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Kansas Basketball: Four Jayhawks who need to step up in March Madness

By Amber Dieringer

STILLWATER, OK - MARCH 02: Kansas Jayhawks on the court during the D1 Big 12 college basketball game against the Oklahoma State Cowboys on March 2, 2019 at Gallagher-Iba Arena in Stillwater, Oklahoma. (Photo by William Purnell/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
STILLWATER, OK - MARCH 02: Kansas Jayhawks on the court during the D1 Big 12 college basketball game against the Oklahoma State Cowboys on March 2, 2019 at Gallagher-Iba Arena in Stillwater, Oklahoma. (Photo by William Purnell/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
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Head coach Bill Self of the Kansas Jayhawks (Photo by Peter G. Aiken/Getty Images)
Head coach Bill Self of the Kansas Jayhawks (Photo by Peter G. Aiken/Getty Images) /

Kansas basketball is entering the NCAA National Tournament as the number four seed, facing 13-seed Northeastern in Salt Lake City on Thursday.

The Kansas Jayhawks have gathered their fair share of doubters regarding a long run in the Big Dance—Scott Gleeson of USA Today believes the team’s identity isn’t solid, Zach Braziller of the New York Post believes KU’s injuries are too extensive to handle a tough Midwest Region, and Patrick Stevens and Mike Hume of the Washington Post say that Kansas has lost too much of their strength, and ESPN’s Jay Bilas suggested during the bracket selection show that Northeastern could beat Kansas out of the first round.

These doubts are legitimate; Kansas does have an extremely depleted team, with three starters in Udoka Azubuike, Silvio De Sousa, and Lagerald Vick out for the season due to injury, suspension, and leave of absence, respectively.

The team took a long time to meld during the season after Azubuike’s injury. They were unpredictable over the season, suffering random-midseason losses to schools including Texas Tech, Oklahoma, and Iowa State, and snapping their 14-year Big 12 Title streak.

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The Jayhawks have been terrible on the road, and they’ll also be starting four or five players that have never been in an NCAA tournament.

However, Kansas is still a solid team with a Hall of Famer head coach in Bill Self and certainly has the talent and the tools within their roster to pull it together and make a strong run in the tournament.

According to KUSports.com, Self himself has said that the team can still break into another level of play this season.

If that’s going to happen, players are going to have to bring their A game, and four players especially stand out in that they really need to step it up this spring.

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