Oregon Topples Kansas for First Final Four Appearance Since 1939
By MARC TRACYMARCH 25, 2017
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — For all of the storied history they can boast, the Kansas Jayhawks were not in the very first Final Four. The Oregon Ducks were.
As their drought approaches eight decades, the Ducks will make their triumphant return.
“Since 1939,” Ducks Coach Dana Altman said. “We waited a long time.”
In what was for all practical purposes a home game for top-seeded Kansas, Oregon delivered a 74-60 stunner on Saturday night, putting down speed bumps in front of the Jayhawks’ ordinarily turbocharged offense and displaying remarkable marksmanship to pull off an upset that has brought them closer to their second national championship than they have ever been.
The third-seeded Ducks enter their second Final Four assured that they will face another blue-blood opponent. Next Saturday, in the national semifinals in Glendale, Ariz., they will play the winner of Sunday’s game between North Carolina and Kentucky.
Had Oregon (33-5) written a checklist for everything that needed to happen for them to advance, it is difficult to think of a single box they could not check off after the game.
Jordan Bell being a monster down-low? Check.
Bell, a 6-foot-9 junior, showed why he was named the Pacific-12 defensive player of the year. He had assumed the role of top shot-blocker from Chris Boucher, who was lost to injury during the conference tournament, and was a force against the Jayhawks. Bell was a force against the Jayhawks, blocking eight shots and extending possessions, with 7 of his 13 rebounds coming on offense. He even found ways to create his own shots, chipping in 11 points.
Do the math: He was two blocks from a triple-double, still a rarity in the college game.
Altman said he had never seen Bell play so well.
“He was Jordan Bell and Chris Boucher together,” Altman said.
Tremendous shooting? Check.
In the first half, Oregon made 60 percent of its shots — 58.3 percent from behind the arc, with seven 3-pointers. At the first-half buzzer, the sophomore Tyler Dorsey banked in his fourth 3-pointer — from nearly 30 feet away — to give the Ducks a 44-33 lead. By the end of the night, he had sunk six of 10 3-point shots en route to a game-high 27 points.
Trouble for the Kansas star Josh Jackson? Check.
Within the game’s first three minutes, Jackson, a freshman forward who will almost assuredly be a top pick in the impending N.B.A. draft, had two fouls. He was limited to 10 minutes in the first half — and, more important, no points.
The only thing Oregon could not do was neutralize Frank Mason III, the Jayhawks’ senior point guard and a contender for national player of the year. With 17 points in the first half — in one stretch, he scored 15 straight — Mason kept the game within striking distance. In his final game for the Jayhawks (31-5), Mason finished with 21 points and 4 assists — and played all 40 minutes.
But this was a Murphy’s Law game for Kansas. From Oregon’s hot hand to Jackson’s foul trouble to Devonte’ Graham’s shooting — Graham, a junior who was nearly 4 for 10 from 3-point range over the season, was a stunning 0 for 7 from the field and missed all six of his 3-point attempts — nearly everything that could go amiss did.
Even when a tight — almost nervous — Oregon offense let them back in the game, Kansas could not convert on the opportunity. The Jayhawks led just once the whole night: 3-2 in the game’s opening minutes.
Kansas had cruised through the first two rounds and demolished fourth-seeded Purdue, 98-66, in its previous game. The Jayhawks appeared to be poised for their 15th trip to the Final Four and a chance to win the tournament a fourth time.
But the Jayhawks, who won the title in 2008 but have not reached the national semifinals since 2012, could not solve the Ducks.
“They were the aggressor and certainly controlled the game almost from the jump,” Kansas Coach Bill Self said.
Sprint Center is less than an hour’s drive from Lawrence, Kan. — the stands were a sea of red and blue, except for the section directly behind Oregon’s bench — and the crowd was overwhelmingly behind the Jayhawks, who kept it close by pushing the pace.
Oregon, however, was not about to be beaten in a track meet. Especially not with Phil Knight, the Oregon mega-booster, present. Knight, after all, co-founded a shoe company called Nike that finds its roots in track.
“We came in with the same mind-set, same game plan,” Bell said. “They like to play fast, we like to play fast, too.”
Even when things did not seem to go well for the Ducks, it turned out just fine. In the second half, the freshman Payton Pritchard airballed an open 3-pointer from the corner only for Bell to catch the ball, go up with it and score — and draw a foul and complete the 3-point play. It was that kind of game for Oregon.
With a lead that grew as large as 16 points in the second half, Oregon appeared hesitant in half-court sets, milking the shot clock as though there were two minutes left, not 12. Kansas, undeterred, climbed back into the game. The Jayhawks cut the margin to 66-60 with less than three minutes left.
But again, it would turn out fine for the Ducks. With his team’s lead down to 6, Dorsey missed a desperation 3-point attempt to avoid a shot-clock violation. Ball, as he had done so many other times Saturday night, kept possession for the Ducks. It ended in another 3-pointer by Dorsey.
No stranger in the red-and-blue crowd could doubt it was not the Jayhawks’ night. And so they will take a short ride home after missing the Final Four again.
The Jayhawks may be able to trace their lineage back to basketball’s inventor, James Naismith, but they could not overcome the Ducks. Oregon, after all, has some history of its own.
