Kansas Jayhawks Player Ratings to the Theme of National Championships
One team from yesterday’s game has won national titles in team sports. One has not. In honor of the one that has (hey, they also won the game!), we’re rating the players to the theme of KU’s natties. The ever so scientific way in which the ratings are evaluated is as follows:
5 Stars: Out of this world performance. This is a hard to achieve rating and is only reserved for the most impressive or impressionable performances.
4.5 Stars: Very strong performance, packed the stat sheet, provided undeniable intangibles.
4 Stars: A strong performance that falls just short of the standards above.
3.5 Stars: Above average performance, perhaps stands out in one category or one aspect of the game.
3 Stars: Average performance. Also could be a very strong game in one aspect but a very poor game in another such as 15 points but seven turnovers. Could also be that the player played, did their job, but didn't do much spectacularly.
2 Stars: Below average performance, or we simply have higher expectations for the player on this particular night.
1 Star: Rare, but if a player has a stinker in all aspects.
5 Stars: 2008 Men’s Basketball
Still the only team to win a national title in a Final Four that featured all the number one seeds, Mario Chalmers and the 2008 Jayhawks will continue to be undervalued after the fact. By just about every metric out there, this was one of the best title teams in the history of college basketball.
It was a great win, but no one was a five star.
4.5 Stars: 1988 Men’s Basketball
Kansas was a six seed and few predicted this team to escape the first weekend, let alone to get to the final four, let alone to be crowned champs. But Danny Manning and his Miracles had other plans.
Kevin McCullar didn’t shoot particularly well (from up close) in this one, but the other facets of his game were on point. He was two of three from deep (the rest of his points came from the charity stripe) but his rebounding (13) and defense were key. He’s been good since that game in Manhattan.
Jalen Wilson is scoring points at an impressive rate, adding 20 in this one. His first half was particularly good as he powered KU to a big half time lead. And any time you move past Wayne Selden, Greg Dreiling, Jacque Vaughn, and Scot Pollard on the all-time scoring charts at KU, you’re getting things done.
4 Stars: 2022 Men’s Basketball
I might be underrating this one, but we have to rank things here. This team did overcome the greatest deficit in a title game so feel free to adjust your own personal star ranking.
That game seemed like Dajuan Harris had more than two assists, didn’t it? He did tie a career high with 18 points, and that lookaway layup that faked N’Guessan out of his shoes was classic.
3.5 Stars: 2013 Women’s Track and Field
What an accomplishment this was. That KU squad featured three individual national champs in indoor (Natalia Bartnovskaya in Pole Vault, and Andrea Geubelle in Long and Triple Jump) and one in outdoor (Lindsay Vollmer in Heptathlon). It’s a 3.5 only because the titles above it are so significant.
The backup bigs. Both Ernest Udeh and Zach Clemence had nice games. Combined, they did exactly what they needed to do to stymie K-State and fill in admirably for KJ Adams. Clemence had five points (nailed a three!) and three boards while Udeh had three points, six rebounds, and most impressively, three blocks.
The backup guards. Statistically, Bobby Pettiford probably had the better day, scoring six points (all on cuts to the hoop) and snagging six rebounds as well. Joe Yesufu scored five and made a three.
3 Stars: 1959, 1960, 1970 Men’s Track and Field and 1966, 1969, 1970 Men’s Indoor Track and Field
The women’s title is far more impressive (to me at least) than all of these combined seeing as how much more competitive the sport of track and field has become in those 40 or 50 years between titles. That said, that’s a lot of championships making it quite impressive.
It’s always nice when two starters underperform and you still win a game over a top 10 team by double digits. Gradey Dick only made two baskets from the field all game and KJ Adams, riddled with foul trouble, scored eight in 18 minutes.
2 Stars: 1957 triple overtime title loss
Sure, I could’ve put the 1952 title team, but they don’t deserve a low star simply because I had nowhere else to put it. So, it will be a loss instead. This one hurts because the team had Wilt Chamberlain. Feel free to put 2003 or 2012 here if you’d like. Heck, put 1991 there if you want to.
No one was a two.
1 Star: Helms Titles
They’re not real. Sorry.
No one was a one star either.
Join the discussion! Come talk about this or any of our articles on the Blue Wing Rising Discord Server.
Follow Blue Wings Rising on Twitter.
Listen to the official podcast of Blue Wings Rising: The Rock Chalk Podcast.
