***Official '22/'23 Defending Natl' Champion KU Men’s Basketball Repository Thread***

[cmh6476]

The Team:

https://kuathletics.com/sports/mbball/roster/

The Schedule:

https://kuathletics.com/sports/mbball/schedule/

[Kiimo]

I feel extremely thankful that we weren't the first 1 seed to lose to a 16 seed it definitely felt like that was going to be our destiny in the early Self years.

[smithandrew051]

The 2022 championship wasn’t really all THAT improbable though. Hell, most of us picked them as a top 5 team in the preseason predictions. We won a tough conference, conference tourney, and were a 1-seed in a field that was pretty flawed overall.

It’s not like if the 2012 team beat the Anthony Davis UK team. Nor is it like the ‘03 Syracuse team beating us.

Compared to the field, 2022 was absolutely a great team. They just aren’t historically great like 2008.

[smithandrew051]

All that said, I probably enjoyed 2008 more.

Classic Championship game. Beat down UNC in our first meeting since Roy left. Historically great team with 0 flaws. Probably one of the strongest tourneys ever as well.

Texas with Augustine and Abrams or Stanford with the Lopez twins easily could’ve been 1-seeds in a typical year. Even guys like Blake Griffin and Michael Beasley were afterthoughts in that tourney.

Does anyone even remember all the OJ Mayo hype coming into that season?

[Kiimo]

Whichever year ('12?) it was that Tyshawn and co went to the national championship really felt like we might steal one. Kentucky was too good but that run was a lot of fun.

I think it was Ohio State in the final four? Just a series of incredible finishes.

[Chief Pagan]

Originally Posted by smithandrew051

The 2022 championship wasn’t really all THAT improbable though. Hell, most of us picked them as a top 5 team in the preseason predictions. We won a tough conference, conference tourney, and were a 1-seed in a field that was pretty flawed overall.

It’s not like if the 2012 team beat the Anthony Davis UK team. Nor is it like the ‘03 Syracuse team beating us.

Compared to the field, 2022 was absolutely a great team. They just aren’t historically great like 2008.

Compared to the field, 2022 wasn't any more flawed than the competition, but, no, they weren't a great team even compared to the competition.

You run that tournament over and over a bunch of times, especially with different seeding, KU isn't winning so often as to look great or dominant.

They rarely played more than one really good half of basketball.

Yes, they got hot at the right time and had favorable matchup's in the tourny.

McCormack played great and I don't really remember him ever being in foul trouble.

Just like encountering an Arizona team in 97 that was playing crazy good and got every loose ball and made every wild 3 point shot happens.

Run that tournament over and over and KU wins a plurality if not an outright majority.

[smithandrew051]

Originally Posted by Chief Pagan

Compared to the field, 2022 wasn't any more flawed than the competition, but, no, they weren't a great team even compared to the competition.

You run that tournament over and over a bunch of times, especially with different seeding, KU isn't winning so often as to look great or dominant.

They rarely played more than one really good half of basketball.

Yes, they got hot at the right time and had favorable matchup's in the tourny.

McCormack played great and I don't really remember him ever being in foul trouble.

Just like encountering an Arizona team in 97 that was playing crazy good and got every loose ball and made every wild 3 point shot happens.

Run that tournament over and over and KU wins a plurality if not an outright majority.

So who are the great teams of 2022 compared to the field if not Kansas?

[KC_Connection]

Originally Posted by smithandrew051

The 2022 championship wasn’t really all THAT improbable though. Hell, most of us picked them as a top 5 team in the preseason predictions. We won a tough conference, conference tourney, and were a 1-seed in a field that was pretty flawed overall.

It’s not like if the 2012 team beat the Anthony Davis UK team. Nor is it like the ‘03 Syracuse team beating us.

Compared to the field, 2022 was absolutely a great team. They just aren’t historically great like 2008.

Sure, but I don't think anybody here truly believed the 2022 KU team was going to win it all going into the tournament based on how they'd played during the season. They also got just about every break over those couple weeks imaginable. Nothing wrong with that, but it very easily could have gone differently at any point.

[Buehler445]

Originally Posted by smithandrew051

So who are the great teams of 2022 compared to the field if not Kansas?

Puke had the best lineup by a huge margin. They had no business losing any games at all, probably shouldn't have let anybody get within 20.

Baylor was largely the same lineup that won the ship.

Arizona was really ****ing good. I didn't watch much of them to see what went wrong there.

UK rolled into AFH and handed us our ****ing asses. And that Tenn/UK SEC championship game was really good. Both teams played really well. Both those teams could, in theory of course, be better than KU. Obviously Self is superior to Barnes and Cal, but in terms of rosters, that could be argued. Tenn aside, UK beat our asses like a rented mule. That is irrefutable.

[Buehler445]

Originally Posted by KC_Connection

Sure, but I don't think anybody here truly believed the 2022 KU team was going to win it all going into the tournament based on how they'd played during the season. They also got just about every break over those couple weeks imaginable. Nothing wrong with that, but it very easily could have gone differently at any point.

Right, and I refuse to apologize for it. We got absolutely hosed as the superior team so many times we were (and probably still are) due by the basketball gods.

[smithandrew051]

Originally Posted by Buehler445

Puke had the best lineup by a huge margin. They had no business losing any games at all, probably shouldn't have let anybody get within 20.

Baylor was largely the same lineup that won the ship.

Arizona was really ****ing good. I didn't watch much of them to see what went wrong there.

UK rolled into AFH and handed us our ****ing asses. And that Tenn/UK SEC championship game was really good. Both teams played really well. Both those teams could, in theory of course, be better than KU. Obviously Self is superior to Barnes and Cal, but in terms of rosters, that could be argued. Tenn aside, UK beat our asses like a rented mule. That is irrefutable.

My point is that our team is right there with those other teams. It’s not like we were in some lower tier than them.

Kansas was absolutely one of the top 5-10 teams in the nation in a year with no 2012 Kentucky-type team. Any one of those teams would be deserving champ.

[KC_Connection]

Originally Posted by Buehler445

Right, and I refuse to apologize for it. We got absolutely hosed as the superior team so many times we were (and probably still are) due by the basketball gods.

Certainly nothing to apologize for. We've been owed those kind of breaks many times over as good as this program has been. Only Coach K/Duke are even remotely comparable in terms of quality since Self arrived.

[CasselGotPeedOn]

Originally Posted by Buehler445

Puke had the best lineup by a huge margin. They had no business losing any games at all, probably shouldn't have let anybody get within 20.

Baylor was largely the same lineup that won the ship.

Arizona was really ****ing good. I didn't watch much of them to see what went wrong there.

UK rolled into AFH and handed us our ****ing asses. And that Tenn/UK SEC championship game was really good. Both teams played really well. Both those teams could, in theory of course, be better than KU. Obviously Self is superior to Barnes and Cal, but in terms of rosters, that could be argued. Tenn aside, UK beat our asses like a rented mule. That is irrefutable.

What? They had 4 new starters last season.

[Buehler445]

Originally Posted by CasselGotPeedOn

What? They had 4 new starters last season.

****. I probably have that wrong. Seems like it was the same dudes that were killing us as the year before.

My bad.

[Buehler445]

Originally Posted by smithandrew051

My point is that our team is right there with those other teams. It’s not like we were in some lower tier than them.

Kansas was absolutely one of the top 5-10 teams in the nation in a year with no 2012 Kentucky-type team. Any one of those teams would be deserving champ.

In hindsight maybe. But in the moment, they underperformed their limited capacity all year long. They pulled out some games, caught some teams on some bad nights and didn’t have the lows that some other teams had, but I had very little confidence they could beat a good team in a pressure situation. Especially after they got absolutely shelled by Kentucky. No size. No consistent shooting. Varying intensity. Not enough talent to overcome much adversity.

But I started to get excited in the Big 12 tournament. They found an edge. Then Remy came in and started raping fools. It all fed on each other and it was incredible to watch. The journey was just as or more fun than the outcome. The reality is it would have felt different if they were heavy favorites.

[BWillie]

Originally Posted by smithandrew051

The 2022 championship wasn’t really all THAT improbable though. Hell, most of us picked them as a top 5 team in the preseason predictions. We won a tough conference, conference tourney, and were a 1-seed in a field that was pretty flawed overall.

It’s not like if the 2012 team beat the Anthony Davis UK team. Nor is it like the ‘03 Syracuse team beating us.

Compared to the field, 2022 was absolutely a great team. They just aren’t historically great like 2008.

I don't think anybody expected anything out of Remy. That team was dead in the water without post season (and finally healthy and confident) Remy Martin.

No Remy and they are bounced in the round of 32 to Creighton.