Kansas Jayhawks
Seed: 1
Record: 32-2
Conference: Big Twelve
vs.
Boston University Terriers
Seed: 16
Record: 21-13
Conference: America East
Date: Friday, March 18
Time: 6:50 pm Eastern
Location: Tulsa, OK
Region: Southwest
Another 1 vs. 16. Not sure why we review these...just for completeness sake?
Team Comparisons with SportsRatings Statistics
Kansas Boston University
Power Ratings
Strength: #3 (#3 of 68) Strength: #185 (#64 of 68)
Neutral court: #3 Neutral court: #185
Injuries Adj: #3 Injuries Adj: #186
Tempo-free: #3 Tempo-free: #176
Offense: #5 Offense: #169
Defense: #8 Defense: #197Special Analyses
2nd half of season: #3 2nd half of season: #175
Last 6 games: #16 Last 6 games: #182
Consistency: #295 Consistency: #49
Deep Run Potential: #4 Deep Run Potential: #162
Upset Potential: #2 Upset Potential: #207
- Wins vs. tournament teams (10): =Arizona+8, UCLA+1, =Memphis+13, Southern California+2, @Michigan+OT, Kansas St.+24, Missouri+17, Texas A&M+13, @Missouri+4, Texas+12
- Losses to tournament teams (2): Texas-11, @Kansas St.-16
- Other losses (0): none
Key Info: The Jayhawks looked unstoppable early on, wiping the floor with teams both good and bad. They came back down to earth against the Pac-10, however, beating UCLA and USC at home by just 3 points total. That home vulnerability foreshadowed their first defeat in Allen Fieldhouse in 69 games against Texas. They later lost to K-State on the road, but that was it for losses, and they later avenged the Texas defeat.
The Morris twins—Morris and Markieff—lead the Jayhawks in scoring and rebounding at 17.3/7.2 and 13.6/8.2 apiece. Guards Tyrel Reed and Tyshawn Taylor contribute outside play, but freshman Josh Selby seems to do more harm than good sometimes as he shoots just 38.2%. Selby is the anti-Kyrie Irvin; Kansas' first several games without him rate higher than those after he joined the team.
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Season overview: Boston University (21-13)
- Wins vs. tournament teams (0): none
- Losses to tournament teams (4): @Villanova-16, =Hampton-1, @Kentucky-34, @Bucknell-3
- Other losses (9): @Northeastern-2, La Salle-3, @Harvard-16, Quinnipiac-1, @Massachusetts-17, @Maine-13, @MD Baltimore County-4, @Hartford-4, @New Hampshire-12
Key Info: Boston's season was a bust to the tune of 10-13 when all of a sudden, they started playing well and winning. Eleven win later they're in the NCAA tournament. What happened? In January they started winning at home, and on February 1st they started winning by double digits in the America East.
Maybe they just got better. Maybe they learned to play without forward Jake O'Brien, who was lost in December, and then the team just jelled. Whatever the case, they went from awful to decent in the last 1/3 of the season. John Holland and Darryl Partin have led the way scoringwise with 19 and 15 per game apiece.
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Game Analysis: Seeing how Boston U. has had a shot at a 14-seed and a 16-seed already and come up empty, it's hard to imagine them giving a 1-seed a run for its money.
But those games were before their recent 11-game winning run, so you never know....
Vegas Line:
Kansas by 22 1/2
Power rating spread
Kansas by 27.9
% Chance to win
Kansas: 98%
Boston U.: 2%
Boston has a typical 2% chance to win according to the game-comparison system, and our power rating gives Kansas about a 28 point expected spread. Vegas suggests they'll pull the starters early and let it fall to 22 or 23.
Bottom line: Given Boston's late surge, I'm calling the game as if only those games count. It puts them a lot closer, but still not very close.
Final prediction: Kansas 79, Boston U. 62
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