The one word that describes this Kansas basketball team, the 19-0 #2 ranked 2007-2008 Kansas Jayhawks, is boring.
Yes, I meant "boring". Not a word you usually use to describe a team like Kansas, a word usually reserved for teams at the bottom-of-the-barrel.
We don't have a flashy coach (John Calipari), a flashy incoming freshman (Derrick Rose, Kevin Love), a National Player of the Year contender (Tyler Hansbrough), none of that. We are just Kansas, and if we didn't have the name value and high preseason ranking we still might be hiding away in the teens, waiting for teams to lose in front of us as we continue to slide our way up the polls. We have no superstar, we have no exciting story-line to follow all season long, no controversy that keeps the nation hooked on Lawrence.
Don't get me wrong, people across the country, casual fans and experts alike, are well aware of Kansas. We aren't some under-the-radar sleeper team coming into the NCAA Tournament, but we are as under-the-radar as a #2 team in the country can be, especially this late in the season.
Before we demolished an average-at-best Boston College on January 5th, we had flown almost completely without notice, as much as can be possible as a #3 team. Upset Saturday thrust into the forefront of the national picture, but before UCLA and North Carolina were upset, between 15 minutes of each other, to unranked teams at home, they both received more national attention than the 'Hawks. And even now, with our pursuit of perfection nearly two-thirds complete, we are overshadowed by Memphis.
And our lack of attention makes sense. Like I said, we are boring. Boring, boring, boring, boring, boring. Boring teams don't draw ratings, and they definitely aren't fun to talk about. Great defense, pretty standard offense, no attitude, in the Midwest, no "star". Call it the Spurs formula, except the Spurs do have Tim Duncan.
We are the San Antonio Spurs of the NBA. As underrated as you can possibly be as the #2 team in college basketball, we are them. Respect on a national level has been slow to come, and there are still some doubters. We have a chance for a marquee win in another 6 days in Manhattan, but until then I will happily stay as underrated as you can possibly be.
ROCK CHALK!