Kansas Gets To The Final Four Thanks To Malik Newman

Hello, ah fuck it, I can’t even make the joke that was on Twitter the entire night. Malik Newman was the best player on the court. Plain and simple. That’s why Kansas won this game. Malik Newman, the Mississippi State transfer, finished the game with 32 points and just destroyed that Duke zone. He was able to get those corner threes but also able to get by the top half of the zone to disrupt the defense to lead Kansas to the 85-81 victory.

This game was actually the best game of the tournament though as it was close the entire time, despite neither team playing incredible well during regulation. Duke struggled to get the ball to Marvin Bagley early, which was shocking as he had Svi on him in the post. However, Kansas just made sure to leave Duval, double the post and force Duval to beat them. It almost worked as he played well in the first half, but ultimately fell into the trap. Duval shot 16 times. That can’t happen, not with the mismatch that Duke had in the post. Late in the game he settled for threes instead of looking to attack and either finish at the rim or draw a defender away. That’s where he’s at his best.

What was weird too was the fact Duke went to a 1-3-1 for some possessions late in the first half. They gave up two corner threes out of that set because it’s a zone they haven’t played all year. That ultimately proved costly considering the game went to overtime, but it was also just a weird decision. What made it even more weird was the fact that K didn’t adjust anywhere else. The way Kansas was defending the post and doubling off of Duval, I was surprised to not see more Alex O’Connell just to add another shooter to the game.

The credit here though goes to Kansas. They attacked the zone perfectly, at least when the Jayhawks made sure to play fast. They looked for lobs over the top of the zone. They did an excellent job though of getting to the middle of the zone. That was always the key to Duke’s zone. They didn’t do a great job of extending in the middle, they left the free throw line area open. Along with that on, Svi did just an awesome job defensively. The fact that he got 10 rebounds was the biggest story to this game.

This year, no matter what happens in the Final Four, will go down as Bill Self’s best coaching job yet. The fact that he lost Frank Mason, Landen Lucas and Josh Jackson combined with the whole Billy Preston saga, Sam Cunliffe not really working out and even adding Silvio De Sousa to the roster half way through just makes it unreal. This was supposed to be an average year for Kansas – instead it’s now a Final Four and sweep of the Big 12 year.

Kansas plays Villanova on Saturday in the late game on Saturday.