Some thoughs…from Oklahoma City

Gary Bedore, Journal-World KU men’s basketball beat writer

“Great win to battle back from a 22-point deficit to win.

It’s the greatest comeback in KU history and a nice way to enter the NCAAs.

Chalmers’ big three, Rush’s defense on Durant, Jackson’s block, Robinson’s bucket and free throws…all combined for the victory.

KU fans must be proud of this team. If anybody has a complaint at this stage, he/she needs to get his/her head examined.

Great win, great season.”

Tom Keegan, Journal-World sports editor

“You hear a lot of talk about how ‘talented’ the Kansas University basketball team is.

Another word fits this team even better: Tough.

You don’t come back from a 22-point deficit against the best player in the nation without having a lot of toughness. You don’t go 30-4 overall and 17-2 against Big 12 teams without being tough.”

Ryan Greene, KUSports.com editor

“This was truly what March basketball is all about. And you could easily forgive KU if they were to let their hair down and be hooting and hollering a ton in the locker room.

But this team has something the last couple just hasn’t – blinders. They’re not distracted at this point, and appear 54 times more locked in than they were at the beginning of the season.

Poor Kevin Durant. True, he’s only played the Jayhawks twice, but KU is already to him what Florida was to Peyton Manning in his days as a Volunteer.

The moment of the day without question was Darnell Jackson, making a game-clinching block of D.J. Augustin, then hitting a pair of free throws with his mom about 50 feet to his left. The junior big man let the tears flow freely after the final buzzer sounded.”

Ryan Wood, Journal-World sports reporter

“What a game. Kansas was down for a nine-count, got up, came all the way back and then delivered with clutch shots, clutch blocked shots and just an all-out gritty effort.

A 30-4 record entering the tournament is outstanding. Kansas is set up as well as it could be for a title run.”

Inside the numbers

22: The KU deficit, which at one point was 32-10, was the largest one overcome in Jayhawk basketball history. Take a second and soak in how far back that actually dates. To anyone who didn’t believe, KU proved to them they had the toughness to go with the talent on Sunday.

1: With the win, KU officially nabbed a one-seed for the NCAA Tournament. It’s the first time since the 2001-02 season in which the Jayhawks have done so. The bracket looks daunting, with traditional powers such as Villanova, Kentucky, Indiana, UCLA and Pitt sitting below KU in the bracket. It’s going to be an interesting couple of weeks.

37: It’s hard to discredit the 37-point splurge Texas freshman Kevin Durant put out Sunday. It gave him a record with 92 points for the tournament as a whole. It surpassed the previous record, 79, held by Iowa State’s Marcus Fizer.

87: KU shot 87 percent from the free throw line, or in plain english, the Jayhawks were 20-of-23. It’s been a bugaboo for KU for as long as anyone can remember, but in a tight game, the team came through. Most notably coming through at the stripe were two of KU’s more maligned foul shooters – Darnell Jackson (6-of-6) and Russell Robinson (3-of-4).

20: The progression back to normalcy peaked Sunday for Sherron Collins, scoring 20 points and hitting crucial shot after crucial shot. He hit two huge three-pointers, and was again a monster around the rim. Collins pulled down six rebounds on top of everything else he did.

3: Brandon Rush blocked three shots – two of which were in the game’s first 30 seconds. He saved his third and final swat for Texas’ late scramble to produce points. It was just another cherry on his 19-point, 7-rebound, aggressive effort. He also played solid defense on Kevin Durant, limiting his touches for most of the second half.

Just in case you missed it…

Balance again won the battle against individual punch. The list goes on and on of KU players who each ahd a moment in the sun Sunday. Darnell Jackson’s clutch finish, Mario Chalmers’ three at the end of regulation, Brandon Rush’s defense on Kevin Durant…it all added up to arguably the most thrilling game KU has played all season. Also, Durant again deserves a gold star. Incredible line – 37 points, 10 rebounds and six blocks – with NBA stars Tyson Chandler and Chris Paul oohing and aahing from the front row behind the scorer’s table.

Hopefully you didn’t miss it…

The entire aftermath of the game seemed like a great moment for no one more than Darnell Jackson. With everything the KU junior has been through in the last year, his mother was four rows behind the Jayhawk bench, watching her son put the final stamp on KU’s second conference championship in a week. He began to cry afterwards, getting hugs and words from all of his teammates in a game played in his hometown. A great day for one of KU’s elder statesmen.

They said it…

Bill Self on this year’s team entering the tournament as opposed to last year’s: “Last year, we were the youngest team in the field of 65. I’m so proud of those guys last year in winning the league and winning the tournament, but that’s not enough at KU, and I understand that. I think we’re better equipped. There’s no guarantee of success, but I think we’re better equipped this year. I think we’ll be able to handle distractions better.

Bill Self on Sherron Collins’ performance: “We had no chance to win unless he was really good today, and he was fabulous. And he had that one week where he went stale and couldn’t make a basket, but today the game was his, and I love it when he’s in attack mode like that.

Bill Self on Kansas State getting the NCAA Tourney snub: “It’s not surprising at all that Texas Tech got in. They deserve to get in. I think it was disappointing that Kansas State didn’t get in, from a league standpoint. I’ve said all along that I thought K-State deserved to be in, and they played their way in…From the outside looking in, from my perspective, this league this year had the coach that won the 880th game, all-time record, had the best player in the country, had the most clutch player in the country, who’s different than the best player, it also had KU-Texas, Texas-Oklahoma State, A&M-Texas, that were probably three of the five best games in college basketball this year, and you don’t get four teams. To me a team 10-6 in our league, if you watch us play, how could a 10-6 team not get in? We had that two years ago with Colorado. Whatever we need to do as a league and as coaches to improve scheduling and help with conference RPI, whatever it is, we need to look into doing it because this is ridiculous.”

Darnell Jackson on his late block of D.J. Augustin: “I just told myself if he drives, just jump straight up in the air and try to get the ball, don’t bring my arm down to foul him. I just wanted to tape it, didn’t want to hit it hard, because they would get it back.”

Darnell Jackson on his emotions getting the better of him after the final horn: “It’s just because everytime I go out and play I play for my grandma and my mom. Everything they’ve been through, I lost my grandma in a car wreck, and my mom’s still suffering injuries from the car wreck, I tell myself everytime I go out there I’m going to play for my mom, my grandma and coach Self. They helped me get through a lot through last season and this season.”

Julian Wright on playing in the NCAA Tournament in his hometown: “It’s cool, but it’s more than just going home. It’s going and trying to take care of business.”

Mario Chalmers on coming back on Texas again: “We looked at the scoreboard, it was kind of like the game at Lawrence, they weren’t missing many shots in the first half, and we just kept thinking they can’t stay hot like this…We knew that we did it once before, figured they weren’t going to make shots all night. We’ve got a lot of warriors on this team. We’ve got a lot of fighters.”

Russell Robinson on hitting the two late game-clinching free throws: “Shots you just have to it. You’ve been practicing them all year. Championship on the line, you’ve just got to buckle down and find some way to make ’em.”

Brandon Rush on the close nature of Sunday’s game: “It was down to the wire, but I think we need these types of games right now, because these are the types of games we’re going to face in the tournament.”