So can two teams be the underdog?  Is that possible?   I guess we'll find out on Saturday afternoon here in Salt Lake City as Kansas State battles Butler for the right to play in Indianapolis in the Final Four.   Both teams have handled the chip on the shoulder well.  KState has been living in KU's shadow and as the #2 dog in the home state and the Big 12.  Butler has fought off the designation or stigma that goes with "mid-major."  Both squads presume that they are not the favorites on Saturday.

Other than Head Coach Frank Martin, the team looked in good spirits and relatively fresh considering the double-OT war played against Xavier played into the wee hours on Friday morning.   Everyone involved says fatigue will not be a factor, but we'll actually not know until they tip off.  Martin meanwhile, looked drained, up very late taking his first look on tape at Butler, then fielding a 3am phone call from coaching buddy and his predecessor at Kansas State, Bob Huggins.  He says the two did not discuss the potential of meeting in the National Championship game.   Huggins West Virginia squad will meet Kentucky tommorrow night.

Kansas State's opponent Butler is no slouch, upending a lackdaisical Syracuse squad on Thursday 63-59.   23 straight wins dating back to December 22nd.  Five straight opponents under 60 points per game.  Only seven turnovers versus Syracuse.  The Bulldogs warrant respect.  Yes they should play in a better league, but the Big Ten is not looking at basketball only expansion.  They are good and have a pro in Gordon "Mark Teahen" Hayward (see earlier blog).  But of their 23x wins, only Syracuse and fringe ranked UTEP were in the top 25.  They beat Ohio State early, but play in a league that's no good, and certainly not to the level of the Big 12.   Of course I'm sure that's what Syracuse thought.

The Cats must find a way to speed up Butler and get them out of their comfort zone, which has been a strength of KState when they are going well.  They need continued production from the bigs who need to try to get Hayward in some early foul trouble.  Hayward is really a 6'9 guard, but KState should have the athletes to make him work on D.

Check out some of the preview interviews to the right side of this page.  I especially like my chat with Denis Clemente about the free reign he has to run the Wildcats, saying he called all of the offensive plays down the stretch against Xavier.  Also Jamar Samuels running comedy show continues as he explains how he's practiced cutting down the nets and is finally playing up to his sense of humor in the tourney.

It's going to be fun Saturday afternoon, recent history certainly awaits the Wildcats.  A bulk of their fan base do not remember the glory days of KState hoops, so enjoy the ride.

jklingler@entercom.com

NCAA.com   Game one is in the books here with Butler knocking out Syracuse.  I guess it is proven once again that there needs to be a sense of urgency in the tourney and the Cuse did not have it.  I hope they get killed by the national media like KU did, because I did not see much passion or want to from that group.

Butler's Gordon Hayward looks like Mark Teahen.   Or I miss Mark Teahen .. I have no idea.   Hayward and Matt Howard of Butler would be the last guys picked at the gym but they took it to the Orange tonight.  Shelvin Mack is a kid bypassed by hometown Kentucky and now gets a crack at the Elite 8.   

Just think about this, either Butler, Xavier or Kansas State will be in this year's Final Four.

The Wildcats came out to a nice ovation of purple, who were late arriving to the opening game but joined the rest of the arena in the final minute of game one in a standing ovation for the Bulldogs. 

I'd say the Orange had the biggest crowd with the Wildcats second, Xavier third and Butler despite the upset, last.  I guess their fans are waiting for a homecoming in Indy.

Good thing or bad thing, a Xavier player watching the early game was spotted wearing a KC Royals hat?   References to Teahen, Butler, Gordon and a mention of a Royals lid all in the same blog are purely coincidental and doesn't mean I'm ready for baseball.  Back to the floor to see if my 24 hour adventure of travel to SLC pays off in a Wildcat win.

jklingler@entercom.com

The road to the game with the four teams left in it at the end of the basketball season is long and windy, with peaks and valleys, highs and lows, happiness and sadness, however you want to describe it.   This year's edition as far as I know does not include Amarillo or Dallas or Albuquerque .. at least officially.

My edition of planes, hotel shuttles and cabs has finally landed in Salt Lake City, site of the West Regional where Kansas State is making it's first foray into the Sweet 16 in 22 years as they face Xavier. 

It's a rematch of a non-con matchup won by Kansas State by 15 points in Manhattan, in a payback game for the Wildcats who suffered a humiliating beat down at the hands of the Musketeers on New Years Eve 2007 by 26 points.   The rubber game comes at EnergySolutions Arena, the home of the NBA's Utah Jazz, with a berth in the Elite 8 at stake.  

KState's Jacob Pullen and Curtis Kelly both say the first matchup in meaningless in this one as both teams are clearly better than they were in December.   KState vows to do what it does, play solid defense in the backcourt and give their bigs room to use their athleticism.   In the first meeting the Wildcats held G Jordan Crawford, you know, the dude who dunked on LeBron in that almost suppressed YouTube video, to 16 points, four below his average.   The Cats also head Xavier to under 30% from the field.   Again, December stats do not mean much now, but it would be good to hang your hat on.

The Wildcats say they are still playing with the chip on their shoulder, they are not the top seed here, so they don't get the #1 locker room accommodations, so hopefully they'll continue to keep their edge.  Frank Martin's team has accomplished a whole bunch already, but there's no reason to think they will be satisfied to stop.

Alright back to my trip, thankfully I do not travel much, especially via the air because this is what can happen....

Tuesday
230pm - depart for airport for 420pm flight out of KCI
420pm - depart KCI for Denver
545ish - feel the plane slowing down, as if we are stalling, out of windows nothing but clouds
630ish - diverted to Amarillo, Texas, just to 'gas up' - Denver is off and on closed thanks to snow, and our plane is 40 deep in the wait zone.  After updates every 10 minutes for about 30-40 minutes, we're told we can get off the plane but don't go far
730pm - told our flight is canceled and are to head to the ticket window (along with passengers from two other planes)
8-1030pm - wait in 200 person line for 4 ticket agents to process everyone through, rebook flight, give us a hotel voucher
1115pm - arrive at hotel - not in Salt Lake City hotel where I was due in at 750pm but Amarillo, Texas, where there is a nearby Dennys open and waiting

Wednesday
12am-1am - prerecord sportscasts for KMBZ and 610 Sports Radio
420am - call from airlines, flight canceled
520am - scurry to the airport looking for answers
620am - radio hit with Fescoe
645am - on flight bound for Dallas, radio hit with Fescoe before 830am flight from Dallas to Albuquerque, arrive in Albuquerque, find out flight delayed another 30 minutes to leave at 125pm
4pm - arrive at Salt Lake City airport, 24 hours after it all started, just in time to pick up my media credential and see the Wildcats heading to the team bus

At least I will be here in time for the game.  There is a game right?  Special thanks to my boys from KMAN for helping with the KState audio today, they actually left at 6am this morning and beat me here, just barely.

jklingler@entercom.com

Kansas' early tourney bow out I'm sure feels like a knife in the gut to fans and it should.   Normally I'm a Bill Self defender, usually letting the coach air out his side and react from there.   But in the 2nd round game with UNI I cannot take his side when it comes to the full court press.

I have been the first one to roll my eyes every season when the call comes into Hawk Talk that the Jayhawks should press more.  It's not Bill Self's style, it's not what he thinks his team can do for any extended period of time.   But sometimes you have to go out of your identity every once in awhile and this year's team proved that it could handle some different things.. witness the zone defense on occasion late in the year and the triangle in 2 against KState.   It could have handled throwing out the full court press against a UNI team that showed against UNLV that it could be flustered by heating it up.

It's a shame Self didn't have the confidence that his much more athletic bunch could do it.  If they would have started the second half in blitz mode, with their depth, they might have won this game going away.

jklingler@entercom.com

Toughness.  You can't teach it they say.  I may beg to differ.  Frank Martin's Kansas State Wildcats continue to feed off of their 'tough as nails' head coach as they advance to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 1998 by coming from 10-0 down to beat BYU 84-72.

After watching rival Kansas get shocked on the floor right in front of them, it could not have been easy to hit the floor in Oklahoma City as the dejected Jayhawks were walking back to the locker room.  KState's Jacob Pullen says he did stop to talk to fellow Chicagoan KU's Sherron Collins in the tunnel after the Jayhawks loss, and pledged that he didn't want his season to end on the Ford Center floor either.

KState spotted the Cougars a 10-0 barely 3 minutes into the game, Martin called a :30 timeout and the Wildcats stormed from there.   The Wildcats turned a 10 point deficit into a 10 point lead at halftime and following the halftime break it looked like they felt that they had thrown the knockout.  BYU made a few spurts in the second half, but the Wildcats showed the poise clearly missing in the game before them.

Pullen led the way with 34 points and after the initial BYU run, convinced the coaching staff to switch him defensively onto Cougars sharpshooter Jimmer Fredette.   The move surely worked as Fredette, while scoring 21 points, was harrassed into 5-13 shooting and 5 turnovers, while just 1-4 from beyond the arc.

Meanwhile the Cats got another good inside night of energy from Curtis Kelly (10, 7 rebs) and 20 solid minutes from frosh Wally Judge, who just by seeing KU on the floor must have been inspired with a 8pt-8reb performance.   (Judge's only real significant regular season games came against KU, hence the reference)

Jamar Samuels may be my go-to locker room guy for the Cats, he's still preaching away that they are a sleeper 2 seed, even pointing to the smaller locker room that they had on Saturday.  (KU had the bigger top seed locker room)   I don't know how this team can stay under the radar as they are a fun team to watch.  Still if you've played the underdog card already, keep on playing it.   The bottom line is that KState showed how an upper seed is supposed to play this weekend.

jklingler@entercom.com

Shock and awe, followed by shock and devastation for Kansas as the Jayhawks have the dubious distinction of being the first #1 seed bounced from the NCAA tourney with a 69-67 loss to Northern Iowa.

Kansas made a solid second half run, but might not have deserved the win even if they would have pulled it out.  UNI controlled the tempo and action from start to finish and did not fold under some late full court pressure that made the game close.   It just seemed like KU had to be perfect offensively and score on every trip down the floor, because UNI was always answering.  Ali Farokhmanesh's cold blooded wide open look at three with 34 seconds left is about as big of a shot as you can have.  He's got Two Shining Moments in each of his games in the tournament.

As soon as I saw the bracket, while others were worried about Michigan State, Oklahoma State, Tennessee and the Ohio State's of the world, I had watched enough UNI this season to know they would be a tough out.  I'm sure Bill Self knew they were good, I'm not convinced Kansas players necessarily did.  There's something about a jersey with Northern Iowa that's just not as motivating as one with Sparty or a Buckeye on it.

A season of games lived dangerously finally caught up to the Jayhawks.  Bill Self critics will be out once again pointing to his tourney record..Elite 8, first round exit, first round exit, Elite 8, National Championship, Sweet 16, second round exit as an incomplete scorecard.  But nothing is guarenteed in the month of March and I thought Self handled the postgame about as calm and classy as usual pointing out that this season's ending was as disappointing as they come because of the expectations put on this team thanks to their tremendous success.  33-3 ain't bad, but even Self admits that seasons are judged on how you finish.    A second round exit is not satisfying.  I had stopped short of saying a National Championship or bust for the 2009-10 Jayhawks, but anything short of a Final Four is a season left unfinished.

jklingler@entercom.com

Here we go with a double dip from OKC today with a KU - KState double feature.  Not a bad way to spend a Saturday night.  Both teams are favorites but both are facing cinderella teams that are no joke.

KU meets the two time defending regular season and conference tournament champs out of the Missouri Valley in Northern Iowa.  A team of veteran players who look similar to KU in a lot of areas.  True big man, check, versatile 4 man, check, good shooting guards, check, depth, check, emphasis on defense, check.   This team luckily reminds the Jayhawks of Cornell which should provide enough of a memory jog for KU not to overlook the Panthers.   It could be another game where the opposition hangs around, that seems to be KU's M.O. anyhow, but if KU can come out fired up maybe, just maybe they will be able to win going away.  Unlike other tourney venues, the building won't be turning for the underdog, this is going to be a Jayhawk court.   Sherron Collins has his business mode on.  Talking to #4 on Friday, he's not ready to let his team's run end now.   While he respects UNI, he thinks they can take advantage of their team speed and if they create pressure on the guards and get the bigs out running that they will be in good shape.

Game two should present some interest too as BYU's Jimmer Fredette is one of the early CBS and media storylines of the tourney.  The dude can play.  KState players are very complimentary of how he runs off screens and how his teammates get him the ball in positions to shoot.  It will take a tough defensive effort today.  I think KState's D will rise to the challenge.  BYU better figure out how they will stop Jacob Pullen and Denis Clemente, who can more than offset the Cougar's strength.   I can't admit that I've watched much of BYU this year,  I can tell you that the Cougars ate dinner at Toby Keith's restaurant in OKC as we were there too.  I probably should have eaten what Jimmer did.

jklingler@entercom.com

NCAA.com.     Both Kansas and Kansas State hit the floor at the Ford Center on Wednesday ahead of their first round tourney matchups in Oklahoma City.  I found both teams to be loose and confident, but KState certainly let their hair down a bit with the media led by Jamar Samuels. 

Samuels held court for the entire 30 minute window in the Wildcat locker room talking about wanting to sit in the OKC Thunder locker of either Kevin Durant or Jeff Green, both fellow Washington DC'ers, to something called Fake Paddys Day underway in Manhattan, to wanting to fly under the radar as a two seed.   He looked to be really enjoying the moment.

The more seasoned Jayhawk locker room had a more business feel, but the end of the bench Hawks looked to be the ones up to hijinx shooting videos interviewing each other. 

Sherron Collins says he feels no added pressure in his final go-round at the tourney, while Cole Aldrich told me there is a bit of pressure since the reason he and Collins returned was to make a run at another title.  All of the players I talked to like the fact that they are a late evening game, feeling it's more aligned with their normal schedule.

KU ended their shootaround a bit early with a less than inspiring dunk session and some errand half court shots.

KState were all smiles upon their finish and seemed ready for much brighter lights than they've been accustomed to.

As for the opponents, KU faces what appeared to be a confident Lehigh squad.  F Zaire Carrington says facing the top seeded Jayhawks is "not a daunting task at all" and that they feel prepared to face KU.   Carrington once dunked on KU's Markieff Morris in high school, brother Marcus says that was "like 6 years ago, hopefully he's not hanging on to that."

Unlike 16 seed Lehigh, at least 15 seed North Texas can lean on the fact that four 15 seeds have upset 2s, so they are hanging their hat on "why not us."  Mean Green players say what impresses them about KState is what is also key in KState's success and that is playing with frenzied energy.

jklingler@entercom.com

Here we go, it's time for bracket analysis to kill more time than we thought humanly possible, the best week of the year with the NCAA tourney on tap.  Bill Self's Kansas Jayhawks will enter the tourney as the #1 team in the land and the overall #1 seed in the NCAA field, making Sunday's selection show a ho-hum event for the Jayhawks.

In talking with all five of the KU starters, I think there's a sense of pride in being the overall #1, but they are far from treating it as a National Championship coronation.  There are three two-game tournaments ahead for the Jayhawks who take their cue from Sherron Collins who says he knows how hard it is to make it a long tournament and so he will keep the Jayhawks in check.

On paper KU may have the toughest bracket in the Midwest Regional, but have the favorable location run of Oklahoma City, St. Louis and Indianapolis, staying in the midwest for March and early April.  I certainly do not see a cupcake walk to Indy, with a Maryland - Michigan State winner in the 2nd weekend, and a Georgetown - Ohio State Elite 8 matchup has some teeth to it.

Now for the conspiracy theorists or what I've dubbed 'Mid 90's Roy Paranoia Jayhawk Fan' -   KU is playing the winner of the Patriot League, Lehigh, in Oklahoma City, site of their first round loss to Bucknell out of ??  You guessed it, the Patriot League.   The Jayhawks may see UNLV in the second round, coached by former KStater Lon Kruger, but KU did beat Vegas on route to the '08 title in the second round.  Also in the bracket comes the opportunity to avenge last year's tourney loss to Michigan State and the only two teams to beat KU this season Tennessee and Oklahoma State.    And the regional is in St. Louis, where KU lost an opportunity for the Final Four in Bill Self's first season.

It all begins Thursday in OKC with an approximate 840pm tipoff on 610 Sports Radio.  Pregame coverage begins, now I guess, but Thursday at 630pm.  We'll also have Wednesday's press conferences live from Oklahoma City.   I'll be blogging and posting sound from all of the happenings.

As for the rest of the Big 12.  The conference sets a record with seven teams in the field, all with a pretty good shot at getting opening wins.  I see the toughest matchup being for Missouri against Clemson out of the ACC.  I think Kansas State should expect a trip to the Elite Eight and a possible showdown with Syracuse.  Like Kansas, KState will be in OKC which should provide for a great atmosphere.   I like the draws for Texas A&M and Baylor in the South with one of those two teams possibly causing havoc and maybe make a Final Four run (somehow I have Baylor coming out of that bracket).   While nationally everyone still believes Texas can wake up, I think that time has passed.  I will give them a game and that is it.  So my Final Four for what it's worth are Kansas, Syracuse (although I'm not ruling out Sunflower Showdown 4 in Indy for KU and KState), Kentucky and Baylor, with KU winning it all over Kentucky.   But what do I know?   I'm sure the office receptionist will win our in house bracket, I should check out her picks.

jklingler@entercom.com

It is one thing to say that you want to win your postseason conference tournament, it is another to deliver.   Especially when there is not much on the line in doing so.  KU's NCAA tourney fate was not really dependent on this tournament, but yet again Bill Self's Jayhawks bring home more hardware, another t-shirt, batches of confetti and Big 12 signage from another Big 12 championship beating Kansas State 72-64.

This now makes six straight regular season titles and postseason titles in four of the last five years.   It's also a pretty ridiculous run for Sherron Collins who wins seven of the eight titles during his four year run, last year's Big 12 Championship was the only blemish, and he capped this year's crown with Most Outstanding Player honors.

It was a great atmosphere at the Sprint Center against the rival Wildcats, who have once again nothing to hang their heads about despite going 0-3 against KU this season.  Jayhawk fans still had the majority of the building, but the Wildcats were well represented with very few other Big 12 fans left hanging around.  Kansas City has proven once again why it should be the permanent home for this tourney.   Following up on my earlier blog, it is 14 straight Big 12 postseason championships that have gone to former Big 8 schools and a total of seven have now been won by Kansas.

The Jayhawks a very anti-climatic Selection Sunday Bill Self joking with me that 'we're in (laugh), I'm mean we are in I guess since we won' after the game on Saturday night.  It is great that this tourney is now Wed-Sat so that the conference title can be enjoyed by the winning team, instead of a mad dash to the locker room to watch the selection show.

KU will be the overall #1 seed and enter the tourney as the #1 team in the nation, 99.999% targeted to Oklahoma City for a Thursday / Saturday first two rounds.  We'll have Bill Self's reaction to the seedings Sunday live at 6pm on 610 Sports Radio and posted here on this page along with player sound after the press conference.

KState should land as a #2 seed and even though this is the Jayhawk Insider page, I've posted the Kansas State postgame newsconference below on this blog.  KState has had a tremendous season, it just had to play KU three times.  Here's hoping there's a fourth .. in Indianapolis.



jklingler@entercom.com

Friday's game against Texas A&M was called 'chippy.'  The new go-to term for when two teams get in each others faces and exchange pleasantries.   No one was apparently to blame and everyone was saving everyone else from potential harm in the semifinal matchup, but whatever did not happen in an exchange of technicals and chest to chest comparisons, Kansas apparently responded and put together an impressive 16-0 run to turn the game on its head in a 79-66 Kansas win.

It was the ultimate example of 'turning the switch on.'   KU started hitting threes, getting steals, and imposing it's will on the suddenly helpless Aggies.  The Jayhawks need to harnass a way to find this type of effort to start a game, but you don't ever have to apologize for spurtability.   That's the good and the bad of KU.   They can look dead in the water for a good amount of time, then ridiculously good for 5-6 minutes.

Sherron Collins kept KU in the game in the opening half and then got others involved during the major run.  The bold move of the game though was Bill Self's decision to throw out a rarely used zone defense and even though he says they practice it "15 minutes a week" it was enough to take the Aggies out of rhythm and coupled with threes from five different players, the rout was on.

So the win sets up the Sunflower Showdown3.  It still doesn't sound as menacing as this series is.  Kansas State and Kansas meet in the league championship for the first time since 1981, in what was then the Big 8.  Kansas State has been impressive in this tournament, including a nice second half comeback against Baylor in the semis.

KU won the first two meetings including a lopsided affair in Lawrence on March 3rd.   Keys for KU are to establish the inside game early, get after the 3-point shooters of Clemente and Pullen and avoid another slow start.  For the Wildcats the 'others' need to get involved, either Sutton, Kelly or Samuels need to show up big.   When KState is playing what I call all 'arms and legs' and rebounding with reckless abandon, thats when they are at their best.

It should be another fun head to head with the Big 12 Championship in the balance.  The league office might not want you to know, but still no team that was not a part of the original Big 8 has won the Big 12 Championship, make it 14 straight tourneys.

jklingler@entercom.com

The Jayhawks get healthy at the expense of rival Missouri on Saturday as the Jayhawks in a game of runs had a couple of pretty impressive spurts to make it a no doubter in Columbia.   Bill Self's squad goes 15-1 in the #1 RPI conference in basketball, and wins by 4 games (4+ with a sweep over KState).    And just like every year it seems the KU ship is pointed in a very positive direction entering postseason play.

Self has not been shy in comparing this year's team to the '08 title team, not necessarily man for man, but he's seen some of the qualities about the '08 group in this squad and has tried to use the national title as a constant motivator for this year's edition.   It seems '10 is ready to give it a shot to equal the run, arguably from a better position.

At the beginning of the year this looked like it would be a two-man team of Sherron Collins and Cole Aldrich and a likely good scorer in Xavier Henry riding shotgun.   But the more this season has played out, the more this team has mirrored '08 in the way that they count on a number of players to play their part and contributing.  At any given time the Jayhawks have received inspired play from Marcus Morris, Markieff Morris, Tyshawn Taylor, Tyrell Reed, and Brady Morningstar.   Look the MU game as the most recent example .. Marcus leads first half with 10 points, Tyshawn is the leading scorer with 13 all coming in the second half in a very short span, Tyrell is hitting dead eye 3s and has all Big 12 season.   They are getting a lot of parts involved and that is what fans should be encouraged about heading into the dance.

KU is firmly a #1 seed and will enter tourney week with the #1 ranking in the national polls.   They will be the hunted and along with Kentucky and Syracuse, will be expected to be in the Final Four.   I think it was right for KU to be on the Final Four or bust goal all season long.   So buckle up and here we go.

jklingler@entercom.com