The regular season came to a close Saturday for the Kansas Jayhawks with an emphatic victory over hated rival Missouri in Colombia. The win capped off a 29-2 regular season and overall conference record of 15-1. The number one ranked Syracuse Orange lost to conference foe Louisville, and when the new polls come out the Jayhawks are expected to regain the number one ranking.
At this point in the season most people (with the exception of Kentucky fans) believe that Kansas is the best team in the country and that Syracuse is a close second. This time last season the North Carolina Tar Heels were considered the favorite to win it all. They lived up to it and rolled to a national title, beating every one of their opponents in the tournament by double figures. On the surface it may not appear that this year’s Kansas squad is at the same level as that Tar Heel team, but if you take a look you may be surprised to find there are more similarities between the two than one might expect.
To start with the comparison let’s take a look at the teams from an individual standpoint.
Ty Lawson vs. Sherron Collins: This is a tough one. The argument can be made for both. Lawson’s speed was perfect for Roy Williams’ fastbreak and I’m not sure anyone played better throughout the season last year than Lawson. On the other hand, all Collins does is win. He already has a title under his belt and while he may not possess Lawson’s blazing speed his toughness and intangibles make it up for it. In the end this one is just too difficult to call. Draw.
Wayne Ellington vs. Tyshawn Taylor: Ellington was the tournament MOP, had one of purest strokes in all of college basketball, and could flat out score. Taylor has improved a great deal over the course of the season, but when it comes down to it he wouldn’t be able to match up with Ellington.
Danny Green vs. Xavier Henry: Green was probably the most underrated player on that UNC team. He was athletic, a solid defender, and a consistent scoring threat. Henry can do just about everything Green did for his team though. The difference between the two is Henry’s potential. He is playing his best basketball right now and over his last games is averaging close to 17 per outing. Advantage goes to Henry on this one.
Deon Thompson vs. Marcus Morris: Thompson was easily the fifth best starter on this team which says a lot about the rest of their starting five. He has solid offensive game and you couldn’t ignore him because if you gave him the chance he would beat you. Morris has been outstanding since conference play started. His scoring and rebounding have gone up and he has played well enough to earn all-conference consideration. Advantage Morris.
Tyler Hansbrough vs. Cole Aldrich: This, like Collins vs. Lawson was a tough one. Hansbrough was a great college player and it seems that he should easily get the edge over Aldrich. Let’s not forget what happened two years ago when these two went head to head though. Aldrich’s length was too hard to handle for Hansbrough in the first half. Aldrich forced him into tough shots and even blocked a couple of them. I would have to believe Aldrich could have the same affect now, but Hansbroughs stellar career makes this one too close to call. Draw.
Bench: Both of these teams are deep. UNC brought freshman big man Ed Davis off the bench and he was a huge factor during the tournament. Markeiff Morris is just about equal with Davis though. UNC also had Bobby Frasor and seven- footer Tyler Zeller. Kansas probably has an equal amount of depth to UNC, but in terms of overall quality the advantage has to go to UNC.
Now that we have the individual comparisons out of the way let’s take a look at some team statistics and compare the teams overall offensively and defensively.
There is no question that UNC is the superior offensive team. To this point in Kansas’ season they average 82.2 ppg, compared to 89.8 for UNC. They rank better than Kansas in nearly every major offensive category.
Defensively it’s a pretty much the opposite. Kansas only allows 63.3 ppg up to this point compared to UNC who allowed 72 a game. They also allowed teams to shoot 41% from the field compared to Kansas who only allows opponents to shoot 37.6%.
Perhaps the most interesting statistic between the teams is their average scoring margin. Surprisingly, Kansas actually has a higher scoring margin at this point, 19 per game compared to 17.8 per game for UNC. Granted, it’s not a huge difference but the fact that Kansas has actually beaten teams by more than UNC throughout the year is pretty shocking.
The biggest difference between the two teams right now is that UNC has already solidified their place in history. Statistically Kansas stacks up a lot more evenly then many would expect, but in the end statistics don’t matter. Regardless, it’s still fun to make the comparison but unless the Jayhawks cut down the nets in April like last year’s Tar Heels there will be no comparison.
