Kansas Advances to Big XII Championship Game

If you were hoping to see the Jayhawks locked in for a full forty minutes, you must be supremely disappointed right now.  But despite that fact, their big guns stepped up and led them to a 90-83 win over a game, and dangerous, Colorado team.  Now they must turn their attention to either Texas A&M or avenging their earlier loss to the Texas Longhorns.

Marcus Morris was his All-American self tonight, finishing up with 20 points, 13 rebounds and 4 assists.  Always a mirror image, Markieff followed suit with 20 & 8.  And as we've come to expect, they were dominant throughout.  After Colorado jumped out to an early 12 point lead, the twins from Philly absolutely took over.  

On the perimeter, Tyshawn Taylor stepped up admirably on the offensive end, relentlessly attacking the basket and finishing with 15 points and 4 assists.  Brady did what Brady does, notching 6 points, 4 boards and 5 assists, although his outside shot continues to elude him in KC.  And after struggling a bit early, Tyrel Reed stepped up when we needed him the most and knocked down a couple of corner threes to always keep the Buffs at bay.

If you're into negatives, you had to be frustrated with the lack of poise we showed down the stretch. I've said all year that this team can't focus unless they're convinced it's life or death, and we saw that nearly come back to bite them late, as the Buffs kept fighting until the end. It didn't get them today, but it easily could later on.  Personally, I'm into positives, and I loved seeing us step up and respond after falling behind early to a team that needed the game a whole lot more than did the Jayhawks.  I also thought we did a pretty nice job on Burks and a wonderful job on Higgins.  And lastly, it felt awfully good to watch the ball go through the net on 88% of our free throws, as we ended the game 29-33.  More of that please.

Ups and downs aside, the Hawks are in another championship game.  The 1 seed is locked up, but here's to hoping they get a shot at the Texas Longhorns.  They were the best two teams in the league all year; it's only fitting that they should end it on the court as both get ready for The Dance.