This line is telling, "With the way the games are being called, toughness is winning in March. By the time Few and Lloyd figured it out, it was too late." Um... You think those coaches didn't care about toughness until last night? Does make me feel fortunate Kansas is in the big 12 and had teams like Texas, Iowa State, and Tech grabbing, slapping, hacking and clogging, in order to toughen up this team and prepare them for March. The big 12 I feel represented itself well this tournament with no team getting blown out, having a few upsets and really pushing some of the top seeds and favorites to the limit (TCU, Texas, Tech).
The thing is I don't disagree with the big picture argument being made in that article about officiating and freedom of movement, etc, but the way it singles out Zona and the Zags as the victims to Arkansas, Houston, and the refs is -four letter word incoming- SOFT. And you KNOW Duke would have been included had Tech pulled off that win. Whew! The entitlement is infuriating.
If you are at the top, you don't get to be a victim. You can be the bully and in competitive sports should strive to do so, but you are never the victim. We all watch games with our crimson and blue glasses and see every foul that doesn't get called our way but in the end most Kansas fans I know seem to recognize WE are the bullies of the big 12. WE get everyone's best shot because we are the team to beat and wouldn't want it any other way. Kansas hasn't won a title since 2008 because COVID ruined our best teams chance in 2020 and every other year we've run into a team who for that game played tougher and executed better than we did that night. Kansas has been the more talented team on several occasions but fortunately for EVERYONE that's not how the winner is determined. How boring a sport to watch would that be?
Also, could anyone have predicted the 7'2 string bean freshman from Gonzaga would struggle with players who were older, stronger, faster, and clearly wanted it more?
