LayupDrill has been known to go against the grain, and step out on a plank with our predictions from time to time. While damn near every major “expert” has penciled in Kansas to cut down the nets in a few weeks as national champs, we provide four reasons our money in Vegas is with one of the other 63 other teams to be crowned champions.
1. Toughest road of all Number 1 seeds.
First, the obvious. If you look at the four top seeds potential late round matchups, Kansas has the toughest matchup problems by far compared to Duke, Kentucky, and Syracuse. Kansas has a likely Sweet 16 match against Michigan State or Maryland, followed by a Elite 8 game vs. Evan Turner and Ohio State or Greg Monroe’s Georgetown Hoyas. If they survive that, the National Semifinal would be against either Jim Boehim’s Syracuse zone, or potentially a rematch vs. Big 12 foe Kansas State. Five wins to get to April 5th’s title game is certainly not a given.
2. History.
Since the tournament seeded number 1 seeds overall, only one(Florida 2007) number one overall seed has gone on to win it all. That Gator team, like this Jayhawk team, has a lot of talent, but the field they went against did not have anywhere near the contenders Kansas has.
3. The Bullseye.
It takes a special group to deal with being truly the target by every other team in the field. Unlike their other 1 seed peers, Kansas is “expected” at the very least to get to the title game. Anything short of that would be a major letdown. If Duke were to lose in the Elite 8, while fans in Durham would be upset, some would not be surprised. Syracuse the same. Kansas, meanwhile, has been given a 4 game bye to the Indy, and there are 15 other teams in their bracket with a chip on their shoulder ready to knock them off.
4. The Go To Guy?
History tells us Kansas will have one true scare on the road to the title game, should they get there. It might come early, or perhaps in the Sweet 16 round, but either way they will need someone to step up and make big shots. The Jayhawks have NBA-ready talent on their team, but are they ready to make “that” shot? Much like Mario Chalmers did just 2 years ago to put the title game in overtime.
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