KU Basketball: Post Woes Cost Jayhawks NCAA Tournament

On the night before Easter, the college basketball gods handed KU basketball an Easter basket filled only with fake grass and disappointment.

KU basketball’s high hopes were dashed at the hands of Villanova yesterday, and the team and fans alike are left shocked and bewildered.

Despite being the number one overall seed in the NCAA tournament, the Jayhawks play was hardly an indication they even belonged in the Final Four conversation.

From tip-off to Frank Mason‘s virtually game-ending turnover and subsequent end of regulation, Kansas did not look anything like the number one overall seeded team.

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The first quarter was painful to watch for by any basketball fan’s standards. Low-scoring games can still be entertaining, but both offenses looked completely out of sync.

For some reason, the Jayhawks’ high energy play translated to anxious and reckless offense. I had actually bet the over which required both teams to score a combined 145 points.

After putting too much faith in both of these teams’ offenses or maybe even too little faith in these teams’ defenses, my money vanished in an instant.

I hoped that Kansas atrocious first half was just jitters that they would shake off at halftime. By this point, Perry Ellis had scored no points, and even missed his only free throw attempt on a 1-and-1 with 2:02 left in the first half.

I made some optimistic predictions after the first half that could not have been more wrong. I figured there was no way that Villanova could stop Ellis for two straight halves, and surely Ellis would begin to create some offense.

Villanova’s first half appeared almost as sloppy as Kansas’, but somehow they still had a seven point lead over Kansas’ abysmal 25 points. Seven points wasn’t a huge deficit by any means.

Even though, at 57 total points, both teams had to score 88 points, I thought there was no way that both of these teams would continue to look this wretched on the offensive end. Like I said, I could not have been more incorrect.

Kansas and Villanova continued to struggle offensively against each other. Villanova continued to surround Ellis with three players in the post, and KU basketball’s offensive plays for Ellis were rendered all but useless.

Up until this point, Ellis was effective in the post, but in this Elite Eight matchup, Ellis’ post play was similar to that of Magikarp, or for those of you without a childhood: flailing.

In Magikarp’s defense, the Pokémon’s potential to evolve into Gyarados at level 20 would at least potentially give Kansas a valuable late game rim protector, even if Gyarados’ offense would be limited by its lack of arms.

Ellis scoring was bad, but the fact his post passing was as bad as this arm-less Gyarados in question completely eliminated Ellis from relevance against Villanova.

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Ellis certainly should have displayed more willingness to pass out of the post when three Wildcats collapsed on him.

As a result, either Mason, Devonte’ Graham, or Wayne Selden would have either had wide open shots or ample passing options themselves to run their offense. Instead, Ellis kept attacking the rim, and ended up with just four points and one assist.

In my opinion, Ellis failure to either score or pass out of the post made KU basketball’s gameplan pretty much useless. Seeing that the Wildcats would continue swarming Ellis, he should have responded with assists to Mason, Graham, or Selden.

Villanova’s erasure of Ellis sealed the victory for the Wildcats in the end. Even if the game could have gone either way in the final minutes, eliminating Ellis’ impact allowed the Wildcats to hang around despite their mediocre offense.

Kansas’ could not overcome these strategic obstacles, and, in the end, succumbed to their first and only loss in this year’s NCAA Tournament with a final score of 64-59.

Next: Self may have put status on this list in jeopardy

Did Perry Ellis’ unwillingness to pass out of the post cost Kansas the game? If not, why do you think the Jayhawks lost to the Wildcats?

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