STF State Project: #1 Kansas

And so, the State Project winds to a close in much the way that the college basketball season did in 2008 - Kansas is #1. This is not a coincidence. The success of the program at the University of Kansas fed the success of the state overall. But it was the resurgence of the Kansas State Wildcats, and the small sample size, that made the flat state reach the heights of the project.

Every program in the state has had its heyday. Kansas State produced players like Michael Beasley, Bill Walker, and Mitch Richmond. Former players Tim Jankovich, Lon Kruger, and Bill Guthridge went on to become successful DI coaches. Best of all, Tex Winter created the Triangle Offense there.

Wichita State gave us the X Man, Xavier McDaniel, as well as Antoine "Big Dog" Carr and Cliff Levingston. If you're ever watching the movie "Singles", watch out for the hilarious X Man cameo.

Kansas has a long line of great players, including Clyde Lovellette, Wilt Chamberlain, Danny Manning, Paul Pierce, etc. Phog Allen's coaching tree includes Dean Smith and Adolph Rupp. Oh, and some dude named Naismith coached there, but he was Canadian, and thus irrelevant. (I'm kidding, friends to the north!)

So the state has some heavy stuff going on. Much basketball karma. All three DI programs have made the Final Four. So it's a great roundball haven. Marco and I agree that Tennessee was actually the most impressive basketball state last season, based on quality AND quantity, but for concentrated essence, Kansas is the deal.

2008 Breakdown

State winning percentage: .663
Number of teams: 3
NCAA Tournament teams: Kansas, Kansas State
Conference champions: Kansas
Most wins: Kansas (37)
Least wins: Wichita State (11)
Teams with winning records: Kansas, Kansas State
Teams with single digit wins: None

Historical breakdown

Most Memorable Team: For me, it's 1988 Kansas. With Danny Manning, the Jayhawks were going to be good, no doubt. But when Archie Marshall went down with a career-ending knee injury, the Jayhawks were hurting. Kansas reached the regional final due to some lucky breaks, without a doubt, facing a #11, #14, and #7 seed before meeting up with conference and state rival Kansas State, a four-seed. Winning that game by 13 was the beginning of the truly amazing part of the NCAA run, as the Jayhawks then proceeded to beat #2 Duke to set up a rematch witih the Oklahoma team that had beat them twice in the Big 8. Manning was absolutely unconscious in the game, totalling 31 points, 18 rebounds, 5 steals and 2 blocked shots. He got enough help from Milt Newton (now an exec with the Wizards) and Kevin Pritchard (now GM of the Trailblazers) to pull off the massive upset. It would have to last Kansas fans twenty years.

Top Player All-Time: This is actually tougher than it looks. You'd think Wilt would be the easy leader, but not so. Mitch Richmond of Kansas State was awesome, but as a junior college transfer, just didn't get a full chance to show his ability until he went pro. Xavier McDaniel had an amazing 27 ppg, 15 rpg season as a Shocker. At Kansas, Chamberlain was the most dominant big man of his generation, but could not quite lead his team to the Championship. So, in a bit of an upset, we'll go with Danny Manning. Based on all-around college numbers without pro stats, Danny has the edge.

Favorite Coach: I'm a Kansas fan, so this is both a good and bad article for me to write. While I love that Bill Self won a title for Kansas, I never really warmed up to him. I loved Roy Williams. But I'm going to set my bias aside and vote for the brilliant K-State coach Tex Winter. It's not every day that a guy invents a system that wins big in college AND the pros.

Top Player 2008: K-State's Michael Beasley by a mile and a half. He was a man amongst boys all season long. His 26.2 ppg were third nationally, which is impressive, considering that the guys ahead of him were one-man shows in accelerated offensive sets. 12.4 rpg is nothing to sneeze at, either. Only Xavier held the big man below double figures. Winston-Salem State, Missouri, and Baylor had the displeasure of absorbing 40-point nights from Beasley.

Best On-Campus Venue: Like I'm not going to say Allen Fieldhouse.

Best NCAA Venue: Levitt Arena in Wichita was THE place in Kansas from 1955 to 2002. It hosted NCAA tournament games seven different times. In 1981, the Shockers played on their own court, as Carr and Levingston led an upset of Iowa.

Most Prestigious Program (ESPN Style): #2 Kansas Jayhawks.

Best Nickname: Wichita State Shockers. It was even my favorite before this happened.

STF’s Favorite Program: Kansas, of course. I'm proud of all of the basketball teams my home state has spawned, but my alma mama is the best. Kansas has had only seven head coaches. Several are in the basketball hall of fame, and one of them has a basketball hall of fame named after him. I would go on, but midwesterners are modest.

However, I will admit that WSU probably started my love of hoops. I lived in Wichita until I was 13, so watching those good-to-great Shocker teams gave me my first taste of the good life.

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