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Kentucky vs. Kansas: Five questions for the Jayhawks in the NCAA Final

Kentucky has been ranked No. 1 or near the top of the college basketball polls all season. They're expected to win Monday night's NCAA championship game against Kansas. But if the Jayhawks have answers for these five key questions, they might pull off the upset.

Lucy Nicholson/REUTERS
Ohio State Buckeyes guard Aaron Craft (L) is stopped by Kansas Jayhawks center Jeff Withey during the first half of their men's NCAA Final Four semi-final college basketball game in New Orleans, Louisiana, March 31.

How will Kansas start the game?

  • By Pat Murphy

In each of Kansas University's last four NCAA tournament wins (Purdue, North Carolina State, U of North Carolina, and Ohio State), the Jayhawks have gotten off to horrible starts in the first half. Poor shooting, turnovers, ineffective defense and overall lack of execution put the team in a hole early on. Each time, KU has finally found its rhythm in the second half. What will head coach Bill Self do to get his team engaged early? Maybe he should give the half-time pep talk before the game: "When things don't go well and you get behind and you play uphill the whole way, it takes some energy and it takes some toughness,'' said Self, when they team fell behind Purdue by double-digits early and still trailed by six at the half. "My message to the whole team was trust each other.''

If they don't trust each other early, don't count on Kentucky allowing the Jayhawks to take flight half way through the championship game.

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Mark Sappenfield
Editor

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