salivate when I think of the future of this program. Here’s a little blind test for you. One recruiting [...]
Kansas City, Mo. — Kansas and North Carolina are not strangers to each other. They are intertwined like a strand of DNA. Each person in the program of both schools is important to the make up of the product as a whole. Coaches and players, both current and former, help push them along throughout the [...]
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Now that the first game is finished, the real fun can begin. After scraping by a No. 16 seeded Western Kentucky team that gave No. 1 seeded Kansas all it could handle for 40 minutes, the Jayhawks have a 4:15 p.m. date Sunday with North Carolina in the third round of the NCAA [...]
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — If there ever was a night for a No. 16 seed to beat a No. 1 seed, this was the night, and Sprint Center was the locale. In the first game of the day, No. 12 seed Ole Miss overcame an ugly 6-21 shooting night from star guard Marshall Henderson to upset [...]
Kansas City, Mo. — As former Kansas coach Roy Williams walked onto the court Thursday afternoon for his team’s shoot-around he was greeted by a polite applause by the Sprint Center crowd with a few fans rising out of their seats to show their appreciation. A few minutes before practice started, Williams signed autographs for the [...]
A timeline of social media posts about the happenings around the Power and Light District in Kansas City, Mo.
When Kansas prepares for an upcoming opponent, one assistant coach is responsible for preparing the scouting report. The assistant coaches, Joe Dooley, Kurtis Townsend and Norm Roberts, develop continuity by scouting the same conference opponents each season. Nonconference and tournament games are divided based on feel. For example, Roberts said he is scouting No. 9 [...]
