2009 they were a 3.Serious question, when was the last time Kansas hasn't been a 1 or 2 seed? I tried to look it up and couldn't find any info on it but I feel like since Bill Self has been coach they are always a 1 or 2 seed and more often than not, lose in the first weekend.
Serious question, when was the last time Kansas hasn't been a 1 or 2 seed? I tried to look it up and couldn't find any info on it but I feel like since Bill Self has been coach they are always a 1 or 2 seed and more often than not, lose in the first weekend.
Ollie and Napier certainly got their fair share of positive hype after last year's run. I hate ESPN as much as the next yarder, but to say they hyped teams with 1 or 2 losses most of the season is absurd. I am fairly confident, that if UConn was 30-2, we would be hearing the same sort of buzz.
It would be a sweet irony if they were the team to beat UK.It turns out beating a highly motivated WSU team is hard.
Why is Arizona a paper tiger?Let's play a fun game. Rank the biggest paper tigers in college basketball:
1. Kansas
2. Syracuse
3. Arizona
4. The entire Big East conference
5. UCLA
6. Indiana
7. Virginia
8. The Big 12 conference
9. Other - Write In Nominations
Izzo is an "awesome" coach in march. Coupled with several uva injuries, that's what you get.Either Michigan State and Izzo are awesome or Virginia is a paper tiger. It can't be both.
This loss was no surprise. Wichita State wanted to get them badly, and Kansas overachieved all season.Or maybe Bill Self is a great coach whose teams win 30 games in a down year and they lost to a really good, highly motivated Wichita State team. You know, the team that was in the Final Four two years ago and started 35-0 last season.
Eh, maybe. You're a top-2 seed every year, you're going to have some flameouts. But he has a title, other Final Fours and they never have a down year. The number of schools that wouldn't trade their record for his is really small.This loss was no surprise. Wichita State wanted to get them badly, and Kansas overachieved all season.
That said, the narrative around Self is there for a reason. They've flamed out with a number of good teams. Were the Northern Iowa game the exception--and you couldn't also point to Bucknell and a number of other schools, it would be wrong.
Not to say the dude is a bad coach. He's actually really good. You can't win any conference that frequently without being a good coach. And he had great tournament runs as a lower seed, most notably taking Tulsa to the E8 in 2000.
I just think the pressure of the moment gets to him sometimes when he's got something to lose (i.e. the higher seed...or like in 2010 the odds on favorite by most to win).
I posted a long thing in another topic and I'm not going to repeat all of it, but Self's teams consistently overachieve in the regular season (finish higher in final poll than pre-season poll), and thus always have a good seed. Therefore, when they get beat, it's a major upset. If they had been 5 or 6 seeds lower, where probably they deserved to be a few of the years they got upset, we wouldn't be having this conversation. It's all about how the narrative is framed by their seeding.
Honestly, we all knew they weren't a 2-seed this year. Anyone who didn't pick Wichita to beat them hasn't been watching this season. But they had a 2-seed's resume, because once again they overachieved this year. They won the Big 12 (the supposed best conference) with 10 freshmen and sophomores. Last year they lost Embiid to injury. And then 8 years ago they got upset twice in a row as high-ish seeds. In Self's other years they made 7 Sweet Sixteens.
UConn has a down year, we miss the tourny. Self's down years are a 2-seed getting beat in round of 64/32.
You are. But I think there are more here than there should be.Eh, maybe. You're a top-2 seed every year, you're going to have some flameouts. But he has a title, other Final Fours and they never have a down year. The number of schools that wouldn't trade their record for his is really small.