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KU Basketball: This Has to be the Year for the Jayhawks

By Leigh Oleszczak

KU basketball forward Landen Lucas (33), forward Landen Lucas (33), and guard Josh Jackson (11) react during the second half against the Purdue Boilermakers against the Purdue Boilermakers in the semifinals of the midwest Regional of the 2017 NCAA Tournament at Sprint Center. Kansas defeated Purdue 98-66. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports
KU basketball forward Landen Lucas (33), forward Landen Lucas (33), and guard Josh Jackson (11) react during the second half against the Purdue Boilermakers against the Purdue Boilermakers in the semifinals of the midwest Regional of the 2017 NCAA Tournament at Sprint Center. Kansas defeated Purdue 98-66. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports /
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KU basketball shredded the Purdue Boilermakers on Thursday night to advance to the Elite Eight. A lot of things have fallen KU’s way and things are setting up nicely for the Jayhawks to win their first National title in almost a decade.

The match-up has been set. It’ll be the Kansas Jayhawks versus the Oregon Ducks for the right to go to the Final Four in Phoenix. For KU basketball fans, this is as clear as the path can get.

Sure, there are no guarantees in sports, but Kansas fans have to be feeling pretty confident right now. They practically have a home game on Saturday night against the Ducks, and a lot of the stealthy competition in the tournament has been knocked off.

The biggest threats to win the National title when the brackets were announced were teams like Arizona and Duke, both of whom will now be watching the last three rounds from home. Duke was eliminated in the second round by South Carolina (a seven-seed) and Arizona was just knocked out on Thursday night by Xavier (an 11-seed).

Another reason to feel confident in this Kansas squad is that they’ve earned that right! This team has been amazing in the first three rounds of the tournament, showing off their amazing offensive abilities and picking up the slack in their weak areas, such as free throw shooting and defense.

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In their three games so far this tournament, Kansas has outscored their opponents 288-198. There’s been no doubt that these Jayhawks could put up points, but now their defense is finally starting to peak and it’s looking less and less likely that a team will be able to stop them from being so explosive.

KU will square off against Oregon on Saturday at the Sprint Center and if they win, they’d see either North Carolina or Kentucky (depending on who wins their game on Sunday in Memphis). A victory there would earn the Jayhawks a spot in the finals against Gonzaga, Florida, South Carolina, or Xavier (depending on how the rest of this weekend shakes up).

With tough teams like Arizona and Duke being eliminated, the Jayhawks really have a great shot to make it to the Championship Game and to reign supreme. If the defense can continue doing what they’ve been doing and the offense can keep being explosive, then this has to be the year for KU basketball to win the National Championship.

There might not be a better opportunity for this team than what they have in front of them this year.

With disappointing endings over the past few years (including an Elite Eight appearance last season, only to come up short to the eventual champions in Villanova), the Jayhawks have to make these last few games count. This team, with Josh Jackson and Frank Mason at the helm, is good enough to win it all and now they have to prove it.

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