Our view: With heart and class, the Kansas Jayhawks won more than just an NCAA title
April Madness?
Why not?
It’s been a rough couple of years around here, so kudos and thank you to the KU Jayhawks for giving Kansas something to cheer about with a newly minted NCAA national basketball title.
Monday night’s 72-69 victory over North Carolina in the championship game is spirit-lifting for our whole state, not just because KU won the big one, but the way they won it.
You can be forgiven if you went to bed at halftime, with the Jayhawks down 40-25, looking disjointed, dispirited and doomed.
But you might not forgive yourself.
If you quit early you missed the most epic comeback in NCAA championship game history. No other team has ever overcome a 15-point halftime deficit to win the title game.
But the Jayhawks were a completely different team in the second half, which they opened with a 6-0 run to get the lead under double digits.
They got it back to a 50-50 tie with a little over 10 minutes left to play and it was game on from there.
They won it down the stretch playing with grit — but more importantly with class.
North Carolina’s star forward, Armando Bacot, carried his team all night on a tender ankle that he sprained in the Tar Heels’ upset of Duke on Saturday.
On Monday, with less than a minute to play, KU nursing a one-point lead and the game very much on the line, Bacot’s ankle gave out completely as he drove the lane for what could have been a go-ahead bucket.
KU stole the ball as Bacot collapsed and went the other way as he writhed on the floor in pain.
Under the rules of basketball, the Jayhawks would have been completely justified in exploiting that five-on-four advantage to extend their lead, but they didn’t do that.
As Bacot tried to hop back into play on his one good leg, the Jayhawks opted for sportsmanship over the easy basket.
They passed the ball around behind the three-point line, allowing the officials to stop play so North Carolina could get their wounded warrior off the court.
In the end, the game was the embodiment of our Kansas state motto: Ad Astra per Aspera — to the stars through difficulties.
Well done Kansas Jayhawks, well done.
You did your people proud.
This story was originally published April 5, 2022 at 10:46 AM.