In 1835, it was James Bowie, William Travis and Davy Crockett who had to play defense in San Antonio as they defended the Alamo. In 2018, it’s Devonte Graham, Svi Mykhailiuk, Malik Newman and the rest of the Jayhawks who have to play defense in the ancient city that played a key part in the battle of independence for Texas with Mexico.
Tweets, tidbits and gossip makes this a fun, interesting and frustrating week.
Like, isn’t it about time that the pundits around the country recognize and acknowledge that they can play a little basketball in the Missouri Valley, with or without Wichita State? For the umpteenth time in the past 20 years a Valley team has surprised. Loyola of Chicago is no surprise. They are 32-5 for goodness sake!
Speaking of Loyola, rumor has it that Sister Jean is a closet Jayhawk and will go against her religious training and root against Villanova and for Kansas!
Just another brilliant line from Charles Barkley — “If you are gonna beat them, you’ve got to score. You’ve got to outscore them.”
Where do they get these guys?
Best comment of the past week was from Luke Decock of the Raleigh, N.C. News-Observer following KU’s win over Duke and their star player, Grayson Allen: “It wasn’t the best game of Devonte Graham’s career but, then, it wasn’t the LAST game of his career either!”
The best tweet of the past weekend was from a North Carolina Tar Heel fan who tweeted after KU defeated Duke: “When Duke loses……….America wins!
Which brings to mind something I don’t understand about fans, particularly K-State and Kansas.
Why can’t you root for BOTH schools to win when they’re not playing each other? One’s success is not built on the failure of another but of your own triumphs. Go Cats! Go Hawks!
I feel a little bad for Bruce Weber of Kansas State. Just when he and his team put together their best season in years, it gets overshadowed by Kansas getting to the Final Four. All of the ink, all of the hoopla has moved from Manhattan to Lawrence and a terrific job by the Cats and Weber has been somewhat lost. Weber’s a good man and deserves his time in the spotlight.
I timed it. There are more minutes of commercials than there are play action in an NCAA tournament game!
One of the dumbest comments I heard from a television announcer — and there were many — occurred in the Kansas State vs. UMBC game. In a failed attempt to praise K-State’s Barry Brown’s defensive prowess he stated: “He’s a terrific defensive player. He should be playing for West Virginia or Virginia, one of the great defensive teams like that.”
Malik Newman, KU’s “Mr. March” scored all 13 of Kansas’ overtime points in the win over Duke but, in reality, his defense might have been the real reason for the win. He defended Duke’s Grayson Allen and forced him into a 2 of 12 shooting night, including the key miss at the end of regulation.
Lost in all of this March Madness is that our Boys in Blue, the Kansas City Royals, opened their season Thursday afternoon at home against the Chicago White Sox. While we’ve all been dribbling and watching basketballs, the Royals were putting together a 16-13-3 spring training record.
KU has now met 12 straight opponents that played in either the NCAA or NIT this year and they have won 11 of those games. Quite a streak of consistency!
The Big 12 is the ONLY conference in the country that had a representative in the College Football Playoff Semifinals (Oklahoma) and the basketball Final Four (Kansas). Words from that former commander at the Battle of the Alamo, William Travis, are appropriate for all of the players and coaches of this Final Four: “ONE CROWDED HOUR OF GLORIOUS LIFE IS WORTH AN AGE WITHOUT A NAME.”
Play on gents!
Buddy Tabler is a guest columnist for the Great Bend Tribune and his views don’t necessarily reflect those of the paper. He can be reached at budtabler@gmail.com.
