After getting past Marvin Bagley and the Duke Blue Devils, Kansas is back in the Final Four for the first time since 2012.
The Kansas Jayhawks found themselves with another No. 1 seed after everyone thought that they wouldn’t even win the Big 12. They’ve beaten two ACC teams in Clemson and Duke, and now they’ll face the toughest challenge to date in Villanova.
The Jayhawks are a prime example of playing their best basketball at the right time. They’ve been on a tear all March, winning their conference tournament, and now are one step from getting to the title game for the first time since finishing as national runner-ups in 2012.
They’ve gotten here on the backs of National Player of the Year candidate Devonte’ Graham and Big 12 Newcomer of the Year Malik Newman who put up a healthy 32 points in the Elite Eight.
Strengths
This Kansas team isn’t like the previous teams. Usually head coach Bill Self likes to have two bigs on the floor, but this team is the complete opposite. They love to shoot the 3 ball, and they’re pretty proficient at it.
They make just over 10 3’s per game, and they’re 11th in the country, shooting just over 40 percent from deep which is the highest percentage of all the teams remaining. It’s no secret, they’re going to live and die by the 3 ball, and they haven’t died yet.
Usually teams that can shoot the 3 ball are pretty good in transition, and the Jayhawks are no exception. Since they’re not a very big team, and it hurts them on the defensive end a little bit, they have to get out and run. It also helps that they can really share the ball, once again averaging the most assists per game as a team out of all Final Four teams.
Kansas will do what they’ve done all season against Villanova, and are hopeful they don’t go cold at the wrong time.
Weaknesses
As I mentioned before, this team isn’t the normal Kansas team. They’re not very big so just like Villanova they struggle on the boards. Granted they did dominate the glass against Duke, which was probably the most shocking part about that game.
Even though Villanova isn’t the greatest rebounding team either that doesn’t mean it’s a sure thing Kansas won’t struggle on the boards. During conference play they only outrebounded two teams.
If Kansas struggles in any way on the boards especially on defense they might be in trouble just because of how good Villanova is offensively. Kansas has to at least stay even with the Wildcats on the boards not only to keep the game close, but to play to their strength and get out in transition.
If they do that then they’ll be right there at the end of the game.
Player to watch
The player to watch in this game has to be Malik Newman. Devonte’ Graham is a NPOY candidate, but Newman has been on an absolute tear since the start of the Big 12 conference tournament. Since then he’s averaging 22.7 points and five rebounds per game.
What’s even crazier about his numbers is that he’s shooting a higher percentage from 3 (.549 percent) than he is from the floor overall (.542 percent). Newman has been the difference maker for Kansas and it hasn’t been close.
In the game against Seton Hall, Graham finished the game with eight points and nine assists. Not so great numbers compared to what he’d been putting up all season. That same game Newman carried the team with 28 points, and they needed every single one of them.
If Kansas wants to beat Villanova, Newman has to continue doing what he’s been doing all March.
Biggest key to victory over Villanova
The biggest thing for Kansas if they want to win is to just play loose and continue what they’ve been doing. We’re down to the Final Four, they know they’re not the best rebounding team and they’ve found a way to deal with it all season. Especially when they need to most.
Self put together a great defensive game plan to keep Marvin Bagley off the offensive glass in the Elite Eight, and they executed that game plan to perfection. Bagley had probably one of his “worst” games of the season that night.
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Whatever game plan Kansas puts together they have to execute it otherwise they won’t beat Villanova. The Wildcats are simply too good for Kansas to have mental lapses on both ends of the court.
They execute the game plan, get out in transition and knock down some shots and they could find themselves playing on Monday night.