NCAA Basketball: Top 16 reveal, Tennessee’s hidden flaw, and more weekly takeaways
By Brian Rauf
4) Kansas‘ Big 12 title streak is coming to an end – and they’re headed towards an early NCAA Tournament exit
This is it. It’s happening. Kansas is not going to win the Big 12 this year.
I’ve talked about this team’s flaws at length this year, both in the preseason and at the start of conference play, and they haven’t been fixed. In fact, they’ve actually gotten worse due to injury.
The Jayhawks were already shorthanded without center Udoka Azubuike but now, guard Marcus Garrett, KU’s best defender, has missed several games with an ankle injury and senior Lagerald Vick has taken a leave of absence from the team. This flawed team has also become incredibly shorthanded, leading to some poor results on the court.
KU has lost four of their last seven games, all of which have come away from home. In fact, the Jayhawks are 1-6 on the road this season. Allen Fieldhouse undoubtedly gives them a huge advantage but, when they don’t have that, they have proven to be an average team. Now they’re two games out of first in the Big 12 and I don’t see them being able to make up that ground on a Kansas State team they’ve already lost to.
Even when Garrett and Vick return (assuming Vick does come back) prior to the NCAA Tournament, I don’t like KU’s chances of making the second weekend.
Dedric Lawson remains their only consistent offensive threat, they stink away from Allen Fieldhouse, they are porous defensively on the perimeter, and they don’t have high-level guard play. All of those factors make them a perfect candidate to fall victim to the upset bug early in the NCAA Tournament.