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Overcoming doubts, doubters Surging Jayhawks suddenly slight favorites in Final FourPosted: Wednesday April 02, 2003 4:03 PMUpdated: Thursday April 03, 2003 2:24 AM
"If [Wayne Simien] needs surgery, his season is probably over -- and so is Kansas'."
"Sorry, Seth Davis: Roy Williams could still win his ring even without the injured Wayne Simien."
NEW ORLEANS -- It's O.K., Seth. You're not the only one who dropped Kansas like a used dishtowel after Wayne Simien's shoulder injury. One national mag (not ours) actually picked the Jayhawks to win it all last fall, then abandoned them once we learned Simien's season was over. And any number of TV talking heads told us some variation of, Already lacking depth, Kansas can't win it all without Wayne Simien. Granted, coach Roy Williams hasn't raised his long-awaited trophy yet. But the Jayhawks, now playing their best ball of the year, are the slight favorites heading into this weekend's Final Four. And so we ask: Why was the conventional wisdom so wrong? Let the 'Bag count the ways: •Depth is overrated. The Jayhawks' margin of error is extremely small, but a margin does indeed exist. "People say they have depth issues, but I don't see it as a severe problem as long as [Jeff] Graves and [Nick] Collison stay out of foul trouble," one rival assistant told me last week. "Their bench guys [Michael Lee and Bryant Nash] have had pretty good tournaments, and this time of year everyone only plays seven or eight guys anyway." •Collison and Kirk Hinrich. If I had to vote right now, Collison would be my national player of the year (replacing Xavier's David West, whose team tanked in the tourney). With apologies to Dwyane Wade, Collison's 33-point, 19-board, ride-my-back performance against Duke was the transcendent effort of the regionals. Meanwhile, Hinrich's 28-point tour de force against Arizona showed that the Jayhawks have two seniors capable of pulling a Juan Dixon on us this weekend. No other team here has even one. •Those other guys can play. Those close to the team tell me that Graves likely would have been run out of town by Williams last fall if the juco transfer's presence down low hadn't been so critical to the team's chances. When Big Gravy showed up in Lawrence pushing three bills, it was impossible to imagine him running the floor in the Jayhawks' uptempo offense. Yet somehow, after losing about 40 pounds, he has done so. Graves' 13 points and 15 boards against Arizona were a revelation, as was his ability to get Wildcats center Channing Frye (and not himself) in foul trouble early. Throw in sophomores Keith Langford (a supremely confident slasher), Aaron Miles (an underrated point guard) and Lee (who has turned into a reliable sixth man), and suddenly Simien's loss doesn't seem like such a deathblow anymore. •The coach is pretty good, too. Before the tournament even started, assistant coach Joe Holladay approached Williams one day in practice and said, "Coach, you've got to feel more satisfied with this year than even last year." As Williams told me last week in Anaheim, "There's something to that. Last year we were 16-0 in the league and this year we won it at 14-2, but it's a tougher league and we had more problems. As a coach you do feel a different level of satisfaction." It's a shame that Matt Doherty's "resignation" at North Carolina will force Williams to answer UNC questions all week here. Over the past couple of years, Williams and I have started a tradition of what I call our Park Bench Conversations, in which we'll go one-on-one for a half hour on a park bench outside the team hotel in Atlanta or Anaheim or wherever. A lot of priceless stuff is waiting to be told -- if Kansas wins the title, look for it in next week's Sports Illustrated -- but we did talk in Anaheim about why Williams hasn't just said, "I will not take the Carolina job if it's offered to me." His answer: "Everybody says, 'Why don't you just come out and say it?' Well, what can you say? You've seen coaches before say I'm not interested, and then they take the job. You've seen coaches say I'm not talking to them, and they have talked to them. So I just tell the truth: I'm not talking to 'em. I'm coaching Kansas. Yet that's not good enough." Three random things•Is Marquette really a mid-major? The New York Times certainly thinks so, having said so twice this week already. It's an issue of semantics, I guess, but I disagree. Much as is the case with the Atlantic-10, the lower half of Conference USA (see: East Carolina) would qualify as mid-major in my book, while the upper half (Marquette, Louisville, Cincinnati) is a cut above. •For what it's worth, this is the first time the 'Bag has ever been to New Orleans. Perhaps things will change, but our hotel does not resemble a Girls Gone Wild video. Not yet, at least. •With almost everyone back, Gonzaga should be a preseason top-10 team next year. Separated at BirthThis one comes from esteemed 'Bag editor Albert Lin: Roy Williams and golfer Kirk Triplett.
New nicknames for the 'BagReceived several nominations for a new nickname in honor of my spectacularly bad tournament picks. David Hess of Baltimore points out that my Magic Eight (the eight teams from which I guaranteed that the national champ would emerge) has only one team left: Kansas. He also argues that it should be called the Tragic Eight instead. (Perhaps, David, but only if I turn out to be wrong.) Other suggestions played on my name: Wahl of Shame (several readers), The Wailing Wahl (Matt Ensley, Redondo Beach, Calif.), Brick Wahl (several), etc., etc. Others included Grant Wahl's Crystal Airball (Vince Ripol, San Diego) and Crystal Ball-ocks (John, Wichita, Kan.). But my favorite comes from Matt Runquist of Tucson, Ariz., who writes: "Shaq would call you the Big Cataract." Fair enough. Enjoy the games! Sports Illustrated senior writer Grant Wahl covers college basketball for the magazine and is a regular contributor to SI.com.
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