Ranking Bill Self’s best coaching jobs during 11-year Big 12 title run: No. 8
photo by: Nick Krug
Kansas guard Elijah Johnson pulls up from the top of the key for a three-pointer against Iowa State during overtime on Monday, Feb. 25, 2013 at Hilton Coliseum in Ames, Iowa.
8. 2012-2013: Three starters returned from a team that had shocked the world by advancing to the NCAA title game, where it lost to Kentucky. Freshman sensation Ben McLemore, so athletic and such a good shooter, softened the blow of losing Thomas Robinson and Tyshawn Taylor. Kansas shared the title with Kansas State with a 14-4 record and defeated K-State for the third time to win the Big 12 tournament title. Hopes ran high after a 70-58 victory against North Carolina in Kansas City to advance to the Sweet 16. Then, against Michigan in Arlington, Texas, Elijah Johnson made so many strange decisions and Kansas blew a double-digit lead to Michigan and lost in overtime, 87-85. Johnson delivered a groin shot in the opening minute that could have resulted in an ejection but did not. He was called for a 10-second violation, badly overthrew a pass intended for Jeff Withey on the perimeter that led to a fast-break bucket the other way, and at the end of the overtime period, he bypassed a layup that would have forced a second overtime and threw a pass out to Naadir Tharpe for a desperation-heave-of-a-three-point attempt that missed. Johnson also stopped feeding McLemore when, for the first time in the NCAA tournament caught fire. If Johnson’s 39-point game in Ames was the high point of KU’s season, his Michigan performance was the low point.
Big 12 standings:
Kansas 14-4
Kansas State 14-4
Oklahoma State 13-5
Oklahoma 11-7
Iowa State 11-7
Baylor 9-9
Texas 7-11
West Virginia 6-12
Texas Tech 3-15
TCU 2-16
Check back at 3:15 p.m. for No. 7