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Closer Look Kansas runs Marquette out of Superdome with fast breakPosted: Saturday April 05, 2003 9:27 PMUpdated: Sunday April 06, 2003 4:20 PM
By Stewart Mandel, SI.com NEW ORLEANS -- If they didn’t know better, they might have thought they were watching the NBA All-Star Game, the McDonald’s High School All-American game or any other basketball event in which teams completely abandon the half-court offense in favor of relentless fast-breaking. Unfortunately for Marquette, this was the Final Four, a game in which it was supposed to be playing. But, more often than not, the Golden Eagles were rendered spectators. In a thoroughly dominating performance Saturday, the Jayhawks obliterated the Golden Eagles' national championship dreams 94-61 by, quite simply, running right past them. They ran following missed baskets; they ran following made baskets. If they’d been able to take running starts on their free throws, they probably would have.
"Every team is capable of running," said Kansas’ Keith Langford, who scored a game-high 23 points. "It’s not that we’re faster than anyone. It’s the fact we’re just going to keep doing it." Almost from the time the teams tipped off, Marquette was caught flat-footed by Kansas’ fast break, and it affected all aspects of its game. The Golden Eagles made only 11 field goals in the first half, shooting 25.6 percent against a suffocating Jayhawks man-to-man defense. But making things worse, on eight of those 11 instances, Kansas responded with made buckets of its own -- in an average 10.5 seconds. In racing to a 59-30 halftime lead -- the second-largest in Final Four history -- the Jayhawks shot 60 percent had 16 assists and seemed to be doing everything they wanted with ease. "It may have looked easy, but it didn’t feel easy," said Kansas guard Michael Lee. "Today, we were really able to play our games, which is get up the floor and run. I don’t think they really had an answer for our transition game." The typical formula went something like the following sequence, which took place late in the first half. Marquette star Dwyane Wade hit a jumper to cut Kansas’ lead to 41-26, the kind of shot that’s usually a momentum-starter for the Golden Eagles. But Kirk Hinrich immediately took the ball and raced upcourt, finding an open Michael Lee for a 3-pointer just seven seconds after Wade’s shot. Phenomenal passes like Hinrich’s were almost the norm for the Jayhawks, with someone always finding the open man. One play it was Aaron Miles swinging to Hinrich on the wing. The next it was Lee hitting Langford in stride for the layup. And then it was Jeff Graves feeding Nick Collison in the post for a slam. Roy Williams' Jayhawks have always been an up-tempo team, but the first half was breathless even by KU's standards. "Honestly, I hadn’t even seen that kind of speed out of us," said Lee. "That’s a credit to how we practice. Off every basket, Coach is screaming at us, 'Run! Get to the basket!'" It had to be demoralizing for a Golden Eagles team that excelled on defense all season, allowing only 68.7 points per game and, most recently, holding top-ranked Kentucky to 26 first-half points and 39.1 percent shooting for the game. "We’d never met a team like that," said Marquette’s Todd Townsend. "It was unbelievable sometimes. You thought you were back to defend, but there was already someone down there getting open." Any thoughts of a miracle comeback were dashed on the very first series of the second half. When Marquette’s Scott Merritt missed a jumper, Collison grabbed the rebound and threw an outlet pass to Miles, who found a cutting Hinrich midsprint for the layup. It was clear the second half would be more of the same, and within four minutes, Kansas had extended its lead to 73-32, thanks in large part to more fast-break buckets by Langford and Miles. "It’s an attitude, I’ve always felt like that," said Williams. "A hundred years ago, when I played, I loved to play that way. All I could do was shoot layups and pass. Kids love to play that way." Especially when it gets them within one step of the national championship. Stewart Mandel covers college sports for SI.com.
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