After Falling in the Time Warp...

I never realized that I didn't write up the Big 12 men's semi's--big oops. Well, Kansas beat Texas A&M in another game where they didn't play their best...and Kansas State pretty much owned Baylor...so, right now, Kansas State and Kansas are playing in the finals.

The score right this minute is KU 62, K State 52 with about 5 minutes left to play. I was going to go watch, but it may be too late. Upon examining the in-game stats, I see that no one is shooting very well for K State, as a team they are 22/61 (36%) They are 4/8 from the free throw line. Kansas is 21/48 (43%) but 22/25 (88%) from the foul line.

Both teams are getting some nice bench play, as the starters have struggled, but my words about the importance of free throw shooting are coming true. That's 18 extra points for KU from the charity stripe. That outweighs the extra points K State has for being 8/19 from beyond the 3 point line while KU is just 2/8 from downtown.

OK, lots of fouls on K State, none on KU? Surprise, with 2:47 left in the game, K State has committed 18 personal fouls and Kansas has committed 12 personal fouls. That tells me that the Wildcats are fouling people in the act of shooting and the Jayhawks are not.

Kansas has 9 turnovers, Kansas St 5, so a pretty clean game from that perspective.

Kansas must be attacking the hoop. It will be interesting to see if the Jayhawks' leading scorers are Aldrich, a Morris twin and Collins. All are either inside players or can drive to the basket.

Game's over, Kansas wins 72-64--here are team stats below. I think the above analysis holds together pretty well. Amazing what you can glean from the play-by-play and stats!

Marcus Morris led KU with 18 points off the bench, Collins had 12 and Aldrich 10. Tyrel Reed, also a bench player, had 15 points. For K State, guards Clemente and Pullen had 17 and 13 respectively. The Wildcats' starting front line had a grand total of 11 points. Forward Jamar Samuel came off the K State bench to get 14 points.

Yup, free throws made a difference. Congratulations to the University of Kansas, Big 12 regular season and tournament champs.

Points	64	72
Field Goals	24-68 (35.3%)	23-52 (44.2%)
Free Throws	8-14 (57.1%)	24-31 (77.4%)
3-pointers	8-22 (36.4%)	2-8 (25.0%)
Rebounds (Off)	32 (14)	39 (11)
Assists	15	16
Steals	5	3
Blocks	6	5
Turnovers	5	11
Personal Fouls	21	15