Busting Brackets
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Big 12 Basketball: Each team’s worst performance of the last decade

By Joey Loose

LOS ANGELES, CA - DECEMBER 08: Head coach Lon Kruger of the Oklahoma Sooners reacts to a lead over the USC Trojans after a timeout with Trae Young
LOS ANGELES, CA - DECEMBER 08: Head coach Lon Kruger of the Oklahoma Sooners reacts to a lead over the USC Trojans after a timeout with Trae Young /
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SAN ANTONIO, TX – MARCH 27: Marcus Morris #22 of the Kansas Jayhawks handles the ball against Ed Nixon #50, Jamie Skeen #21 and Bradford Burgess #20 of the Virginia Commonwealth Rams during the southwest regional final of the 2011 NCAA men’s basketball tournament at the Alamodome on March 27, 2011 in San Antonio, Texas. Virginia Commonwealth defeated Kansas 71-61. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
SAN ANTONIO, TX – MARCH 27: Marcus Morris #22 of the Kansas Jayhawks handles the ball against Ed Nixon #50, Jamie Skeen #21 and Bradford Burgess #20 of the Virginia Commonwealth Rams during the southwest regional final of the 2011 NCAA men’s basketball tournament at the Alamodome on March 27, 2011 in San Antonio, Texas. Virginia Commonwealth defeated Kansas 71-61. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images) /

Kansas

March 27, 2011 (VCU 71, Kansas 61) (GS: 37)

There might not be another program with a history as rich as Kansas. Their first head coach was James Naismith, who invented basketball, and he was the only Kansas coach under .500 during his tenure. Legends have walked the courts of Kansas, and their success continues today. The Jayhawks have made the last 29 NCAA Tournaments and have won the last 14 Big 12 regular season titles. Despite that success, they boast just one national title in the last 30 years. We don’t have many performances from Kansas to judge, but a few stand out.

Firstly, it’s very easy to look at last season’s 15-point loss to Villanova and immediately pick that game, but Villanova was a machine, marching their way through ever team and towards a championship. With respect to Ali Farokhmanesh, the loss to Northern Iowa was devastating but just missed out. Kansas dropped a terrible 62-55 game to a bad TCU team in 2013 and a rough 77-52 affair at Temple in 2014. All of these could fit the bill, but let’s focus on losing by double digits to a double-digit seed in the Elite Eight.

Before falling to Butler in the Final Four, VCU knocked out USC, Georgetown, Purdue, and Florida State, but none of those games were as impressive as their 10-point defeat of Kansas. Relatively untested, Kansas had beaten 16-seed Boston University, 9-seed Illinois, and 12-seed Richmond before their game with VCU, potentially the easiest possible road to a Final Four. Unfortunately, they couldn’t get it done.

VCU led this game by 14 at the half and greatly limited Kansas’ offense. It took 19 shots for Marcus Morris to get his 20 points (16 rebounds), but Kansas was also just 2 of 21 from the 3. VCU did not run out of gas, nor did they shy away from the big stage, hitting nearly half (12-25) of their 3’s and limiting the damage. Kansas had 18 offensive rebounds but couldn’t fully take advantage of those opportunities, never leading the game after the first five minutes.

You can disagree that this was the worst of the worst, but it’s pretty bad given the totality of the situation. There’s still been just one championship trophy added to Allen Fieldhouse in the last 30 years, and 2011 would’ve been a great opportunity for another. There will still be plenty of chances for this Kansas team to compete for a title, but there will also be plenty of chances for another Bradley, Bucknell, Northern Iowa, or VCU to emerge.

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