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I could barely watch that game.

After halfway through the first half I already told her we were going to lose, and she agreed.

This was NOT the same team we saw the first 3 games. It wasn't even the team we saw all year.

During this game, I kept pulling my hair, screaming about everything and looking for answers.

There was one minute left in this game, we knew it was over already. My wife told me why we lost.

"They all got laid last night," she said.

While I was busy thinking Xs and Os in my head, my wife gave me the only reason that ended up making sense.

Having sex the night before a game like this could easily drain a team of their energy and slow them down. It also kills aggression. Sure sounds like what I saw on the tube. We've seen this team go through a lot tougher battles this year, on the road. They put up a better fight than what we saw last night. This team had nothing in their tanks. No energy, no drive, no ambition. They quickly seem to give up before even really pushing harder. Sex will do that to a man. There is a reason why boxers NEVER have sex before a fight.

Frank Mason carried the entire team through this game. You could see his frustration and his heartache throughout the game. I really feel for him. His teammates TOTALLY let him down! Frank has a child. I doubt he was partying on Friday night.

When I look back over this season, outside of losing Udoka, we only had one issue: off-court trouble! It was all about chasing girls. I kept warning that we would be in trouble if we don't have a team "mom" with a real security structure to keep our guys on the right path. If my theory above is correct... we paid the ultimate price.

This could be way off. This is only my opinion. Oregon was good, but not THAT good! And Oregon was on the road... their guys weren't out having sex the night before! I will never be for having NCAA games at Sprint again! It is a massive disadvantage for us.

Napolean Hill identified this as transmutation of sexual energy.

@Blown

I never had sex the night before a big game I played in... and my biggest game was one-millionth as big as this!

I'd like to know what our guys did on Friday night? Is their accountability?

I don't know what the deal was, but Oregon was juiced and we looked drained. No evidence of why, but it's an inauspicious end to the season that was plagued by distractions from player-off-court issues. Maybe it's better this way. There's no FF to vacate. We don't lose anything of value but don't gain anything either.

In reflection, I find myself pondering whether the 2017 edition was fatally flawed and it finally caught up with them or just unlucky again.

Oh, and good luck to the NCAA on this FF market bonanza: the pacific northwest and the the carolinas. Enjoy.

@drgnslayr I don't think so!

@Crimsonorblue22

Can you think of a better explanation? I'm open... just an idea.

But... we were at home for this game. The night before we had our biggest game all year and dominated. Lots of reasons to party. And this team has already shown a weakness for the ladies.

@drgnslayr I think we learned a huge lesson and frank wouldn't have let it happen, too important. Not sure about 1 of the guys though.

How about just like in 2003 when we looked like world beaters in blowing out Marquette and then laid an egg on Monday that we suffered the same this weekend? Purdue was so easy that it made us complacent. That's the only explanation I got.

Your explanation could make sense too. I assume the team didn't go back to Lawrence after Thursdays game. They probably just sat around bored, practicing a bit. And then fan after fan sees them around town and tells them how great they are, overconfidence builds.

@Crimsonorblue22 Maybe 2, based on prior history of failure to exercise self-control.

I just threw this out there.

I never saw them quit all year until this game.

How do we explain their lack of effort and willing to give up?

We didn't even run offense.

Frank is the only Jayhawk that looked like himself all year.

@bskeet Exactly, -- Sooo how many people had S Carolina, Gonzaga, & Oregon in their final four? - - BE Honest.. - - -ROCK CHALK ALL DAY LONG BABY

I still want someone to explain to me what I saw last night and how it could happen?

We didn't even give up this bad when we got shellacked by Kentucky a few years ago when they blocked a bunch of our shots.

@drgnslayr This is the 6th time in 9 E8 appearances for Self that his team has had their lowest scoring output for the entire season. Even the 2008 struggled in their E8 game scoring only 59 points which was their worst offensive game of that season.

This isn't a player issue, this is a Self issue that has followed him through multiple schools.

@drgnslayr Kind of bizarre explanation but the best (only) one I've heard that even posits an answer. It was like they lost their team ID overnight, with a few exceptions (Mason, Vick).

Guess it's a mystery for the ages.

@wissox I agree that overconfidence was an issue. I mean, we had just won the first 3 games by an AVERAGE of 30! And in the last half of the previous game, we were unstoppable. Nobody could have beat us that night.

Then when Jackson got those 2 quick fouls and had to sit, we remembered the TCU shocker, and how we couldn't get it done without him. We remembered our fallibility and lost our composure. Those 3 times when we lost a rebound because 2 KU guys were fighting each other for it, with no Oregon player anywhere close, epitomized for me how we just weren't all on the same page.

Frank bailed us out so many times during the season, bringing us back from the brink to save the day. But this game we needed his heroics too early, just to stay somewhat close, that even he was unable to pull us all the way through, all the way to the end.

Bottom line, we just had a bad game. It's a characteristic of a one&done tournament. The best team doesn't always win. I'm not sure I believe the Elite-8 Self jinx. Shit just happens. It's certainly shitty. But it happens.

I watched a good part of the OR vs MI game and OR just did not look that good....no where near the team that showed up Sat. The prospect of beating KS turns our opponents into mutants.

@drgnslayr

It certainly played out like that.

How could our players not respond positively to the moment of going to the Final 4.

Instead the guys played tight, lost poise and forgot to play with a free mind. Psychologically Josh Jackson getting the 2nd foul was the first blow. Dorsey chucking shots at the rim to end the half was the 2nd blow. Then the 2nd half started and KU went 0 for whatever it was, meaning nothing at half-time had loosened them up, the was the 3rd blow. And then the half-hearted comeback when Svi cut it to 6, only to be out-hustled on the next possession yet again for a rebound. That was the final-fatal-blow.

It sucks that the season has ended so similar to past events. It makes you wonder what is really going on? How can the "other" team play so free and yet KU always finds a way to beat itself.. I fail to believe the guys were overconfident, we had dogs on this squad. But something was off, from the beginning of the game and we never found the recipe to overcome it.

From the tip, they were a step slow, likely because of that 90 point game and emotional high. Oregon only had a 69 point game.

This appeared to feed into them struggling with trying to recognize defenses.

They were long overdue for a lousy shooting game. It finally occurred.

When they are cold, they are apparently taught to play drive ball. But you can rarely drive successfully, when you can only rarely ID the driving lanes, as changing D masks them. .

Also, Self perhaps asked too much of Landen. He asked him to score and foul up Jordan Bell. He was perhaps not up to the challenge.

I admire and respect Landen, but every player has limits and can run into mismatches at times. He guarded Bell well. But he could not keep him off the glass, or from scoring, and exploding out of position on defense.

@BeddieKU23 said:

It makes you wonder what is really going on? How can the “other” team play so free and yet KU always finds a way to beat itself… I fail to believe the guys were overconfident, we had dogs on this squad. But something was off, from the beginning of the game and we never found the recipe to overcome it.

I bet the fans of almost every losing team feel exactly this way. Everyone always tries to find a cause, or meaning, in events. 67 tourney losers, 67 shattered hopes, countless explanations, but in every single case there is one common factor: both teams tried, but one team tried harder, or at least played better, than the other.

Except for Squeaky's team, which has always tried harder.

@ajvan said:

It was like they lost their team ID

Let's get them some fricking badges from now on so they know who they are

@mayjay

Your right, I feel that past defeats have been a product of the other team playing harder but Saturday felt different.

I really felt the game was over during the first 5 minutes, and having seen all the comebacks that KU put up this year having that feeling felt wrong but it wasn't. I sat through half the game thinking this is the last time I get to watch Frank Mason is a KU uniform, this can't be the last game Frank plays. We are playing so poorly, how can this possibly be after dismantling Purdue so easily.

The shooting woe's just seemed to make the entire team zapped of energy. How could that be, how could the moment be too big to overcome with all of this teams prior experience. Oregon thrived with the chip of losing in the Elite 8 last year, KU didn't. What gives? I'm always yelling my head off during the game but I found myself numb quick, not knowing how to respond to what I was watching. I didn't feel like I was watching the Jayhawks. And by saying all of this it doesn't make it any easier, just expressing that the way these guys played Saturday Night was not normal. No excuses Oregon was the better team, we didn't even have a glimmer of hope for almost the entire game. Maybe it makes it easier to swallow the defeat, as last years was IMO more heartbreaking. KU was playing its heart out last year but had similar shooting woe's. How can a coach make a team shoot better in that pressure moment? He probably can't do anything. Anyways, rant over..